Dominus Diabolicus - MBF21 33-map megawad [now on idgames]

[bofu]

Dominus Diabolicus is a 33-map MBF21 megawad and my first solo project. It's gone through quite a few transformations over its two-and-a-half-year development cycle, but the core concept has stayed the same: something that delivers a fresh yet familiar-looking experience, that feels like a complete package that feels like a progression of Doom without going overboard and delivering a completely new, foreign experience. While the vast majority of textures are vanilla or based on vanilla assets, they're often used in ways that completely subvert expectations of how vanilla-textured levels look. There are detailed cityscapes, offices, torture chambers, corrupted techbases, industrial zones, and more. Difficulty is tough but fair, and while seasoned Doom pros may be able to get through most of the maps on UV, the super secret maps are also incredibly challenging.

 

Download the release HERE or HERE (UPDATED 12 JUNE; idgames currently out of date). And please report any bugs you run into. You'll need the Doom 2 IWAD. Episodes have been implemented as a "shortcut" to the starts of different areas, but starting from the beginning of an episode will take you all the way through the rest of the wad.

 

Some of the features include:

• Some tasteful implementation of interactive environments, such as destructible office chairs, playable organs, or flushing toilets.
• An expanded bestiary and custom boss monster, all of which are designed to fit the Doom aesthetic and serve unique battlefield roles.
• An entirely original soundtrack, including a special guest track by Lee Jackson.
• 33 levels, including 3 secret levels, all designed by yours truly.
• Full multiplayer support.
• Compatibility with MBF21-enabled source ports and GZDoom, with recommended/required compatibility settings bundled right into the WAD itself.
• New HUD adapted from the Freedoom HUD, modified to fit the Doom aesthetic.
• Updated cast call for GZDoom users.
• Skill levels fully implemented, with additional monsters and added challenge available via solo netplay/coop spawns.

 

There have been some additions made to the cast of enemies, too. There are some surprises in store, but here's what I can tell you about:

 

Former Human Vanguard: Even the elite shock troops of the UAC have been corrupted by Hell's forces. These guys wear protective armor and wield deadly super shotguns, but at least they're nice enough to trade them to you in exchange for some hot lead or plasma.

 

Cybermancubus: This relative of the Mancubus has been infused with cybernetic enhancements that make it a bit tougher and allow it to channel its corrosive bile into streams of corrosive sludge. Getting hit by one of their projectiles isn't that bad on its own compared to their less hearty brethren, but the pools of acid that get left behind can quickly eat away at you if you stay put for too long. They get along too well with other mancubi to get into fights with them, too.

 

Summoner: And you thought the Arch-Vile was bad. Instead of resurrecting slain monsters, these bastards call new ones in to the fight, and their fire attacks spew a lot more flame at you if you get caught out in the open by them. They're usually busy warding important areas and have to be killed to proceed, so you can't even avoid them.

 

???: The leader of Hell's forces is no mere Gatekeeper, but a fearsome warrior. Unfortunately, there's no intel on this creature or its capabilities...

 

 

The Levels:

Spoiler

MAP01: Four Pillars (Music: "Dungeon of My Own Design" by Bofu)

MAP02: Terrorium (Music: "Office Blocked" by Bofu)

MAP03: Rage (Music: "Escape" by Bofu)

MAP04: Demolition Zone (Music: "Tension" by Bofu)

MAP05: The Depths (Music: "Si Se Puede" by Bofu)

MAP06: Run 'N Gun (Music: "Run 'N Gun" by Bofu)

MAP07: Simplicity (Music: "Organ Failure" by Bofu)

MAP08: Reviled (Music: "Volcanic (Techcringe)" by Bofu)

MAP09: Peekaboo (Music: "Hell is Other People" by Bofu)

MAP10: Tunnel Vision (Music: "Doomed Destiny" by Bofu)

MAP11: Go To Hell (Music: "Mike Alfa Charlie" by Lee Jackson)

MAP12: The Precipice of Pain (Music: "Carnival of Fire and Brimstone" by Bofu)

MAP13: Grotto of Gore (Music: "Reveille" by Bofu)

MAP14: Sin (Music: "Blackout" by Bofu)
MAP15: Cyberphobia (Music: "Drop the Techbase" by Bofu)

MAP16: Well of Torment (Music: "Run Run Run" by Bofu)

MAP17: Unholy Mass (Music: "Bastion of Malice" by Bofu)

MAP18: Plague Factory (Music: "Hell is Green" by Bofu)

MAP19: Fields of Anguish (Music: "Syncopated Sin" by Bofu)

MAP20: Forward Station Hades (Music: "Let the Bastards Hit the Floor" by Bofu)

MAP21: Buckshot (Music: "Boneyard" by Bofu)

MAP22: Malice (Music: "Path to Annihilation" by Bofu)

MAP23: Deathtrap (Music: "Mangoes" by Bofu)

MAP24: Forbidden Library (Music: "Fugue State" by Bofu)

MAP25: Cacophony (Music: "Cycle of Torment" by Bofu)

MAP26: Nerve Center (Music: "Read Them and Weep" by Bofu)

MAP27: Containment Failure (Music: "Them Bones" by Bofu)

MAP28: Infernal Fortress (Music: "Tick Tock, You're Dead" by Bofu)

