[WIP] "Artifacts of Power" - A Limit-Removing Episode for Doom II (Update: Map03 Now Ready to Play)

[Fiendish]

Introducing Artifacts of Power, a work-in-progress episode for Doom II. The episode takes place on Earth, and the visuals/environments of the mapset are largely inspired by Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, and Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, among others. There are currently three maps available to play -- one being my first ever finished Doom map ("Uncharted Territory"). I am thinking there will be somewhere between 4 and 7 maps in total for this WAD, and I hope to revisit and update the earlier maps in the set further as I get feedback and more experience with mapping. The project is on the backburner at the moment, but the next update will include a rather grandiose map04 as well as revamped versions of the first three maps.

 

The third map, "Skyward", is now ready to play. There is one outdoor area around the beginning that might give you a framerate drop. Using a port such as Crispy Doom should help it run smoother if it's a problem. This map also introduces one new dehacked enemy. Thank you @Terminus for testing an earlier version of the map.

 

Current Version: Artifacts of Power.zip (Last Update: June 23, 2021)

 

 

The story:

Spoiler

After unearthing a mysterious, energy-emanating artifact within the Andean wilderness, the UAC began quietly searching for more, with the hope of using them as an exploitable power source. They eventually uncovered ancient ruins of an unknown civilization, which did indeed contain other similar artifacts. But little did they know that these ruins and the artifacts contained therein hold a close connection to Hell. Somehow, the UAC's meddling has opened a new portal to Hell; days after locating the ruins, a swarm of demons descended upon the area. The UAC attempted to resolve the problem with their own security forces but failed catastrophically. Now desperate, they have revealed their secret operation and called upon you for help. With any luck, you'll be able to locate the source of the invasion and close it off before Hell can wreak havoc on Earth for a second time. But time is of the essence, and Hell surely will not make things easy. 

 

Thank you for checking this out, and if you play it, I hope you have fun with it. Feedback is very much welcome and appreciated. :-)

 

Screenshots - Map03: Skyward:

 

Spoiler

 

Screenshots - Map02: Secret Passageways:

Spoiler

 

 

Screenshots - Map01: Uncharted Territory:

Spoiler

 

WAD Info:
- Maps: 2
- Format: Vanilla Doom II (limit-removing)
- Tested on GZDoom, PrBoom+, and Crispy Doom. 
- Freelook and crouching are allowed but not required. Jumping can break some maps and is disabled by default for any port that uses MAPINFO (e.g., GZDoom).
- Gameplay style: run-and-gun, exploration
- Difficulty settings are implemented. 
- Multiplayer is not yet implemented. (I'm not sure if Co-op will be possible, but I may try to implement it down the road.)

 

Credits (thank you to all of those below for these amazing resources):

-Music:
    Map01: "Permanence" by AD_79
    Map02: "False Paradise" by James Paddock

    Map03: "Vase" by Stewboy
- Textures are from 32in24-15 tex (thanks to Esselfortium for the texture set, and to the other artists who created textures within it)
- Root Pack from Realm667 (credit to Lucario, Captain Awesome, Xaser and 3D Realms)
- Small Trees and Bushes from Realm667 (credit to CaptainToenail and Raven Software)

- Custom enemy sprites/sounds (hellion) from Realm667 (credit to Eriance and Id Software)
- The sky texture is slightly modified from a neural-upscaled Doom texture (credit goes to hidfan for creating the neural upscaled Doom textures)

 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Fiendish

[Somniac]

Looks great, I remember really liking the first map when you released it before

[Biodegradable]

MAP01 felt just as sadistic as last time heh, but still good. I even managed to remember a couple of combat encounters and secrets from my old playthrough months ago. MAP02 however, I had to throw in the towel. It's just too sadistic for my blood at this point in my Dooming career. Lucky for you though, there are tons of players in the community who are absolutely sadomasochists who enjoy this kind of mapping style. Keep doing your thing, Fiend, you could really make a name for yourself with this kind of skillful and relentlessly-cruel combat.

[Final Verdict]

That's some fine work there.

 

Especially like the look of Map 02. 

[Fiendish]

@Biodegradable Thanks for playing through the first one again and checking out the second map. Sorry that you found the second one to be too sadistic. It's good to know; after playtesting it to death, I think I may skew my own sense of the difficulty. I can also definitely understand having a tough time with this one on UV if one does not enjoy fighting revenants.

