JAMAL JONES TRILOGY - Old development thread - [Doomkid's 20 Years Mapping Contest]

[Cammy]

32 minutes ago, Mark Bloom said:

Anyway - here is V2 of The Cauldron.

- Fixed several oversights with visplane overflow

- Changed geometry of Blue Key maze and added visual responce that it is required to find 4 switches

- Rebalanced ammo and health pickups

- Added a few monsters to empty spaces

 

>>The_cauldron_V2<<

 

Unable to sit down and play the game properly at the moment, but I had a gander at this map with no monsters and was amazed by your visual sensibilities. All the lighting effects and variety in both geometrical and Thing decoration make this one of the more aesthetically rich and striking vanilla Hells I've seen - and that stony cliffside lava-fall area is a work of art. I'd have pegged this for the work of a seasoned vet, not somebody's first map! Hopefully you or somebody else can solve the crash issues, because this fully deserves a slot in the wad.

 

Only thing I'd change is the somewhat basic MIDI selection, which in my opinion undersells the awesome atmosphere you've conjured up. I'd have personally opted for something like Mark Klem's "The Wind" from Memento Mori or stewboy's "Deep Forest" from Speed of Doom, for a little extra flash of grandeur and intimidation.

Edited February 21, 2022 by Cammy

[Mark Bloom]

1 hour ago, Cammy said:

 

Unable to sit down and play the game properly at the moment, but I had a gander at this map with no monsters and was amazed by your visual sensibilities. All the lighting effects and variety in both geometrical and Thing decoration make this one of the more aesthetically rich and striking vanilla Hells I've seen - and that stony cliffside lava-fall area is a work of art. I'd have pegged this for the work of a seasoned vet, not somebody's first map! Hopefully you or somebody else can solve the crash issues, because this fully deserves a slot in the wad.

 

Only thing I'd change is the somewhat basic MIDI selection, which in my opinion undersells the awesome atmosphere you've conjured up. I'd have personally opted for something like Mark Klem's "The Wind" from Memento Mori or stewboy's "Deep Forest" from Speed of Doom, for a little extra flash of grandeur and intimidation.

Thanks for kind words! This is not exactly my first map, but before this I've made only tiny techbases with ~30 monsters and one moderate-sized techbase for decino's viewer submissions. Trying to spice things a bit.

 

As for the music choice - I looked for several hell maps for inspiration and "The Bloodwall" caught my eye, so the music followed. But thanks for the suggestions, maybe I'll change it if I'll find "proper" replacement.

[Cammy]

24 minutes ago, Mark Bloom said:

"The Bloodwall" caught my eye

 

You've got good taste if The Bloodwall (and Plutonia 2 in general) turned your head - I knew I was picking up on some Eternal influence in your map's architecture and general mood! Without departing too much from the point of the thread, if you enjoyed that map then I'd definitely recommend Epic 2, a megawad mapped entirely by Eternal which is visually gorgeous, full of his characteristic spooky environments and grand architecture, and vanilla-compatible to boot.

Edited February 21, 2022 by Cammy

[mgr_inz_rafal]

I'm attaching my map with added deatchmatch starts and some additional items for multiplayer. I also updated the original post: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2457510

 

 

The most recent version of the map is in the following post: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2461726

Edited March 1, 2022 by mgr_inz_rafal

[phoo]

Hi everyone! I'm pleased (and a bit nervous) to present my first ever release. :)
 

Name: Gloves Off

Author: phoo

Build time: >50 hours? I didn't keep track very well, really on and off since early January. It's a little more than I would have liked; I've elevated procrastination to an art form. 

Music used: "The Pyramid" by Thyrbse, from Hell Revealed 2 Map 28

Level description

You've got your work cut out for you, Jamal. The warp-connected areas ahead are crawling with hellspawn. Cut through their unholy ranks, paint the walls with their insides and carpet the ground with their corpses. Leave nothing alive.

