Omega Fortress - enhanced

[DoomRevolver]

----------THIS FILE IS NOW UPDATED TO VERSION 1.7.4-----------------------------

 

Hi again everyone. My second WAD is here, a UAC military base transported to hell. It's a singleplayer level for Doom2 IWAD with one of my favourite soundtrack of all Doom saga :D 

 

Don't use jumping or any new mechanics!

 

-----PLEASE read the txt file before playing! There's some important info there---- 

 

Omega Fortress is two times bigger and crazier than Initiation Temple (by the way, I am amazed with the good reception my first WAD has had, thanks a lot again!!) But this time expect a lot more running and gunning. Also there's a BFG somewhere... 

 

 

KAR EN TUK!

 

>LATEST VERSION RELEASED: Omega Fortress v.1.7.4 by DoomRevolver.rar

 

ABOUT V.1.7.4: 

                     
                          The V.1.7.4 has a little change in ammo distribution.
                          This time I added more ammo to a certain arena that was lacking on shells. 

 

You can also find this wad in DavidxNewton's RAMP community project: https://ramp.teamouse.net/index.php

 

 

Edited June 16, 2021 by DoomRevolver
File update

[Doominick]

me too this looks awesome

 

[Biodegradable]

This was pretty fun and I loved your design/layout and texture work as before. You've got that shit down to a science and a real natural. Only real flaw I noticed with this one is, again, you're much too generous for your own good with pickups. I had backpacks coming out of my ears! hehe anyways, good stuff, mate.

 

 

[Somniac]

Another really good map that improves heavily on your first one and shows that you're refining your style. I really enjoyed this one! There's nice bits of detail everywhere (the floor detailing in particular is very cool) and you had some well thought out arenas that allowed for some great gameplay with ample room for infighting. Fairly big map with monster count into the 600 range, and overall a great balance between spacious and more tight areas. You repeated the evolving architecture theme courtesy of switches which gives it a nice adventure feel, with that non-linear feel to it. Quite a classic feeling map IMO, with some hints of more modern influence.

 

Some screens (w/ Beautiful Doom):

 

 

This one demands replay, primarily because its a really solid level and I clearly missed some monsters and secrets so there's more to be found here. Great job!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by VisionThing

[Grichmann]

Took me 2 tries, around an hour total, to beat it on UV.

 

I like it! The layout is pretty solid, and I really like how the level loops back on itself and rooms rearrange themselves and open up as you press switches. Although it took me some time to find my way, especially while looking for the red key, and I had to look at the map quite a lot, I never felt especially lost. Good job on that front!

I also like how your secrets are large and fairly involved areas; but the drawback to this is that these same secrets are not always communicated very well and don't really feel secret. I thought the outdoor area with the crushers was the level's culmination, for instance, but turns out it was just a secret. I'd suggest moving the sectors tagged as secret closer to the entrance of the whole area (and than place one more at the end to signify the area is finished, I suppose).

Really impressive detailing and nice setpieces, too.

 

Some of your arenas are too large. They look expansive, but enemies will not attack from these ranges, making it very easy to circle-strafe around everything and barely get hit by any of the dozens of monsters present. The encounter in the circular arena with the acid floor is a great concept: you cannot hug the wall and simply circle-strafe around the baddies in the middle, but have to constantly dodge attacks from both inside the arena and outside of it. But this is where the encounter's size really harms it: the imps can't aim, and the cacodemons flying around can't get close enough to shoot you.

I'd also say the level is overabundant in supplies. The early parts are fine, but once you get the blue key, I never ran out of ammo or health; worst-case scenario, I could always restock before moving on to the next arena.

 

That's all for now, but I can try doing a more thorough analysis.

[DoomRevolver]

2 hours ago, Grichmann said:

Took me 2 tries, around an hour total, to beat it on UV.

 

I like it! The layout is pretty solid, and I really like how the level loops back on itself and rooms rearrange themselves and open up as you press switches. Although it took me some time to find my way, especially while looking for the red key, and I had to look at the map quite a lot, I never felt especially lost. Good job on that front!

