PUSS XXVIII: Quoth the Raven (for Heretic!) (Dev Thread)

[Death Bear]

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore…”

 

 

PUSS 28: Quoth the Raven

A Heretic Community Project

Hear that tapping at your chamber door? That’s not a bird…It’s that silly old bear again, back with another event for you to map for! I also wouldn’t say ‘no’ to a smackerel of honey, but we can discuss that later before I return to the Hundred Acre Wood. In our 28th installment of the wildly successful and incredibly erratic Pineapple Under the Sea Speedmapping series, we’re once again breaking away from our Doom2 iWAD staple to mix things up a bit! 

 

This is Quoth the Raven, our first Heretic event! 

 

I personally fell in love with Heretic shortly before participating in Heresy in 2021 and have been finding a great number of Heretic mapsets to play. So, while I’m no Heretic expert, I do really REALLY enjoy playing and mapping for it, and hope some of you might, too! Our thought was kind of in the vein of “Heretic the Way Raven Did”, but with some changes. Yes, “our”! I’m CO-LEADING this lovely event with our friend and Heretic veteran, @Egregor! He has put a lot of work into preparing this event and its resource pack, and we’re excited to see what you might come up with! Come join the heresy fun! 

 

 

iWAD: Heretic

Format: Vanilla Limit-Removing [Heretic: Heretic (Doom format)]

Target Port: Crispy Heretic

Build Time: 8 hours to map, no post-detailing (just quick and dirty!)

Multiplayer: (4) Co-op starts implemented

Difficulties: Full Difficulties implemented (You can count this outside of your time)

Custom MIDIs required! (Check additional resources for a link to the Raven MIDI pack!)

 

 

In addition to a few rules, many of these are conventions used in OG Heretic Design and are expected to be followed for this event.

Balance: Please balance your map for wand start, but it might not hurt to pop some health in at the end for continuous players. Ammo can be harder to fine-tune because of random ammo drops, but I'd err on the side of plenty over starvation...balanced accordingly with your inventory items.

Enemy Limit: 200 enemies, hard limit (medium sized level)

Secrets: At least one secret is included

 

Theme: You must choose at least one level THEME and SETTING from the list below the rules!**

We will arrange these into episodes after the submission window is closed, if there are enough submissions.

 

THEMES

- Medieval Village or Town

- Castle, Fortress, or Tower(s)

- Natural Caves or Mines

- Tombs, Graveyards, or Catacombs

- An Evil Temple or Pyramid

- Ancient Decaying Ruins

 

SETTINGS

- Forests with rivers and a coastline

- Deep, dark forest

- Swamps

- Cold Mountains with lakes, rivers, and some ice

- Volcanoes with lava

 

**If none of these THEMES or SETTINGS inspire you feel free to create your own theme and setting. These are mainly here for inspiration and to set the tone of QTR.

 

Layout: We are using the “central hub” approach to level design that Heretic would often use, as a way to pay homage to the original. Think of this as a small (in today's standards) “sandbox” area. All of the level’s locked doors are located in the starting “central hub”. 

Bonus Goal: One of your areas has two separate (same color) locked entrances from two different angles. Example: Northern Yellow Key entrance and Eastern Yellow Key entrance.

Bonus Goal: Include a cozy/scenic "Heretic-cute" area. 

 

Key Order: Just like in the original we will be following this particular key order: Yellow > Green > Blue. Locked doors should be labeled with the Heretic key marker things. (These are statues.)

Bonus Goal: All three keys will be used.

 

Other Heretic Considerations: 

 

Chaos Devices are difficult, and sometimes sequence/level-breaking, items. Please do not make their use mandatory for level progression, as Doom players are (almost certainly) not likely to use them for this purpose. I recommend placing them near the end of a level instead of a teleporter to transport the player back to the beginning for the purpose of secret hunting.

 

Unless your map is centered around The Wings of Wrath, I strongly encourage you to only place them within an optional secret area. These WoR can then be used to access other (high above) secrets areas within your level. Careful; WoR can also be sequence/level-breaking.

 

Because the Firemace (weapon 7) only has a 25% chance to spawn, if it is used, please only place it within an optional secret.