 

For what it's worth, for map 2, HMP is not as mean as UV but also is not completely gutted either (all the traps are there, just dialed back a bit). Also, I did update the WAD today after finding and fixing a small bug that can sometimes happen with a teleporter.

[Biodegradable]

2 minutes ago, Fiendish said:

For what it's worth, for map 2, HMP is not as mean as UV but also is not completely gutted either

 

Yeah fam, I might just try giving it another whirl for you on HMP. It'll also be a pistol-start test too since I don't really want to play through MAP01 again lmao.

[Steveb1000]

Looks fab!

[Fiendish]

7 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

 

Yeah fam, I might just try giving it another whirl for you on HMP. It'll also be a pistol-start test too since I don't really want to play through MAP01 again lmao.

 

Thanks :-) I did balance the ammo for pistol start, so that should give you no problem. Hope you have fun with it if you do give it another shot on HMP.

[MattFright]

People are really snoozing on this huh. Played through (most of) the first map, and this gives me Lost Civilization vibes in all of the best ways, except with more engaging and challenging gameplay. I will point out though, i feel like there were faaaaar too many rockets before the door blocked by all 3 keys, so i was stocked up with 60 rockets for the red key fight, rendering it (and the plasma rifle) completely trivial, so i'd probably cut down on at least 20-30 rockets from that part of the map to make the rocket launcher a bit less of a free "fuck this encounter" button.

 

Other than that though i'm having a LOT of fun despite dying over 15 times on the first map already :D

[Sectorslayer]

Oh, my, god. This maps are so beautiful! Just remember to stop and enjoy the view before you hit the next switch. From there on, everything is coming at you from all sides, always. The combat is relentless. There is plenty of ammo and you need it. Some encounters basically kept me strafing while holding the trigger until everything was dead, or I died. Or I ran out of ammo and I died. Or I tried to avoid a homing projectile, got stuck and died. Difficulty wise, HMP is out of my comfort zone. Got to remember that. Very well done, @Fiendish!

[Bridgeburner56]

Damn these look mighty fine 

[Fiendish]

Thank you @VisionThing @Final Verdict @Steveb1000 @MattFright @sectrslayr @Bridgeburner56! :-)

 

@MattFright I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it! Good to know your thoughts on the ammo. I did mean for that fight to be done primarily with rockets, or plasma if you don't want to save it for something later and since rockets can be a bit risky there. Pretty much from that point on in the map, I wanted the main ammo limitation to be cells and to provide as many rockets as needed, but maybe it would make for a more fun challenge to have a bit more of a limit on the rockets. I may also have erred too much on the side of caution in having plentiful rocket ammo in the second map as well. 

 

@sectrslayr Glad you enjoyed the visuals and the combat, and thanks for the positive words! It's good to know that HMP still offers a good challenge, since I've tested UV much more than HMP. 

 

@Bridgeburner56 Thank you! I've been watching your playtesting series recently, which has been immensely helpful. I would be thrilled to get your critique of the second map (or both), if you'd be up for adding it (or them) to the list. 

 

It seems like people are finding the maps (particularly the second one, I'm gathering) tougher than I was expecting. I wanted to make the maps challenging but not frustrating or inaccessible. So I'm considering doing more careful balancing with HMP and then presenting that more as the default difficulty, with UV providing an extra challenge if you want spicier combat. 

[Final Verdict]

 

I just noticed you wrote a story for this.

 

I know it's Doom and yes I can almost hear Carmack saying those famous words. But I'd just like you to know I read it and it is appreciated. I always find a little background helps to get immersed in the creators vision. I mean beside the map aesthetics, architecture and so on. 

 

Even a brief story helps to set the stage and I enjoyed reading it.

 

[Killer5]

Yo. I enjoyed the dickish ambushes with monsters popping up from behind forcing me to move on map02. Unfortunately I ran into a room and I think it broke. See the screenshot below. PrBoom+ 2.5.1.5 cl2

[Fiendish]

2 hours ago, Killer5 said:

Yo. I enjoyed the dickish ambushes with monsters popping up from behind forcing me to move on map02. Unfortunately I ran into a room and I think it broke. See the screenshot below. PrBoom+ 2.5.1.5 cl2

 

Whoa, that's not good. I will look into this now. I tested it with PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, so maybe the newer version made a difference? I will download the newer version to see if I can replicate the bug. 

