DBK01: Dungeon Synths (final version released)

[Big Ol Billy]

 

It was a dark and stormy night, and Doomguy had just spent another evening locked in his study, examining an ancient occult tome. But what was that strange, evil music coming from far away?

Dungeon Synths is a 9+1 map musical odyssey from the Digital Bards Krew, merging the worlds of medieval fantasy and vintage synthesizers. This is the first of (hopefully) many bimonthly ZDoom-oriented community projects organized by several veterans of the DBP series, run on the ZDoom forums. The project targets ZDoom 2.8.1 but has also been tested with recent GZDoom versions. Dungeon Synths features an ogg soundtrack of music from classic RPGs, particularly Legend of Dragoon and Dark Cloud 2, newly arranged for (virtual) vintage synthesizers and drum machines.
 

>>FINAL VERSION<<

Previous: RC2 RC1.1 RC1

IWAD: Doom 2
Freelook: Permitted, not necessary
Jump: No
Crouch: No
Swimming: Required--if not using freelook, make sure to have swim up/down controls bound
Difficulty settings: Yes
Multi-player starts: 8 per map, currently untested
You are highly encouraged to play with sound and music on. Please also mod carefully, as there are several custom monsters and decorations.

MAP LIST
01. "Keys Open Doors" - Big Ol' Billy
02. "Sombersong Sewers" - BearInThaWoods
03. "Kasparov's Claim" - Scrangus McBrickdad
04. "Knights of the Patch Cables" - Big Ol' Billy
05. "Tone-Setter" - Scrangus McBrickdad and Glenzinho
06. "Low-Frequency Incantation" - Big Ol' Billy
07. "Synthful Journey" - Glenzinho
08. "Vlad's Carpathian Concert" - Doom_RO
09. "The Icon of Synth" - Big Ol' Billy
10. "Digital Bards Krew" (credits map) - 4MaTC and Big Ol' Billy

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 10 by Big Ol Billy

[Endless]

[Catpho]

Only from DBK (Da Biggest Keys) 4 lyfe!

Edited July 12, 2021 by Catpho

[TJG1289]

Well this sounds awesome! I'd definitely be down for a DBP-type series for ZDoom. 

[Xyzzу]

Yes, conglaturation!

[VanaheimRanger]

Nice! Is this Doomer Boards Sidequest #2?  lol

[Arrowhead]

Love the giant subwoofers in the screenshot! Excited to play this! :)

[Big Ol Billy]

36 minutes ago, VanaheimRanger said:

Nice! Is this Doomer Boards Sidequest #2?  lol

Not exactly a sidequest, although the Fall of Society “sidequest” project did lay some groundwork for this. Several of us had been talking for a while about projects that wouldn’t necessarily fit the DBP format (although DBP37 shows there’s still plenty of life in that classic format!). Particularly the ZDoom format and a longer and slightly looser development period were attractions to me. I’ve made something like 55 DBP maps (or I think ~80 if you count credit maps and such) so it was about time to switch things up! :)

[Biodegradable]

Hell yeah. I was wondering when you lovely DBK kids were going to make a thread here. :^)

[dmslr]

Edited July 12, 2021 by dmslr

[sapphics]

cool! excited to try this out! :)

[Walter confetti]

Ah, finally i can play the efforts of this DBK/DBP schism, also thanks for sharing with us the reason behind the "mass exodus"

[Rince-wind]

Death By Keytar

[Phobus]

The Doom Building Krew strikes! Downloading now, to have a great time...

[Big Ol Billy]

Important update! RC1.1 (now linked in the OP) fixes a GZDoom-only showstopper in MAP02 :)

[Phobus]

Just finishing my first play through. I'm assuming the credits map can't be beaten, so I quit after a while. Very good set! I'm particularly impressed to read that Bear's map was MAP02, as, performance and bug (that you've fixed) aside, it fits well with the rest if the set. Quite the achievement for a relative beginner!

