Forest Fever: MAP02 out! [limit-removing]

[Katamori]

LATEST VERSION: forestfv_02map_alpha4.zip

 

 

 

Screenshots:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the thing is, I haven't touched a map editor in a proper fashion since 2016 and recently the amazing "Post your textures" thread gave me a good deal of inspiration. Which wasn't that much of a great deal, but some days spent at home due to a minor sickness was just enough of a fire to conceive some ideas I've been fooling around.

 

Hereby I present you Forest Fever, a limit-removing map for Doom 2 taking place in a lush supernatural forest. With textures from the textures thread (including the amazing @Jimmy and @NiGHTMARE among others), as well as the use of cc4-tex, Mutiny, and more sources, hopefully it gives a pleasantly authentic experience.

 

So far it's only one map; if I can keep up my interest, motivation and inspiration, hopefully it's going to expand to at least a complete episode. For this current one, I spent maybe a little much attention to integrity and continuity; I try to let it go on later maps. Also I tried to do justice for gameplay, but testing a map constantly over and over again is not fitting for me. So for now, I share what I have so far for feedback!

 

In the future, I'm going to update this post with extra upcoming maps; if I won't have extra maps finished, I just simple upload it to /idgames and leave a link here.

 

Also, I'll be honest: I have no idea for any fitting music so far. I've got a very good, very thorough set of MIDIs from @Arrowhead, but randomly shuffling through thousands of tracks is not the best way to find anything. Can I get some help for it?

 

Finally: I loved the phase when I was gathering resources for the project! Some parts are still feeling lackluster, though...so if you feel like you've got some ideas to improve upon the selection, just let me know! (Same goes for sprite replacements)

 

-----

 

Maps:

MAP01: Skeleton Key

MAP02: Beneath the Trees

MAP03: Ancient Acquaduct (WIP)

 

Credits:
 

Spoiler

TEXTURES
-------
Users from Post your Doom textures! thread:

Jimmy as the resource base (Jimmytex.wad)

AconyX as ACO_*
AtticTelephone as ATT_FLES
Cacodemon187 as CAC_*
Cell as CEL_*
Chopblock223 as CHB_OVEN
Doom_Dude as DUD_*
Fonze as FON_*
Fuzzball as FUZ_*
Gez as GEZ_*
Gokuma as GOK_*
ItsNatureToDie as IND_*
LoneAlpha2401 as LON_*
MSX2plus as MSX_*
NaturalTvvety as N20_*
nue as NUE_*
Roebloz as ROE_*
Scüm_head as SCUFLAG*
Solmyr as SOL_*
TheHambourgeois as THA_*

StrangerRanger for STBAR

Other sources:

32in24-15_tex_v2.wad
NiGHTMARE's Extended Doom2 set
S.T.R.A.I.N. & Mutiny resources
Gravity.wad
Haste.wad (2022)
Running Late 2

 

Sky texture: background forest by unknown, E3 sky recolor by me. Thanks to Z0k for feedback!

 

I also borrowed some textures I used for my own map in Doomworld Mega Project 2015.

----------
SPRITES
----------
COLUA0 - NaturalTvventy, Share your sprites thread
COL1A0 - Negatronica, Share your sprites thread
COL3A0 - Gravity.wad, presumably from Strife originally
COL4A0 - Pirx, Share your sprites thread
ELECA0 - NaturalTvventy, Share your sprites thread, modified by me to fit
SMITA0 - Elend, Share your sprites thread
TRE1A0 - LilPastaSalad, Share your sprites thread

Black Gloves: Grimm (taken from Running Late 2)

 

Imp, arachnotron, ssg, chaingun: Mayan Mishap

----------
MUSIC
----------

MAP01 - The Imp's Song II by SynDoom
MAP02 - Underground by Ribbiks

Thanks to Arrowhead for suggestions!
 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by Katamori

[Arrowhead]

Rumble in the Jungle by AD_79

Skyline Ablaze by AD_79

Tomb of the Unknown King by AD_79

Approaching Thebes - (Serious Sam) by Kyle Dobson

Soul Sewn Shut by Jimmy

Fire Hive by Jimmy

PSX / Doom64 main theme remix by MFG38

Weird Waltz by MFG38

Challenges Ahead by Northivanastan

Wood by pcorf

Z300_M01 by pcorf

Underground by ribbiks

The Imp's Song 2 by Syndoom

Fall of the Kingdom by Stewboy

Blood Rush by Eris

 

These lovely songs might fit - I'm no composer / musician, though!