 

Edit: Okay, I think I have fixed this issue. I updated the file in the original post, so this part of map 2 should now work with all limit-removing ports and compatibility settings.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Fiendish

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Artifacts of Power

 

Ultra-Violence || Zandronum || Vanilla

 

Status:

Deaths → Map 01 & 02 = 1

Saves → Map 01 = none; Map 02 = 1

 

MAP 01:

Spoiler

I found some bugs that I saw during the first map

 

 

I miss an enemy to have the UV-MAX, and it turns out that the trap where it is supposed to go down so that this Hell Knight appears to me was not finished, and because of this, the Hell Knight was trapped there, and I only ended up taking 99% in kill...

 

 

 

As always, this map has been a good challenge, I managed to complete it without much problem, and also, I managed to get all the secrets that helped me survive all that carnage. By the way, I realized that if you had made certain changes to the map that I had not seen in the previous version, such as making the vast majority of enemies appear when the switch that was in front of where the blood source was with is pressed. a corpse in the middle, that now all that part was blocked, and that in the last trap, you removed certain annoying enemies and then added some more comfortable enemies in combat.

 

MAP 02:

 

 

???

 

This second map was really just as intense as the previous one, very brutal in certain aspects, its architecture and structures are also very reminiscent of the previous map, in addition to that, where this map would make the most difference from the previous one, is the way in that the enemies are positioned, and their way of using traps, and for including Cyberdemons as well. Great job anyway on this map, mate, at least for me, it's just as enjoyable playing continuously as playing Pistol Start.

Edited April 24, 2021 by ElPadrecitoCholo

[Fiendish]

@ElPadrecitoCholo Thank you, and nice job on your playthrough and with finding all the secrets on map 1. I'm glad you enjoyed the maps! Thanks for pointing out those issues - a few oversights on my part due to some recent changes. All of them have now been fixed now.

[Biodegradable]

Here's the pistol-start HMP playthrough of MAP02, dude. This second attempt was a lot more fun. I think I enjoy the overall progression of this one compared to MAP01 and there's less tight areas and props on the ground to hinder your ability to duck and weave around. The way you've balanced it between HMP and UV is also really good too. You're quite the natural at this and I'm looking forward to seeing your mapping career grow here. ;^)

 

 

[Fiendish]

@Biodegradable Thanks for the feedback and the recording; I appreciate you giving it another shot, and I'm really glad you enjoyed it more this time around! It's definitely helpful to see your playthough of this one as well. Also glad you liked the music -- that song is really fun and catchy. Good thing for the brilliant MIDI composers running around here on DW.

 

For those who haven't played through the map(s) yet but want to, definitely make sure to pick up the most recent version, as I've fixed a handful of issues.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Fiendish

[Lynn]

Hello,

 

Great set of maps! Very fun but also very hard with project brutality. Looking forward to more maps.

I've found an issue with map02 (still here in the updated version)

Spoiler

It looks like this switch is only meant to work if you possess the blue skull, but you currently do not need the skull to activate it.

 

 

[Origamyde]

On 4/23/2021 at 6:05 AM, Fiendish said:

Introducing Artifacts of Power, a work-in-progress episode for Doom II. The episode takes place in the Andes mountains (mostly) but will contain a variety of environments within that setting. The visuals/environments of the mapset are largely inspired by Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, and Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, among others. There are currently two maps available to play -- one being my first finished Doom map ("Uncharted Territory"), which I posted on Doomworld back in February. (Note: I have made some recent changes to that map in light of feedback.) I plan to make somewhere between 7-12 maps in total for this WAD, and I hope to revisit and update the earlier maps in the set further as I get feedback and more experience with mapping. 

 

The second map, "Secret Passageways", is now complete and ready to play. Its length and difficulty is comparable to the first map, I think, though the combat may be somewhat tougher in places and more intense/fast-paced than the first. There's one room that might give you a framerate drop in GZDoom. If it does, switching to software renderer should help.

