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

[Origamyde]

Spoiler

Version 2 : moved the chaingunners to the third monster closet area so as to avoid infighting.

 

Here's my submission for the project :

 

Map Name: Cyan Softcore

Author: Origamyde

Music: James "Jimmy" Paddock - Dragonfly

Difficulty Settings: Implemented

Ports Tested: DSDA-Doom

Description: "Where is everyone ?" wonders Doomguy as he puts down the only enemy foolish enough to go outside on the rempart today. But perhaps, the rest of those foes are lying still, waiting to ambush him...

Notes: This map took me exactly 4 days to design. Feel free to leave feedback to further enhance it !

 

 

30mc2_Origamyde_m1_v2.zip

 

Spoiler

 

[SPOILER FOR THE SECRET AREA]

Spoiler

Where to locate the secret : One of the walls in the first monster closet area can be interacted with (different color hue), revealing a switch lowering a platform right next to it. It contains an early access rocket launcher.

Edited December 10, 2022 by Origamyde

[SCF]

@dac: I'm trying out the Undying, and I noticed something odd. Every time one revives, it shows the pistol fire sprite on screen for about a frame (it's always the same sprite, even with a different weapon selected). This is in dsda-doom 0.22.4.

 

I also got one game crash that seemed to be Undying-related, but it hasn't happened again so I don't know what might've caused it. It was just two Undyings in a room, with no other corpses nearby.

 

Spoiler

 

[notTyrone]

Highly enjoyed working with the AA recourses for BluePineapple's Mapping at Warpspeed project...count me in @dac

[Thelokk]

Needed a break from a huge slaughtermap for another community project, so this happened: 

 

Name: "Tech(nicolor)base"

Mapper: thelokk

MIDI: "poc2_blank" by Psychedelic Eyeball, from Planet of Cartmans 2 

Difficulties: yes, though the map is so easy the changes are minimal

Coop and DM: yes, no Coop softlocks as the map uses no lock-ins. 

 

"A remote base, formerly used for the disposal of UAC's corrosive waste, has recently seen a new surge of demonic activity. Travel there, get rid of the demons, and shut the base down for good."

 

For this project I decided to get out of my comfort zone, and do exactly the opposite of what I usually do when I approach mapping. The result is probably the easiest map I have ever made: a brief, to the point run n' gun with minimal platforming, in which geometry and combat came before texturing. It's a very easy map even on UV, and it is so by design - some light damage floor work and platforming, but nothing compared to my usual bar. 

 

I specifically looked to JPCP's early maps for inspiration. Still not sold on AA-tex, but the sky is kinda cool. Remember to load the resources for testing - all I added is the MIDI and a quick UMAPINFO for name / skies / etc.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by Thelokk

[dac]

1 hour ago, SCF said:

@dac: I'm trying out the Undying, and I noticed something odd. Every time one revives, it shows the pistol fire sprite on screen for about a frame (it's always the same sprite, even with a different weapon selected). This is in dsda-doom 0.22.4.

 

I also got one game crash that seemed to be Undying-related, but it hasn't happened again so I don't know what might've caused it. It was just two Undyings in a room, with no other corpses nearby.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

I've been having issues of the same kind too. I'll get another updated version in a few days.

[SCF]

14 hours ago, dac said:

 

I've been having issues of the same kind too. I'll get another updated version in a few days.

 

You may have already found it, but just in case: it seems like it crashes whenever the Undying revives and doesn't have line-of-sight on the player. I don't know why that would happen, but I was able to reproduce it pretty consistently that way.

[Proxy-MIDI]

Good evening. I've made some tracks for you guys if you're interested by. I hope it will please you. ;)

MIDI Tracks.zip

[Doomy__Doom]

Re: Undying crash

 

I've recently made a self-resurrecting MBF21 plasma gunner for my own purposes that doesn't use an extra spawn and doesn't crash to my knowledge, maybe this will help: https://postimg.cc/nj7dB3cb

It can be "countered" by standing on top of the corspe, if that's not desirable then looping would need to be added to HealChase. Also has the same "wandering soul" side effect.

Edited December 7, 2022 by Doomy__Doom

[CblBOPOTKA]

Are there more slots available? If so, @dac, i wanna make liquid pinky promise.

[dac]

Just as reminder, UMAPINFO allows us to have as many maps as we want, there are no slots.

 

For good news, I think I corrected the undying bug. No real bad news other than the *I think*.

