Hydrosphere (6 level Boom mapset)

[Bri]

Hello,

 

This was something I was messing with on the side for fun and it kinda just blew up into its own thing. It contains 6 very short maps that follow a theme inside a Hydroelectric plant. Gameplay is fairly easy and mostly consists of a power trip style. As of December 2022 I have released a final version which generally polishes everything.

 

Textures used are from Jimmytex.wad by Jimmy with some odds and ends taken from 32in24-15_tex_v2.wad.

 

Also featured are some great midi tunes by Dragonfly. Check out his music here: https://www.dfdoom.com/midi-music/

 

Wad details:

Iwad: Doom 2

Number of maps: 6 (MAP01-06)

Format: Boom (-complevel 9)

Tested on: DSDA 0.21.3, GZDoom 4.7.0

Version: RC4.1 (final)

 

Gameplay:

Type: Single Player, vanilla style.

Jump: No

Crouch: No

Free Look: Optional

Difficulty Levels: Yes

 

 

Download:

Hydrosphere on idgames

 

Changelog:

Spoiler

RC4.1
  - Changed tree and bush sprites to something more beautiful.
  - Added more shotgun ammo to MAP05.
  - Changed most tall lifts to fast.
  - Some enemy adjustments in MAP05 and MAP06.
  - Various texture and quality of life adjustments throughout.

 

RC4
  - Fixed ZMAPINFO specialaction command for Cyberdemon death, so bars 
    before exit room will lower in coop (previously wouldn't due to
    missing speed parameter).
  - Tested easy skill levels more and fixed some missing things.
  - Made the Caco, Pinky, Rev fight more interesting in MAP04 by lowering 
    the floor after pressing the switch; level slightly altered towards the end.
  - Removed a cheap Chaingunner hiding in a crate in MAP06.
  - Moved a tree blocking a Mancubus in MAP06.
  - Added some crates by the blue key in MAP06 to give some cover from
    the Archvile if needed.
  - General texture alignment.
  - Prevented some areas where you could soft lock.

 

RC3
  - Changed the colour of menu font to better suit the theme.
  - Changed the sky to orange on MAP06 (Gives a nice sense of finality/progression).
  - Added proper exit room to MAP 06.
  - Removed one Cyberdemon on MAP06 (proved to be too annoying having two).
  - Added bossaction (UMAPINFO) and specialaction (ZMAPINFO) for the Cyberdemon
    on MAP06 to lower bars to the exit.
  - Fixed some flickering trees for software mode.

  - Made various doors throughout the wad stay open.

 

RC2

  - Fixed visual errors for software mode.
  - Made the last Cyberdemon fight in MAP06 (The Dam) tougher.
  - Made the 'C' in 'Hydro Control' and 'Conduit' on the intermission CWILVXX screens clearer.

  - Fixed Blue card switch in MAP06

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Bri
Updates!

[Shepardus]

Played the first map, good stuff! Very minor note: The C in "Hydro Control" on the intermission screen looks a lot like an O, so the map name looks like "Hydro Oontrol" or "Hydro ∞ntrol."

[Astro X]

Screenies look very nice, congrats on release!

[Bri]

36 minutes ago, Shepardus said:

Played the first map, good stuff! Very minor note: The C in "Hydro Control" on the intermission screen looks a lot like an O, so the map name looks like "Hydro Oontrol" or "Hydro ∞ntrol."

Thankyou.

 

I will probably change the font for the intermission screens since it looks a bit blurry.

 

30 minutes ago, Astro X said:

Screenies look very nice, congrats on release!

Thanks a lot Astro

[Breezeep]

Just finished my playtrough of this. Great stuff! I feel that the last encounter with the cyberdemon on map06 could have been more interesting. I'd suggest having some monsters teleporting behind the player while they're fighting it. Another thing I noticed is a bunch of software rendering quirks here and there while playing on the Eternity Engine.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Map01: bunch of slimetrails.

 

 

Map03: HOM's on the fence.

 

 

Map04: Sprite rendering oddities. The tree sprites seem to cut off around geometry here.

 

 

Map06: More slimetrails and sprite oddities.

 

 

[Bri]

9 minutes ago, Breezeep said:

Just finished my playtrough of this. Great stuff! I feel that the last encounter with the cyberdemon on map06 could have been more interesting. I'd suggest having some monsters teleporting behind the player while they're fighting it. Another thing I noticed is a bunch of software rendering quirks here and there while playing on the Eternity Engine.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Map01: bunch of slimetrails.

 

 

Map03: HOM's on the fence.

 

 

Map04: Sprite rendering oddities. The tree sprites seem to cut off around geometry here.

 

 

Map06: More slimetrails and sprite oddities.

 

 

Thanks. I'll definitely work on the finale a bit more. I initially thought it could be better myself, but I was also thinking to not let the level go on too long. But I can definitely fix it.

 

I haven't dabbled with Eternity engine, so I'm not sure about those errors yet. This might be a good time to check it out though.

[Murdoch]

Yay more Bri. I shall bookmark and download soon.

