[MBF] 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊 𝚂𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 - Now on idGames !!

[thelamp]

It's done. The Magenta Spire is a partial conversion mapset taking place in parallel to the events of Doom 1; albeit on a much more remote planet. Much too far for any hope of "backup" arriving from Earth. A lone UAC communications technician must find a way to survive the onslaught of demonic forces invading the remote research complex. A shuttle off of this rock, a big gun, or maybe a bomb shelter to hide and weather the storm. The walls of every installation are coming down and the monsters seem to have brought their own reality with them.

 

idgames

google drive

 

Quote

===========================================================================
Advanced engine needed : MBF
Primary purpose : Single+Coop play
===========================================================================
Title : The Magenta Spire
Filename : magspire.wad
Release date : Sept 22nd 2022
Author : Cole Bryden "thelamp" Hobbins
Email Address : the.lamp@gmail.com
Other Files By Author : tectrift.wad
Misc. Author Info : no

Description : A high ranking UAC communications technician travels to a
far-remote research base to investigate mysterious untracable signals.
Upon entering orbit your craft experiences massive guidance system failures.
After narrowly avoiding disaster you land safely--but what could have caused
such sudden failure? You proceed into the facility to investigate

Additional Credits to :
    Nicholas Monti, for being the first mapper whose name I remembered
    HAK3180 and Francist218 for providing valuable criticism early on in the project
    Dusty_Rhodes for being supportive
    Doomkid for putting the Kid in Doom
    everyone involved with Evolution of the Wad, which got me so
    curious about mapping I downloaded DB2
    the community in general for being helpful in sharing info and resources
===========================================================================
* What is included *
           
New levels : 16
Sounds : No
Music : doom.wad, tnt.wad, icarus.wad, chex.wad, mm.wad, hr2.wad
Graphics : doom.wad, tnt.wad, plutonia.wad, OTEX_1.1.wad, icarus.wad,
         retres.wad, chex.wad, NMNCorp2.wad, Alpha/Beta Doom assets, aatex.wad
         more listed at bottom
Dehacked/BEX Patch : Yes, embedded
Demos : Yes
Other files required : No
--------------------
* Play Information *

Game : DOOM 2
Map # : Map01 - Map15, Map31
Single Player : Designed for
Cooperative 2-4 Player : Player starts and monsters
Deathmatch 2-4 Player : Player starts
Difficulty Settings: Yes, primarily balanced with item placement. Some levels have identical
         monster placement on UV and HMP
        
Jumping and mouselook are not intended
Designed for infintely tall monsters, and automatic weapon switch to be enabled
    this makes a difference in some spots, sometimes easier--sometimes harder
Playtested from pistol start, but continuous play is intended

--------------------
* Construction *

Base : New from scratch
Build Time : two years
Editor(s) used : Doom Builder 2, Doom Builder X, Slade 3, Whacked 4, Doom Writer, Notepad++, GIMP, EndEDIT
Known Bugs :  
    picking up a health potion or megasphere with >200 hp will roll it back to 200
    sometimes the Dead Pain Elemental will resurrect back into a corpsepile rather than becoming a Pain Elemental
    cast call is busted due to AV dehacked changes
    lost souls and friendly marines on map01 will not always infight
    massive sprites cause weird clipping, mostly noticable on map 11 and 15
May Not Run With : ports that don't support MBF
Tested With : DSDA 0.24.3, and Woof! 10.30, GZDoom 4.8.1, and PrBoom+ 2.5.1.5

--------------------
Map01 Hangar . . . . . . . . . . .  Bobby Prince - The End of Doom (D_VICTOR)
Map02 Distress                          David Shaw - The Search (MAP02, icarus.wad)
Map03 Radio Silence . . . . . . . . Bobby Prince - Dark Halls (E1M3)
Map04 Egression                        Jeremy Doyle - Stomp (MAP11, icarus.wad)
Map05 Futility . . . . . . . . . .  Bobby Prince - The Demons from Adrian's Pen (E2M2)
Map06 Patina                        Jeremy Doyle - Melting (MAP04, icarus.wad)

Text Screen . . . . . . . . . . . .  Lee Jackson - Oww! (Rise of the Triad)
Map07 Beacon                        Bobby Prince - On the Hunt (E3M6)
    ∟ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  L.A. Sieben - Into the Beast's Belly (MAP08, tnt.wad)
Map08 Impotent Rage                    Tom Mustaine - AimShootKill (MAP22, tnt.wad)
Map09 Arcology . . . . . . . . . .  Jeremy Doyle - Ripsnort (MAP21, icarus.wad)
Map10 Derelict                        Tom Mustaine - Slow Evil II (MAP17, icarus.wad)
Map11 Effluvium . . . . . . . . . . Bobby Prince - Sweet Little Dead Bunny (D_BUNNY)
    ∟                                   Mark Klem - Dreadnaught (MAP02, mm.wad)

