[Community Project] Thirty Monsters Challenge 2: Thirty Aliens (Beta compilation is up!)

[dac]

 

You didn't think I'd stop at one after all the fun we had last time, right? Welcome to the second iteration of this community project - new look, more options, same concept!

SETUP

As always, it's quite simple: make a map with thirty monsters in it - no more, no less. We will be mapping for the doom2 IWAD on MBF21 compatibility; the maps should at the very least be playable on the latest DSDA-Doom, Woof and Eternity Engine (4.03 and above) source ports. Since we will be using UMAPINFO to sort the maps around we are not constrained by map count.

This time though, we will be mapping with a modified Ancient Aliens texture pack with some additional MBF21 Dehacked stuff. You will need to be more thorough in your setup but but don't worry, everything should still be relatively painless on that front ^{i hope}. Custom skies are still allowed, but make sure they convert well to the AA-TEX palette.

Soft deadline is May 1st 2023, specifically May 1st 12:00 GMT, April 1st 8:00 Montreal Time - all mappers should have submitted a beta of their maps at that point. We'll spend more time after that for testing and refining, but overall I plan to run a tighter ship this time and be ready for release in the summer.

 

This project is open to all mappers, and you can submit a map whenever you want. If you want to make your involvement a bit more official and receive reminders through the winter, just tag me so I can add you to the pinky promise list.

THE NEW STUFF

The first Thirty Monsters project was mostly vanilla when it came to the bestiary. This one has both new monsters to play with, along with modifications to existing monsters and weapons.

 

Spoiler

 

FIST : Punch damage is now a bit more consistent.

 

CHAINSAW : Is now affected by berserk! Not as much as the punch is, but hopefully enough to mow down demons with more ease.

 

PISTOL : Deals slightly more damage, fires slightly faster, does not lose accuracy, and does not consume any kind of ammo. Should be useful as is, and for allowing far away switches to be hit at all times.

 

SHOTGUN : Now reloads slightly faster.

 

SUPER SHOTGUN : Also reloads slightly faster.

 

SUPER CHAINGUN : Is basically the Valiant chaingun. Keep in mind this is the only weapon that uses bullets.

 

ALIEN RIFLE : Replaces the Plasma Rifle. Slower fire rate, but fires three slightly homing bolts at once.

 

BFG9000 : Blue.

 

FORMER HUMAN : A little bit tougher, and now fires continuously. If you've played Struggle, it's kind of like that.

 

FORMER SERGEANT : Now drops shells instead of a shotgun.

 

CHAINGUNNER : Now drops a clip instead of a chaingun.

 

LOST SOUL : Has a smaller attack delay, and is slightly weaker.

 

CYBERDEMON : Is now a LOT weaker, will die to one good BFG blast.

 

PLASMA ALIEN : As seen in Ancient Aliens, replaces the Wolfenstein SS.

 

ALIEN GUARDIAN : As seen in Ancient Aliens, replaces the Keen.

 

UNDYING : New monster. Similar to the former human, but comes back to life if normally killed. They can stay down by gibbing them, or if their soul gets distracted and resurrect another demon instead!

 

FLAMETHROWER ZOMBIE : New monster. Fires two mancubus fireballs. Should be deadly at close range, and very annoying at longer ranges too. Should die to one good rocket hit, or a good super shotgun hit if you feel brave.

 

ARCH-DIABOLIC : New monster. Similar to an arch-vile, but lays flames at your feet that explodes after a short delay.

 

 

 

As a small note, anything in this can change depending on feedback received through the winter. Well, not anything, the monsters should relatively stay the same, but if you feel some stuff can be adjusted, be my guest!

