⚫ Blocked-Out Is Compiling... ⚫

[wumbo]

13 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

@wumbo Really sorry to end this second playtest on yet another DNF. Big improvements for sure, especially at the beginning fam, but the progression still remains unclear. After obtaining both red and blue keys, hitting all their corresponding switches and killing the teleporting armada, I'm just trapped in the switch area. I can't backtrack any further nor are there any more alternative paths that have opened up. What is the player supposed to be doing beyond that point?

 

 

After you obtain the red and blue keys, you're supposed to go in that long staircase area in the second chunk of the level, after you get past the beginning. There's a room off to the side with bars that contain switches to raise the bridges to the teleporters, and the end of the map. Those bars are opened by the red and blue switches. The reason you got stuck and the playtest was a DNF is because you forgot to go back to that room with the bars and press the switch that raises the bridge to end the level. I suppose its ALSO not telegraphed correctly, and now I have to change it once more. Also, the imps in the very beginning still weren't getting crushed for whatever reason, so I'll fix that. 3rd times a charm.

Edited June 15, 2023 by wumbo

[wumbo]

Hopefully for the last time, my godawful map has been drastically improved by simple pointers as to where the player must go to make progress. I trust my map isn't as much of a mess anymore.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ec9O2zbZ5E1GNq6H2g4ytHIkFO1Xv9Jq/view?usp=drive_link

Edited June 15, 2023 by wumbo

[Biodegradable]

@wumbo Once again, you haven't addressed the MAIN issue. Everything else about the map works just fine, stop berating yourself. But again, where is the progression after both keys are collected and corresponding switches are all pressed? How is the player supposed to continue? There's nowhere to go!

 

 

 

 

[Matakrow]

20 hours ago, tonytheparrot said:

This is an update to my map:
-Fixed all texture misalignments that I found
-Added a way out of the final fight.

Also, sorry for asking it like this, but since Biodegradable couldn't beat my map, I would really appreciate if someone could give feedback on my map

tony blockedout.zip

I don't think bio could even run the map due to the immense frame drop this has on Zdoom ports.

Looking into it, I found why your map lags so hard. It's this voodoo closet right here.


You've stacked so many cell packs in this one spot that all ZDoom ports eat themselves trying to sort this all out with their collision code.

Even approaching the darn thing in udb tanked it's fps to 6!

You need to spread out your cell packs so that they can't collide with each other.
 

Spoiler

Making only the 10000+ monsters you've placed in the map harm performance...


GZDoom gives me 30 fps.

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Matacrat

[tonytheparrot]

So, I reduced the amount of cells (to 247) in that closet and spaced it into small clusters while making sure the voodoo doll can still grab them.
 

1 hour ago, Matacrat said:

I don't think bio could even run the map due to the immense frame drop this has on Zdoom ports.

About that, while he indeed couldn't run the map on Zdoom, he actually ran it normally on DSDA, but didn't beat it coz it is a type of map he said he wasn't very good at (which is fine of course, this is definitely not a map for everyone).

tony blockedout.zip

Edited June 16, 2023 by tonytheparrot

[wumbo]

10 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

@wumbo Once again, you haven't addressed the MAIN issue. Everything else about the map works just fine, stop berating yourself. But again, where is the progression after both keys are collected and corresponding switches are all pressed? How is the player supposed to continue? There's nowhere to go!

 

 

 

 

oh my god i think im stupid

 

hold on lemme make a vid to show you where i went wrong

 

[wumbo]

@Biodegradable I'm so sorry bro

 

 

I fixed everything, now the map is beatable

 

I don't advise that you play the map again because I don't want you to go through that again

 

here's the final link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ec9O2zbZ5E1GNq6H2g4ytHIkFO1Xv9Jq/view?usp=drive_link

 

p.s: ignore the random ass anime thing at the bottom right corner of my screen recorder

 

[Matakrow]

57 minutes ago, wumbo said:

I fixed everything, now the map is beatable

 

I don't advise that you play the map again because I don't want you to go through that again

err...
You forgot to shift the player start back.


And I'd really recommend you add ways out of the inescapable pits scattered around the map.
Like what you did here.


