THEME-GAWAD PROJECT #1

[Demonic Meatball]

@Ofisil Excellent ! I'm starting right away.

Edited April 27, 2022 by Demonic Meatball

[continuum.mid]

I'd like to upload a YouTube video with the soundtrack to this WAD, once it's all finalized

Edited April 27, 2022 by northivanastan

[Demonic Meatball]

16 hours ago, Ofisil said:

 

It's yours!

It's done. Here it is : D_STLKS3.zip

Edited April 28, 2022 by Demonic Meatball

[Ofisil]

30 minutes ago, Demonic Meatball said:

It's done. Here it is : D_STLKS3.zip

 

That was fast haha

Name?

[DFF]

1 hour ago, Demonic Meatball said:

It's done. Here it is : D_STLKS3.zip

Not too shabby of a track for the quick turnaround, thanks for the tune. Also updated my map again to remove the visual issue with the Manc cubes, as well as re-centering the map and an extra secret.

[DFF]

@Nimiauredhel
map11:
Nothing major to report, a really fun concept with the landing ship, and i like the mostly non-linear design. One chaingunner (thing 51) failed to wakeup in a closet. Unlike his shotgun neighbor in sector 327 his sector seems to not have been joined (secotor 258) so he cannot react to any noise. Also the map features 2 large Cells on hard for a nonexistent plasma gun (this is only on easy and medium difficulties). Maybe worth removing these on hard or changing them to other ammo/backpacks/power ups or whatever.

[Demonic Meatball]

9 hours ago, Ofisil said:

 

That was fast haha

Name?

Cultist Slaughter

[xScavengerWolfx]

35 minutes ago, Demonic Meatball said:

Cultist Slaughter

I won't lie that sounds like a metal as fuck name for the game blood right there lol

[Demonic Meatball]

Updated the midi, cuz I wasn't too happy with the sound mixing, and also because I made it repeat itself within the file, which is just a waste of space.

 

D_STLKS3.zip

 

also,

57 minutes ago, xScavengerWolfx said:

I won't lie that sounds like a metal as fuck name for the game blood right there lol

Ikr ? Since the map theme was "temple", I thought the Charcoal Pit doubled as a satanic worship place or someting.

So, when you go there, you slaughter cultists.

[Demonic Meatball]

13 hours ago, DFF said:

Also updated my map again to remove the visual issue with the Manc cubes, as well as re-centering the map and an extra secret.

 

The extra secret is on quite the tight timer, could you please find a way to loosen it up a bit ?

Beating that timer just for a Berzerk Pack demands quite a lot of effort.

[DFF]

1 hour ago, Demonic Meatball said:

 

The extra secret is on quite the tight timer, could you please find a way to loosen it up a bit ?

Beating that timer just for a Berzerk Pack demands quite a lot of effort.

Can do, I think I forgot to time it myself. I tend to note map changes and sometimes forget to test them immediately. Think I got distracted by the man cube errors.

[Demonic Meatball]

@DFF While I'm at it, the lost soul in the plasma gun secret can wake up and attack you during the baron stair fight. Is it intended ?

 

Speaking of that fight, the chaingun in the center of it is a bit unnecessary, since there is one in the starting room.

If the chaingun's point is baiting, there are more useful things you could put, like megaarmor for exemple.

Edited April 28, 2022 by Demonic Meatball

[DFF]

1 hour ago, Demonic Meatball said:

@DFF While I'm at it, the lost soul in the plasma gun secret can wake up and attack you during the baron stair fight. Is it intended ?

 

Speaking of that fight, the chaingun in the center of it is a bit unnecessary, since there is one in the starting room.

If the chaingun's the point is baiting, there are more useful things you could put, like megaarmor for exemple.

I will take a look at it. The lost soul's entire intention was to potentially show the player that the window is not impassable. I figured for that secret it could use an extra clue. 

As for the chaingun, i might change it to a SSG or something, that way the player can chose either temple exit to get an SSG, both have their own challenges. Ill think on it but i appreciate the mentions/critiques.

