The Mauve Zone [Now on IDGAMES]

[The Royal We]

The Mauve Zone is my first map and a mixture between a certain TV show that I like and a couple paranoias from my own head. It’s also inspired by E2M6 and E4M1 from the Ultimate Doom. 

Extremely valid tip:

FOLLOW THE TRAIL OF THE LOST SOULS.

 

 

Download: The Mauve Zone

 

 

Version: 1.2 (12/05/2022) 

Port: GZDoom only (Doom 2, UDMF; ZDoom ASC)

Midi: “Angels on the way” by @Doomkid

No new textures

No new monsters

 

Strongly recommended settings:
- Midi device: OPL Synth Emulation

 

Even though the map is not vanilla compatible, I’d suggest a “mostly vanilla gameplay”:

- no jumping, no crouching, no freelook 

- no weapon mods

- no light effects

 

 

I appreciate @Astro X' help very much since he was the first tester of this map.

His gameplay gave me a lot of insights on what had to be changed. Thank you!

 

 

Criticism and suggestions are always welcome!

 

Spoiler

 

Far out!

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by The Royal We

[Astro X]

This map is actually surprisingly good! Definitely worth the download, I can't stress that enough :)))

[SuperCupcakeTactics]

Yeah this map is great! I really like the texture work you've done here and the reality warping of it all. This map is just very creative in general with interesting ideas and visuals. Quite inspired as well ;)

 

As for the gameplay if your intention was to distract me with the mancubus so the chaingunner could sneak up and fill me with holes that's a pretty crafty setup and it got me twice! The closets are about pitch-black to me with GZDoom's lighting so I don't know if that was intentional since you have a revenant in one and a corpse in another. Interesting navigation with hopping out the window past the washing machine as that's the kind of design I really like. I ran into some ammo shortages after grabbing the SSG though since I was fighting the barons with them (tried using berserk but got burned bad from behind) but it wasn't too bad after having a chainsaw and finding more outside. Double archvile encounter was pretty rough, but probably because I wanted to fight him in the same room and didn't run out since there was another archvile outside too. Gets kind of dicey after that too but past the red key door and into the E1M1 area you can get stuck in the small room with the soulsphere if you go in and let the door close on you. Was a bit of a struggling grind to fight 3 cyberdemons with just the plasma rifle in the tight space provided. After that I noclipped back to the start to go secret hunting and wow that string of reality warping hidden rooms was really something and is what made this map stand out the most to me. Would have been nice to grab the goodies here as soon as possible much earlier for sure!

Edited May 26, 2022 by SuperCupcakeTactics

[princetontiger]

can you zip it? I can't unrar.

[IcarusOfDaggers]

This was....surreal to say the least. I got a couple of lucky breaks, but I must admit, texture work is spot on, and I really can't complain much other than HMP felt more like ultra violence. I got lucky megasphere and BFG, otherwise It would have taken me way longer to finish it. Good stuff.

For Hurt Me plenty, I didn't get the blue armor so that fucked me up hard. Being able to get some kind of armor somewhere along the way to 2 archviles+ bunch of hitscan fight would help a lot.

I also do like that you can get punished for cheesing :D

 

Video will be sent to PM's once it's finished uploading.

Edited May 26, 2022 by IcarusOfDaggers
HMP specific complaint

[Serathis]

I'd say Caco honorable mention worthy.

[The Royal We]

Man, I'm really happy with everyone's comments! Now I'm in a hurry, but later I'll answer each and every comment with great affection. I will definitely take into consideration all of your suggestions and implement them in the near future. Thank you very very much!

Ah, just for the record: English is not my first language, so anything I say that sounds weird is probably because I didn't know how to say it properly. But I will try my best.

Edited September 16, 2022 by The Royal We

[IcarusOfDaggers]

2 minutes ago, The Royal We said:

Man, I'm really happy with everyone's comments! Now I'm in a hurry, but later I'll answer one by one with great affection. In the future I also want to correct and implement all your suggestions. Thank you very very much!

Ah, just for the record: English is not my first language, so anything I say that sounds weird is probably because I didn't know how to say it properly. But I will try my best.

You're speaking and writing better than me. Then again, i always had trouble communicating.

[unraveler]

Great map, the whole otherworldly feeling is really top-notch!

