Take Back Mars V1.2 - Doom 2 - GZDoom

[psycheduck]

My very own (and my first) single-map WAD, complete with custom difficulty levels, multiplayer differences, and 6 secrets. VERY short, but incredibly challenging on the later difficulties. This map was made for Doom 2, and it was made in the UDMF format to add an extra difficulty.
EDIT: MAP REPLACES MAP 01 AND MAP02 - MAP03 IS CURRENTLY A WIP!

IWAD: DOOM2

Difficulties: Wanna Call Your Mommy?; We'll Go Easy on You...; The Average Joe; I Wouldn't Recommend It.; Doom God; Ultra Nightmare;

Jumping is required and so is crouching.

Compatibility is GZDoom only

It does have multiplayer.

Use hardware renderer or some visuals may be a little bugged
I tested this WAD using: No extra add-ons, Vanilla Essence, Led's Generic Weapon Mod. (I tested with each of these individually and with Vanilla Essence and Led's Generic Weapon Mod at the same time, and no big issues cropped up. I presume you can use almost any weapon or item-altering WAD as long as it doesn't change too much. Vanilla Essence is heavily recommended for the visual side of things because I playtested most of the development using it.

I play DOOM frequently, but this is my first map, and I hope you enjoy it. Below are screenshots that you can avoid if you wish to go in blind.

Please notify me of any bugs or criticisms you may have involving this map.
Download Link (V1.0): https://www.mediafire.com/file/k0sbqkcxu5olj51/Take_Back_Mars.wad/file

Download Link (V1.1): https://www.mediafire.com/file/lpitoo0z7j5fus9/Take_Back_Mars+V1.1.wad/file

Download Link (V1.2): https://www.mediafire.com/file/ji6j5hz4eozvwvp/Take_Back_Mars_V1.2.wad/file

 

~~ SCREENSHOTS BELOW ~~

Spoiler

Screenshots were taken in this WADs equivalent of Ultra-Violence, I Wouldn't Recommend It.

Edited July 23, 2023 by psycheduck
Fixed some mistakes!

[WarvyGarvy]

Not bad for your first WAD! my only complaints would be some serious ammo starving at the end especially with a cyber demon, and the map feels very square. Not a lot of bugs/issues tho for a first map!

[psycheduck]

Thank you! I'll keep the squareness and the ammo issue in mind on my next map!

[Sir Hattington]

It's a nice map for a first attempt but the enhanced lighting looks pretty cheesy in my opinion. I would definitely use height variations, you're not making this map in Wolfenstein 3D, you know. Your map also suffers from the "boxes separated by doors" syndrome. And I would personally give the player the super shotgun earlier, fighting the higher health enemies with the shotgun is more annoying than challenging. Also, its pretty easy to just run past the last fight.

[psycheduck]

I'll do my best on the height stuff, and try to fix the rooms in the future. And, I knew it was easy to run past the last fight, but not that easy lol
Thanks, and I'll definitely try to improve on those things next time!

[Project H]

This was a cool map, it's good for a first attempt, i like this, good job

 

29 minutes ago, Sir Hattington said:

Also, its pretty easy to just run past the last fight.

Lol, yeah, it was hard to beat that cyberdemon so i had to run past it and get to the exit

[Sir Hattington]

7 hours ago, psycheduck said:

I'll do my best on the height stuff, and try to fix the rooms in the future. And, I knew it was easy to run past the last fight, but not that easy lol
Thanks, and I'll definitely try to improve on those things next time!

You can force the player to fight the cyberdemons (and the other monsters) by trapping the cybers in the middle and putting a key or switch there. Although there really isn't enough ammo to do the the fight even with all the secrets.

[psycheduck]

I'll probably release a 1.1 version or something including a couple fixes to the existing map, and another update later to revamp it entirely, in case some people prefer the old version.

[psycheduck]

I'm currently hard at work on an update to the original, and will probably also make a full remake/sequel of sorts afterward.

[psycheduck]

If I were to post an update where would I post it? Would I add on to this thread (I'd assume so) or make a new post?

[Sir Hattington]

8 hours ago, psycheduck said:

If I were to post an update where would I post it? Would I add on to this thread (I'd assume so) or make a new post?

Post it in this thread

[psycheduck]

And now: the hardly awaited update to the decently rated Take Back Mars...
TBM, V1.1!

Now featuring: 2 new secrets, 1 new room, new room architecture, slightly more enemies, much more ammo, a few more health pickups, more armor, more moving parts, and (probably) MORE!

Download link (DEAD, HOTFIX LINK BELOW): https://www.mediafire.com/file/jt9qx6r0tcstafk/Take_Back_Mars+V1.1.wad/file
Have fun, always open to criticism, and I'm not sure if Ultra Nightmare is/has ever been possible.
If it is, I'd love to see a run!

Edit: there has been a mistake, that was NOT the most recent version, that error has now been rectified.

Edited June 24, 2023 by psycheduck
Bad link.

[Biodegradable]

Lot of wide, flat open rooms that make the demons very easy to circle-strafe while everything else feels a bit too close which makes the demons easy to bottleneck, so everything feels slightly toothless. Visually, it's all very bland and basic, but these criticisms are bog-standard for the bog-standard newbie map. That all being said, you've got a decent handling on the basic mechanics of how a Doom map should work and this will just require and lot of practice and experimentation so you can hone your skills, build more interesting set-pieces and give your combat some dynamism and teeth. My advice would be to study the work of your favourite mappers, grab their work and stick it in your level editor and explore their guts. Keep on mapping!

 

 

[psycheduck]

HOTFIX:
Added back in one missing door track texture
Invulnerability sphere in final room not in some difficulties fixed
New download link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/lpitoo0z7j5fus9/Take_Back_Mars+V1.1.wad/file

[psycheduck]

NEW UPDATE: TAKE BACK MARS V1.2

Includes: NEW Map01
Handful of bug fixes

Download Link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/ji6j5hz4eozvwvp/Take_Back_Mars_V1.2.wad/file

[Kabes]

bump

[psycheduck]

1 minute ago, Kabes said:

bump

No so sure what this means, but that reminds me, due to some technical difficulties with my Mediafire account, all download links from now on will lead to Mega.