 

These all came to mind from looking at your screenshots, I don't know if this will be of help to you, but I tried to match your screenies to the themes of these songs, some are faster paced, some are more jungle-y, hopefully something fits for you! :)

[thelamp]

This is a fun little map, and that sky texture looks great here! Really nice job with the detailing overall. Looking forward to playing more

[Stabbey]

It's fine, a reasonable challenging MAP 01. I do think there could be more secrets than just the one though, and I'm not a big fan of being locked out of getting the soul sphere and thus being unable to get 100% items. It's fine to deny it right away or make it a secret how to get it, but don't block the player from ever being able to get it.

[Katamori]

45 minutes ago, Stabbey said:

It's fine, a reasonable challenging MAP 01.

 

Thanks for playing it! Can you explain about the challange a little bit? Was there a lack of ammo or health on any part that do you think can be improved?

 

For me, some parts were obviously tough, but as I said, I made only small amounts of attempts.

 

46 minutes ago, Stabbey said:

 I do think there could be more secrets than just the one though

 

Understandable, but honestly, I was struggling with the layout and flow in general, so it was not easy enough to squeeze one secret as it is. Also I'm not sure if multiple secrets are good for balance at a MAP01 - I know Entryway had multiple ones but I'm not expecting the same difficulty increase.

 

46 minutes ago, Stabbey said:

 and I'm not a big fan of being locked out of getting the soul sphere and thus being unable to get 100% items. It's fine to deny it right away or make it a secret how to get it, but don't block the player from ever being able to get it.

 

Yes, you're right about that - it was a proof of concept that I left that way due to lack of ideas. Using it as a secret would be trivial but the room has no exit, and the teleport is strictly intended to be one-way.

 

It's crucial to put something there that attracts the player. Do you have a better idea? An actual teleport would defeat the purpose of that scene (it's supposedly a hallucination is what you see), so my closest bet is another decoration (like an altar with a heart) but I'm concerned it would be too subtle to actually work.

 

Thanks for the feedback either way! I totally would have forgotten about it.

 

4 hours ago, Arrowhead said:

**a whole bunch of songs**

 

These lovely songs might fit - I'm no composer / musician, though!

 

These all came to mind from looking at your screenshots, I don't know if this will be of help to you, but I tried to match your screenies to the themes of these songs, some are faster paced, some are more jungle-y, hopefully something fits for you! :)

 

Wow, you're really an expert on Doom MIDIs I presume? :D thanks! You'd be surprised, I actually caught some of these while in shuffle and were actually considering them for use (especially the Serious Sam rendition), but I wasn't too confident about them. That's why I decided to leave it up to the players. For now, at least. :D

[Stabbey]

By reasonably challenging, I meant it wasn't excessively difficult, but it also wasn't completely easy. I suppose it is a bit on the easy side and could be pumped up if anything. For example, a few more enemies coming through the Teleporters for the red key fight, maybe a couple demons or a Lost Soul or two. As it is the fight ends almost as it gets started.

 

There's plenty of place for secrets. Even in that starting house a small closet with a couple shells would work.

 

If you don't want the player to get the soul sphere, a decoration will work just as well - the player is going to find their way to that pit, and there's no way out of that pit so players will find the teleport eventually. A decoration will catch their eye just fine as the only point of interest.  Alternatively, it also looks like you could add a secret switch to turn that waterfall into stairs to get at the soul sphere, or something, or lower a lift.

 

The cubby with the two Hell Knights, perhaps only one should teleport so you have to deal with them from both directions. Maybe make the teleport a monster-only teleports and put the box of shells inside one cubby and the medikit in the other. Just a random thought for something which could add a bit more interest to that encounter.

[Biodegradable]

Very neat first map, Kat. Over a decade of rust well and truly shaken off in regards to map design, layout, texturing, detailing and DoomCute. I hope to see more mapping goodness from you soon!

 

 

[Katamori]

18 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

Very neat first map, Kat. Over a decade of rust well and truly shaken off in regards to map design, layout, texturing, detailing and DoomCute. I hope to see more mapping goodness from you soon!

 

*video*

 

Whoah, that was for sure quick for a video on a fresh release :D thank you! It was very insightful. At this point I've already changed the soulsphere for something you don't have to catch :D also thanks for the nice words, but you misread it - I meant HALF a decade. Admittedly feels like eternity, with all the things going on...

 

Anyways, I made small adjustments, too, so definitely thanks. made it a bit harder, as you visibly had no difficulty whatsoever, and didn't like the position of some monsters, too. Will update it very soon!

