[Boom] Abduction - solo megawad, maybe [WIP - 2 maps available]

[Klear]

Quote

 

“A berserk pack, a shotgun, and a demon to kill. That’s what I need right now.”

Doomguy mused on his recent defeat of the Icon of Sin, his voice raspy even in his thoughts. After single-handedly saving Earth–again–he was ready for a long period of putting the hell down.

“And more freakin’ demons.”

Just then, a white-hot plasmatic blast punched through the hull of his truck. Klaxons flared, warning lights flashed, and static filled his monitors. He flipped on his comm.

“Hey, anybody out there? I got a little probl…” Doomguy started.

“Mayday! Mayday!” the radio replied. “Mars Observatory is under attack! There are soldiers everywhere, and they’re rounding up the demons. Is anyone there? We need help!–.” The transmission went silent.

“Great,” Doomguy grumbled as his careening truck missed a rock outcropping. “What’s the problem with all these soldiers attacking Mars anyway? How many armies have to get their asses kicked?”

Doomguy slammed his fist into the waiting brake.

“I guess one more.”

 

 

Hey everyone! I started mapping about a month ago and I got absolutely hooked. Inspired by my first map, this will be a somewhat story-driven series of maps with a focus on dumb Boom tricks, neat setpieces and hopefully some decent gameplay. I've got a bunch of ideas for maps planned out and a definitive ending in mind. I'd love to do a full 32 map wad, but that's going to take a while, so the whole thing may end up being much shorter. We'll see. I'll just keep on hacking at this until I burn out it's done.

 

So far I'm using only stock graphics. Not that I'm particularly averse to custom ones, but I like to work under constraints. I think I'll want to have some better skies later, but that can wait.

 

As for difficulty, I'm trying to err on the more difficult side, given that I'm not a particularly great Doom player. Overall it's a bit more that what I'd normally be comfortable with. That probably means medium. In any case, difficulties have been implemented.

 

For now I've got 2 maps for you. Both are very linear, since they had to be, but rest assured I'll definitely do some maps with more traditional Doom gameplay later. Both are 95% finished, except:

- More detailed lights and shadows. Since I will want to add a whole bunch of extra linedefs for this, I want to be 100% the map geometry is final before I tackle this. It's not terrible right now, but I know I can really make the maps pop if I put my mind to it.

- I haven't touched music. In fact, I don't really know which tracks play on the maps, since I have music disabled. This is something I'll look into way later.

- Difficulty balancing based on feedback, obviously

- There's always more details to add, things to improve, textures to fix...

 

Map01 - Abduction

Starting slow, simple and short. Well, until the ending, that is. Some of the outdoor areas still need some work - especially the scene seen beyond the chasm. I want to return to that place in a later map, so I'll update this one to unify the look. I'd also like to add a bit more doomcute, but for now it's fine.

 

Map02 - Bullet Train

Full speed ahead this time! This map will come later in the wad which will expect continuous play, so I've provided the shotguns and some shells at the beginning. Pistol start fans are free to leave them be. The map is quite possible to max without the extra help.

The map has a lot of moving parts, so stuff might break. I don't expect any blocks to progression, but please let me know if you come across anything weird.

I should put some more work into the appearance of the engine, but I was kinda running out of steam. More pistons, more blood, definitely way more explosions.

 

Map03 - Smugglers

I'm including my first map which inspired this as a bonus, though it's becoming clear that it's a bit too jank and not a good fit for the progression I have in mind, so it probably won't make an appearance in the finished wad. Certainly not without a major overhaul. This map is intended to be pistol-started, given that it was originally standalone. It also has some minor issues in PrBoom which I didn't care to fix at this point.

 

The important stuff:

IWAD: Doom 2

Format: Boom

Difficulty levels: Implemented

Tested with: PrBoom+, Woof, GZDoom and QuestZDoom (when playing with GZDoom, you should set it to Boom (strict) compatibility)

Freelook: Encouraged, but not required

Jump/crouch: Don't. You'll break stuff.

 

Download:

Grab it here

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

Trailer for Bullet Train:

Here

That about sums it up. Hope you enjoy!

 

Latest changes:

Spoiler

v02 -> v03:

 

MAP01

- Fixed a bug which prevented final cutscene from playing (hopefully)

- Cleaned up all voodoo closets to make sure other such bugs don't crop up

- Reworked the acid room so shooting barrels is no longer necessary to progress. Just obvious switches.

- Final room is slightly more generous with ammo

- Removed the H from the helipad at the end. Helicopters are no fun on Mars

- Pointless machine in the first building can now be switched off. Pointlessly.

