[Now on idgames] Astroverse Doom II vanilla megawad

[azerty]

 

Good map, interesting fights. I loved the cyberdemon room. I noticed there where way to much stimpacks at the start tho. 

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

So, I played it in GZDoom on Hurt Me Plenty (Doom strict compatmode used), I like the megawad so far, good encounters, nice design and maybe the most important thing to me, it's well balanced in Medium skill. The cherry on the cake is the HeXen-like music.

Some of my thoughts.

Spoiler

Map 01.- Nothing wrong, very clever archvile placement, it can be a bit confusing but it was fun

Map 02.- Reminds me of Wolfenstein 3D, clearing room after room, I also liked the tiny details, maybe there are too many lost souls, but good map

Map 03.- A bit claustrophobic for my taste, but still interesting. Liked the music, good choice ;-)

Map 04.- It was fun watching some infighting, although I'd add a bit more of rockets and Shotgun ammo, unless the player finds the plasma gun secret they will most likely use the SSG on the cyberdemons.

Map 05.- The same with Map 04, I'd add some more ammo and cover for the revenants.

 

[azerty]

So I wanted to say something. I think I won't be playing all of them. There are so many maps I want to play but each time I play them I feel bad because I have to play yours to. It's not that I don't like the maps I do it's just that playing megawads is very annoying sometimes because there is so mu ch I want to play. This is also the reason why it takes me so long to upload videos for Astroverse. I hope you understand and I am sorry. I think I will play until map 10 or if you have any maps in particular you want me to play let me know.

 

 

Now about the map. I liked it. I did enjoy the first fight way less than the last fight tho. I can't really point my finger on why but I didn't find it very fun. The last fight was very enjoyable tho good job.

 

Edited November 18, 2021 by azerty

[Astro X]

Hey @azerty, thanks for playing, man. It's all good, don't feel obliged to upload videos of my wad, you can take your time, or take a break completely, I guess.

 

Also, changelog:

 

- added custom skies to the normal versions of the wad;

 

- made the monster closets hidden in the automap (thanks to Lol 6 for pointing that out);

 

- other minor changes in a few maps;

 

- MAP20 is ready, I just need to playtest it, and it may take a while because that map is massive.

Edited November 18, 2021 by Astro X

[Astro X]

MAP20 is here!!!

 

 

[Clippy]

These maps may be too much of a good thing. I have been enjoying them so far but size and monster count is a lot to play haha - this felt like a bit of an endurance test and maybe I was not up for it this morning. Forgive me for getting frustrated - you are so ambitious with your maps - I hope to see you make smaller ones someday :P That's my personal preference anyway - each one of these feels like something you would see at the end of a set - not MAP TEN!!!

 

I had ammo issues early on but was fine for the rest of the match

 

PS I received a very fatal error when playing and Gzdoom crashed - not a fatal error, a VERY fatal error - good thing I didn't lose the footage because I don't think I would have been up for replaying anytime soon

 

Hope my vid is helpful anyway - there were fun times here and you always have interesting things in your maps it's just SO MUCH

 

 

[Astro X]

Thanks so much for playing one more time, @Clippy! I love watching your videos, it's funny how every single time stuff happens lol. I was rooting for you the entire video and feeling kinda bad for all the struggle. Maybe I should indicate which rooms are better to visit first - that way you can have enough ammo for the encounters. I can see you not enjoying the lengthy maps... Maybe in the future I can start working on Miniverse lol.

[Clippy]

I think I picked the wrong time this morning cuz I was kind of in a rush haha

 

I would still like to play more but I'll make sure I have ample time next time 😂

[Astro X]

Changelog v0.75

 

- Edited textures in MAP20, for some reason I did not include the waterfall ones in the last version; also added final touch to the last room. Made one secret more obvious.

[Astro X]

Changelog v0.81

 

- Added a custom status bar and one custom sound to the normal versions;

 

- Minor changes to the earlier maps.

