[Limit-removing] Bombardment - Fourth Map, Feedback Appreciated

[Salmon]

This is a fast-paced map set in an abstract volcano base.  It has a cheesy arcade aesthetic themed around the colors black, red, and blue.  There's some obvious Sandy influences, too.  Gameplay-wise, it's mostly breezy, movement-based battles in fairly open spaces.  This map was really me goofing around while figuring out how larger areas work, but I think it's fun.  There's a few lock-ins but everything will open up again by the end to allow for 100% exploration.

 

bombard.zip

 

Name:  Bombardment (bombard.wad)

Replaces:  Map 01 of Doom 2

Format:  Doom 2 (for limit-removing ports)

Testing:  Crispy Doom, GZDoom, PrBoom+ and GLBoom+ (cl 2), Eternity

Skill Levels:  All available, see Difficulty Selection for specifics

Requirements:  No jump or crouch, freelook allowed but never needed

Length:  Expect 15-20 minutes not including deaths/saves/reloads

Tools:  Ultimate Doom Builder, Slade, WhackEd4, Doom Writer, Paint

Music:  "Prototype" by Jimmy and stewboy

Textures:  Sky is SMLCLD13 by Mechadon, all others Doom 2

.deh:  Included for map name if your port needs it

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Difficulty Selection:

Spoiler

I got a lot of feedback about my last map being too easy but people also liked the atmosphere.  I've tried making something slightly harder that's still mostly focused on a sense of adventure.  I also dialed back resources a bit, although not an extreme amount, since that was a common request, too.  There's probably still too much health, but this is a chaotic map and I wanted to err on the side of too much rather than too little since I've never made a map like this before.

 

UV:  The map is focused on fighting while moving through fairly open spaces with a few cramped fights for variety.  The pace is intended to be brisk.  You can play this slow and cautious in places if you want, but sometimes doing so won't go well.  There are a few areas you can cheese--I tried but couldn't totally eliminate safe spots.  I doubt this is as hard as people want UV to be, but it's harder than my last map, I think.  I'm trying!

 

HMP:  ~20% reduction of enemy group numbers from UV.  Replacements from lower tiers are used sparingly.

 

HNTR/ITYTD:  Another ~20% reduction in enemy group numbers from HMP (or ~40% from UV.)  Replacements from lower tiers are used more often than in HMP, although this still remains rare.

 

The feedback I got on my last map was really helpful and I'm doing my best to learn from it.  Any advice y'all want to give me about this map is very welcome.  The only prior testing done was my own.  I feel like I learned a lot here, although I was trying lots of new things and the process was a bit messy.  Experimenting helps me figure stuff out, though, and I thought this was solid enough to share.

 

Comments and videos are greatly appreciated.  I'll happily watch demos if you want to record one but this is a more hectic map than my last one and I can't guarantee balance.  Thanks, y'all.  Hope you enjoy my silly 90s dance party.

[Soulless]

Quite entertaining map Salmon! I do love to dance around mobs and prioritize targets. Im not sure how hard was to balance all this movement, but all the imps scattered around in high spots does the perfect job to force the player to move around, letting you almost not a single safe spot, worked all great!

 

I died twice in the first section of the map, 1st death I panicked, second one I got myself blocked while the stairs were raising.

I see what you said above the Sandy style, but with a more modern techy touch I would say. I liked the blocky squarish layout.

 

Balance was great, even though I encountered myself totally empty at one point early in the map, after clearing pretty much evey imp around, but was just a sec, then I found the switch to make progress with quite a lot of rockets (the chaingunner section).

Cyberdemons fights were good, didnt feel like a chore, or too grindy, were useful and deadly as they should.

 

I only could find 1 secret, thats embarassing, I might replay it just for those hehe

 

God job man!

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by Soulless

[Noiser]

This looks deliciously fireblu-ish! I will play it for sure

Edited December 19, 2020 by Noiser

[Clippy]

 

[Salmon]

@Soulless, thanks for the comments!  I'm glad it seems like you played it the way I was hoping people would, sorta fast with lots of movement.  I tried to make the map so that it rewarded aggression.  If you want to look for the secrets, 4/5 of them are in plain sight and you just have to work out how to get to them--it can be hard to see them with all the monsters, though.

