"Hell on Earth: Factory Cleanup" (playtesters needed!)

[Koko Ricky]

EDIT: Play the full version with this link:

https://www.moddb.com/engines/doom-engine/downloads/hell-on-earth-uac-factory-cleanup

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JuyXKk8TXT9NwLDuSmPpRf1UJNrBnpmc/view?usp=share_link

 

Hell on Earth: Factory Cleanup is an Earth-themed Doom 2 MAP01 limit-removing mod with .mp3 music composed by me. Given that this map is a bit conceptually complex, as well as gigantic in scope, I wanted players to test it with as little context as possible. Hopefully, this will make it easier to optimize it for general audiences.  

 

 

 

 

Edited April 6 by Koko Ricky

[Firedust]

Playing in Zdoom, the switches that open the big entrance doors don't change texture when activatedd.

[spaztacus]

man, where do I start:

 

I loved your design.  Great level design and how everything flows together was awesome.  Detail was also top notch.  One of my gripes is how many ways there were to get around.  Although I also loved that, so torn.  My biggest issue was the paths I took brought me to some fights that were not very fun because of the weapon options I had at the time.  Not too hard, just kinda off balanced.  

 

The end.....not going to spoil it, but I thought it was too much.  I liked the idea behind it, but by the time I made my way through, there was no way I was going to be able to kill everything.

 

Great work overall.  This is a long map, which isn't a bad thing.

[horselessheadsman]

Did a play-through. I liked it, the ability to tackle the map from different paths was nice. Though I
agree with spaztacus that the final challenge can be a bit much unless the player races through the map
as quickly as possible.

 

I noticed a few possible issues.

1

Spoiler

.The car textures outside have some dark blue colors where dark grays should be; color-remapping can get rid that.

 

 

2

Spoiler

.At the end of this corridor; the lost souls that emerge from the building are trapped outside by the impassable
tag on the window; was this intended?

 

 

3

Spoiler

.It's possible to run over the back of the chair and get trapped behind these crates.

 

 

4

Spoiler

.This imp is trapped and can't move.

 

 

5

Spoiler

.This demon can't reach the player across the very-thin pit in front of it; maybe replace with something that has
a ranged attack? Also, the spectre is partially trapped inside the door.

 

 

6

Spoiler

.This demon is also trapped in a door.

 

7

Spoiler

.After the nukage is lowered, part of the wall doesn't display a texture.

 

 

8

Spoiler

.In the out-door eating area, all of the potted-plant sectors have their ceiling texture set to something other then 'sky'.

 

 

9

Spoiler

.The inside switch of this wall melts away when lifting. Changing the switch and surrounding walls to 'lower-unpegged'
from 'upper-unpegged' might fix this.

 

 

Also, some textures that seem to be mis-aligned(sorry, some of these images are a little dark)
1

Spoiler

 

 

2

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3

Spoiler

 

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by horselessheadsman

[Delisk]

 

This was an amazing map!

[RastaManGames]

That was kinda exhausting experience even on HNTR (I mean, there is ~300+ enemies on that difficulty and almost ~500+ on UV).

Layout itself are kinda overcomplicated due to having some places where is no any other ways in and/or out (like 3rd and 4th repairing bays).

But, overall, this is good to have a map of that kind of size. Some places was really interesting to explore.

"Final arena" frustrated me, because firstly I was not prepared for it at all and when you hear Romero's catchphrase - then an event with infinitely spawning enemies is began. So... Here I just loaded my save and continue my exploration's process.

I am really didn't liked area near red skull, because it forcing player to run in the starting area and do some cycle (I tried to avoid it, but even doors was against me).

Area with yellow locked bars was the best experience I've in the past few weeks while playing some WADs. I don't sure, but seems that was due to dopamine rush because of so many plasma rifles.

I think that some areas of the map can be connected somehow to less force player for backtracking and to let him choose various entryways to unexplored areas.

About placement of enemies... I think that this is OK. I saw enemies almost everywhere, so there was small boring times (unless I was forced to enter in this factory again).

