Nensha - single boom map (now on idgames!)

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Nensha is a mostly run-and-gun style loop through a grimy, demonic techbase, made in boom format (complevel 9). I've never been big on making techbases, but I had fun exploring some ideas with this one. Fingers crossed that it's bug-free and some kind of entertaining!

 

Download (idgames)

 

Tested with DSDA-Doom (0.21.3), Eternity (4.02), PrBoom+ (2.5.1.4), and GZDoom (4.7.1).

Doom 2 IWAD.

 

In terms of difficulty, I tried to aim for that Plutonia/Scythe/Valiant range (with varying degrees of success). It's not a complete pushover, but not overly punishing.

 

• Hurt Me Plenty was what the map was built for (""intended experience""). It has some kick to it here and there, but most players shouldn't feel too out of their element. Ultra-Violence is just HMP with a few extra cheeky monsters/encounters, intended to catch the player off guard a bit more.

 

• HNTR is now Hunted! Taking inspiration from Mutabor's "Onslaught!", this is an alternate version of the map for anyone who prefers their Doom extra spicy. Gets into slaughter territory, and I probably wouldn't recommend it as a first impression.

 

Credits:

Spoiler

- UAC Ultra Textures [John Vail]
- OGRO Texture Pack [FrançoisX Delmotte]
- NMN Corporation Texture Set Part 1 [Pawel Zarczynski aka NMN]
- Graphtallica Texture Pack for Doom2 #2 [Sean Johnson]
- OTEX [Ola Bjorling]
- CC4-Tex [et al.]
- Gothic DM Texture Pack
- Kingpin Texture Pack [Xatrix Entertainment, Ceeb]
- Mars 3D Texture Pack [ENGINE Technology, Player Lin, Gothic]
- Ancient Aliens grass textures [Skillsaw]
- Tree midtexture from DBP03

 

Stargaze midi by Psyrus_
The Infinite Labyrinth & The Last Sunset midis by Tristan Clark

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2022 by RonnieJamesDiner

[kalensar]

Oooo Yes please! 

Will edit after a play

 

edit-- You gonna die a lot. 

Edited March 29, 2022 by kalensar
needed to add info

[Bridgeburner56]

This looks sexy and spicy.

[Bobby :D]

Man did everyone decide to drop bangers today?!?!? Playing this ASAP!

[Uncle Death]

I made a recording, but youtube decided it hates me today, here https://screenrec.com/share/10qTfrCvys

 

also heres the demo file just unzip it in your doom folder and click on the watch.bat (you will need gzdoom for this.)

demo.zip

[Biodegradable]

Great stuff, Ronnie! I really enjoyed the vast spectacle, use of height variation and the design/layout/texture work are of course all stellar!

 

 

[PeterMoro]

Wow! That was awesome. Thanks for posting. 5/5.

[CoolerDoomeR]

This one looks cool, i like it!

[RED77]

that's a intense map. Loved it

[ScrappyMcDoogerton]

What can I say, this one hits all the right notes. I had a lot of fun playing it. I decided to try out Hunted! difficulty. There were some wiggly weirdos that kept trying to light me on fire, very rude.

 

 

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Really appreciate all the kind words, and playthrough videos. Glad to hear everyone's been enjoying it! I've noticed a few tweaks I'll probably make in an update this weekend (still trying to decide if I should make certain fights less "cheese-able" or to leave them alone, they're not terribly egregious). Just thrilled to see nothing's been outright broken so far hah. 

[Scotty]

Blind demo and some screens of noted texture/flat oddities attached. Cool map.

 

Musings:

 

- nice theme, i like tech/ruins mashup type settings

- the start was quite obnoxious with lots of hitscan and limited health and armour, then the map felt like it calmed down considerably past a certain point

- i liked the main area and its multi-tiered recycling of playing spaces (also liked the way you did this in 1k3 map07)

- long range hitscan can go back to TNT please

- i think i found a possible skip where you don't actually need to collect the blue key? you can see it in the demo. i don't think it is consequential, but notable nonetheless

- despite the large scope and monster count (relatively speaking), this was pretty breezy going. come the end i wasn't ready for it to be quite over at that point!

sco-nensha.zip

Edited March 30, 2022 by Scotty

[LadyMistDragon]

The little Revenant murder behind the blue key door actually killed me a couple of times. Otherwise, I handled myself shockingly well.

 

lmd_nensha_demo.zip

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Thanks again for the demos, these are always a treat. And I appreciate the feedback Scotty! Regarding that blue door scenario, that was kind of a weird one... in the sense that, there's no actual skip there (you have to obtain the blue key to get those platforms to raise in the Plasma Gun area), yet, it never occurred to me that players could drop down and circumvent the blue door itself. It's right on the edge of being a skip, without actually being a skip, haha. I'll probably just add a "Door Open" action to the other side of the blue door and call it a day!

