Heartland - final version available on idgames

[baja blast rd.]

8 hours ago, Lorenz0 said:

I enjoyed all the new monsters and weapons in most cases, though I was irritated a few times at how hard to use the new weapons can be.

 

(I'm not questioning your experience or trying to devalidate your feedback, I am just stealing the opportunity to talk about meta.)

 

Spoiler

That was my early experience with these weapons, but I think part of getting more comfortable with 'em is realizing they aren't as scary and self-destructive as they look. 
 

You have to get pretty close to a flame, or be forced to run right into a little cluster of them you laid, for it to hurt much. Taking something like 50 total self-damage throughout a fight isn't all that bad considering how much health is lying around in Heartland. And once you feel comfy using it with some risk, the flamethrower's DPS, which is a lot higher than the plasma rifle's, starts to shine. (Literally because it's a fire.)  

 

The cluster bomb launcher looks horrifying at first, but unless you mistake it for a battering ram, you get a substantial grace period to back away from the imminent cluster blast. The key to using it well, and a fun part of the risk, is firing it around and through gaps in monsters. A gang of imps closing in on you, some meatier monsters behind? Send one between a hole in the imp formation. Due to autoaim, that is tricky. As a weapon, the CBL is weaker than the BFG (unless you are whittling down a horde from afar), but I respect that Heartland as a whole is designed around the absence of a nuclear option. We can say "hey this fight would be easier if the slot 7 weapon were a BFG." But then again, it might not have been designed that way if the slot 7 weapon were a BFG.

 

As an aside, the cluster bomb launcher feels consciously designed knowing that it would go into a skillsaw mapset, where rockets so abundant it's hard to use all the rockets in a map with just the basic rocket launcher. Even spamming the CBL wastefully at times, I don't think I fully exhausted rockets in the maps it was available. So considering that freedom, it is probably in the same range of a power spike as a BFG that isn't in a "BFG spam" map -- you don't get a handful of surgically applied (or panic-ejected) high-powered nukes every now and then, but you do get lots of prolonged DPS.

 

The gaps created by the missing cell weapons are filled by some of the other weapons:

 

The dual SMGs are now the "plasma rifle" equivalent. Dual SMGs fall short of the plasma rifle's DPS (at least I think so, I don't know the exact numbers), but they can buy you space and time to whip out the flamethrower or cluster bomb launcher. By letting you switch back to the single SMG, and providing the dual pistols as an option, Heartland improves it over a typical bullet eater in terms of flexibility. You no longer have to either guzzle ammo or plink away with little in between. You can also cha-cha stuff like usual.

 

And it's not elegant, but the berserk-modified fire axe can help you escape being cornered against certain compositions better than anything but the vanilla BFG. It deals 50-500 damage, or 2.5x the berserk fist, and it hacks at stuff from shockingly far away (although remember to hug mancubi and arachnotrons, whose hitboxes are big and make distant swings fail to register). A wall of hell knights I need to fend off or punch a gap through? I'd prefer the 'zerked axe to the plasma rifle in many cases, although it is trickier to use. 

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by rd.

[Breezeep]

32 minutes ago, NaturalTvventy said:

I would play this, but I don't know how to make eternity full screen.

Then why post? If you want to make Eternity fullscreen, navigate to options -> video options. Once there select the windowed / fullscreen option via the "favorite sceen mode" tab. Then select "choose a mode" and select your desired screen resolution.

[LVENdead]

@rd. well said about the weapon meta, this is pretty much my exact experience as well.

 

The flamethrower is a great permutation of the PG for the reasons you specified. It's noticeably more powerful, but much less effective as a panic "let me cut my way out of this mess" type of weapon because of how easy it is to kill yourself with it. This opens up space for the Dual Skorpions to have a role in the crowd control space - even though they seem far more effective against single enemies. I mean, given how high the fire rate is, with the Dual Skorps it's almost impossible to NOT proc a pain state on any single monster, including Archies. Very reliable stunlock. I absolutely love this aspect.

[ViolentBeetle]

On Map 5, is jumping from the room with an axe down onto the lower level of the crane while it is still moving and riding further the intended progression, secret or sequence break?

[Enterim]

I encountered a softlock on MAP04, immediately before the red key fight:

 

https://imgur.com/a/q1eThtT

 

I jumped off this ledge looking for secrets and ended up stuck behind a bush (and a tree, before I went back to take screenshots after loading a save).