[DFF]

Alright, Map17 V1.4 or so, re-link here.
-Added a SSG, more shells, health, and a Manc trap tied to the baron area
-increased time to reach the berserk secret so its doable, added invul for better reward (Requres SR50 likely to make it).
Hopefully that covers things.

Edited April 28, 2022 by DFF

[Nimiauredhel]

20 hours ago, DFF said:

@Nimiauredhel
map11:
Nothing major to report, a really fun concept with the landing ship, and i like the mostly non-linear design. One chaingunner (thing 51) failed to wakeup in a closet. Unlike his shotgun neighbor in sector 327 his sector seems to not have been joined (secotor 258) so he cannot react to any noise. Also the map features 2 large Cells on hard for a nonexistent plasma gun (this is only on easy and medium difficulties). Maybe worth removing these on hard or changing them to other ammo/backpacks/power ups or whatever.

 

Ahh I'll get around to fixing those soon then. Thank you for checking :D

[xScavengerWolfx]

I'm giving an update on the MAP03 i'm doing. The good news is i got the layout done! Yay! now i'm going through and doing touch up, adding decorations and such....The bad news is it taking a while because since i redone all of it i need to figure out where i want to do enemy placements, ammo, health and item pick ups at as well. 

 

I hope i can get it ready for playtesting by Saturday or Sunday. I had to take short breaks because it was taking a toll on my mental health but if your going to ask if i'm ok, the answer is yes i'm fine but i want to get this send off as fast as i can. 

 

Funny enough it only took a week to remake the entire map (within the 3072 x 3072 boarders by the way). Just wanted to give this update and keep everyone in the loop of what's going on with it. 

 

Side note: I was thinking of changing the name of it to something like "Abandon minds" or "unearthed sorrow" I don't know which one i wanna use yet. Let me know which one fits better for the map when i post it for play testing. 

 

[Demonic Meatball]

On 4/28/2022 at 9:34 PM, DFF said:

Alright, Map17 V1.4 or so, re-link here.
-Added a SSG, more shells, health, and a Manc trap tied to the baron area
-increased time to reach the berserk secret so its doable, added invul for better reward (Requres SR50 likely to make it).
Hopefully that covers things.

 

Oh it covers those problems, but it creates more minor ones :

 

-The Invuln Secret is fine, but now the berzerk feels like too much, placed there in the middle of the stairs.

A good solution would be to move it to the northern pinky fight, replacing the SSG. and maybe put some armor bonuses on the stairs, idk.

 

-You chose to put a box of shells where the chaingun previously was in the baron stair fight, putting the SSG further down the stairs. It should be the other way around. The way this area is set up makes those 20 shells look more important than the gun used to fire them, which, I think we both agree, is a bit dumb.

 

Other than that, a topic I should have brought up earlier is the difficulty management. On UV it's fine, but for the rest it's a bit erratic, and mostly too hard to actually be considered "balanced for the selected difficulty".

For exemple, since we just talked about it, that baron stair fight doesn't have difficulty implemented, aside from that teleporter trap. Other exemple, the fight right next to that, the angular corridor fight. The first wave has these enemies depending ont the difficulty:

                                                     - UV/NM : A bunch of imps, and 3 spiders. Simple, efficient, and fits the level's layout. Awesome.

                                                     - HMP : The same bunch of imps, and 2 spiders. Standard, would be better with a bit less imps, but ok.

                                                     - HNTR/ITYTD : Yet again the same bunch of imps, and 3 mancubi. dafaq ?

Other than that, excellent level, with a pretty cool layout and the fights on UV never disappoint.

Edited May 4, 2022 by Demonic Meatball

[DFF]

I'll take a look at some areas that need better difficulty implementation. I will also consider rehousing the berserk. There is a good point about the baton fight presentation. I wanted the SSG deeper outside so the player had to really commit to grabbing it. I can move the shells into the baron cubby or divide it into scattered single shells. But I want the SSG to be further from the mouth of the building. I think the player could grab it and run into the narrow corridors rather easily.