 

Resource: Quoth the Raven (Google Drive) (Updated to v1.5)
NEW RESOURCE (Current Mappers, Use this for Updates): QTR_16_v6

Egregor has provided E1M2 as a "Plant Showcase", using all of our lovely textures to make Heretic greener. Feel free to copy-paste these to use them in your map.

 

Here are some additional links to help you on your journey!

On Heretic and Gameplay
Heretic (on the DoomWiki)
Sosu's Guide for Heretic Monster Usage (Thread)

MIDIs

Raven MIDI Pack (idgames)

Gameplay Mods 

(NOTE: Don't use for initial playtesting)
The Wayfarer's Tome
 

Maps are due in the Discord Channel or on this thread by Doomcat’s Birthday, June 30th at 11:59 pm CST. We will be compiling the following week. There will be no extension past June.

 

Make sure you have a name for your map before submitting.

 

For submissions, please post in this format:

Map Name: [ X ]

Author: [ X ]

Music: [ Song + Author ]

Format: [ X ]

Build Time: [ X ]

Co-op Starts: [Y/N]

Difficulty Settings: [Y/N]

Comments: [Insert all your Edgar Allen Poe inspired fanfics here.]

Screenshots: [x] 

 

We only need the .wad file of your map. Compiling your submission with the resources is unnecessary for this event.

 

 

Your mapping time can be nonconsecutive. 

 

You may collaborate with another mapper. The time limit is the same for your team as it is for everyone else, split between you however you like.

 

Your timer will only go down when you are mapping or playtesting. Speedmaps will be under the honor rule. Neither you nor I can prove if a map went over the time limit or not, but trained eyes can see what is and is not a speedmap. If you cheat, people will notice. Any time in Slade used to give a midi is outside of your mapping time. I would recommend spending some time looking over the texture pack before you begin mapping, so that you don’t waste time scrolling. 

 

Once your time is up, if you haven’t beaten your map, please spend time to verify that your level is beatable, and to make sure co-op starts are included.

 

AFTER YOUR TIME LIMIT IS UP:

As a general rule, I'm comfortable with you going back into your wad and picking at its bones to make sure everything is neat and tidy. Minor texture changes, bug fixing, and thing placement overhaul are fine by me. Excluding special cases, I do not want you building new rooms/sectors after you've already submitted a map to me. The time limit isn't to challenge you to make a map quickly, it's to light a fire under your ass to create something truly cool with a deadline. PUSS is still a speedmapping series, so maps won't be perfect cacoward level masterpieces, but I would still like for mappers to spend the time polishing maps they have sent to me.

 

There is no cap to how many maps you can submit to these events.

Trust me, I know. I'm the reason this rule exists. *wink*

 

Any bug fixing/map changes are due to us once we've set a date, which will be after the completion of playtesting.

 

 

@BluePineapple72's discord server, The Pineapple Under the Sea, is a neat little community of mappers that occasionally participate in mapping events. Home to the PUSS, mappers of all persuasions of men and mer are welcome to participate in these fantastical events in order to foster and grow their mapping abilities! We're always looking for fresh new apostates to free the world from the shackles of the Serpent Lords. I've had the pleasure of now leading a few of these projects, and I love being a part of this little creative collective. Come join us!

PAST EVENTS

@MemeMind's Musical Mapping

@ViolentBeetle's Solar Struggle

ViolentBeetle's Skulltiverse

ViolentBeetle's Hellevator

Hot Potato

Line in the Sand

 

The Pineapple Under the Sea Speedmapping Series

 

PUSS SERIES III

PUSS XXVII: Perpetual Torment

PUSS XXVI: Clandestine Castle Crashing 2

PUSS XXV: LUNACY

PUSS XXIV: Lover's Quarrel

PUSS XXIII: Mappin' Round the Doommas Tree

PUSS XXII: The Chilling Winds of Dis

PUSS XXI: TRICK & TEAR THE LIVING DEAD

PUSS XX: HELL YEAH!