I also like how your secrets are large and fairly involved areas; but the drawback to this is that these same secrets are not always communicated very well and don't really feel secret. I thought the outdoor area with the crushers was the level's culmination, for instance, but turns out it was just a secret. I'd suggest moving the sectors tagged as secret closer to the entrance of the whole area (and than place one more at the end to signify the area is finished, I suppose).

Really impressive detailing and nice setpieces, too.

 

Some of your arenas are too large. They look expansive, but enemies will not attack from these ranges, making it very easy to circle-strafe around everything and barely get hit by any of the dozens of monsters present. The encounter in the circular arena with the acid floor is a great concept: you cannot hug the wall and simply circle-strafe around the baddies in the middle, but have to constantly dodge attacks from both inside the arena and outside of it. But this is where the encounter's size really harms it: the imps can't aim, and the cacodemons flying around can't get close enough to shoot you.

I'd also say the level is overabundant in supplies. The early parts are fine, but once you get the blue key, I never ran out of ammo or health; worst-case scenario, I could always restock before moving on to the next arena.

 

That's all for now, but I can try doing a more thorough analysis.

 

Thanks a lot for playing and writting down all this feedback. This is really helpful and I'll keep it in mind. I'll probably release a V.2 of this map., I'll let you know.

 

I agree, I was too generous with ammo. As I said in the txt file this level is some kind of military base, that's why I put so much resources, but I see it needs more threats to justify it so I totally agree. I'll remove some backpacks in some areas, and I'll also add more demons in others so the player can go guns blazing with all the ammo. That's really what this level is meant to be, shoot em up and exploring. The wide areas needs ranged/heavy demons as you say, imps are not very effective there. The combat will get more intense but I think there's a fair amount of soulspheres/megaspheres in the map, Is it? 

 

Im also working on the secrets, some of them don't make much sense to be honest xD 

 

I'm getting a lot of constructive criticism in Doomworld, Glad to see that you guys care about helping other creators to improve, that's very nice :)

[DoomRevolver]

11 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

This was pretty fun and I loved your design/layout and texture work as before. You've got that shit down to a science and a real natural. Only real flaw I noticed with this one is, again, you're much too generous for your own good with pickups. I had backpacks coming out of my ears! hehe anyways, good stuff, mate.

 

 

Hi again dude! thanks for the gameplay and the commentary (well, the comments from both of you xD). I'll upload another version with some changes on the gameplay. I'll let you know when I upload it if you want to give it a try and see if it improved. Im keeping this feedback about the ammo in mind. Grichmann told me the same about being too generous with pickups. I really want this map to be an onslaught but without being too OP, so I'll make sure to give the player enough reasons to use all that plasma and rockets hehehehe >:D 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by DoomRevolver

[Grichmann]

5 hours ago, DoomRevolver said:

That's really what this level is meant to be, shoot em up and exploring

You maintained a pretty solid balance between the two, though I think the shoot-em-up segments are a bit weaker overall.

 

5 hours ago, DoomRevolver said:

The wide areas needs ranged/heavy demons as you say, imps are not very effective there

Depends, really. Every monster has a role, and imps can work fine in large arenas, especially if some cover is involved.

 

I'll try to go into more details tomorrow, once I've had the time to sleep on the map, take a look at it again, and pick out a few screenshots.

[DoomRevolver]

10 hours ago, Grichmann said:

You maintained a pretty solid balance between the two, though I think the shoot-em-up segments are a bit weaker overall.

 

Depends, really. Every monster has a role, and imps can work fine in large arenas, especially if some cover is involved.

 

I'll try to go into more details tomorrow, once I've had the time to sleep on the map, take a look at it again, and pick out a few screenshots.

Nice! thanks for the help partner. The map is now upgraded to V.1.2. if you want to try it out. There's still a lot of ammo but this time I made tougher encounters to encourage the player to go guns blazing and take advantage of demon infight. I hope this works better now. Its a hard map but I don't think its unfair since there are many soulspheres/megaspheres, but they are in risky places. Also the player will now be locked inside the big areas so they can't backtrack so easily to resupply (some doors can only be opened from outside now, but they close once inside). The only way to get out is to deal with the area and find the exit. I hope this also makes it easier to find the red key.  

 

I also changed the way to enter the optional crusher area. I don't want the player to enter it so accidentally, so the teleporter to it is in a more logical place (one where you can see that area from a window). 