For these areas.

Spoiler

The map's not as bad as you think it is.

[wumbo]

6 hours ago, Matacrat said:

err...
You forgot to shift the player start back.

For these areas.

  Hide contents

 

The map's not as bad as you think it is.

 

OOPS

[HorseJockey]

You've got this wumbo! 

[wumbo]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ec9O2zbZ5E1GNq6H2g4ytHIkFO1Xv9Jq/view?usp=drive_link

 

OKAY FINALLY I'M DONE THANK THE LORD

LAST UPDATE WOOHOO MY MAP IS NOT THAT BAD

 

[Biodegradable]

@wumbo Yippee!

 

 

[D0M0]

Map Name: The Fax Machine
Author: D0M0
Music and Composers: "Dreams" from The Incredible Machine 2
Par Time: 11:30
Map Description: Early BFG, tight encounters and arena massacres are within this fortress. Even if it comes across as spammy, this map packs a lot of paper!

Additional Info: Recommended difficulty is UV! HMP and HNTR are implemented and make the experience quite a bit more manageable.

Screenshot: 

Download: TheFaxMachineV2.zip

 

(Just give me a heads up asap if there's anything I need to fix. I have tested the map several times but I cannot guarantee it's flawless)

Edited June 17, 2023 by D0M0
FILE IS UPDATED

[wumbo]

10 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

@wumbo Yippee!

 

 

 

Only took like 12 edits but we got there in the end!

Thanks for having infinite patience with my map across these couple of days.

[Matakrow]

On 6/15/2023 at 1:03 PM, tonytheparrot said:

Also, sorry for asking it like this, but since Biodegradable couldn't beat my map, I would really appreciate if someone could give feedback on my map

Other than the issues below the video embed, the map's pretty solid.

I'm no Sunder Muncher, but I can get by using tas just fine. Here's your playthrough video. Sorry for the wait.

My feedback would be to fix this switch's sector,


and the unlowering lift in the exit arena so people could go back and acheive uv-maxes.

[Biodegradable]

@D0M0 A real ball-buster and not the kind of thing I usually play, but I think I did all right once I figured out a couple of different strats for some of the combat scenarios. I'm not entirely sure due to my inexperience so I'll let you and @Matacrat be the judge on the finer things. It all seems to work for me and I didn't have much difficulty navigating the level progression.

 

 

[tonytheparrot]

9 hours ago, Matacrat said:

Other than the issues below the video embed, the map's pretty solid.

I'm no Sunder Muncher, but I can get by using tas just fine. Here's your playthrough video. Sorry for the wait.

Thanks for playing it! And don't worry about the wait. Nice TAS!
 

 

Here are the fixes:

tony blockedout.zip

Edited June 18, 2023 by tonytheparrot

[D0M0]

3 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

@D0M0 A real ball-buster and not the kind of thing I usually play, but I think I did all right once I figured out a couple of different strats for some of the combat scenarios. I'm not entirely sure due to my inexperience so I'll let you and @Matacrat be the judge on the finer things. It all seems to work for me and I didn't have much difficulty navigating the level progression.

 

 

 

I have watched the whole thing, sorry you had such a tough time with this map.

From what I can see and from what you have said, I think my whole idea worked pretty well in terms of getting the player to plan strategies for when it comes to the fights.

 

There were some issues that had risen when I watched your testing footage:

1) The turbo floors (which were for the pop-up revenants) were definitely something I hadn't seen an issue with up until now, so if it is possible, I can go ahead and fix those (however that also may be the problem since the monsters weren't infinitely tall).

2) I noticed during your playthrough, being dry on ammo was quite a common theme. I can add some more ammo to the map (which again won't take much effort).

3) The platform at the very end didn't have any barriers meaning you could very easily fall off and lock yourself from beating the map, so i will add barriers to prevent players from doing that (i've already fixed this issue as of writing this).

 

Other than those 3 points, the map is perfectly fine from my perspective. I can easily fix those minor issue within a short time period.

Thank you for the play test and i'm glad to see all the key major points of the map worked well!

