Handsome Hellscapes Vol.1 [RC1] - A Cool Collection of First Maps Ever

[A Handsome Fridge]

Hello, Doomworld!
 

I've been learning some .PK3 skills during this years NaNoWADmo and now I've got my first full fledged map pack to present to you all. This episode contains the first four maps I ever made (before the likes of Meatblock and Tapestry Of Stones entered the scene), the last one split in three parts making it a total of 6 maps. Furthermore there's custom music for each map, custom intro and intermission screens and a lot of UDMF whistles and bells starting from Map 03. I thought it would be a nice overview to have to see how my skills have developed in the first year of mapping. A Volume 2 will also be available as soon as I've got enough complete maps for that (which might take a while).

Download link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WUEafrTnlTJYPwyFlcBF3HOomnjltshW/view?usp=sharing


Sexy screenshots can be find behind the spoiler tags

Here's some info on what's in the RAR file:
 

Episode title: Handsome Hellscapes Vol.1
Author       : A Handsome Fridge

Map list:

MAP NR.    MAP NAME
Map 01     Unwelcome         
Map 02     Fish In A Barrel
Map 03     Babelism            
Map 04     Down In It pt1 - The Ooze Facility
Map 05     Down In It pt2 - Computer Powered
Map 06     Down In It pt3 - Down In It
 

Playtime: 20-30 minutes per map, give or take. Map 3 and 5 are a bit longer compared to the rest.
 

Base Game               : Doom / Doom 2
Single Player             : Yes
Difficulty Settings      : Implemented
Multiplayer                : Not implemented
Deathmatch              : Not implemented
Crouch\Jump            : Disabled on all maps, except Map 03. Jumping required on Map 03.
Freelook                   : Not essential, do what you want
Base                        : New from scratch
Editor(s) used           : Ultimate Doom Builder 3.0.0.4015 (86b86ac)
Tested With              : GZDoom g4.8.2
Compatibility             : Any port able to run UDMF maps, such as GZDoom

How to run               : Just drag the pk3 into your favorite UDMF compatible loader, no other files needed.
 

Further notes: The UDMF fun starts from Map 03
 

For anyone who has played any (or all) of these maps before: You're awesome! You can give it another go to see all artwork but the first three maps are the same you might have stumbled upon in RAMP 2021. The same except that I've added a music track for Unwelcome, added difficulty settings for each map and did some internal ACS cleanup busywork. As for Down In It: This map has been revisited resulting in a threeway split of the map. I wanted to make it less of a marathon to plow through, especially in the second part, which I have rearranged to make it feel a bit faster. If you want to warp to a map type in MAP NMAPxx in the console. xx being a number between 01 and 06.

Enjoy the content! Let me know what you think and if you find any bugs I need to address before uploading this thing to id games. Thanks in advance!
 

Spoiler

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by A Handsome Fridge

[LVENdead]

Had some time to record Map 1 this afternoon. This is definitely a novice mapping endeavor but it provides a fascinating contrast to Tapestry of Stones and I'll be interested to see the rest of the story these maps tell between the two points in time. It falls into patterns very common to first time maps, such as texturing, room size/layout etc, but it does contain quite a few thoughtful encounters and several events that managed to surprise me.

 

Here's a recording of my playthrough:

 

 

[A Handsome Fridge]

7 hours ago, LVENdead said:

Had some time to record Map 1 this afternoon. This is definitely a novice mapping endeavor but it provides a fascinating contrast to Tapestry of Stones and I'll be interested to see the rest of the story these maps tell between the two points in time. It falls into patterns very common to first time maps, such as texturing, room size/layout etc, but it does contain quite a few thoughtful encounters and several events that managed to surprise me.

 

Here's a recording of my playthrough:

 

 

Thank you for giving that all time classic a go :'D! It's fun to see a thorough analysis like this, I've played this map so many times that not all n00bie issues registrate anymore. The rising monster count is something that will happen at least in the first three maps, possibly in all of the maps of this map pack. I've since unlearned to use the spawn_thing script because players tend to get antsy when the monster count number rises up like that. Also learned how to use monster closets starting map03 (making implementing difficulty settings a much easier job).

[LVENdead]

7 hours ago, A Handsome Fridge said:

Thank you for giving that all time classic a go :'D! It's fun to see a thorough analysis like this, I've played this map so many times that not all n00bie issues registrate anymore. The rising monster count is something that will happen at least in the first three maps, possibly in all of the maps of this map pack. I've since unlearned to use the spawn_thing script because players tend to get antsy when the monster count number rises up like that. Also learned how to use monster closets starting map03 (making implementing difficulty settings a much easier job).

 

Thanks! I hope it wasn't too critical given it's something you made quite a while ago. I think it provides an interesting perspective on the mapping journey and I might try to do more maps from this set. 

[A Handsome Fridge]

10 minutes ago, LVENdead said:

 

Thanks! I hope it wasn't too critical given it's something you made quite a while ago. I think it provides an interesting perspective on the mapping journey and I might try to do more maps from this set. 

I don't mind if you're critical (or anyone else for that matter) as long as its something I can learn from. Which it is. Looking forward to it if you decide to do more :)

[LVENdead]

Got another one here. Already we can see some improvements from map 01. I like that there were several "interactive" elements to the progression even if they were a bit convoluted. This map served as a sounding board for me to talk about mapping at a more conceptual level, so hope you enjoy the conversation. 

 

 

[A Handsome Fridge]

1 hour ago, LVENdead said:

Got another one here. Already we can see some improvements from map 01. I like that there were several "interactive" elements to the progression even if they were a bit convoluted. This map served as a sounding board for me to talk about mapping at a more conceptual level, so hope you enjoy the conversation. 

 

 

Keep em coming! Already watched and commented on YouTube, but I'll give a very short 'Mapper Development list' as an addition

1) Unwelcome       - Babbies first map, I had to get some ideas out of my system and was experimenting with doodles.
2) Fish In A Barrel - A practice of more 'realistic' environments: How do I do Tech Base, How do I do Outdoor\Cave?
3) Babelism          - The inner ACS demon awakens and desires more room transformations.
4-6) Down In It    - The inner ACS demon grows and also desires a marathon map to tie some loose bits together.
                             However I decided this year to split it up again to not make it drag on for too long. Some map design struggles ensued.

And yes, these maps are in chronological order.