 

Next update will address lightning and textures

Edited March 29, 2021 by DoomRevolver

[DoomRevolver]

21 hours ago, VisionThing said:

Another really good map that improves heavily on your first one and shows that you're refining your style. I really enjoyed this one! There's nice bits of detail everywhere (the floor detailing in particular is very cool) and you had some well thought out arenas that allowed for some great gameplay with ample room for infighting. Fairly big map with monster count into the 600 range, and overall a great balance between spacious and more tight areas. You repeated the evolving architecture theme courtesy of switches which gives it a nice adventure feel, with that non-linear feel to it. Quite a classic feeling map IMO, with some hints of more modern influence.

 

Some screens (w/ Beautiful Doom):

 

 

This one demands replay, primarily because its a really solid level and I clearly missed some monsters and secrets so there's more to be found here. Great job!

 

 

 

 

 

 

23 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

This was pretty fun and I loved your design/layout and texture work as before. You've got that shit down to a science and a real natural. Only real flaw I noticed with this one is, again, you're much too generous for your own good with pickups. I had backpacks coming out of my ears! hehe anyways, good stuff, mate.

 

 

Hi again Bio, this map is now on V.1.2 in case you want to download it again. Due to your recent feedback I added more demons to annihilate and tougher encounters to use your plasma and rockets (I know, there's still a lot of ammo, but I don't want the players to worry much a bout it here xD but I tried to make it more fair this time for the demons. It's not a slaughter map but I wan't it to be very frenetic evrytime you're not exploring). I think I should've called it "munitions factory" to make more sense xDDD  

[DoomRevolver]

On 3/28/2021 at 6:38 AM, Reelvonic said:

ima check it out

@Doominick @VisionThing @Reelvonic Thanks! file is now updated to V.1.2

Edited March 29, 2021 by DoomRevolver

[The Lone Wolf]

Cool looking map, I definitaly try your map, if I find time to lift my head from work.

 

NOTE:

How do you people update your files to specific numbers. What I mean by that is, I see some people and they say that "Hey I updated it to 1.0, 1.5, 1.7... bla bla bla" Do you actually numarate them on a specific reason or just sounds cool to use ? I use 1st, 2nd, 3rd upddate/time(s) instead of decimal numbers.

[DoomRevolver]

19 minutes ago, THE IMP said:

Cool looking map, I definitaly try your map, if I find time to lift my head from work.

 

NOTE:

How do you people update your files to specific numbers. What I mean by that is, I see some people and they say that "Hey I updated it to 1.0, 1.5, 1.7... bla bla bla" Do you actually numarate them on a specific reason or just sounds cool to use ? I use 1st, 2nd, 3rd upddate/time(s) instead of decimal numbers.

Thanks a lot friend, hope you enjoy it. The latest version of this one is V.1.2. Im open to constructive criticism and bug reports so I can improve my work.

 

There are different schemes to label your updates in a game. I think you can choose the one that makes more sense to you. Since this is a single level I label it V.1 for the first version, and then V.1.2, V.1.3, V.1.4, etc... so after V.1.9 goes V.2, and then V.2.2, V.2.3... At least that's how I do it. I see people using more decimals/numbers (maybe because the changes are minimal) but I find it confusing. Just make sure you let the player know whats the newest version and explain in the txt file what changes you made. This post might be of help for you 

https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/48325/best-practices-for-labeling-game-versions

Edited March 29, 2021 by DoomRevolver

[Omniplex]

The screenshots are looking great! going to try this now.

[DoomRevolver]

34 minutes ago, Omniplex said:

The screenshots are looking great! going to try this now.

Thanks Omniplex, hope you enjoy my work. Give me your opinion if you don't mind

[Omniplex]

So far I am really enjoying this map, an enormous map I tell you XD! I may have encountered some unpegged textures on doors like this one:

 

 

Otherwise a very good level design with plenty of interesting concepts like the "flaming lines" on the metal floor and the area displayed on the screenshot above, the blood could have been made as a damaging floor though, so that those little "islands" scattered along the area would serve a purpose. And also, excellent thinking on the secrets, very well hidden. Keep it up!