[TheCyberDruid]

Awesome design! Also the balancing was very good. You certainly have a talent for tech base maps :) Had a blast playing these maps.

[CoolerDoomeR]

Level design are really cool! Great job!

[Alaux]

Simply put, I love this, it's great!

Might sound odd, but I want to mention that I really like the exit room design, I'd say it ought to be iconic. 

 

Now, onto more specific feedback:

 

I played the WAD through Nugget Doom, my fork of Woof!, so many of my points are also applicable for that port. What's not applicable to Woof!, though, is that I had partial 3D collision enabled, meaning that infinitely tall monsters weren't a thing, although I don't think it would've been much different without said 3D collision.

Moving on, it was continuous play (no pistol starts), on UV and with a lot of saves. I'd say it wasn't easy nor hard. I also found the Cyberdemon fight to be bland, and although the approach proposed by @Breezeep sounds good, I think the fight could be made even more iconic.

I also like most of the new sounds, the one exception being the player's punching sound, it feels weak IMO.

 

Now, I found all secrets in maps 01, 04 and 05. In map02, I only found a megaarmor, and in map06, just a megasphere. That doesn't mean that the rest of secrets are hard to find, I don't put much effort into finding them, but hopefully with feedback from other users you can figure if you should change some of them.

Finally, I can confirm that I came across the same visual bugs as Breezeep, along with this before the Cyberdemon fight in map06 (the red parts are HOMs):

Spoiler

 

I'm pretty sure these visual bugs aren't just specific to Eternity and Nugget/Woof!, but instead specific to the software renderer. I say so because you claim to have tested the WAD with DSDA-Doom and GZDoom, both of which have an OpenGL renderer, which I'm assuming is the renderer you used in both.

About the vanishing trees, I believe you can fix them by modifying the DeHackEd patch to give them a Radius and Height more akin to the size of their sprites.

 

Regardless of all these quirks, I can still say that, in my opinion, this WAD is pure gold, it's pretty much all that I personally want from a WAD. Really hoping to see more from you in the future!

Edited May 3, 2022 by Alaux

[Bri]

48 minutes ago, Alaux said:

Simply put, I love this, it's great!

Might sound odd, but I want to mention that I really like the exit room design, I'd say it ought to be iconic. 

 

Now, onto more specific feedback:

 

I played the WAD through Nugget Doom, my fork of Woof!, so many of my points are also applicable for that port. What's not applicable to Woof!, though, is that I had partial 3D collision enabled, meaning that infinitely tall monsters weren't a thing, although I don't think it would've been much different without said 3D collision.

Moving on, it was continuous play (no pistol starts), on UV and with a lot of saves. I'd say it wasn't easy nor hard. I also found the Cyberdemon fight to be bland, and although the approach proposed by @Breezeep sounds good, I think the fight could be made even more iconic.

I also like most of the new sounds, the one exception being the player's punching sound, it feels weak IMO.

 

Now, I found all secrets in maps 01, 04 and 05. In map02, I only found a megaarmor, and in map06, just a megasphere. That doesn't mean that the rest of secrets are hard to find, I don't put much effort into finding them, but hopefully with feedback from other users you can figure if you should change some of them.

Finally, I can confirm that I came across the same visual bugs as Breezeep, along with this before the Cyberdemon fight in map06 (the red parts are HOMs):

  Hide contents

 

I'm pretty sure these visual bugs aren't just specific to Eternity and Nugget/Woof!, but instead specific to the software renderer. I say so because you claim to have tested the WAD with DSDA-Doom and GZDoom, both of which have an OpenGL renderer, which I'm assuming is the renderer you used in both.

About the vanishing trees, I believe you can fix them by modifying the DeHackEd patch to give them a Radius and Height more akin to the size of their sprites.

 

Regardless of all these quirks, I can still say that, in my opinion, this WAD is pure gold, it's pretty much all that I personally want from a WAD. Really hoping to see more from you in the future!

Thankyou, Alaux. Much appreciated. I did forget to test in software mode (I always bloody do, haha), so I'll work on fixing those things. At the moment, though, I'll say that the GL renderer is the preferred display until I can sort out software mode. Sorry for the trouble with that, guys. The HOM's are easy to fix but I may need to go searching for more tree/bush sprites - ones which I won't need to manipulate through the floor.

50 minutes ago, CoolerDoomeR said:

Level design are really cool! Great job!

 

1 hour ago, TheCyberDruid said:

Awesome design! Also the balancing was very good. You certainly have a talent for tech base maps :) Had a blast playing these maps.

Really glad you both liked it. Thankyou.

3 hours ago, Murdoch said:

Yay more Bri. I shall bookmark and download soon.

I hope you enjoy it. :)

[unraveler]

That gibbing sound is really satisfying!

[Walter confetti]

Reminds me of Strife from the pics and that's good!

[boom_compatible]

Nice! more Bri maps! o/

[Vile]

A beautiful set with a pleasant-looking theme, ended up being on the easy side but the combat was still explosive.  I've loved the big groups of fodder enemies to SSG or rocket through ever since the early AV maps like 04 did stuff like that.