Score Screen . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Benson - Arboretum (E1M4, CHEX.wad)
Map12 Fissure                        Andrew Benson - Storage Facility (E1M2, CHEX.wad)
Map13 Phantasmagoria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - cblood2.mid (Blood)
 Naofumi Hataya, Junko Shiratsu and Sachio Ogawa - Moon/Mars: Sukarabe Fight 3 (MAP28, valiant.wad)
    ∟                                   Mark Klem - Galaxy (MAP05, mm.wad)
Map14 Control Tower . . . . .  Jonathan El-Bizri - title unknown (MAP18, icarus.wad)
Map15 Curse                            Tom Mustaine - Gresta (MAP31, icarus.wad)

Cast Call/Map31 . . . . . . . . . . . Metabolist - Sweaty Macubus Armpits (MAP12, hr2.wad)
--------------------
DeHackED

Soulsphere hp reduced to 80%
maximum hp overcharge increased to 400%
maximum armor overcharge increased to 400%

Spiked Knuckles
     two A_Punch frames
     faster
Shotgun (Winchester Yellowboy sprite by Batandy and That_One_Doom_Mod)
     faster
Plasma Gun
     damage increased to 1d8*6
     projectiles drawn as shadow

Lost Soul
     56 hp
Big Imp (Imp replacement, "Squire" sprite from Realm667 by Woolie Wool, Vader and Jekyll Grim Payne)
     200 hp
     speed 9
     throws {multiples of} two fireballs (1d8*4) per volley
Flying Imp (Spectre Replacement, sprite edit by Maelstrom, recolour and gib animation by me)
     48 hp
     speed 10
     {frequent} but short speed boosts
     throws fireballs (1d8*4)
Hell Squire (Hell Knight replacement, ShallowB's sprite based on the Doom 1 cover monsters from 'Share your Sprites' thread on doomworld)
     48 hp
     throws baron fireballs (1d8*8)
Baron of Hell (sprite from The Rebirth)
     1200 hp
     bigger, lighter
Arch-Vile
     1000 hp
     will {sometimes} resurrect themselves
     drops berserk when resurrected
Cyberdemon
     2750 hp
     pain state causes explosion (no bfg hugs for cybie)
Dead Pain Elemental (Commander Keen replacement, recoloured corpsepile sprite from doom alpha)
     spawns lost souls when killed
     can be resurrected
    
Friendly Marine (SS replacement, sprite from Rowdy Rudy 2 by Doomkid)
     150 hp
     drops backpack
    
        words marked with {curly} braces indicate use of A_RandomJump
--------------------
Textures
There are marker lumps within the wad that separate stuff used from the texture packs
    listed at the top, this is a list of other stuff used from the community
    (mostly Doomworld's "Post your textures" thread)
blue sky texture by gtsgreece
sky texture moon by Fredrik
skytex for map14 &15 by GeodesicDomeEnthusiast
splash midtex made by mattfright & gez
pause screen UAC tablet by Horselessheadsman

--------------------
* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors may NOT use the geometry/architecture of this file as a base for
modification or reuse. Permissions have been obtained from original
authors for any of their resources modified or included in this file.

You MAY distribute this file, provided you include this text file, with
no modifications. You may distribute this file in any electronic
format (BBS, Diskette, CD, etc.) as long as you include this file
intact. I have received permission from the original authors of any
modified or included content in this file to allow further distribution.
--------------------
* Where to get the file that this text file describes *

The Usual:
Web sites:
FTP sites:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by thelamp
igames upload

[thelamp]

link updated above

- fixed softlock on map12

- added m_doom & titlepic

- added text screens

- added demo

[thelamp]

added Map31 as well as the few changes below. will need to idclev to it for now, mapinfo support coming in future update (secret exit is on map05)

 

- fixed softlock on map02
- more ammo on map12
- new titlepic
- menu graphics & difficulty names
- added custom status bar

- archvile and lost soul trap modified

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Uh this looks awesome. I'm excited to check it out and will tell you what I think.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Hey man, can't get the download to work. Only thing that shows up is D_DOOM.ogg. Do you have a separate download?
 