 

PUSS SERIES II

Spoiler

PUSS XIX: Dead Mappers Tell No Tales

PUSS XVIII: Rowdy Rudy in...Revenge of the Speeddemons

PUSS XVII: Pandemonium Speed Weeks

PUSS XVI: Pac-Man Doom

PUSS XV: Mysterious Mayan Madness

PUSS XIV: 12 MORE Days of Doommas

PUSS XIII: TH1RT3EN

PUSS XII: Trick and Tear 2

PUSS XI: Anniversary Under the Sea

 

PUSS SERIES I

Spoiler

PUSS X: The Summer of Slaughter

PUSS IX: Mapping at Warpspeed

PUSS VIII: Speed Squared

PUSS VII: Rowdy Rudy in... March of the Speeddemons!

PUSS VI: Imperfect Hatred

PUSS V: Clandestine Castle Crashing

PUSS IV: 12 Days of Doommas

PUSS III: Boss Battle Bonanza

PUSS II: TRICK & TEAR I

PUSS I: September Under the Sea

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by Death Bear

[MFG38]

Color me interested.

 

Is interested a color? Anyway.

 

EDIT: Your Roman numeral is missing an X, BTW. :P

Edited June 1, 2023 by MFG38

[BluePineapple72]

7 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

Color me interested.

 

Is interested a color? Anyway.

It is! It's an offshoot of the green hue 'anticipation!'

Edited June 1, 2023 by BluePineapple72

[Walter confetti]

I see what you guys did there... Good, good, more Heretic speedmapping is always good!

[Death Bear]

53 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

Color me interested.

 

Is interested a color? Anyway.

 

EDIT: Your Roman numeral is missing an X, BTW. :P

I knew it looked weird, but I suppose its the curse of looking at it for too long lol Thanks.

[DJVCardMaster]

Hereth I ameth

[DukeOfDoom]

Sounds interesting! Gotta make a Friday the 13th-style map with Heretic stuff.

[JustAthel]

I've never made a Heretic map, the game never did stick out to me past the first episode, and I don't know how anyone could use the enemy roster in an interesting way.

 

Let's see if this helps me change my mind :p

[DynamiteKaitorn]

Map Name: Crystal Caverns
Author: Heich AKA DynamiteKaitorn
Music: Castle - Jazz Jackrabbit 2
Format: Heretic (Heretic In DooM Format)
Build Time: 4 hours, 10 minutes (roughly)
Co-op Starts: Yes - Also, some extra enemies + weapons are MP exclusive
Difficulty Settings: Yes - Lower difficulties get less enemies to worry about
Comments: My my! What stunning gemstones! GIANT diamonds, gargantuan rubies and... LAPIS LAZULI!!! Man, you'd make ANY merchant in this land jealous!
Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

Crystal Caverns.zip

[Death Bear]

For anyone out there mapping, we were having some graphical/ texture issues with the target ports. Thanks to @Egregor and @TheHambourgeois these should have been solved. I have updated the OP link with the new resource pack. Let us know if you find anything further, please.

Edited June 4, 2023 by Death Bear

[Silhouette 03]

4 minutes ago, Death Bear said:

Thanks to @Egregor and @Hambourgeois,

Uh Death Bear you may have tagged the wrong Hambourgeois. That user hasn't been active since 2016.

[Death Bear]

31 minutes ago, Silhouette 03 said:

Uh Death Bear you may have tagged the wrong Hambourgeois. That user hasn't been active since 2016.

Fixed. Thanks.

[TheHambourgeois]

That was actually me its just tied to an old burner email I forgot :]

[Walter confetti]

Map Name: Smol Dewngeohn

Author: Walter Confetti

Music: Cryptic Dancer by Maxime Trodeau

Format: Vanilla Heretic

Build Time: 2 hours

Co-op Starts: Y

Difficulty Settings: N

Comments: So, Edgar Allan Poe travelled in the future one day and he decided to make a beautiful lyrical for some Eurovision thing he just heard about from two Austrian girls but he was kidnapped by a mysterious "Shovel Society" and been trapped in their dungeon of death and low effort mid 90s user maps! How did he will survive?

Screenshots: 

Spoiler

 

Uh, it's a small map, not very HTWRD but it works i guess.

DOWNLOAD

Edited June 8, 2023 by Walter confetti

[Death Bear]

3 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

Map Name: Smol Dewngeohn

Author: Walter Confetti

Music: Cryptic Dancer by Maxime Trodeau

Format: Vanilla Heretic

Build Time: 2 hours

Co-op Starts: Y

Difficulty Settings: N

Comments: So, Edgar Allan Poe travelled in the future one day and he decided to make a beautiful lyrical for some Eurovision thing he just heard about from two Austrian girls but he was kidnapped by a mysterious "Shovel Society" and been trapped in their dungeon of death and low effort mid 90s user maps! How did he will survive?