 

Here is some video, if you have spare ~45 minutes:

 

[Koko Ricky]

I'm currently addressing the issues @horselessheadsman so painstakingly documented (thank you!). I like cleaning up little extra details like that so that'll keep me busy for the moment. I'm also getting the impression the ending is a bit too brutal, being that there's a fairly long trek to the IOS chamber. I like the trickery at the end, as you're forced to initially navigate through a new area (the hell castle) that connects directly back to the factory...but the IOS should probably be waking up a bit later. I'm also thinking of repositioning the IOS targets so there isn't such a clusterfuck of enemy traffic at its entrance. Also wondering if maybe the IOS chamber interior (the exit) is a bit of a letdown as I honestly find it to be the least architecturally/spatially interesting part of the map, and I don't want players to be left with a meh climax. One more thing: Can anyone determine if there's a problem in ANIMDEFS, as some textures don't animate?

Edited November 19, 2022 by Koko Ricky

[Caleb13]

Nicely done, though I found one more bug: you can become stuck in one of the toilet stalls near yellow door. 

 

The map played well, but has one drawback: with they blue key, you can trigger the spitter far too early, before you collect strong weapons and enough ammo for them. I had to replay a large part of the map because of that. I think you can even skip the yellow key.

[Koko Ricky]

2 hours ago, Caleb13 said:

Nicely done, though I found one more bug: you can become stuck in one of the toilet stalls near yellow door. 

 

The map played well, but has one drawback: with they blue key, you can trigger the spitter far too early, before you collect strong weapons and enough ammo for them. I had to replay a large part of the map because of that. I think you can even skip the yellow key.

 

You can get the red or blue key, or both, meaning there are multiple ways to the exit and thus the map can be beaten much quicker. This is for the benefit of speedrunners and grants a lot of flexibility to the player in terms of pacing. The yellow key is for extra goodies; it's non-essential. 

Edited November 20, 2022 by Koko Ricky

[Stabbey]

Very impressive map. I've recorded a video, but it took 20 minutes with only a part of the map explored, so I want to clear more HD space before resuming the playthrough.

[Koko Ricky]

Can anyone take a look at the file in Slade and tell me why some of the textures don't animate? They all have the same ANIMDEFS properties but only some of them work. 

[Stabbey]

 Okay, I finished my playthrough. I'm glad I cleared HD space, because this one was long. I'm likely to split it into three videos just to reduce the amount of processing time and upload time required. I'm writing down some notes as well.

[Stabbey]

- Nice music, very fitting, reminds me of Doom 2016.
- Very good lighting and shadows.

- I guess it doesn't matter since 100% kills are impossible anyway, but enemies which are a long way off or in unreachable spots and can't be killed annoys players who like to get all kills. The imps on other buildings in the background or behind the gate are a good example. As are the imps on the raised platform outside the cafeteria - they're no threat to the player.
- Being able to kill enemies in the 1/2/3/4 rooms from the vents makes all the melee enemies there harmless. A player is far more likely to kill enemies that way before ever finding the switches for the doors.
- Why are those rooms connected with hidden walls? That seems to defeat the point of having four switches if one room gets you access to them all.
- The pinkies by the 1/2/3/4 switches are useless, no threat to the player.

- It's annoying that many of the paths around the red skull key area force you back out front to the parking lot, forcing you to backtrack through the front door and up the lift again, and then run through the factory to get back to where I was. There's nothing new to see, there are no new monster closets opening, nothing. It costs no additional resources, only time. That's not a good use of "looping", that's just annoying backtracking. I would have preferred to be able to simply go back the way I came. Being able to go back would have no impact on balance. Either that or put in surprises for the way back.
- This WAD has multiple Computer Area Maps. Those can't be picked up in strict compatibility, in case compatibility for non-GZDoom ports matters.
- The spitter is a nasty surprise. At least for me, that kills any further exploration or secret hunting and forces a speedrun to the exit.
- I made excellent use of two of the invulnerabilities, one to kill the Cyberdemon and AV guarding the switch which took me took long to find, and the other for my final run to the exit. Both are well-placed for those attacks.
- I think some enemies were stuck together or on architecture.
- The Hidden BFG you get by shooting the eye switch - in that area there is an Arch-Vile which raises up to surprise the player, except it's not a surprise because it wakes up when you kill the Arachnotron. The ambush would be better if it had the ambush flag set.

 

- I have to agree that the final room is not impressive for an Icon room, and it feels cramped. I don't think it's practical to change. Just remember that for your next map.

 

- I would consider making layouts easier to get around, at least once you reach certain areas. Maybe lower walls which conceal switches that can be use to open doors or lower lifts once you have reached the other side of that place.

 

Videos:
https://youtu.be/dLOPusTVj3k

 

https://youtu.be/d8RWn2CC9Ss

 

https://youtu.be/NKA84C1fm3Y

Edited November 24, 2022 by Stabbey