OFFICIAL RELEASE! Aspect of Daedalus v 1.0 - Doom 2 WAD [Boom]

[LVENdead]

 

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TRAILER

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Spoiler

 

 

 

 

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SCREENSHOTS

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Spoiler

Screenshots were taken in GZDoom with sv_nomonsters 1, r_drawplayersprites 0, noclip, and fly.

 

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone! I'm finally ready to OFFICIALLY release version 1.0 of my newest map, Aspect of Daedalus! After reviewing a lot of the tester videos/feedback, I have made pretty substantial changes to many areas of this map, and have implemented all difficulties! 

 

It uses MOSTLY stock Doom 2 textures, although a few OTEX textures have been used where I really could not find a satisfactory stock one. The midi track featured is "Stardust" by Eris, a new inclusion with this release version.

 

I'd also like to give a big thanks to @Biodegradable, @tourniquet, and @HAK3180, as well as kakhome1 on YouTube, for recording and sharing their playthroughs, which were paramount in helping me balance and fix the release candidate version of the map. Thank you all very much!

 

Edit: Snuck in a quick 1.01 update - brilliantly broke a couple of triggers in the release version that I...somehow didn't notice.

 

PERTINENT INFO:

 

COMPATIBILITY: Boom

SOURCE PORTS TESTED: PR-Boom+/GL-Boom and GZDoom

IWAD: DOOM2.WAD

REPLACES: MAP01

GAMEPLAY: Vanilla Doom 2 - Run and gun, exploration, adventure.  

ESTIMATED PLAY TIME: Probably about 20-25 minutes with practice, and maybe closer to 40ish with deaths/blind run factored in.

ADVANCED MOVEMENT: Crouching and jumping is disabled, but freelook is not.

DIFFICULTY: All difficulties are implemented. It should be fairly doable for just about any skill level, although it definitely ramps up toward the end. Better be good at your crowd control.

CREATION TIME: On-off from mid-November 2020 until now.

ASSETS INCLUDED: A few OTEX textures, "Stardust" by Eris.

 

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DOWNLOAD: DAEDALUS_1.01.zip

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CHANGES OVERVIEW:

Spoiler

Changes from Release Candidate to version 1.0:

• Monster and resource placement has been given a huge balancing pass, from making tweaks in Ultra Violence, all the way to substantially altering both for the other difficulties. The monster count in UV has increased by about 15 total.
• The large canyon area has been given a complete visual revision pass - largely based on feedback from HAK3180
• A few secrets have been revised to make them slightly more visually interesting
• The end setpiece in the canyon area has been given a complete gameplay overhaul. The "red/yellow skull key switch platform" has been completely change to prevent the swarm of monsters from getting stuck on it. They are now able to effectively chase the player out into the canyon. The implementation of the Cyberdemon has been tweaked, including a substantial redesign of the area where he first appears. Overall, the canyon becomes much more dangerous than it did after acquiring your first skull key.
• A visual pass has been made on the level as a whole to correct for random misaligned textures and to make a few of the areas look more visually interesting.

 

 

HINTS:

Spoiler

• You're going to run out of ammo in the starting area - so hang around and fight if you really want to, but eventually you should look for an exit to the area and be prepared to come back to finish up the fight when you have better hardware.
• A backpack hidden prior to finding the Blue Key is probably pretty crucial. It's not the only one in the map, but it will make a big difference.

 

MY OTHER MAPS:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by LVENdead
Updated to release version 1.0

[Biodegradable]

You just had to pull the rug out from under me, didn't ya? ;^P Map starts off tough, but manageable and then... well fuck me sideways, I had no choice but to try and speedrun my way through it. I really liked the layout and the texture work, really cool wooden/rock nukage treatment facility going on here. Your combat was varied and quite vicious at points and demons were vomited from seemingly every orifice with little time to react, but still beatable. I can't really comment on that last part because I am truly rubbish at giant slaughter encounters, my brain turns to mush and I turn into a jibbering orangutan constantly yelling "Fuuuuck!" much to the annoyance of my neighbours. But at the end of the day, it's a terrific map man. You really know how to make some terrific stuff judging from this and your previous work I've played. Well done, fam. 

 

 

[LVENdead]

@Biodegradable - thanks so much for giving this a run! 

 

7 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

You just had to pull the rug out from under me, didn't ya? ;^P

 

Yes, this is a my goal with all my maps, lol! The thing I'm always trying to hit is that balance where it doesn't start to feel stupid or unfair. 

 

7 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

I had no choice but to try and speedrun my way through it.

