Atrophy - [IDGAMES RELEASE]

[Lorenz0]

Atrophy is a boom-compatible map which heavily focuses on atmosphere and exploration. It takes around 30 minutes to beat on first playthrough. Difficulty-wise it should be accessible to most players who've played pwads before, although it can kill you if you're not careful.

 

Screenshots:

 

Download: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/atrophy

 

Credits:

Spoiler

MAP01 Midi - Grandfather Clocktower by Viscra Maelstrom

MAP02 Midi - The Infinite Labyrinth by Tristan Clark

Title screen and intermission Midi - Lurking by Arsinikk

Xaser's skybox from dead.wire

Around 5 custom textures from cc4-tex

Thanks to Biodegradable, LordEntr0py, GarretChan, CarmeloSantos for playtesting

 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Lorenz0

[LadyMistDragon]

 

[TJG1289]

Super cool map! Love the atmosphere, and the gray/red colors. Map isn't too hard, though the narrow corridors with the enemies in them by the yellow key got me. I'm assuming the BFG opens when you find all the secrets, which was a cool touch. Final slaughter isn't too bad with it. Enjoyed this one a lot!

[Zahid]

Good map and promising efforts but don't like it much as i  am  not a fan of such bleached colors and fights were plain too....architect and layout was great progression was again rather basic

my fda prboom cl9 

popi9.zip

[dashlet]

Decent map. Nailed a interesting atmosphere. You created a bizarre and unsettling world full of mysteries that was interesting to explore. 

Demo: Recorded using dsda doom v0.25.6 with saves and loads (Although i didn't end up using loads i think)

atrophy_dash.zip

The zip also contains pictures of my favorite places in your map.

 

Some notes: 

Spoiler

• I liked the map introduction, gives the player some time to absorb the atmosphere and the visuals before starting any of the combat.
• About the visuals: They are really interesting indeed, but i must say that i had a bad time visualizing some enemies, items and proyectiles. It made my eyes feel forced but that's just something that personally affected me.
• I like the little details here and there that give players clues to some sort world building aspects, like if the map has some sort of secret plot behind it. There are also some rooms which exist for the sake of visuals, which i find pretty nice to get back to the atmosphere. 
• Combat fits the map pace pretty well. I like how some of the traps give you enough space to move around to the point where you could get away from the enemies, but also some other traps didn't lock you up like a typical set piece encounter. Makes the encounters feel more organic and they didn't step down the challenge by doing so.
• Final arena its good, with the reveal of the bizarre skybox. There's one thing though: Some enemies were teleporting very slow, which can be annoying and makes the fight lose a bit of its charm. 
• I found the A and B switches by using the automap, not sure if that's something you intended.
• Overall good map. Nothing really bad to say about it.

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by dashlet

[Somniac]

 

I really liked what you did here with the stark, minimalist colours and lighting. MIDIs were absolutely spot on, complemented the map(s) very well. Combat had some good moments too! I died a couple of times (archviles in the caves gave me some trouble, hehe) but got through it in the end, and there was health available that I hadn't previously picked up near the start. I might have preferred a bit more readily available armour, though I only found half the secrets I think, so maybe there was more hidden away. Cool map!

Edited August 1, 2023 by Somniac

[TheShep]

gray

[Lorenz0]

Thanks for playing everyone!

From what I observed while watching multiple people's playthroughs, I won't need to make any major changes for the idgames release, just a few cosmetic things. One other thing I'm going to do is add some new titlescreen and intermission music. This may be just one playable map, but I think new midis in those places will make the wad feel more immersive anyway. So stay tuned for the update :)

[Lorenz0]

The wad is officially out on idgames! The link in the main post has been updated with the new download.

 

Changes include minor cosmetic adjustments, such as brightness changes, texture alignments etc. as well as new title/intermission music by Arsinikk. I also changed the intermission screen to a pure black one.

 

I hope you all enjoy.

[Maribo]

UV FDA (-dsdademo format, v0.26.2 for playback): atrophy_fda_maribo.zip

I meant to play this back when it was first posted, but unfortunately didn't find enough time to do so. Getting to it now and really loving the alternate color palette, and probably appreciating it even more after playing AD's recent map that also plays around with greyscale vision, although this one sticks to to being entirely greyscale and (mostly) deep reds. Beautiful in presentation and modestly sinister in tone. I love the way Pain Elementals look in this palette, I absolutely LOVE the way the blood floors and bloodfalls look in contrast to all of the grey decor, and that sky in the finale is perfect.

Wonderful map, thanks for making it.

[philcul]

Hey, I just played through it and I wanted to say that I loved it. Even though it isn't a really long map it took me quite some time, mostly because I took it slow to soak in the atmosphere and mood. It felt touching in a way that is hard to describe, like it was permeated with a sense of longing or something similar. English isn't my native language so I struggle a bit with describing it fully, but I will remember this experience for a long time I think, one of my favourite single-map-wads I've played in a long time.

The secrets were really nicely done - I liked that while they weren't handed to you they were still signposted in a way that didn't necessitate a look in doombuilder. Just paying attention to unexplored places or openings on the automap and looking around carefully was enough. I loved how the BFG was a reward for finding all the secrets and how this was hinted at with the secor 's'.