The Dark Tower of Abyss [vanilla] {VERSION 2 NOW AVAILABLE!}

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

Updated version 2 now available for download. Changelog and files bellow.

 

Hear ye, hear ye! New map has arrived! It is limit-removing vanilla with 99 monsters on UV! 10 minute jobbie

 

Funny story with this one.

I watched some Trenchbroom mapping and found this announcement for Quake mapping contest inspired me. I thought to make a map modifying this blockout. If you're a mapper, you may have fun doing so as well. Thinking of how to make the architecture possible in vanilla Doom engine. Don't watch to avoid layout spoilers.

 

More screenshots

Spoiler

 

 

The aforementioned blockout contest video

Spoiler

 

• Map01 for limit removing vanilla ports
• Custom textures: GOTHICTX.wad (included in download)
• Skill levels implemented. Play on HMP or HNTR if you're getting too overwhelmed.
• Tested in: crispy-doom 5.6.4. Too much detail to run in chocolate. I refuse to abide by your visplane limit, chocolate!!
• Monster count: 99 on UV, 88 on HMP, 71 on HNTR, and they're swapped too
• Secrets: 2
• Custom midi: Moonlight Butterfly and Dark Sun Gwyndolin, straight outta Toilet of the Gods MAP04 (it's really quiet for some reason)
• Build time: 50-60 hours, I think. I lost count

 

Any and all feedback is highly appreciated!

 

Map title is song by Rhapsody

Spoiler

 

 

glhf

- hrnek

 

v2 changes:

Spoiler

• changed distribution of health and armour
• improved lighting
• plasma now secret
• plasma secret more apparent
• sound propagation changes
• embiggening (hold on, that's an actual word?!) of exit portal room
• 2 brand new sacrificial altars
• fixed early waking bug for ending archie, secret manc and spider
• moved the bars a bit

 

The_Dark_Tower_of_Abyss.7z

 

The_Dark_Tower_of_Abyss-v2.7z

Edited January 30, 2022 by HrnekBezucha
Version 2 available! Woohoo!

[Biodegradable]

Short, sharp and nicely put together spooky castle map, Bezucha. Really charming stuff. :^)

 

 

Edited January 29, 2022 by Biodegradable

[Teo Slayer]

Nice bro, I'll play

[Delisk]

 

Good map

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

@Biodegradableand @Delisk, thanks for the video, sure helps a bunch

@Teo Slayer let me know when you do :)

[Clippy]

@Biodegradable told me about this and I downloaded it 4 mins after u posted We played it at same time across the world but not together but at same time lol - nice maps - secrets totally eluded me - good times tho congrats on map

 

 

[Jaccident]

Just played through the map, that was really good fun!

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

@Clippy Cool bananas! And yep, that one missing guy was hiding in a secret. Thanks for the vid, as always <3

@Jaccident Very happy you enjoyed it :)

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

@Clippy Oh yeah, and I made the stairs button because I saw your post on 'em. Usually I completely forget that's a thing.

[Clippy]

1 minute ago, HrnekBezucha said:

@Clippy Oh yeah, and I made the stairs button because I saw your post on 'em. Usually I completely forget that's a thing.

 

I had a feeling about that super awesome!

[Large Cat]

I played through the map twice, and I enjoyed it both times! Atmosphere is great, and yet it doesn't seem like you compromised on action for it, which can be a tough balancing act. Nice work!

 

Difficulty-wise, the map is very manageable on UV. It's probably harder than almost any Doom II encounter, but not by much. I actually made it through without firing a single cell, so the equipment provided is more than adequate. The second megaarmor was also more than I needed; if you wanted armor to be more precious, I think you could simply delete the second megaarmor so that armor rationing is a part of the strategy for the rocket launcher room.

 

I think I cheesed a few encounters on my first playthrough. The room behind the blue key door is small enough that you can pretty smoothly initiate everything, then run out before the door closes behind you, letting infighting do most of the work and cleaning up the stragglers from a very safe position. You can similarly clear out the initial opposition in the red key arena safely before dropping in. Last, the final archvile can be awoken before opening the door, making it trivial to smack down. I didn't use any of these strategies the second time around, when I generally played more recklessly, and I think I had a better time, even if I was in greater danger. That's my two cents; I'll leave it up to you whether you want to lessen the potential cheese factor or just let players control their own experience.

