THEME-GAWAD PROJECT #1

[xScavengerWolfx]

So it's been a while since any activity has happened here for a while. I did want to ask if anyone has played the updated reworked of map 03 i did a while ago? I know i know everyone is busy with real life stuff but i was wanted to know in case i had to do some more rework on it, if not then i guess it's ready to be thrown in the pile. 

 

I do want to address about map31 Sanity Breaker. I was replaying it myself (since i got nothing else better to do at the moment), i notice that i might have to do a bit more reworking on that as well. But i would love to hear feed back on that as well. If it's fine and doesn't need rework then i'll leave it alone, if it does then i'll get started on it as soon as i can. 

 

Hope y'all having fun mapping and play testing. 

[DFF]

17 hours ago, xScavengerWolfx said:

So it's been a while since any activity has happened here for a while. I did want to ask if anyone has played the updated reworked of map 03 i did a while ago? I know i know everyone is busy with real life stuff but i was wanted to know in case i had to do some more rework on it, if not then i guess it's ready to be thrown in the pile. 

 

I do want to address about map31 Sanity Breaker. I was replaying it myself (since i got nothing else better to do at the moment), i notice that i might have to do a bit more reworking on that as well. But i would love to hear feed back on that as well. If it's fine and doesn't need rework then i'll leave it alone, if it does then i'll get started on it as soon as i can. 

 

Hope y'all having fun mapping and play testing. 

Ill see if i can take a look at both of those soon.
Is there a link to map31?

Edited May 14, 2022 by DFF

[DFF]

@Azuris
Map20: Like the overall contrasting map elements. Rather reminds me of E3M3 Pandemonium. There are some very strange texture and detail compinations present but they are well implemented and feel like they belong.
Thing 228 (zombieman, crate room) is stuck in the wall. Line 1492 is misaligned (crate), line 2560 is misaligned (slime room). Line 2204, 2257, and 2260 have lerge sector bleeding (I think) hard to say but maybe worthwhile moving all the vertices on the sides of the red key arena to fix this. Sectors 226 and 179 have a strange sector tag effect. They close after 30 seconds and are considered separate secrets. Im not sure the point of this or if intended, as they are unreachable secrets ( and don't give anything), and the only effect i see this having is if the player speedruns to this fight and kills the mancubi in them the areas close off (which also seem to have an untextured upper so these would bleed anyways. I believe these to be leftover or erroneous tags and should likely be removed. Lastly the player can't return to the 1st half of the map as sector 86 cannot be reopened from the blue key side. There should be a way to open this door from the other side of the map.

There are a bunch of other strange and esoteric design choices present but they look fine and don't affect gameplay (having 2 unrelated doors both operate on tag 6  or random walls be actually 0 sector height floors) so they are perfectly fine as is. Fun map and overall chaotic but well implemented. Only other complaint is that the health given in the 2nd half of the map  is a bit tight and leaves little error room, maybe could use a couple more stims but I managed.

 

@Dwimepon
Map22: Line 1600 has some bleeding, vertex 1010 has bleeding, line 437 has bleeding, line 535 has major bleeding and for some reason is joined with the crusher and the wall moves with the crusher, line 2118 is mistextured, linedefs 2142 and 680 are maybe mistextured and open up the megasphere secret in an odd way (likely missed by the player, or triggered by accident), i think having only the eyeball act as the trigger is better here. A megasphere without any foes to fight is a bit akward as it serve little purpose in your map but sets the player up to crush the next person's map easier via continuous, but its really a mapping philosophy thing and likely not an issue. Ammo is also a little to plentiful considering there's only 15 monsters, i'd reduce the shells by 20. and move the ammo in the end arch vile rooms in front of the fake door, this way they are reachable before the fight (rather than after when they are unnessesary) and give the player a nice treat for your trap.

Overall a rather frightening transitional map. little gameplay bit has some very nice atmosphere, very enjoyable.

[xScavengerWolfx]

1 hour ago, DFF said:

Is there a link to map31?

It's in the beta wad last time i check

 

[DFF]

1 minute ago, xScavengerWolfx said:

It's in the beta wad last time i check

 

My version of the beta only has 32.

[xScavengerWolfx]

38 minutes ago, DFF said:

My version of the beta only has 32.