 

The music, theme and changed monsters (and the KeyFG9000) all combined well to make something unlike any other set I've played, and the only mapper that really gave himself away was Glen, who had probably the toughest map in the set (ignoring the credits map and tricky Icon of Synth). Thanks for the hard work Krew - I had a good time with this!

[Big Ol Billy]

Thanks Phob. And yeah, the credits map goes on 4 lyfe! ;)

 

My apologies to Bear for introducing RC1's GZ bug in a last-minute tweak, that's on me!

[Somniac]

As both a Doom nut and synthesizer nerd this is doubly relevant to my interests. Good show!

[ABearInThaWoods]

29 minutes ago, Big Ol Billy said:

Thanks Phob. And yeah, the credits map goes on 4 lyfe! ;)

 

My apologies to Bear for introducing RC1's GZ bug in a last-minute tweak, that's on me!

You did nothing wrong, the visual and slight combat tweaking you did outweighs one bug =)

 

Proud of the team on this set. Thematically it really came together very very well. The set has a moderate difficulty curve and is an extremely pleasant play. I hope everyone enjoys it.

[NeedHealth]

e2 - wait, i missed the part where it said gzdoom. carry on.

Edited July 12, 2021 by NeedHealth

[Biodegradable]

This is gorgeous and great fun so far, guys. The custom sprites for all the zombiemen look like they got lost on their way to audition for Heretic and I adore it, the Imps look badass and I also dig the new idea for the Lost Souls being put in those weird blobs that release them if you hit them by accident but can also use them against other demons if you're clever. The level designs and texture work are delicious, a lovely colourful HUD, terrific music and so far the challenge has been well-measured and doesn't feel ridiculously mean or sadistic. I experienced some frame-rate issues and a softlock in MAP02, but I assume the RC1.1 you just posted should help with that. I think I also might have broken a secret in MAP03 as I'm not sure I found it "correctly" so give that a squizz in my footage and let me know. I can't wait to play more tomorrow. :^)

 

 

[NeedHealth]

well, I tried. Skill level 2

 

dbk01nh.7z

[grrfield]

pity it does not work with zandronum

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Dear god, as if I don't have enough to play through.....guess I have to put off my Icarus replay plans, like, permanently.

[Thrustpeak]

Just gave map01 a shot, and—if the rest of the wad is more of the same—I'm completely on board. I adore the gothic aesthetic, love the re-skinned enemies (along with some new), and dig the music tracks. I'm going to have to bump some other things down on my backlog list to make room for the rest of this soon.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited July 13, 2021 by Thrustpeak

[Side-O-Fries]

What a unique creation!  Well done.

[kwc]

This really hit the spot for me. 
The humour, enemy variety, music, sfx (dusk!), thoughtful level design, clever and tempered use of extended zdoom features.

Fantastic work to you guys at dBk, I'll be eagerly waiting the next one of these. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Warden]

I recommend adding compat_nopassover = 0 to the mapinfo, so players who happen to have infinitely tall actors on don't get stuck on the bridge and have to go into their settings to turn it off.

[Big Ol Billy]

4 hours ago, Warden said:

I recommend adding compat_nopassover = 0 to the mapinfo, so players who happen to have infinitely tall actors on don't get stuck on the bridge and have to go into their settings to turn it off.

Thanks for this, will do! This is my first time leading a G/Z type project so I’m still getting up to speed on best practices re: compatibility, performance, etc. for the format. Tips like this are appreciated!

[Gez]

1 hour ago, Warden said:

I recommend adding compat_nopassover = 0 to the mapinfo, so players who happen to have infinitely tall actors on don't get stuck on the bridge and have to go into their settings to turn it off. 

Heck I recommend going through the whole list of all the compat settings from the "Doom (strict)" and "Boom (strict)" presets and turning off everything relevant. compat_useblocking in particular is a known troublemaker.