STRUCTURE, an exploration map inspired by my dreams, liminal spaces and brutalism! [ALPHA RELEASED!]

[Matt Eldrydge]

 

FORMAT: UDMF
PORT: LZDoom/GZDoom, possibly Zandronum (untested).
MODE: Singleplayer. Co-op starts are present but untested. Way too big for deathmatch.
RENDERER: Hardware, with software sector lighting.
MOUSELOOK: Yes.
JUMPING AND CROUCHING: Yes. Required to fully explore the map.
LENGTH: 20 minutes to one hour and a half (estimated).
DIFFICULTY: Mild. Exploration is the main draw here. Only UV is implemented for this reason. There are no marked secrets either, that way you can explore without worrying about where that darn secret is!

CUSTOM CONTENT: Yes. A few new monsters will be included in the actual release.

CREDITS: In the spoiler below. It'll likely change over time given the scope of this project.

Spoiler

TEXTURES:

Sets found in Afterglow:

Espi's Hellcore tex 
Gothic textures (fancy rugs, oh my)
Gray texture pack
Fredrik's Doom Textures
ID Tex

Jimmytex

 

Skybox:
Mechadon's Box o' Skies

Textures found in the Post your Doom Textures thread:
CherryPoptartzzz - extra bookcase textures.
MundyC - tan locker textures.
XLightningStormL - silver locker textures, CRT TV textures.
I'll track down their specific posts eventually. Sorry it's not correct just yet. :(

 

GRAPHICS

M_DOOM - made by H3LLW4LKER.

 

MONSTERS

Static entity, asbestos entity - made by Skelegant. More detailed credits can be found in the PK3.

Spiders - made by MarlboroMike2100.

Harder Event monsters - Used with permission from TerminusEst13. The rest of the credits will be added in due time.

 

MUSIC
All original, made by me!

DWONLOAD: ALPHA, DECEMBER 2023

 

MOST RECENT POST: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2745959

 

DISCLAIMER: MyHouse.WAD has indeed inspired this map, but I'll say I couldn't dream of piggybacking off Veddge's work. Period. What Veddge achieved is far beyond anything I could hope to make. The inspiration has purely come from how exploration is handled in that map, and more importantly, how finding a new area is its own reward.

 

With that out of the way...

 

Back in March of this 2023, I released a map called Exalvid under another account. I had planned for it to ship with a secret map themed after liminal spaces and still inspired by places I'd seen in my dreams, but with the way things went, I wound up not having the energy to actually finish it.

 

Structure is the same idea, but realized after I made a few maps and got arguably ok at this whole mapping thing. It includes a few more UDMF features, like 3D floors.

 

The main visual theme of this map is brutalism, with some liminal space goodness thrown in to break up the primarily monochrome palette of the map. It has a lot of dead ends, twists and turns, places that don't make a lot of sense, long hallways that stretch on for no reason, that kind of thing.

A few areas do stray from this vibe, but by and large this is meant to be a very grey, labirynthine map with doors that open in a number of directions.

This is why this map will have multiple exits. None of them require keys to unlock, finding them is enough of a challenge. By the time you find one, you're free to take it or continue exploring. Supplies are fairly abundant if you go looking for them. Resupply rooms are sprinkled around, offering a full heal and some ammo in most cases. A few also hold spare weapons, should you not find any elsewhere.

Edited December 14, 2023 by Matt Eldrydge
Updates + public alpha available.

[DEYBAR_TECH]

It looks interesting
I will definitely download it when it is available.

 

 

but I have a question.....

What do you mean by "brutalism"?

 

I don't like extreme "Gore"

but we're in the Doom community so..... "Brutal"?

 

Maybe you explained it in the video but it is very long. I'm sorry

[DSC]

1 minute ago, DEYBAR_TECH said:

It looks interesting
I will definitely download it when it is available.

 

 

but I have a question.....

What do you mean by "brutalism"?

 

I don't like extreme "Gore"

but we're in the Doom community so..... "Brutal"?

 

Maybe you explained it in the video but it is very long. I'm sorry

They are referring to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture

[Matt Eldrydge]

 

26 minutes ago, DEYBAR_TECH said:

but I have a question.....

What do you mean by "brutalism"?

 

What @DSC linked. It's an architectural style composed of raw concrete, glass and exposed metal, usually with some sharp angles.

 

Happy to see people are interested in it. :)

[DEYBAR_TECH]

ok, so it's a build style.

thank you!

[ℂ𝕝𝕦𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣_𝔾𝕦𝕪]

On 8/10/2023 at 4:57 AM, Matt Eldrydge said:

DWONLOAD

dwonload))) but mod look Interesting 

Edited August 11, 2023 by Serious Vadim

[Matt Eldrydge]

4 hours ago, Serious Vadim said:

dwonload))) but mod look Interesting 

 

I think I should have said dnolowad. dloadwn? English is hard.

 

Thanks for the compliment though, I'm sure you'll enjoy it when it's done if you like what you saw!

[Matt Eldrydge]

A little over a month later, I bring you some news regarding Structure! Starting from where it matters most:

 

I've significantly expanded the entire map!

 

 

Old areas got more details, there are now (fairly well hidden) fast travel spots, many of the areas now have at least two routes to be accessed by.

 

 

Entirely new areas have been added. These are not that hard to find, and the mini-levels still are heavy WIPs. Doom is still about shooting stuff, after all.

Yeah, I just noticed the misaligned texture near the entrance. Oops.

 

The Structure is no longer so empty, either. Keep an eye out for its denizens when travelling through its innards- they may prove difficult to deal with.

 

There's now ambient sounds to further immerse you in this concrete nightmare! They will be added in due time, however, as I'm new to actually using them.

 

With some luck, Structure will be out by the end of the year, but no promises. I'm still working alone for the most part and learning a lot about Decorate and certain GZDoom features as I go along.

 

Special thanks to Skelegant, Joblez, MarlboroMike2100 and Jarewill for their contributions and assistance, this major update wouldn't be possible without them!

[Matt Eldrydge]

This update is a bit less substantive, but no less cool! A few days ago, I asked @ShallowBif he'd be interested in playing a prealpha for Structure and the answer was yes, so enjoy his video!

 

 

On the more dev-oriented side of things, I'm thinking about making a build of the map publically available by next month! Given the sheer size of this map, I'm pretty sure no one would mind this, right?

[Matt Eldrydge]

Since Christmas is just around the corner and I haven't really worked on Structure since October, have an alpha! I did make some slight changes since @ShallowB's video - which in hindsight only showed maybe a third of the whole map. :P

 

There's also a monster pack composed of ghostly, unusual monsters borrowed from TerminusEst13's excellent Harder Event in the folder - it's not fully balanced and some oddities may be present in the code. Load it if you want a harder experience and/or want to play with a weapon mod that's a bit stronger than usual.

 

Once Structure resumes construction, rest assured it'll have a proper arsenal of its own but until then, feel free to use what you like. :)

 

Happy exploring!

[smotereverser]

Just downloaded this and had a look around - love the level design! 90's mall meets house of leaves. Can't wait to see it populated

[Matt Eldrydge]

4 hours ago, smotereverser said:

Just downloaded this and had a look around - love the level design! 90's mall meets house of leaves. Can't wait to see it populated

 

Thanks! If you look hard enough, I'm sure you'll find some monsters - there are two combat-focused areas, as well as some small monster pockets placed outside of them. The combat-focused areas are pretty much maps unto their own, so you can expect to be in them for around 5 minutes or so. :)