Here's map03 and map31 thank god i keep the files in case for stuff like this

Abandon Minds.zip

Sanity Breaker (A Theme-gawad project map) V2.zip

[DFF]

@xScavengerWolfx
Map31: this does feel very similar to your map03. perhaps a little more varied with the slow transition to flesh and blood from rock, but still very close: an extremely linear and tight map with lots of winding progression. It is a bit impressive the amount of map you can pack into the allotted space, however more is not always better, as the map just feels really long. the combat is mostly generic (aside from the odd crusher rooms) as the map is mainly thin to slightly breathable corridors. It is very unique and there is no shortness on detail present, but the core gameplay feels rather mild (not to be taken too harshly, but an area for improvement may be to think of creative ways to spice up gameplay. monster closets are good but 15 minutes of monster closet hallways need a little variety). It did feel a lot better than the first version of map03 though (haven't tried the 2nd). 

There was sector bleeds but with how many vertices there are i can't justify scouring for all of them when the impact is pretty minimal. One think to keep in mind is that while great decoration, a lot of the hanging corpses unfortunately block the player, and one nasty example is thing 131. its high up and dark so its really hard to see, but i got trapped in that room and couldn't figure out why i was stuck there. May look cool but this one really should be removed. Thing 282 and 364 (2 imps) should not have hard difficulty selected as they clip into the cacodemons.

 

another issue that was worth mentioning is how ammo is distributed. A lot was given at the start and majority of the map gave very little to refill. I ran out of ammo several times and was forced to punch a lot of beefier enemies. This is not necessarily bad but with this map design its kinda annoying being stuck in a tight hallway and having to punch HKs and an archvile to death. Perhaps spread them out a bit more in the map, and introduce a chaingun earlier? Ammo balance overall was quite on point actually, just redistribute it so the player gets a little more earlier (giving the player max cells throughout the map before even getting a plasma gun feels very odd, as its just unused ammo and when you get the plasma gun you have more than enough to mow everything down immediately). Also if the intention is for the player to punch a bunch of monsters, i'd remove the chainsaw. an unfortunate doom quirk is that the chainsaw will always be picked over fists when pressing 1. its a hard call since some players may want the chainsaw, but had i known the map would require berserking, and being given on at the start, i would have not touched it as it made things just a tad more difficult. Final bit, the secret exit is kinda cool in setup, not fully sold on how you first access it but thats alright, however please don't make the player backtrack through the whole map again for the exit itself. Its unessesary and adds confusion. just make the exit open to start with.

Also the big cyberdemon crusher area looks fine on its own, but that part of the map does look very different from the rest, being very simple in its wall texturing and design. while not a bad thing, its a noticeable shift in style, just noting.

A bit of text but when i feel there can be some good map improvements i take the time to discuss it. 

[xScavengerWolfx]

11 minutes ago, DFF said:

@xScavengerWolfx
Map31: this does feel very similar to your map03. perhaps a little more varied with the slow transition to flesh and blood from rock, but still very close: an extremely linear and tight map with lots of winding progression. It is a bit impressive the amount of map you can pack into the allotted space, however more is not always better, as the map just feels really long. the combat is mostly generic (aside from the odd crusher rooms) as the map is mainly thin to slightly breathable corridors. It is very unique and there is no shortness on detail present, but the core gameplay feels rather mild (not to be taken too harshly, but an area for improvement may be to think of creative ways to spice up gameplay. monster closets are good but 15 minutes of monster closet hallways need a little variety). It did feel a lot better than the first version of map03 though (haven't tried the 2nd). 

There was sector bleeds but with how many vertices there are i can't justify scouring for all of them when the impact is pretty minimal. One think to keep in mind is that while great decoration, a lot of the hanging corpses unfortunately block the player, and one nasty example is thing 131. its high up and dark so its really hard to see, but i got trapped in that room and couldn't figure out why i was stuck there. May look cool but this one really should be removed. Thing 282 and 364 (2 imps) should not have hard difficulty selected as they clip into the cacodemons.