Tested in

Chocolate Doom
PrBoom+ UV
GZDoom (strict doom compatibility)
 

Screenshots

(it says "jamal.wad" in the top right of the screenshots, that's just because I didn't have a name yet when taking these screenshots)

Get it here: https://wadhosting.com/Wad/9231F437AAFDFC297BAFBA34C4EEAA16A4FB9565
Another link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14TykP1vjLbR72E9-aSliT98OhxUGwEZS/view?usp=sharing

 

Note: The wad file includes just the map as well as the music replacement. I created this separate of the resources wad and dehacked and added those in Ultimate Doom Builder as resources when working on it. Hope this format is good!

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by phoo

[roadworx]

first of all, i just wanna say that i may actually just barely finish the map!!! yayyyy

 

secondly: what would you rahter prefer? a midi that actually fits within doom - something like a mark klem or tolwyn midi - or a really cheesy midi cover of a song that has no business being within 50 miles of a doom wad?

[Earnesttrout]

6 hours ago, roadworx said:

what would you rahter prefer? a midi that actually fits within doom - something like a mark klem or tolwyn midi - or a really cheesy midi cover of a song that has no business being within 50 miles of a doom wad?

Anything you think fits with your map and possibly the other midis in the wad

 

[Yumheart]

6 hours ago, roadworx said:

or a really cheesy midi cover of a song that has no business being within 50 miles of a doom wad?

Hell yeah!

[Mark Bloom]

I fixed the crash! Apparently that was a blockmap/collision bug, because it didn't crash if I idclip through the level. I aslo discovered that vanilla Doom have a limitation where blockmap lump cannot exceed 65535 bytes in size, otherwise unpredictable collision behavior may occur. Good idea for the video to cover all these limitations btw ;)

 

So I altered the map, cut the flame grotto on the way to a blue key, but kept the maze. And I think the map became more engaging combat-wise because of my alterations. As for the music - the "Gut Wrencher" is to stay, for now atleast.

 

The Cauldron V3

- Altered map layout to fit into blockmap limitations

- Minor texture alignment

- New monsters placement

- Another health/ammo pickup rebalance

 

>> Download link <<

 

Alterations:

Spoiler

Before:

 

After:

 

[Large Cat]

@Doomkid Here is a new version of Final Contact, after a little bit of playtesting feedback. Special thanks to Blexor, Raiva, and Krecikdwamiljony on that front.

 

final_contact.zip

 

Of course, if anyone still feels like offering thoughts on the map, they are more than welcome!

 

Name: Final Contact

MAP: 01 (though it can go anywhere if it makes it into the final megawad)

Difficulties: Implemented

Cooperative: Implemented but mostly untested

Deathmatch: Implemented but untested (hopefully the layout of the map works well for it)

Music: Unearthed by Large Cat (designed for this project)

 

Changes from last version:

Spoiler

• Added berserk secret
• Reduced pinky count in red door area
• Reduced hell knight count in blue door area
• Rebalanced the initial encounter in the proper hell area, as well as the final big bash
• Sprinkled in some ammo on skill 2/3
• Made chaingun secret not result in almost certain death when tackled improperly
• Changed up the library opposition slightly
• Made the yellow key door more attention-grabbing and added a slight "bread crumb trail" back to the teleporter after getting the yellow key
• Threw in a bunch of multiplayer-only monsters

 

Screenshots (same as last post):

Spoiler

 

"Story":

They built a portal to lock onto an unknown signal, and when they stepped through, arriving in a grotesque mimicry of their own facility, the creatures they found were all too eager to greet them. For many, this was first contact with a new form of life. For everyone on the project, there would be no second meeting.

 

As I stated above, I think the map layout has potential for deathmatch with 3 or 4 players, but I have almost no experience there, so I can't be certain. I tried to add extra ammo to accommodate a larger number of coop players as well, along with some extra monsters. Those looking for an extra challenge can play through the map with coop spawns.

[Andromeda]

22 hours ago, phoo said:

Hi everyone! I'm pleased (and a bit nervous) to present my first ever release. :)
 

Name: Gloves Off

Music used: "The Pyramid" by Thyrbse, from Hell Revealed 2 Map 28

Big thumbs up for that music choice! Level looks nice too, will check it out later.