 

Honestly you were not too far off the mark in terms of how I envisioned that setpiece to play out. The idea is that once the portals open and the horde warps in (in actuality, there are only 12 Revenants, 12 Cacodemons, 3 Pain Elementals, and 2 Archies [and a partridge in a pear treeeeeeeee...]), you are chased out into the larger area where you have to try and scramble for resources/pathfinding while making sure they don't catch up and overwhelm you.

 

 

7 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

I can't really comment on that last part because I am truly rubbish at giant slaughter encounters

 

Ideally, what you'd end up doing once getting your bearings a bit is try and engage in some...tactical assassination(?) and try to get the Archies away from the hordes so you can kill them. Once you do that, the area near the portal towers becomes way safer and it's just a matter of circle-strafing Revenant rockets. But in the interest of full disclosure, I haven't beaten that part without quicksaving, which is why I leaned so heavily into the "I don't know if this is balanced well" disclaimer. Hopefully I get a few more bites on this one so I can get some more feedback about it.

 

7 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

You really know how to make some terrific stuff judging from this and your previous work I've played.

 

Thank you very much for this, it really means a lot. Doom is basically my favorite game ever and I'm glad to hear I can do it a little justice with my own contributions. 

[LVENdead]

I have updated the post with a trailer for the map I made, featuring a crappy cover of Sign of Evil. Because apparently I don't have anything better to do with my free time.

[tourniquet]

Fun map, visuals are very nice. Considering it's size it felt surprisingly underpopulated/empty in many areas. Like fore example after opening the large sewer section where you only encounter 3 Sergeants and a PE. Or the final canyon part which was just too spacious for the few Mobs you encounter. The fights in the sewer section, prior to getting the BK, as well as the Canyon reveal fight were the one's i enjoyed the most.

 

FDA with saves daedalus01-FDA_TNq.zip

[LVENdead]

7 hours ago, tourniquet said:

Considering it's size it felt surprisingly underpopulated/empty in many areas.

 

Do you think I could stand to put some more enemies in the areas you mentioned? I was trying to keep it from becoming excessively grindy - especially in that sewer area where you still only have the shotgun - or in the canyon, from just being too overwhelming with the horde chasing you. Maybe some more imps placed around in the canyon area to give more fodder to shoot at?

 

7 hours ago, tourniquet said:

FDA with saves daedalus01-FDA_TNq.zip

 

*Commenting on Chainsawing/Punching the Backpack secret* - Were you pointing out the texture oddity here? I actually did that on purpose so it gives a visual hint to check for a secret. 

 

Unfortunately, the demo seemed to desync around the time you drained the water, so I didn't get to see how you finished the level, but you seemed to handle it very well up to that point. (edit: just realized this is probably because I loaded up a newer version of the map than the one I uploaded).

 

 Thanks for giving it a run, I really appreciate the feedback!

Edited January 1, 2021 by LVENdead

[tourniquet]

1 hour ago, LVENdead said:

Do you think I could stand to put some more enemies in the areas you mentioned? I was trying to keep it from becoming excessively grindy

 

Probably not a bad design decision. As for the sewer part i think it's fine to leave it as it is. Regarding the final area, after watching your video in the OP i kinda assume your main intention was to force/push players deeper into it the canyon, via the Caco/Rev/etc ambush. Might work in some cases however i felt it was easier to get rid of them right away, thus everything afterwards didn't pose much threat.

Probably better to wait for a few more opinions, before starting to make drastic changes but maybe you should consider adding a least a few more ground mob's Rev's/Nobles/Imps to accompany the Cybie upon release.

 

1 hour ago, LVENdead said:

just realized this is probably because I loaded up a newer version of the map than the one I uploaded

 

Yeah even the slightest change will make a demo desync, hope it was helpful nonetheless.

Edited January 1, 2021 by tourniquet

[LVENdead]

18 minutes ago, tourniquet said:

Regarding the final area, after watching your video in the OP i kinda assume your main intention was to force/push players deeper into it the canyon, via the Caco/Rev/etc ambush. Might work in some cases however i felt it was easier to get rid of them right away, thus everything afterwards didn't pose much threat.

 

Yeah I'd say you effectively "dismantled" my intended way of dealing with the fight - I'd chalk this up to your careful but confident play style. I want(ed) to avoid the use of hitscanners in that area, both because I don't want to cause excessive infighting, and because I think that kind of cheapens the horde. Maybe I should just remove the rockets in the teleporters and also get rid of the cell pack you pick up before jumping in, so you CAN'T really stay and fight - you have to escape into the canyons to get supplies first. If you use Biodegradable's video as an example, he almost immediately fled into the canyons, and within only a couple of minutes the area was completely flooded with lost souls + the horde and his experience was vastly different from yours.