 

another issue that was worth mentioning is how ammo is distributed. A lot was given at the start and majority of the map gave very little to refill. I ran out of ammo several times and was forced to punch a lot of beefier enemies. This is not necessarily bad but with this map design its kinda annoying being stuck in a tight hallway and having to punch HKs and an archvile to death. Perhaps spread them out a bit more in the map, and introduce a chaingun earlier? Ammo balance overall was quite on point actually, just redistribute it so the player gets a little more earlier (giving the player max cells throughout the map before even getting a plasma gun feels very odd, as its just unused ammo and when you get the plasma gun you have more than enough to mow everything down immediately). Also if the intention is for the player to punch a bunch of monsters, i'd remove the chainsaw. an unfortunate doom quirk is that the chainsaw will always be picked over fists when pressing 1. its a hard call since some players may want the chainsaw, but had i known the map would require berserking, and being given on at the start, i would have not touched it as it made things just a tad more difficult. Final bit, the secret exit is kinda cool in setup, not fully sold on how you first access it but thats alright, however please don't make the player backtrack through the whole map again for the exit itself. Its unessesary and adds confusion. just make the exit open to start with.

Also the big cyberdemon crusher area looks fine on its own, but that part of the map does look very different from the rest, being very simple in its wall texturing and design. while not a bad thing, its a noticeable shift in style, just noting.

A bit of text but when i feel there can be some good map improvements i take the time to discuss it. 

Thanks for the feed back but there is one thing i'm going to point out though: The theme was survival/limit ammo. The very first one had way too much ammo. the second one had way too much ammo and health. So i did some more work around and i had it where i wanted it. 

 

Now as far as the exit goes i will do a rework of that because when i was play testing it last night i notices that i put a switch where the teleporter goes to the blood room (I.e the room with the switches one to the normal exit and the other that leads to the secret exit). I will fix that and i will other things as well. 

 

The cyber demon and the crushers to be honest it was a beautiful accident i made. I didn't expect it to work out so well, but like i said i will do some reworks and fix the issues like the exit that leads to the super secret exit. 

 

Since i got the end of june, i got time to fix it and make it more fun hopfully.  

[DFF]

27 minutes ago, xScavengerWolfx said:

Thanks for the feed back but there is one thing i'm going to point out though: The theme was survival/limit ammo. The very first one had way too much ammo. the second one had way too much ammo and health. So i did some more work around and i had it where i wanted it. 

 

Now as far as the exit goes i will do a rework of that because when i was play testing it last night i notices that i put a switch where the teleporter goes to the blood room (I.e the room with the switches one to the normal exit and the other that leads to the secret exit). I will fix that and i will other things as well. 

 

The cyber demon and the crushers to be honest it was a beautiful accident i made. I didn't expect it to work out so well, but like i said i will do some reworks and fix the issues like the exit that leads to the super secret exit. 

 

Since i got the end of june, i got time to fix it and make it more fun hopfully.  

The cyberdemon fight feels fine by itself, kinda interesting, just was a comment about the detailing of the rooms themselves feels different stylisticallky than the rest of the map.

Survival is fine, i'd just suggest spacing the ammo out a bit more, or since this map features several teleports to new areas, divide up the ammo a bit more so there's like checkpoint resupplies. there is already a bit of that in there, but it still felt a bit off. Definitely the plasma given and the plasma gun removes that feeling of "survival" since the player is fully loaded.

[DFF]

Made a slight update to map17, just widened the bookcase stairway to allow demons to better travel it, and locked the revs to guarding the yellow key door.

[DFF]

@E.M.
Map23: nothing to report, solid map with consistent theming and a nice non-linear structure. 

@Rymante
Map24: also very solid, a rather difficult map that used its monster count and layout very well to keep the player moving. First map that truly felt like it was meant to be played continuously as ammo was very tight (but still enough and a bit extra) and the acquisition of new guns often came later. Admittedly a lot of infighting was required. Nothing i noticed was out of place.

[DFF]

@Titanoxus

Map25: A great and sligthly quirky map, lots of progression around small bits of scenery and cliffs. The instant floors work well for this kind of open map, and i am intrigued by this map's implementation of the fake bridge. I don't fully understand the method used for that bridge but judging by the editor it looks a tiny bit cursed with the glitchy sectors, but its cool. Linedefs 1389, 1327, and 1339 possibly misaligned (wooden arch, both sides have different Y offsets). Midtex on lines 1987 and 1309 are a couple pixels lower than the rest of the fence. Couldn't quite figure out the soulsphere secret in the blue key pit but ill assume its reachable. Overall very nice with only some very minor possible errors.

