Imps on a Train (Doom 2)

[Sinnesloeschen]

 

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"I have had it with these motherloving Imps on this playerhatin' Train!"

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** Final "Before your Feedback" Version **

 

Format: Boom: Doom 2 (Doom Format)

Playstyle: Singleplayer Pistol Start

 

Playtime: ~ 15 Minutes

 

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Recommended Setup:

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GZDoom with Dynamic Lighting ON (Should be ok without it except for one slightly darker area and a fairly flat sector lighting)

 

Jumping and Crouching: Not supported, but also shouldn't break anything. Freelook recommended.

 

Port Compatibility: Only GZDoom tested so far

 

Mod Compatibility: None tested - Any mod that alters the behaviour of Barrels, Enemies and other Items may cause issues

===========================================================================
* Play Information *

Game                          : DOOM2
Map #                         : Map01
Single Player                : Designed for
Cooperative 2-4 Player  : Yes (Well, there are 4 player starts - But the map isn't designed for it)
Deathmatch 2-4 Player : No
Other game styles        : No
Difficulty Settings         : Yes

Music                          : Sam Swain - "Revenge Of The 90's Theme"

==========================================================================

 

This map offers:

 

- Being on a Train

- Imps

- Explosions

- Shooting Demons

- Vending Machines

- Shooting Nazis

- Secrets

- Banging music

 

It also features:

 

- Fake Dynamic Lighting

- Fake Room over Room

- "Scripting"

- Terrain parallax scrolling

 

Known Issues:

 

- 100% Kills should be possible, but due to some slightly excessive scripting in open areas some cacodemons may end up getting pushed off the train

- May require a more beefy machine to maintain FPS

 

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DOWNLOAD:

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impsonatrainfinal.zip

 

 

Spoiler

Older Versions:

https://doomshack.org/uploads/impsonatrain002.zip

https://doomshack.org/uploads/impsonatrain001x.zip

impsonatrain006.zip

impsonatraindemo.zip

 

 

 

 

Since i want people to actually have a good time: I advise using the laptop in the first room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

=====================================================================================

Notes:

=====================================================================================

 

This is the final version - Sans your allways fantastic feedback and some potential bugfixing/smoothing.

 

Port compatibility and gameplay refinements are the two things that most likely need some work.

Infact i am not sure if this will even run with anything but GZDoom at the moment.

 

======================================================================================

 

Additional Credits to:

 

- Sam Swains banging Midi "Revenge of the 90s Theme" found in "DoomKids Updated MIDI Pack"

 

- Doomworld.coms helpful mapping freaks

Edited May 13, 2023 by Sinnesloeschen

[fai1025]

I know you trying to make people play on GZDoom but perhaps make a Boom version? the map did run on PrBoom+ but there's some texture error and complete lack of light. 

I like visuals, very grey (my favourite colour), and some lovely little details.

Maybe add little more monster variaty, not just imps and Revenent, maybe some hell knight or pinkies will helps.

 

just me but, some stimpack place around the map would help too :)

[Sinnesloeschen]

Thanks for the feedback. :)

 

I didn't really realize that this map more or less completely depends on (GZDooms) dynamic lighting - Unfortunately without it the effect just doesn't work at all. I will add that to the info in the op.

 

Dynamic lighting might also be a a somewhat decisive factor for some (Maybe? Not sure) - But it is necessary for the gimmick to work.

[netcurse2000]

 

[Sinnesloeschen]

53 minutes ago, netcurse2000 said:

Video

 

That was an interesting watch, both for technical aspects and gameplay, thanks for making that video! :)

 

Did you play on GZDoom without "Dynamic Lighting" and a "Sector Light" setting other than "Dark" or "Doom"?

 

What i can allready tell is that i probably need to find a way to make the "ideal setup" more "wide", with dynamic lighting being more of a bonus instead of the baseline requirement. Which may be a nightmare lol.

 

It's good to see that the basic gameplay progression works though, all the triggers fired as they should.

[Sinnesloeschen]

May have figured something out, should now play nicer on non-GZDoom ports.

[houston]

- What's the deal with the green buttons underneath the sliding wall panels? I kind of assumed one of them was the way to get the chainsaw, but even with freelook on I couldn't trigger the button itself. I'm using GZDoom too, so it would be weird if I were running into some kind of engine bug. Maybe it has to do with my compat settings?

