[Community Project] Thirty Monsters Challenge [See you in the other thread!]

[Biodegradable]

Hell yeah @Walter confetti cute and concise with a heaping bowl of fun, mate. This challenge was made for your style. ;^)

 

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Biodegradable

[Worriedidiot]

56 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

 

@Worriedidiot

Not sure why you tagged me :P

[Biodegradable]

22 minutes ago, Worriedidiot said:

Not sure why you tagged me :P

 

Was originally going to play your map as well, but couldn't be bothered. Forgot to remove your tag. Sorry! :^P

[PinkFlamingo]

On 12/27/2021 at 12:22 PM, Worriedidiot said:

Map Name: -ANTI-LIFE-

Author: Worriedidiot
Theme: Alien tech
Music: Godless Industry by AD_79
Difficulty Settings: not implemented yet
Ports Tested: DSDA-Doom, GZDoom
Description: A short gimmick map with a mish-mash of random alien looking tech and slime.
Notes: Dumb gimmick warning. Play at your own risk.

30mc_worriedidiot.rar

 

I played your map. The visuals and the creepy atmosphere are excellent. Very well done!

 

The gameplay was very rough for me. I like the gimmicky idea but I also found it to be frustrating. It feels as if I am completely at the mercy of RNG and beating the map is just a matter of getting lucky.

 

First of all I have a question: What is the intended strategy? Are we supposed to grab a shotgun or chaingun from one of the resurrected corpses and then kill the archviles and cyberdemon with them? Or is there a 'trick' that I didn't discover yet? (I did find both secrets but they did not help me so much)

 

Assuming there is no trick, here are some ideas to make the map less frustrating, while still keeping the overall idea:

1. The zombiemen corpses are a bit useless as they don't provide you with a weapon and they tend to be the first ones to get resurrected. Perhaps replace them with shotgunners and chaingunners? Or move the shot/chaingunners closer to the archvile spawning points to make them appear quicker?

2. Add a berserk pack so I can punch-stun the archviles or kill the zombies quickly? This would at least give me the impression I could beat the map.

3. Add more health so I can last a bit longer? (perhaps only for the easier skill levels)

 

I also found a possible issue. In the largest central room, the archviles can throw you into the scenery. Perhaps making the walls impassable would be more fair.

 

Overall it is a cool map with good visuals and atmosphere. Just a bit frustrating at the moment.

[Walter confetti]

3 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

Hell yeah @Walter confetti cute and concise with a heaping bowl of fun, mate. This challenge was made for your style. ;^)

 

Thanks and thanks for the gameplay video, I've exaggerated with rocket supplies, isn't?

[Worriedidiot]

@PinkFlamingo Thank you for the feedback. I very much appreciate it. I took a massive leap of fate by trying to make a map with a gimmick I had no idea how to properly implement in a fun way. I'm not surprised that the gameplay was rough.

14 minutes ago, PinkFlamingo said:

First of all I have a question: What is the intended strategy? Are we supposed to grab a shotgun or chaingun from one of the resurrected corpses and then kill the archviles and cyberdemon with them? Or is there a 'trick' that I didn't discover yet? (I did find both secrets but they did not help me so much)

Yes, the intended strategy was to resurrect the monsters using the archviles and kill both the archviles and cyberdemon using the shotgun and chaingun.

14 minutes ago, PinkFlamingo said:

1. The zombiemen corpses are a bit useless as they don't provide you with a weapon and they tend to be the first ones to get resurrected. Perhaps replace them with shotgunners and chaingunners? Or move the shot/chaingunners closer to the archvile spawning points to make them appear quicker?

The zombiemen were originally meant as infight filler and also a way to get ammo because originally the map had almost no ammo and you had to get a big chunk of it form corpses. This felt unfair and tedious even for my standards so I added an actually acceptable amount of ammo in the map but kept the zombiemen. I will probably change them to chaingunners and shotgunners like you suggested.

14 minutes ago, PinkFlamingo said:

2. Add a berserk pack so I can punch-stun the archviles or kill the zombies quickly? This would at least give me the impression I could beat the map.