 

Edit: I also forgot to mention about the red key fight. The arena was purposefully designed to be small, since the whole idea was to try and get the player to clear out the teleporting enemies as quickly as possible before they have to deal with the viles and cybers.

Edited June 18, 2023 by D0M0
Red Key Fight

[Matakrow]

@D0M0 Found a softlock

[Biodegradable]

@Matacrat We've passed both deadlines. Do you reckon you might give the few remaining outliers a brief extension or will you be compiling the WAD for proper release soon?

[Matakrow]

8 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

Do you reckon you might give the few remaining outliers a brief extension or will you be compiling the WAD for proper release soon?

I'll be compiling the wad for proper release.

Outliers could still submit, but the deadline this time around's going to be until I complete the project.

[HorseJockey]

Looking forward to playing the full release. Great work everyone!

[wumbo]

my god the suspense is killing me

[Matakrow]

Alright! 
Blocked-Out’s first alpha build is here!

 

This version has a lot of it’s presentation unfinished but all the map’s released so far are here. 
They all have their own help screens and map definitions filled in across all 5 mapinfo’s (help).

Now here comes a very descriptive idgames.txt...

Spoiler

===========================================================================
Advanced engine needed  : Boom
Primary purpose         : Single play / Co-op
===========================================================================
Title                   : Blocked-Out!
Filename                : blockedout.wad
Release date            : 5/1/23
Author                  : Matacrat
Email Address           : [REDACTED]
Other Files By Author   : Hamtex
Misc. Author Info       :

Description             : Conceptualized during the development of Hamtex,
                          this is a community project focused on Block-Outs for Classic Doom.

Additional Credits to...

TEXTURES:
[ Matacrat | Hamtex ]
[ Ultimate Doom Builder | Sky Base ]

SOUNDS:
[ Matacrat ]

Sprites:
[ Ultimate Doom Builder | In-Game Decorations ]
[ FreeDoom: Phase 2 | env_explosion's explosion ]

Playtesting:
[ Biodegradable ]

--------------------------------Maps--------------------------------------

[ Glikkzy            | Jovial Block Buster ]
[ Chuckles_troll     | Clean Ewers ]
[ Origamyde          | Clean Waters ]
[ DrinkyBird         | another_nukage_plant.dwd ]
[ Lizardcommando     | Toxic Sludge Power Plant ]
[ scientifikgenius   | Node Info Unknown ]
[ Moustachio         | The Secret Service ]
[ Redead-ITA         | Road to the water train! ]
[ DynamiteKaitorn    | Hydroponic Cleansing Plant ]
[ EagerBeaver        | Dancing Roaches From Planet Mercury ]
[ Sneezy McGlassFace | Omitted Reconciliation After Native Group Engagement ]
[ wumbo              | The Big Rig ]
[ phoo               | uac_mine.bsp ]
[ Matthias           | LIMAWAGTD ]
[ Bloodbath Giraffe  | Caustic Spirit ]
[ Paf                | A2 ]
[ Korni27            | Savagery of those orange walls ]
[ Silhouette 03      | The bloodworks ]
[ MFG38              | Untitled-200 ]
[ Zion               | 90 Degrees ]
[ Monsieur E         | Gateway To Infinity ]
[ russin             | Stuck in the void during autumn ]
[ PRO-RC             | Mapper's Block ]
[ HorseJockey        | Everything is Going to be Okay ]
[ Blast_Brothers     | Ochre Enigma ]
[ dashlet            | cl9_playingwithhammer_b4 ]
[ D0M0               | The Fax Machine ]
[ eater29            | Below the Cutting Room Floor ]
[ tonytheparrot      | BFG Testing Facility ]
[ Matacrat           | Credits ]

--------------------------------MUSIC--------------------------------------

-Jovial Block Buster-
["Australian"]
(Composer : Dust Hill Resident)

-Clean Ewers-
[Passport.mid]
(Composer : Passport Designs *George Stone?* )

-Clean Waters-
[(Le) Youki]
(Composer  : Richard Gotainer)
(Sequencer : MIDIs 101)

-another_nukage_plant.dwd-
[Between Levels - Doom 2]
(Composer       : Bobby Prince)

-Toxic Sludge Power Plant-
[Submerged Memory - MMZ 3]
(Composer  : Ippo Yamada)
(Sequencer : Heatman)

-Node Info Unknown-
[Kraftwerk]
(Composer   :  Die Roboter)
(Sequencer  :  ???)

