"La Biblioteca" - Single Map for GZDoom / UDMF (v3)

[Thelokk]

"La Biblioteca" v3

 

IWAD: Doom II

Format: UDMF

Target port: GZDoom

Playtime: around 15-20 minutes

Difficulties: UV only

Textures: Doom II stock / rfhelltx / Big Box O'Skies (included)

MIDi: 'Infilitration' from Resident Evil

 

V3. changelog
 

Spoiler

 

- Removed more potential softlocks

- moved some monster spawns

 

 

Following playtesting and feedback, the map will eventually be part of my upcoming megawad.

 

Enjoy!

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

 

  

 

 

Edited February 18, 2022 by Thelokk

[LadyMistDragon]

So there's a section in the northeast corner where you can fall and get trapped behind the bookshelves.

 

Also, the bit of shelf with the Hell Knights, Imps, and ammo boxes behind it actually seems to raise before you even reach it, and refuses to come down again, potentially softlocking you.

 

Also, I think I'd much rather use rockets on those Revenants and Hell Knight  that teleport in on the ledges near the switch with the mouth in front than the Cyberdemon in the center, but that's just me.

Edited February 5, 2022 by LadyMistDragon
putting in critical information

[Thelokk]

5 minutes ago, LadyMistDragon said:

So there's a section in the northeast corner where you can fall and get trapped behind the bookshelves.

 

Also, the bit of shelf with the Hell Knights, Imps, and ammo boxes behind it actually seems to raise before you even reach it, and refuses to come down again, potentially softlocking you.

 

Also, I think I'd much rather use rockets on those Revenants and Cyberdemons that teleport in on the ledges near the switch with the mouth in front, but that's just me.

 

Thanks! Will take a look at the issues and solve them in a coming update.

[Thelokk]

One small final bump for v3 - new dl link and changelog is in the OP!

[azerty]

I hope it gets more attention as it deserves. It looks awesome. I am sorry but I am not sure if I will be able to play it but I surly will if I have the time. Schedule is pretty busy atm. 

[Thelokk]

6 minutes ago, azerty said:

I hope it gets more attention as it deserves. It looks awesome. I am sorry but I am not sure if I will be able to play it but I surly will if I have the time. Schedule is pretty busy atm. 

No worries, thanks regardless for the kind words ;)

[Silhouette 03]

 I had a tough time with this one. Played on UV and tested in GZDoom 4.7.1

 

Gameplay

 I really like the opening encounter with the barons and HKs but it also suffers from my chief problem with this map: Claustrophobia. I understand that this was what you were trying to create, but the use of narrow ledges doesn't translate well into gameplay. Having to retreat to a better position or fall off the ledge with almost every encounter is, to put it bluntly, frustrating, in my opinion.  The optional cyberdemon fight is also repetitive, since there aren't enough rockets to kill him, instead you have to use the SSG, which takes a long time and is dull. I skipped that fight because of how frustrating it was. If you want my advice, maybe stick a plasma gun in that arena instead of the rocket launcher, with cell packs. It would make the fight go a lot faster, provided there is enough ammo. There's one last thing I'd like to talk about and that's the flesh pain sectors in the arena. They do way too much damage and the low light levels in the arena don't help. You could maybe set the sector to a -10 damage sector. It'll still make the player move cautiously without taking overly large chunks of their health.

 

Layout

 As I mentioned before, narrow ledges and walkways are a big problem, and disrupt gameplay immensely. I do really like the concept of the map. A library slowly being corrupted by hell's influence is something I haven't often seen in doom mapsets I've played.

 

Detailing and texturing

 I like the flesh creeping through the wood in the arena with the RL. The doomcute books and water jug in the final room is also really cool. I love some doomcute. I'm not sure how I feel about the bookshelf texture being used as an exit though. Texturing could use some work. I saw numerous texture alignments. I'll leave screenshots in this post. There might be more, but these are the ones I saw.