MAP29: Fen of Fiends (Music: "Demons in the Darkness" by Bofu)

MAP30: Showdown (Music: "Big Ugly Bastard" by Bofu)
MAP31: Boneyard (Music: "Death Spiral" by Bofu) (accessible via MAP15)
MAP32: Deja Vu (Music: "Death Awaits" by Bofu) (accessible via MAP31)

MAP33: Deja Vu 2 (Music: "Death Awaits (Remix)" by Bofu) (accessible via MAP29)

 

CREDITS:

Bofu: Level design, Dehacked, music, various backgrounds and UI graphics, Cybermancubus and boss sprites, Vanguard sprite edits, texture edits

Xim: Basis for the Vanguard sprite

Amuscaria: Summoner sprite

Hambourgeois: Liquid textures

Raven Software: Various props and parts of sprites

Mek: Skies

Lee Jackson: Music for MAP11

Midway Software: Some sounds
Napsalm: Plasma sound
Freedoom Team: Base status bar

 

SCREENSHOTS:

 

SOUNDTRACK:

The tracks I made myself are available for limited streaming and purchase on Bandcamp here if you're interested.

 

TESTED PORTS

Doom Retro
DSDA-Doom
GZDoom 4.11.3

Nugget Doom

Woof

 

DISCLAIMER

Unfortunately, I can't guarantee support for any gameplay mods (Brutal Doom, Project Brutality, etc.).

That being said, if you are willing to produce a compatibility patch for such mods, I am happy to link it here or provide technical information.

Edited June 13 by bofu
final hotfix

[ScrappyMcDoogerton]

These are some really solid old-school style maps. The progression is non-linear without being confusing, and the usage of vanilla textures combined with some really fun sector designs make for a great playthrough for anyone who likes this style of mapset. I played in Crispy Doom and did not find any bugs.

[Kan3]

There are some really good maps here! I liked them 

Like it has already been said, despite being non-linear, you (almost) never find yourself lost somewhere wondering where to go next; every room is nicely connected to the next one and so on.
I played on UV, and I found a good balance between ammo, health and monsters (even without finding every secret).
I died twice in the hell knight's and pinkies trap, where you get the rocket launcher on that pillar, cause the knights kept surrounding me the moment I step in without any possibility of evasion, but maybe I've been blind or unlucky x)
There are a lot of tiny (and major) details that help you never to feel bored, giving more "immersion" and pleasing the eyes.
For example: the toilet flush in map 2 and the indicator for the lowered floor for the yellow key in map 3.

I want, at least 1 complete episode here :D

About the "ugly" notes, instead: you left some areas completely "blank", they almost felt a bit rushed for the lack of detail, in map 1 and especially in map 2, where there are a lot of plain walls, or even the outdoor area.
Examples:

Spoiler

And that's kind of a shame, cause you menaged to carefully decorate the majority of the rooms and areas.
About the level progression, I feel like it's a bit lsot again in map 2. It seemed to me more confusing compared to the other maps.

I found that you possibly forgot to add some secret "flag" in some areas, like the backpack in map 2 and the rocket launcher and supershotgun in map 3, but maybe they were not meant to be secrets.

That's all :D

P.S. You could take a lot better screenshots, my friend, these ones do not do the Wad justice x)

[bofu]

1 hour ago, Kan3 said:

About the "ugly" notes, instead: you left some areas completely "blank", they almost felt a bit rushed for the lack of detail, in map 1 and especially in map 2, where there are a lot of plain walls, or even the outdoor area.
Examples:

  Hide contents

And that's kind of a shame, cause you menaged to carefully decorate the majority of the rooms and areas.
About the level progression, I feel like it's a bit lsot again in map 2. It seemed to me more confusing compared to the other maps.

I found that you possibly forgot to add some secret "flag" in some areas, like the backpack in map 2 and the rocket launcher and supershotgun in map 3, but maybe they were not meant to be secrets.

That's all :D

P.S. You could take a lot better screenshots, my friend, these ones do not do the Wad justice x)

 

Thanks for the feedback! I do agree those areas are kind of plain, and while the theme for MAP02 was "generic lifeless UAC corporate office building," I felt there were still some chances to add some character to some of the areas. I've added some minor details in MAP01 and MAP02 - these were the first two maps I ever made to completion and got more adventurous from MAP03 onward, so revisiting them has given me the chance to add some details. The next version of the WAD (I'm about 25% of the way through making MAP05 right now) will reflect these changes as well as the fix for the secret tags in MAP03 (I had originally marked those as secret, but I ended up changing them into multisector areas and didn't want extraneous secret sectors; I got a little zealous removing the secret tag, it seems).

 

Screenshots are definitely not my forte, mostly because I don't want to give too much away in many of the levels. I'll probably focus on taking screenshots of the architecture going forward.

 

As for that trap with the rocket launcher: the intention was to make the player scramble for either of the doors they still have access to, though I've replayed the map a bit and found that the pinkies can sometimes RNG their way into unfairly blocking the player between the pit and the Hell Knights. I'm going to play around with giving the player some more resources and maybe swapping the pinkies out for a less tanky enemy that can infight more effectively so that the player's less likely to get stuck.

 

3 hours ago, ScrappyMcDoogerton said:

These are some really solid old-school style maps. The progression is non-linear without being confusing, and the usage of vanilla textures combined with some really fun sector designs make for a great playthrough for anyone who likes this style of mapset. I played in Crispy Doom and did not find any bugs.

