MAPPING AT WARPSPEED - Release V1 | PUSS IX - 32 Maps Alien Extravaganza!

[Azure_Horror]

Played a few maps from Warpspeed. Now I realise, why people love Ancient Aliens so much. (Not gonna lie, I also like AA. However, to me AA is just one great pWAD of mulitiple great works, but not the greatest things ever made)

 

Ancient Aliens megWAD has a unity of visuals, music and gameplay. And this unity cannot be reduced to @skillsaw and coauthors' mapping mastery alone. Its hard to describe in words. But I can definentely say that the maps I played from Mapping at Warpspeed have the same unity, like the AA has. The maps may be less polished than their AA counterparts, but they still manage to feel 100% Ancient Aliens-y!

[LVENdead]

I'm going to be sporadically playing through these. Not sure how many of them I will get thru and record but I can say I'm enjoying the several maps I've played so far. In the interest of not spamming this thread I'll post the first video and then likely collate the rest into a playlist as I go on. 

 

Map 1 is a nice start to this project. Putting yourself up for comparison against Ancient Aliens must be a daunting task but Death Bear shoulders the challenge of being the ambassador for this wad (as the author of the inaugural map) with good form for any map, let alone a speed map. Enticing and kinetic, and ultimately a fun experience. 

 

 

[BluePineapple72]

Updated to RC2.5

Has some changes to the intro/outro as well as some map updates. There's also some new skies for some levels by @muumi

 

RC3 will have finished player sprites, final updates for levels, and anything else I forgot. Will likely be the final version

 

 

(this version also has new player sounds...)

 

 

EDIT: shot out a hotfix to fix a bug in map29. I also added a teleport back to the first segment of that level for backtracking.

Edited October 22, 2022 by BluePineapple72

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 14 has a place in the southeast where you can drop down below two stairs and get trapped between a tank and the wall that's adjacent to the starting area.

[BluePineapple72]

16 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Map 14 has a place in the southeast where you can drop down below two stairs and get trapped between a tank and the wall that's adjacent to the starting area.

Could you shoot me a screenshot? I can't find it.

[BluePineapple72]

Map29 had a playerstart issue. Shot out a hotfix.

There are also minor changes to map12 and Lemon's segment in map29. Map12 will receive a more significant update in RC3

[LVENdead]

I've got several more video playthroughs recorded and queued to upload this week. I don't want to spam this thread but if you would appreciate me posting them here then let me know.

 

Today I've got Map 2 by @myolden which turned out to be a fun map with some teeth to it. Relatively simple in terms of layout but deceptively more complex in structure, this one got my blood pumping. Plenty of nice surprises combined with a great looking map makes for a fun time!

 

 

[BluePineapple72]

3 minutes ago, LVENdead said:

I've got several more video playthroughs recorded and queued to upload this week. I don't want to spam this thread but if you would appreciate me posting them here then let me know.

I’m totally fine with you sharing them here! Helps the both of us get exposure! 

[LVENdead]

Next up is Trespasser by @notTyrone! This map was a cool looking palette cleanser from Map 2 and dialed back the difficulty a substantial amount. One thing I didn't notice the first time thru was how the skybox changes to night time, which is a really cool touch. This map makes good economical use of a relatively small space, and gives the player some momentum to head into Map 4, which I liked QUITE a bit and have a recording set to upload tomorrow!

 

 

[LVENdead]

Oberth Malfunction - man I really love this one. You had me at the starry void, but you really won me over with the Wormhole-like journey. I'm a sucker for alternate reality/transformation maps, and it was an absolute joy to step into that waterfall portal and then backtrack through the base and out into space again. @BluePineapple72 is RC3 going to include the animated falling stars skybox for all maps that use it? If so, this one is going to really delight a ton of folks who haven't played it yet. Excellent stuff from notTyrone.

 

Edit: also have to add that I LOVE the midi in this map 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by LVENdead

[BluePineapple72]

1 hour ago, LVENdead said:

@BluePineapple72 is RC3 going to include the animated falling stars skybox for all maps that use it? If so, this one is going to really delight a ton of folks who haven't played it yet. Excellent stuff from notTyrone.

Absolutely! I could’ve sworn I added the animated sky to this map for 2.5, but I’m probably mistaken. I’ll shoot out a hotfix later tonight (to 2.6) to contain it. 
 

Speaking of hotfix: MAP01 is the wrong version! And it had been for months and I hadn’t noticed! The actual current version has a secret added to it: so I’ll need to import the intro textures into that version and include it in the hotfix.
 