 

@Clippy, thanks for the video, sorry you had a rough time in places!  It's definitely different from my other maps--I'm trying out different styles to see what I like making.  In my testing, I always had an easier time time playing this fast and aggressively.  Movement tends give you more survivability than corners in this one.  If I make another map like this, I'll try to build in more leeway for more cautious playstyles, though.  I tend to just Leeroy Jenkins most situations.  That lava death pit by the pillar in the first room was accidental and not intended.  Sorry about that!  And the chaingunners only teleport in when you hit the switch that lowers the red key and the blur.  I did it like that to sort of be a "punishment" for running away without fighting them and the other hitscanners--it's the only situation where chaingunners would have long sightlines on you.  It didn't work out like I intended, though, since you didn't notice them as soon as I had hoped.

[Clippy]

16 minutes ago, Salmon said:

@Soulless, thanks for the comments!  I'm glad it seems like you played it the way I was hoping people would, sorta fast with lots of movement.  I tried to make the map so that it rewarded aggression.  If you want to look for the secrets, 4/5 of them are in plain sight and you just have to work out how to get to them--it can be hard to see them with all the monsters, though.

 

@Clippy, thanks for the video, sorry you had a rough time in places!  It's definitely different from my other maps--I'm trying out different styles to see what I like making.  In my testing, I always had an easier time time playing this fast and aggressively.  Movement tends give you more survivability than corners in this one.  If I make another map like this, I'll try to build in more leeway for more cautious playstyles, though.  I tend to just Leeroy Jenkins most situations.  That lava death pit by the pillar in the first room was accidental and not intended.  Sorry about that!  And the chaingunners only teleport in when you hit the switch that lowers the red key and the blur.  I did it like that to sort of be a "punishment" for running away without fighting them and the other hitscanners--it's the only situation where chaingunners would have long sightlines on you.  It didn't work out like I intended, though, since you didn't notice them as soon as I had hoped.

 

Make the maps you wanna make the way you wanna make em haha, don't try to accommodate my slow playstyle. For some reason when I don't know a map and on my very first attempt I'm always way too slow and cautious, and have way too long of a feeling out process. Maps I know I play aggressively and fast. I need to be more bold in my first time gameplay for sure haha

[Biodegradable]

I'm really bad at Slaughtermaps, so I don't really know how to judge them too well. I tend to get overwhelmed and my brain can't process the barrage of demons. But I think this map was a nice big challenge without being relentlessly cruel, which I appreciated. Funny enough, it was one of the smaller areas I had the most difficulty with rather than the larger ones, so go figure lmao. I'll let my video speak for itself.

 

 

[tourniquet]

Interesting change of theme/setting compared to your previous map. The term 'slaughter' is always debatable and you sure can find some aspects of it in here, yet it's not really overwhelmingly difficult. In the end all that matters is the fun and i sure had a lot while playing this. Didn't spot any bugs or things to complain about. Once again good job.

 

On a sidenote, i really appreciate that you take the time to create some Title/Interpics for your releases, it's just a small thing but it shows your dedication.

 

FDA bombard-FDA_TNq.zip

[Snaxalotl]

I had a really good time with this map, never had ammo or health problems and I liked the unique setting. Can't wait to see what else you come up with!

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Snaxalotl
Removed "Insert Other Media"

[Salmon]

@Biodegradable, thanks for the video!  I was hesitant to mention slaughter-lite aspects in the description.  I was worried it might turn off people who don't like that sort of thing (even though I didn't think this was too hard overall), but also I think people who regularly play slaughtermaps would find this very easy and probably wouldn't recommend calling it slaughter-anything.  So I just didn't mention it, haha.  It's fine if you feel like you can't judge fairness because of the map type--I actually learn a lot just by watching you play, since I can compare your experience to my own and that of others.  It's not like all my maps will be like this now, anyway, since I enjoy making different types of maps.

 

@tourniquet, thanks for the FDA and comments.  Slaughter seems like a touchy subject, both in terms of people not liking it and people who do expecting certain thresholds of difficulty that I did not feel this map met.  So I just didn't mention it!  Fun is obviously subjective, but it was my primary goal here anyway and I'm glad you enjoyed it.  In terms of theme and sub-genre, there's not really any real "type" of map I want to make and enjoy trying different things.  I haven't played any of your maps, but I appreciate you commenting and making demos for me, so I've added several of yours to my (very long) to-play list.