[Omniplex]

I have just finished the level in an hour. As you can see in the screenshot below, I have managed to locate all secrets but not all kills (albeit I almost got them all). I must say, this is an incredible map, well done! :)

 

 

Note the percentages, the numbers displayed here have an increment of 1, that is: 98, 99 and 100 HAHA! Oh and sorry for double-posting here.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Omniplex

[DoomRevolver]

1 minute ago, Omniplex said:

I have just finished the level in an hour. As you can see in the screenshot below, I have managed to locate all secrets but not all kills (albeit I almost got them all). I must say, this is an incredible map, well done! :)

 

 

Note the percentages, the numbers displayed here have an increment of 1, that is: 98, 99 and 100 HAHA!

Awesome!! Thanks a lot for playing. I'll check the unpegged doors texture for the next update. What do you think about the difficulty? When I posted V.1 some users told me there was too much ammo (you guys are really good at Doom xD) so I made harder fights on V.1.2. Do you think it's well balanced? Should I remove some ammo or add more demons? I want it to be frenetic, without worrying much about ammo but keep the player moving and shooting to survive.

 

Yeah the percentages increment xDD that's cool. Congrats on finding all the secrets on your first try

 

[Omniplex]

I'd say the same about both health and ammo, the abundance on resources is enormous and I was full on ammo most of the time. For instance: I used a lot of cells and rockets but was full on bullets and shotgun shells, and vice versa.

 

Regarding the difficulty, it was quite a breeze for me even on Ultra-Violence difficulty. I would however suggest adding more higher tier monsters in areas where there is a lot of rockets and cells (like arachnotrons and mancubi). There are areas that are large enough to add like 2 spider-masterminds for example, since I noticed there were none of those.

I would also suggest removing some ammo, especially bullets since I found a lot of them. Removing some medkits and adding some stimpacks instead would also be a good idea. I have also noticed there were a lot of power-ups too, you can for example: replace soul-sphere with berserk pack. It was good when you have added the automap power-up as I was getting lost there :).

Here is another example that can help you increase the difficulty of the level: removing some blue armors and replacing them with green armors, or just adding some armor bonuses instead. Same goes when you have a ton of medkits, you can add stimpacks or just add health bonuses. I hope these examples can help you, and good luck making better maps in the future :)

[Grichmann]

Alright, I have some time to type this up, so I'll go through the map in detail. Played on ultraviolence. I haven't had the time to examine v2 yet, so if whatever I'm talking about got changed... oh well.

Cut into spoilers, with screenshots, to conserve space.

Video of winning playthrough

Spoiler

 

 

Entrance

Spoiler

 

I really like this encounter. It's initially a setpiece where you blast some zombies with barrels. But at the same time, these pillars make for some partial cover that will be used as the area expands and new monsters make their way in. As you explore the room, you can hear the cyberdemon stomping about and you get shot at by that baron across the bridge. Really sets the tone and expectations for the map. I also like how it's also the final room in the level.

The mancubus past the first door is a nice touch, too: you only have a shotgun and a chaingun at this point, and it's still very early in the level, so you're likely to run away.

Can't say I'm a fan of the entire area going up and down, but that's how it's laid out.

 

First Hallway, BFG secret

Spoiler

 

Nice use of the limited arsenal here, and nice scare with the zombies and barrels greeting you. I'd try placing the other monsters, the ones not blown up initially, a bit closer to be a bit more of a threat. Then again, this is still the introduction to the level. That's true for most corridor encounters, though: they make it too easy to just pop around the corner, take a shot, pop back in. Some pinkies could work well to put some pressure on the player and allow the zombies to advance.

As for the secret itself, I like how it's a fairly complex area of the level that actually loops back to the non-secret node. I think it could be a bit more compact; nice barrel setpiece once you get the gun, too.

 

Acid floor secret

Spoiler

 

I don't like this one that much. Fun idea, putting the player on a timer to cross a dangerous area. The timer itself (i. e. how long it takes for the acid floor and the monsters to chew through the initial megasphere) is set quite generously, but it's still a fairly stressful bit. Resetting the megasphere at the end is a cool idea, but I found it after I'd cleared the area it opens into, so the invulnerability served no purpose.