[sandwedge]

 

Hey this was a good time.  I usually play UV but figured I'd try HMP since you stated it was the intended difficulty.  I actually quite liked that difficulty level for myself because it hit the sweet spot of not killing me, but feeling dangerous and I scraped by in a couple fights.  I kept saving but somehow didn't die and managed to find everything!  The map definitely liked teleporting stuff in from two different directions which kept me on my toes.  And that darn cyberdemon is a funny ongoing villain, annoying you at the start, sniping throughout and finally getting to deal with him part way through!  Great job.

 

As you can see I missed that Hunted difficulty was harder than UV, I might try it again on UV or on that.  Thanks!

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Updated to RC2. Likely headed to /idgames in the near future, assuming no other major issues spring up. Thanks again to everyone for the playthroughs/feedback!

 

The changes include:

- Tweaked the cliff/cave fight right before the finale area

- Added a bit of extra health on UV in the hitscanner hell area near the beginning

- Blue door can now be opened from both sides

- Fixed some texture cuffufery ^{I don't think this is a word, but it is now}

[Suitepee]

Just mildly curious about something: is the map named after this? https://thering.fandom.com/wiki/Nensha

 

I only know of this term due to Dead by Daylight.

Edited April 2, 2022 by Suitepee

[RonnieJamesDiner]

8 minutes ago, Suitepee said:

Just mildly curious about something: is the map named after this?

 

It's actually named after my favorite song from Orbit Culture's album Nija, but that may very well be where they got the word ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[loveless]

played with dsda-doom and on UV. 

had a great time!  fights were a bit spicy but not overwhelming, couldn't find anything game breaking, and i did NOT get lost(something i am prone to on less than linear maps). 

 

quality release!

Spoiler

 

 

[Soulless]

Finally got the time to play this map.

Great work overall, combat was quite cool, loved the selection of monsters for every section

and surprised by the lack of more pain elementals for the space given.

I like these kind of maps where you progress and can see every place you´ve been.

Music was a great choice.

Good one!

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Thanks for checking the map out, loveless and Soulless! Glad to hear it was a good time, and always happy to know that nothing broke, haha. I've been procrastinating on getting this uploaded to idgames, but it should be happening soon. 

[Egg Boy]

[cross posted from discord]

 

Excellent map. The verticality reminded me of tourniquet, one of my favorite mappers. The layout was very smart, I barely realized I kept coming back to the same area, as it was shifting around. Combat was great throughout, not really slaughter, more like slaughter-lite. Particular highlights include: the plasma gun area, I made the mistake of unleashing everything at once the first time I tried it, my third attempt was more successful. I also really like the return of the cyberdemon near the end, with the extra monsters teleporting in, good way to bookend the map before the last, of many, huge elevators. 

[Sapfiar]

Damn, how I missed it, it's a great Map, however, like all the maps of Chester! Friend, I'm waiting for Hellsinger, it will be the best of the best!

0/4 secrets, where did you hide them :))

Edited July 19, 2022 by Sapfiar

[Arsinikk]

I really enjoyed playing through this map (UV all secrets and kills).

You did a good job of guiding the player throughout the level with bonuses and such, so that I never got lost.

 

I loved how much the level transformed, and the fights felt fair but still a bit tough.

 

You can see my playthrough here:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1537203318?t=01h46m58s

 

[rita remton]

got to play this map last night. really liked the aesthetics, overall layout and gameplay. not too punishing and not too easy either, kind of light slaughter. many of the arenas themselves were not the common type requiring continuous circle-strafing for slaughter encounters, but instead have terrain variety and openings to for optional vantage points for those who may not favour such playing style. imo, the more options are made available to the player (without sacrificing map progression), the greater. awesome work on the map and many thanks for the enjoyable playing experience :)

Edited July 21, 2022 by rita remton

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Sorry for the slow response, thank you so much for the kind words Egg, Sap, and Rita! And as always, I really appreciate seeing some blind playthroughs, cheers for that Arsin! 

 

This is finally on idgames! A huge thanks to everyone for the love and feedback. 

[ryiron]

This was a lot of fun. I really like the reuse of space and changing landscape. it’s got a very adventure map feel. Good use of open space to create a sense of scale without being boring or having fights that just become circle strafing in wide open arenas. 
 

The sniper cyberdemon is cool, even if he can be a total jerk at times. I did have one unsuccessful run where he got into a fight with a chaingunner at the bridge section. The cyber couldn’t hit the chaingunner, but the chaingunner was very slowly chipping his health down :-). 
 

The plasma gun area can be cheesed a bit. If you run back to the blue door the monsters all get stuck on the bridges and can be easily dealt with.

 

I think the final fight is maybe just a tad unfair, at least on blind play throughs. In my initial blind play I had my back to where the archviles when they got released so I was just suddenly on fire and flying :-). On replay it’s no so bad, getting zapped in my play through is on me. 
 

I checked out HNTR too. It’s a bit, umm, different :-). Might have to come back to that one. 
 

UV-Max:
https://youtu.be/7_bGOIGxAeE