There originally was a berserk pack but I changed it last minute to a BFG. Can't really say why I did it. I guess at that moment I felt like that would break the gimmick in some way or another. Looking back, that probably was a stupid idea.

16 minutes ago, PinkFlamingo said:

3. Add more health so I can last a bit longer? (perhaps only for the easier skill levels)

Sure. Difficulty setting aren't implemented yet so I'll probably add some more health on easier difficulties.

 

I'll try to fix these issues ASAP. Again, thank you for the feedback.

[PinkFlamingo]

@Worriedidiot After five more attempts and lots of patience, I managed to beat the map! Without the help of mid-saves. I did use the secret BFG on one archvile though. Then, it was just a matter of grouping them all together in the central room and provoke infighting.

 

So I guess the map is not as crazy hard as I initially thought it was and skilled players can probably handle this. Perhaps my suggestions could be useful for the lower skill levels?

 

I did find the final fight with the cyberdemon a bit awkward. It is not difficult. It just takes a long time to kill and when you run out of ammo you are kinda screwed. I kept on thinking enemies would appear out of those pools in front of the cyber. Maybe four barons could help?

Edited December 28, 2021 by PinkFlamingo

[Worriedidiot]

23 minutes ago, PinkFlamingo said:

I did find the final fight with the cyberdemon a bit awkward. It is not difficult. It just takes a long time to kill and when you run out of ammo you are kinda screwed. I kept on thinking enemies would appear out of those pools in front of the cyber. Maybe four barons could help?

Hmmm... I don't know about barons. The point of the cyberdemon was to stop players who ignore the gimmick and barons might ruin something. I don't know maan...

[SCF]

Still in the process of playing the new submissions, but the doomworld post form is acting weird and I don't want to lose what I've already written.

 

Azure Crypt by @MFG38

Spoiler

• Solid map, no comments on the gameplay. Felt like it was designed to punish me for my compulsive desire to make cyberdemons infight everything instead of just killing enemies normally.
• The exit isn't really marked as such, so I ended the level prematurely thinking it was a teleporter.
• It's slightly jarring that the entrance stairway is blocked by an impassible linedef even though it looks open

 

30-30-3 (v2) by @Dr Fluffystuff

Spoiler

• The combat design is good and the architecture is great. I do think it would benefit from more contrast in lighting though. Right now everything just looks really bright.
• When I tried playing it in GZDoom, the map broke every time after pressing the switch on the west side that's supposed to lower the wall after some time. The target for the trigger is set to "shortest lower texture" which I don't have much experience with, but it seems to only lower the wall by about 16 units. This was in GZDoom 4.7.1 with MBF (Strict) compatibility. Fake Edit: Oh I figured it out later. I wasn't loading the texture pack alongside the wad because most of the textures were already included, but it looks like the trigger was depending on a texture that wasn't. So it works if you load the full texture pack, but it breaks if you only use the wad.
• The midtexture fences near the first elevator stick through the floor on software rendering. This happens when the sectors on both sides have the exact same properties. You can fix it by, for example, setting the light value on one side to be 1 unit higher.
• UV difficulty felt a little stingy with health considering all the hitscan enemies and that you don't get any (non-secret) armor. There's some spots where you can unexpectedly get hit by the spider demon and end up losing half your health, which would be fine if you could replenish some of that between fights.

[MFG38]

@SCF Thanks for the feedback! The reason the exit isn't marked properly is because I couldn't find a fitting texture to signify it and didn't want to use the stock EXITSIGN. It'd feel out of place considering the overall aesthetic. I'll likely look into some custom ones from other texture packs - I know GothicTX has a couple that might fit well.

[SCF]

32 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

@SCF Thanks for the feedback! The reason the exit isn't marked properly is because I couldn't find a fitting texture to signify it and didn't want to use the stock EXITSIGN. It'd feel out of place considering the overall aesthetic. I'll likely look into some custom ones from other texture packs - I know GothicTX has a couple that might fit well.

