TOXICITY *UPDATED v1.1* - A Vanilla SLIME BASE exploration map!

[LVENdead]

 

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DOWNLOAD: (v1.1) TOXICITYv1.1.zip  (Google Drive)

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Hi everyone! 

 

I'm finally back with a new map, and it's everyone's FAVORITE aesthetic:

 

SLIME BASE

 

Woah slow down there and try to contain your excitement! This is a medium challenge map with about 220 monsters on UV and an expected playtime of 20-30 minutes depending on how much you explore or die. It takes place in a fairly large and open area, but it's structured so that you are still guided along an intended path, and it's your choice to explore off that path or not. I have never made a map in Vanilla before so I wanted to try and challenge myself while constraining the plethora of options you get when you when you bump up to Boom or UDMF. I made what I think is a visually interesting and sometimes intricate map that sticks within the visplane limit. I also tried to play around with various combat ideas - it leans very heavily on incidental combat but fights still have thoughtful setups, and there are also still setpieces and interesting events.

 

I started this map on my tiny Lenovo 14" laptop while I was on vacation and what was supposed to be a "quick" map turned into this because I have no idea how to be concise and apparently I'm not about to start anytime soon. It ended up taking about 2 weeks off and on.

 

Please let me know if you run into any bugs or if you have any other thoughts on it! I hope you enjoy!

 

Playtesting Thanks:

@thelamp and @Maribo

 

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SCREENSHOTS (captured in GZDoom...it will look best if you play it in Crispy or DSDA)

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PERTINENT INFO:

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FORMAT: Vanilla

SOURCE PORTS TESTED: Crispy, DSDA, GZDoom (feel free to leave feedback on any other source ports you try)

IWAD: DOOM2.WAD

REPLACES: MAP01

GAMEPLAY: A fun exploration through a slime base with some tight combat  

ESTIMATED PLAY TIME: 30 minutes

ADVANCED MOVEMENT: Nothing disabled but don't jump or crouch. Freelook will probably make the map way easier.

DIFFICULTY: All difficulties are implemented but I haven't really tested them

CREATION TIME: Two weeks

 

UPDATES:

-Updated to v1.1 - tweaked some resources in the middle on UV, tweaked a couple of fights, improved some signposting

Edited May 3, 2023 by LVENdead

[LVENdead]

3 hours ago, TheDuckXD said:

I am very sorry I can't send screenshots. Tried to but they all came out just showing Doom 2's main menu screen, was using Chocolate Doom. Found some tutti frutti but I only saw it in the beginning area. Had issues with ammo and health which sadly made it really not that fun to play. On the bright side the map looks really good. 

 

Thanks for playing!

 

UV is balanced around forcing you to make choices, and you definitely can't shoot indiscriminately. It's also not super tolerant of mistakes but I tried to add what I felt was a "fair" amount of health for recovery. I guess that is debatable so far!

 

I did balance HMP and HNTR more for players who might want a less constraining gameplay experience, so if you feel up for it you might give one of those a try. More health and ammo in most cases in both, as well as monsters adjustments. HNTR excludes your buddies at the beginning completely so you can take more of your time exploring if that's your thing.

 

Cheers!

Edited April 30, 2023 by LVENdead

[Bri0che]

I absolutely catch the inspirations and references to "MAP24: The Chasm" of Doom II and this only by the chosen theme and the screenshots :)

Believe it or not, this is my favorite map ever from Sandy Petersen, so count on me I'll play this. I will post a review/video soon, surely !

[Fly In The Lotion]

I love slime! Can't wait to try it!

[Razza]

Very nice stuff here, loved how freely I could move around the map. Did find a couple missing textures on the way to the switch that lowers the big slime arena

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

[LVENdead]

13 hours ago, Bri0che said:

I absolutely catch the inspirations and references to "MAP24: The Chasm" of Doom II and this only by the chosen theme and the screenshots :)

Believe it or not, this is my favorite map ever from Sandy Petersen, so count on me I'll play this. I will post a review/video soon, surely !

 

Yep definitely channeled from vibes from The Chasm, which is basically my favorite Doom 2 map at this point. Hope the map is fun for you!

 

11 hours ago, Razza said:

Very nice stuff here, loved how freely I could move around the map. Did find a couple missing textures on the way to the switch that lowers the big slime arena

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for pointing out those missing textures. I must have accidentally changed the height of that sector at some point without noticing it, because Maribo noticed a missing texture on a different edge during testing and somehow I just didn't catch the rest of them. Glad you liked the map!

 

[Bri0che]

Again my horrible gameplay strike, but, hey, I managed to finish this wonderful map. Must I say I was not disappointed at all !

