"The Box of a Thousand Demons" - 32 Boom maps by Thelokk - on /idgames

[Lucius Wooding]

Just checked this out, there is a ton of work on display here on some of these. Visually it's really cool, makes good use of the custom textures and has a lot of eye candy and details. You said you went for idiosyncratic texture usage and it definitely made things interesting. Although I will say, a number of them are pretty dark which can make them harder to navigate. In the case of map 2 for example though, it makes for a really oppressive and dread environment without needing a ton of monsters.  I think OTEX is partly to blame, it has a lot of dark grey and black textures so many maps that use it end up feeling dark even if the actual light levels are mostly fine. I also think in a lot of them you were clearly going for this as an atmospheric choice and I respect it. Gameplay wise it's a mixed bag of varying styles but the majority of the maps I played (roughly half so far) are striking and abstract. The Midis also seem good with a few bangers in there for sure.

 

One observation I had is that there are so many revenants that it makes me question my existence. I was starting to muse this to myself, and then I got to map 3... (I don't have a problem with that map either, it makes interesting demands on the player's movement which are unorthodox but I can see the frustration that can arise.) The boney bois are probably one of the more singular themes of the wad overall. I'm curious if there's a metaphor behind their usage but obviously it might be something personal so it could be best left to interpretation.

 

All in all, I think you have a ton of creativity and people should consider checking this wad out at least on a sandbox type of basis. Once I gave up on UV maxing each map and just started to hop around to explore it was a better experience for me.

[LadyMistDragon]

 

3 hours ago, Thelokk said:

 

Heh nothing to be sorry about, some actually preferred them!

As long as one of those people wasn't Shiba - 03 might have been the most fun of the maps so his bitching about "barf textures" can go crawl in a hole - which I believe it just did:)

[Thelokk]

5 hours ago, Lucius Wooding said:

Just checked this out, there is a ton of work on display here on some of these. Visually it's really cool, makes good use of the custom textures and has a lot of eye candy and details. You said you went for idiosyncratic texture usage and it definitely made things interesting. Although I will say, a number of them are pretty dark which can make them harder to navigate. In the case of map 2 for example though, it makes for a really oppressive and dread environment without needing a ton of monsters.  I think OTEX is partly to blame, it has a lot of dark grey and black textures so many maps that use it end up feeling dark even if the actual light levels are mostly fine. I also think in a lot of them you were clearly going for this as an atmospheric choice and I respect it. Gameplay wise it's a mixed bag of varying styles but the majority of the maps I played (roughly half so far) are striking and abstract. The Midis also seem good with a few bangers in there for sure.

 

One observation I had is that there are so many revenants that it makes me question my existence. I was starting to muse this to myself, and then I got to map 3... (I don't have a problem with that map either, it makes interesting demands on the player's movement which are unorthodox but I can see the frustration that can arise.) The boney bois are probably one of the more singular themes of the wad overall. I'm curious if there's a metaphor behind their usage but obviously it might be something personal so it could be best left to interpretation.

 

All in all, I think you have a ton of creativity and people should consider checking this wad out at least on a sandbox type of basis. Once I gave up on UV maxing each map and just started to hop around to explore it was a better experience for me.

 

Thanks! I am occasionally culpable of rev spamming, mostly 'cause of its versatility, but also because I find its design unrivaled. Nothing liķe a horde of dead puppets shambling your way.

[Shanoa]

The OP has me fairly curious about the gameplay and i'm always interested in something different. Will I die horribly? Probably! Is it pistol start friendly or more geared toward continuous? I'm alright with either.

[Thelokk]

4 hours ago, Shanoa said:

The OP has me fairly curious about the gameplay and i'm always interested in something different. Will I die horribly? Probably! Is it pistol start friendly or more geared toward continuous? I'm alright with either.

 

Designed for pistol start, but continuous shouldn't break progression too much - I'm very stingy with BFGs.

[Shanoa]

Just now, Thelokk said:

 

Designed for pistol start, but continuous shouldn't break progression too much - I'm very stingy with BFGs.

Alright, I'll go with the intended experience then. I'm probably in way over my head, especially if it's slaughterish. I don't dislike slaughter map, i'm just trash at them. : D

[SuperPecanMan]

I played the first six maps last night. I enjoyed them overall, I find the visual detailing of everything to be quite impressive. I know you claimed the first five were older and probably not the strongest entries, so I'm very much looking forward to the rest.

 

I don't know if map 3 is my favorite map so far, but it left enough of an impression on me that I had to immediately go back and re-play it. It took a bit of grinding to figure out an optimal route because you really need to herd the revenant waves properly to have any chance at success, but I love that feeling when you can finally figure out a tough puzzle.

[Thelokk]

49 minutes ago, SuperPecanMan said:

I played the first six maps last night. I enjoyed them overall, I find the visual detailing of everything to be quite impressive. I know you claimed the first five were older and probably not the strongest entries, so I'm very much looking forward to the rest.

 

I don't know if map 3 is my favorite map so far, but it left enough of an impression on me that I had to immediately go back and re-play it. It took a bit of grinding to figure out an optimal route because you really need to herd the revenant waves properly to have any chance at success, but I love that feeling when you can finally figure out a tough puzzle.

 

Well thanks! I was a bit afraid MAP03 would turn out to be too steep of a roadblock for many that early in the megawad, but from what I heard so far it seems my fears were unfounded. 

[SuperPecanMan]

I ran into a bit of an issue on MAP31, I'm using DSDA-Doom 0.24.3 in case that matters:

Spoiler

I understand that you need to utilize arch-vile jumps to get out of the central courtyard at the start, but it seems very easy to soft-lock yourself if you dive back in at the end the fight the cyberdemons. Is there a way out I'm missing, or do you need to keep an arch-vile alive to escape?