 

Acid arena (Blue key)

Spoiler

 

Nice idea, but the arena is too large for its own good. I outlined it above, but more specifically, as I understand, the intent is to have player around halfway between the centre and the imps. However, there's not enough pressure from the inside. I would try replacing some of the cacodemons with mancubi right in the middle, or try placing an impassable ring so it's not that easy to just criss-cross the pool.

This bit is nice; I was worried I'd get my feet melted while trying to remember which teleporters I checked already. But handily, you've decided to shut them down once you step on them. Nice touch!

Can't say I'm a fan of damaging floors you're forced to cross without being able to see the objective and estimate how much time you have, though. Definitely not using them to enforce a time limit in an arena. Even though there's plenty of extra envirosuits here.

 

Archvile and crushers arena

Spoiler

 

On my first try, this is the area I died in. Tried going around the crushers to get a cleaner shot on the archvile, only to find myself with no cover and nowhere to run. Didn't feel fair, and overall required a more methodical approach than the rest of the map.

It took me a bit to spot the button to lower the platforms, or the rooms behind the crushers, but I'm an inattentive git. You can actually see them as you approach the arena (bars on the left in the screenshot).

 

 

By this point, I'm swimming in ammo. If anything could've worked based on ammo conservation previously, past this point, nothing did. In particular, I found surprisingly few plasmagun or BFG-worthy encounters despite the abundant ammo and high monster counts.

I also got a bit lost after I'd found the blue key, but I did run around fighting newly-arrived enemies and found a few more secrets, notably, the one with the computer map. It didn't help much due to how large and detailed the map is. A little hard to read.

 

Past the blue door

Spoiler

 

I like how this arena kept looping on itself and expanding to let more monsters in as I found the switches. It was taking me a while to find the switch in one of the cacodemon cages (I'd explored the other one, only found ammo, and thought it was just a resupply point). Seeing how important it is, I suggest moving it to be visible from the outside. I had to leave and explore the rest of the map, but then I remembered seeing the red key from the central hub room. That, along with the computer map, confirmed that I have to keep exploring this room. Fortunately, this was the only such hiccup in the level.

Not sure what I would've done with the subsequent archvile and cyberdemon fight without the BFG and the invulnerability I had the foresight to stash.

 

 Blood teleporters (past the red door)

Spoiler

 

This one took me a bit of time to figure out; the round platforms didn't look that much like teleporters, the blood looked like it would hurt me, and there was no other way out of the pits, so I hesitated to explore them. They only took me to the crusher area, which I didn't like. It did not look like a secret, and I was still really high on supplies, that was pretty disappointing. Cheers for including an 'abort' teleporter. 

Just a cool visual effect. I went back to check if other such cracked floors collapsed, but they didn't.

The final encounter in the arena was difficult. Not sure if I would've made it if I didn't come in so heavy. The fliers I left behind probably didn't help, but revenant missiles were tricky to dodge with so little space to work with and the archvile pinning me down.

 

Conclusion

Spoiler

 

What can I say, I like your map a lot, and I don't even like big maps in general. You have a strong theme with large-ish hub areas that keep expanding to escalate into new encounters. You've also got a handle on momentum and feeling of progression: every action has a visible consequence; every time you press a button, you get monsters to shoot. In fact, you might lean into this too heavily, like when a secret opens into a monster closet and ends up being distracting.

The visuals and detailing are also great. Rich, but not distracting. Areas are distinctive and easy to tell apart, but the general theme is evident throughout.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by Grichmann
Replaced the video link with an embed

[Origamyde]

Been playing this WAD, and just finished it.

 

It's super promising, to say the least. There's a good focus on fighting large chunks of monsters (which is helped a bit by the in-fighting), the progression is neat as well and well-put, it's not too confusing, it has some good visuals here and there (the collapsing tiles are a super nice touch) and so on.

 

Overall, it's fun and decent. I do dare say, though, that like many might have pointed out earlier, it's a bit much generous in terms of supplies, and most secrets end up being monster closets sometimes (or downright sadistic, that slime path is nightmarish !). I won't say much about the texturing, though, because again, there's some good ideas.

 

I recommand this WAD 100% !

[DoomRevolver]

3 hours ago, Grichmann said:

Alright, I have some time to type this up, so I'll go through the map in detail. Played on ultraviolence. I haven't had the time to examine v2 yet, so if whatever I'm talking about got changed... oh well.