-The Secret Service-
[When Hell Is Full]
(Composer  :  KCLaz)

-Road to the water train!-
[Lite -&- Dreamy]
(Composer : Passport Designs)

-Hydroponic Cleansing Plant-
[Lagunicus - Jazz Jackrabbit]
(Composer  :  Robert A. Allen)

-Dancing Roaches From Planet Mercury-
[Colour Radio - BBC Radiophonic Workshop]
(Composer     : Paddy Kingsland)
(Sequencer    : Ajoura)

-Omitted Reconciliation After Native Group Engagement-
[Metal Squad - Thunder Force IV]
(Composer    :  Toshiharu Yamanishi)
(Sequencer   :  Matze)

-The Big Rig-
[Shredded Beef]
(Composer   :  wumbo)

-uac_mine.bsp-
[Drywall - TNT MIDI Pack]
(Composer   :  Gustavo6046 & Decino)

-LIMAWAGTD-
[Track 2  - Fire Fight]
(Composer : Janusz Pelc and Michal Doniec)

-Caustic Spirit-
[Rising Heat -  Whispers of Satan]
(Composer    :  Paul Corfiatis)

-A2-
[Suspense -  Doom]
(Composer    : Bobby Prince)

-Savagery of those orange walls-
[I AM GOD]
(Composer : Kunner)

-The Bloodworks-
[Coliformication - .MID the Way id Did]
(Composer : Lippeth)

-Untitled-200-
[Europa Mining Colony - Descent]
(Composer             : Interplay)

-90 Degrees-
[Melty Molten Galaxy - Super Mario Galaxy]
(Composer   :  Mahito Yokota)
(Sequencer  :  DarkSB24)

-Gateway To Infinity-
[Under Death - Requiem]
(Composer    : Mark Klem)

-Stuck in the void during autumn-
[Industrial - Hellcore 2.0]
(Composer   : sirjuddington)

- Mapper's Block-
[subterra_remix - ???]
(Composer       : Ribbiks)

-Everything is Going to be Okay-
[Everything is Going to be Okay - Prey 2017]
(Composer  : Mick Gordon)
(Sequencer : HorseJockey)

-Ochre Enigma-
[Break Silence -  Ristar]
(Composer      :  Tomoko Sasaki)
(Sequencer     :  Don Brislan)
(Edits         :  Blast_Brothers)

-cl9_playingwithhammer_b4-
[Kremlantis -  Donkey Kong Land]
(Composer   :  David Wise)
(Sequencer  :  Jay Reichard)

-The Fax Machine-
[Dreams - The Incredible Machine 2]
(Composer   :  Tim Clarke and Christopher Stevens)

-Below the Cutting Room Floor-
[Ionian Isolation  - TNT: Revilution]
(Composer          : Tristan Clark)

-BFG Testing Facility-
[Fight To The End]
(Composer   :  Knightrider of Doom)
(Sequencer  :  ???)

-Placeholder-
[Song       -  Game]
(Composer   :  Nobody)
(Sequencer  :  Nobody)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Misc.
[ Doomkid (Pain Palette) ]

===========================================================================
* What is included *

New levels              : 15+
Sounds                  : Yes
Music                   : Yes
Graphics                : Yes
Dehacked/BEX Patch      : Yes
Demos                   : Yes  (4)
Other                   : EDF, [E,M,R,U,Z]Mapinfo, EDF, DECORATE, ZScript, ACS
Other files required    :


* Play Information *

Game                    : Doom 2
Map #                   : MAP01 - 30
Single Player           : Designed for
Cooperative 2-4 Player  : Designed for
Deathmatch 2-4 Player   : No
Other game styles       : Survival
Difficulty Settings     : Yes