[skillsaw]

7 hours ago, ViolentBeetle said:

On Map 5, is jumping from the room with an axe down onto the lower level of the crane while it is still moving and riding further the intended progression, secret or sequence break?

 

It is the tiniest of sequence breaks, you skip a handful of monsters (and not much else). To go back and kill them, you would need to reset the entire bridge sequence and go through it again by calling the bridge back to the stairs to the outdoor area.

[Antkibo]

12 hours ago, NaturalTvventy said:

I would play this, but I don't know how to make eternity full screen.

You can pass the -fullscreen flag to all (most?) sourceports to make them fullscreen if nothing else works.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Antkibo

[esselfortium]

I think there are a few ways to do it, but I just go into the video options menu and replace the "w" at the end of the resolution with an "f".

[Angelloproduct]

On 3/3/2021 at 9:34 PM, Egg Boy said:

HOLY SHIT

IKR 

[stewboy]

I've put the soundtrack up on Bandcamp now if anyone's interested: https://stuartrynn.bandcamp.com/album/doom-heartland-ost

[skillsaw]

RC3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fjtrn7f9xxmz6n4/heartland_rc3.zip?dl=1

 

This will probably be the last release candidate before the final release.

• Tweaked the end text, final boss death effect, and added an endmap.
  • The finale room is now a point of no return but this should be clearly signposted. You've been warned!
• Fixed various softlocks and sequence breaks throughout
  • MAP01 - fixed softlock where you could get stuck behind a truck in the gas station
  • MAP03 - you can no longer sequence break by getting the YK early by using the teleporter in the megasphere secret
  • MAP04 stuck behind trees softlock fixed
  • MAP05 rafter softlock in grell room fixed
  • MAP05 fix softlocks behind rubble/girders
  • MAP07 fixed softlock where you could jump back to the starting bridge and not be allowed back in
• Made a number of encounters a bit more difficult to cheese
  • MAP03 water lowering fight
  • MAP05 furnace room
  • MAP07 final fight
• Tuned a few fights up or down
  • MAP04 minor nerf to chaingunner room of death
  • MAP05 YK fight has more dudes
  • MAP06 mancs can leave their boxes
  • MAP06 Cyberdemon placement tweaked
• Ensured each map has a melee weapon
• Tuned skill 1 -- monster counts have dropped considerably on skill 1
• Added skill levels to MAP02, MAP03, and MAP04, which somehow I missed
• Random texture alignments, HOM fixes, minor signposting, etc

[Turbine2k5]

4 hours ago, stewboy said:

I've put the soundtrack up on Bandcamp now if anyone's interested: https://stuartrynn.bandcamp.com/album/doom-heartland-ost

Reminder to y'all who are going to buy it to wait until Bandcamp Friday so stewboy gets all $3!

[ViolentBeetle]

Map 5: The section from when I flip the switch and a squadron of fliers shows up (Including 2 whole pain elementals) to when I drop down and there's 2 mancs and a bruiser seems to be entirely devoid of ammo pickups. I guess I should have saved some ammo, but it's not very fair. I came in low on ammo and had to run by and now I'm trapped and will probably have to restart.

[Yugiboy85]

4 hours ago, Turbine2k5 said:

Reminder to y'all who are going to buy it to wait until Bandcamp Friday so stewboy gets all $3!

 

A shit, too late. Well, I did give him 10 AUD I guess instead of 3. So maybe that makes up for it? haha

[stewboy]

Don't worry too much about Bandcamp Fridays. Maybe if I was making a million dollars a week, it would make a difference, but as it is it'll only add up to a few dollars difference for me.

[ReaperAA]

On 3/13/2021 at 8:04 AM, skillsaw said:

RC3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fjtrn7f9xxmz6n4/heartland_rc3.zip?dl=1

 

This will probably be the last release candidate before the final release.

• Tweaked the end text, final boss death effect, and added an endmap

 

I just tried the map 7 boss fight and after completing the map, I got the score screen, but didn't get the end text. I just entered the endmap which is a dark map with nothing but endless looping portals. Is this normal?

[skillsaw]

5 hours ago, ReaperAA said:

 

I just tried the map 7 boss fight and after completing the map, I got the score screen, but didn't get the end text. I just entered the endmap which is a dark map with nothing but endless looping portals. Is this normal?

 

Yes. The endmap does end.