[DFF]

@KUBA18i

Map27: A very interesting and strange map, definitely a rather interesting concept case. There were many times i almost found the map too dark (despite the point) but i think it was well designed enough that it never became a huge issue. The secrets took me a bit to fully understand, its a very clever and interesting concept, but i also think that the overall darkness makes these extremely hard to fully comprehend ( i almost would suggests making these glyphs full 192 brightness at least). a very cool idea but I don't see the average person figuring it out without cheating in light amplification goggles (like i needed), and i doubt i would have realized the glyph was the  next puzzle room wi8thout just playing through it. Doesn't hurt but i doubt the click will happen in people's heads unless they can clearly see the full picture. Also the clocks are another interesting clue, but the doomcute translation didn't really connect with me until i checked doombuilder and saw the door close after 30 seconds tag. i apologize if i may just not be very clever but i have had some experience with map puzzle elements going over people's heads, sometimes some extra detail or clues help in this regard (maybe a '30' on the clock, and the suggested full bright and maybe extra detail to the sector outline) but these are just some ideas/suggestions, not map issues.

Line 4048 has some sector bleeding. I found that in PRboom 2.6 the light beacons in the first arena failed to light when pressing the eye switches (only knew by checking doombuilder). also the trapezoid design of the sectors can allow the player to get stuck on the sides. rather confusing in the dark and feels like the player gets magnetized to the switches. More confusing and frustrating than anything beneficial i think.

A very creative map that left me pleasantly surprised. part of that impression of being possibly too cramped and dark was because the first arena failed to light properly but thats understood now.

[Thelokk]

Took some time to do some minor beautification to my map - bringing it up to my current mapping standards would require a full remake, which is something I cannot undertake at the moment. 

 

skunkworksv2.wad

 

Gameplay has seen only minor changes - replaying the map after all this months I found it simple, to the point, and more than serviceable - nowhere near as bad as the general consensus makes it out to be. 

[xScavengerWolfx]

Giving an update on my progress: 
 

Sorry i haven't posted anything for a while since i'm still on break from doom mapping at the moment.

 

I will say that i am doing the finishing touches on Map31 (i kinda did a heavy rework on it and made some changes to it) i should have it done by the 31st of may or the 4th of June (since irl stuff have been getting in the way of my free time as well). Also if my map 03 needs more work on it i can do that as well when i get the chance. I think i've posted it before if not i'll repost it as soon as i can. Other wise i think Map03 is ready to toss in the pile if it good enough or needs more fixes. 

 

I'll keep you all posted on the progress and i should have the updated/reworked map31 ready to be playtested by either the 31st of may or the 4th of June. I know i got until the end of June to get it all finished and shipped off but i like to have things done and set before the deadline. 

 

Anyways that's all i got to say about my progress and update on my maps. 

[xScavengerWolfx]

Ok there's the newer version of Sanity Breaker for the community project. 

So there's what i did/changed within the map:

1. Fixed a lot of the issues with having too much ammo and health in the map. 

 

2. Trimmed down some areas and removed most of the monster closets (I did keep at least 1 to 2 of them though). 

 

3. Moved weapons around in some rooms and add ammo to weapons in say rooms. 

 

4. I got rid of the crushers because they we're an after though and they didn't work in my option, but i reworked it so now the Cyber demon can walk out without getting blocked by crushers. 

 

4. A). I also fixed the issue with the exit room as well. I changed it to where now you can go back to the room where the teleported is (You'll see what i mean when playing it). 

 

5. (For UV only) i added a chaingun in the sceret area in the first area where you fight the Cacos and pinkys (i've added a hint to know where the serect is at for the chaingun and ammo). 

 

5. A). (For HMP) The serect where the chaingun is (In UV) has a medkit and some ammo as well. 

 

6. Reworked the exit and serect exit as well. 

 

Overall: This took a while because irl stuff came up and had to take breaks from mapping. With that said here's my updated version of Sanity Breaker, and if need be i will do more work on Map03 if need be other wise Map03 can be added to the pile. 

 

Please let me know if there's anymore issues that need to do fixed and or reworked, i know there's only a month left before actual dead line but i'll try to do more before deadline. 

 

Hope this is better then the last one i uploaded last time. 

