Dark Web (Vanilla-style map)

[Powerlord]

Hey everybody. I've come back after a long hiatus of doom mapping and made this moody little techbase to freshen myself on the basics and try to work on the bad mapping habits I stumbled over years ago. More importantly, it was only with the help of this wonderful, thoughtful community that I found the resources and motivation to finally brave the grid again. I had a total joy plotting this map out and couldn't keep a second away from it as soon as I finished my shift at work. I hope that enthusiasm and motivation keeps coming and I can make tons of great maps in the future, but for now I offer this humble, dark, fairly easy techbase.

 

 

Made in UDB, tested on GZdoom 4.11 and PRboom+ 2.6, vanilla map with Umapinfo for music (which is credited in the text file) and map name (I'm not super informed on engine specifications but I'm pretty sure that means boom level compatibility? Or limit removing, idk, nothing too fancy but probably won't work with doom2.exe). Updated to fix a few HOMs in software mode, update umapinfo for compatibility, slightly increase light level, and add a secret!

 

 

 

DarkWeb.zip

Edited May 29, 2023 by Powerlord
Updated wad once more

[baja blast rd.]

Wonderful map. Lighting is chef'skiss. The aesthetic reminds me of maps like Mucus Flow / Darkwave Speed of Doom but in a more oldschool way. 

FDA had a mishap in 1st attempt but I don't care I really wanted to punch those turret revvies. :P 

 

 

 

[Dubbag]

 

[_sink]

this was so cool and atmospheric!! the midi choice and all your moody lighting was really good. i love those flickering candles. could maybe be brighter overall, but thats just me playing in software rendered mode. I saw a HOM or something in the crate room, but there are no obvious issues in the map editor when I look. weird.

[Powerlord]

55 minutes ago, baja blast rd. said:

Wonderful map. Lighting is chef'skiss. The aesthetic reminds me of maps like Mucus Flow / Darkwave Speed of Doom but in a more oldschool way. 

FDA had a mishap in 1st attempt but I don't care I really wanted to punch those turret revvies. :P 

 

 

 

Thank you so much not only for playing but for making a video out of it too! I had been wanting a way to show my non-doom friends what I had made but well, naturally they weren't about to boot it up themselves. I'm deeply flattered you'd compare me to such legends in the community, it's funny, I play all the modern stuff but everytime I map people say it's got an old school feel, but if that's in a positive context this time I don't much mind! Lighting was one of my problem spots 6 or so years ago, and since then I had come to really enjoy the more "liminal" maps of doom with a surreal kind of feel to them, like the mucus flow and some sod maps, so it coalesced into a darker type map both to give it a more ambient feel while training my lighting skills.

 

25 minutes ago, Dubbag said:

 

Glad you enjoyed for the most part! I'm glad I took doomkid's word and made sure to consider multiple difficulties, it's really easy to forget some people play on the difficulty you don't lol. As for the darkness, it wasn't meant to be quite as dark as it seemed in your video, I playtested in normal doom lighting mode so if you were to play again I'd suggest trying that for best effect, but whatever helps you enjoy the map the most. I feel the need to ask why you have music turned off though?

 

23 minutes ago, _sink said:

this was so cool and atmospheric!! the midi choice and all your moody lighting was really good. i love those flickering candles. could maybe be brighter overall, but thats just me playing in software rendered mode. I saw a HOM or something in the crate room, but there are no obvious issues in the map editor when I look. weird.

Thank you! Props to wallabra for the music, as soon as I heard it I knew it'd be the perfect compliment to the map. I debated a lot over what should be the "default" light level, and I swapped back and forth between a tick above the light level implemented and, well, the light level implemented, but the map is pretty easy and I decided that at the risk of occasionally making it a pain to hit a specific imp skittering around in the shadows to focus on the aesthetic. I playtested on both truecolor software and opengl to make sure it was playable in both, so don't worry I didn't forget you guys lol. If you could find that HOM again (and specify which exact room is the crate room lol) please let me know and I'll take a look at it. 

 

Thank you all so much for playing the map and the kind words! Your reception is inspiration to keep mapping and give back to the community that has not only supplied me but the world with amazing doom content.

