Radium - new Eternity/GZDoom map - now on idgames!

[Jacek Nowak (jacnowak)]

The map works in Eternity and GZDoom and uses sector portals (if anyone is interested how this was achieved see below).
You can play the map in Eternity for a more classic feel or use GZDoom if you prefer.
The map disables jumping in both ports. The gameplay is classic, old-school Doom.
I recommend playing with freelook disabled in Eternity but enabled in GZDoom but that's just my preference.

 

This is a release candidate and I'm looking for feedback. I would be delighted if anyone records a playthrough video so that I can see how a player approaches the map. There is some nonlinearity in the map and I would like to know if the progression is straightforward enough.

 

The map has been uploaded to idgames and it is now available to download from there, so I consider it officially released :)

Of course feedback is still welcome and I will use it to improve my future maps but I don't plan any changes to Radium anymore.
 

Tested in: Eternity 4.02.00 and GZDoom 4.7.1 (make sure you are using hardware renderer when playing in GZDoom, otherwise portals won't display correctly; it is the default one so don't worry if you don't know what I'm talking about)
IWAD: Doom2
Difficulties: implemented but UV should be suitable for most players, the map is fast paced but it's nothing too crazy
Play time: 20-30 minutes

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Download link:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/p-r/radium

or

https://doomshack.org/uploads/radium.zip

 

Credits:

Spoiler

 

Textures:
OTEX by ukiro

 

MIDI used as menu and intermission music:
"The Journey Continues" by Ivan Stanton (northivanastan on OpenGameArt)

 

MIDIs used in the map are from .MID the way id did:
CammyBanana - Five Iron
DCG Retrowave - Into Retrowave's City
MegaSphere - NM100S Pistol Start or Else

 

 

Technical information:

Spoiler

The WAD contains two versions of the map - one for Eternity, one for GZDoom. They are identical in terms of gameplay/architecture but unfortunately portals in UDMF format are implemented differently in each of these ports so I needed to convert them. The map has been originally created in Eternity UDMF format and I made a Python script that generates GZDoom version out of it and saves it into the same WAD with a different map name. For this reason the map uses non-standard slot in both ports and there is EDF/ZMAPINFO that selects the appropriate version for the port you are running when you start the new game. Because of that you need to actually start a new game from the menu to play the map - things like "-warp 1" or "-skill 4" command line options as well as IDCLEV cheat code will not work. Said Python script is not included in the map but if anyone is interested I'm happy to share it. Just bear in mind that this is a rough solution that wasn't designed as a general purpose conversion tool, it only supports features that my level uses and requires the source map to follow specific conventions. It proved handy for me though as I don't need to maintain two versions of the map.

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by jacnowak
idgames release

[eharper256]

Gave this one a try; grabbed nearly everything I could find (got the other keys fine and hit several secrets) but absolutely could not figure out how to get to the Blue Key to pull the blue switch on the balcony to let out the Cyberdemon; ended up jumping in the window where its on display. Given how that room looks when I activated Fly to check out the intended method, I'm assuming you have to teleport to the top, or somehow lower the first crate so you can climb the others in the vicinity, but I couldn't figure out how and where.

Your HNTR is also really REALLY tough for HNTR; I'd tone it down a fair bit and move the current HNTR to being the HMP level of difficulty.

Edited March 20, 2022 by eharper256

[Lippeth]

Was really fun...from what I played so far because I got lost and ended early. I enjoyed the semi-casual monster encounters and spread out navigation and the music changing mid-map was cool. I recorded myself playing but I'm not sure you would want to see me play for 20 minutes before getting lost and exiting early after getting the red key and seeing the blue key, unless it would be useful for better signposting. I did find lots of secrets just trying to find the right way forward, but I plan to try again when I have time and record myself actually finishing the map.

[kalensar]

I played on HMP. Took about an hour and a lot, and boy do I mean a lot of deaths. I gave up at the last stretch and IDDQD to see how much more there was during the crazy cyber and archvile fight. When I say I gave up, I mean I gave it about 20 deaths; after killing both the final archviles. The thing that pushed me over the edge was the Revenants that either got revived or teleported in after the cyber got released. The worst part? I never downed that cyber during any of those attempts because the trash and archviles kept taking priority.

 

I found and got the keys just fine. All in all that is a really solid single map! I had a blast despite surrendering in the end.

[shawnofthedead28]

Beat this on UV.  100% K and S.

 

It was a challenge but nothing too bad.  It's worth noting that this does work in GZ but ONLY with the hardware accelerated active.  If you try to run it "classic" style the sky box texture fails and so do a lot of the rooms above rooms.

 

A few suggestions

 

1.  I think you have several demons not set to deaf, especially early on.  I found random roaming imps sometimes and had no idea where they came from.  

2.  The secrets are all good but I think the invincibility should be swapped out for something else.  It's kind of useless in the spot it's in and really won't help that much anyway if you save it for the final fight.