 

RULES

As usual, it's not just about making a map with thirty monsters, it's also about this project being as good as it can be. Here are a few soft and hard rules to follow:

a) All difficulty settings must be implemented, and each difficulty must have thirty monsters, no more, no less. Initial releases do not need to be fully featured, but later versions should be.

b) Maps should not end with a death exit. (I know the first 30mc had to end with one, but feedback from outside wasn't so swell.)

c) Maps should have at least one secret in them.

d) Maps should have three or more different monster types in them. This is for encounter variety purposes.

e) Maps are limited to no more than five Barons of Hell, no more than six Arch-viles or Arch-diabolics (any combination is fine, there just can't be more than six of both), no more than two Spiderdemons, and no more than two Cyberdemons. This is also for encounter variety purposes.

f) Maps should be kept relatively small. Not like thirty monsters allows for a lot of epic journeys, and I will not really complain if you make more adventurous maps, but once again Ribbiks's Crumpets mapset is a good sample of how big your maps should generally be.

g) Keep the difficulty on the more reasonable end, at least for HMP and HNTR. There were a few insane maps in the first 30mc, but let's make something enjoyable for everyone.

h) No low effort, of course. Don't force yourself for the masterpiece, this is a humble community project after all, but also don't just shit out Congestion 512 meets nuts.wad.

i) All maps should be beatable in -nomonsters setting. Whether this is through not using monster death actions in UMAPINFO or including ways to bypass these actions if there are no monsters is up to you.

j) Submissions must follow the appended format. This is non-negotiable, I will not accept your submissions if the format is wrong. If you update your map, please make a new post and do not edit your original post.

SUBMISSION FORMAT

Your map should be in the MAP01 slot, be properly nodebuilt, should not have any of the resources found in the resource pack in it (your own modified textures are OK!), and the file name should follow this name format:

30mc2_[your name]_m[map number]_v[version number].wad

For example, the third version of the second map I made for this project would be named "30mc2_dac_m2_v3.wad". This will help me keep tabs of everyone's contributions.

Your map should be submitted to this thread in the following way:

 

Map Name: ___

Author: ___

Music: _____

Difficulty Settings: ____ (Implemented / not implemented / partially implemented)

Ports Tested: _____ (Expecting at least one test on latest DSDA-Doom!)

Description: _____

Notes: ______ (Your notes. This will not be put in the release .txt file).

 

MAPS OF THE MOMENT

Dust Bunny by @NiGHTS108

UAC Spacecraft X by @LGmaire

Outpost Chroma by @jazzmaster9

Cyan Softcore by @Origamyde

Tech(nicolor)base by @Thelokk

Performance Review by @SCF

30 Reasons To Die by @Razza

Hantrepaut by @Roofi

Thirty Deep Blue by @SuyaSS

Brimstone Vertigo by @suzerduzer

Hammer Smashed Lilac by @JaySmithen

Murder on the Dancefloor by @Shawn

SubTerranean Troubles by @RastaManGames

Time Warp by @Bloodbath Giraffe

Raise Cain by @scientifikgenius

Abysmal Sanctuary by @HUNdebLeonidasX

Glowing Embers by @CblBOPOTKA

But Not in Our Dreams by @Salmon

Inner Cell by @suzerduzer

Overrun by @NoReason

Days of Long Ago by @Scorpius

Venting by @OceanMadman

Trials of Amun-Ra by @SCF

They Are Watching by @JaySmithen

Cabaret at the Edge of the Universe by @MoiraHeart

The Texas Skillsaw Massacre by @Death Bear

Moonsweeper by @Death Bear

Neon Shuffle by @Death Bear

Noxious Veins by @Death Bear

Copper Curry by @gudermannian function

Goodbye Moonmen by @Ravendesk

Teleportic Troubled Tour by @SuyaSS

We Live in Black and White by @DynamiteKaitorn

All Fish Made by the Government by @russin

Aliens Climbing Your Stairs! by @knifeworld

Thermal Research Site by @Worst

Edited October 17, 2023 by dac

[Ravendesk]

Yep, I'm in.

[NiGHTS108]

Well I think I'm a way better mapper compared to last time so yeah, sign me up

[OverflowingMocha]

Oh hell yes, sign me the hell up!

[Misty]

I might join in as I said on twitter... just need to finish my work and exams first. 

[Engired]

I'm in for this one again.