[Cammy]

THE STORY:

Buried in the hold of a hellish dreadnought, Jamal hears a thunderous BOOM ring out from outside the ship. It’s run aground - and they’re taking on magma! Now, amidst the confusion and panic, is his only chance to escape! If he can find a way out of this hunk of metal, there should be a volcanic lighthouse nearby; with the guidance of its unholy light, he’ll be able to forage further into the underworld and ever closer to the truth he seeks. But he must beware. Here, in the heart of enemy territory, legions will rise to usher him to his end…

 

Jamal is more prepared and more worthy than a hundred weaker men combined - but strength and bravado can only dull the sickening horrors that hell is wont to unleash. Rowdy Rudy 1 was quite clear on his fate, and the terrible truth is dawning on him. There is only one future for Jamal… and he must face it.

 

 

 

 

> > original download was here < <

 

> > DOWNLOAD (ver 1.2) < <

 

INFO:

Map Title: Grilled Billions

Build Time: WAY too long!

Tested With: Chocolate Doom 3.0.1, Zandronum 3.0

 

Grilled Billions is a hard-hitting level with a massive body count, but its runtime is comparatively short and its gameplay is focused. The name of the game: big guns and even bigger fights. Its layout is non-linear and fairly complex, allowing you to acquire its three keys in any order you like - but once they’re all in your hands, the only way out is through a massive final showdown. With its high difficulty and infernal setting, Grilled Billions is intended to be a penultimate or antepenultimate level.

 

Currently tested for ultra-violence difficulty; haven’t implemented the others yet. The map features a separate arena for classic deathmatch purposes - I’ve never even played deathmatch, but I closely studied Bourgeois Deathmatch (and a certain someone's YouTube tutorial on making good DM maps) and just did my best to create an arena which is focused and fun to move around in. Hopefully it works well!

 

I’ve paid very close attention to the visplane limit and all other potential crash sources for vanilla and can say with great confidence that, aside from the save buffer overflow, this map is vanilla-safe. Standing in one specific, non-combat spot of the final area will cause some minor HOMs, but no crashes and no interrupting the gameplay. There are many areas outside the player’s reach which will give you visplane crashes though, so idclip at your own risk.

 

I wrote a midi named “Ash on the Hatchet” expressly for this level. A call-and-response - between the piano brimming with hope, and the steadfast guitar with no choice but to crush it - is representative of Jamal telling his younger brother that he must leave on a journey he may not return from. From there, his trek begins.

 

I’ve messed with UDB before, made a lot of half-baked concepts that never went much of anywhere, but this is the first full map I’ve ever managed to finish. It was a fantastic learning experience and has made me very excited to map more in the future. If you play this map, please don't be afraid to give feedback - and @Doomkid, thanks so much for the opportunity!

Edited May 23, 2022 by Cammy
update

[roadworx]

still have yet to finish it, but here's some screenshots

 

 

 

 

hopefully it's gonna be ready soon

Edited February 23, 2022 by roadworx

[Bobby :D]

I finally have time to make a map for this! I hope that I can get the full scope of what I want in time :D

[El Jeff]

here is my bad map, it took me 3 days to make this. how is it so far

JAMALJONESSUBMISSION.rar

[StrangerRanger]

Whew! After weeks of making sectors, linedefs, testing, and a huge amount of static vanilla limit struggles, it's finally done.