- You say jumping isn't supported, but the reward from the laptop secret in the first room doesn't seem to be quite reachable without it. Is there another way? There's a super shotgun in the next room, so that particular part isn't a massive playability issue.

- I'm still struggling to beat Doom 2 in itself, but I beat this map just fine in Ultraviolence personally so I don't think you have to worry about the difficulty. That revenant spam was truly formiddable, but as small as that room was, it was fun weaving around the geometry to dodge their attacks. Nice balance of tension, and space to work with I think.

- The barrel buttons were fun, you should work some more of that in.

- I realise this is an Alpha, but it felt a bit quiet. Looking forward to seeing what song you choose to put in.

 

First time trying to give feedback on a WAD, I really haven't played any of these things before. Was fun overall, and that nazi vending machine was truly endearing

Edited April 23, 2023 by houston

[Sinnesloeschen]

Thanks for the feedback. :)

 

2 hours ago, houston said:

- What's the deal with the green buttons underneath the sliding wall panels? I kind of assumed one of them was the way to get the chainsaw, but even with freelook on I couldn't trigger the button itself. I'm using GZDoom too, so it would be weird if I were running into some kind of engine bug. Maybe it has to do with my compat settings? 

 

- There are two sliding wall panels (/Grates) with a green button underneath them, both should make nearby secrets accessible (You can see in the video by netcurse2000 the first one does indeed lower the crate with the chainsaw). Those are just simple switches though, so i'm not sure what could screw them up. Can you provide a screenshot or some more details of your settings? This is being made using GZDoom as baseline.

 

2 hours ago, houston said:

- You say jumping isn't supported, but the reward from the laptop secret in the first room doesn't seem to be quite reachable without it. Is there another way? There's a super shotgun in the next room, so that particular part isn't a massive playability issue. 

 

- It should definetely be possible to get the secret SSG without jumping, you have to finickle a bit over the laptop and the side of the couch. ^^

 

2 hours ago, houston said:

- I'm still struggling to beat Doom 2 in itself, but I beat this map just fine in Ultraviolence personally so I don't think you have to worry about the difficulty. That revenant spam was truly formiddable, but as small as that room was, it was fun weaving around the geometry to dodge their attacks. Nice balance of tension, and space to work with I think.

 

- Cool, allways good to get feedback on difficulty as that is such an insanely wide playing field. Since i also didn't die on UV i'm afraid i have to crank that up more. =D

 

2 hours ago, houston said:

- The barrel buttons were fun, you should work some more of that in. 

- I realise this is an Alpha, but it felt a bit quiet. Looking forward to seeing what song you choose to put in.

 

- Definetely putting in more stuff like that, and music too (Didn't realize there was no music at all lol, have it turned off to not hear MAP01s first ten seconds over and over during testing)

 

2 hours ago, houston said:

 nazi vending machine

 

There's gotta be a better way to phrase this lol. ;p

[Delisk]

I love a map with a lot of small secret.

 

 

Everything seem to work fine on my end, well except the lack of music.

 

I did notice a missing texture here

Spoiler

 

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Delisk

[Sinnesloeschen]

Dang hehe. Thanks for recording that video. :)

 

Looked like everything worked perfectly indeed, just still a bit too dark without Dynamic Lighting.

 

If you like small secrets like that there is going to be a whole bunch more of them in the final thing.

 

Also the ride might get a little...bloody, mhmmmwahaha. Eh, sorry about that;

Spoiler

 

[Aeddes666]

Hello.
Good map, fast, with secrets that combine with area.
Dark (i like dark maps), maybe a few dynamic lights here and there.

Some misaligned textures.
One missing texture near last switch.
"Nazi" machine is cool.
I liked the traps/explosions.

Tested with GZDoom, Dark sectors, UV.

 

Here's a video https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kHuVmRQc7DDL3xLYClMPK5kRk2khT4sR/view?usp=sharing

 

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Aeddes666

[Doomer_David]

This is a cool wad about imps on a train and revenants i also found a bug on a door

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Doomer_David

[Sinnesloeschen]

Thanks for testing. :)

 

I can see lighting becoming a nightmare lol.

