PUSS XXIV: Lover’s Quarrel

[Peccatum Mihzamiz]

I played through maps 1-31 on co-op and had a blast! Please watch out the VOD over here and check to see if there any changes you want to make.

@Pistoolkip played through the set on Deathmatch more than once and recorded it. Videos over here, please have a look!

One more playtest in 3,5 hours time, feel free to join in!

[myolden]

Another update! Wow! 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zgdupl7odi4oajn/Lovers_Quarrel_Resource_v18b.wad?dl=0

 

This is very close to the final release. These maps have been tested for the most part and unless someone finds some bugs the only thing left should be difficulty settings/balance changes in some of the maps. Feedback is welcome!

[Peccatum Mihzamiz]

Trailer for the project: 

 

[Keyboard_Doomer]

I really like what you did with the given theme. Some of the sprites and music choice just put a smile on your face and the bouquet in place of the fist made me be genuinely laugh.

 

A quick report after playing a few maps:

MAP03:
    - there are two player 2 starts and no player 3 starts
MAP05:
    - the door (sector 112) of the white key room can't be opened from the inside so it's possible to get stuck if you let the door close

MAP08:

    - there seem to be some misalignments in the room with the rocket launcher (thing 320): pic1, pic2

 

MAP18 and MAP30 have no coop starts.
In MAP03 and MAP06 the items counting towards the items percentage are not marked as deathmatch/multiplayer only so it's impossible to get 100% items and I suspect that might be an issue in many other maps.
 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Keyboard_Doomer

[Qeswic]

Thanks for the heads-up Keyboard_Doomer, it's been fixed.

[Peccatum Mihzamiz]

Napsalm played through a lot of the maps (again). Have a look over here.
King Know-Nothing played through the first fews maps, have a look over here.

 

We've released RC1. Please go to the release thread over here: 

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Peccatum Mihzamiz
Added RC1 link

[Caleb13]

Nice work as usual, I'm still amazed how some of these community projects produce mapsets that are so visually consistent. Only the new cyberdemon corpse felt off, it's the creepiest thing I've seen in a mod in months. I played on UV in GZdoom 4.10.0 and I noticed some problems:

 

MAP07: one imp is stuck behind angels painting in the small red key room.

 

MAP17: sectors 766 and 767 shouldn't be secret.

 

MAP20: 21 monsters in sectors 858, 865 and 872 never became active, so you can get 100% kills. Linedef 4665 should be impassable.

 

MAP21: the only way to reach the BFG secret is archvile jump?

 

MAP24: 34 monsters in sectors 1163, 1179, 1187 and 1217 couldn't teleport out, because there is no trigger tagged 18. Some of them hadn't even became active. Linedefs 4217, 7886 and 7913 shouldn't have teleport action, this apparenly also affects equivalent linedefs in the multiplayer area.

 

MAP26: sectors 171 and 263 can't be found in single player and thus shouldn't be secret. Also, secret sector 607 is so small it can't be "found" reliably in Gzdoom.

 

In GZdoom, another visual problem concerns firesticks. Their colors don't match with GZdoom's dynamic lights, so the new pink firesticks actually emit green light. Similarly, barons fire pink fireballs, but they glow green. One tree type emits light although it shouldn't. I know GZdoom isn't the intended port, but it looks weird.

 

And... who the hell designed the "improved" HUD? Red numerals on red background? Really? After 25+ years of mainstream GUI use, I'd expect people would be familiar with at least the basic tenets of its design. Namely that good contrast is needed for fast and reliable readability and reduced eye strain. But apparently, they still don't. Needless to say, the HUD was the first thing I deleted from the WAD...

Edited March 4, 2023 by Caleb13

[Peccatum Mihzamiz]

Hi there @Caleb13,

Thank you for the feedback! I've relayed it to the mappers! A few questions:

-MAP07, do you mean that the imp is not moving and attacking, or just that it is behind that painting shooting at you and that the player can never see it?

-MAP21, as far as I know that is indeed the only way to reach it. I did test it and actually got it myself and I'm not the world's best at archvile jumps, so I didn't ask the mapper to change it.
-MAP26 @horselessheadsman Please have a look.
-The final release will indeed hopefully include corrected glowy things for Z based ports and the like.
-This is the first response we've gotten on the HUD. If we hear more we might change it but I don't that's going to happen. We really like it and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive on it. Also: I don't recall anybody having suggested that this HUD 'improves' anything. Your snide remark and disdain are unnecessary I would say.

[Blexor]

14 hours ago, Caleb13 said:

MAP21: the only way to reach the BFG secret is archvile jump?

 

Yes, and that's not an oversight: It is intentional. I understand that the player might kill the archvile before they realize this, but that's the same for all archvile-jump secrets, now isn't it? Maybe you'd argue those kinds of secrets are pretty cheeky, but I'd argue that the secret itself is pretty cheeky, since it gives you a BFG and all. At the end of the day, if you just wanna say "f that" and idclip up there, then you have my blessing to do so. Besides, I can't exactly stop you.

 

Also, I don't mean to stir the pot on this matter, but I figured I'd offer my opinion about the HUD: Basically, I thought it was fine. I suppose the health and ammo counters are just red on red, but the numbers are of a much warmer tone than the background which I feel offers adequate contrast. Having an outline and a shadow on them helps a lot, too. During my playthrough, I can't recall having any issues in regards to readability. I don't exactly have the eyesight of Legolas, either, so if I can get through the entire wad without any HUD-related eye strain, then I think the design is probably okay.

[Caleb13]

@Peccatum Mihzamiz

-MAP07: I didn't noclip behind the painting, but it seemed the imp was stuck. It couldn't shoot, but scratched me when I got too near.

 

-The HUD: well, it's hardly the first mod that made such mistake. Even high-profile ones like Stronghold On the Edge of Chaos suffer from that. Just because nobody complains doesn't mean it's a good choice. Nobody else reported certain bugs, either.