 

Here's the walkthrough of the Episode 1 (MAP01-08):

 

 

[Clippy]

Last night I conked out after I started upload lol, glad you found it - the part in the video as you mention, 36:09 was the part that almost gave me a breakdown - I thought the extra archviles were too much and gave me a million tries - glad to see this wasn't the intended design and I broke the map haha - I couldn't believe that you made that fight now I know you didn't. I will have to find a new approach going forward, I always try to kill everyone and this takes too long and makes me not have enough ammo at the end - every time - I am going to see how many monsters I can get away with not killing next time maybe. Interesting secrets as always - especially the BFG secret - good times. I was having a fun ride until I broke the map and at the end you see how fast I ran to the door hehe

 

good times keeps my blood warm on this cold winter

 

 

[Clippy]

 

 

Maps so long but I had a much more enjoyable time - you are good at crafting scenarios and arenas where monsters are a constant threat - I think I broke one of your fights as seen in the thumbnail lol - fights either break in my favour or against them

 

PS great minds think alike as the final fight has amazing similarity to another final fight - see spoiler - this is just a fun coincidence when you play as many maps as I do you come across these sometimes:

 

Spoiler

At about 57:50 in @Astro X vid above has fun comparisons to the end of this map by @Pistoolkip :

 

 

 

- both fights start IMMEDIATELY after you go up a lift/raising floor

- greeted by a spider mastermind with an Archie behind him elevated on a narrow ledge

- a pair of revenants on the floor to keep you occupied

- dancing around two narrow pillars in the center

- individual monsters in individual elevated monster alcoves to the left and rtght

 

I know you guys weren't aware of each other I am just astounded at the coincidence haha

 

good times and good memories

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Clippy
more thoughts

[Astro X]

Changelog v0.83

 

- minor changes to nearly all levels;

 

- MAP29 special arrives!!!

 

And by the way, thank you @Clippy for the double video, buddy! I've been busy mapping haha you know how it goes sometimes, anyway good times :)

 

 

 

Here's the video commenting about MAP29:

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by Astro X

[Astro X]

I haven't gotten any feedback from maps 18, 19, 20 and 29 so far. If anyone is willing to help me with playtesting, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

I'm constantly updating the wad, either visually or balancing ammo/health pick-ups based on feedback. I feel I'm getting close to what I had in mind for the final product.

[Doomdude89]

Finished the additional maps. Pain Elementals make some big room fights very annoying and weird habit of teleporting revenants in middle of fights. I also think there should be more cells in the red cross room where you encounter 3 Cybers and several archfiends (map Achtung)

 

The Tehran Tower

the beginning is fine untill you go to the blue room Pain elemental + teleporting archfiends ugh. The wide green area with the blue pyramid in the middle is fine. But the room with the 8 pillars where after every revenant kill an archfiend spawns was straight up bs. That room managed to trigger me so bad that i seriously thought quitting the playtrough. Ofc i was greeted in later levels again with the room which took then even more time to complete and i couldnt beat the room without savestates and i tried it almost half an hour to beat it without. And i want to seriously see hardcore players do that room. Because i think its straight up bs. I dont even think its doable when you arent fully geared. So that room takes the cake, (i think the biggest problem is that the archfiends fall over the edge when you try to kill them with rockets but your design is once you go forward the pillars are supposed to lower anyways so yea...) That room really made me mad but maybe some other (hardcore players like Decino might enjoy it)

 

Salamander overall decent.

Blue platforming was okay, red platforming annoying, would remove damaging floor there personally. The brown floored room with circled brain ceiling was great and several other rooms were fun. End room with the Spidermastermind and Cybers was again okay untill again that 6 archfiend spawn ugh ,but doable. 