Also, found a softlock near the ending at the supercharge location:

[eternalegg]

This map was like a fever dream, loved it

[Daytime Waitress]

On 5/26/2022 at 4:08 AM, The Royal We said:

 a certain TV show that I like

Read the title as "The Maude Zone" and am inconsolable about not getting a Bea Arthur WAD  >:(

 

A warped reality that messes with the player's expectations.

Desperation because there are too many horrors and not enough bullets.

A musical choice that fits the derangement.

Don't worry about your English, TRW - you communicate well enough through nightmares.

 

This felt like it had too little ammo for my particular skill level, but I was compelled to see it through on ITYTD, just because it was so unhinged. The recursive corridor. The Alice in Wonderland Hangar. The Doomcute being the only aspect of reality you can cling to. @eternalegg summed it up: a beautiful fever dream.

 

[princetontiger]

Can I get a zip of it? I can't unrar. Thx.

[SuperCupcakeTactics]

12 minutes ago, princetontiger said:

Can I get a zip of it? I can't unrar. Thx.

Try 7-Zip

[The Royal We]

Guys, you have no idea how happy I am with your feedback. It makes me want to keep studying and learning! I wish I had answered each one sooner, but I've had a pretty rough week. Thank you very much everyone!

 

 

On 5/26/2022 at 12:16 AM, SuperCupcakeTactics said:

Yeah this map is great! I really like the texture work you've done here and the reality warping of it all. This map is just very creative in general with interesting ideas and visuals. Quite inspired as well ;)

 

As for the gameplay if your intention was to distract me with the mancubus so the chaingunner could sneak up and fill me with holes that's a pretty crafty setup and it got me twice! The closets are about pitch-black to me with GZDoom's lighting so I don't know if that was intentional since you have a revenant in one and a corpse in another. Interesting navigation with hopping out the window past the washing machine as that's the kind of design I really like. I ran into some ammo shortages after grabbing the SSG though since I was fighting the barons with them (tried using berserk but got burned bad from behind) but it wasn't too bad after having a chainsaw and finding more outside. Double archvile encounter was pretty rough, but probably because I wanted to fight him in the same room and didn't run out since there was another archvile outside too. Gets kind of dicey after that too but past the red key door and into the E1M1 area you can get stuck in the small room with the soulsphere if you go in and let the door close on you. Was a bit of a struggling grind to fight 3 cyberdemons with just the plasma rifle in the tight space provided. After that I noclipped back to the start to go secret hunting and wow that string of reality warping hidden rooms was really something and is what made this map stand out the most to me. Would have been nice to grab the goodies here as soon as possible much earlier for sure!

 

Thank you very very much! In fact, some closets were supposed to be dark indeed. However, I have a lot to learn regarding how to use lights in Ultimate Doom Builder, as well as the difference that each specific configuration makes within the game. Often in the editor the light appeared one way, so when I went to test it in the game it was different. Still learning! 

 

Glad you liked the map design! Fun fact aside, the center of the map is based on the building I live in. The corridor with the archviles' rooms is excellent for playing ball with my dog.

 

I'm still thinking of a way to make the reality warping hidden rooms less hidden. My intention was to make this secret hard to find because it makes the final fight so much easier, but I think I ended up making it too easy to miss. Hint: there's a secret near the archviles that makes the fight considerably easier.

 

 

On 5/26/2022 at 9:31 AM, princetontiger said:

can you zip it? I can't unrar.

 

After I answer everyone I'll correct the soulsphere error that was pointed out by @SuperCupcakeTactics and @unraveler. Then I upload the map again in a zip file for you.

 

 

On 5/26/2022 at 10:34 AM, IcarusOfDaggers said:

This was....surreal to say the least. I got a couple of lucky breaks, but I must admit, texture work is spot on, and I really can't complain much other than HMP felt more like ultra violence. I got lucky megasphere and BFG, otherwise It would have taken me way longer to finish it. Good stuff.

For Hurt Me plenty, I didn't get the blue armor so that fucked me up hard. Being able to get some kind of armor somewhere along the way to 2 archviles+ bunch of hitscan fight would help a lot.

I also do like that you can get punished for cheesing :D

 

Video will be sent to PM's once it's finished uploading.