 

Current Version: Artifacts of Power.zip (last updated 4/24/2021)

 

[Some bugs were fixed, so make sure to get the latest version if you downloaded the WAD before the last update.]

 

The story:

  Reveal hidden contents

After unearthing a mysterious, energy-emanating artifact within the Andean wilderness, the UAC began quietly searching for more, with the hope of using them as an exploitable power source. They eventually uncovered ancient ruins of an unknown civilization, which did indeed contain other similar artifacts. But little did they know that these ruins and the artifacts contained therein hold a close connection to Hell. Somehow, the UAC's meddling has opened a new portal to Hell; days after locating the ruins, a swarm of demons descended upon the area. The UAC attempted to resolve the problem with their own security forces but failed catastrophically. Now desperate, they have revealed their secret operation and called upon you for help. With any luck, you'll be able to locate the source of the invasion and close it off before Hell can wreak havoc on Earth for a second time. But time is of the essence, and Hell surely will not make things easy. 

 

Thank you for checking this out, and if you play it, I hope you have fun with it. Feedback is very much welcome and appreciated. :-)

 

Screenshots - Map02: Secret Passageways:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Screenshots - Map01: Uncharted Territory:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

WAD Info:
- Maps: 2
- Format: Vanilla Doom II (limit-removing)
- Tested on GZDoom, PrBoom+, and Crispy Doom. 
    (If you use GZDoom, I recommend setting sector light mode to "Vanilla" in display options for best appearance.)
- Freelook and crouching are allowed but not required. Jumping can break intended sequences and so is discouraged.
- Gameplay style: run-and-gun, exploration
- Difficulty settings are implemented. (I estimate that the overall difficulty lies somewhere between Doom II and Plutonia, but perhaps closer to Plutonia.)
- Multiplayer is not yet implemented. (Co-op is planned for later.)

 

Credits (thank you to all of those below for these amazing resources):

-Music:
    Map01: "Permanence" by AD_79
    Map02: "False Paradise" by Jimmy Paddock
- Textures are from 32in24-15 tex (thanks to Esselfortium for the texture set, and to the other artists who created textures within it)
- Root Pack from Realm667 (credit to Lucario, Captain Awesome, Xaser and 3D Realms)
- Small Trees and Bushes from Realm667 (credit to CaptainToenail and Raven Software)
- The sky texture is slightly modified from a neural-upscaled Doom texture (credit goes to hidfan for creating the neural upscaled Doom textures)

 

 

Gotta say, I'm a huge fan of these two maps. I particularly LOVE that texture work you did, and there's so much good ideas thrown in here with the architecture and level design :O

The difficulty is fine, I guess. It makes sense to have a bit of a challenge on Ultraviolence, so there's that.

 

Regardless, congrats on these two maps. I'm looking forward for the next episode of AoP :D

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

8 hours ago, Fiendish said:

@ElPadrecitoCholo Thank you, and nice job on your playthrough and with finding all the secrets on map 1. I'm glad you enjoyed the maps! Thanks for pointing out those issues - a few oversights on my part due to some recent changes. All of them have now been fixed now.

 

Thanks and you're welcome, I really had a great time on these maps, despite their difficulty, and the things that differentiated each one, and the truth is that it seemed strange to me to find that kind of rarity during the game, but well, I'm glad enough that you have already solved them partner, I will be waiting for your next projects.

[Fiendish]

@Lynn Thanks, and I'm glad you enjoyed them! I can imagine these would be extra tough with Project Brutality. Nice catch on that switch - that's now fixed.

 

@Origamyde Thanks very much - I'm glad to hear you enjoyed them as well! :-)

[Steveb1000]

Finished the first map, really enjoyed it!

 

Like how it unfolds. Feels like random exploring but without getting lost/endless switchhunts/backtracing. You clearly put a lot of effort into getting that right.

 

I like combat that flows, rather than 'ha, here's a surprise facefull of revenants!' and I mostly felt it was like that (with a few facefulls!).

 

I especially liked the battle around the 'beating heart on a pedestal' chamber. I felt like I had to run around to fight and pick up the extras without just cheesing it or circle strafing. 

 

I played on HMP with saves (I'm not a good player), had 3-4 deaths, and it took me 35 minutes. I ran a little low on shotgun ammo but otherwise had lots. More than enough health.