 

You can see how it is supposed to look like with Dynamic Lighting turned on in GZDoom with the Screenshots in my original post at the top. Those are taken directly from my game.

 

The lights that did show up in Aeddes666s video were placed on an elevated platform instead of outside the level geometry, all the ones outside the level geometry seemed to have produced nasty white lines on their end. So some setting with how Dynamic Lighting is being handled in the same port is different between us. Great lol. That's going to be a b**ch to streamline.

 

EDIT:

 

First off, i had my in-game gamma turned on a bit, sooooo....yeah.....ahum.

 

Second: "Light Shadowmaps" needs to be turned off ("No") in the Dynamic Lighting settings, then the lighting works as intended (Will be added to the OP).

 

Thanks again for helping me figure things out.

Edited April 23, 2023 by Sinnesloeschen

[Sinnesloeschen]

Updated it with improved lighting and clear instructions for Dynamic Lighting to work - May not be a nightmare after all, let's see. ;)

 

All that feedback was really helpful, so there is also a new wagon added to the train. A bloody one. ^^

 

Edit: Fixed Item placement.

Edited April 23, 2023 by Sinnesloeschen

[Sinnesloeschen]

Added some appropriate music. ;)

 

Shoutout to Doomkid and his MIDI talent (Or Sam Swain in this case, credits in the OP)

[RastaManGames]

Quite interesting map with rare concept of moving machinery in a way of train.

You created nice "script" sequences using Boom map format with its trusty shenanigans.

 

Visually, there was some variety and beside futuristic grey corridors there was coupes, restaurant, nukage factory and control hall.

Some parts were with strangely aligned textures, so it still might get some work. Maybe it is classic encounter of need for both "Unpegged" flags, I am not that sure about technical part.

 

As for secrets, part of them (I am talking about red crosses) can be used just as nice terminals like it was made in MAP01 of "AUGER;ZENITH", since they are too easy to find as something very hidden.

These vending machines was strange, but kinda funny, I guess. In my case there was horrible screams every time 

 

For the battle part, I guess that there was overused Chaingunners in wagon-restaraunt.

As for other places, there was a bit of variety here & there, so encounters wasn't very identical.

 

In the end, I just want to see a few more wagons, since this map is feeling kinda short (as for me).

Overall it is not bad, but some places can be improved visually to be more polished.

 

 

[Sinnesloeschen]

5 hours ago, RastaManGames said:

[Detailed Feedback]

 

That was some detailed feedback, thanks a bunch! :)

 

The final map will have a bunch more wagons/compartments with silly doom contraptions. The vending machines are supposed to not only scream but give you either a shotgun or an ammo clip (You may have to push up against them a bit to actually collect those).

 

I noticed a few things in your video. You had the same (Dynamic) lighting issues as a previous player - Are "Light Shadowmaps" turned on in the Dynamic Lighting settings on your end? That was the issue last time - Light sources placed outside the map cause this effect if "Light Shadowmaps" isn't turned off (Allthough that seems to be the default judging by the videos i have seen so far, so i might just change some things around and place the dang lights inside the map to make it work).

 

But a bit concerning, it seemed a whole bunch of triggers didn't fire for you - All the ones that would have spawned barrels/explosions (Like the suicide booth in the nuke/radioactive room and all of the explosions used for ambient effect) and maybe even some additonal encounter ones (With the err, ahum...russian solders it was a bit hard to tell, but i think a hellknight didn't show up - Or was that car that showed up after hitting the switch to open up the second wagon a hellknight?).

Did you play on HMP or UV?

 

Thanks again for the vid, gonna have to work more on the mechanical part it seems. And i gotta update my GZDoom, maybe that solves the explosion mystery. ^^

 

EDIT: Now i'm on the latest version of GZDoom (4.10.0) and all scripts worked - So either some settings between us are different or you had a mod on that changed how barrels work.

Edited April 25, 2023 by Sinnesloeschen

[RastaManGames]

@Sinnesloeschen Yeah... This gameplay mod changed barrel's behavior.

Sometimes mods do that and Vanilla MAP23 is becoming a real obstacle to deal with.

[Sinnesloeschen]

41 minutes ago, RastaManGames said:

@Sinnesloeschen Yeah... This gameplay mod changed barrel's behavior.

Sometimes mods do that and Vanilla MAP23 is becoming a real obstacle to deal with.