Cut into spoilers, with screenshots, to conserve space.

Video of winning playthrough

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Entrance

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I really like this encounter. It's initially a setpiece where you blast some zombies with barrels. But at the same time, these pillars make for some partial cover that will be used as the area expands and new monsters make their way in. As you explore the room, you can hear the cyberdemon stomping about and you get shot at by that baron across the bridge. Really sets the tone and expectations for the map. I also like how it's also the final room in the level.

The mancubus past the first door is a nice touch, too: you only have a shotgun and a chaingun at this point, and it's still very early in the level, so you're likely to run away.

Can't say I'm a fan of the entire area going up and down, but that's how it's laid out.

 

First Hallway, BFG secret

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Nice use of the limited arsenal here, and nice scare with the zombies and barrels greeting you. I'd try placing the other monsters, the ones not blown up initially, a bit closer to be a bit more of a threat. Then again, this is still the introduction to the level. That's true for most corridor encounters, though: they make it too easy to just pop around the corner, take a shot, pop back in. Some pinkies could work well to put some pressure on the player and allow the zombies to advance.

As for the secret itself, I like how it's a fairly complex area of the level that actually loops back to the non-secret node. I think it could be a bit more compact; nice barrel setpiece once you get the gun, too.

 

Acid floor secret

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I don't like this one that much. Fun idea, putting the player on a timer to cross a dangerous area. The timer itself (i. e. how long it takes for the acid floor and the monsters to chew through the initial megasphere) is set quite generously, but it's still a fairly stressful bit. Resetting the megasphere at the end is a cool idea, but I found it after I'd cleared the area it opens into, so the invulnerability served no purpose.

 

Acid arena (Blue key)

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Nice idea, but the arena is too large for its own good. I outlined it above, but more specifically, as I understand, the intent is to have player around halfway between the centre and the imps. However, there's not enough pressure from the inside. I would try replacing some of the cacodemons with mancubi right in the middle, or try placing an impassable ring so it's not that easy to just criss-cross the pool.

This bit is nice; I was worried I'd get my feet melted while trying to remember which teleporters I checked already. But handily, you've decided to shut them down once you step on them. Nice touch!

Can't say I'm a fan of damaging floors you're forced to cross without being able to see the objective and estimate how much time you have, though. Definitely not using them to enforce a time limit in an arena. Even though there's plenty of extra envirosuits here.

 

Archvile and crushers arena

  Reveal hidden contents

 

On my first try, this is the area I died in. Tried going around the crushers to get a cleaner shot on the archvile, only to find myself with no cover and nowhere to run. Didn't feel fair, and overall required a more methodical approach than the rest of the map.

It took me a bit to spot the button to lower the platforms, or the rooms behind the crushers, but I'm an inattentive git. You can actually see them as you approach the arena (bars on the left in the screenshot).

 

 

By this point, I'm swimming in ammo. If anything could've worked based on ammo conservation previously, past this point, nothing did. In particular, I found surprisingly few plasmagun or BFG-worthy encounters despite the abundant ammo and high monster counts.

I also got a bit lost after I'd found the blue key, but I did run around fighting newly-arrived enemies and found a few more secrets, notably, the one with the computer map. It didn't help much due to how large and detailed the map is. A little hard to read.

 

Past the blue door

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I like how this arena kept looping on itself and expanding to let more monsters in as I found the switches. It was taking me a while to find the switch in one of the cacodemon cages (I'd explored the other one, only found ammo, and thought it was just a resupply point). Seeing how important it is, I suggest moving it to be visible from the outside. I had to leave and explore the rest of the map, but then I remembered seeing the red key from the central hub room. That, along with the computer map, confirmed that I have to keep exploring this room. Fortunately, this was the only such hiccup in the level.

Not sure what I would've done with the subsequent archvile and cyberdemon fight without the BFG and the invulnerability I had the foresight to stash.

 

 Blood teleporters (past the red door)

  Reveal hidden contents

 

This one took me a bit of time to figure out; the round platforms didn't look that much like teleporters, the blood looked like it would hurt me, and there was no other way out of the pits, so I hesitated to explore them. They only took me to the crusher area, which I didn't like. It did not look like a secret, and I was still really high on supplies, that was pretty disappointing. Cheers for including an 'abort' teleporter. 