 

27 minutes ago, Stabbey said:

By reasonably challenging, I meant it wasn't excessively difficult, but it also wasn't completely easy. I suppose it is a bit on the easy side and could be pumped up if anything. For example, a few more enemies coming through the Teleporters for the red key fight, maybe a couple demons or a Lost Soul or two. As it is the fight ends almost as it gets started.

 

Thanks for the feedback once more, it's clearer now! I was a bit scared it would become too difficult, but as you can see, it was a general concern across the level.

 

Same for the Hell Knight closet tip, too. Teleporting them was already a product of finding out something non-trivial.

 

29 minutes ago, Stabbey said:

There's plenty of place for secrets. Even in that starting house a small closet with a couple shells would work.

 

Okay, fair point. That one can work indeed!

 

30 minutes ago, Stabbey said:

If you don't want the player to get the soul sphere, a decoration will work just as well - the player is going to find their way to that pit, and there's no way out of that pit so players will find the teleport eventually. A decoration will catch their eye just fine as the only point of interest.  Alternatively, it also looks like you could add a secret switch to turn that waterfall into stairs to get at the soul sphere, or something, or lower a lift.

 

 

Yes, I was thinking about an answer when I was replying :D and eventually, the blue torches were very lovely choice for that situation. Forming a step at this phase would be a bit more work than I'd intend to add, with testing and stuff, but I'm not utilizing automatic steps way enough times, so I try to remember! I plan on using several cistern "trap" rooms like this in the future and it would work very well here.

[Biodegradable]

You're very welcome, Kat! Keep up the good work. I'll be happy to playtest other maps in the WAD. Now to be a cheeky cunt:

 

11 minutes ago, Katamori said:

but you misread it - I meant HALF a decade.

 

Misread you say? Let's check the OP:

 

7 hours ago, Katamori said:

I haven't touched a map editor in a proper fashion for more than half a decade at this point.

 

According to your own sentence structure, it implies you hadn't mapped in basically a decade or more. I misread nothing! ;^P

Edited February 2, 2022 by Biodegradable

[ryiron]

Cool map. I like the aesthetics. The huge tree in the castle area is really neat. I found some of the progression a little confusing (especially some of the teleports). You can see me wandering around a bit aimlessly trying to figure out where to go next. Overall I think the map is fairly easy. The courtyard with the enemies that spawn in was the only part that caught me semi off guard (where I dropped to 6% health). The combat feels sparse for the largish, open spaces you've created. I wouldn't be afraid to add quite a few more enemies at least for UV. I think the layouts you've created could lend themselves to some larger scale, interesting fights. I actually didn't notice when I got 100% kills since the map felt like it had room for more. I was expecting to get ambushed grabbing the red key for example.

 

I also wasn't expecting the abrupt exit. I was intending to go back and look for secrets but the map suddenly ended on me :-). Adding an exit sign, or a more obvious exit portal would help here.

 

My "FDA" playthrough (actually second attempt, see below):

 

On my first attempt I think I soft locked the map by running backwards past the bars when the pinkies lowered. I couldn't find a way back in:

 

[Clippy]

Map looks cool I especially like water but trees too. A lot of attention to detail feels like a natural environment 

 

Just having a shotgun and being presented with a bunch of hell knights slow things down a bit though. Also everything seems like a button LOL

 

Hope my video and thoughts are useful Good Times keep it up

 

 

[Thelokk]

Pretty good stuff! Has that early Final Doom vibe to it, plus some rather vivid texture. Would totally play at least an episode in this palette. 

[Katamori]

Whoah, two more videos?! I'm flattered! Thanks, I already conceived a new list of todos.

 

7 hours ago, ryiron said:

I found some of the progression a little confusing (especially some of the teleports). You can see me wandering around a bit aimlessly trying to figure out where to go next. Overall I think the map is fairly easy. [...] The combat feels sparse for the largish, open spaces you've created. I wouldn't be afraid to add quite a few more enemies at least for UV. [...] I was expecting to get ambushed grabbing the red key for example.

 

[...]

 

On my first attempt I think I soft locked the map by running backwards past the bars when the pinkies lowered. I couldn't find a way back in:

 

 

For the progress confusion: I know about it, halfway there I realized I really had to put some mental gymnastics to find out, what would work with my plans!