 

Man, I loved your gameplay. I want to watch it again later and comment a few things on the video. Also I found the way you found the BFG very interesting, it turned out to be a strategy to beat the map that I hadn't thought of.

 

And yeah, I actually need to fix the difficulty levels because it got pretty confusing. As soon as I have time this week I'll fix it. The map has two armors (a green one, hidden at the very beginning of the map, and a blue one, on the outskirts of the building); but you're right: the blue one would be better to take before meeting the archviles. I'll think about how to solve this.

 

And man, you communicate very well in English! I wish I had the courage to record videos in English myself. One day I'll get there!

Edited September 16, 2022 by The Royal We

[The Royal We]

On 5/26/2022 at 11:54 AM, Serathis said:

I'd say Caco honorable mention worthy.

 

Dude, I'm flattered! Your comment made me smile last week, even with a lot of bad stuff going on. Thank you very much!

 

 

On 5/26/2022 at 3:52 PM, eternalegg said:

This map was like a fever dream, loved it

 

The occasional acid flashback. Thank you very much for the comment!

 

 

On 5/26/2022 at 7:11 PM, Daytime Waitress said:

Read the title as "The Maude Zone" and am inconsolable about not getting a Bea Arthur WAD  >:(

 

A warped reality that messes with the player's expectations.

Desperation because there are too many horrors and not enough bullets.

A musical choice that fits the derangement.

Don't worry about your English, TRW - you communicate well enough through nightmares.

 

This felt like it had too little ammo for my particular skill level, but I was compelled to see it through on ITYTD, just because it was so unhinged. The recursive corridor. The Alice in Wonderland Hangar. The Doomcute being the only aspect of reality you can cling to. @eternalegg summed it up: a beautiful fever dream.

 

 

Dude, what a sweet review! And check it out: I think a lot about making a map based on Alice in Wonderland. I think it's a sensational narrative to use as inspiration in a Doom map.

 

I have to say that the lack of ammo was intentional in order to encourage the player to look for secrets, but I want to balance this better on the other difficulty levels. Also, my goal from the beginning was to make a map with few monsters, leaving the player in danger more by the situation than by the amount of threats.

 

And about me communicating well enough through nightmares, here's a statement I'll take to heart. I think you summed up my personality well in a single sentence. What an intuition of yours, eh! :)

Edited May 28, 2022 by The Royal We

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

On 5/25/2022 at 7:08 PM, The Royal We said:

🤍💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙🤍

[LadyMistDragon]

You can softlock in the dark room with the last Supercharge/

 

[The Royal We]

New version of The Mauze Zone now available!

I corrected the problem with the door pointed out by @SuperCupcakeTactics, @unraveler and @LadyMistDragon, and compressed the file in .zip format at @princetontiger's request.

Next step: Correctly adjust difficulty levels below ultra-violence.

Edited May 29, 2022 by The Royal We

[princetontiger]

Woohoo!! Playing now

 

You map well for your first time... one comment: until I understood what you were going for, I died dozens of times. Near the beginning (especially) and the blue key area.

 

Overall, awesome... I love playing any type of map. Nice work.

Edited May 30, 2022 by princetontiger

[The Royal We]

The Mauve Zone 1.0 is now available!

 

What's new:

- All skill levels are now implemented;
- Some changes to make the gameplay more fluid, especially in the back of the main building;
- The exit room has been completely redesigned;
- More backtracking options;
- Minor texture fixes;
- More strange things;

 

Thanks again to @SuperCupcakeTactics, @Serathis, @unraveler, @Daytime Waitress, @eternalegg, @HrnekBezucha, @LadyMistDragon and @princetontiger for being the first people to play the map. Your observations were very important! I tried to adjust the map so that the gameplay is now more fluid (as well as I added some surprises on the way in case you want to play the map again now).

 

Special thanks to @Astro X and @IcarusOfDaggers for sending me videos playing the map and giving me notes. They were very very very helpful!

 

Hope you like the changes and have fun with the map!
Criticisms and suggestions are always welcome!

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by The Royal We

[The Royal We]

The Mauve Zone 1.1 is now available!

 

I made a new MAPINFO to make the map look and feel more like vanilla style.

I also made a few adjustments, and I’m looking forward to hearing what you think.

 

As always,

Criticism and suggestions are always welcome!