Just a cool visual effect. I went back to check if other such cracked floors collapsed, but they didn't.

The final encounter in the arena was difficult. Not sure if I would've made it if I didn't come in so heavy. The fliers I left behind probably didn't help, but revenant missiles were tricky to dodge with so little space to work with and the archvile pinning me down.

 

Conclusion

  Reveal hidden contents

 

What can I say, I like your map a lot, and I don't even like big maps in general. You have a strong theme with large-ish hub areas that keep expanding to escalate into new encounters. You've also got a handle on momentum and feeling of progression: every action has a visible consequence; every time you press a button, you get monsters to shoot. In fact, you might lean into this too heavily, like when a secret opens into a monster closet and ends up being distracting.

The visuals and detailing are also great. Rich, but not distracting. Areas are distinctive and easy to tell apart, but the general theme is evident throughout.

 

 

Wow man, thanks so much for taking the time to write this in-depth review. I don't know what to say! I'll try to keep all of this in mind and definitely give you additional credits in the txt file. If you have some WAD you want me to try just tell me.

 

Okay most people are telling me the same about the supplies. I'll remove some medkits and megaarmors with stimpacks and green armors (except the secret megaarmor next to the bfg. I think that's necessary). 

 

The impassable ring at the center of the acid arena is a very good idea, but Im also gonna combine it with the mancubus idea, so I'll probably put a high hexagonal platform with a mancubus on it.

 

The crusher area is now more optional and you can exit it from the start if you don't want to do it. That was some sort of experimental area, like a minigame to give add some variety and a surprise at the ending but to be honest that idea seemed much cooler when I started this map in 2020. (yeah there was a long hiatus until I resumed its creating. So it's older than Initiation Temple, the first wad I uploaded here).

 

I removed a lot of ammo pickups and placed others in some dangerous areas, as a reward for dealing with demon encounters. 

 

I added some incidental encounters to make the player use a lot more bullets and shells. Still there's a generous amount of these ammo types but they are no longer so easy to obtain as they were before. I just want em to be there if the player struggles in the hardest fights and search for ammo.  The zones where most of  the plasma/rockets are will be filled with traps and heavy demons so you really have to earn it.

 

The ending of the slime corridor no longer has invulnerability at the end, but a rad suit to let the player escape with 200% health and armor.

 

I also have a weird question: I'm updating this file in this post but I don't know if most people do it that way in Doomworld. Do you recommend me creating another post for new updates and let this one like this?

 

 

[DoomRevolver]

4 hours ago, Origamyde said:

Been playing this WAD, and just finished it.

 

It's super promising, to say the least. There's a good focus on fighting large chunks of monsters (which is helped a bit by the in-fighting), the progression is neat as well and well-put, it's not too confusing, it has some good visuals here and there (the collapsing tiles are a super nice touch) and so on.

 

Overall, it's fun and decent. I do dare say, though, that like many might have pointed out earlier, it's a bit much generous in terms of supplies, and most secrets end up being monster closets sometimes (or downright sadistic, that slime path is nightmarish !). I won't say much about the texturing, though, because again, there's some good ideas.

 

I recommand this WAD 100% !

Thanks for playing! I experimenting on how to make the wad harder, changes the ammo to make it more of a reward and stuff like that. Glad you enjoy this version, friend

 

Hey thanks for following me! You are the first xD

Edited March 29, 2021 by DoomRevolver

[Grichmann]

2 hours ago, DoomRevolver said:

Wow man, thanks so much for taking the time to write this in-depth review. I don't know what to say! I'll try to keep all of this in mind and definitely give you additional credits in the txt file. If you have some WAD you want me to try just tell me.

No worries. I'm growing to like level design, and dissecting Doom wads gives me a really nice opportunity to practice. Let me know if you want me to look at anything else.

I've only been here a week, and the only wad of my own I have is a silly attempt to improve Habitat. It's around this forum, if you want to take a look at my reasoning.