3.  The soul sphere that is visible on the top of the rocks.  I don't know how you intended someone to get that, but I got it by running along the fence by the yellow key.  I had no idea I could walk on that fence I just gave it a shot after I had killed everything and it worked.  Maybe make one of the torches in the room with the fireplace lower the wall of the window and they can jump out that to get it.  

4.   The blue key is fine where it is and I actually like how you have to "jump" behind the door to get it and then come back out but I think I would make the lift in the room with the plasma locked by the blue key, just so the player knows it's needed to advance.  I got all the way up to the top and killed all the demons before I realized I didn't have the blue key and had to go back hunting for it.  

5.  The BFG secret needs a teleporter to take you back.  It's really annoying to make that jump only to have to run all the way back around and back up.  After a few deaths I decided the best course was to get the yellow key and then go get the BFG but I think you intended for people to jump straight off after getting the yellow key.

6.  The "sniping" revenant doesn't need to be there.  He never posed a threat to me he was just annoying as hell to try and kill.  If you want to 100% this level, he's the worst part of it.  Even from the secret at the top that spawns all the revenants it was a total crapshoot to hit him.

7.  The floor is damaging at the end after you raise it up to reach the exit.  Nothing too bad but if someone just beat it and is clinging to 2 health they might be super pissed to die from the floor.

 

I really enjoyed this map though.  Love the music changes and the fact that you can see several things but need to figure out how to get them (super shotgun, blue key, etc.).  The verticality of it works great with all the caco's.  I found myself going up to fight them off and then going back down to get the cyberdemon.

 

Nice work!

[Jacek Nowak (jacnowak)]

Thanks for feedback guys!

 

@eharper256 @Lippeth - it looks that you both had trouble finding the blue key which means I need to do something about it. I was actually a bit worried if people will figure it out and it turns out my worries were justified. I need to figure out how to make it clearer for the player. For now I will write a solution here: you need to climb the crates, then walk over the red scaffolding to the room behind the blue door that contains the blue key. Nothing needs lowering - there is actually a short crate you can walk on and then you just go up - but I see it can be confusing to find the first step up if you don't know that you need to climb them in the first place - and as you need to climb almost 300 map units at increments of 24 it ended up being a small crate maze - once you start climbing it should be easy as you just go up wherever you can but figuring out where to start might be tricky.

@Lippeth - thanks for recording, I think a video would be useful in general even if you get lost but I think I know now what the problem is (the blue key described above) so I will wait for the one when you finish the map :)

 

@kalensar @eharper256 - OK, so it turns out I underestimated difficulty of the map. I actually thought UV is too easy, lol. Maybe I got better at Doom or maybe it's playing the same map over and over again when I spent so much time playtesting and doing the same fights that gave me a false perspective. I will tone down HMP and particularly HNTR a bit. (there is hardly any difference in the final fight between HMP and UV so I need to address that - I wanted it to be hectic but not to the point of people surrendering :)

 

@shawnofthedead28 - glad that you finished the map and even found all the secrets! Regarding software mode in GZDoom, it looks that it doesn't support portals so you need hardware mode to use them - probably nothing I can do about it other than stating it in the text file. Thanks for all the suggestions, very useful! Regarding free roaming monsters - this is intended, I wanted them to roam freely add add a bit of nonpredictability. Regarding soulsphere - you are suposed to walk on the fence, not by the yellow key but the one where rocket launcher is, I didn't know you can reach it from the yellow key balcony, lol. Oh, damaging floor by the exit - it turns out that Floor_RaiseByValue in Eternity has "change texture and effect" parameter but GZDoom doesn't support it. I guess I need to use a different action there that works in both ports.

[Biodegradable]

This map's a tough nut to crack at the beginning, but I had a lot of fun with it too. The progression is intriguing and I loved the use of musical changes to signify different big combat events. Really good stuff!

 

 

[NinthBurn]

Just finished playing the level on UV. Difficulty-wise, the map is not that hard, I managed to finish it during my blind run without dying. The beginning was slightly harder, but that's only because you had to fight some revenants without the SSG. After that, things just get easier.
Combat is fine, but the last fight was a let down. I fought the Cacodemon cloud without any trouble, only to realize that there was a Cyberdemon waiting for me down there all along. And even then, the combat arena is so large, that killing him becomes incredibly easy. Perhaps adding a larger group of enemies, like a pack of Hell Knights or Revenants could make things more interesting.
I found the layout of the map to be quite interesting, especially with the usage of portals, they really make exploration a joy. I don't like the texturing that much, though. I don't know why people had trouble finding the blue keycard, perhaps they expected that area to be optional, so they didn't bother with it? Maybe an arrow sign, or making a cacodemon wake up and fly from the other side could alert the player in that regard.
Overall, this has potential. I really liked the layout.

[Clippy]

fun map eh good times there ya go thats the vid how ya doin

 

 

[Jacek Nowak (jacnowak)]

Thanks @Biodegradable and @Clippy for the videos!

I had a lot of fun watching those!