 

Will give map 2 a go soon though it looks tougher.

 

Nice work Fiendish.

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Steveb1000

[Aurelius]

Really fun set of maps, challenging and maybe a tad dickish at times with the hitscanner soup, but nothing that couldn't be managed with proper routing and decision making in general. I liked the detailing, and the layouts flowed well and looped back in meaningful ways that made fast paced progression rewarding (at least most of the time). The monster composition felt partly intentional and partly "throw random stuff at player", but they worked well in tandem and created some interesting prioritization situations. I liked both maps equally, one doesn't stand out to me more than the other, though MAP02 broke for me at the same spot it broke for Zzul, and I think I was going with the latest version. I'm using DSDA Doom 0.18 on cl2.

 

Few minor comments:

Spoiler

- In MAP02, you can bump the red skull key through the bars and essentially skip the entire map. You could possibly make the alcove a bit deeper, or just leave it in as a UV-Speed trick.

- The texture on this lift (MAP02 again) seems to indicate a blue key, so maybe use one that has no emblem on it? Not a big issue though since players will most likely press it anyway.
 

 

[SP_FACE1]

Damn this was good. And by good I mean really good.

[Fiendish]

@Steveb1000 @SP_FACE1 thank you both! Glad you had fun, and thanks as well for the specifics that you liked, Steveb. Hope you have/had a good time with map 2 as well. :-)

 

12 hours ago, Aurelius said:

Really fun set of maps, challenging and maybe a tad dickish at times with the hitscanner soup, but nothing that couldn't be managed with proper routing and decision making in general. I liked the detailing, and the layouts flowed well and looped back in meaningful ways that made fast paced progression rewarding (at least most of the time). The monster composition felt partly intentional and partly "throw random stuff at player", but they worked well in tandem and created some interesting prioritization situations. I liked both maps equally, one doesn't stand out to me more than the other, though MAP02 broke for me at the same spot it broke for Zzul, and I think I was going with the latest version. I'm using DSDA Doom 0.18 on cl2.

 

Few minor comments:

  Hide contents

- In MAP02, you can bump the red skull key through the bars and essentially skip the entire map. You could possibly make the alcove a bit deeper, or just leave it in as a UV-Speed trick.

- The texture on this lift (MAP02 again) seems to indicate a blue key, so maybe use one that has no emblem on it? Not a big issue though since players will most likely press it anyway.
 

 

 

Thank you! I'm glad you found them both fun, and all of that is very helpful feedback.

 

[EDIT: Okay, I think I finally figured out what was causing that issue for certain ports on map 2 and why it was only happening some of the time. Tested on Crispy Doom, DSDA, and PrBoom+ cl2 several times each, so it should be good to go now for all ports on cl2.]

Edited April 26, 2021 by Fiendish

[DavidN]

Exceptional map once again! You've got an amazing sense of how to detail a map and to lay it out - I definitely see the Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones influences.

 

 

I think you went a bit easier on the player here than in the first map? :) Or I could be misremembering because I've been doing a ton of very long requests recently and having something I could beat in under half an hour was honestly a bit of a break! I love how natural your landscapes and overgrown temples feel.

[Fiendish]

@DavidN Wow, thank you so much for playing it and for the kind words! :-) I really appreciate it. This one might have felt easier because I think you played my first map on UV rather than HMP. I may still need to do some balance tweaks for the different difficulties on these first two maps, especially with health/ammo abundance, and to make them a bit more consistent with each other difficulty-wise. (To answer a few questions from your recording, the lift sound is indeed not from Heretic, but rather from Hexen. And the shootable switch in the cave that you were wondering about revealed the switch to the secret brown-water area that you found -- unfortunately, vanilla has no shoot-to-lower-floor action, so I made it a multi-step secret.) 

 

 

For those interested, here are some teaser screenshots for the next map I've been working on: Skyward. I think it should be ready in just a couple more weeks.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Bridge over bridge (vanilla-style).

 

Taking some inspiration from a particular Quake III map here.

 

And I've also just started a tech-base prequel map, if you will (I am planning to make one or two shorter maps that will come before Uncharted Territory in the episode).

 

[TheGreenZap]

I'm sorry it took me so long to notice this Fiendish, but I'll definitely give this a play through. It looks great!