Project Wormwood - Now with Map02

[LeschNyhan]

My quarantine project has been to learn Doom mapping!  I released Map 01 in early July, and Map 02 is now ready for review and feedback.  Map 01 has been tweaked, but only slightly.  My goal is to make a 7-8 map wad, with Doomguy fighting his into a Black Mesa style UAC facility after a Black Mesa style accident.

 

Here's the link to my dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8u9i8drb5sjheut/PWormwood_beta_02_Release_0.1.wad?dl=0

 

These are UDMF maps based on the DOOM2 IWAD that has been tested in GZDoom.  I am hoping it delivers a pretty standard Doom 2 experience, with a few tweaks here and there - no jumping or crouching.  Freelook is probably ok, but discouraged.  All standard difficulties are implemented.

 

Screenshots are with newest map first.  Playstyle is I guess adventure with mostly run-and-gun encounters, but punctuated with the occasional set-piece fight.  Around 300-400 monsters a map with a fair bit of chaff.

 

Map 02 - Unheeded

 

Unheeded is a more linear than Aftershock, but does loop and should still be a interconnected in key places, and previously visited areas do repopulate.  My personal objectives were to work on building up crossfires, using sound blocking lines to build up ambushes, and using darkness to better effect.  There are two keys, five secrets, and maybe more doomcute than necessary.

 

Map 01 - Aftershock

 

An interconnected adventure map with two main paths to find your better guns.  Personal objectives were building up fight pacing and practicing indoor and outdoor architectures.  I tried making it no-keys, but failed, and got some very helpful advice about lighting that was implemented in version 2.  One key, four secrets.

 

New or modified things to expect:

 

Slot 4 Assault Rifle - more accurate than the chaingun, but with a lower rate of fire and higher per-bullet damage.  Somewhere between the shotgun and the chaingun in dps.

 

Chaingun - higher rate of fire and slightly higher per-bullet damage.  No longer usable for tap-sniping.  Both assault rifle and chaingun have been balanced closer to the SSG, although certainly not surpassing it.  The intent is to make bullet weapons more attractive and usable with slight buffs.

 

Standard pinkies are faster than usual.  Lost souls have less health than usual.  Barons have less health than usual, but have learned a few new tricks.  There is a Wolfenstein SS replacement that fills a hole somewhere between a standard zombie and chaingunners.

 

As this is my first serious project, I would really welcome any feedback and guidance.

 

Thank you for your interest and time!

 

Credits:

 

I owe much to the free resources that have been made available by this incredible community.  There is a full Credits file lump in the wad, but this is the abbreviated list:

 

TEXTURES:

 

[from Realm 667.com]

PatchTex.wad - Patched Up Textures by Gothic

Jimmytex.wad - Texture Pack by Jimmy on September 25, 2016

nb_flats.wad - Useful Flats by Nick Baker

cage_tex.wad - Cage Texture Pack by Cage

 

[from doomworld.com]

SkyBox by Eradrop

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/93446-skybox-for-sharing-with-the-community/

 

MUSIC:

Map 01 – Aftershock

Infection by Brayden Hart (AD_79)

Map 02 - Unheeded

Infection by Brayden Hart (AD_79)

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/106316-ad-midis-updated-2021-04-14-1000-lines-2-and-akeldama-now-on-bandcamp/

 

NEW WEAPONS:

 

[from realm667.com]

Assault rifle adapted from

M16.wad - M16 Assault Rifle by: JoeyTD, Xim, Terminator Rampage

- changed damage, accuracy, rate of fire, fire state behaviour, and cooldown

- sound taken from another weapon mod but was credited to id Software - it might be a quake sound?

- edited my own flash frames from the standard shotgun

 

NEW MONSTERS:

 

[from realm667.com]

Former Ranger adapted from

FormerRanger.wad - Former Ranger by: MagicWizard

- removed some unused code, added assault rifle drop

- reduced range for sniping attack

 

Soul Harvester adapted from

SoulHarvester.wad - Soul Harvester by Tormentor667, Vader, Ghastly Dragon, Keksdose, Sandypaper, Wildweasel

- converted to DECORATE, reduced tracer aggression - not implemented in current level, might not use

 

Arachnorb from

Arachnorb.wad - Arachnorb by Jimmy91, Sandypaper, Pain Edit, Yuraofthehairfan

- simplified firing pattern - not implemented in current level, might not use

 

BaronOfHell modified by me!

- changed health, speed, missile state behaviour

- added lightning barrage, modified sprites for new behaviour

- added lightning attack sprites and thing

 

NEW OBJECTS:

 

[from realm667.com]

Dead Trees from

DeadSwampTrees.wad by Gothic

 

Small Trees and Bushes from

SmallTreesnBushes.wad by CaptainToenail, Necrodome

Edited October 29, 2021 by LeschNyhan
Updated wad with map 02

[Biodegradable]

 

[LeschNyhan]

@Biodegradable Wow, a video review, at that!  Much obliged.