 

21 minutes ago, tourniquet said:

Yeah even the slightest change will make a demo desync, hope it was helpful nonetheless.

 

I loaded the demo back up with the correct version of the map and was able to watch the whole playthrough. It was INCREDIBLY helpful. Thanks again for your feedback.

[LVENdead]

Version 1.0 of this map is officially released! This release version features a substantial balance pass and some hefty redesign of a few areas, and full implementation of all skill levels! Check it out and let me know what you think.

[Clippy]

 

[LVENdead]

@Clippy thanks for playing buddy!

 

-Sorry about the confusing beginning. I really struggled with trying to telegraph that the switch opens that area down in the sewer, so almost everyone ends up hitting it then doing a few laps around the main area before realizing what it did.

-Nice job on the archie in the blinking light maze area! I've never seen anyone just rush him down like that but that was well played.

-I know that the end was absolutely chaotic, I hope it wasn't too frustrating! Honestly the way it played out for you is how I would have hoped it would for the most part, just monsters spilling out everywhere and the player having to take the big guns out and start blasting to survive.

 

You came real close to a few of the secrets. I'm pretty bad at finding them in other people's maps so I guess that translates to being bad at hiding them? Anyways, here's a couple that you were close to:

Spoiler

1. A backpack is hidden in one of the poison falls (there's an off-colored wall texture to mark it) in the sewer area with the super shotty
2. Pressing the circuit breaker-looking wall texture in the sewer ambush with the hell knights opens a secret rocket launcher in one of the HK closets
3. A berserk was hidden behind a different wall texture in the little alcove you thought was a secret that you jumped into after lowering the water. It was probably hard to see the indicator because it was covered up by a GZDoom blast decal
4. Pressing the two switches in the lower area opens up a secret megasphere riiiight next to where you pressed the second switch. You basically turned and looked in the opposite direction immediately and never went back the other way or ever looked toward it again XD
5. I accidentally created two extra secrets that I need to fix. Oops

 

By the way I've had Feel the Burn on my list to play all week but haven't had time to record any Doom videos. Probably going to be the next one I upload though!

[Clippy]

Cool hope my vid was helpful. The ending was nuts but I'm a slow methodical player anyway. As for the archvile that was super lucky I kept him hurt long enough to not blast me. Good times - don't feel obligated to play mine cause I played yours but will always welcome vids. Everyone found it pretty hard haha

 

 

[Soulless]

Nice map LVENdead! Just played it UV, and had my ass kicked a lot. 1st chuck of progression wasnt clear at all, but nothing too obscure if you explore enough.

Second bit (yellow and red keys) was good. I had to find some sort of bunker and ended up facing revs, spectres and archies in a corridor, while cacos and pain elementals were lurking from behind, died plenty of times, but couldnt see other way around due to my health at that moment.

Enemy placement was tight, and exploration was highly dangerous, but needed for progression, challenging to say the least.

Visually is 10/10, the usage of doom II textures is amazing, really impressed!

I couldnt find most of the secrets sadly, just 3/7, and I missed 4 monsters, probably inside one of those.

Highly recommended!

Edited September 25, 2021 by Soulless

[LVENdead]

Thanks so much for playing and leaving your thoughts!

 

4 hours ago, Soulless said:

1st chuck of progression wasnt clear at all, but nothing too obscure if you explore enough.

 

Yeah this is easily and consistently the map's biggest misstep, and absolutely an exposure of my novice-ness as a mapper. I wanted the player to be a LITTLE bewildered at the beginning, but not to the extent I think it played out.

 

4 hours ago, Soulless said:

died plenty of times, but couldnt see other way around due to my health at that moment.

 

Health is absolutely a commodity on UV - it is much more generous on HMP and lower.

 

4 hours ago, Soulless said:

I couldnt find most of the secrets sadly, just 3/7

 

2 of the secrets were an error I discovered after I published v 1.01 of the map, so you actually found more than half of the "real" secrets. I put them in the spoilers in my reply to Clippy's video, check it out if you want to see what you missed!

[baja blast rd.]

I did an FDA (of the download available currently). Enjoyed this. 

 

 

[LVENdead]

21 hours ago, rd. said:

I did an FDA (of the download available currently). Enjoyed this. 

 

Wow, you thoroughly dismantled this map and made it looks easy! Nice run, and glad you enjoyed it.

[Astro X]

Very cool map, and you can't go wrong with that midi lol

 

Aesthetics and combat were good, but sadly I could not find most of the secrets.