Screenshots: 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Uh, it's a small map, not very HTWRD but it works i guess.

Sweet! Excited to play it! Think you forgot a link to the file, though.

[Walter confetti]

Ah shit! I'll see to find It when i get back to my pc, i tough that it was already in my attachments here, but NOT!

[Snowy44]

Map Name: [ The Shimmering Falls ]

Author: [ Snowy44 ]

Music: [ Sorcerian - Bloody River & Seal ]

Format: [ Heretic: Heretic (Doom format) ]

Build Time: [ About 8 hours (2-3 hours layout, the rest was gameplay/balancing) ]

Co-op Starts: [Y]

Difficulty Settings: [Y]

Comments: This is the first time I'm making a proper Heretic map and I've been wanting to try Heretic mapping for a while, so it was pretty fun. I also enjoyed the strict time/monster limit, it was nice to just a get a map done without worrying about extra stuff too much. I spent A TON of time on gameplay, so the visuals are very barebones despite the fact that I actually hit the time limit. If it was a Doom level of similar size I would probably have some time left over to pretty it up, but because I have no experience with Heretic it really took me a while to get the gameplay going the way I wanted it to and even after all this I'm still not super happy with it, I just had to stop because I ran out of time. It's prefectly playable though and should actually be on the easier side, just not sure how fun it is in it's current state.

Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/kH3Ufme

[notTyrone]

Map Name: Disciple Square

Author: Myself

Music: Serpentine Pillars - Mikolah (from the midi pack posted with the resources above)

Format: Heretic (Doom format)

Build Time: 8 hours

Co-op Starts: Yes

Difficulty Settings: Yes

Comments: A noise awakens you from your slumber.  You notice a "human like" figure trying to leave your humble abode...

Screenshots: This antique forum only lets me post one screenshot KEKW

Disciple_SquareV1.zip

[United VirusX]

 

Map Name: The Scorching Citadel

Author: United VirusX

Music: Norfair Ancient Ruins Area - from Super Metroid 

Format: Heretic (Doom format)

Build Time: 8 hours

Co-op Starts: Yes

Difficulty Settings: Yes

Comments: map is a more expanded take on a map I did for Fastest Shovels 6

Screenshots: 

[Death Bear]

Love to see it, everyone! Almost halfway there, and we've got nearly a full episode! I'll be starting initial playtesting early next week for current submissions. Here's one I'm currently working on. (I love rust. Like...a lot.)

[Egregor]

EG_QTR1_v41.rar

Map Name: [ No Rays from the holy Heaven come down ]

Author: [ Egregor ]

Music: [ Woeful Specters by Egregor ]

Format: [ Heretic ]

Build Time: [ 8 hours ]

Co-op Starts: [N] (wooops!)

Difficulty Settings: [Y (very minor pass)]

Comments: [This map is 3072 x 3072 constricted as well as 8 hours to prevent me from forever sprawling (a bad habit I have). It features a medieval town, a river, a deep forest, and the town's fortress.]

Screenshots: [next time] 

[Egregor]

[Peccatum Mihzamiz]

Map Name: Quaff the Raven

Author: Peccatum Mihzamiz Music: "Talons" by mrgrimsdale & James Paddock, from the Raven MIDI pack

Format: Heretic (Doom format)

Build Time: 9 hours and some more time to get it all fixed and working

Co-op Starts: Yes, plus some softlock fixes for co-op

Difficulty Settings: Yes, implemented, plus lots of fun stuff for co-op (probably nice in singleplayer as an extra challenge as well)

Comments: We need a drink but unfortunately all these monsters keep getting in between us and our libations.

 

This was my first time mapping for Heretic. I had lots of fun trying out and testing stuff. The battles in this map are purposely a bit chaotic and disorganised. I like mixing and matching a disparate group of monsters and then watching the hectic carnage.