[thelamp]

oh, I mustve messed something up try this https://www.dropbox.com/s/mf6glckar26dg01/magenta_spire[31_1].wad?dl=0

 

or this https://www.mediafire.com/file/2dn94hguuq63ot8/magenta_spire%5B31_1%5D.wad/file

[Dusty_Rhodes]

15 minutes ago, thelamp said:

oh, I mustve messed something up try this https://www.dropbox.com/s/mf6glckar26dg01/magenta_spire[31_1].wad?dl=0

 

or this https://www.mediafire.com/file/2dn94hguuq63ot8/magenta_spire%5B31_1%5D.wad/file

First link worked! Thanks, I really want to try more partial conversions.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

So is it complete? I really liked the demo I played. 

[thelamp]

I haven't had as much time to work on this project in the last couple months, but I have done some planning on paper. I did want to take a break from it anyway to let my ideas sort of "percolate" before I start actually building them. I also used the time I had to participate in a few community projects (Literalism, Full Moon, DBP36) to develop my mapping skills. My ambitions as a mapper frequently outweigh my skill as a mapper and I'm hoping to close that gap (at least a little bit) as I finish off this mapset.

 

At this point I'm also considering converting the project to MBF21 because it has a bunch of cool stuff I want to use. So far I've been using Whacked to make the .bex patches for this, which does not (yet) support MBF21. This is kind of sort of a reason for my delaying work on this, maybe I should just learn to to code so I can use DoomTools tho, idk.

 

Thanks for your question and interest! The project is not dead or abandoned, just moving at a snails pace.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

1 hour ago, thelamp said:

I haven't had as much time to work on this project in the last couple months, but I have done some planning on paper. I did want to take a break from it anyway to let my ideas sort of "percolate" before I start actually building them. I also used the time I had to participate in a few community projects (Literalism, Full Moon, DBP36) to develop my mapping skills. My ambitions as a mapper frequently outweigh my skill as a mapper and I'm hoping to close that gap (at least a little bit) as I finish off this mapset.

 

At this point I'm also considering converting the project to MBF21 because it has a bunch of cool stuff I want to use. So far I've been using Whacked to make the .bex patches for this, which does not (yet) support MBF21. This is kind of sort of a reason for my delaying work on this, maybe I should just learn to to code so I can use DoomTools tho, idk.

 

Thanks for your question and interest! The project is not dead or abandoned, just moving at a snails pace.

Well that's great to hear. I really think what I played is one of the most interesting and unique wads I've played. It was disorienting but in a good way if that makes sense. So I'll be really happy to see it complete. However, if you need a break, that's perfectly fair. Good luck with this!

[Armolitskiy]

MEAT IMPS. MEAT IMPS. MEAT IMPS.

[thelamp]

Map13 finished! available to download here or in op

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Awesome, looking forward to playing it.

[Pixel Fiend]

Just discovered it. I love the trippy atmosphere of The Magenta Spire so much. Great work.

[thelamp]

Been a long while, but I am still planning on completing this project! No new maps with this update, but I have fixed various bugs and a couple of maps (7 and 8) have been modified visually. Am I shamelessly bumping this thread to take advantage of the new WADs & Mods forum structure? You bet I am! As with most of this project, I've kind of bitten off more than I can chew as a newbie mapper so maps 14 and 15 have been a struggle to complete the way that I want. The plans for the final two maps are finished, now it's a matter of finding the time to actually build the darn thing.

 

 

(sky texture by @Geodesic Dome Enthusiast from post your textures thread, also @MattFright and @Gez who made the original splash texture that I remixed into clouds)

Edited April 10, 2022 by thelamp
forgot cloud stuff

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Glad to see you're still working on this! I'll be excited to see where it goes in the future.

[nrofl]

I just finished E1.

 

What the fuck is this? Thats in the best way possible! Seriously strange in every enjoyable way. Abstract doesnt even come close to explaining this. The gameplay is sound, the aesthetic is trippy yet awesome.

 

Maybe Im digging this more than others but man everything here is so good.

[i suck at nicknames]

this looks really really cool. 
A/c to the description 13 maps are done....so hopefully we dont have to wait much for it to get completed?

[TeK (⌐■_■)]

Want to chime in and say I've been looking forward to playing this for awhile too, since that earlier thread before it was called magenta spire. I've held off playing anything till an RC release. Screenshots have all given off a vibe somewhere around that of unwelcome, magic doom, and yakfak/nicholas monti maps, and a dash of 90s experimentation/weirdness. Really looking forward to it!

[thelamp]

At long last this project has reached a state that I can call a release candidate. Both maps 14 and 15 are now completed, as well as several new sprites, and a few small DeHackED changes. There are still some additional features/graphics that are unfinished (help screen, pause screen, map screen, co-op, difficulty balance isn't great etc.) But the maps are complete. And although I feel they're lacking in a lot of ways, they do resemble the vision of what I wanted them to be and sometimes that's all you get. I hope everyone who plays has a good time with it!