[xScavengerWolfx]

Alright, alright, alright after a week of basically busting my ass re making this map i can finally say that it's done! At least for play testing. 

 

Now I kept with the theme of cave/cavern with a bit of a mining flair to it. I played tested it so much that i'm so burnt out that i just wanna take a break lol. 

 

Anyways just a heads up the second half of the map i used a bit of hell rocks and such, if it's too much then i can change it to normal rock textures. I also didn't really put to much decorations right now because i was more worried about getting the layout and placements done that i might of been sloppy with some things but in the end i think it turned out great. 

 

I want to warn you that yes it's a bit switch heavy as well but i made it that way because i blocked off some areas so you couldn't just run pass areas and be like "well that was lame", I added a single teleporter for the exit, speaking of exit i changed the exit so now when you walk though the teleporter you get send off to a room where there's a switch lowers the wall that leads to an exit. When you play it you'll know what i mean. 

 

Ok so here it is, the reworked version of Cavern of......actually i want to change the name to Abandon Minds. Yes minds not mines, I know sounds metal of fuck right lol. 

 

Have fun tearing the map apart i mean giving feed back on it. I also i added E3M5 midi as a placeholder for the music so no need to sweat over if i have DMCA music in the map. 

 

Enjoy and let me know if this was a better version of the map03 then the OG one i had to work on when starting. Oh and by the way this took me an week to re make the entire map from the ground up. 

 

Edit: I'm too tired to take screen shots at the moment of posting this. Sorry.

 

Abandon Minds.zip

Edited April 30, 2022 by xScavengerWolfx

[Demonic Meatball]

Funny. I would have imagined the last day of possible map submission to have more poeple rush to, well, submit their maps.

[xScavengerWolfx]

7 minutes ago, Demonic Meatball said:

Funny. I would have imagined the last day of possible map submission to have more poeple rush to, well, submit their maps.

I have way too much on my hands lol. Also idk if he has moved the deadline since were still down 4 maps or what's going on. I guess we'll wait and see. 

[Ofisil]

@xScavengerWolfx

Ok, this is definately an improvement, especially visually - it has a very good sense of place. Your first map felt like a beginner's map. the new one feels like it was made from a more confident hand. I also like how it feels like a D1 map (despite the extreme linearity).

 

Some things to change/improve:

1) First of all, no spectres allowed. Don't replace them with another monster though. I believe removing those completly would improve the pace quite a lot, and balance the challange a bit.

2) Remove the bars that you can walk through

3) TOO many switches to push, that open paths, with NEW switches to push - I don't want you to remove them altogether or rework your map again, but do try and remove a few (two or three) "extra" steps that mainly slow things down.

 

Generally, this is much better than before, so I would like to use Abandon Minds in slot03

[Demonic Meatball]

@xScavengerWolfx Hey just played your new map03. Here's what I have to say.

 

The level is overall pretty good. The fights especially are solid, great and clever enemy placement (aside from one thing, we'll get to it later)

and the rooms you fight the monsters in are quite efficient. And then there's the fight right before the yellow key, which contradicts

everything I just said in the best way possible. That little rectangular room is so jam-packed with enemies it's almost hilarious.

 

Now for the problems. Ther's mainly one : I suppose you were gonna work on them anyway, but this map absolutely needs better aesthetics.

Most big rooms look like mone another, and I'm pretty sure there are thing you can do with decoration to make your level less confusing.

Some switches need clarification on what they do, like the first switch one presses after entering the proper mine, or the one that opens the

hidden switch giving access to the red key room  (why is it hidden btw ?). It's a real shame, not only because tle aesthetics is what I remember

the most about Caverns of Sorrow (your previous map03), but also because there's so much things to do with decoration in a mine : stalagtites,

stalagmites (either created by sectors or directly by using the "stalagmite" obstacle), seams of coal/metal... Clearly you've got options !

 

Other than that, nitpick time :

                                       - No Secrets ?