[Biodegradable]

Great stuff, Bri! I think this may be my new personal favourite WAD from you! Short, punchy and a lot of damn fun with an incredible attention to detail, progression and utterly delectable texture work. 10/10 :^)

 

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by Biodegradable

[Bri]

14 hours ago, Vile said:

A beautiful set with a pleasant-looking theme, ended up being on the easy side but the combat was still explosive.  I've loved the big groups of fodder enemies to SSG or rocket through ever since the early AV maps like 04 did stuff like that.

Thankyou. Yeah, I've always loved those maps where you mow down heaps of fodder like in AV. A lot of maps in TNT do it, too, which I love. I kinda wanted to let loose and do stuff like that in this set.

13 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

Great stuff, Bri! I think this may be my new personal favourite WAD from you! Short, punchy and a lot of damn fun with an incredible attention to detail, progression and utterly delectable texture work. 10/10 :^)

 

[YouTube was too slow. Video tomorrow!]

Wow, thanks man. I didn't take this wad too seriously and I think it turned out the better for it. I look forward to your video - I always enjoy watching them.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I've updated the wad to RC2. Original post has been updated with the new download and details.

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Bri
Update

[tom3kb]

This wad is great, and the textures used on maps look very cool. No to long, no to hard wad, very good job. :)

i have to check your other projects.

Edited May 4, 2022 by tom3kb

[horselessheadsman]

The blue-marked switch in "The Dam", the one that releases the cyberdemon, doesn't seem to require the blue key to work.

(using the RC2 version of the wad.)

[Bri]

1 hour ago, horselessheadsman said:

The blue-marked switch in "The Dam", the one that releases the cyberdemon, doesn't seem to require the blue key to work.

(using the RC2 version of the wad.)

Haha, don't know how I overlooked that. Thanks so much for the heads up. I've fixed it and included it in RC2.

[Loomis]

I really loved this mapset. Especially I liked the brightness and colorfulness of the maps. This is not seen that often, but it looks really good. Also all the architectural details.

I also liked the ambushes and combats. And gibbing dozens of enemies by shooting the barrels is great fun.

[Bri]

I've further updated the wad to RC3. Mostly fixing/sorting out some issues with MAP 06 (The Dam). Details are in the original post. Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to play this; it means a lot to me. Thanks!

[boltface]

Played the mapset in coop (with a pair of nonsense mods) in zandronum. VOD for perusal. RC3 for reference. Might be used to harsher mapsets but it felt like there was actually an overabundance of resources, but it's not like that's wrong per se. Only real issue in my eyes was that in map06, the bars blocking the exit lower at an absolutely glacial pace. We ultimately just skipped out of the map before waiting for it to finish.

Neat maps overall though, had a good time.

[Bri]

20 minutes ago, boltface said:

Played the mapset in coop (with a pair of nonsense mods) in zandronum. VOD for perusal. RC3 for reference. Might be used to harsher mapsets but it felt like there was actually an overabundance of resources, but it's not like that's wrong per se. Only real issue in my eyes was that in map06, the bars blocking the exit lower at an absolutely glacial pace. We ultimately just skipped out of the map before waiting for it to finish.

Neat maps overall though, had a good time.

Thanks for trying it out. I'll need to find an answer for why the bars did that - not sure if that's to do with zandronum or not. If I can't fix it I may need to change it to something else.

[Jizzwardo]

Loved these levels! Great job. Just very fun to blast through and the levels look fantastic aesthetically as well! 

[CrueCut]

This was good fun!  Played RC2 on HMP, which worked out well for my playing ability.  Thanks for making the WAD; looking forward to your next effort!

 

[Clippy]

 

[Bri]

13 hours ago, Jizzwardo said:

Loved these levels! Great job. Just very fun to blast through and the levels look fantastic aesthetically as well! 

 

8 hours ago, CrueCut said:

This was good fun!  Played RC2 on HMP, which worked out well for my playing ability.  Thanks for making the WAD; looking forward to your next effort!

 

Really glad you both enjoyed it. Thankyou.

5 hours ago, Clippy said:

 

Hey, thanks so much for the video, clippy.

[EnrichedUranium]

I finished playing through RC3 on HMP and had a really good time.  It was a comfortable level of difficulty and the maps were compact enough the few times I died I wasn't angry about missing a save.  I enjoyed the use of the lower tier monsters in larger groups.  MAP06 was a bigger jump in difficulty, but I got through it with a couple of saves

[LVENdead]

Ran thru these on UV and they were a lot of fun. Surprisingly I didn't die on any of the maps but there were a few dicey situations where I came close. I love how the maps are relatively simple in terms of scope but manage to make really efficient use of the space with loop backs and what not, and how detailed they are visually and geometrically. They look absolutely fantastic and are very fun to navigate through - they really do a great job of pulling you along.

 

I have been out of the Doom sphere for months (and shooters in general) and this one was actually a great mapset to dust off the cobwebs. The pacing is very upbeat and often times frantic without being overwhelming, and the fights strike a good balance of being a reasonable difficulty while still providing lots of crunch and not being boring.