 

Yeah I think the issue is that it's not obviously the end of the level because it's off to the side. I went there before going to where the rocket launcher is, so I didn't even consider it might be the exit. So if you can find a fitting exit sign that would be great.

[SCF]

And the other two:

 

-ANTI-LIFE- by @Worriedidiot

 

Spoiler

Visually the map is very good, and I do like the gimmick. However, I think the execution has some issues. I can see the map being frustrating like PinkFlamingo described, but I actually had the opposite experience: I found a really safe place by accident almost immediately, and as a result it became so easy that it was kind of boring.

 

The elevated area with the yellow key bars has two stairways leading up to it. If you stay towards east side, the archviles will basically never climb up so you're 100% safe. I tried twice to make sure it's consistent, and both times only one of them went to the side with the fences, so I let him resurrect a shotgunner to get a weapon and then used that to kill that archvile first, then the three on the other side. The hitscan enemies will never hit you up there either. So you may want to change the layout of that whole area.

 

The final room definitely needs some work. Killing a stationary cyberdemon in an open area with a shotgun isn't a challenge, it just takes a long time.

 

 

Obsidian Ravine by @Walter confetti

Spoiler

Fun little map. It does give you a lot of ammo and heavy weapons for the enemies in it, and as a result it feels like the first room is the hardest one. One other thing I noticed is that the imps on the cliff in the outside area don't do a whole lot and aren't any threat. Since there's a strict enemy limit those slots could maybe be used elsewhere.

 

[Parkolnaught]

@SCF Thanks for the feedback!! Fixed the issues with the fence texture at the beginning and also fixed the issue with the lowering wall by replacing the lower texture so it should work without the need for the texture pack. As for health, I knew I was being stingy. Wanted to give the player incentive to search for secrets, since I hid most of the health there. In hindsight I was probably being too unfair so I added some stim packs to the map. Still would like some more feedback on this however.  Lighting was completely my fault here, I was using DSDA in GL mode which is very dark on my computer, hence that is why it was so bright. I have gone back through and tweaked the lighting, I will add some updated screens to give a better feel for the new lighting.

 

Here is the new file, I will also update my older posts too. 

 30MC_DrFluffystuff_v3.zip 

 

Here is the new lighting:

Spoiler

 

[Clippy]

I have had these on my radar for some time, and decided to see how many I could UV max saveless tonight - with my wife working from home I couldn't do commentary so I did the next best thing, and this turned out to be VERY fun

 

I was able to achieve this on 13 maps and had a blast

 

For those who did not make the vid, sorry - the maps were too hard for me to pull off UV MAX saveless (believe me I tried), some were over the top lol. In one case, Misjudging the King, I never found enough ammo to get all kills - seemed like a survival map with the exit present before needing to kill the cyber anyway

 

 

played in this order, the footage above represents my first successful run, even if I goofed along the way

@LGmaire @Obsidian @RastaManGames @Origamyde @DynamiteKaitorn @lokbustam257 @myolden @Bri @ryiron @MFG38 @Worriedidiot @Walter confetti @Dr Fluffystuff

 

Wow, so many fun unique experiences here, from punching things in some kind of floating sky place, to needing archviles to resurrect monsters for ammo - what a fun bag of unique concepts, visuals and set pieces - great times

 

sorry to those I could not pull off successful runs on

 

PS @Dr Fluffystuff - I had issues recording your map lol, a hell night wouldn't teleport out so I tinkered with the teleports - also that BS kill line near the end for no reason ruined two runs grrrrrr - great map tho

 

@Worriedidiot what a great concept map I loved it - pointless cyber ending tho

 

@myolden - beating your map gave me the biggest rush ever - like my heart was beating soooo fast LOL - kudos

[Parkolnaught]

@Clippy which hell knight were you having issues with teleporting in? 

Also the BS kill line was an accident and had been removed in the v3 download,  but thank you for letting me know about it. 

[Clippy]

4 hours ago, Dr Fluffystuff said:

@Clippy which hell knight were you having issues with teleporting in? 

Also the BS kill line was an accident and had been removed in the v3 download,  but thank you for letting me know about it. 