 

[RoastDoom]

So I played through this wad yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it! Here's my blind(and not so competent) UV run of it below..

 

 

I wish I had re-read your OP because I was unaware that it was your first map, which makes it all the more impressive! I really liked the surreal, nightmarish feel of the whole thing plus warping through different dimensions was pretty neat. I don't have that much criticism to be honest! On UV I guess the ammo distribution could've been a tad more spread out(especially in the ruined house section of the map with the 2 archies outside), but it's a minor nitpick and a personal take based on how I played the map. Also, as a side note, I'm curious as to what made you call it 'The Mauve Zone', given the absence of any mauve colour scheme or textures in the wad.

 

All in all, I had a blast playing this! Some real inspiration for first time mappers :)

 

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by RoastDoom

[The Royal We]

6 hours ago, RoastDoom said:

So I played through this wad yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it! Here's my blind(and not so competent) UV run of it below..

 

 

I wish I had re-read your OP because I was unaware that it was your first map, which makes it all the more impressive! I really liked the surreal, nightmarish feel of the whole thing plus warping through different dimensions was pretty neat. I don't have that much criticism to be honest! On UV I guess the ammo distribution could've been a tad more spread out(especially in the ruined house section of the map with the 2 archies outside), but it's a minor nitpick and a personal take based on how I played the map. Also, as a side note, I'm curious as to what made you call it 'The Mauve Zone', given the absence of any mauve colour scheme or textures in the wad.

 

All in all, I had a blast playing this! Some real inspiration for first time mappers :)

 

 

 

Thank you so much for playing and recording, @RoastDoom!

 

I have some commentaries about things that you said and missed: 

1) The short amount of ammo was intencional — actually, I added a considerable bunch of ammo since the first version was released —, which kind of encourages the player to look for secrets. At least that was my intention.

2) Even though you didn’t find any of the secrets, you managed to deal with the map very well. You made a lot of interesting strategies, and that was great, especially considering the short amount of resources you had. Also you nailed the final fight.

3) The teleporters in the back of the building should be working. I probably messed up something while correcting a thing or two in the map. Sorry… hehe

 

And answering your question about the name “The Mauve Zone”:

4.1) One of the ways to get a mauve color is mixing blue and red. And as we can see, we have a lot of blue and red around the map.

4.2) There is a book called “Beyond the Mauve Zone”, by Kenneth Grant. The synopsis: “Oblique to the paths that give on to other dimensions, and beyond them, there lies a region which the author has named the Mauve Zone”. I never read it.

4.3) Spoiler alert, in case you wanna try to play the map again and find all the secrets: 

 

Spoiler

There is an enormous secret section that is based on two scenarios from Twin Peaks: one of them is the Mauve Zone, which first appears in the second episode of the third season of Twin Peaks; the second one is the Red Room, today almost a trademark of the series. There is A LOT of useful stuff there in the map. You can find those two rooms jumping on the kitchen window, which will be open again after overtaking the fireblue dimension with imps and two arachnotron.

 

Conclusion: I'll have to make the secrets more explicit and correct the teleporters.

Once again, thank you so much for the feedback!

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by The Royal We

[sandwedge]

This was pretty impressive for a first map!  Lots of interesting details and UDMF trickery and some spicy and interesting fights.  For some reason I forgot I had a BFG for the last fight, probably because I saw a plasma rifle on the pedestal in hangar and thought that was the best weapon I had lol.  So I made that last fight a lot harder, but also probably a lot more interesting than just BFGing them.  Anyway great work!

 

 

[The Royal We]

The Mauve Zone 1.2 is now in the id games/doomworld archive!
 

I would like to thank @RoastDoom, @sandwedge, @Biodegradable and @Doomkid for your video feedback. Although my idea was to be inspired by the lack of medpacks and ammo as in E4M1, I tried to be slightly more generous in this new version.
 

Also, in order to help with the lack of resources, I made the secrets considerably more visible, since they are the soul of this map. By the way: FOLLOW THE TRAIL OF THE LOST SOULS (and don’t forget whatever you find there, Mr. @sandwedge).

 

Finally, I fixed the problem with teleports that occurred on the two highest difficulty levels.

 

Thank you all again, and as always,

criticism and suggestions are always welcome!

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by The Royal We