[ReaperAA]

27 minutes ago, skillsaw said:

 

Yes. The endmap does end.

 

You can exit the endmap?

 

EDIT: Okay I got it. I managed to end the map.

Spoiler

You just wait until you die and get a death exit and then get to intermission screen

 

Still I think this could confuse people into thinking that this level cannot be ended.

 

Edited March 14, 2021 by ReaperAA

[dew]

11 hours ago, ReaperAA said:

Still I think this could confuse people into thinking that this level cannot be ended.

Those people don't listen to their heart.

[Spectre01]

In map01, if you climb out of the secret manhole leading up to the gas station, then the shortcut back to the starting subway won't open and spawn in the last few enemies. I had to climb back down the normal sewer exit to trigger them.

[Worst]

In map02, while looking for secrets, found a spot behind one of the crates on fire, where you can get stuck in the gap between the crate and the wall. (You can also fall inside the crate, but there you can at least end your suffering by walking into the fire.)

Spoiler

 

[skillsaw]

Thanks again! I've fixed these issues in my local copy and they should get out there in the next release.

 

16 hours ago, Spectre01 said:

In map01, if you climb out of the secret manhole leading up to the gas station, then the shortcut back to the starting subway won't open and spawn in the last few enemies. I had to climb back down the normal sewer exit to trigger them.

 

Hoo boy, that takes a very specific sequence of events (I believe you have to exit the gas station through the garage door by the car wash, but only after exiting the other door and returning?). In any case, I've added some extra triggers near the blue key to make sure the monsters can teleport in before you grab it.

[punch you in the face man]

The switch that starts the moving platform trap in MAP05 is a little hard to see from the side, my brother thought he softlocked the map and didn't progress for like a week because he missed the switch. Could the side of that be a brighter metal texture to match the switch face and stand out from the environment?

[Murdoch]

Finally took time to play the first map of this and holy balls. Challenging and fun, and pretty much a game changer. The use of 3D architecture is incredible. The killer app Eternity has needed and deserved for years.

[scar3crow]

Couldn't find this in the topic, in map02 the elevator to the two Arch Viles has a normal door on the inside, but blue key locked on the outside. I can't tell if I'm incidentally sequence breaking here, or if the blue lock being one-sided is to ensure I finish the upcoming fight, since the blue lights are on both sides of the door.

 

This has been great thus far though, thank you for making it :)

 

Spoiler

 

[skillsaw]

On 3/15/2021 at 3:47 PM, punch you in the face man said:

The switch that starts the moving platform trap in MAP05 is a little hard to see from the side, my brother thought he softlocked the map and didn't progress for like a week because he missed the switch. Could the side of that be a brighter metal texture to match the switch face and stand out from the environment?

 

Not sure how much more obvious I can make it... there's really nowhere else to go if you're already on the bridge. If he was playing RC1 there was a bug that prevented that switch from lowering. Maybe he ran into that?

 

52 minutes ago, scar3crow said:

I can't tell if I'm incidentally sequence breaking here

Thanks! Not a sequence break, just some weirdness with how the triggers are set up. It's not intentional that those doors be locked at all (they should open automatically when needed).

[punch you in the face man]

1 hour ago, skillsaw said:

If he was playing RC1 there was a bug that prevented that switch from lowering. Maybe he ran into that?

 

Nope, he just missed it somehow. Can't imagine many other players not seeing it so leave it as is, I was honestly confused when he messaged me something like "I'm stuck on the moving platform puzzle", lol.

[Suitepee]

https://youtu.be/gtLUupmj96Y = part 1. (maps 1-4)

https://youtu.be/oEJ7GhO9_ac = part 2. (maps 5-8)

 

Map 6 was my favourite. On a few occasions I found myself thinking "this is like something on the Build engine". Was also glad to see that it didn't end with an Icon of Sin fight. I'm sure this'll be winning a Cacoward come the end of the year.

 

I'm also curious to see if this actually sparks some kind of Eternity Engine wad-making bandwagon or not, but good job with this wad regardless @skillsaw.

[andreadworkin4thaweekend]

this was amazing. thank you for sharing it.

[skillsaw]

1 hour ago, Suitepee said:

I'm also curious to see if this actually sparks some kind of Eternity Engine wad-making bandwagon or not, but good job with this wad regardless

 

Thanks! I'd love to see more stuff for EE so I hope more mappers are willing to give it a shot.