 

Info

Spoiler

Title: Contaminated Purgatory

Map: Map12 (Made to be Map12-Map20)
Theme: Toxin Research Facility
Co-op: Yes (Not tested)
Deathmatch: Yes (Not tested, might not be the best choice for DMing anyways.)
Music: DCG Retrowave - Into Retrowave's City (From MID The Way ID Did)
Average Playtime: 15 minutes
Tested with: Chocorenderlimits, Chocolate Doom, Crispy Doom, PrBoom+, GZDoom
Known Bugs:
- HOM or Visplane Overflow when player noclips to the area he shouldn't normally be in.
- "Invisible" wall being visible for a moment when using a lift.
- Possible HOM or Visplane Overflow when standing in a specific place and looking at a specific angle with all doors opened at once.
- Savegame buffer overflow, just disable the vanilla savegame limit in Chocolate Doom setup.
- The fire meatball refusing to teleport sometimes, still killable and dangerous
Build time: ~1.5 month with few day breaks

 

Story:

Spoiler

Who thought that using unstable teleportation technology in a Toxin Research Facility to transport radioactive materials was a good idea? I don't know, but surely their ass would've been fired instantly, if they were still alive, or NOT possessed...
As the number of demons in the facility grew, the military tried to stop the invasion, which led to the Hellish army getting new firearms. After Jamal gets teleported to the facility, he knows he's all on his own. Hopefully there's enough Radiation Shielding Suits in this ruined facility for the One Man Jury. Time to clean the ruins of demons, from the surface, straight to the underground mines!

 

Screenshots: 
 

Spoiler

 

Download:

Spoiler

https://wadhosting.com/Wad/5D9AB64421535CA269557D29DC18F7489446A5A2

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by StrangerRanger
forgot to include the wad itself lol

[Blexor]

Well, I'm not sure how many more of these I'll do before the deadline, but here's one more at least. I'm really glad to hear they've been helpful for some.

 

"UAC Delta Labs" (Synus Vader)

Spoiler

Gotta say, playing through this level kind of feels like navigating a series of interconnected secret rooms. It's a little disorienting sometimes, especially when you factor in the teleporters taking you back to previous rooms, or back to the start, or whatever. Another thing I have to point out is that there's a serious ammo shortage, here. I was near-empty on everything most of the time. I mean, I was able to locate the secret BFG (thanks Mario), but only found enough cells to be able to fire it once. I used it on the spider demon in the same room, which doesn't make it feel like much of a reward. One of my guilty pleasures with Doom is maps that have big arenas full of enemies, and this level has the big arenas, but not so much the enemies. If you do go back and add more ammo to this one, maybe you'll consider beefing up the green marble room in particular? Don't feel like you have to just because I asked.

 

"Menagerie Mayhem" (b0n3)

Spoiler

Nothing quite builds suspense like walking through multiple empty rooms full of ammo and supplies. When it finally does pop off in the room with the SSG, I have to admit it got me good. There's plenty of ammo around, but here's something I noticed: There's no chaingun! Maybe this was an intentional, but it sure struck me as a curious omission. Finally, I couldn't for the life of me determine what the switch by the exit does. Couldn't find the secret if it opens one, not that there'd be much point. The level's over, after all.

 

"The Jury is In" (DrJordo)

Spoiler

Well gosh, I sure do hate it when a tunnel to Hell opens up in the wall of my office. Ruins my whole day, honestly. More seriously, I'm glad I played this one a second time, because I discovered that the blue key is erroneously tagged to appear only on Hard. It's a two-second fix, sure, but one that should probably be addressed. That big arena past the hell tunnel is the clear highlight of the level, but like with Synus Vader's map, I can't help but feel like you could have gone a little crazier on the monster count. This MIDI rocks, by the way. Did I say that yet? Well, it does.

 

"Bloodshot Sunshine" (Elto Gaming)

Spoiler

Map 25 wouldn't be a bad place to put this, you're right. It's certainly a scorcher. I know that I'm often saying that these maps could use more ammo, but this time around I found my issue was with the health. That one Supercharge is a godsend, and without it this level would be brutally unforgiving on damage management. Speaking of damage, those lava pits I wasn't huge on, either. As far as I could tell, there's no way to escape once you fall in, which maybe was the objective, but... I dunno. Call it a personal bias but I've never liked that, not even in retail Doom. Oh yeah, and why is the plasma rifle at the end of the level? Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?