[Dubbag]

56 minutes ago, Powerlord said:

Thank you so much not only for playing but for making a video out of it too! I had been wanting a way to show my non-doom friends what I had made but well, naturally they weren't about to boot it up themselves. I'm deeply flattered you'd compare me to such legends in the community, it's funny, I play all the modern stuff but everytime I map people say it's got an old school feel, but if that's in a positive context this time I don't much mind! Lighting was one of my problem spots 6 or so years ago, and since then I had come to really enjoy the more "liminal" maps of doom with a surreal kind of feel to them, like the mucus flow and some sod maps, so it coalesced into a darker type map both to give it a more ambient feel while training my lighting skills.

 

Glad you enjoyed for the most part! I'm glad I took doomkid's word and made sure to consider multiple difficulties, it's really easy to forget some people play on the difficulty you don't lol. As for the darkness, it wasn't meant to be quite as dark as it seemed in your video, I playtested in normal doom lighting mode so if you were to play again I'd suggest trying that for best effect, but whatever helps you enjoy the map the most. I feel the need to ask why you have music turned off though?

 

Thank you! Props to wallabra for the music, as soon as I heard it I knew it'd be the perfect compliment to the map. I debated a lot over what should be the "default" light level, and I swapped back and forth between a tick above the light level implemented and, well, the light level implemented, but the map is pretty easy and I decided that at the risk of occasionally making it a pain to hit a specific imp skittering around in the shadows to focus on the aesthetic. I playtested on both truecolor software and opengl to make sure it was playable in both, so don't worry I didn't forget you guys lol. If you could find that HOM again (and specify which exact room is the crate room lol) please let me know and I'll take a look at it. 

 

Thank you all so much for playing the map and the kind words! Your reception is inspiration to keep mapping and give back to the community that has not only supplied me but the world with amazing doom content.

you're welcome ! the reason the music is off is because i was playing a wad before i moved and had it turned off and forgot to put it back on. my bad.

[LadyMistDragon]

Ok, I screwed the music, but it's fine. Anything but D_RUNNIN am I right? One might see a little visual glitch on Boom-compatible ports though. Cool crate desk with the switch behind it.

 

 

[Zahid]

good map dark and atmospheric,nice use of lighting...gameplay is tame 

my prboom 2.6 demo with cl9

popi9.zip

[Powerlord]

18 hours ago, Dubbag said:

you're welcome ! the reason the music is off is because i was playing a wad before i moved and had it turned off and forgot to put it back on. my bad.

No worries, was just curious.

 

3 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Ok, I screwed the music, but it's fine. Anything but D_RUNNIN am I right? One might see a little visual glitch on Boom-compatible ports though. Cool crate desk with the switch behind it.

 

 

So I started testing the level with prboom and noticed the same HOM in software, so I took to it and tried my best to figure it out and fix it. I know nothing about the technical side of doom when it comes to the differences of renderers and ports besides the basics, but all I know is that one linedef misbehaves randomly. That's why all but one of my playtesters didn't mention anything about a hom, I had it happen just about half the time. I truly do not understand why it happened or what exactly it is, but I just drew a sector over the offending linedef and it hasn't messed up again for me since. I'll make sure to test in prboom as well from now on to catch these things quicker, I thought software renderer in gzdoom would catch anything that would slip through the cracks but I guess not. The music didn't seem to be working for anything outside of gzdoom either, I don't know anything about mapinfo lumps and the like and this was my first stab at it so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. I looked into it some more and realized mapinfo is outdated and Umapinfo is what's meant to work across most ports.

 

So, here's Dark Web 1.1! I changed the mapinfo to umapinfo so players should get the music accompaniment I had in mind for the map, and I fixed the HOM in the conveyor belt room, along with others that may or may not have sprung up solely because I fixed the one in the conveyor belt room. I have no earthly idea why it was happening to begin with, and I sincerely hope it won't happen again. As a little bonus, I've added a secret that a couple players have mentioned they wanted. It won't make any difference to the map balance, but it should be a fun little find. Thanks to all of you for the help and feedback, and enjoy!