 

@Snaxalotl, thanks for the video, that was really enjoyable!  I never tested this with fast monsters but that was a blast to watch.  I'll probably have to give it a try myself sometime tonight.

[Biodegradable]

4 hours ago, Salmon said:

It's fine if you feel like you can't judge fairness because of the map type--I actually learn a lot just by watching you play, since I can compare your experience to my own and that of others.

 

That's what I'm here for, dude. :^)

[Roofi]

Hey ,

 

Check my FDA : Roofi_Bombard_FDA.zip

 

That's a really good level ! This map actually has quite a lot of enemies. However, I wouldn't call it a slaughter-map. This map is still very accessible for those who don't like slaughter.

 

I really like the texturing which gives a violent aspect to the level. Also the grey and black highlight the blue and red. Architecture is also one of the strong points of this map. It is large and very varied. Actually, the appearance of the level also makes me think of some of the maps made by TimeOfDeath and especially the way you made a screenshot for the interpic.

 

Spoiler

 

 

The gameplay is what I would call soft slaughter. One of the most fun things to do in this map is to circlestrafe monsters in order to create a lot of random infights and save ammunition.

 

Also, the layout is fairly open with large walls that lower to reveal new areas. It's very smart.

[Salmon]

@Roofi, thanks for the comments and the FDA!  I'm happy you had a good time and that you found all the secrets.  I agree about it not being slaughter map--I wasn't sure what to call it but soft slaughter seems right.  I'm new and there's still a lot of terms I'm not totally familiar with.  I'm glad you think it's accessible to most people, too, since that was my goal.

 

I haven't played anything by TimeOfDeath but I'll be sure to check some of their stuff out since I had fun with this type of look.  Thanks for playing!

[BoxY]

Nice map once again, I really like Torrential so I expected this to be quality too.

 

FDA here: bbd_fda_bx.lmp (about 25 minutes total cuz I started wandering around a bit)

 

I took one really stupid death at the start after eating too many manc fireballs (my excuse is that I just updated my port and my mouse sensitivity was wrong, also i'm tired, my back hurts, roommate was trying to borrow money from me, it was my little sister playing etc.). After that it was mostly smooth sailing except for getting lit up by chaingunners a bit in the YK room, but there were no crazy intense moments. Honestly I think dealing with those mancs in the first room before you get any real weapons or armour ended up being the hardest fight.

I really enjoyed the gameplay, particularly the damaging floors and platforms felt really fun to navigate around and the open layout felt pretty clear and intuitive. In terms of combat the only thing I didn't like too much was the huge amount of perched static enemies spread out everywhere, which ended up taking some time to grind through and I never felt like I had quite enough rockets that I could just waste them on cleaning single imps, even though it's the easiest way. I think it would be nice if hitting the switches to transform the map also lowered some of their platforms so you could get at them easier. The fight with the big hitscan closets also kinda underwhelmed me since when you heap them up together like that they usually just annihilate each other without the player even doing anything, but it was still pretty fun. I think on UV you could also put more than 1 vile in the big imp closet at the end because that one's also pretty easy as it is.

 

The texturing theme and detailing was cool, it has enough of its own fun identity to feel like more than just another stock texture map, which isn't that easy. Great stuff overall.

[Salmon]

@BoxY, thanks for the FDA and the comments!  I appreciate the detailed notes about the fights since it's an area where I'm trying to improve.  The idea about lowering some of the perched enemies when you hit switches is genius, honestly.  The opening fight was built early, so I played/tweaked that one the most and I think that's why it's harder.  And I had been worried about giving too many rockets in the central area, but it turns out I didn't give enough since other people have said the same.

 

The hitscanner red key fight was hard to balance--I was trying to account for people that rushed up and did it first thing as well as people who cleared everything out first.  Unfortunately, this made the fight too easy.  I probably should have just made it harder.  Good to know about the archvile at the end--for some reason I was the least sure about that fight.  Glad you liked the map!