[Astro X]

I'm in o/

[Large Cat]

@dac I'll make a pinky promise. Let's see what these new monsters give us.

 

One clarification about difficulty: am I meant to understand that we are avoiding making anything that would end up in the fourth episode of 30mc 1? And do we plan to arrange the submissions into episodes by difficulty again?

[dac]

welp, hold on don't download the resources yet, fucked up one part of it

 

e: hopefully this works, man I thought I had put the right dehacked in

Edited December 4, 2022 by dac

[Worst]

I'm interested, but one question:
 

1 hour ago, dac said:

i) All maps should be beatable in -nomonsters setting. Whether this is through not using monster death actions in UMAPINFO or including ways to bypass these actions if there are no monsters is up to you.

Is it okay if the map is technically beatable but really boring with this setting on?

For example timed arenas could result in just boring waiting in place.

[dac]

16 minutes ago, Large Cat said:

@dac I'll make a pinky promise. Let's see what these new monsters give us.

 

One clarification about difficulty: am I meant to understand that we are avoiding making anything that would end up in the fourth episode of 30mc 1? And do we plan to arrange the submissions into episodes by difficulty again?

 

Not exactly forbidding anything for UV, but HMP and HNTR should be kept reasonable even if UV is not. As for episodes, it's probably going to be the same as the first 30mc (with different names, but otherwise it's the same!)

 

6 minutes ago, Worst said:

I'm interested, but one question:
 

Is it okay if the map is technically beatable but really boring with this setting on?

For example timed arenas could result in just boring waiting in place.

 

It's okay. That rule is just to make sure the map is not unbeatable if you use UMAPINFO lumps to activate lines.

[Death Bear]

Told you I'd be here. Put me on that list, @dac !

[Dubium]

I guess I will join, so please put me on the list. Although, considering my schedule, I can't make a promise

[Salmon]

@dac, I'm in again.  Not what I expected for the second installment but I like it.

[NiGHTS108]

 

Map Name: Dust Bunny

Author: NiGHTS108

Music:  MIDI version of "Fossil Roo" from Final Fantasy IX by Nobuo Uematsu (To quote Epic II's Doomwiki page)

Difficulty Settings: Implemented

Ports Tested: DSDA-Doom

Description: I'm surprised how this map turned out, it ended up a bit more atmospheric than I imagined but still with quite a bit of action that should keep players on their toes. This map probably isn't the best, I don't usually work with small monster counts like this but I like speedmapping so I figured I'd give mapping for this wad a spin, decent result I suppose. Also the first map for 30 Aliens, releasing a whole 2 hours after the announcement.

Notes: May change up some of the difficulty settings later, not sure if I did an amazing job with them. (Usually I just remove enemies, lmao.)

 

V2 Update: Took some of @Large Cat's advice into consideration here (Thanks for playtesting!) mainly adding more shells early on, I also kept the 2 Cybers at the end for now, I guess in case that infighting thing gets changed over the course of this wad's development. The one Arch-Vile for all the turret aliens is strong advice and something I didn't think of but I didn't change it because I'm pretty comfy with the monster usage as is. Again, thanks for playtesting!

 

V3 Update: Took @tonytheparrot's advice into account here, mainly nerfing the OP as hell rocket secret to be more reasonable. I also might do something about the stealth aliens because they might be a bit much but I haven't done anything yet. Also added a second secret in the yellow key room.

 

V4 Update: Huh... could have sworn I updated the thread with the fixed SCG secret, guess not. Removed the Cyberdemons from behind the portal because yeah it looked goofy but that's it. Might reconsider the Viles and Stealth Aliens eventually, also will adjust the difficulties but I can't be bothered right now.

 

30mc2_NiGHTS108_m10_v4.zip

Edited December 15, 2022 by NiGHTS108

[Arsinikk]

I'll join. Seems like fun :)

[knifeworld]

Had fun mapping for the original so this seems cool! I should be able to free up more mapping time by christmas so pencil me in.

[gudermannian function]

I will try to do something. I am in.