Additionally, two of the arch-viles didn't wake up (those opposite the starting point) unless I shot them, and they seem to be completely blind and unable to attack anything, was that intentional? I was figuring I could wake them up after killing the cyberdemons and use them to jump out, but that didn't work due to their apparent blindness.

 

[Thelokk]

23 minutes ago, SuperPecanMan said:

I ran into a bit of an issue on MAP31, I'm using DSDA-Doom 0.24.3 in case that matters:

  Hide contents

I understand that you need to utilize arch-vile jumps to get out of the central courtyard at the start, but it seems very easy to soft-lock yourself if you dive back in at the end the fight the cyberdemons. Is there a way out I'm missing, or do you need to keep an arch-vile alive to escape?

Additionally, two of the arch-viles didn't wake up (those opposite the starting point) unless I shot them, and they seem to be completely blind and unable to attack anything, was that intentional? I was figuring I could wake them up after killing the cyberdemons and use them to jump out, but that didn't work due to their apparent blindness.

 

 

Spoiler

 

Yup, at least one arch vile has to be kept alive.

The remaining arch viles are a tad bit finicky, they will attack but need a little bit of... persuading, shall we say. 

 

 

[Thelokk]

UPDATE: since there seems to be some interest around this little thing, I got off my lazy ass and fixed a few things that eluded even the /idgames release:

 

Boa2KD_2023fix

 

Eventually will supersede the current /idgames version. Nothing insane, just a few slime trails / a couple lazy mobs / other random bugfixes. I know a few people already recorded demos but nothing should desync - all changes were either invisible or cosmetic. 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Thelokk

[SuperPecanMan]

On 12/11/2022 at 3:15 AM, Thelokk said:

UPDATE: since there seems to be some interest around this little thing, I got off my lazy ass and fixed a few things that eluded even the /idgames release:

 

Boa2KD_2023fix

 

Eventually will supersede the current /idgames version. Nothing insane, just a few slime trails / a couple lazy mobs / other random bugfixes. I know a few people already recorded demos but nothing should desync - all changes were either invisible or cosmetic. 

 

Having finished the mapset, I'd like to emphasize that the maps are really pretty. I think you did a great job of combining the doom style and OTEX textures, and the level of detail is super impressive.

 

I'm not sure what you can or would want to change (without desyncing demos), but these two moments really out stuck like a sore thumb for me:

 

MAP17, my clumsiness got me soft locked multiple times:

Spoiler

 

 

As far as I can tell, if you miss the jump to this switch, there's no way to get back up on the ledge. It's possible that there was meant to be a way to lower sector 89 with tag 12, but without that, I always ended up stuck in that room when trying to backtrack.

 

 

MAP27 actually made me rage-quit and take a day off before coming back to finish it. Trying to platform while dodging revenant missiles is not something I'm capable of, although I'm willing to bet I'm missing a strategy that makes it more reasonable.

 

I also noticed that if you fall off the stairs in MAP27's exit room, the floor isn't damaging, and there's no way to get back up.

[Thelokk]

7 hours ago, SuperPecanMan said:

 

Having finished the mapset, I'd like to emphasize that the maps are really pretty. I think you did a great job of combining the doom style and OTEX textures, and the level of detail is super impressive.

 

I'm not sure what you can or would want to change (without desyncing demos), but these two moments really out stuck like a sore thumb for me:

 

MAP17, my clumsiness got me soft locked multiple times:

  Hide contents

 

 

As far as I can tell, if you miss the jump to this switch, there's no way to get back up on the ledge. It's possible that there was meant to be a way to lower sector 89 with tag 12, but without that, I always ended up stuck in that room when trying to backtrack.

 

 

MAP27 actually made me rage-quit and take a day off before coming back to finish it. Trying to platform while dodging revenant missiles is not something I'm capable of, although I'm willing to bet I'm missing a strategy that makes it more reasonable.

 

I also noticed that if you fall off the stairs in MAP27's exit room, the floor isn't damaging, and there's no way to get back up.

 

Thanks for playing! :D Glad you at least partially enjoyed the adventure.

 

To be totally honest, and not intending to downplay your feedback at all, I'm unlikely to act further on the set for reasons that go beyond desyncing demos. My recent (very, very minor) update to the /idgames file was a response to the sudden interest the megawad has received, after laying pretty much ignored for months. Interest that, mind you, is always welcome. Yet...

 

As I watch streamers play through the megawad, I feel a sort of 'disconnect' with it. So much stuff has happened in the past few months, mostly for the better, that the bitter, angry, spiteful mapper that thought inescapable softlocks pits were 'cool' and that 'dance puppet dance!' was a novel mapping mantra, is pretty much gone. Honestly, if I really wanted the megawad to be what I'd want it to be now, it'd be work way beyond softlocks or gameplay pain points: I'd have to remake the thing from the ground up, and that would be betraying the spirit in which the thing was made in the first place. I really wanted to go beyond 'here are some cool maps to play' and offer an experience that was as much a photography of me as a creator, as much as a mapset for others to enjoy. It incapsulates a moment, softlocks and all. A picture of my 'growing pains' as a mapping and as a person, so to speak.

 

... wow, I veered off topic hardcore, didn't I? Sorry for the wall of text! XD thanks for the report, and hope you'll look forward to some new stuff of mine that will drop pretty soon (like, literally within days)!

Edited December 17, 2022 by Thelokk