 

Thank you very much for the kind words! 

[Biodegradable]

It's always a cautionary tale when a newbie comes out of nowhere and tells us they're planning on making a megaWAD after only a bit of mapping experience under their belt, but this is a solid start, fam. These maps have a neo-classic feel to them that will probably attract a fair bit of interest. Everything is pretty decent from your combat scenarios, design and layout. Your detailing and texturing leaves a lot to be desired but you've clearly done your homework when it comes to the mechanics. Not sure if you're entirely ready for a one-man megaWAD as that's a shit-ton of work ahead of you, but if you're dedicated and pace yourself, you can do it. I can't say anything really impressed me, but these are some decent maps and I had fun playing through them. Your DoomCute office in MAP02 was my favourite bit.

 

 

[bofu]

48 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

It's always a cautionary tale when a newbie comes out of nowhere and tells us they're planning on making a megaWAD after only a bit of mapping experience under their belt, but this is a solid start, fam. These maps have a neo-classic feel to them that will probably attract a fair bit of interest. Everything is pretty decent from your combat scenarios, design and layout. Your detailing and texturing leaves a lot to be desired but you've clearly done your homework when it comes to the mechanics. Not sure if you're entirely ready for a one-man megaWAD as that's a shit-ton of work ahead of you, but if you're dedicated and pace yourself, you can do it. I can't say anything really impressed me, but these are some decent maps and I had fun playing through them. Your DoomCute office in MAP02 was my favourite bit.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback - it looks like there are some opportunities for additional secrets I could add, given your playthrough video! Also gonna add just a little more health in MAP03 and MAP04, at least in the starting areas - seeing the map through fresh eyes helps with that.

 

The dynamic lighting definitely spoils the Lost Souls in MAP02, ha. Also, I guess without the right soundfonts, the upbeats in MAP02's music can be pretty annoying - decreased the volume and frequency of them, so the next version of the WAD will have that fixed, too.

Edited October 5, 2021 by bofu

[thiccyosh]

I already love this planned megawad. And happy reading!

 

I played on UV with dsda-doom, here are my thoughts on this four level pack.

 

Map01, a slimy tech-base overrun by hitscanners and Imps, nothing more to say for a Map01. The premise of this map is simple, you have to hit four switches and then exit. As far as level design these four levels feel oldschool, but don't hit you with a hammer when you take a wrong turn at a wrong time, something even vanilla Doom 1993 got wrong. Though I have to say the room with the Map01 reference from Doom 2 is a bit too blank, and the secrets require more wallhumping, rather than to spot the differences. Still it's a good Map01!

 

Map02, an office complex with toilets I have never seen before. Remember what I said about this map pack feeling oldschool? The office complex outside is a bit to boxy and flat for my liking, a few boarders like Support 3 (the silver boarder texture if I'm remembering correctly) would have given the building a much nicer appearence to look at, instead it reminds me of The Factory from doom 2 with the same lame design. but the inside of this building feels mordern and colorful! About the toilets, I thought I would never write such a sentence in the middle of the Internet like this, but I like the toilets in this level, they even flush when you press the big red button on it! And the dumb stall secret where you have to use the locked stall door in an angle with another dumb secret behind with the toilet sinkng into the ground makes me wonder how you did that without breaking the whole level apart, not because of the toilet but because of these damn floor actions that don't want to work properly (Please share your mapping secrets with us, pretty please). Back on track this level is streight forward, grab the stick, kill the baddies (mostly hitscanners and Lost Souls. Why Lost Souls?) and exit. Here again the vanilla texturing gets bonus points from a semi-purist, and the secrets are odd, how am I supposed to know this random corner in the ammo room has a secret without Iddt'ing?

 

Map03, a techbase. If Knee Deep in the Dead had a summary without (most of) the rules Romero used this would have been it. stickBoom and gunChain make this level more fun and keep you entertained until the level is done after 10 or so minutes and ends with an ambush that caught me off-guard unlike any map I played so far, and because it was that unexpected. And with the rocket launcher in hand you might blow yourself up on the pinkies, who seem to like eating rockets just like me! However this level has the exact same ups and downs as the last few levels, the ups being you making good use of vanilla textures and the downside being you leaving some misaglined textures behind, see the gray room with the stairs where shotgunners teleport in after getting a key. And the secrets being a headscratcher again. I only found them first try due to the automap already showing them to me. What a bummer, I still like this level nonetheless!

