[MBF21] Sepia

[Ravendesk]

Having playtested this, I must say that episode 3 is amazing and is absolutely worth checking out.

Really looking forward to the rest of the maps.

 

[sandwedge]

Hey finally got around to trying the second episode of this, posted a couple days ago.  I honestly was hoping for more above-ground WW1 stuff so at first was disappointed to hear that you were going underground, but I gotta say in the first half you absolutely pulled it off.  It seems like you went away from some of the war stuff especially since it seems it's loosely based in the UK, but still has stuff like minefields and whatnot.  But great underground architecture and some fun slaughtery fights at points.  The highlight is definitely 4X which had such a unique idea that I've personally never played before - a map that you can burrow through at your own direction, affecting the fights along the way.  Really good execution and a pretty interesting choice at the end, though one is obviously easier than the other.  The ballroom is another fun and strange theme with another great slaughter type fight.  Looking forward to playing more, great work!

 

 

[ryiron]

Oh, I missed that episodes 2 and 3 happened. Adding this to my list of things to play. 

[Petyan]

I guess it's finally time to release the RC1 version to the public.

The update includes difficulty settings, coop, small fixes all across the megawad and most importantly episode 4 (and a tiny episode 5)

Episode 4 takes the player into already explored locations from before, but something is clearly wrong with those places...

Also keep in mind, later maps lean rather heavy towards slaughter gameplay, so be warned.

Some screenshots:

Spoiler

Spoiler

And as a side note - episode 3 now has a secret map. Good luck.

 

[BFGandorf]

Congrats on the release Sepia! I mean Petya! I mean... meeeeh congrats :) I had much fun playtesting the wad and I'm looking forward to seeing more in the future!

[Petyan]

Alright, the wad now has an idgames link, which means that i'm finally done with it - Link

This version of the wad is final (though i might do an idgames update to the text files since i messed some things up) and will receieve no changes even if some bugs are found.

To accompany the final release i will also separately post the palette in this post if someone feels like using it for whatever reason they want. It's compatable with most wads, unless they utilize extensive color remapping (e.g. Ancient Aliens or Judgment), but a lot of things might blend in together if they are not done for the palette.

sepiapalette.zip

Examples:

Spoiler

Valiant MAP01

Eviternity MAP11

Speed of Doom MAP28

Sunder MAP31

Thanks everyone who checked out the wad, i hope it was an enjoyable expierence.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Petyan

[Ravendesk]

I started a commentated UV-MAX series for Sepia, here is the first map:

Spoiler

 

Not going to spam dw posts for every map though, maybe one for every episode :)

[Catpho]

Woah, very unique project. Reads like some alternate universe Grain of Salt style underground Doom art, in the tradition of projects such as the ill-fated Green Goddess, that fuses Doom engine duct-taped experimentation, an ethereal mood that's somehow both playful and somber, the DIY attitude of the late 00s, early 10s slaughter scene. Only finished the first two maps, but I don't know when I'll finish megawads these days so I want to register my interest. Intrigued to play more.

[UnknDoomer]

Quote

but GZDoom should work for the most part as well (use it at your own risk still, there might be more issues than i found). 

Well. I'm on the level 14 now and, for the moment, things gone fine enough. Notice two things:

 

1. Didn't manage to exit on secret M32.

 

 

Does the switch on M11 in cave open the painting near the main exit? I didn't find anything else that might lead there.

 

2. While checking things around got that

 

 

M33 has 14226 enemies. In GzDoom it's basically unplayable - game gives like 1-2 FPS only.

Edited May 3, 2023 by UnknDoomer

[Petyan]

7 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

1. Didn't manage to exit on secret M32. 

Spoiler

The painting is the secret exit, you have to just go into it once the switch is pressed. The switch is on the side of the painting in front of the secret exit. The switch is really small, so it's a bit hard to notice.

 

9 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

2. While checking things around got that

Spoiler

Unfortunately i don't think i can find a good way to optimize or improve performance for gzdoom on this map - at some point it was extremely laggy on DSDA as well, so i think i and brendon squeezed everything we could to optimize the map. It's rather sad for me to say, but you'll probably have to skip it - or swap to DSDA, but i understand that it's not very convinient to just randomly swap ports between maps.