- Less environmental damage in the last outdoor section

- Delayed powerup spawn so that it's more likely to be active in the final fight

- A few extra details and texture fixes

 

MAP02

- Fixed the damn toilet

- One extra window

- Minor fixes and adjustments

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Klear
Updated the wad

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 01 proved quite frustrating. I guess things have to be done in a certain order because progress becomes impossible otherwise but in any case, seems like the ending could've had a better ammo balance. Probably more health too because of all the hitscanners about. Great concept though. I loved the 

idea of traversing Mars though, and the entire concept of the base, with a shocking sense of realistic detail....mostly I suppose. And I certainly wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition at the end!

 

 

Map 02 was a weird one. I thought I'd hate it but turns out things actually turned out all right, even if I found the Imp mas with chaingunner guards to be a little needless ultimately. Secrets were either a little weird (though clever how you hid the last berserk though) or some amusing concession (the toilet of course). The scripting in the last minute or so was a little bit nuts (was it necessary to kill the Mastermind for 100 percent kills?) but excellently done!

lmd_ab01.zip

[Klear]

18 minutes ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Map 01 proved quite frustrating. I guess things have to be done in a certain order because progress becomes impossible otherwise but in any case, seems like the ending could've had a better ammo balance. Probably more health too because of all the hitscanners about. 



 

The original concept of the ending was to let you slaughter zombiemen by the dozen with the shotgun. Nothing difficult, just carnage. Then I came up with the idea of hiding a bunch of demons in destructible crates and probably overdid it with the shotgunners and turned it into utter chaos. The idea was that main source of shells should be the spawning enemies to discourage camping, but I think I should put more shells in the various crates.

 

In any case I find it difficult to gauge difficulty of fights, so it'S good to hear some feedback. I wonder if giving you blue armour at the very beginning would be enough to make the ending more forgiving...

 

Quote

(was it necessary to kill the Mastermind for 100 percent kills?)

 

She won't die to the explosions if that's what you're asking. Maybe in later versions - I''m definitely planning on adding more of them later, but guaranteeing a kill on her would need a shitton of those. She can actually snipe you just before the level ends in theory, though it never happened to me in testing. The idea is that she looks easy to ignore, but can become a threat if you linger too much. There's a stockpile of rockets on the other side of the train so there's always a way to deal with her (much easier if you save up cells), but most of the times I just ignore her.

 

Thanks for the replay! Looking forward to watching it.

[Klear]

On 3/22/2023 at 6:22 PM, LadyMistDragon said:

(snip)

 

Finally found the time to watch the replays - very useful! Some notes / questions if you don't mind:

 

Map01

- I have some ideas of how to rework the room with the acid pool. I've realised that I can't rely on player to blow up every barrel they see (am I the only one who does that?) so I'm thinking about a setup with multiple shootable switches. Should be much more transparent.

- The demo cuts off as soon as you press the exit switch. Did the hellevator ride cutscene not play for you?

 

Map02

- The walls on the scenery don't scroll during demo playback (the floors do). Do you remember if it was correct when you were playing?

- The toilet is supposed to spawn a soulsphere on the first usage, but turns out it can get blocked if you stand on it at the time. I guess I'll add a voodoo doll behind the teleport linedef to grab it for you. Good to see you took the pentagram fight like a champ afterwards. You're supposed to be at full health for that.

- I noticed you walking around the place where the berserk secret ends up spawning before the library reshuffled - I imagine you were looking at the automap at the time. Do you think I should hide the secret and the shelves that eventually come out from the map? Maybe just the shelves, to make the shuffle a bit more of a surprise...

 

Anyway, thanks again!

[LadyMistDragon]

6 hours ago, Klear said:

 

Finally found the time to watch the replays - very useful! Some notes / questions if you don't mind:

 

Map01

-

- The demo cuts off as soon as you press the exit switch. Did the hellevator ride cutscene not play for you?

 

Map02

 

-

Anyway, thanks again!

 

 

No, it didn't

 

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- The walls on the scenery don't scroll during demo playback (the floors do). Do you remember if it was correct when you were playing?

 

It most certainly was!

 

Quote

I noticed you walking around the place where the berserk secret ends up spawning before the library reshuffled - I imagine you were looking at the automap at the time. Do you think I should hide the secret and the shelves that eventually come out from the map? Maybe just the shelves, to make the shuffle a bit more of a surprise...

Oh, I mean it was showing on the map and I just assumed I had to do something else. Turns out I just had to get the key! I don't think everyone necessarily has that stuff highlighted in automap, especially when it seemed like I was seeing things! I don't think that answers your question but honestly, it's kind of dark there.

[Klear]

Updated OP with v03, mainly to fix a major bug in map01 and to no longer lock progression behind barrels that need to be shot. Various other fixes and adjustments. If you've played this already, it's probably not worth checking out the update, but I wanted to get it out of the way as I'm slowly making progress with the next map.