 

Map04 not only cranks up the heat in terms of difficulty, but also this time in atmosphere. While the other three levels had bizzare midis in the back that aren't grating your ears like cheese, but are very forgettable, this midi in Map04 however isn't forgettable. This level gave me the spooks, not the chills, but the spooks (It's October anyways) while this this midi was playing. The low-lit caves with Imps and Pinkies taking a stroll through the caves are aesthetics I'll always dig as a playtester, but can't really seem to replicate it myself as a mapper, maybe because I have the creativity of a half eaten cheeseburger whenever I try to make midis for my maps (Or maps in general right now). Anyways you get ambushed by zombos and demons when you try to grab the single barrel shotgun with a side of green armor which is always a nice and warm welcome to a map. Then you tickle the Bruiser Bois with the  same shotgun and then proceed to the caves where you'll be able to either chaingun or shotgun Spectres depending on what you wasted on the Bruisers. You do get a super-shotty but that is a secret you'll get later on and that I found after beating the level. Oh well. My favorite part of this level is the hallway where hell seeps through the walls with marble bricks and flesh looking through the walls, I'm not gonna ask how long it took to get the wall textures correctly with the flesh looking like actual tumors and not like bits of meat you'd find in dog food, this looks like a lot of effort went into this and I  love it (Becasue how much of a pain this is to texture and draw in with linedefs)! I also like the fun flesh room with two Cacos and again an obscure secret I only found with Iddt'ing, seriously, how was I supposed to know in the flesh room was a wall you can touch to open a secret megaarmor?? The ambush when press the Eye feels awfully similar like the ambush from Map03 but I can forgive that for you not using any Arch-Viles. Thank you :) I actually died where you press the switch above the mudpit when one Baron and a Hell knight await you. I blew myself up because my crapboard thought it would be a marvellous idea to crap itself everytime I wield a Launcher Rocket and strafed into the Baron whilst lauching a rocket into this dudes arse. Fun stuff. Then you leave the cave, take a deep breath, go to the hut and blow that, fortess? And blow that house up. I really, really love this level by the atmosphere alone! It was fun getting lost and spooked in that level.

 

Closing words: I'm really eager to see to what this wad evolves to! You have great ideas and can set pull them off nicely, especially doomcute and certain ambushes I listed, though there are things you might want to change, and perhaps not develop too much of a sweettooth for extremely odd and hard to find secrets. And 32 full maps for a self called newbie is very, very difficult if you don't know what you are doing, and that is impossible with an audience putting expectations on your sholders. My tip: take your time, seriously, Doomworld likes to see maps that aged like a fine wine, and not like milk like you can sometimes see with users that are very inexperienced with mapping. And I will say it again: I love this map-pack!

 

I give this wad 4.5 out of 5 GibbedMarineExtras.

 

Have a nice day.

 

 

[bofu]

40 minutes ago, thiccyosh said:

Spoiler

 

I already love this planned megawad. And happy reading!

 

I played on UV with dsda-doom, here are my thoughts on this four level pack.

 

Map01, a slimy tech-base overrun by hitscanners and Imps, nothing more to say for a Map01. The premise of this map is simple, you have to hit four switches and then exit. As far as level design these four levels feel oldschool, but don't hit you with a hammer when you take a wrong turn at a wrong time, something even vanilla Doom 1993 got wrong. Though I have to say the room with the Map01 reference from Doom 2 is a bit too blank, and the secrets require more wallhumping, rather than to spot the differences. Still it's a good Map01!

 

Map02, an office complex with toilets I have never seen before. Remember what I said about this map pack feeling oldschool? The office complex outside is a bit to boxy and flat for my liking, a few boarders like Support 3 (the silver boarder texture if I'm remembering correctly) would have given the building a much nicer appearence to look at, instead it reminds me of The Factory from doom 2 with the same lame design. but the inside of this building feels mordern and colorful! About the toilets, I thought I would never write such a sentence in the middle of the Internet like this, but I like the toilets in this level, they even flush when you press the big red button on it! And the dumb stall secret where you have to use the locked stall door in an angle with another dumb secret behind with the toilet sinkng into the ground makes me wonder how you did that without breaking the whole level apart, not because of the toilet but because of these damn floor actions that don't want to work properly (Please share your mapping secrets with us, pretty please). Back on track this level is streight forward, grab the stick, kill the baddies (mostly hitscanners and Lost Souls. Why Lost Souls?) and exit. Here again the vanilla texturing gets bonus points from a semi-purist, and the secrets are odd, how am I supposed to know this random corner in the ammo room has a secret without Iddt'ing?

 

Map03, a techbase. If Knee Deep in the Dead had a summary without (most of) the rules Romero used this would have been it. stickBoom and gunChain make this level more fun and keep you entertained until the level is done after 10 or so minutes and ends with an ambush that caught me off-guard unlike any map I played so far, and because it was that unexpected. And with the rocket launcher in hand you might blow yourself up on the pinkies, who seem to like eating rockets just like me! However this level has the exact same ups and downs as the last few levels, the ups being you making good use of vanilla textures and the downside being you leaving some misaglined textures behind, see the gray room with the stairs where shotgunners teleport in after getting a key. And the secrets being a headscratcher again. I only found them first try due to the automap already showing them to me. What a bummer, I still like this level nonetheless!