 

For the sparse combat: for one, I wanted to keep the starting area authentic: UAC base recently hit by a plague, but no monsters anywhere yet, since those are not "released" yet. And for another important part: I used to remember these beginner issues both I and others did in Doom - that is, very cramped ares due to hyperfocusing on the small-scale grid in Builder. I spent a lot of awareness on avoiding this issue and maybe went all over the place with it: I actually planned the starting area much smaller, but my the time I conceived some proper ideas, there was no way back.

 

I'm not planning on adding multiple difficulties, for me it sucks just enough to perfect out the gameplay on ONE difficulty. :D it's OK for me if it becomes ridiculously easy on ITYTD/HNTR and specifically tough on UV/NM. I'm not a good UV player myself in the first place.

 

I know about the softlock, I was actually experimenting with its prevention but couldn't find a reliable method - and also trusted most players they wouldn't fuck this up :D either way, best I can do on limit-removing without hacky effect usage (that I don't like too much in the first place) is raising the floor of the bars to 24 - so the time window to cheat your way out is much much smaller.

 

4 hours ago, Clippy said:

Just having a shotgun and being presented with a bunch of hell knights slow things down a bit though. Also everything seems like a button LOL

 

Thanks for your video, too! I learned from your video that from now on, leaving the entry area after grabbing the red key should be prevented. There's a teleporter there that barely anyone found so far, it seems more productive to encourage players to find it!

 

As for the shotgun, I didn't want to scale up the game for a first level. A new weapon would complicate gameplay considerations dramatically anyways. As you can see, I'm not even using any tougher enemies than HKs, even Cacos I ditched for now.

 

We'll see what can I do for the second level - which, you were right, is still in progress :D but I definitely dare to upload it with the demo, I'm too afraid I'd delete it out of the master file if I put effort into formatting the alpha file. And I mean, there's no secret for you anyways! :P

 

Also buttons are worldbuilding decorations. They stay :P

Edited February 2, 2022 by Katamori

[ryiron]

3 hours ago, Katamori said:

I know about the softlock, I was actually experimenting with its prevention but couldn't find a reliable method - and also trusted most players they wouldn't fuck this up :D either way, best I can do on limit-removing without hacky effect usage (that I don't like too much in the first place) is raising the floor of the bars to 24 - so the time window to cheat your way out is much much smaller.

 

I think you can probably fix it by allowing the bars to be lowered from the outside by pressing on them. 

 

3 hours ago, Katamori said:

For the sparse combat: for one, I wanted to keep the starting area authentic: UAC base recently hit by a plague, but no monsters anywhere yet, since those are not "released" yet. And for another important part: I used to remember these beginner issues both I and others did in Doom - that is, very cramped ares due to hyperfocusing on the small-scale grid in Builder. I spent a lot of awareness on avoiding this issue and maybe went all over the place with it: I actually planned the starting area much smaller, but my the time I conceived some proper ideas, there was no way back.

 

The lack of monsters in the starting area actually works really well. You get to wander around the base and check out the doom cute in safety, but it also builds tension as to what is coming next. I wouldn't change anything in the lead up to the fight with the berserk pack and the pinkies, that all works really well. Beyond that some of the space feels a bit under utilised though. Difficultly is relative though, and I do tend to like harder maps, which are not for everybody. I totally get only wanting to implement a single difficultly and keeping it accessible to more players though.

 

@Clippy you get a berserk pack, what more do you need? :-p

[Katamori]

Updated alpha! Minor to moderate changes: difficulty ramp-up, fixes on small glitches (monster-only teleports, softlock backup, etc.), visual improvements (less grate at water trip area, add steps to ambiguous elevator, exit marker, etc.); repositioned secret because until then, there wasn't much use for it; and shortened up ambiguous backtracking.

 

Also, more importantly, I added some new resources but they are seldom used on MAP01 so far.

 

1 hour ago, ryiron said:

The lack of monsters in the starting area actually works really well. You get to wander around the base and check out the doom cute in safety, but it also builds tension as to what is coming next. I wouldn't change anything in the lead up to the fight with the berserk pack and the pinkies, that all works really well.

 

That's what I was exactly planning, I'm glad many of the smaller touches were easy to understand. With the way leading out from the pinky trap area, I tried to give the vibe of a secret passage, hence the strange elevator, but I think it failed its purpose because the city-ish area at that part is...more abstract.

[msx2plus]

i liked map01 quite a bit! a teleporting pinkie seemed to have gotten stuck here in my playthrough, on the green square after teleporting in (i think?)

 

really solid atmosphere and wonderful theme! the low enemy count was very well utilized. i enjoyed the hell knight placements in particular. i'll be interested in seeing how your use of tougher monsters plays out over the course of this!