 

Doom Ja Vu

 

Fine untill that previous mentioned 8 pillar room also i would light up the top side rooms with the Cacodemons and previous ones where Archfiends are hidden behind the darkness. And maybe change the walkable triggers with switches for the last room and an improved exit cause when you are in invulnerability mode player cant distinguish red from grey so telepoting to the beginning just to load again is meh  (Just improvement of life in general)  

 

Overall these are pretty strong maps but designed more for people who are into heavy slaughter. Why i also enjoy them to some extent i do hate rooms with minimal cover and archfiend/pain elemental spam where you are put into an position where its more rng based than skill. Like i said before the 8 pillar room really dragged the experinece down for me personally. But great job and i do give credit for your hard work. Even when i cursed so much that one can write a bible i still played it trough. This is a testament that your wads do have polish and care put to them. And you are a great mapper.

 

[Clippy]

It's been a while, but I rarely have the window of time or energy for a long session. I actually beat this early, officially, but had fun exploring all the other areas too, then like a thorough pest exterminator hunted down each remaining monster.

 

I did play this blind, but following that I had a look at Decino's vid, he experienced the same issues I did which I'm surprised haven't been repaired

 

All and all this was more fun and less grueling like some predecessors

 

good times

 

 

[MauryMyers]

Do you recommend using just GZDoom for this wad?, I tried to use DSDA-Doom with all versions and they have problems with the sound of the secrets (a horrible buzz), in the chococolate versions the first caco does not appear from the wall, and in all the personalized status bar does not appear.

[Astro X]

@MauryMyers hey, I'm sorry I never tested in DSDA. Well, I do recommend playing in GZDoom, because I'm still not sure how to make all stuff vanilla compatible. I tried as hard as I could, but there's actually no tutorial out there. I'll take a look at the cacodemon. Must have not shown after the latest update (so many files to edit accordingly to their purposes).

[Doomy__Doom]

That caco closet has a one-sided linedef for some reason. Was probably meant to be "shown as 1-sided on automap" instead.

 

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by Doomy__Doom

[MauryMyers]

2 hours ago, Astro X said:

@MauryMyers hey, I'm sorry I never tested in DSDA. Well, I do recommend playing in GZDoom, because I'm still not sure how to make all stuff vanilla compatible. I tried as hard as I could, but there's actually no tutorial out there. I'll take a look at the cacodemon. Must have not shown after the latest update (so many files to edit accordingly to their purposes).

I did a quick test to check the status bar and the sound of the secrets and these were my results
 

Spoiler

DSDA - No Custom Status Bar, problem with secret sound (Buzz)
Woof - No Custom Status Bar, No problem with Sound
Doom Retro - No Custom Status Bar, No problem with Sound
Eternity -  No Custom Status Bar, No problem with Sound
Crispy - No problem so far
International Doom - No problem so far
Chocolate - No problem so far

I am going to try to play with one of the ones that do not present problems since gzdoom is not my cup of tea, I will comment again if I find something broken.

[Astro X]

Changelog:

 

- added MAP38 & 39;

 

- slight changes to maps 01 thru 10.

[FEDEX]

Same download links in the OP ?

[Astro X]

38 minutes ago, FEDEX said:

Same download links in the OP ?

Yea, same links. I keep updating them.

[Astro X]

- Wad updated again.

 

Soon MAP40 and then hopefully I'll resume MAP21.

[Astro X]

Changelog:

 

- added MAP40. Now there are actually 30 maps in this wad.

[Astro X]

Changelog:

 

- added MAP41. Probably the last one in a while.

[Astro X]

I just wanted to share with you guys this little piece of joy and fulfillment.

 

This is certainly my GREATEST achievement in Doom ever!!!

 

When I built this map over a year ago, I was sure it was above my skill level.

 

I decided I would finally challenge myself to beat all of Astroverse. If I beat MAP18 as well, I'll declare myself able to beat late Sunlust and whatever comes lol.

 

Edit: UV-max walkthroughs available until MAP14 (so far).

 

 

Edited July 1, 2022 by Astro X

[Astro X]

Changelog:

 

v1.12 - updated later maps visually (only first link is fully updated).

Edited July 22, 2022 by Astro X

[Astro X]

Probably the most hardcore map I've ever built. Difficult, unforgiving and long. Here's how I beat it:

 

 

[Astro X]

I beat the (current) last level of Astroverse! That means I finished editing the levels - for now. Enjoy :)