 

Spoiler

Or maybe just a little bit about the slaughter fight at the end because… Well, because I am not good at those kind of things, but it is all right he was satisfying to win :)

 

I am surprised about how good as a player the navigation is considering the complexity of the map, you gave good paths to freely explore, and gave good ways back to the initial route ; the level design in every aspect is perfect for this !

 

Useless to say I loved the map :D

 

About bugs, Razza already pointed out the missing texture.

I also notified an imp that is glitched and won't move, probably because the sector is too tight or low (you can see it at 13:40 in my video) :

 

 

[Soulless]

Cool slimey map, I dig the visuals a lot. The only thing that bugged me was the textures used (TEKWALL4) for elevator, after some exploration

and secret hunting I got really lost and couldnt find the exit again, but just because I forgot the floor raised and could use it as an elevator,

a minor thing I guess. I did find a HOM on the big fight area in some stairs at the start I believe.

Also 1 monster was missing after finding every secret, so not sure about it, I should have use IDDT to locate it, but totally forgot.

Its a very enjoyable map as usual, good times!

Edited April 30, 2023 by Soulless

[LVENdead]

@Bri0che thanks for the vid. Great playthrough! It seems like you really only struggled with the last fight. I'm glad the map progression is easy to pick up on - that's always a risk with more open maps. I think I can probably tweak some teleporters to help restore progress lost to falling off in a few later areas but other than that it seems like I achieved what I set out for. Thanks for the observation about the imp, I definitely need to fix that.

 

6 hours ago, Soulless said:

Cool slimey map, I dig the visuals a lot. The only thing that bugged me was the textures used (TEKWALL4) for elevator, after some exploration

and secret hunting I got really lost and couldnt find the exit again, but just because I forgot the floor raised and could use it as an elevator,

a minor thing I guess. I did find a HOM on the big fight area in some stairs at the start I believe.

Also 1 monster was missing after finding every secret, so not sure about it, I should have use IDDT to locate it, but totally forgot.

Its a very enjoyable map as usual, good times!

 

Good point about the elevator (I'm assuming you're talking about the giant "freight elevator" near the end). I should probably just make it lower via a switch so it's obvious if you have to come back.

 

Thanks for playing!

[thelamp]

Thanks for the shoutout! Great map! Ammo starve beginning and a big monster bash at the end, my kinda map :)

[LVENdead]

Update time!

 

Version 1.1 is now available. I made some tweaks to it - mostly dialed back some resources in the middle of the map a tiny bit on UV, made some of the "checkpoint" teleporters a bit more obvious (hopefully) and altered a couple of fights a little bit.

 

Link is here: TOXICITYv1.1.zip

[xavrua]

Crazy how I stumbled upon your channel the other day and here you are with a new updated map! Video inbound soon.

[Clippy]

Excellent map bud glad I could catch you for vid. Fun hanging out and fun map hope more ppl check it out! 

 

 

 

[SpaceCatCommander]

The toxicity of our city, of our city

[Anarkzie]

What's the name of the midi, it's really good?

 

I have to say you use Barons really well. The fact that you don't have the first power to take them down at the start means that you're prioritising other enemies but also having to  keep your eye on them as you carefully make your way around the hurt floor.

Edited May 5, 2023 by Anarkzie

[LVENdead]

@Clippy always a pleasure my friend, thanks for having me along for your playthrough!

 

6 hours ago, SpaceCatCommander said:

The toxicity of our city, of our city

 

My next map is called "How do you own disorder??"

 

38 minutes ago, Anarkzie said:

What's the name of the midi, it's really good?

 

I have to say you use Barons really well. The fact that you don't have the first power to take them down at the start means that you're prioritising other enemies but also having to  keep your eye on them as you carefully make your way around the hurt floor.

 

The midi is Water World from Duke Nukem 3d. Sometimes it fits really well with Doom :)

 

I think the Baron is a great monster to route the player out from a safe spot. They almost become merely inconvenient bullet sponges in Doom 2 once the player has the SSG so I like taking advantage of your helplessness with only the regular SG and limited ammo at the beginning of the map to make the Barons feel more powerful and the action more kinetic. I'm starting to like them more than Hell Knights...

[Doomkid]

I really enjoyed you're level hear "LIME BASE", Living Dead. I died number of times, but in the end I found myself having played a Doom level that was both good to look at, enjoyable, fun, and, most, importantly, FUN!

 

Seriously, do more like this. It was damn well built, and I think a short episode with design concepts similar to this could be badass.

[WorldMachine]

42 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

I really enjoyed you're level hear "LIME BASE", Living Dead. I died number of times, but in the end I found myself having played a Doom level that was both good to look at, enjoyable, fun, and, most, importantly, FUN!

 

Seriously, do more like this. It was damn well built, and I think a short episode with design concepts similar to this could be badass.