 

"The Cauldron" (Mark Bloom)

Spoiler

I'll tell you what I wasn't expecting when I loaded up version 1 of this map: An absolute beast of a level with huge arenas full of monsters. In other words, you're a man after my own heart. I have to second Cammy's opinion about the aesthetics being top-notch, and I kind of lament the loss of some of that bigness with version 3. However, I understand your reasoning and agree that certain things have now been made clearer, like the switch situation in the 'Cybermaze'. Speaking of which, that place is genuinely terrifying. Plutonia's Hunted is whatever to me now, but the blue key spot in this map had me nervously looking over my shoulder, no joke. It's funny that you cited 'The Bloodwall' as an inspiration because I played that Megawad fairly recently and was reminded of it with this level. Maybe the MIDI made me think of it subconsciously? Anyway, this map is a blast to play. Well done.

 

(Also, I'll put this as an addendum, but the difference between UV and HMP in this map is staggering. I accept that it's well beyond my skill to take this one down on UV, but I'd be genuinely curious to know the method for dealing with the revenant/plasma gun room. That one stumped me hard on both of my attempts.)

 

"Vile Streets" (Anonymous Space Marine)

Spoiler

So my other Doom guilty pleasure is using berserk on every enemy that's not carrying a weapon (and sometimes those ones, too), so naturally I found this level appealing. Berserk is even better in this resource pack since Jamal's atomic bayonet shreds even Archies with relative ease, a fact which I don't doubt you noticed. I'm willing to bet that leaning on the bayo is intentional here (any time when you're not getting ripped up by chaingunners), and I think the concept is executed rather well. Only odd thing is that the Arch-viles in the last room come at you mostly in a blob, and I'm not sure if that's on purpose. Were they supposed to have their ambush flags set?

 

[Mark Bloom]

@Blexor Thanks for the feedback! Very much appreciated!

 

Spoiler

I have conflicted feelings about revenant cliff. I usually make my fights difficult at the start and then tone them down until I can beat them reliably. RL would be a more appropriate weapon here but I already designed a room with mancubi on floating cubes and I didn't want to put a 2nd RL. Sometimes I can ace this fight, sometimes it wrecks me. And I think I'm burned out to alter it and keep the quality. What I do here is: standing on the edge and dodging rockets in towards-to-the-wall direction.

 

What I don't want is to create a gut punch map. I hope it's acceptable difficulty-wise.

 

With that said - I'm planning to release V4 in a couple of days with more balancing, focused on HMP and HNTR difficulties. Also I want to attach a demo of me playing and beating the map (if I'll have enough time), and change the music - I've found a new candidate track.

 

Edited February 24, 2022 by Mark Bloom

[Ricola102]

Hope I'm not too late to submit! Made a Hell map with an industrial vibe. Came out a bit easier than I was hoping, but hey who doesn't enjoy a nice short and sweet map. You can grab it here: https://wadhosting.com/Wad/FDCE677C62A7C429F41805297245FEDE212059E8 More info on the text there.

Screenshots:

  

[Goat-Avenger]

Forlorn Fantasy

Update #4

--Forlorn Fantasy v4--

 

note: If it's possible to do, I'd like the sky texture to be SKY8, the blue sky/cloud texture.

[Ricola102]

4 minutes ago, Goat-Avenger said:

Forlorn Fantasy

Update #4

--Forlorn Fantasy v4--

 

note: If it's possible to do, I'd like the sky texture to be SKY8, the blue sky/cloud texture.

Ignore this, replied to wrong thing

Edited February 24, 2022 by Ricola102
Replied to wrong post

[Goat-Avenger]

Ricola102,

Just gave your map a quick breeze through, really impressive.

 

I thought I'd let you know that in the room with the red door entrance, there seems to be a blinking light sector on one of the brain/fleshy floor/sector, yet the ceiling texture is lights.  I'm not sure if you intended it to look that way or not, may want to check it out.

 

Very visually detailed, eclectic, and challenging map.  Nicely done.  IMO..