File download
 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Peccatum Mihzamiz
now with actual file link :)

[TheHambourgeois]

 

Additional Screenie and Map Overview:

Spoiler

 

Map Name: Water Weird

Author: Hambourgeois

Music: The Deep Ones (by me)

Format: Heretic (Doom format)

Build Time: ~5 hours and twenty minutes in all

Co-op Starts: Yes

Difficulty Settings: Yes

Known issues: It's a little cramped, not bothering to fix the waterfalls in the yellow key room until we get the new resource pack.

Setting and Theme: This wasn't really intentional but it is an evil temple in weird icy mountains.

 

FILE DOWNLOAD

e: Update the wad, added some minor details, implemented difficulties, tweaked the midi a bit, did another texture alignment pass which was sorely needed!!!

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by TheHambourgeois
update

[Peccatum Mihzamiz]

Map Name: Clue

Author: Peccatum Mihzamiz

Music: Main theme from the movie Clue - John Morris

Format: Heretic (Doom format)

Build Time: 7 hours and then quite a bit trying to fix stuff

Co-op Starts: Yes

Difficulty Settings: Yes, implemented, plus lots of fun stuff for co-op

Known issues: Many textures are a bit ugly and unaligned. Might update in version 3 if allowed. Otherwise: #justspeedmappingthings
Comments: What a lovely mansion! It probably contains mysteries we can try to solve...
Screenshots:

Spoiler

File: download (v02)

[Death Bear]

A friendly reminder that the chamber door closes in about a week, and we will map for this project nevermore!

[TheHambourgeois]

Another Map!!!

one more screenie:

Spoiler

Map Name: In the Hall of the Mad Bull King [Slot e1m8]

Author: Hambourgeois

Music: Die for Parthoris (by Dragonfly and Jimmy)

Format: Heretic (Doom format)

Build Time: ~4 hours in all

Co-op Starts: Yes

Difficulty Settings: yes (a lil' quick and dirty)

Known issues: It's a little cramped, can you tell I really like Scythe 1???

 

 

File Download

B-B-Bonus Map!?!?!?...

Spoiler

Map Name: In the Hall of the Mad Wizard King [slot e1m8]

Author: Hambourgeois

Music: Die for Parthoris (by Dragonfly and Jimmy)

Format: Heretic (Doom format)

Build Time: ~4 hours 15 minutes in all

Co-op Starts: Yes

Difficulty Settings: Yase

Known issues: Same as the other one

This is just the same map slightly edited to be a fight with D'sparil in case no one made the final arena map.
 

 

File Download

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by TheHambourgeois
implement difficulties, music credits (whoops)

[Egregor]

EG_QTR3_v23_ 465min.rar

Map Name: Round the River Bend

Author: Egregor

Music: [ none yet, sorry!]

Format: [ Crispy-Heretic ]

Build Time: [ 465 minutes/7.75 hours ]

Co-op Starts: [Y]

Difficulty Settings: [Y (quick n' dirty)]

Comments: [I planned on doing my final push tonight of running out the timer and making sure the level was beatable, but I wasn't able to do that. Last edit I mostly made it easier, but haven't verified with a play-through, sorry. A family that got stranded at the airport due to typical airport shenanigans and is staying at our place tonight so that is what happened instead. ]

Screenshots: [next time] 

Edited June 28, 2023 by Egregor

[Death Bear]

Shout out to all of you apostates! We have just over a day left for submissions! Get ‘em in!

[Death Bear]

Update: Our first compilation is complete with an almost-complete 3-episode mapset. Our original submission window spilled over into a third episode, so myself, my cubs, Egregor, LGmaire, and Peccatum Mihzamiz spent the last week filling the majority of the 3rd episode. The compilation is done mostly-chronologically, with a few exceptions, and there are two collaborations I need to finish. They will be done shortly.

We are currently playtesting the remaining maps, and while I have done the initial testing, Egregor will be playing through them as well. We will be rearranging the map order (most likely). We will look at taking through August for mapper updates, and if all goes as planned, we will see RC1 before September.

For mappers not currently in the discord, I have linked the updated texture pack in the OP. Use this for any further map updates. We are working closely with the Crispy Heretic team, and as such, our pack has changed with the intent that new support for certain features is incoming. If you have any questions about any of the technical aspects or anything as we move into playtesting and updates, let us know.