 

bugs and glitches

Misaligned textures:

https://imgur.com/a/je0SCE1

https://imgur.com/a/toVmkAQ

https://imgur.com/a/2l4xgCB

https://imgur.com/a/r2ZyjKL

Soft locks:

https://imgur.com/a/SuI52mD

https://imgur.com/a/d9M0can

 

Conclusion

 I hope this didn't discourage you, but I do think this map needs some work. It has a lot of potential but it does need some tweaks here and there.

 

 Off topic I saw Biodegradable's playtrhough of your submission for the DW maximum project and I'm really impressed, considering the fact that you only started mapping this year. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

[Thelokk]

5 minutes ago, Silent Wolf said:

 I had a tough time with this one. Played on UV and tested in GZDoom 4.7.1

 

Gameplay

 I really like the opening encounter with the barons and HKs but it also suffers from my chief problem with this map: Claustrophobia. I understand that this was what you were trying to create, but the use of narrow ledges doesn't translate well into gameplay. Having to retreat to a better position or fall off the ledge with almost every encounter is, to put it bluntly, frustrating, in my opinion.  The optional cyberdemon fight is also repetitive, since there aren't enough rockets to kill him, instead you have to use the SSG, which takes a long time and is dull. I skipped that fight because of how frustrating it was. If you want my advice, maybe stick a plasma gun in that arena instead of the rocket launcher, with cell packs. It would make the fight go a lot faster, provided there is enough ammo. There's one last thing I'd like to talk about and that's the flesh pain sectors in the arena. They do way too much damage and the low light levels in the arena don't help. You could maybe set the sector to a -10 damage sector. It'll still make the player move cautiously without taking overly large chunks of their health.

 

Layout

 As I mentioned before, narrow ledges and walkways are a big problem, and disrupt gameplay immensely. I do really like the concept of the map. A library slowly being corrupted by hell's influence is something I haven't often seen in doom mapsets I've played.

 

Detailing and texturing

 I like the flesh creeping through the wood in the arena with the RL. The doomcute books and water jug in the final room is also really cool. I love some doomcute. I'm not sure how I feel about the bookshelf texture being used as an exit though. Texturing could use some work. I saw numerous texture alignments. I'll leave screenshots in this post. There might be more, but these are the ones I saw.

 

bugs and glitches

Misaligned textures:

https://imgur.com/a/je0SCE1

https://imgur.com/a/toVmkAQ

https://imgur.com/a/2l4xgCB

https://imgur.com/a/r2ZyjKL

Soft locks:

https://imgur.com/a/SuI52mD

https://imgur.com/a/d9M0can

 

Conclusion

 I hope this didn't discourage you, but I do think this map needs some work. It has a lot of potential but it does need some tweaks here and there.

 

 Off topic I saw Biodegradable's playtrhough of your submission for the DW maximum project and I'm really impressed, considering the fact that you only started mapping this year. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Not discouraged at all! This is exactly the kind of feedback that helps me grow as a mapper. I definitely went ambitious and a bit 'over my head' with this one, no problem admitting it. It will get the polish I think the concept deserves. 

[Kan3]

Brought here by the curiosity to see another (perhaps?) Italian mapper and the love for library maps x)

I haven't been disappointed I must say.

 

Aesthetically speaking is very atmospheric: those huge structures of wooden bookshelves in a dark pit, with that "bright" sky over the half destroyed floating ceiling, really give the impression of a forbidden obscure place.

I've appreciated the arches tests (I would probably suggest to add more of this kind of stuff around the map to give it more complexity in the architecture) as well as the new textures.

Like others have already said though, misalignment is a bit of an issue here.

Working with the library textures could be a pain in the arse, cause you always have to align them properly to get a good result, otherwise you get cut bookshelves that are not really great to look at.

So, I suggest to widely use the CTRL + ALT + A shortcut (hoping you're using UDB) to perfectly fit textures everywhere.

 

About the gameplay, instead, I have more complaints.

I actually enjoyed the map, but I cannot help but see some annoying stuff.

You did a good job with traps, but you almost stick to the monster teleport trick: in a map like that, I would expect more closet and moving/opening stuff, to spice things up and help with the ambient too (secret moving libraries reveling horrors etc.).

Talking about those teleport traps, they can be really annoying for 1 reason: you're always on an edge and to avoid the monsters, you're almost always forced to jump down to deal with them and then climb back up, times and times again.