 

Edited September 25, 2022 by thelamp

[thelamp]

softlock on map 14 fixed (the dog wouldn't always stay "on it's leash") op updated

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Oh man, can't believe I missed this! I haven't been active much lately but congrats on the release candidate! Really excited to play.

[thelamp]

RC2 is now out! Apologies to anyone playing with a hardware renderer, I had not tested the final two levels in GZDoom for RC1 and I had forgotten to change some "invisible walls" into so-called "self-referencing sectors" which caused a tonne of visual bugs to be present (hopefully I caught all of them).  Although this set targets  software rendering, I would still also like it to be playable in the widest variety of ways that it (practically) can be

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Luckily I've been playing in PrBoom+. I haven't gotten to those levels yet but I'm loving it. Great work.

[RoastDoom]

 

In this video I play through the first 3 maps of Magenta Squire! I'm already having a blast with this, it provides a good challenge as soon as map 2 kicks off! 

The new monsters are awesome, particularly the lost soul traps that bleed armor bonuses :)  Overall I dig the magenta and light-green color theme,  and I'm definitely going to play this one till the end. I do get lost a couple times but that was really down to my own ineptitude!

 

One small issue I should raise is the death exit at the end of map 3 which caught me off guard and I ended up loading my previous save before I hit the 'level complete' screen. It could be an issue on my end(maybe a GZDoom setting that I didn't change), so it's not really something that needs to be fixed, but I thought I'd bring it to your attention in case it's something you feel needs to be looked at.

 

Other than that, great job and I look forward to playing more of this!

[thelamp]

Thanks for the video! I really enjoyed watching it. I changed the death exits so that they should work reliably now, the links in the op are updated. It wasn't a problem with GZ Doom it was just the way I had built the map. Interesting observation on how the lost soul traps are like gore nests from Doom (2016), I didn't have that in mind when I made it but you're right they are very similar conceptually. Hope you enjoy the rest of your playthrough, Good Luck!

Edited October 6, 2022 by thelamp
typo

[Demon of the Well]

Hello, I've been playing and very much enjoying this, just completed the unexpected (but most welcome) silent diversion that is m10, "Derelict", satisfying to figure out, particularly the secret with the four bulk cells (who's a good boy, who's a good boy??? etc.). The current RC, magspire_RC21.wad, seems to have an oversight for the player start position of m11 -- you just spawn on a death exit and instantly leave the map no matter what you do (and in some ports you see a text scrawl describing the events that supposedly transpired in that map). I reckon it won't be terribly hard to figure out what the actual intended start position is meant to be, so with a little IDxxx black magic I'll figure it out and proceed that way, but in the meantime this certainly seems like a bug worth mentioning.

 

I'm also not entirely convinced that the secret exit in m05 (which is, conceptually speaking, quite clever and again, satisfying to figure out) will work as intended in all ports, but it's possible I'm simply missing a piece of the puzzle and it does actually work as intended. For the sake of thoroughness, I'm reporting my experience here. Basically, as far as I can figure out:

Spoiler

The actual exit is tied to an impact trigger inside the skull of the big demon-spitter (Magentome? Mauvestopheles?) revealed outside around the time you sever one of the cables and collect the yellow card -- the same space that a cyberdemon and spiderdemon can be coaxed to teleport out of. Basically the setup seems to be a wink and a nod to the classic IoS construction, i.e. you're meant to fire into the opening in the skull, as marked by the evil eye, and hit the back wall, thus triggering the secret exit. The designed complication is that there's only one reachable point on the map which is both high up enough and provides a clear firing lane into the opening, that being the viney spire with one of the secret soulspheres at about the center of the map, which is itself one of the flagged secrets. It also seems that there's a crystal sector just past the evil eye which initially shields the opening from fire, which is lowered at some point during proceedings behind the yellow doors (perhaps when that other cable is severed?), meaning that the alternative exit is only available after you've basically completed the map's mainline progression.

 

The problem is, even once you've opened the way (the face is revealed, the bosses have teleported out, the blocking sector is lowered, etc.) and reached the secret firing point, you won't necessarily be able to actually trigger the exit, because in more or less classic ports a hitscan impact simply will not register across the needed distance, and a rocket or plasma projectile (which can be used to visually confirm that the firing lane is in fact clear, that your aim and positioning on the Z-axis are both correct, and that you're actually hitting the back wall) cannot activate an impact trigger. This limit on hitscan distance may not apply to ZDoom family ports, and I'm currently unfamiliar with Woof!, but in DSDA-Doom or PrB+ it seems the exit cannot actually be triggered, that is unless of course there's something I'm overlooking, like a closer firing point of some kind or whatnot.