Edit: make it PP

Edited December 4, 2022 by gudermannian function

[Large Cat]

42 minutes ago, NiGHTS108 said:

Map Name: Dust Bunny

Did my best to make an FDA, though I'm not 100% sure I've loaded everything properly. I just downloaded the resource, so hopefully nothing is outdated. If the demo plays back correctly, then great!

 

In case the demo doesn't play back, I'll give some brief thoughts. The beginning is hectic, but after picking up the SSG, I'm mostly in control of that bit. Ammo is really tight until you get the alien rifle, but perhaps that's intended. The only issue with tight ammo in this wad is the players will always have the pistol to fall back on, so there is temptation to plink monsters to death with it. I got it on the first try, but that was with the help of another error I encountered which essentially deleted the arch-diabolic. The cybers also infight in the demo, making them a piece of cake.

 

One possible suggestion to save on monsters: it sounds like you have an archvile dedicated to each stealth trooper, though you could probably get nearly the same effect by having a single archvile that travels quickly between the four hidden chambers via silent teleports. Just an idea.

 

@dac I would like to check that I am loading things correctly, as I may require some guidance. My command line looks something like this:

 

dsda-doom.exe -file aa-tex.wad aa-mons.wad -complevel 21

 

With that load setup, the cybers infight (maybe intentional) but much more severely, the arch-diabolus seems to hit a bad state that simply poofs it out of existence as part of its resurrection routine. Let me know if that's an error if there's a different way I need to boot up the resources. I also expressed my concern above regarding infinite ammo on the pistol: there's a lot of temptation in low-ammo situations to use the peashooter to chisel away threats.

n108_m10_v1.zip

[MFG38]

I've been looking forward to this - had fun mapping for the first one. Slap me down for a slot.

[Thelokk]

I'll be honest, never been very hot on the AA aesthetics, but I feel like I need to get out of the my comfort zone for once. You will get a map from me. @dac

Edited December 4, 2022 by Thelokk

[Scorpius]

I loved working on the first 30mc so of course I'll come back for seconds!

[Omniarch]

This is a really cool idea for a community project. I've been meaning to both improve my monster economy skills and try out the wonderful AA-Tex for some time now, so an opportunity to do both is naturally very appealing.

 

However, while playing around with the new monsters, I found that the Diabolist is fatally bugged: as soon as it encounters a dead enemy, it tries to resurrect it and then disappears.

 

Edit: this bug occurs in dsda-doom 0.24.3, -complevel 21. It does not appear in GZDoom.

 

Edit 2: another bug, this time with the resource pack. The D2 flats have been converted into the wrong format, which results in severe visual bugs in non-GZDoom ports.

Edited December 4, 2022 by Omniarch

[Doomy__Doom]

At a quick glance I didn't see any Args1/Args2 in dehacked for any HealChase frames. I imagine dsda jumps to state 0 with Args1 undefined, I remember struggling with disappearing monsters too when figuring out HealChase usage.

[Thelokk]

30 minutes ago, Omniarch said:

as soon as it encounters a dead enemy, it tries to resurrect it and then disappears.

 

*makes a map where the only way to survive six diabolists is to kite them to corpses*

... we're not fixing this, right?

[Peccatum Mihzamiz]

I loved the first project and an am interested in making a map for this one. Pinky swear count me in.

[Omniarch]

5 minutes ago, Thelokk said:

 

*makes a map where the only way to survive six diabolists is to kite them to corpses*

... we're not fixing this, right?

I also noticed that Diabolists can't attack the player when they're standing still. One could do some really evil stuff involving Cyberdemons with this knowledge >:)

[ViolentBeetle]

9 hours ago, dac said:

UNDYING : New monster. Similar to the former human, but comes back to life if normally killed.

How did you do that in MBF21 functionality?

[jazzmaster9]

Definitely signing up for this. looking for a good challenge Community Project. this seems right up my alley

[Shawn]

I'm in. The last one was really fun to map for and I feel the new monsters will change the dynamic of this mapset.