You could try widen up those upper areas, in some places lock the player exit route and better balance the monsters there.

The last complaint is about the "eating floor": don't get me wrong, I loved the idea, but at the same time I felt like it was just too "sudden".

Example: I was just fighting the cyberdemon with ease, when suddenly I died... out of nothing... Then I realized the floor texture... 

This is a great thing to smartly raise a cyberdemon fight difficulty, but my suggestion here is to introduce the player to that new mechanic before that fight.

You used that texture later on under a switch and it's quite pointless at that point cause you perfectly know what it does; I'd suggest to switch the two things, so first have that floor under something just to show the player that he needs to avoid it and then using it in fights.

 

Last thing: I don't know if jumping was meant, but if not you can get stuck right under the burned wood texture.

[Thelokk]

33 minutes ago, Kan3 said:

Brought here by the curiosity to see another (perhaps?) Italian mapper and the love for library maps x)

I haven't been disappointed I must say.

 

Aesthetically speaking is very atmospheric: those huge structures of wooden bookshelves in a dark pit, with that "bright" sky over the half destroyed floating ceiling, really give the impression of a forbidden obscure place.

I've appreciated the arches tests (I would probably suggest to add more of this kind of stuff around the map to give it more complexity in the architecture) as well as the new textures.

Like others have already said though, misalignment is a bit of an issue here.

Working with the library textures could be a pain in the arse, cause you always have to align them properly to get a good result, otherwise you get cut bookshelves that are not really great to look at.

So, I suggest to widely use the CTRL + ALT + A shortcut (hoping you're using UDB) to perfectly fit textures everywhere.

 

About the gameplay, instead, I have more complaints.

I actually enjoyed the map, but I cannot help but see some annoying stuff.

You did a good job with traps, but you almost stick to the monster teleport trick: in a map like that, I would expect more closet and moving/opening stuff, to spice things up and help with the ambient too (secret moving libraries reveling horrors etc.).

Talking about those teleport traps, they can be really annoying for 1 reason: you're always on an edge and to avoid the monsters, you're almost always forced to jump down to deal with them and then climb back up, times and times again.

You could try widen up those upper areas, in some places lock the player exit route and better balance the monsters there.

The last complaint is about the "eating floor": don't get me wrong, I loved the idea, but at the same time I felt like it was just too "sudden".

Example: I was just fighting the cyberdemon with ease, when suddenly I died... out of nothing... Then I realized the floor texture... 

This is a great thing to smartly raise a cyberdemon fight difficulty, but my suggestion here is to introduce the player to that new mechanic before that fight.

You used that texture later on under a switch and it's quite pointless at that point cause you perfectly know what it does; I'd suggest to switch the two things, so first have that floor under something just to show the player that he needs to avoid it and then using it in fights.

 

Last thing: I don't know if jumping was meant, but if not you can get stuck right under the burned wood texture.

 

Yup, italian mapper indeed :)

Thanks for the feedback! At this point it seems pretty clear what the pain points of the map are. To my excuse, I had just learned monster spawning by ACS scripting and, you know how it goes when you get a new toy... definitely abused the trick and could cut down on it a bit. I also love the suggestion of opening the upper areas a bit, I was also thinking of maybe making some linedefs impassable to sacrifice some free roaming for making sure the player doesn't miss half the map for the tiny mistake of falling off a ledge.

If I can bother you for one more thing though, which point of the map are you referring to by 'burned wood texture'? just so I can fix it.

[Kan3]

26 minutes ago, Thelokk said:

 

Yup, italian mapper indeed :)

Neat :D

 

27 minutes ago, Thelokk said:

If I can bother you for one more thing though, which point of the map are you referring to by 'burned wood texture'? just so I can fix it.

You're right, my bad

Spoiler

https://imgur.com/MYWljSa

You can get down there just by running from the table

[Thelokk]

8 minutes ago, Kan3 said:

Neat :D

 

You're right, my bad

  Hide contents

https://imgur.com/MYWljSa

You can get down there just by running from the table

 

Ah ok, got it :) thanks for the heads up!