 

Map04 not only cranks up the heat in terms of difficulty, but also this time in atmosphere. While the other three levels had bizzare midis in the back that aren't grating your ears like cheese, but are very forgettable, this midi in Map04 however isn't forgettable. This level gave me the spooks, not the chills, but the spooks (It's October anyways) while this this midi was playing. The low-lit caves with Imps and Pinkies taking a stroll through the caves are aesthetics I'll always dig as a playtester, but can't really seem to replicate it myself as a mapper, maybe because I have the creativity of a half eaten cheeseburger whenever I try to make midis for my maps (Or maps in general right now). Anyways you get ambushed by zombos and demons when you try to grab the single barrel shotgun with a side of green armor which is always a nice and warm welcome to a map. Then you tickle the Bruiser Bois with the  same shotgun and then proceed to the caves where you'll be able to either chaingun or shotgun Spectres depending on what you wasted on the Bruisers. You do get a super-shotty but that is a secret you'll get later on and that I found after beating the level. Oh well. My favorite part of this level is the hallway where hell seeps through the walls with marble bricks and flesh looking through the walls, I'm not gonna ask how long it took to get the wall textures correctly with the flesh looking like actual tumors and not like bits of meat you'd find in dog food, this looks like a lot of effort went into this and I  love it (Becasue how much of a pain this is to texture and draw in with linedefs)! I also like the fun flesh room with two Cacos and again an obscure secret I only found with Iddt'ing, seriously, how was I supposed to know in the flesh room was a wall you can touch to open a secret megaarmor?? The ambush when press the Eye feels awfully similar like the ambush from Map03 but I can forgive that for you not using any Arch-Viles. Thank you :) I actually died where you press the switch above the mudpit when one Baron and a Hell knight await you. I blew myself up because my crapboard thought it would be a marvellous idea to crap itself everytime I wield a Launcher Rocket and strafed into the Baron whilst lauching a rocket into this dudes arse. Fun stuff. Then you leave the cave, take a deep breath, go to the hut and blow that, fortess? And blow that house up. I really, really love this level by the atmosphere alone! It was fun getting lost and spooked in that level.

 

Closing words: I'm really eager to see to what this wad evolves to! You have great ideas and can set pull them off nicely, especially doomcute and certain ambushes I listed, though there are things you might want to change, and perhaps not develop too much of a sweettooth for extremely odd and hard to find secrets. And 32 full maps for a self called newbie is very, very difficult if you don't know what you are doing, and that is impossible with an audience putting expectations on your sholders. My tip: take your time, seriously, Doomworld likes to see maps that aged like a fine wine, and not like milk like you can sometimes see with users that are very inexperienced with mapping. And I will say it again: I love this map-pack!

 

I give this wad 4.5 out of 5 GibbedMarineExtras.

 

Have a nice day.

 

 

 

 

 

Whoa, thanks for the write-up! Some of the sparse walls have already been addressed and will be ready to go for the next release once I wrap up MAP05, and I've also done some work to make the secrets stand out a little bit. Here are some spoilers so people can see what they missed:

 

Spoiler

MAP01:

 

- In the brown-textured chamber with computers where the imps are, check out the computer consoles. One of them has a raised "space bar" (which shows up on the Automap) that, when pressed, will open a room with green armor.

- In the brown brick room to the left and up the stairs from where you start, open up the room that has the switch for the door to the next room. Check out the lamp - it's a different lamp than the other ones in the area, and when used, will lower a wall with some ammo and health.

- There are more secrets planned in the next release.

 

MAP02:

 

- The green armor behind the dumpster in the side alley is flagged as a secret.

- In the bathroom on the left, check out the wall next to the sink. There's a slightly darker patch that, when used, will open up the first (locked) bathroom stall.

- There's a second secret in the same bathroom stall. The toilet doesn't have a switch on it. Use the toilet to lower it into the ground and reveal a Soulsphere.

- In the cubicles, notice that there's a pattern to the arrangement of the desks. One of the cubicles in the middle stands out when you look at the desks because it has the same arrangement as the two cubicles next to it. Activate the monitor (you have to squeeze in to the corner of the chair to hit it) to lower a panel in the north with a chaingun and some ammo. (I've already adjusted this secret to be slightly easier to find - the monitor is going to have a different texture now).

- In the tech room to the north of the cubicles, look at the floor. In one corner, the floor texture is dirtier. Activate the wall to reveal a rocket launcher (I made this one a bit easier to see in the upcoming release).

- One of the vents that releases Lost Souls can be entered after grabbing the blue keycard. Run across the northern most row of cubicles (you can climb up using some of the chairs in the first or last row) and keep running; there's a Megasphere there.

- As with MAP01, there are more secrets planned with the next release. The monster closet with the backpack will also count as a secret going forward.

- The blue armor in the small building next to where you start is a trap and doesn't count as a secret. That being said, if you have the berserk pack, the Lost Souls aren't much of a threat. I made the trap more obvious in the upcoming release (lots of blood and gibs).

 

MAP03:

 

- Immediately upon entering the level, open the first door and turn to the right. Look on the other side of one of the silver columns. A switch there will open up a closet with a chaingun in it.

- In the open courtyard area where you have to press a switch to open the doors, if you look closely, there's a very thin edge where, if you're careful, you can walk along the fence across the top of the pit with the switch in it. If you make it all the way across, you should be able to carefully drop down onto a Soulsphere that'll raise up when you get close (look for the little peninsula that sticks out from the western wall).

- After crossing the first courtyard and opening the door into the dark metal room with the staircase winding down, look at the wall to the right. There is a spot with a different texture that, when pressed, lowers to reveal a berserk pack as well as a switch to drop down to where the chaingunner is (I don't recommend jumping down unless you know where the chaingunner is, though).

- In the storage room with the red keycard, look behind the wooden crate for a switch. It'll cause the second crate inside of it to lower, revealing a super shotgun. This is marked as a secret in the upcoming release.

- In the room with the cacodemon and the window looking outside, check out the computer consoles. One of them has a similar space bar trick to MAP01's secret, and pressing it will reveal a rocket launcher.