Agreed, recently played this one myself and got one handed to me, but I persevered! It's not often you find a map that fits into all the right categories!

[Delisk]

Nice classic map

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Not bad, not bad! Good to see you still in the game! Played with Crispy Doom.

 

 

 

[Kyka]

I loved this map. Good ammo and difficulty levels. Fun to explore. Interesting layouts. Good stuff.

[Insaneprophet]

Just echoing everything already stated. Nice use of enemies and ammo starvation even though plenty is supplied. Good progression pathing with cool exploratory areas. Sweet visuals and fun setpiece. Everything anyone could want in a map 😃 Im going to have to make a point of going back and replaying or searching out you past catalogue.

[LVENdead]

Wow lots of nice comments and videos to pour through this weekend!

 

@Doomkid thanks so much for playing. I won't lie, the thought did cross my mind to make a short vanilla episode, we'll see. I want to finish my Boom project first...

 

@Delisk fun video, the Doom Eternal mod you're using looks like it makes for some fun really aggressive gameplay.

 

@LadyMistDragon glad to see you check this one out! I remember you saying my previous map was really tough, I purposely tried to make this one a lot more accessible. I don't only want to be known for making stupidly hard maps or anything.

 

@WorldMachine @Kyka thanks so much for checking out the map and your comments :)

 

@Insaneprophet I have links to all my previous maps in my profile about me section if you want to look at others!

[Insaneprophet]

Was thinking of adding this as an edit to my last post but was unsure if that would set off a notification for you or not. So anywho, Ive gone through all of your maps now. IMPRESSIVE STUFF!! I had already worked on Old Lords and its still kicking my ass, maybe one day i beat it. Dadelous is one hell of a ride, Im currently saved in a real bad spot in the ending but im confident ill figure my way through it today. The rest of them are all completed and there isnt a dud in the lot. Im reluctant to try to pick a "best" or "favorite" because they all seem to offer something different and have unique enviroments and gameplays. The... ?mappersmanship? is of the highest quality, i wouldnt hessitate to say of a professional lvl, showing off imaginative layouts, detailed texturework, well thoughtout combat mechanics as well as intelligent use of atmosphere all while creating something interesting and new each and every level. I expected as much just from watching your playthroughs and critiques on your youtube channel and having already played Old Lords but having collected them all together and played them back to back i find myself easily adding a Lvndead folder into my favorites file and will look forward to any maps you make in the future. Thank you for making these, you may now go back to your regularly scheduled life. 

[LVENdead]

1 hour ago, Insaneprophet said:

Was thinking of adding this as an edit to my last post but was unsure if that would set off a notification for you or not. So anywho, Ive gone through all of your maps now. IMPRESSIVE STUFF!! I had already worked on Old Lords and its still kicking my ass, maybe one day i beat it. Dadelous is one hell of a ride, Im currently saved in a real bad spot in the ending but im confident ill figure my way through it today. The rest of them are all completed and there isnt a dud in the lot. Im reluctant to try to pick a "best" or "favorite" because they all seem to offer something different and have unique enviroments and gameplays. The... ?mappersmanship? is of the highest quality, i wouldnt hessitate to say of a professional lvl, showing off imaginative layouts, detailed texturework, well thoughtout combat mechanics as well as intelligent use of atmosphere all while creating something interesting and new each and every level. I expected as much just from watching your playthroughs and critiques on your youtube channel and having already played Old Lords but having collected them all together and played them back to back i find myself easily adding a Lvndead folder into my favorites file and will look forward to any maps you make in the future. Thank you for making these, you may now go back to your regularly scheduled life. 

 

Thank you so much for the kind words!! I know Old Lords and Daedalus are probably my hardest two maps (Daedalus moreso because of the huge spike in difficulty in the second half if you're not used to slaughter) so I wanted to go for something way more accessible with this one. I have more maps to come...hopefully soon. Working on a more ambitious Boom project and right now my aim is to release "episode 1" which is the first 3 maps for feedback and testing.

 

Also, what if I don't want to go back to my regularly scheduled life?? It's boring and they make me go to work. I'd rather stay on Doomworld where people occasionally flatter me X'D

[Insaneprophet]

22 hours ago, LVENdead said:

 I know Old Lords and Daedalus are probably my hardest two maps 

 After writing out that unashamedly fanboyish compliment of your maps yesterday, I sat down and worked my way out of the jam Id gotten myself into on Daedalus. Then this morning I took my time and systimatically dismantled Old Lords. I have now completed all of them and what Ive said still stands. Thanks again.

 As for getting Elementalism to work... I dont even know what vulcan is. 😃 Im the worst case senario illiterate when it comes to computers. If I just take it slow and do a little research and trial and error I can usually work my way into a solution though.