And really glad you enjoyed the map :)

 

Thanks @NinthBurn for your feedback, I can see that for some people the final fight can be too hard and at the same time too easy for others. I should maybe spread out skill levels a bit more.

 

I have mixed feelings regarding the blue key. It looks that it proved a problem for some people so I need to address that somehow but at the same time I don't want to rebuild that area too much as I like the whole concept of climbing cretes, walking over the beam, etc. I need to think of some visual hints perhaps...

Just to get more "data points" - question to both @Biodegradable and @Clippy - I can see that both of you found the blue key without problems - did you read my post above with the solution or you figured that out yourselves?

[Biodegradable]

1 hour ago, jacnowak said:

Just to get more "data points" - question to both Biodegradable and Clippy - I can see that both of you found the blue key without problems - did you read my post above with the solution or you figured that out yourselves?

 

I don't usually read anything beyond the OP for a WAD thread, so I wasn't aware others had issues finding the blue keycard. I found it fine enough on my own.

[Clippy]

Just now, Biodegradable said:

 

I don't usually read anything beyond the OP for a WAD thread, so I wasn't aware others had issues finding the blue keycard. I found it fine enough on my own.

 

Me too blue card key buddies for life 💪

[Smoothandz]

@Biodegradable Did you notice at the 7:14sh mark of your playthrough, a Revenant kills you with 99% health and 100% armor? I didn't know that was possible. I thought the most damage a revenant rocket could do was 80?

[Clippy]

8 minutes ago, Smoothandz said:

@Biodegradable Did you notice at the 7:14sh mark of your playthrough, a Revenant kills you with 99% health and 100% armor? I didn't know that was possible. I thought the most damage a revenant rocket could do was 80?

Looks like a set of missiles clustered together. Revs r bastards

[Lippeth]

Made another attempt today, absolutely stellar map! The beginning of the playthrough was not blind but most of it is, and I somehow missed the rocket launcher this time around, but found the bfg so it was no big loss. Monster placement felt well thought out, and the difficulty is about in my range as long as quicksaving is in the equation, and because I missed the rocket launcher I opted to exit early for that last fight. I love how open ended it al feels and how every area links together, though my mind wanders from time to time which makes me forget where I was going. Probably doesn't help that I don't use the automap. I really like the design of this map, it's very cold and industrial, almost reminds me of a Valve game. I wouldn't worry about changing the blue key location, it's not overly obtuse, I am.

 

 

[Smoothandz]

15 hours ago, Clippy said:

Looks like a set of missiles clustered together. Revs r bastards

 

Cheeky revs and their grouped up missiles. 

[Jacek Nowak (jacnowak)]

Thanks @Lippeth for the video! OMG, you beat the map without the rocket launcher :D

[Snaxalotl]

I had a lot of fun playing this! It had good progression, ammo balance, and wasn't overly confusing.

Only advice I can really give is splitting up textures more, OTEX has a lot of grouped textures that can be alternated to keep a consistent look while looking more detailed. This isn't really a complaint though, just advice on improving visuals.

Overall a great map and I would love to see what you make next!

[Jacek Nowak (jacnowak)]

Thanks @Snaxalotl , glad that you had fun!

This is the first time I used OTEX, I think I need some practice to use it to full potential, the amount of textures in there is really overwhelming :)

[Jacek Nowak (jacnowak)]

I updated the map (updated download link in OP).

 

Changes include:

- floor on the bridge in the exit room is no longer damaging in GZDoom
- fire in fireplace is now animating
- fixed a few minor texturing glitches
- added a shortcut out of the BFG secret
- added an alternate rocket launcher (in case people miss the first one)
- changed secret with invisibility to contain something else
- tuned down HNTR and HMP just a little bit
- added a hint for the blue keycard

 

Thanks everyone for all the feedback!

[SleepyCat]

Nice fun level, really outstanding architecture to the point where it reminded me of a lot of quake stuff in a way.  The only thing I'd suggest is colour coding your doors a little more clearly with sidebar textures or something perhaps?   I had to pop out the map to find the red one because I'd just missed it was the red one thinking it was just a pretty coloured door :)

 

Also all the rooms above rooms was very neatly done.

 

Spoiler

The rooftop secret just gave a particularly nice view.  Having 3 arch viles in that building was an absolute git as they can hit you when you're going back down in the lift before you can, just the thing where you can hear the second one coming into the building and rezzing the first is a lovely little segment because you know you have to go down there and kill them both quick before everything becomes unmanagable.

 

[LadyMistDragon]

I didn't think finding the blue key was really hard, though it wasn't in the open in any capacity

[Jacek Nowak (jacnowak)]

The map is now available on idgames!

So it is no longer a release candidate and has been officially released :)

I have added download link in OP.

 

(you can still download it from doomshack, this is the same version of the map as updated on Wednesday)

[Renbot]

Played this map after finding it through idgames. Well made map, enjoyed it a lot. The verticality was particularly fun, it made no-freelook more challenging in a good way. And I liked that you made it for Eternity Engine too, gave me an excuse to use it.

Thanks for the release.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Artbor