 

aside from the stuck pinkie, i did find the water texture's color to be a little rough, but that's just my preference.

 

while i played i put on the metroid prime soundtrack and it fit pretty well, so maybe a midi from the metroid series would suit this one?

 

looking forward to playing more of this as it happens!!!!

[Katamori]

The second map, named Beneath the Trees, has been released! Download link updated; sneak peek below.

 

Spoiler

 

I need some help with testing, as usual; I played it through UV but maybe it became too easy.

 

My questions: is it okay that so many resources are scattered? Is there an abundance or lack of any resource at any area, e.g. too much health at the waterslide? Also you'll see the map has no SSG - is it OK for this scope or it's unbearable? 

 

Also, still no music so far, I'm trying to find out something about it. Actually I'd be able to even pay for some commission.

 

On 2/3/2022 at 9:46 AM, msx2plus said:

really solid atmosphere and wonderful theme! [...] aside from the stuck pinkie, i did find the water texture's color to be a little rough, but that's just my preference.

 

while i played i put on the metroid prime soundtrack and it fit pretty well, so maybe a midi from the metroid series would suit this one?

 

looking forward to playing more of this as it happens!!!!

 

Thanks for the review! I really appreciate, after all, I borrowed some resources from you. Those vegetation textures some of the best I've seen for a very, very long time.

 

The stuck pinky has been fixed, and the water is not the nicest in the dark indeed but I couldn't resist its clean, fresh look! It was in @Jimmy's base set I used for the maps.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Katamori
added pics

[ryiron]

@Katamori I get an error trying to load map02:

R_InitTextures: Missing patch 1778 in texture SPROK3BR
R_InitTextures: The file forestfv_02map_alpha1.wad seems to be incompatible with "DOOM 2: Hell on Earth".

 

[Katamori]

3 hours ago, ryiron said:

@Katamori I get an error trying to load map02:

 

Ugh, yes, you were right, turned out the resources were a mess.

 

Here - fixed and cleaned up! forestfv_02map_alpha2

Edited February 6, 2022 by Katamori

[ryiron]

Overall I quite liked map02. I like the environments and the map feels very cohesive, with lots of nice little detailing touches. The canal leading to the green armor that you jump back and forth over near the beginning is cool. I really like the satyr face that overhangs the pillar on the wall that lowers to reveal the spider. Not sure I've seen that before, and it's an interesting touch. I think you've managed to develop an interesting style of your own with these maps.

 

So, I suck at platforming, but the two jumps for the blue key are awkward as hell. The left one is especially tricky to get. The video playthrough is actually my second run, not because I died, but because I quit out to check in the map editor if I was even meant to be attempting the jump. I honestly don't even know how I managed to land it in this playthrough. I got worried after finding the secret at the top that I was going to have to do it again :-).

 

Shotgunning hell knights/barons still sucks :-). I went a bit overboard trying to encourage in-fighting, which probably ended up being more work to be honest. In the large courtyard area I ended up just avoiding combat figuring I could get a better weapon. Again it might have been more trouble than it was worth since infinite height monsters made the jumps annoying. I did get rewarded by being able to plasma spam down the nobles though.

 

Although just shotgunning/chaingunning higher tier enemies gets a bit boring, I think you may be a bit over generous with the plasma in this map. Once you have the plasma rifle the difficult lowers quite a bit. I didn't find the super shotgun until basically the end of the map. Maybe switching the weapons around to make the plasma a secret instead? A rocket launcher also wouldn't go amiss for dealing with the nobles/cacos.

 

Some of the progression in the map is a bit confusing. Similar to map01 it's not always obvious what switches are doing, or where a teleport is going to lead you. You can see me wandering around a bit in the video at various points trying to get my bearings.

 

I'm not sure if I missed and area, or if some enemies didn't spawn in, but I exited with about 20 missed kills.

 

 

 

 

[Katamori]

@ryiron: thanks for providing feedback again! For one, sadly, I need to word some criticism: while your video was an important, interesting hindsight, you largely defeated the purpose of many of my intended fights, considering you already knew what to do due to your replay. It's especially true for the part when you return to the central watershed with the red skull key - you shouldn't hide away from the incoming trap. Nonetheless, it's perfect for exposure but in this form, I mostly decided the fight balances are OK, which may not be the case for everyone so I need some extra impression.

 

That said, I still modified what you provided with description: the platforming made easier (I was already having concerns about people finding it bullshit) and decreased the amount of plasma ammo. As for the rocket, though: I really, really insist to not add to this level, I want some mild push on difficulty and more advanced weapons would make the game too easy. If I could, I wouldn't have added plasma either, but I'm well aware some fights have too bullet-spongy monsters.

