New Map - A Lost Soul?

[Quineotio]

A new level for GZDoom or ZDoom.  An exploration.  A spiritual experience.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZlbKIv6pp3vqE-a45f4f7lIrQ6loOUxp/view?usp=sharing

 

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

9 hours ago, Quineotio said:

An exploration.  A spiritual experience.

 

@Quineotio I like how this sounds, I will give you a chance to feel that experience as if it were a totally psychedelic journey.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

A Lost Soul?

 

Ultra-Violence mode || GZDoom || SmoothDoom

.

.

.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Not knowing how to continue progressing on the map, I ended the game in this secret room that I found. Really beautiful the message that this area represents.)

 

 

 

*Open it at your own risk, but you really should experience this wad only without knowing anything about its contents.

 

 

The map was really interesting, the structure it has is really fascinating, its architecture and construction everywhere I really liked it, despite not having any background melody, the silence really gave me strange satisfaction, the places to visit have their charm when You do not know what will happen, everything is systematic and with many mechanisms, especially in the elevators that are all over the map, but nevertheless, it is very entertaining to be going through all the places that there are, and to be walking up and down in search of the keys that the map offers you. This kind of map reminds me a lot of "Walk Simulator", that kind of game that I enjoy because of how interesting they can be simply by walking from one side to the other, and this wad reminds me a lot of games like "Dear Esther" or "Gone Home", games that I really like a lot, and now that I think about it, it would not hurt if this wad had a calm melody or ambient sounds like the blowing of the wind, or the songs of birds, things That style would make the wad more interesting than it already is, I had also found some things that gave me a lot of intrigue but that, after all, were put on the wad for a reason. In conclusion, I really enjoyed this wad, the areas that I managed to explore throughout the tour, and that despite not knowing how to progress further on the map, I am satisfied with the secret room that I had found. Very good map, hopefully I can have an answer on how to continue in the progress and find that enemy that I can't see anywhere in the wad, thanks for the playable experience, and I hope to see some interesting maps very soon.

Edited October 29, 2020 by ElPadrecitoCholo

[BauwenDR]

I really liked the map...
It somehow reminded me of myself as a child playing 'open world' games, mindlessly roaming around finding secrets and just messing about. I bet I would have absolutely loved this back then.
The map reminded me about dreaming about things to do in those sort of games, only to jump onto the computer and get disappointed that imagination was sadly not reality.
 

Besides that the architecture in the map looked very good, every area was unique so that I always know where I was. Meaning that navigating was surprisingly actually, well done.
While the map does definitely not suffer from not having music, it might be nice to have something play quietly in the background. Or maybe that would ruin the feeling of loneliness that map has. I am not certain about that, but you could try it out.

As I said as a kid I would have loved this and playing this made me very nostalgic about the days where I could play a map like this for weeks straight and only be satisfied when I had explored every nook and cranny. But alas sadly those times have past, while I know I have not seen everything. I am still very satisfied.

 

Overall an amazing experience that does fit the "spiritual experience". Very well done, the map looked amazing and played very interestingly.
For those who have not tried I would try it.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

35 minutes ago, BauwenDR said:

it might be nice to have something play quietly in the background.

 

As I had said in my comment, you could also place environmental sounds, I mean, sounds produced by animals, or by things that are heard in solitary places and with large outdoor space, something like that would not be bad.

[TheOrganGrinder]

I ended up using IDMUS to swap out Running From Evil for Getting too Tense, which seemed about the best fit in the default Doom II jukebox for the steadily-increasing level of anxiety I felt exploring room after desolate, abandoned room, waiting for the penny to drop.

 

The experience of exploring this map is a memorable one, with a layout that's deliberately convoluted and - with the automap disabled - relies on the player's memory and attention to detail to a more significant degree than is typical for a Doom level.  More than once I found myself wondering if I'd simply missed a door, a passage, an opening on my first scramble through an area, upon revisiting that space later in search of clues or keys, or if the map was changing while my back was turned, opening up new possibilities as I clambered through some other part of the complex.  I felt let down by an ending that seemed out of keeping with the rest of the map, although maybe I fouled up something in the level's scripting as I was passing through it, or maybe I'm just not the intended audience for the apparent message.

[Quineotio]

I don't want to say too much.  If you find the monster, the monster is you.  There is an end, but not in the level.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

1 hour ago, Quineotio said:

I don't want to say too much.  If you find the monster, the monster is you.  There is an end, but not in the level.

 

Spoiler

@Quineotio   Ohh, I understand now... huh, now everything makes sense, and that would explain why hitting the sacred place takes away your health.

 

[TheOrganGrinder]

Yeah, having replayed this I think it's very much the case that I'm not the intended audience for the message no matter how atmostpheric and appealing I find the map leading up to it; without being of the proper inclination to find meaning in the conclusion and to take it at face value, the effect to me is of a horror story with a passage from another book pasted in place of its final page.

[Quineotio]

50 minutes ago, TheOrganGrinder said:

the effect to me is of a horror story with a passage from another book pasted in place of its final page.

 

A good analogy for this world :)

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Huh, that's Creepy...

[Quineotio]

12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

 - Revelation 20 (King James Version)

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Now I feel a horrible chill running through my entire body...

[Soulless]

Such a beautiful architecture. Creepy atmosphere for sure!

[Dylan Omen]

Really cool design and architecture. 

[Soulless]

Just "finished" the map. Was nice to navigate the map looking for the keys, the sense of abandon is great. The ending.. unexpected, but brilliant.

[Quineotio]

7 hours ago, Soulless said:

Just "finished" the map. Was nice to navigate the map looking for the keys, the sense of abandon is great. The ending.. unexpected, but brilliant.

And His hand is outstretched still :)

[UnknDoomer]

Usually I don't do so, but will start from

 

Contras.

 

* As a guy who had enough experience in so called "exploration" things / "walking simulators" I've found this map more like concept like then actually specific experience.

*. Sad that map has no midi for atmosphere. Check this out, for example:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4RRw56MUs0 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9S6vrUEbPU

 

*. You can stuck in the passage here:

 

 

Door just not open at one side and by one you are entered has glitched texture. So exit work via noclip only.

 

Settings and other:

 

* GzDoom.

* Yellow key can be found on the far west, blue key on the far south. Then you need to go to the east and open two doors to find an sort on ending message.

* Plot, I suppose, in one way, or another, can be counted as

 

 

hero is sort a "beast" that stuck for in the purgatory for his sins. There is also the reason why nobody around. By other hand you know what they said - it can be dangerous to look for deep meaning where it does not exist - after all you can find it. As well as, on the other hand, when there is no clear message, or it was the author's idea, everyone can interpret such a work in his own way.

 

Pros.

 

+. Sort of horror-like atmopshere. I see somebody said there is no monster on the map... but you can hear someone once at the place on the west, where lights are turning off.

Edited March 23, 2021 by UnknDoomer