* Construction *

Base                    : New from scratch
Build Time              : 4 Months (3/18/22 - 7/18/22)
Editor(s) used          : Gimp, Doomtools, Slade 3, Blender
Known Bugs              : None OR List bugs here...
May Not Run With        : Vavoom and any source port that does not support Boom.
Tested With             : GZDoom, LZDoom, ZDoom,
                          Crispy Doom, Odamex, Zandronum,
                          Zdaemon, Doom Retro, DSDA-Doom,
                          Eternity Engine 4.3.0.0, Woof


* Copyright / Permissions *

[[[ ---- Allow Adaptation and Distribution, but NOT Commercially -----  ]]]

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

You are free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
for any purpose, EXCEPT commercially. If you do so, you must give appropriate
credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You
may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the
licensor endorses you or your use. You may NOT use the material for commercial
purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may
distribute the modified material.


* Where to get the file that this text file describes *

The Usual: ftp://archives.gamers.org/pub/idgames/ and mirrors
Web sites: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/135320

 

blockedout.wad

Edited July 10, 2023 by Matacrat

[HorseJockey]

Was just looking for something to play 👍.

[wumbo]

@Matacrat, I noticed while toying around with the WAD that there is no title, intermission or cast music. Do you want to keep it that way? I could make MIDIs for those if you would like, or do you have other music in mind?

 

By the way, you did an incredible job at compiling all of the maps and giving them names and authors. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to make something of myself on this platform. :)

Edited July 10, 2023 by wumbo

[HorseJockey]

@Matacrat Up to UAC Mine so far, and I love the choices you have made for the map order. Having allot of fun playing through these as a whole package.

[Matthias]

I played the first 14 maps and here are my thoughts:

 

1) Maps 1 and 2 feel more difficult, bigger and contain more high-tier enemies than 5 and 6. Personally I would swap these if the point of the order of the maps is to make them from the easiest to the hardest.

2) The maps are very inconsistent in difficulty but also in visuals and how things (arrows, eyes, cameras etc) are used. That's kinda expected from a community project actually :) Also too late to fix it.

3) Map 12 - there are the pits with enemies. When you fall there and kill the enemies, you're softlocked. Wouldn't be teleports for enemies better? Also there is one secret that seems to be kinda pointless. Also this map is a little bit unecessary complex (for example a blue switch doesn't call the blue bridge, but it opens a switch somewhere else and you have to find it to call the bridge. Or there is this one-use teleporter before the end and so on. The author might consider to simplify it a bit.

4) I am OK with difficulty spikes, but sometimes they're a bit demotivating. For example if you are attacked by a cyberdemon or a swarm of cacoes and there is exit level switch/line nearby, there is not much reason to bother to kill them all (unless you go for 100 %). Every player just runs to hit the exit level.

5) One map contain this teleporter puzzle, but it can be easily solved using automap - the author might consider set this whole place as hidden on map. Also it's very similar to the puzzle in my Map 10 in Zones of Fear megawad, so expect a call from my lawyer for copyright violation. :D

6) Map 13 - this is probably the best map so far. This map was really "think outside of the box" style, kinda Hexenish. Contains great and creative ideas. Totally love it.

 

So that's my thoughts so far :)

 

All in all I enjoyed it a lot. I love the visuals - I know them well as I made one of the map, but playing them together feels really relaxing because of the consistent "editor look-like" style. Also I love the midis in most maps are smooth jazz :D

[HorseJockey]

Some more feedback from my playthrough so far. @Matthias (LiquidDoom) is correct about the difficulty spikes. Playing farther in and replaying through the first maps its kind of all over the place, maybe we can do some monster and item adjustments once you finalize where you want everyone's maps. Map 1 has a couple of doors that need lower unpegged, unless they are supposed to look like that. Also not a big thing but there are random greyscale sectors throughout my map, I think maybe it has something to do with the colormap but I'm not sure as I didn't set them that way.

[Glikkzy]

1 hour ago, HorseJockey said:

Map 1 has a couple of doors that need lower unpegged, unless they are supposed to look like that.

 

Surely you mean some other map than mine? My (3) doors all have a completely grey doorframe texture.