 

Ahhh, that's a relief lol. Thanks for the reply.

 

I will keep in mind to mention the things that might cause conflicts with mods when i will update this to a proper beta.

[Sinnesloeschen]

- fixed dynamic lighting ("It just works" (tm))

- tidied up the first two wagons/compartments

- added an optional kitchen fight (The layout will make more sense in the final map lol)

 

As all the technicalities shooouuuld now be ironed out i moved this forward to a demo. A small scale representation of what to expect in the full map with (Almost) all of the bells and whistles.

 

Feedback is of course still highly welcome but i'm being less shouty about it in the title. ;)

Edited April 27, 2023 by Sinnesloeschen

[Doomer_David]

I played the WAD with a SC-55 Soundfont that i downloaded today and DANM IT'S FIRE!

Also i got the 100%

[TheDanMarine]

impstrainrecord.zip

didn't get all the secrets, did play on UV. 

 

this map's sense of place and aesthetics choices are fantastic, the changes between wooden train cabins and scientific labs keep the visuals from becoming boring, and the little detailing everywhere makes this map sing. there's even consideration about where pickups would make the most sense if really placed in the world; the most obvious examples being the health drinks used to decorate the SS' tables and the medikits put in places where actual emergency medkits would be on a train.

 

I have one complaint about the vending machines though I don't know if it's fixable, it would be a lot clearer for fist time players and a lot more vending machine-like if they spit the items out at the bottom. I actually didn't know what they were until after I ran over one by accident and picked up a shotgun. 

 

PS: I didn't catch it on this demo recording, but my first time on HMP I ran out the SS room and the archvile followed me into the teleporting sector and I was able to use it to avoid his fire attack. don't think that was intended :P

[Sinnesloeschen]

Thanks for the feedback guys. :)

 

28 minutes ago, TheDanMarine said:

I have one complaint about the vending machines though I don't know if it's fixable, it would be a lot clearer for fist time players and a lot more vending machine-like if they spit the items out at the bottom. I actually didn't know what they were until after I ran over one by accident and picked up a shotgun. 

 

PS: I didn't catch it on this demo recording, but my first time on HMP I ran out the SS room and the archvile followed me into the teleporting sector and I was able to use it to avoid his fire attack. don't think that was intended :P

 

I love the idea to spit out the weapon or an item, i don't think that is possible in the boom format though. But you gave me a different idea on how to improve this with "voodoo dolls".

 

When the archvile followed you, did that happen on the way to the kitchen "layer"? Because i did miss a "block monsters" line there. :s

[TheDanMarine]

if that's the staircase heading down right after where the archvile comes in to the nazi dinner party then yes, that was it. 

[Sinnesloeschen]

4 hours ago, TheDanMarine said:

if that's the staircase heading down right after where the archvile comes in to the nazi dinner party then yes, that was it. 

 

Errrr, now i'm confused lol. The staircase/entrances towards the exit (With the optional entrance to the kitchen) have missing monster-blocking lines making it possible for them to follow you over "teleporting" linedefs. Otherwise this is some archvile-specific shenanigans, because you should never even be able to see monsters when crossing a "teleport" line for "room over room" stuff.

 

Also, a vending machine that spits out stuff is totally possible in Boom, i was being a moron. ^_^ They just need some space, so i will fit some of those in where i can, thanks again for jogging up my brain here.

[Sinnesloeschen]

Bump for the "Final before your guys fantastic feedback"...Version. :p

 

- Added the rest of the map (The demo was about 30-40% of the full thing)

- Reworked vending machines

- Slightly reworked terrain scrolling

- Mopped and tidied up the earlier areas

 

For the record, yes there is a cyberdemon fight, and yes, the train does explode at the end - Sort of.

The map also starts to take a frightingly long time to save in UDB now and my FPS start to drop a tad at the end.

 

UDB Stats:

[CheriSock]

This map was really cool looking and fun for the first half, but there was too much enemy spam in the second half

[Sinnesloeschen]

On 5/30/2023 at 6:20 AM, CheriSock said:

This map was really cool looking and fun for the first half, but there was too much enemy spam in the second half

 

Yeeah, that's a good point. Thanks for the feedback :)

 

I should've probably turned down the number of monsters being thrown onto the train.