- In the area with the blue keycard, after activating the trap with the barrels, hitscanners, and imps, walk past the lift and look at the wall. There's a slightly inset panel that will reveal a switch, which opens up a secret near where the Hell Knight is to get into the imp alcoves with some ammo. I changed the lighting of this to make it more obvious in the upcoming release.

- Not a secret, but there's a miscolored wall that reveals a teleporter near the exit. This takes you back to the room where you press the switch to lower the yellow key. This is mostly for multiplayer or backtracking purposes, but I might turn it into a legit secret and put an item in there or something.

 

MAP04:

 

- In the cave with the lift leading down, go into the section in the right with the two imps. There's a wall that's slightly lighter than it should be, and when pressed, it'll reveal the automap.

- In the skin/brain room, there's a glowing wall panel. When pressed, it lowers a lift to a tunnel with some blue armor.

- In the marble room, the inset wall with the hanging corpse opposite of the alcove with the switch is glowing. Shoot it to open up a secret with a super shotgun and some ammo.

- After escaping the Hell Knight trap, the alcove with the chaingunners and cacodemon has a tiny switch that should be pretty visible in the alcove with the medkit once you enter it. Flipping this switch lowers one of the stairs and reveals a backpack and some rockets.

- Not a secret, but the blue keycard door at the exit room is only there because I forgot if the -nomonsters flag disabled the Romero head that I used for the demolition effect, and I wanted people playing Deathmatch to be able to exit the level (since DM gives you all keys). Turns out it's completely unnecessary, so I'll probably get rid of it.

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by bofu

[Kan3]

9 hours ago, bofu said:

 

[...]I had originally marked those as secret, but I ended up changing them into multisector areas and didn't want extraneous secret sectors[...]

 

I know the pain x) when you start to split up secret sectors cause, maybe, you want some nice lightning, or whatever other detail, and you end up with 354 secrets in one spot D:
Always...

[dei_eldren]

Played first two maps on HMP and liked it a lot, as it is.    Quite a strict policy on shells and health, especially on map02, and those Lost Souls, haha, but it's manageable, and at least chainsaw means no need to waste them on Pinkies.  The Mega Armor trap got me badly :P  Tricky secrets, too, which i appreciate, without a thorough search found only one on the second one.

 

Hope you make a full Megawad out of this!

[bofu]

7 hours ago, dei_eldren said:

Played first two maps on HMP and liked it a lot, as it is.    Quite a strict policy on shells and health, especially on map02, and those Lost Souls, haha, but it's manageable, and at least chainsaw means no need to waste them on Pinkies.  The Mega Armor trap got me badly :P  Tricky secrets, too, which i appreciate, without a thorough search found only one on the second one.

 

Hope you make a full Megawad out of this!

Thanks a ton! I've increased the shell count and available health slightly in the map and have made that trap a lot more obvious in the current build. I appreciate your comments! I'm also working to make the secrets somewhat more obvious, or at least apparent if you take some time to search around.

[Doomdude89]

Very solid levels. I would give more health after the Hell Knight trap but overall loved the experience. 

 

[bofu]

5 hours ago, Doomdude89 said:

Very solid levels. I would give more health after the Hell Knight trap but overall loved the experience. 

 

Thanks a ton! Haha, using liteamp in MAP04 made it a little less obvious how to get the SSG secret in the marble area, though you did a great job taking down those Hell Knights. Throwing in some more health in that area now.

[bofu]

I'm about 50% done with MAP05, which is a step up from the other maps in terms of complexity and ambitious-ness. But I also wanted to provide a little bit of a preview of some of the touch-ups I've given the more barren areas of the maps.

 

Some of the other changes I'm making that'll be in the build once I get MAP05 finished up:

 

• New title screen and music.
• Adjusted MAP02's music to be a little less heavy on the upbeats because MIDI doesn't do a good job handling ska guitar and it was getting pretty annoying if you were using certain MIDI cards.
• Made health and ammo slightly more plentiful, particularly before or after tricky areas.
• Drastically improved the obviousness of some of the secrets, particularly in MAP02. The chaingun closet was easy to find from the outside (not that you'd know what was in it), but I don't think anyone actually figured out how to open it because you're not as OCD as I am.
• The door opened by the switch in the little pit in the starting area of MAP03 is no longer on a timer.
• The twin lifts leading into the lobby area in MAP03 before you get the red key were a deathtrap because of how small they were and how the imps liked to scratch you as soon as you got them. Got rid of the doomcute couches because they didn't add anything gameplay-wise and expanded the lifts so that you can actually see what's at the bottom.

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by bofu

[Feden05]

hi m8, you have a really solid map, your strong point is combat, rs very funny and challenging at times (my biggest "negative criticism", to call it somehow, is the battle with the hell knight, I was unable to finish that fight without cheats , there are too many demons just with the shotgun). The use of textures in some moments does not fit me honestly, there may be improvement in that aspect.

 

I wish you the best of luck with your megawad project, I think you have the skill to do it, Dominus is a great start.

btw here are my stats, played with beautiful doom, i didn't found all the secrets.