 

 

Bugs and some rough edges and other RC-isms aside, this is really engrossing stuff, and I'd freely recommend it. The strange visuals and color scheme and the unusual atmosphere they serve may be the most obvious talking point, but the WAD is the total package, and has a lot of prime Doom to offer, whether you love action, or adventure, or puzzles, or all of the above. Check it out, folks.

[thelamp]

Updated link in op, I have fixed the player start on map11 and I added another secret exit on map05 that is actually possible to activate. Doomshack seems to be down at the moment so it's just the google drive link for now.

@Demon of the Well If you were planning on playing map11 continuous, you may as well just punch in 'idfa' at the start. If you got 100% secrets on map10 (and by the sounds of it, you did) you would've been going into map11 with a full backpack and blue armor anyway. I made it this way to make simulating a continuous run easier; map11 is doable from pistol start, but plays very differently from continuous. Thanks for all you kind words! It is apparent that you have played these maps more thoroughly than I thought anyone would, and I appreciate that. Godspeed on the final stretch :)

[thelamp]

Bumping thread to announce this is finally!! on idgames! It's been a long and winding road to get here, but I'm glad I did it! Very big thanks to everyone who was involved along the way, especially those to may not even know it! I'm gonna tag a whole buncha of people now whose resources are in fact in this wad, who may not even know it. I held off on this earlier because I didn't be obnoxious about it, anyways, now is the time for obnoxiousness:

 

the primary blue sky texture used was made by @gtsgreece who I am not sure if they are even active anymore

the moon I edited into that sky texture is from textures made by @Fredrik

the red mountain/purple sky texture used in the final couple levels is by @Geodesic Dome Enthusiast

the splash midtexture which makes many appearances (including my edit which turns it into a cloud) I found on Doomer Boards, and it was attributed to both @MattFright and @Gez

pause screen UAC tablet made by @horselessheadsman (I intended to put some hints on this screen, but that idea never really materialized :S)

I used exactly two flats from OTEX by @ukiro, those grass flats are unparalleled, I can't imagine something restrained to Doom's palette looking any better

winchester yellowboy sprite by @Batandy, which I artlessly converted to Doom's palette and juggled the frame timings to approximate the original shotgun

Big Imp sprite is from realm667, an credited to @Woolie Wool, @Vader and @Jekyll Grim Payne

flying imp sprite by @maelstrom, some recolour work and gib animation by me

Hell Squire sprite by @ShallowB based on the monsters seen on Doom 1's title screen

Baron of Hell sprite from The Rebirth

Friendly marine sprite from Rowdy Rudy 2 by @Doomkid

 

and not only that, but there is music in here made by @JDoyle as well as @leejacksonaudio, @markklem, Tom Mustaine, LA Sieben, Bobby Prince, Andrew Benson, David Shaw @Tolwyn, @Metabolist, and Jonathan El-Bizri

 

I'd also like to take this time to thank @HAK3180 and @FrancisT218 for providing much needed feedback early on in the project, the gameplay footage you provided allowed me to refine the type of experience I wanted to create with this project! Thanks!

 

@Dusty_Rhodes was someone who showed interest early on as well, and it helped me to stay motivated to keep going.

 

And last, but certainly not least, I'd like to thank @nicolas monti, whose style as a mapper I find more inspiring than any other. The Majority of mapper, from what I can tell, come at it from a mindset of a draftsperson or an architect--this is absolutely not so when it comes to Monti. At the risk of coming off as pretentious, for mappers like myself and Monti the process is not simply a matter of designing; there is absolutely an artistic, abstract element that is both difficult to explain and essential to my work. Without some larger, deeper goal I simply would have never completed this project (and I only managed to pull it off by the skin of my teeth as-is). Anticipating player decisions, conveying a scene clearly without giving everything away and strongly implying a story without leaning too heavily on concrete story mechanics are very difficult tasks but very rewarding when things start to pay off--and this, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

 

Thanks to everyone else who I encountered along the way, it's impossible to quantify the contributions made simply from conversation or debate, but such is life. I hope my next project ends up being just as rewarding--tho I do hope it is much less draining :) Good luck, and happy dooming! Slay the beast and grab the goodies!

Edited November 21, 2022 by thelamp

[Gez]

1 hour ago, thelamp said:

there is music in here made by @JeremyDoyle (not sure if he's on doomworld)

He's here as @JDoyle.

1 hour ago, thelamp said:

David Shaw

Also known as @Tolwyn.