 

I'm not sure I just went to the bigger teleport room and seen one hell night kind of stuck wandering around not teleporting

 

Might have been an anomaly

[Walter confetti]

22 hours ago, SCF said:

And the other two:

 

-ANTI-LIFE- by @Worriedidiot

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Visually the map is very good, and I do like the gimmick. However, I think the execution has some issues. I can see the map being frustrating like PinkFlamingo described, but I actually had the opposite experience: I found a really safe place by accident almost immediately, and as a result it became so easy that it was kind of boring.

 

The elevated area with the yellow key bars has two stairways leading up to it. If you stay towards east side, the archviles will basically never climb up so you're 100% safe. I tried twice to make sure it's consistent, and both times only one of them went to the side with the fences, so I let him resurrect a shotgunner to get a weapon and then used that to kill that archvile first, then the three on the other side. The hitscan enemies will never hit you up there either. So you may want to change the layout of that whole area.

 

The final room definitely needs some work. Killing a stationary cyberdemon in an open area with a shotgun isn't a challenge, it just takes a long time.

 

 

Obsidian Ravine by @Walter confetti

  Reveal hidden contents

Fun little map. It does give you a lot of ammo and heavy weapons for the enemies in it, and as a result it feels like the first room is the hardest one. One other thing I noticed is that the imps on the cliff in the outside area don't do a whole lot and aren't any threat. Since there's a strict enemy limit those slots could maybe be used elsewhere.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback, i've put more difficulty monsters and better skill placement, plus arch-viles now have a teleport that moves out from their spot:

30monch-wa (2).zip

Hope it could be good

[Shawn]

 

Quote

 

Map Name: Hide and Sick
Author: Shawn
Theme: Egyptian
Music: "Sandopolis Zone" from Sonic & Knuckles
Difficulty Settings: Fully implemented (30 monsters in all difficulties)
Ports Tested: dsda-doom 0.22.4, GZDoom 4.7.1 (use compat_sectorsounds = 1 for GZDoom)

Description: Deep inside a lost Egyptian tomb you try to escape from an abomination.

Notes: The goal of the map is to hide from the Archvile and find 3 keys to finally have your revenge. My intentions here are to make the player use different strategies, forcing them to adapt to hostile environnements and even make them use the chainsaw !

 

 

 

I've tinkered quite a bit with the difficulty of the final fight. I went with the easier version. If it's too easy I'll make it more brutal.

 

Edit : Hopefully blocked the really obvious Archvile jump. Thank you Clippy !

 

Edit 2 : Thank you @SCF for the feedback.

I've uploaded a third version of my map.

+ Added some more indications on what not to do at the start (yellow pillars blocking the exit).
- Reduced the size of the lava pit in the main room.
- Fixed the annoying sound loop in GZDoom, you have to use compat_sectorsounds = 1, I added it to the mapinfo.
+ Added some eye candies here and there to make the map a bit less ugly to look at. The map is still not the prettiest, I'll try to work a bit more on making it less brown ugly.
- All the firesticks' colors now depend on your difficulty level (red=easy, green=normal, blue=hard).
- Adjusted the overall difficulty of the map. After playing the other maps in the thread, mine is by far the easiest once you master the gimmick. I made the rocket launcher fight and the final fight a bit tougher to be more in line with the rest of the contributions. (I've hidden a really powerful weapon in the second secret to help).
- Fully implemented all difficulties, Deathmatch and Co-op modes.

 

 

Changelog V4 :
--------------

o Changed the way to escape to Yellow skull key room to force the player to collect the rocket launcher.
o Moved the Berserk pack into the Yellow skull room as a reward after the fight and to prevent the player from killing the Archvile too early.
o Moved where the player is teleported in the final fight, now the player is in a much safer place.
+ Added some impassable barriers around the Archvile to force the player to run away and not fight with fists/chainsaw.
+ Added some health bonus to help the player navigate the map.
+ Added a death exit.