[DavidN]

Another great map - you have an amazing sense of flowing rooms together, forming a large interconnected space. I played version 1.2 (your notification about version 1.3 came in as I was recording it!) and you don't need to hear more about the supplies being very abundant indeed :) Here's a video, you're the first to get a new little feature that I hope to use in my videos going forward!

 

 

[DoomRevolver]

10 hours ago, Grichmann said:

No worries. I'm growing to like level design, and dissecting Doom wads gives me a really nice opportunity to practice. Let me know if you want me to look at anything else.

I've only been here a week, and the only wad of my own I have is a silly attempt to improve Habitat. It's around this forum, if you want to take a look at my reasoning.

The beloved Habitat! I'll give your version a try 

 

The only other map I've uploaded yet is Initiation Temple. It's more compact. 

 

[DoomRevolver]

11 hours ago, DavidN said:

Another great map - you have an amazing sense of flowing rooms together, forming a large interconnected space. I played version 1.2 (your notification about version 1.3 came in as I was recording it!) and you don't need to hear more about the supplies being very abundant indeed :) Here's a video, you're the first to get a new little feature that I hope to use in my videos going forward!

 

 

Oh it's okay! Your gameplay helped me to improve the next version of it. It's definitely too easy, more health items than a hospital xD The next version will be harder, I don't know if I should call it Master Level at this point since there are really good players on this site xD I just want it to be fun for everybody. I'll fic that about the poison pit with some arrows in the floor indicating that you have to descend through it.

 

Your custom HUD is really cool! Your character is what you would call a fursona, right?

 

Since Im new here, I've a weird question: I've updated this post with the new version two times now. Do you recommend me to keep updating the file in this post or start another one for updates and leave this one like this? Im not sure how people do this here. (btw the V.1.3 I sent you is now obsolete xD Im editing it now)

Edited March 30, 2021 by DoomRevolver

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Omega Fortress

 

Ultra-Violence || BeautifulDoom

 

Status:

Deaths → 0

Saves → none

 

 

A really entertaining map, with an extremely interesting challenge, the truth is that this map was quite long than I was waiting for, but that anyway I got to test to see if I had not yet lost my touch when playing in this map class. The structure it has is really good, there are areas that are quite variable, and they do not remain in a single aspect, which is quite good, because the architecture that is used in each place on the map is very well done, having high places and low, and having all kinds of harmful soils, and also many traps that are mostly interesting, etc. The battles are not far behind either, as this map features many very interesting, and dangerous clashes, for example, finding 3 Cyberdemons throughout the map, finding many annoying Pain Elementals, finding quite a few invisible Pinkys walking from here to there, and the Hitscanners as always annoying the Marine with draining his health with shots, that is why the fighting also stands out here. In general, everything seemed really entertaining to me, to be exterminating all those demons in a place that is quite varied in each area that is visited, and also because of the curious and interesting things that you get to find apart from the enemies, and then have confrontations Hard with dangerous creatures in toxic soils, all of that was very entertaining to me as I said before, and I had a great time here, so, great job with this map, buddy, and it was a pleasure to have tested this map without any inconvenience.

 

 

[DoomRevolver]

Okay so here is the latest version of Omega Fortress. I've had a lot of useful feedback suggesting me to make the level harder and less generous on resources, so I made many changes on the pickups, enemies and even the enviroment. I also got some inspiration from my traumas with Plutonia Experiment, specially for the last big fights.

 

You may find that you still have a lot of shells and bullets in the big arenas, but I think this is necessary since now I found myself running out of plasma and rockets more than once, so the player has to be able to keep fighting at any cost. You will also find out that most Medkits are harder to reach now. 

 

 I've played this new version like 4 times (in medium and ultra difficulty) To me, this feels like sort of a master level now xD I think Hurt me plenty is very fun and intense, but Ultraviolence is just sadistic now in some parts, but not impossible. I find it very satisfying when I finally exterminate every demon from the arenas, so Im happy with the result for now, you guys tell me if it still being easy. Not kidding, I know a lot of you are very skilled Doom players, so you may find it easy.

 

You can download the current version at the original Topic if you want to try.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2021 by DoomRevolver

[Not Jabba]

Hi @DoomRevolver, I've merged the two threads since they're for the same project and were created just a few days apart. The best practice is generally to post updates in the same thread and update the OP as well.