[bofu]

On 10/9/2021 at 3:39 PM, Feden05 said:

hi m8, you have a really solid map, your strong point is combat, rs very funny and challenging at times (my biggest "negative criticism", to call it somehow, is the battle with the hell knight, I was unable to finish that fight without cheats , there are too many demons just with the shotgun). The use of textures in some moments does not fit me honestly, there may be improvement in that aspect.

 

I wish you the best of luck with your megawad project, I think you have the skill to do it, Dominus is a great start.

btw here are my stats, played with beautiful doom, i didn't found all the secrets.

Thank you! There are other weapons to use against the demons and Hell Knights that are all in secrets (SSG and rocket launcher), though I'm thinking of making at least the rocket launcher secret in MAP03 slightly more obvious. I've cleared the fight with just the shotgun before (sometimes by just leaving without killing everything, other times by abusing infighting), but going into it blind does catch you off guard a bit.

[Widosm]

Making an entire 32 map megawad is a big commitment - make sure to take breaks if you're getting tired.

Other than that, best of luck.

[Bri0che]

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Architecture/general aesthetic :
Description > Impressive for a "newbie mapmaker", you clearly toke care about sector complexification ! Funny and cool detailings, nice ideas, strong effects, aesthetic and design are nice despite being limited by the only use of vanilla textures. I particularly loved the "Portal" of MAP04.

Nice midi choice by the way, I generally use my own music replacement when I'm playing custom WAD's, but for this one I let myself be carried away

 

 

Combats/gameplay design :
Description > Maybe I'm a little biased as I played with the mod Combined Arms.

There was not a time where I felt like there was an empty moment or a blank about the combat dynamism, plus the ratio monsters/health & armor/amunition was balanced. The difficulty was just slightly above the classic experience and this is the ideal for me, I only died once at MAP04 because of a strategic mistake... So, because of me :)

 

 

In addition : I encourage you to continue for the MegaWAD ! I feel like you can handle the project slowly by continuing to release updates of your work :)

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Briøche

[bofu]

11 hours ago, Widosm said:

Making an entire 32 map megawad is a big commitment - make sure to take breaks if you're getting tired.

Other than that, best of luck.

Oh, absolutely. I think I'll have some luck once I get to the "Hell" parts of the WAD, since that really is where I have the easiest time designing architecture, but I definitely don't expect this to be a quick project! Thank you.

5 hours ago, Briøche said:

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Architecture/general aesthetic :
Description > Impressive for a "newbie mapmaker", you clearly toke care about sector complexification ! Funny and cool detailings, nice ideas, strong effects, aesthetic and design are nice despite being limited by the only use of vanilla textures. I particularly loved the "Portal" of MAP04.

Nice midi choice by the way, I generally use my own music replacement when I'm playing custom WAD's, but for this one I let myself be carried away

 

 

Combats/gameplay design :
Description > Maybe I'm a little biased as I played with the mod Combined Arms.

There was not a time where I felt like there was an empty moment or a blank about the combat dynamism, plus the ratio monsters/health & armor/amunition was balanced. The difficulty was just slightly above the classic experience and this is the ideal for me, I only died once at MAP04 because of a strategic mistake... So, because of me :)

 

 

In addition : I encourage you to continue for the MegaWAD ! I feel like you can handle the project slowly by continuing to release updates of your work :)

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Thanks a ton for the feedback! MAP04 is definitely the map I'm the proudest of in the architectural sense. I'm glad you enjoyed the music and the combat encounters as well. I tend to play through mapsets/megawads with a few different gameplay mods, though the goal is always for vanilla gameplay to be at the top of the priority. Ammo does seem to be a little tight for people in vanilla, so I've increased the count a bit, but I figure it's better to have too much than too little.

[bofu]

MAP05: The Depths has been added. Full changelog below:

 

Spoiler

MAP01:

• Added another secret.
• Made some visual improvements in various areas.
• Made it worth your time to kill the imps in the northeast section of the map on the raised platforms.
• Fixed some texture alignment issues hidden in a secret area.

MAP02:

• Adjusted the MIDI to make it a bit less grating if not using the SC-55 soundfont.
• Made some visual improvements in various areas.
• Made some secrets much more obvious to find.
• Added some decoration to a certain trap.
• Added another secret.

MAP03:

• Retextured some areas and added some visual improvements (anybody else wonder how they got those massive crates into that storehouse room with the red keycard?)
• Adjusted the lifts leading down into the brown lobby area to make them less deathtrappy.
• Made some secrets a little more obvious to find.

MAP04:

• Slightly increased ammo availability.

MAP05:

• Added map.

MISCELLANEOUS:

• Rebuilt nodes to fix some slime trails in ports that are privy to such things. Didn't get them all, but it definitely helped.
• Added new title screen, title music, and intermission music.
• Did some DEHACKED and sprite work that isn't relevant for these first few maps.

 

[bofu]

I was made aware that there's another WAD with the same name, so I'm going to be thinking of a new name to differentiate. I was thinking of going with "Dominatus" or "Diabolus Dominus" (which was the original working title, honestly)

[Doomdude89]

With pistol start fighting archfiend and numerous revenants could be improved by adding at least the double barrel shotgun (perhaps giving the ssg in the yellow key room?) I like the 05 map itself ,good layout and fair traps.

 

Edited October 21, 2021 by Doomdude89

[bofu]

3 hours ago, Doomdude89 said:

With pistol start fighting archfiend and numerous revenants could be improved by adding at least the double barrel shotgun (perhaps giving the ssg in the yellow key room?) I like the 05 map itself ,good layout and fair traps.