                                       - It may be intentional, but you can cheese the backpack encounter near the yellow key room

                                         by shooting through the "fence"

                                       - Speakin' of, going to get that backpack opens a door to continue through the level, which is a bit wierd since

                                         every door before that one is opened by a switch.

And finally, the nitpickiest of all nitpicks :

                                       - The path to the backpack encounter is the darkest in the map, and it has 2 lamps. That makes no sense.

Edited May 4, 2022 by Demonic Meatball

[xScavengerWolfx]

41 minutes ago, Ofisil said:

@xScavengerWolfx

Ok, this is definately an improvement, especially visually - it has a very good sense of place. Your first map felt like a beginner's map. the new one feels like it was made from a more confident hand. I also like how it feels like a D1 map (despite the extreme linearity).

 

Some things to change/improve:

1) First of all, no spectres allowed. Don't replace them with another monster though. I believe removing those completly would improve the pace quite a lot, and balance the challange a bit.

2) Remove the bars that you can walk through

3) TOO many switches to push, that open paths, with NEW switches to push - I don't want you to remove them altogether or rework your map again, but do try and remove a few (two or three) "extra" steps that mainly slow things down.

 

Generally, this is much better than before, so I would like to use Abandon Minds in slot03

Ok i'll get to work on making it more flowable and as far as the bars go, i did that because i wanted it to be like the uac was trying to make the tracks but ended up blocking it off due to the demonic invasion. I will remove them so you can get go through them. 

 

The too many switches thing, i knew that was going to be an issue but i can chop them down to like two or three (depends on what i want to do) and i forgot about the damn spectators i forgot i couldn't use them, my bad. 

 

Overall: i'll get the newer version done as soon as i can.  

[Demonic Meatball]

@xScavengerWolfx To complete @Ofisil's review, here's a few ideas of removable switches :

Spoiler

 

This one is so unnecessary, just use the switch that reveals this one to open the door to the red key.

This one doesn't feel unnecessary, it feels like its whole purpose is to waste your time.

These 2 feel less unnecessary, but you can remove them if you want.

 

 

Also, he didn't mean EVERY Bars, he just meant these ones :

Spoiler

 

[Demonic Meatball]

And for the .midi, I think Cavern of Sorrow's music will go just fine.

[xScavengerWolfx]

@Demonic Meatball: Ok i'll fix it to where some of them open other areas when back tracking, if it's only those bars then i can get rid of them and leave it open. The midi was done by SnyDoom but yes i agree it works well for the map. 

 

Overall: I will get it fixed and hopefully the newer version will be better then this one. But like i've always said i always like hearing feed back because it make me get better at mapping and also to show off my skills as a new mapper. 

 

@Ofisil: I'm glade you enjoyed it and want to use it, i tell you what though....it was one hell of a week remaking that map from the ground up, but i did at least post it before deadline (unless you changed the deadline). 

 

I'll get the newer version done and send off as soon as i can. Taking a mini break from mapping at the moment. But it will be done. 

[Ofisil]

Okay people. Time for the major update.

I'm setting the FINAL-final deadline to June 30. It's only fair to extend the time as I've been quite slow this past months due to work, but after that, that's it.

 

Send over complete maps when ready, or even updates and fixes on finished maps, as I'll slowly start testing the whole megawad, and occasionally alter minor things in maps whenever it's needed - but I'll need the mappers to help with the bigger issues.

 

After the deadline, I'll handle the rest of the maps (if there are any), and take my sweet time to prepare the whole thing :D

Thank you people for all your work - I'm a first-timer project coordinator, so I'm sure I've made plenty of mistakes while handling this, but I'm quite happy with the results so far.

 

Cheers!

[ViolentBeetle]

I think I could be able to fill in or co-author a map if someone who's still haven't submitted needs support. I don't think I saw @eLeR Creative in a while, in particular, so I can help because I'd really like to see this project get off the ground sooner rather than later.

[Demonic Meatball]

@Ofisil Do you want a custom Story for the wad ?