 

Spoiler

 

30mc_Shawn_V4.zip

Edited February 15, 2022 by Shawn
Updated the map V4

[Clippy]

@Shawn your map is cool - not in a position to record atm but the concept is interesting, trued to UV max it but didn't find success

 

I did find this tho :P

 

 

 

[Shawn]

24 minutes ago, Clippy said:

@Shawn your map is cool - not in a position to record atm but the concept is interesting, trued to UV max it but didn't find success

 

I did find this tho :P

 

Oh noes ! I didn't think of Archvile jump while testing the map. Thank you for the world record :P

I think I fixed it. Updated my post with a V2 of the map. Thank you for the beta testing !

[cannonball]

Here is my submission (Only UV difficulty at the moment).

 

30moncb2.zip

 

Name - Blu-Ray Pain

Music - "Aqua Rock" from Golden Sun: The Lost Age

IWad - Doom 2

Compatibility - Boom actions used, will be fine in the intended settings

Tested - DSDA Doom

Difficulty settings - None

Co-op - Nothing as of yet

Build time - 2 hours

Edited January 2, 2022 by cannonball

[Biodegradable]

5 hours ago, cannonball said:

Here is my submission (Only UV difficulty at the moment).

 

30moncb2.zip

 

 

[MFG38]

Extremely small update to my map to mark the exit. I tried to add a custom texture from OTEX but ran into problems, so I ended up just using EXITSIGN.

30mc_mfg38_v2.zip

[Bloodbath Giraffe]

Just a small update added some smoother geometry so players don't get caught on corners and added some pillars so you cant exit the map with out skipping the last fight.

 

 

30MC_BBG V2.zip

[dac]

18 hours ago, cannonball said:

Here is my submission (Only UV difficulty at the moment).

 

30moncb2.zip

 

Name - Blu-Ray Pain

Music - "Aqua Rock" from Golden Sun: The Lost Age

IWad - Doom 2

Compatibility - Boom actions used, will be fine in the intended settings

Tested - DSDA Doom

Difficulty settings - None

Co-op - Nothing as of yet

Build time - 2 hours

 

Fun level, there's just one problem and I don't want to be too much of a killjoy: It has too many barons. I know the intent is to have meat for the spiderdemon and something you can't easily dispatch early on, but rules only allows 5 barons maximum and I'm certain a lot of these could be hell knights and nothing would change. Sorry about that!

[cannonball]

4 hours ago, dac said:

 

Fun level, there's just one problem and I don't want to be too much of a killjoy: It has too many barons. I know the intent is to have meat for the spiderdemon and something you can't easily dispatch early on, but rules only allows 5 barons maximum and I'm certain a lot of these could be hell knights and nothing would change. Sorry about that!

There is no need to apologise, I can certainly fix this without much alteration to the gameplay. At the same time I can polish the visuals a little and do the difficulty settings. This was effectively a speed map after all and I guess I forgot a couple of the rules.

[knifeworld]

For some reason I thought I already commented and signed up for this, seems that was a false memory and all I did was make half a map :P

 

Sign me down on the list!! I'll finish what I worked on for this now that I completed my DMP submission during Christmas..

 

Can't share a screeno right now tho, I'm on mobile.

[NeedHealth]

@dac If there is a spot open, could I have it?

[cannonball]

Update from me

30moncbv2.zip

 

UV and HMP should fit all the rules now with HNTR having a fair number of imps. There is some extra detailing here and there and co-op starts have been added (Though are probably of little worth).

Hopefully this should be close to being a final version.

Edited January 4, 2022 by cannonball

[Engired]

Map Name: With Time Comes an End

Author: Engired

Theme: Blue

Music: Days of Sadness (Dragon Quest VII)

Difficulty Settings: Not currently implemented

Ports Tested: Prboom-plus, GZdoom, and DSDA-doom

Description: An old blue castle, filled with many secrets, but slowly breaking apart.

Notes:

- The fights might need some rearranging or changing.

- The secrets may be too good, I've tried to make them not too overpowered, but they might be.

- The level is intended for software, and even though OpenGL still works, it looks and plays far better in software.

Download: 30mc_Engired.zip

Edited January 14, 2022 by Engired