 

As for the SSG, I'd wait if others find it lacking; I'd keep it a secret for now.

 

As for the confusing layout: it cannot be changed without reasonably replanning a huge portion of the map, which I really don't want to so it stays that way. I admit I had issues with connecting all the different portions together but I'd say as long as you can reach everything everywhere, it's OK.

 

Finally, you were right: one of the monster closet teleports were not working.

 

I updated the download link accordingly, thanks again!

[ryiron]

35 minutes ago, Katamori said:

while your video was an important, interesting hindsight, you largely defeated the purpose of many of my intended fights, considering you already knew what to do due to your replay. It's especially true for the part when you return to the central watershed with the red skull key - you shouldn't hide away from the incoming trap.

 

This playthrough was 90% blind. In my first attempt I never even got the blue key, because I was unsure if I was doing something wrong with the jump. I'm not sure what you mean exactly about avoiding the trap with the red key. I opened the red bars, but heard monsters still behind me, so went looking for them. I eventually went back through the red bars and found the big skull switch. I hesitated here because I was worried it was the exit switch :-). It wasn't obvious what the switch did and I wandered around a bit. Did I miss something intended? I wasn't actually trying to avoid any fights.

 

In general, if you want to force the player into a specific combat scenario you can do things like temporarily locking the player in an area, or locking off other areas to prevent circumventing a fight. 

 

46 minutes ago, Katamori said:

As for the rocket, though: I really, really insist to not add to this level, I want some mild push on difficulty and more advanced weapons would make the game too easy. If I could, I wouldn't have added plasma either, but I'm well aware some fights have too bullet-spongy monsters.

 

Fair enough. Just be aware the some players will get bored by taking down barons/hell knights with just a shotgun and chaingun. Another possibility is to replace some of the nobles with a different enemy type, so that players can get in-fighting going. 

 

49 minutes ago, Katamori said:

As for the confusing layout: it cannot be changed without reasonably replanning a huge portion of the map, which I really don't want to so it stays that way. I admit I had issues with connecting all the different portions together but I'd say as long as you can reach everything everywhere, it's OK.

 

Visual indicators of a what a switch does really help. Ideally when you press a switch you can directly see the door it opens, or platform it lowers. A common trick when a switch lowers a platform further away is to have a unique texture on the platform and the same texture next to the switch to give an indication of what has been triggered. For example a switch draining a nukage pool elsewhere could have a column of nukage next to the switch lower to indicate to the player what happened. Another method is to have incidental lower tier enemies spawn in a path that leads the player in the right direction.

 

[Katamori]

1 minute ago, ryiron said:

 

This playthrough was 90% blind. In my first attempt I never even got the blue key, because I was unsure if I was doing something wrong with the jump. I'm not sure what you mean exactly about avoiding the trap with the red key. I opened the red bars, but heard monsters still behind me, so went looking for them. I eventually went back through the red bars and found the big skull switch. I hesitated here because I was worried it was the exit switch :-). It wasn't obvious what the switch did and I wandered around a bit.

 

 

Oh, I'm terribly sorry then...I misunderstood your comment maybe. It was still definitely very helpful!

 

Especially to notice players can actually do that, so while you're right closing off areas would help, I eventually decided to let it happen the way it does. I need to learn more about open-ended fights and areas anyways. I want to leave this thing behind when lots of my maps are too linear.

 

Quote

 Another possibility is to replace some of the nobles with a different enemy type, so that players can get in-fighting going. 

 

Yes, I was thinking about that, too, but in that case, the fights would be too easy. In that specific situation, flying monsters are not applicable, and anything below HK would be not enough of a challenge. Well, except Chaingunners but they are too deadly without proper cover nearby.

 

Quote

Visual indicators of a what a switch does really help. Ideally when you press a switch you can directly see the door it opens, or platform it lowers. A common trick when a switch lowers a platform further away is to have a unique texture on the platform and the same texture next to the switch to give an indication of what has been triggered. 

 

Yes, I know that trick; sadly for most switches I just can't make room for such things, but I give it a try anyway. Going to be visible in the next revision, that's for sure! Also added some arrow lighting for the platform jumping in the ruins rooms but that's the most I can do. For teleports, it's just to ambiguous; sometimes I do this trick that the teleport texture itself is the same on both ends, but I can't always afford that.

 

Thanks once more anyway! I try to see what I can do.