 

There is an SSG in the open lobby area before you go up the elevator to grab the yellow keycard. Thanks for the playthrough!

[bofu]

Sorry for the lack of updates as of late - MAP06 (Gun 'N Run) is taking a while to complete. But I figured I'd toss some screenshots up here as proof that I'm still working on this. Still working on a new title, too (though it'll probably be something very similar so I don't have to redo all the graphics completely).

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[bofu]

Had the day off work today because of a head cold, so I decided to go ahead and polish off MAP06 and push out the update! Here's the full changelog:

 

Spoiler

• Added MAP06: Run 'N Gun. Clear out a UAC data center with some nasty traps but plenty of weapons for your trouble.
• Added intermission text after MAP06.
• Adjusted the title graphics.
• Renamed the project from Dominus to Dominus Diabolus. Finding out that someone else had made a map called Dominus the same year was kind of a kick to the nuts, so I renamed my project not to step on their toes (even if they didn't say anything).
• Made a slight adjustment to some level geometry in MAP03 for visual improvements and to make a Hell Knight slightly more threatening.
• Did some slight retexturing for a door that nobody probably uses in MAP02.
• Removed the blue key door that serves no purpose in MAP04.
• Flagged the chaingun secret in MAP03 as a secret and made it a little deeper so that players were more likely to trigger it as a secret as a result.
• Adjusted the outdoors secret in MAP01.

Please redownload if you downloaded prior to 2:20 PM Central time on 10/27 - the LANGUAGE lump was malformed, so ZDOOM was crashing on launch.

Edited October 27, 2021 by bofu

[DavidN]

Pulling this up with a new video on request :) This is a nice map set with variation in the levels and some nice scenery - and once again something that is far too good being made by someone new ;)

 

 

[bofu]

2 hours ago, DavidN said:

Pulling this up with a new video on request :) This is a nice map set with variation in the levels and some nice scenery - and once again something that is far too good being made by someone new ;)

 

Thank you so very much for the playthrough! Looking through this, I'm definitely seeing how some secrets could be given a few more visual cues or maybe turned into not-secrets altogether, since ammo was definitely a worry for you, especially at the end of MAP02.

 

In other news: MAP07 is about 70% done and is taking a while because trying to make compelling city areas with stock Doom textures is not the easiest task, but I already have the next few maps planned out. I will probably start doing releases in batches of maps rather than with every new level going forward, so the next release will probably include MAP07-MAP10 to go with an episodic theme.

[bofu]

Although I said I'd release in batches rather than single maps going forward, MAP07: Simplicity ended up taking on a life of its own and becoming a bit more epic than expected, so I felt it was appropriate to release it. It marks a decided escalation in terms of potential challenge as well as complexity of design.

 

The download link has been updated in the first post, but here it is in case you don't feel like scrolling:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bau459yi88l8i0m/DominusDiabolusNov28.zip?dl=0

 

Changelog:

Spoiler

Miscellaneous:

• Added MAPINFO lump to disable jumping and crouching. I plan on allowing freelook at all times, though.
• Added MAP07: Simplicity.

MAP01:

• Made some secrets a bit easier to notice.
• Some miscellaneous visual fixes.

MAP02:

• Increased ammo availability.
• Adjusted some texture alignment and ceiling heights.
• Made a certain water closet-based secret a little more noticeable. That's all you get - use the Automap if you think there's a secret around!

MAP03:

• Simplified some geometry that was giving the nodebuilder some trouble.

MAP04:

• Adjusted some lighting to make some secrets slightly more obvious. (These ones were actually pretty hard to spot if you weren't using something with a classic renderer.)

MAP05:

• Made the barricades in the secret near the starting area impassible, just in case someone bypasses the no-jump restriction or manages to lure an Arch-Vile all the way there or something.
• Made some linedefs impassible to prevent unintentionally getting trapped in the nukage in case you somehow manage to lure the Arch-Vile over there, too.

MAP06:

• Tidied up some visuals.
• Removed the locked teleporters that took the player back to the starting area and replaced them with some powerups.
• Adjusted some teleportation spots to make Cacodemons slightly more threatening.

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited November 29, 2021 by bofu
added screenshots

[Nihlith]

Very cool, a sense of building action and intermitted claustrophobia in gritty hellish world. Nice. I recorded my playthrough and I zigged when I should have zagged in map 4. Loads of fun.

 

Spoiler

[yt]

 

 

I didn't notice any unusual monsters though. Are they mid/late game or are they in secret areas?

[bofu]

15 minutes ago, Nihlith said:

I didn't notice any unusual monsters though. Are they mid/late game or are they in secret areas?

 

Thanks for the playthrough vid! Watching it now. (The buttons on the toilets in MAP02 do function, but you have to be pretty precise with them, by the way!)

 

I ended up deleting the custom monsters. I was going to try to use DEHEXTRA to make the Wolfenstein SS into supershotgun zombies and even had them fully implemented in a previous build (not used in any maps yet though), but I found that they produced a few issues and ended up scrapping them. They might still make a reappearance if I ever feel like they can fit in without breaking anything. (I do have plans for Commander Keen, though.)

Edited November 29, 2021 by bofu