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

[Peccatum Mihzamiz]

I played through the first episode and maps E2M1 and E2M2. VOD of the playtesting will be up over here. I am starting a playthrough of the rest of the second episode now on Twitch.

 

Quite a lot of fun (and some frustration) up until now, a really cool map set!!! :D

[Egregor]

@DukeOfDoom

Spoiler

 

improvement suggestions:

E1M4 - Crystal Lake Compound by DukeOfDoom
LAYOUT/LEVEL FLOW:
-add a staircase on N (north) side of the NE (northeast) YK cabin, this will break up the S (south) end pinch-point
GAMEPLAY:
-overall too dark, except for secrets and small areas, I recommend your darkest areas be 112, and that your outdoor areas be 144
-not enough resources, very hard/impossible without secrets on UV, I suggest literally doubling both health and ammo, level needs to be completable without secrets
SECRETS:
-secrets are cryptic but map will solve this, so not an issue
-sector 481 double tagged secret
AESTHETIC:
-generally very good, but many forest lines feel a bit too straight, it'd be nice to see a pass at making them more curvy and organic
-again, overall just a bit too dark
-add plants from texture pack
EPISODE PLACEMENT:
-191 enemies, near limit
-this level is huge and feels like it would sit well as either E1M7 or E3M7

Edited July 15, 2023 by Egregor

[Egregor]

@Snowy44

Spoiler

 

E1M5 - The Shimmering Falls by Snowy44

LAYOUT/LEVEL FLOW:
-good!
GAMEPLAY:
-good!
SECRETS:
-some of the secrets may be too obvious
AESTHETIC:
-upper linedef 1267 appears to be mis-textured
-natural cavern areas are much too flat and square
-brightness between door frames and doors often has a strange contrast
-door track used in strange way on stairs
-clean automap (outdoor exterior rim)
-suggestion: add friction effect to ice flats
-add sound things
RC1 EPISODE PLACEMENT:
-E2 (dungeons and caverns)
NOTE:
-teleport closets have some awesome magic going on with them near BK encounter!

@Snowy44

Edited July 18, 2023 by Egregor

[Egregor]

E1M6 - Sinodo de Brujos by Cacodemon187

Spoiler

 

 

LAYOUT/LEVEL FLOW:
-a little bit confusing but okay!

GAMEPLAY:
-3 firemaces! 2 of 3 is guaranteed not to spawn. Highly suggested that firemace is only placed within secrets. I suggest swapping Fiemace with Hell Staff or Phoenix Rod

-too difficult, remove 15% of enemies (especially at SE corner)
-too tight on ammo, if you remove 15% of enemies this issue should also probably be resolved, otherwise add about 15% more ammo
SECRETS:
-secrets are pretty hard to find
-sector 173 appears to only be accessible by wings but then why are switches needed? what am i missing?
AESTHETIC:
-really creative!
RC1 EPISODE PLACEMENT:
-E1 or E2 as Cacdeomon187's 2nd map will probably go in E3

@Cacodemon187

Edited July 18, 2023 by Egregor

[Snowy44]

22 hours ago, Egregor said:

@Snowy44

  Reveal hidden contents

 

E1M5 - The Shimmering Falls by Snowy44

LAYOUT/LEVEL FLOW:
-good!
GAMEPLAY:
-good!
SECRETS:
-some of the secrets may be too obvious
AESTHETIC:
-upper linedef 1267 appears to be mis-textured
-natural cavern areas are much too flat and square
-brightness between door frames and doors often has a strange contrast
-door track used in strange way on stairs
-clean automap (outdoor exterior rim)
-suggestion: add friction effect to ice flats
-add sound things
RC1 EPISODE PLACEMENT:
-E2 (dungeons and caverns)
NOTE:
-teleport closets have some awesome magic going on with them near BK encounter!

@Snowy44

Thanks for playing the map! I'll try to revisit it to smooth it out a bit sometime soon.

[Death Bear]

The Shimmering Falls by @Snowy44

Spoiler

 

 

Fun map! Hope this is helpful. NOTE: It didn’t have exit lines…I patched those for the compilation.

[Snowy44]

Shimmering Falls version 2

Made the cavernous areas a little more natural, added a few decorations to make the areas less empty.

[Egregor]

I've finished play-testing the compilation of submissions for this project, and it is shaping up quite nicely. We will have 3 full episodes! We are going to take the rest of the month of August to update our maps and then compile RC1, which will be released publicly.

 

Mappers: we have an updated resource that may effect animation and switch textures. Please upload the new resource found in the OP and update any textures that may have been effected, along with any gameplay or aesthetic improvements at your convenience. Thanks everyone!

Edited August 13, 2023 by Egregor

[Egregor]

Videos of me play-testing QTR - Comp v1:

https://youtube.com/@jeffking4496

[Death Bear]

Hey there, Heretics! Deadline for updates for RC1 are due end of day, September 4th. That's the latest I will have my 6 maps updated. We're getting some more testers, so please have everything ready to go. If you haven't added difficulty settings, yet, or still need to design your Writing Desk, you have a little over a week.

[Downcologo one]

Some time ago I had played the first 2 episodes and the truth is that they are great except for the curve difficulty which is medium rare, the truth is that they were maps that I loved.