 

The visuals clearly got good attention throughout. I particularly enjoyed the wall-mounted decorations and the beams of the outdoor area. If I were to pick on something, I would say the lighting doesn't seem to get the same attention as the other features; most rooms are the same light level throughout, so if you wanted to add more flair, I think lighting would be the way to go.

 

I confess, I'm iffy on the secrets. For reference, I found the automap secret naturally during my playthrough, but the other one required some additional searching after completing the map. I like the shootable switch as a mechanism for opening the one secret, and I would like the other one better with more visual telegraphing that the window is special somehow. Maybe I'm just being thick, though. As far as the rewards for the secrets go, I think the bounties are underwhelming. An automap doesn't do a lot when the only other secret won't appear on it, and a backpack isn't needed for such a short map, since 50 rockets is enough to take down just about everything without a refill. One possible route is making one of the two megaarmors a secret. I think the plasma could also be secret; the map can be smoothly completed without either of these.

 

The damaging water outside the keep felt a bit rude to me; 20-damage floor is a steep punishment for taking a little dip. That's a minor point, though.

 

That's my experience with the map. Overall very positive; good enough that I enjoyed playing it twice back-to-back!

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

@Large Cat Wow, thank you so much for the write-up. I appreciate the time and effort that went into that - big time.

 

Regarding difficulty, here's the deal - I'm bad at the game. Plain and simple. Which is fine, I just don't play much of Doom, (or anything else for that matter) to develop the skills. So placing items and encounters is more or less a guessing game. Even though I playtest a bunch. You can think of my maps as outsider art. If I could make a map and then hand it off to someone to put all the things in, I would. Things meaning enemies and pickups. To put the gameplay in the game. It's definitely something for me to improve at.

 

The final archvile can be woken from outside the room, the spider can be woken from the tunnel leading to exit, similarly with the manc after shooting the secret switch. I'm aware of that, not quite sure what can be done about it. So it stayed. Hopefully, most people wouldn't encounter that problem.

 

The blue door cheese is totally something I didn't think of. Very nice, taking a note for next time. With most of the fights, once you get out of the initial unfavourable position, you'll be fine.

 

Regarding the lighting, I actually forgot about that step altogether! Some flickering in the outside areas, and that's it.

 

Good suggestions for the secrets. I thought the window would be more than obvious, being so close and jump-worthy. Always check waterfalls and stained glass.

 

And the water damage, yeah, that's totally fair. The idea was not to break immersion by letting you wonder off into the invisible wall. Not a fan of invisible walls or the map just abruptly ending in one area.

 

So again, thank you very much for the feedback. It will come useful in my future endeavours.

[Large Cat]

5 hours ago, HrnekBezucha said:

If I could make a map and then hand it off to someone to put all the things in, I would.

This is, to some extent, how multi-author maps can be made. If you really feel this way, it might be worth trying to find someone to do a little project with where you can focus entirely on scenery and atmosphere, then let someone else populate it, maybe with some tweaks. Perhaps you could create and post an empty map and let people create and send you versions; it might even be interesting to see what different people do with the same empty map. Feel free to hit me up if you want someone to put encounters in your maps; I'm no expert, but it could be a fun piece.

[NaliSeed]

Maps with names like this always get my interest. 

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

@Large Cat I had no idea that's even a possibility! Sounds like good fun. We'll see how my next project goes.

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

@NaliSeed Haha, yep! The good ol' metal map names, just like id did.

[Bri0che]

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I don't have that much to say, I had fun and it was cool :)
 

Architecture/general aesthetic :
Description > has Scythe II style and feelings in it that I particularly appreciate. Talking of feelings, I liked the little music that was well selected and stick to the general atmosphere, even if she has a lack of "power" and is more in a "classic" style we don't expect to find in Doom, but it stick to the dark colors.

 

 

Combats/gameplay design :
Description > In my opinion, balance is what mappers fall off in term of general design, most of WAD's I'm playing are somewhat a bit too easy or a bit too hard, so it's always a pleasure when I found a good WAD like yours who know that when you have to fight a lot of demons, you fucking need a lot of stuff.

 

ps : the water is boiling !