 

A few questions to build on your comments - I did try to set up no keys, but of course that had you wander into the final area feeling underpowered.  I'm curious whether for you and other players it is preferable for me to gate that zone with a key (that I would probably leave in the bunker near the rocket launchers, visible from near the start) so you don't go in there without the equipment?

 

Also, from the comment about putting the assault rifle on slot 4 instead of 2, my follow-up question is which should be given priority?  I had them separated so you can reliably switch for your desired use case, but if they should stay grouped together, I am guessing you would want the chaingun first for crowd-control emergencies.

 

 

[Biodegradable]

14 minutes ago, LeschNyhan said:

I'm curious whether for you and other players it is preferable for me to gate that zone with a key (that I would probably leave in the bunker near the rocket launchers, visible from near the start) so you don't go in there without the equipment?

 

It'd probably be the best solution if you want players to not bumble into it too early like I did and thinking that you were being a bastard and just wanted to torture them. ;^)

 

14 minutes ago, LeschNyhan said:

Also, from the comment about putting the assault rifle on slot 4 instead of 2, my follow-up question is which should be given priority?  I had them separated so you can reliably switch for your desired use case, but if they should stay grouped together, I am guessing you would want the chaingun first for crowd-control emergencies.

 

I can see the rationale there. Thing is though any experienced Doomer knows how to quickly swap between the two different shotguns with relative ease by hitting the 3 key twice, so I don't think it'd be much of a difficulty to have both guns in one slot. Like I said, it just felt more natural to me to hit 4 instead of 2 when I wanted to pull out the semi-automatic rifle because of its similarity to the chaingun. It's like a muscle memory at this point since I've played other mods/WADs that will do something similar.

Edited July 24, 2021 by Biodegradable

[thewaver]

That geometry looks incredibly detailed.

How long did it take you to make this and did you use any procedural generation assistance or did you draw everything manually?

[LeschNyhan]

Thanks very much!  I did do it manually - according to my backups, I started at the end of May, so about 2 months?

[thewaver]

Very impressive!

Good luck with your project! I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it :)

[ketmar]

it plays interesting, but the one thing immediately strikes me: the map is nicely detailed, but has very bland lighting. sure, IRL places usually don't have fancy light changes, but with Doom maps, lighing is a very powerful tool to turn your map from "ok" to "wow, great".

 

your indoors have nice geometry, but you can use much more lighting effects. those lamps should really shine (and some may blink), structures can cast vertical shadows, some rails can be brighter, and so on. don't constrain yourself to "natural look", in Doom "natural" is not what we used to in real life. ;-) try to change light levels when you're changing floor texture more often, for example. if you added some ceiling support, allow it cast "unnatural" vertical shadow, etc. important arrows could blink (yes, they don't do it IRL, but who cares? ;-). play a little with such things, and you'll see how your maps will suddenly become more "deep" and "atmospheric".

 

your geometry and detailing are good, just add some spice to it, and you'll have something Very Good on your hands. ;-)

[LeschNyhan]

That's helpful, thank you.  I had been wondering about that somewhat, and there are some areas I tried to implement lighting changes and shadows, but it's clearly not enough.  It might be gamma settings or something but one of the machines I was testing on was very dark and that definitely influenced the range of brightness I allowed myself to use.  I'll have to do another pass on brightness.

[ketmar]

also, please, note that different sourceports render light levels (and diminishing light) differently. GZDoom has several different lighting settings, for example; PRBoom can look different in sw and hw modes, and so on. most of the time vanilla renderer is more dark than others (but it's hardly an issue here, considering UDMF map format ;-), yet people still may have different light mode settings. the best way, i think, is to tune it for your settings, and then specify what you used, so people can know how they should configure the thing for the best results. sadly, there is no way to make the map "universally good-looking" regarding the light levels. especially for GZDoom, with all the options it offers.

 

but i think you will get used to it eventually, and learn how to use that to your advantage. ;-)

[LeschNyhan]

20 hours ago, ketmar said:

it plays interesting, but the one thing immediately strikes me: the map is nicely detailed, but has very bland lighting. sure, IRL places usually don't have fancy light changes, but with Doom maps, lighing is a very powerful tool to turn your map from "ok" to "wow, great".

 

@ketmar  I've uploaded some new screens in the initial post as well updated the wad to reflect your advice (and others).  You're right, it looks a lot better!  Thanks again.

[ketmar]

i'm happy that i was of some help! don't have enough time to replay it right now (it's HUGE after all! ;-), sorry, but will try to do it later.

[Murdoch]

I will add this to my download queue. Shots look very impressive for a first time author. Good job.

[Sectorslayer]

You just learned Doom? Well, you spectacularly succeeded at it. Awesome map! 

[LeschNyhan]

Bumping for the new map in the set I've been working on.  Updated the OP with the new link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8u9i8drb5sjheut/PWormwood_beta_02_Release_0.1.wad?dl=0

 

 

My personal objectives for this map were to work on building up monster crossfires, working in the occasional rear ambush, using sound blocking lines better, and using darkness and lighting effects for more decrepitude and moodiness indoors.

 

(I think this is ok?  Seems better than creating a whole new OP.)