Either way, I’m gonna be putting out a 2.6 tonight because there are some changes to some of the latter maps that are pretty important I think. Map12 has some preliminary health that I’ve added to it before the mapper can add those fixes themselves. 

[TJG1289]

1 hour ago, BluePineapple72 said:

Map12 has some preliminary health that I’ve added to it before the mapper can add those fixes themselves. 

That would fix the only glaring issue that I can recall! Nice.

[BluePineapple72]

Hotfix to 2.6 

 

Added the animated sky to map04. Some map29 QA fixes. I added some playtesters to map30. Map01 got updated to the JANUARY version. Yup. Fucked up on that one.

 

I also fixed the SSG sprite and finalized the text screens.

 

Edit: you earned a spot here cause you always lemme know if my links don't work ,o7 @FEDEX

Edited October 26, 2022 by BluePineapple72

[FEDEX]

Hi Blue🍍72 ! Thanks for having me in mind :)  Btw the Hotfix to v. 2.6 link work perfectly :D

[LadyMistDragon]

Found a HOM in Close Encounters of the Weird Kind, at the northern lift out of the RK room. Unfortunately, I don't think it can be seen but it's on the right side.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[LVENdead]

So here we go with Ursae Minoris and Ursae Majoris. I kind of struggled with the first of these two maps - I missed the RL pickup b/c it was covered by a manc corpse, so I spent an inordinate amount of time wondering what the deal is and then eventually looking for it. Ended up pausing my video and looking at it in UDB to see what I'd missed - in retrospect it's a bit obvious, but I still do suggest being mindful of when it may be possible for players to miss key weapon pickups. As it stands, I don't know how the fighting following the pickup SHOULD have gone and so I think the map was quite a lot harder for me than it needed to be. But hey, if you want a good example of how players can just completely break your map, then look no further :) To top it off, my gameplay in general was quite shit the day I recorded this...unfortunately I'm not someone who is just "on" all the time.

 

Overall I liked the concept of these two maps even if I struggled with them. Given the number of structures in the crater area that we don't go to, it makes me wonder if I'll be seeing this "hub" map again later on in the WAD. 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by LVENdead

[smellsfishy]

Quite an entrancing project this one. I've been cruisin' with it since last week, taking my sweet time leisurely proceeding through the first dozen maps. Having a great deal of enjoyment thus far. Crafty usage of the source material, i have to say. It doesn't feel rehashed nor repetitive in any way. The full-blown transformation from marine into a little green was a nice touch. Many kudos for all the talent involved.

 

If y'all up for some home movies, i've recorded five o' em (more may arrive, somewhere in time).
fishyspacesaga.maw26.maps01-05.2022.1080p.HD.4K.mp4.zip

[smellsfishy]

...パート2: 【fishyspacesaga2】「～愛液の逆襲～」[maw26][WEB][1080p][Multi-Subs].mkv.zip

[Bozzy]

May aswell edit my useless comment to be useful. Had a Baron on Map 3 i couldnt get teleport in no matter what, got all other kills, items and the secret.

Edited December 31, 2022 by Bozzy

[ReaperAA]

Apologies for the bump, but I am just going through this wad now and while I am enjoying it, I have discovered a few bugs.

On Map25, the fight in the outdoor area where you get the plasma gun seems to be broken. After stepping on the plasma gun platform, enemies don't teleport in. They remained asleep.

On Map26, there is a fight area where once you enter a door, you can't get out until you get the yellow skull key. Now yellow skull key appears in that area even after all the hell knights and arachnotrons are killed, thus leading to a softlock.

 

I am using DSDA-Doom 0.24.3 with complevel 9 (Boom)

[BluePineapple72]

59 minutes ago, ReaperAA said:

On Map25, the fight in the outdoor area where you get the plasma gun seems to be broken. After stepping on the plasma gun platform, enemies don't teleport in. They remained asleep.

On Map26, there is a fight area where once you enter a door, you can't get out until you get the yellow skull key. Now yellow skull key appears in that area even after all the hell knights and arachnotrons are killed, thus leading to a softlock.

 

I am using DSDA-Doom 0.24.3 with complevel 9 (Boom)

The map26 issue has been fixed locally and will be available for final release. There are a few mappers I have to chase down before I can release final though so I may put out a hotfix here soon to fix map26’s issue

[Unregret]

Hello, It would be delight if you can release a weapon-less version of this mod.

[Stabbey]

I actually considered doing blind video runs of this, but I got to map 05 and decided that wasn't going to work.