 

[Rykzeon]

To the Site V5:
https://wadhosting.com/Wad/856EC2359B1F5341A4A77FF91805C38AC957F2F8

Added Conference Room and some tweaks.

[Doomkid]

Incredible quality on display here.. I’m gonna have a blast recording and commenting on these, and I think even after looking over a few of the maps multiple times (for bugs and such) that I’m gonna get killed a number of times.. Can’t wait!

 

Also, just 3 days left to get your maps in for judging! (Though if you’re a day or two late by accident I’ll still include your map in the pack)

[DoomRunDum]

28 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

Incredible quality on display here.. I’m gonna have a blast recording and commenting on these, and I think even after looking over a few of the maps multiple times (for bugs and such) that I’m gonna get killed a number of times.. Can’t wait!

 

Also, just 3 days left to get your maps in for judging! (Though if you’re a day or two late by accident I’ll still include your map in the pack)

Yeah, these maps are gettin' pretty neat!

[OverflowingMocha]

53 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

Incredible quality on display here.. I’m gonna have a blast recording and commenting on these, and I think even after looking over a few of the maps multiple times (for bugs and such) that I’m gonna get killed a number of times.. Can’t wait!

 

I really wonder how your thoughts through each recording are gonna go, considering the large amount of quality maps that have been made, especially those who were made by novice or amateurish mappers like me.

 

53 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

Also, just 3 days left to get your maps in for judging! (Though if you’re a day or two late by accident I’ll still include your map in the pack)

 

I'm really excited to see your opinions on this contest! It has been a blast to see all of these new submissions coming in, and I know that my map stands barely any chance against any other map submitted here, but was still fun to see all of these people work on their on stuff and review mine. :)

 

I'm glad I got to participate in this, it has given me a chance to showcase how I do things in a community project full of supporting and cool dudes that also have a chance to showcase how they do things.

[phoo]

On 2/23/2022 at 5:27 AM, Thatonespymain said:

here is my bad map, it took me 3 days to make this. how is it so far

JAMALJONESSUBMISSION.rar

A short and sweet map, would be good as an early level in the wad

[Big Ol Billy]

Confirming that I should have a map (and new MIDI) sneaking in just before the deadline!

 

[phoo]

On 2/5/2022 at 6:34 PM, Argent Agent said:

Welp, my map is looking pretty finished, so I might as well submit it now.

Map Title: Corrupted Utopia

Author: Argent Agent

Music: "Time Runner" by Mark Klem (Memento Mori 2 MAP25)

Build Time: One Month

Play Time: 20-30 minutes

Difficulty Settings: Yes

Multiplayer Compatibility: Yes (with extra monsters in multiplayer)

Deathmatch Compatibility: Yes (though the layout is untested)

Play-tested in: Doom 2 v1.9 via DOSBox v0.72 (mainly for drawseg overflow troubleshooting), DSDA Doom v0.21.3, Zandronum v3.0

 

Link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/cl652uaehrlcal5/AA_JJ_V1.wad/file

 

Thanks to testers Combinebobnt and Jwaffe!

 

Screenshots:

Just played through it, had a blast. This is excellent!

[Anonymous Space Marine]

On 2/24/2022 at 12:35 AM, Blexor said:

"Vile Streets" (Anonymous Space Marine)

  Reveal hidden contents

So my other Doom guilty pleasure is using berserk on every enemy that's not carrying a weapon (and sometimes those ones, too), so naturally I found this level appealing. Berserk is even better in this resource pack since Jamal's atomic bayonet shreds even Archies with relative ease, a fact which I don't doubt you noticed. I'm willing to bet that leaning on the bayo is intentional here (any time when you're not getting ripped up by chaingunners), and I think the concept is executed rather well. Only odd thing is that the Arch-viles in the last room come at you mostly in a blob, and I'm not sure if that's on purpose. Were they supposed to have their ambush flags set?

 

 

Thank you so much for your feedback! I really appreciate it. I should have the final version ready this weekend. The maps I have played thus far are a lot of fun and impressive. I'm looking forward to the final release!