 

[UnknDoomer]

Level 18 seems to have same issue, while it has less then 1000 enemies. Level 19 has more enemies then level 18, but has no issues...

 

In meantime three more questions:

 

 

1. M16 has 815 enemies, but I didn't meet most of them. They somehow related to the secret areas?

 

2. It seems on level 22 the only way to press the small switch to get to the secret is to use chaingun, which you can by random luck or if you will use jump. Do I miss something?

3. How to exit from this level? I've 369/399 on enemies count, exit still blocked, see no switches.

Edited May 3, 2023 by UnknDoomer

[Petyan]

43 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

Level 18 seems to have same issue, while it has less then 1000 enemies.

I suspect the reason for the lag might be the complex behind-the-scenes voodoo setup to ensure that different weapons teleport different enemies in.

Spoiler

The map has 21 different routes, which is all insured by boom mechanics, so i'm 100% sure it just overloads GZDoom. Can't really tell what is the exact issue, but will add it to the "known bugs" section.

Spoiler

Quote

1. M16 has 815 enemies, but I didn't meet most of them. They somehow related to the secret areas?  

Almost everyone is in the secret fight, which is also arguably one of the hardest in the wad. It's related to the weird stairway in the main part of the map.

Quote

2. It seems on level 22 the only way to press the small switch to get to the secret is to use chaingun, which you can by random luck or if you will use jump. Do I miss something?

I intended that people would use the pistol or the shotgun, there is enough BFG ammo to kill everything on the map.

Quote

3. How to exit from this level? I've 369/399 on enemies count, exit still blocked, see no switches.

The wall blows up with some revs, just go up the stairs and proceed to the "solid brown" exit.

 

Thanks for telling me about the issues, while i don't think i can reliably fix those (i have absolutely 0 expierience with GZDoom), i can at least warn people about specific cases :)

[UnknDoomer]

 

Quote

Almost everyone is in the secret fight, which is also arguably one of the hardest in the wad.

 

No idea how hard it must be in compare to other maps then... for example, final battle on M26, which is actually can be ignored, if player will manage to make a rocket jump and grab the "red" skull, after which it's possible to proceed to secret exit on M34.

Edited May 3, 2023 by UnknDoomer

[brendondle]

4 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

  Hide contents

 

final battle on M26, which is actually can be ignored, if player will manage to make a rocket jump and grab the "red" skull, after which it's possible to proceed to secret exit on M34.

mans just skipping everything even remotely related to my map

[UnknDoomer]

Quote

mans just skipping everything even remotely related to my map 

 

Didn't get the idea. You mean map M33? Well, it's just doesn't work in case of GzDoom, so I've no other way rather then skip it.

Edited May 3, 2023 by UnknDoomer

[Petyan]

Spoiler

9 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

No idea how hard it must be in compare to other maps then... for example, final battle on M26, which is actually can be ignored, if player will manage to make a rocket jump and grab the "red" skull, after which it's possible to proceed to secret exit on M34. 

Hm, interesting, i'm assuming it's a freelook jump there (or some crazy AVj?), in that case it's definitely easier to approach compared to MAP16.

I feel like MAP16 requiers a different skillset from MAP26, so i personally think it's harder, just because i lack in movement department.

[UnknDoomer]

It seems on M34 there are only 2 skulls is enough to proceed to the exit. Meanwhile, another question. This level has 12 secrets. How many games it have? Two or more? I've found the chess, but can't find a way to the second red gate.

[Ravendesk]

6 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

 

  Hide contents

It seems on M34 there are only 2 skulls is enough to proceed to the exit. Meanwhile, another question. This level has 12 secrets. How many games it have? Two or more? I've found the chess, but can't find a way to the second red gate.

 

Regarding map 34:

Spoiler

2 skulls to exit is intentional. You are free to explore the map more if you want but you are also free to proceed to the next map.

 

There are two games secrets behind the red keycard gates in the map.