 

Still some issues outstanding.

- MAP 19: This was the first map I thought didn't fit. It feels like it was done in three hours instead of 10. The first room is an undetailed box with a visual glitch above the lift which enters.

- MAP 20: Wow, what a gimmick. It took me loads of attempts, using save-scumming, and I eventually managed to get both secrets and then speed back out while invulnerable. I never considered that you could max this one until someone in the comments mentioned that, so I tried again and I was able to max the map.

- MAP 21: Also not a fan of this one. It feels odd. The first room isn't too tough, even if you need to make a run for the RL to have the ammo to win. You get a BFG and a big wall to lower, but there's like 6 cacos and a PE, hardly BFG material. The teleporter takes you to a spot where you can door-camp a room of enemies, and there's a megasphere there for free. The map feels too easy. I found a soft-lock - there's a hole in the wall behind one of the keys with a little scene. There appears to be a teleporter in there, but it isn't. Once you get in, you can't get out. That window should have been flagged impassible. There's a "secret" soulsphere, but because you need to wade through toxic sludge and have no rad suit, getting it doesn't give you much benefit. I got to a big huge arena with tons of enemies and I wasn't feeling it, so I warped to the next map.

 

- Map 24: Nice big map with a huge monster count, but it isn't especially difficult if you make use of infighting, just long.

 

- Map 25: Directly in front of the start, there's an area outside where you can drop down and collect a few goodies, and you're stuck there for a few moments before a platform lowers to let you out. This seems strange, as if there was supposed to be a monster ambush, but nothing happened. I even attacked and nothing woke up. Sure enough, when I checked at the end, there were monster closets which had contents in them still.

 

- Map 26: I only managed to get 6 of 10 secrets by the time I found the exit. Careful searching and I found two more, but I couldn't get the last two. No idea where one of them even is. I found a softlock by re-entering the Yellow Key door after exiting to look for the secret in there, and discovered that the door out didn't work - probably a one-time-only door open mechanism.

 

- Map 29: I lost the will to continue with the second wave of the Revenant Crusher arena and turned on god mode. I understood the arena gimmick. I beat that gimmick to get here. I could have in theory, won legitimately. However, the map has 1500+ monsters in it, and I have other things to do. I tried a couple more maps legit, but started resurrecting after the Cyberdemon killed me in "Dan"'s arena. I turned god mode on completely in Weird Sandwich's arena, and I got stuck in Chookum's arena - everything was dead and I couldn't find a way out. It wasn't god mode which did that, I tried that part clean and still couldn't get out. I can't even see any way out with iddt. This is an "impossible to proceed" softlock.

 

On 2/3/2023 at 2:39 AM, Unregret said:

Hello, It would be delight if you can release a weapon-less version of this mod.

 

What are you talking about? This isn't a mod, it's a mapset, and it doesn't modify weapon behavior. The different colored weapons are a result of the custom palette used.

[BluePineapple72]

29 minutes ago, Stabbey said:

in Chookum's arena - everything was dead and I couldn't find a way out. It wasn't god mode which did that, I tried that part clean and still couldn't get out. I can't even see any way out with iddt. This is an "impossible to proceed" softlock.

once you telefrag the cyberdemon the teleporter he stands on you can use to warp to the next arena. 
 

If you did try that tho, what difficulty were you on? There’s a chance that the teleporter destination in the next arena only exists in hard. 

[Stabbey]

I guess I was just dumb and never walked over the center again. I "completed" the rest of the map cheat-free, but discovered an actual soft-lock. There's a teleporter at the end to let you go back to the start for kill completion, but the door in Not Tyrone's arena can't be re-opened.

[Death Bear]

4 hours ago, Stabbey said:

- MAP 21: Also not a fan of this one. It feels odd. The first room isn't too tough, even if you need to make a run for the RL to have the ammo to win. You get a BFG and a big wall to lower, but there's like 6 cacos and a PE, hardly BFG material. The teleporter takes you to a spot where you can door-camp a room of enemies, and there's a megasphere there for free. The map feels too easy. I found a soft-lock - there's a hole in the wall behind one of the keys with a little scene. There appears to be a teleporter in there, but it isn't. Once you get in, you can't get out. That window should have been flagged impassible. There's a "secret" soulsphere, but because you need to wade through toxic sludge and have no rad suit, getting it doesn't give you much benefit. I got to a big huge arena with tons of enemies and I wasn't feeling it, so I warped to the next map.

