[GZDoom] Dooming The Bar: City 17 V1.1

[Chief Smokey]

Dooming The Bar is a project centered on bringing the Half-Life 2 beta's City 17 into Doom, composed of a fully playable 8-map journey from the Industrial sector through to Kleiner's lab as per 2001 and 2002 concepts, plus two bonus maps.

 

DTB is intended to be played standalone using GZDoom and the Doom II iwad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special thanks to Boondorl for the weather, parallax scrolling 3D skybox and ladder systems. Credits also to the Half-Life 2 Project Beta and Valve Cut Content communities for their continuing recreations and fixes of the original HL2 beta files.

 

DOWNLOADS:

Mediafire

Google Drive

 

RELATED:

ZDoom Forums Page

Smokey's Studio Discord Server

Edited May 16, 2022 by Chief Smokey

[skaarjman]

This is nice, I approve ! 

[Clarity]

big yes, always nice to see

[Chief Smokey]

I'd always intended to come back to this project, and after being busy with other content I've developed by understanding of UDMF further and now I'm much more confident and capable of providing an experience which is both true to the original beta style and worthwhile in its own right.

 

My plan is to expand upon the City 17 setting further and build a full journey through various 2001 and 2002 locations starting at the Industrial sector and ending at Kleiner's lab. Along the way will be the Terminal, the Consulcast, the Manhack Arcade and more. After this overhaul is done I may either decide to end the project or return at a later date to recreate another chapter such as Vertigo, Streetwars or even the Citadel.

 

I've started with overhauling city_test (Get Your Free TVs) and have taken more creative liberties this time around, but it still closely resembles its WC Mappack counterpart and now has more detailed assets like props and the Combine APC present.

 

 

 

 

[Chief Smokey]

In the eternal words of Gabe Newell: "These things, they take time".

 

The first map of the City 17 journey is complete, covering the Combine Factories section of the 2001 and 2002 storylines. Highlights include the APC Garage, Cremator Factory and Stenographer's Chasm.

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop: The Terminal.

[Carnifex]

I enjoyed strolling through the demo and the screenshots you posted look amazing. Looking forward to updates on this.

[Chief Smokey]

C17_02 - The Terminal

 

 

 

[snapshot]

 edgelords heaven, playing this

Edited September 22, 2021 by sluggard

[Chief Smokey]

C17_03 - The Residential Area

 

 

 

 

[Chief Smokey]

C17_04 - The Construction Site

 

 

 

 

[Chief Smokey]

C17_05 - The Consulcast

 

 

 

 

[Chief Smokey]

C17_06 - The Manhack Arcade

 

 

 

 

[Apprentice]

The screenshots surely looks impressive, especially when you consider that the engine the maps are running on is older then the original content itself.

 

On a side note: too bad it was cut from the original game. I always felt that this darker tone would've suited the game better then what we ultimately got as the finished product . . .

[Chief Smokey]

C17_07 - The Underground

 

 

 

 

[Chief Smokey]

C17_08 - The Lab

 

 

 

 

[Chief Smokey]

 

 

 

 

The 2001 Manhack Arcade map has been revamped and moved to a bonus map position. That's nearly all of the main mapping work done now. Next up is implementing 3D skyboxes and then figuring out NPCs and scripted sequences. At this rate, the mod may release sometime late this month or the next (perhaps in time for HL2's 17th birthday?).

[inkoalawetrust]

Hey, since you are remaking Source engine maps in GZDoom, and are starting to use 3D skyboxes in this project. I have a modified 3D sky camera that moves relative to the player, so you can somewhat replicate the seamless skyboxes in Source with it. Instead of the 3D skybox being completely static, would you be interested in using that parallaxing 3D sky camera ?

[princetontiger]

Holy hell... any idea when a few beta maps will be ready?

[ZedMarine610]

Looking at all of this, this barely looks any different from regular Source. All this looks basically 1:1 with how it would look in Source. Also really like how faithful it looks to how the original maps looked, which is something you rarely see with HL2 beta projects.

 

Looking really good so far, can't wait to play this!

[Chief Smokey]

Things are wrapping up now that the last pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. 3D skyboxes with parallax scrolling (meaning they move with the level like Source skyboxes) and rain effects have been added. The rain effects are part of a larger weather mod created by Boondorl that'll be releasing on its own in the near future complete with documentation, allowing easy use by the community for their own projects.

 

 

 

 

 

Currently DTB is undergoing a playtesting run, after which it'll be released to the public following any bug fixing that needs to be done. After that I'll return to the project at a future date and release an enhancement update which will add NPCs and scripted sequences (probably after GZDoom 4.8 releases so Nash's lightmap system can be integrated).

[Chief Smokey]

Welcome to City 17.

 

After around two and a half months of work the City 17 overhaul update is ready for the public to play. No NPCs and scripted sequences yet, but they'll be added along with any bug fixes in an update that may be within the year.
 

 

 

DOWNLOAD:

Google Drive

Mediafire

Edited November 9, 2021 by Chief Smokey

[Chief Smokey]

The vehicle roster is now complete. The APCs have been joined by the Razor Train, Shuttles and the beloved "Beta Bus" (the other addition is the Metrocop watchtowers). The next step is to get them moving via ACS and then the process of adding NPCs can begin.

 

 

 

 

[Chief Smokey]

To give some more life and grit to the city, some new sprite props (mainly trash) have been strewn around. I've also added surveillance cameras and tweaked the level layout in a couple of places to get more use out of previously superfluous areas. 
 

 

 

 

[Chief Smokey]

Finally I've taken the first steps to NPCs. Currently they are immobile and lack any pathfinding abilities (this will be done with ACS scripting eventually) but they do certainly make the environments feel a lot more alive and less lonely.

 

 

 

 

[Chief Smokey]

Acquire your unmonetized televisions!

 

 

[TheCyberDruid]

The design feels spot on. The environments paired with the sound effects (the different foot step effects add quite a bit to it) already create a great atmosphere. Can't wait to play this when it is populated.

[Chief Smokey]

Here's V1.1!

 

 

Because of constant setbacks I've decided to release the build as-is (which is an entirely playable state, no worries) and shelve it for the moment. Over V1.0 it features many quality of life improvements, aesthetic tweaks and most importantly NPCs - albeit still in an unfinished state. It generally feels more "full" and polished.

 

 

 

DOWNLOAD:

 

Google Drive

Mediafire

[TheCyberDruid]

Thank you for the update. Even if it's still pretty much just a walking simulator it's a great example of what you can achieve using GZDoom. Really like the sound design in '2001 Manhack Arcade'. Hopefully you'll get back to this one day.