[FEDEX]

Hi @Origamyde are you sure you've incl. the wad file inside the .zip? I only see a .dbs file

[Origamyde]

I'll be checking in the afternoon this issue, thanks for telling me @FEDEX

[Proxy-MIDI]

Hello there. I've made another tracks for you. The rest will arrive the next week because I'll be pretty busy these next days. Enjoy ! I hope it will please you ! ;)

MIDI Other Tracks.zip

[Origamyde]

Sorry for the wait, but the zip file on Cyan Softcore has now been updated. Thanks for your patience !

[SCF]

I've pretty much finished my first map, but since it makes use of the Undying I'll wait until the fix before posting it.

 

@dac: One more thing about the Undying, I noticed that it can sometimes fail to gib from a rocket, even on a direct hit. I'm not sure if that's possible or something weird is going on. If I'm not mistaken, since they have 20 hp, they should gib from any attack that deals 40 or more, and it seems like the only way it's possible to take less than 40 from a direct rocket hit is if the enemy somehow took no splash damage.

 

As it is, it's a little annoying because whever it happens, you have to wait for the Undying to get back up, and you could theoretically even run out of rockets (happened to me once, after 3 non-gibs in a row).

[dac]

9 minutes ago, SCF said:

 

@dac: One more thing about the Undying, I noticed that it can sometimes fail to gib from a rocket, even on a direct hit. I'm not sure if that's possible or something weird is going on. If I'm not mistaken, since they have 20 hp, they should gib from any attack that deals 40 or more, and it seems like the only way it's possible to take less than 40 from a direct rocket hit is if the enemy somehow took no splash damage.

 

I've done a check, and it's definitely possible if you get unlucky and hit minimum rocket damage multiple times in a row since the splash damage won't hit an already dead monster. Not exactly sure how to fix it other than setting an undying 's health to 10 which would guarantee a gib on any rocket hit (and on a lucky non-berserk punch, and almost all plasma hits).

 

I've also reduced the respawn time for Undying on tests, felt 200 tics was a bit too much.

[SCF]

Ah, so the rocket impact kills it before the splash damage has a change to get applied. That explains it.

 

If I understand the doom wiki correctly, a rocket impact can do 20, 40, or more damage, and at least 41 damage is required to gib a full health Undying. If so, lowering the health to 19 would already halve the failure rate without making much of a difference otherwise.

 

For my own map, I just added a berserk at the exit as a failsafe, so you can always go back and gib the remaining enemies even if you ran out of rockets.

[Majipantsu]

Oh wow, this sounds intresting.

I think I'll go and join the fun, pinky promise ; )

[CblBOPOTKA]

.

Edited December 9, 2022 by CblBOPOTKA
night mapping stupidity

[SCF]

Played some of the maps posted so far. Note that any demos will likely be incompatible with the upcoming resource pack update.

 

General note on the arch-diabolist after fighting him in several maps: they seem much easier to deal with than regular arch-viles since you can easily avoid their attacks by moving. But there's also very little indication that you're getting targeted, so sometimes it felt like I just died out of nowhere. I'm not sure if they need changing, but at the very least, in the final map order the they should be introduced in a map that gives the player the opportunity to learn (and not one where they appear in a chaotic battle with 10 other enemies at the same time)

 

Dust Bunny v3 by @NiGHTS108

Spoiler

Pretty tough one to start out with, although it didn't help that this was my first encounter with flamethrower zombies and the arch-diabolist, so I didn't know what to expect.

 

You can wake up one of the revenants at the start and let him infight with the flamethrower zombies. Makes it a lot easier to get out of the starting area.

 

The chaingun secret seems to be broken. There's an invisible wall on the ledge blocking the player (and when you open the wall the wrong sky texture bleeds through).

 

I almost died to the cybers because the second one fired a rocket from behind the wall before I even realized there was a second one. Might be nicer to make that wall translucent (and put another warp texture on the back wall so it looks like a wormhole or something).

 

Is it not possible to get 100% kills? It would probably be fine to squish the archviles after you press the final switch.

 

I feel like the lower difficulties could be toned down a lot. I could barely tell the difference between UV and HMP, and HNTR felt more like what HMP should be.

 

Demo: NiGHTS108_30mc2_scf.zip

 

UAC Spacecraft X by @LGmaire

Spoiler

Those instantly-raising platforms are really disorienting, as you can probably tell from the demo.

 

The guardian in the little alcove on the ledge is kind of a dick move. I forgot they explode on death.

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with the visuals in the map. It's not hyper-detailed, but it looks fine to me. The textures create a consistent look and I like the panel with the scrolling text.

 

I enjoyed the combat, but the final fight seemed a little weak compared to the rest, since you can just run in circles and let everyone kill each other. It would be a lot more challenging with a regular arch-vile instead of the two diabolists.