 

Word of the end :

Tooooo shooooorttt :( I want more ! :D

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[Sneezy McGlassFace]

1 hour ago, Briøche said:

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I don't have that much to say, I had fun and it was cool :)
 

Architecture/general aesthetic :
Description > has Scythe II style and feelings in it that I particularly appreciate. Talking of feelings, I liked the little music that was well selected and stick to the general atmosphere, even if she has a lack of "power" and is more in a "classic" style we don't expect to find in Doom, but it stick to the dark colors.

 

 

Combats/gameplay design :
Description > In my opinion, balance is what mappers fall off in term of general design, most of WAD's I'm playing are somewhat a bit too easy or a bit too hard, so it's always a pleasure when I found a good WAD like yours who know that when you have to fight a lot of demons, you fucking need a lot of stuff.

 

ps : the water is boiling !

 

Word of the end :

Tooooo shooooorttt :( I want more ! :D

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Thanks for the feedback :) glad enjoyed it. I'll start working on another map shortly.

[RED77]

That was a fun level. I loved the mood.

 

[PeceMan]

It was fun, and very beautiful.

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

Thanks for playing, @RED77 and @PeceMan :)

[Teo Slayer]

On 1/29/2022 at 7:18 PM, HrnekBezucha said:

let me know when you do :)

I finished it yesterday on UV in one sitting. It was a very cool mini map, I liked. It just happens for me to enjoy castle-styled maps

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

@Teo Slayer Yeah, the working title was "Man, it feels like Quake again" after Pond's song. But it really doesn't feel too Quake-y. Anyway, thanks for playing

[THEBaratusII]

Just completed it on Ultra Violence via Doom32, It's a pretty nice map and liked the battle in the blue key area, I almost died but still. Hope to see more maps inspired by Quake in the future. (I also hope to see Unreal inspired WADs too.)

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

@THEBaratusII thanks for playing and feedback :) Quake was a pretty big influence on me, so chances of Quake-like maps are pretty good. But this one was an experiment in how many people would play a vanilla map. Because I'm much more interested in the extended features (g)zdoom allows. Slopes, 3d floors, various types of teleporters, interactive portals, scripting, generic sectors, stuff like that.

[Daytime Waitress]

If this is how you handle vanilla, I'm definitely on board for something you feel will allow you to flex your muscles a little more. Even with just this snippet of a map, you give the player a lot of faith that you'd confidently handle more Quake-like things such as increased verticality. As it is, this is a very compact and "snug" environment where everything fits into place just so; and that interconnectedness plays into the detailing very well, especially with all the little touches that made the place feel decripit and decayed - the broken columns and beams in the red key courtyard being a standout. What I'm trying to say is: it all feels very lived-in and like everything has a purpose for being there (although the secrets do feel a little bunched together in the that one section).

 

I also really enjoyed the musical choice. An almost calming tempo that put you into the mindset of exploring a spoopy castle, and yet it was just gloomy enough to not be out of place when the action hotted up.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed my romp through this on HMP - will kick it up to UV and report back after I've had my butt kicked.

[LadyMistDragon]

On 1/29/2022 at 11:58 PM, HrnekBezucha said:

@Large Cat I had no idea that's even a possibility! Sounds like good fun. We'll see how my next project goes.

That would be perfect for me! Since I'm not really a visual artist, I'm not someone who wants to slap textures together and call it a map. Monster and thing placement is something I've had some ideas for.

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

@LadyMistDragon okay, you're on! How about I DM you later and we talk about it?

[LadyMistDragon]

6 minutes ago, HrnekBezucha said:

@LadyMistDragon okay, you're on! How about I DM you later and we talk about it?

Yes!! Kind of why I decided to ahead and write about some OSTs for another Doomworld project before this.

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

@Daytime Waitress Hahaha, thank you. I wanted it to have some vague environmental storytelling aspect. In the red key room, all the beams in the middle are broken, and so is the fountain. If somebody stands there, they may stop and wonder what happened there. That's something Dark Souls taught me. And btw, if I had 3d floors available, I'd make you climb up the beams and jump for the key, instead of kindly lowering it.

The secrets are very purposefully right next to each other because people wouldn't usually think of that. More often than not, secrets are placed throughout the level. It's a deliberate play on expectations.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback :) Glad you had fun