Most of this feels like a non-"issue" at this point in the game, but I appreciate the info about the soft-lock. BluePineapple is going through and addressing stuff like that now, so we can get this officially wrapped up.
As for the rest of it, I'll pass the constructive criticism on to my 11 year old so he might learn from it.

[Keyboard_Doomer]

Hello,

 

it didn't take long and we're back for some PUSS. First half of the wad for Thursday Night Survival today.
The session starts 14 hours from the time of this reply and you can expect it to be fairly active for 4+ hours.
Also, I have literally just found out from the text file that it was the Ancient Aliens Guy's 45th birthday 2 days ago so... I guess we're unofficially celebrating that as well.

 

Not sure if you care at all about multiplayer for this particular wad, there seems to be quite a lot of potential issues judging from the coopfix created by boom_compatible. Either way, everyone is welcome to join. the server will be unpassworded when the session starts.
 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Keyboard_Doomer

[BluePineapple72]

5 hours ago, Keyboard_Doomer said:

Hello,

 

it didn't take long and we're back for some PUSS. First half of the wad for Thursday Night Survival today.
The session starts 14 hours from the time of this reply and you can expect it to be fairly active for 4+ hours.
Also, I have literally just found out from the text file that it was the Ancient Aliens Guy's 45th birthday 2 days ago so... I guess we're unofficially celebrating that as well.

 

Not sure if you care at all about multiplayer for this particular wad, there seems to be quite a lot of potential issues judging from the coopfix created by boom_compatible. Either way, everyone is welcome to join. the server will be unpassworded when the session starts.
 

I’ll shoot you my most recent version: it contains some crucial map fixes. (Doesn’t have finished player sprites unfortunately)

[BluePineapple72]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TrOFfTtrNiDn3WF1mzx_XI2ZikVcPspV/view?usp=share_link

 

@Keyboard_Doomer Updated the main link too. Sometime this afternoon I'll try and finish the remaining player sprites but no promises. I'll *maybe* get them done after work. Again, no promises. The final version of the wad will be available next week though.

[Keyboard_Doomer]

Thanks for the updated wad. We have the 2nd half of the wad ahead of us for the next week and so far it's been really fun and the maps actually work very well in multiplayer (with the coop fixes).
 

On 3/16/2023 at 11:52 AM, BluePineapple72 said:

Doesn’t have finished player sprites unfortunately

Oh, does that mean the concealed alien identity peaking through the perfectly normal-looking human is a side effect of unfinished sprites and not an intentional design? Because I thought that's hilarious and really clever and actually meant to ask if we could steal that as a permanent addition to TNS skins which is the first time ever I'm asking this. Well, I guess many great discoveries happen by accident.

 

Anyway, here are a few issues that were noticed:
MAP01:
    - There are 3 teleporting linedefs (lines 1880, 1881 and 3435) but it's still possible to skip the teleporter in the dark tunnel if a player is wallrunning. Hard to judge how many lines are enough so for the coopfix I solved this by adding an impassable line behind the teleporters (vertexes at 2036, -250 and 2168, -250).

    - the PRESENTS and PUSSIX textures look broken in-game because ZDaemon doesn't correctly display textures that don't have dimensions that are a power of 2
MAP06:
    - it's possible to jump to sector 327 and then you're effectively stuck in that area
    - these "holes" on line 3001 and line 3093 look like oversights
    - slime trail coming from line 1992 if software rendering is used
MAP12:
    - players can fall into sector 290 or 291 and get stuck
MAP16:
    - some visual issues apparently because of wrong tags for sky transfer (report from boom_compatible)
MAP23:
    - it's possible to skip the teleporter (line 3336) in the dark tunnel and get stuck

You didn't specify if coop issues are of interest or not and I suspect the answer is no but boom_compatible did an amazing job addressing them and documented all of it so I'm just going to paste all of that here:

MAP01:
    - Line 4426 is a S1 switch and players can close the path again.
      Modified line 4426 (103->61) to SR.
    - Line 712 is a S1 switch and players can close the path to the RL again.
      Modified line 712 (103->61) to SR.
    - Line 4103 is a W1 trigger and players can close access to chaingun
      and blue card area again.
      Modified line 4103 (2->86) to WR.
MAP02:
    - The start area will be blocked by sector 604 (tag 33) and players in the
      start area can't progress.
      Modified lines 3341/3345 (0->24795) to open the path again.
    - Sector 134 (bars, tag 5) will block the path and players in the previous
      area can't progress.
      Modified line 11 (0->24793) to open the path again.
    - Sector with the tag 21 will close/open the path several times and
      players will be stuck in alot of places.
      Modified line 1869/3575 (103->61) to SR
      Modified line 856 (0->61 + PASSTHRU) to reopen the path.
    - Access to the blue skull area will be blocked by the sector with the
      tag 13 and players outside this area can't progress.
      Modified line 1577 (0->24832) to open the path again (teleport near
      the red bars).
    - Bars (sector 760, tag 56) will block access to the yellow skull area and
      players in the previous area can't progress.
      Modified line 4101 (15480->16216).
MAP05:
    - Lines 1806/1807/1808/1809 are W1 teleport (tag 35).
      Modified these lines (39->97) WR.
    - Crossing line 22 closes access to sector 50(tag 5).
      Modified line 41 (0->61) to reopen the door.
MAP06:
    - Lines 177/178/179/180 are W1 teleport (tag 35).
      Modified these lines (39->97) WR.
MAP07:
    - A voodoo doll will cross line 2217 blocking players in the start area.
      Modified line 3064 (26762->26763) to SR.
    - A voodoo doll will cross line 1842 closing access to the plasma gun area
      with sectors 219/222 (tag 28).
      Modified lines 1889/1897 (0->24799) to open the path again.
    - A voodoo doll will cross line 1257 blocking access to the red card area
      with sector 101 (tag 5).
      Modified line 1455 (0->24793) to open the path again.
    - The red door is D1 and will close again blocking players.
      Modified line 3340 (14446->14463) to DR.
    - Sector 620 (tag 55) will raise blocking players in the previous area from
      progressing.
      Modified line 3917 (0->24799) to open the path again.
    - Sectors 726/728 (tag 75) will raise blocking the final area.
      Modified line 3578 (0->24795) to open the path again.
MAP08:
    - Sector 1068 (tag 13) will block the access to the blue skull area.
      Modified line 6748 (0->24799) to open the path again.
MAP10:
    - Crossing line 831 closes the path to sector 243 with the sector 130 (tag 11).
      Modified line 1057 (109->106).
    - Sector 183 (bars, tag 20) will close the path to sector 243.
      Modified line 24 (0->24793) to open the path again.
    - Crossing line 769 raises sectors 104/106 and players can get stuck in
      sector 96.
      Modified line 767 (0->13343) to open the path.
    - Crossing line 1336 raises sector 59 and players can get stuck in sector 115.
      Modified line 441 (0->117) to DR.
      Modified line 422 (112->115)to SR.
MAP12:
    - The teleport at the start area is W1 (lines 529/385, tag 32)
      Modified these lines 529 (39->97) to WR.
    - Removed the line action from line 1505 (the line has no tag).
    - Line 1899 is a W1 teleport.
      Modified line 1899 (39->97) to WR.
    - Lines 2855/2856/2857/2858 are W1 teleport.
      Modified these lines (39->97) to WR.
    - Line 2937 is a W1 teleport.
      Modified line 2937 (39->97) to WR.
MAP13:
    - Lines 177/178/179/180 are W1 teleport.
      Modified these lines (39->97) to WR.
MAP14:
    - Access to the yellow skull area will be closed by sector 754 and players
      in the previous area can't progress.
      Modified line 1778 (0->24711) to open the path again.
MAP15:
    - Sector 255 will close access to the teleport on sector 290 and players in
      the previous area can't progress.
      Removed the tag from sector 255.
    - Crossing line 1989 closes access to sector 420 and players in the
      previous area can't progress.
      Modified line 1747 (27->0).
      Modified the tag of sector 360 (20->0).
MAP18:
    - There is a W1 elevator in the start area.
      Build a teleport to the next area.
MAP21:
    - Only one player can go to the skulls keys area.
      Removed the tag from sector 360 (5->0)
    - If a player uses the red skull on lines 6929/7736/7745 HOM will occur and
      the path will be blocked.
      Removed the line action from these lines.
MAP25:
    - Players can get stuck in the BFG area (sector 62) is someone opens the
      doors(sectors 26/437, tag 21)  for this area after the 2 S1 switchs.
      Modified line 6236 (2->86) to WR and build a voodoo doll loop.
    - Crossing line 4376 closes the path to the blue skull area with sector 668
      (tag 11) and players in the previous area can't progress.
      Modified line 3303 (0->1) to DR.
      Modified line 3301 (32->26) to DR.
    - Monsters in the south area of the map do not wake up (plamagun).
      Modified the sectors (tag 70) of these monsters to carry then to teleport
      and merged sectors for sound propagation.