Sainty Breaker (Newer version).zip

[Titanoxus]

On 5/24/2022 at 2:57 AM, DFF said:

@Titanoxus

Map25: A great and sligthly quirky map, lots of progression around small bits of scenery and cliffs. The instant floors work well for this kind of open map, and i am intrigued by this map's implementation of the fake bridge. I don't fully understand the method used for that bridge but judging by the editor it looks a tiny bit cursed with the glitchy sectors, but its cool. Linedefs 1389, 1327, and 1339 possibly misaligned (wooden arch, both sides have different Y offsets). Midtex on lines 1987 and 1309 are a couple pixels lower than the rest of the fence. Couldn't quite figure out the soulsphere secret in the blue key pit but ill assume its reachable. Overall very nice with only some very minor possible errors.

 

Glad you liked it :)

 

The bridge just uses a ton of self referencing sectors so they appear invisible. You can not walk under the bridge though. 

The Secret is reachable by lowering a crate near the rad suit secret.

 

I fixed the misaligned textures, so this should be the final version:

 

Themegawad25v5.zip

[Demonic Meatball]

@nue@eLeR Creative How are your maps going ?

[xScavengerWolfx]

So it's been a while since i've heard anything about what's going on here, I did notice the update to the main post and the beta wad file is down at the moment. 

 

It's starting to get close to the final deadline and i was wondering if there needed more work to be done to my maps at least, they are posted here (at least the newer sanity breaker one is and i also thing Abandon Mines is as well but i'll put it here just in case). 

 

Anyways just wanted to check in to see what's going on since i've haven't heard anything from this post in a while and the deadline is starting to come closer and closer. Hope to see the rest of the maps and get to play test them and give feed back on them. 

 

Note: Here's the Abandon Mines wad for map03 in case the file got lost in the 40 pages of the community project thread. 

Abandon Minds.zip

[Ofisil]

@xScavengerWolfx

All is good on my end.

Sadly, radio silence from the few mappers that we are waiting.

 

btw from now on TESTED right next to the map means that I've thoroughly tested a map, have applies fixes, and consider it done. More problems may arise after more people play it, but for now that will do.

[xScavengerWolfx]

I notice that last night, i'm glade map 03 got in because man the rework was a toll but it was made within the first deadline though. 

 

If we don't hear from the radio silence people should we get that already have a map fill in the slots or are you going to handle that? Or an idea i had was the maps that aren't done or in yet we (the community mappers) could just pass off the 4 maps and make it a joint effort to finish the community project. But like i said that's just an idea i had. 

 

Other wise i can't wait to start play testing the full mega wad when the day comes. 

[eLeR Creative]

Hi. I live and remember about the project. I am on vacation and I will try to finish my map during this time.

[magicsofa]

Made a few small changes to my map based on feedback, finally, lol

 

- Moved a zombieman that was stuck in the monster closet door

- Swapped some shotgunners for zombieman, imp, or pinky

- Changed pinkys on ledges to imps

 

sofathem.zip

[Ofisil]

@magicsofa your map is tagged as TESTED, which means that I've made slight adjustment and fixes. Will upload the new beta file in 10 mins or so. Plz make any adjustments you want in the map you'll find in the wad.

[Nimiauredhel]

@Ofisil I don't know if you've come around to my map (11) yet, but you may want to take note of this little bit of feedback since I haven't been able to address it yet (and generally haven't mapped in a while).
https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2487188

[Ofisil]

1 hour ago, Nimiauredhel said:

@Ofisil I don't know if you've come around to my map (11) yet, but you may want to take note of this little bit of feedback since I haven't been able to address it yet (and generally haven't mapped in a while).
https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2487188

 

Noted

[xScavengerWolfx]

@Ofisil That midi for map31 you used, what is it called? i still love it and it fits the map so well. 

 

[Ofisil]

On 6/19/2022 at 2:29 AM, xScavengerWolfx said:

@Ofisil That midi for map31 you used, what is it called? i still love it and it fits the map so well. 

 

 

It's called Awaken and it was made for my megawad Doom: Damnation (ddamn10) if you want to check the rest of the tunes.

[xScavengerWolfx]

3 hours ago, Ofisil said:

 

It's called Awaken and it was made for my megawad Doom: Damnation (ddamn10) if you want to check the rest of the tunes.

Oh trust me i will and i wanted to ask if i could use it for one of my personal doom maps i'm currently working on. That midi Awaken would work so well for it. It's up to you though

[Ofisil]

@xScavengerWolfx sure thing. My midis are free for everyone to use :D The only thing I ask of you is to send me a link to your work so I can check it out.