 

To get to the other red gate you have to

Spoiler

climb to the mancubus platform from the bfg, jump along the rocks and get to the castle wall. From there you can climb a bit more and eventually reach the west wall of the castle. That's where the second red keycard gate is.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Ravendesk

[UnknDoomer]

That was a long way to go, but managed it. One misc thing:

 

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AYmxDRimHQgrmaH2NpHaNdr4okDsc1O8/view?usp=share_link

It seems it's not possible to pass this segment without a jump. I've tried few times.

 

Also solved another puzzle, that teleport another key somewhere. Is it the same one?

Edited May 3, 2023 by UnknDoomer

[Ravendesk]

2 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

It seems it's not possible to pass this segment without a jump. I've tried few times.

Doing platforms one by one won't work, yeah, you won't have enough speed. You should cross it from this position in one motion. You can also ignore the left platform, can only run across the 3 on the right.

Spoiler

 

Quote

Also solved another puzzle

Spoiler

If I understood correctly what do you refer to, this is a gambling mechanism, you randomly (more or less) win one of the prizes in has, including the red keycard. If it teleported away, there is no way to get it. But there is a second red keycard in this map, which I assume you have found already. So you can get it either way.

 

[UnknDoomer]

Finished the wad with GzDoom 4.10.0 on UV. So, at the end point found 3 issues:

 

- 1. MAP33 is unplayable.

- 2. MAP18 works a bit better, but is unplayable too.

+/- 3. MAP27 lags a lot, but not as much as MAP18, so it's still possible to complete it, without weapons.

Edited May 4, 2023 by UnknDoomer

[Petyan]

3 hours ago, UnknDoomer said:

Finished the wad with GzDoom 4.10.0 on UV. So, at the end point found 3 issues:

 

- 1. MAP33 is unplayable.

- 2. MAP18 works a bit better, but is unplayable too.

+/- 3. MAP27 lags a lot, but not as much as MAP18, so it's still possible to complete it, without weapons.

Thanks for going through the set, hope you enjoyed it.

I have to say - surprisingly, it's less issues than i thought it would be and these issues popped up in completely unexpected places. I will add these to known bugs section.

[alopecia_assassin]

Ive played up to map 11 and played the first secret map. Im having a great time so far! The progression has been not blisteringly difficult so far and the music has been perfect for each map. Looking forward to the rest, thanks Petya!

[BohdanZPM]

I watched a playthrough of this from my friend. Looks very epic. Some of the maps would be a little hard for my skill, so hopefully, the change of difficulty fixes that problem.

[Nockson]

Hello! Congratulations on getting the Cacoward! I'm here to gather some information for the DoomWiki article. Can you please tell me what music tracks are used for the title screen (D_DM2TTL), intermission (D_DM2INT), and text screen (D_READ_M)? Because these tracks are not listed in the extended credits.

 

Could you also clarify the music track for MAP10? It is listed as "Airs Rock from Golden souls 2, sequenced by MaliceX", but I wasn't able to find it anywhere. Is it from Doom: The Golden Souls 2? There are no tracks with a similar name.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Nockson
grammar

[Petyan]

7 minutes ago, Nockson said:

Hello! Congratulations on getting the Cacoward!

Thanks, also huge thanks for filling stuff for Doomwiki as well!

 

8 minutes ago, Nockson said:

Could you also clarify the music track for MAP10?

This is actually a mistake on my side, this is a music track from Golden Sun: The Lost Age, i guess i just misspeled it when i was filling the sources. (will also fix the oppost)

Also managed to write the wrong seqencer info, it was done by Aevin - VGMusic link.

 

27 minutes ago, Nockson said:

Can you please tell me what music tracks are used for the title screen (D_DM2TTL), intermission (D_DM2INT), and text screen (D_READ_M)? Because these tracks are not listed in the extended credits.

 

Title screen is Gnossinesse no.1 by Eric Satie (sequenced by oguri), don't think i can trace where i got it from unfortunately.

 

Intermission is ai_turn1 (i'm not entirely sure if they have specific names) from Heroes of might and magic 3 - VGMusic, sequenced by Micael.

 

Text screen is Rescuing Emma from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - VGMusic, sequenced by James Flynn.

 

Also provided links for stuff for convenience.

[Nockson]

My pleasure! Well, the soundtrack section is done! Thanks for all the info!