 

Demo: 30mc2_LG2_01v1_scf.zip

This was an FDA, but only the first few attempts are worth watching, until I died to the ledge Guardian. After that I got impatient and tried to be too cute with infighting (and died a few times to the diabolist without realizing), so I stopped and used saves instead.

 

Outpost Chroma by @jazzmaster9

Spoiler

Don't have much to comment on about this one. It's exactly what I'd expect from an lower-difficulty map early on in a set like this (even if I almost died getting stuck on a lamp). Didn't notice any issues.

 

Demo: 30mc2_jazzmaster_m01_v1_scf.zip

Half the demo is me looking for the secret (I only found it after looking at the automap)

 

[SCF]

The remaining two maps:

 

Cyan Softcore by @Origamyde

Spoiler

Nice map, I love the way it looks. The only (minor) issue I found was that pair of very distant chaingunners that can see and fire at you from all across the map. In my playthrough they ended up fighting each other before I even realized they were there.

 

FDA-ish Demo: 30mc2_Origamyde_m1_v1_scf.zip

I didn't find the secret, so I went back at the end to look for it, and thought it might be down in the water...

 

Tech(nicolor) Base by @Thelokk

Spoiler

FDA Demo: 30Mc2_thelokk_v1_scf.zip

 

Pretty terrible demo unless you want to see me wander around for 10 minutes.
 

This map might've been easier if I turned my brightness up. At the start I had trouble figuring out where to go because I didn't see the corridor in the arch-diabolist room, and it took me even longer to notice the tiny ledge later on where you can cross the pit. Aside from that ledge, progression isn't really unclear, I was just too distracted evading the diabolist and hitscanners.

 

The biggest challenge is not underestimating those auto-pistol zombies. Lack of familiarity with these custom enemies made it a lot harder than it actually is.

 

You can lure the cyberdemon to a place where he can't hit you back. Although he's not in a hard place to fight anyway, so it doesn't make much of a difference.

 

I found a hidden switch, but I don't know what it actually did.

 

If the pits are inescapable, they may as well do more damage or kill you instantly (if they're not, I didn't find a way out).

 

[Scorpius]

On 12/4/2022 at 12:25 PM, SCF said:

I may have missed it somewhere in the post, but is there a limit to how many maps one person can submit?

 

Apologies if I'm wrong but I don't think this question was answered so I'll relay it. Is there a limit to submissions per person?

[dac]

 

1 hour ago, Scorpius said:

 

Apologies if I'm wrong but I don't think this question was answered so I'll relay it. Is there a limit to submissions per person?

 

I accepted multiple maps for the first 30mc, and I still accept multiple maps for this one. Just put in the map number when you submit yours.

[dac]

Also updated the resources again, this should hopefully fix the Undying issues.

[Razza]

@dac I'd like to try something for this, count me in

[Origamyde]

Took some time to fix an issue encountered by @SCF in Cyan Softcore.

[SCF]

@dac: Tried the new version, and no longer seeing any issues with the Undying. The only thing is that they can now actually be gibbed by the pistol. It messes with my map a little since the idea was that they're pestering you while you have to unlock the rocket launcher, and now they may just explode on the first shot. I'm not sure that was intended, but if not, it may be worth reducing the pistol damage (and raising its fire rate so the dps is the same).

 

Edit: After trying again, I may be mistaken. It might've been friendly fire from another Undying or an imp fireball.

 

Anyway, here's my first submission:

 

30mc2_scf_m1_v2.wad

 

Map Name: Performance Review
Author: SCF
Music: Zombie Goes Shopping by Mouldy
Difficulty Settings: Implemented
Ports Tested: dsda-doom 0.22.4
Description: UAC management are dissatisfied with your quarterly performance metrics. Can you prove your demon slaying credentials and save your job?
Notes: Intended to be a lower-difficulty early map, and a natural introduction for the Undying. I moved the shotgun back a bit after seeing the power of the buffed pistol, so don't underestimate it.

 

Screenshot:

Spoiler

 

Version history:

Spoiler

v2: Fixed a small graphical error with the fake ceiling that I noticed in the screenshot, right after posting v1

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by SCF

[philcul]

@dac Just a small question concerning the music: will non-midi music be okay, like stuff in ogg-format? As far as I know it should be the case that all ports that have mbf funcitonality also have the ability to play music in ogg-format.

Edited December 11, 2022 by AdNauseam

[Razza]

Question about the lost souls. Since they do not count towards the in-game monster count, are they still included in the 30 monster limit? I assume they are, but I just want to bring this issue to attention for clarification

[dac]

Plain lost souls are included in the limit. Lost souls from pain elementals are not included.