Sign of A Storm

[angelomerz]

Sign of a Storm is a (currently work in progress) set of boom-compatible maps with an cold, frozen and purple aestetic, featuring slaughter-ish gameplay with some platforming, custom  and otex textures and the second and third midis which i composed myself.
-DOOM2.WAD, prb+ complevel 9 (or equivalent)
-HNTR and HMP are implemented but not playtested
-Maps are intended to be played from pistol start in Ultra-Violence difficulty The wad is currently work in progress and only has 2 maps.
-Tested with dsdadoom with OpenGL renderer. Software renderer may cause some visual bugs.
I plan on publishing new maps once i finish them. I am mostly searching for feedback.

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T6TdgqrDiu9HkbdoZ8KNPUdqKYZfdnaB/view?usp=sharing

SCREENSHOTS:

Edited August 30, 2023 by angelomerz

[lubba127]

Maybe it's because I'm phone posting this but the download link is broken. It doesn't lead anywhere 

[angelomerz]

19 minutes ago, lubba127 said:

Maybe it's because I'm phone posting this but the download link is broken. It doesn't lead anywhere 

Fixed it now.

[Ravendesk]

Cool maps, I really liked them. Nice atmosphere and a pretty unique design. Progression was confusing at times, but I liked that, it added to the overall map vibe to me. Also I really appreciate some half-hidden goodies that are not marked as a secret. The combat was also solid, some encounters looked intimidating at first but were actually not too bad with a good strategy, ammo starvation was also done quite good I think especially in map 01.

 

A few questions/concerns:

1. For the starting room of map 01 I did the following:

Spoiler

Spawned archvile on the platform with a lift, ran from there to the yellow key platform, avjed to the yellow key itself (steps don't allow you to climb without avj).

I left one archvile alive expecting more avjs and ended up actually using him to avj to the BFG spot.

Is this progression intended or did I miss easier intended way?

2. Map 02 might use some monster blocklines. Especially sniping cybers in the main outdoors area can easily fall down. Same for the group of 3 archviles in the platforming arena fight (the one with icy looking platforms). I understand that you use flyers in this fight and this is tricky in boom but at least this one particular platform is worth monsterblocking imo.

3. Some switches randomly being shoot switches and some not having feedback was a bit confusing. Not sure if intended or not, but didn't feel like it adds much to the maps vibe.

4. The archvile/revs group in map 02 guarding the switch that starts the final fight is kinda trivial to deal with, you just climb the stairs, rocket them and they die. Can hide behind a corner if needed. Maybe something more interesting can be done with that particular encounter.

5. After the fight with revs on invisible bridge on map 02 it's hard to notice that there is a gap in the wall where you can jump because of grey rock on grey rock and it kinda blends. Maybe it's worth lighting it up a little bit so it's easier to notice from that bridge (being shot at by cyber doesn't help searching progression in this case). Other cases on non-obvious progression weren't a problem to me, but this part got me confused.

Edited September 1, 2023 by Ravendesk

[angelomerz]

6 hours ago, Ravendesk said:

Cool maps, I really liked them. Nice atmosphere and a pretty unique design. Progression was confusing at times, but I liked that, it added to the overall map vibe to me. Also I really appreciate some half-hidden goodies that are not marked as a secret. The combat was also solid, some encounters looked intimidating at first but were actually not too bad with a good strategy, ammo starvation was also done quite good I think especially in map 01.

 

A few questions/concerns:

1. For the starting room of map 01 I did the following:

  Hide contents

Spawned archvile on the platform with a lift, ran from there to the yellow key platform, avjed to the yellow key itself (steps don't allow you to climb without avj).

I left one archvile alive expecting more avjs and ended up actually using him to avj to the BFG spot.

Is this progression intended or did I missed more easier intended way?

2. Map 02 might use some monster blocklines. Especially sniping cybers in the main outdoors area can easily fall down. Same for the group of 3 archviles in the platforming arena fight (the one with icy looking platforms). I understand that you use flyers in this fight and this is tricky in boom but at least this one particular platform is worth monsterblocking imo.

3. Some switches randomly being shoot switches and some not having feedback was a bit confusing. Not sure if intended or not, but didn't feel like it adds much to the maps vibe.

4. The archvile/revs group in map 02 guarding the switch that starts the final fight is kinda trivial to deal with, you just climb the stairs, rocket them and they die. Can hide behind a corner if needed. Maybe something more interesting can be done with that particular encounter.

5. After the fight with revs on invisible bridge on map 02 it's hard to notice that there is a gap in the wall where you can jump because of grey rock on grey rock and it kinda blends. Maybe it's worth lighting it up a little bit so it's easier to notice from that bridge (being shot at by cyber doesn't help searching progression in this case). Other cases on non-obvious progression weren't a problem to me, but this part got me confused.

Damn man thanks for the feedback!

1 - Both the super shotgun and the yellow key in map01 are intended to be obtained archvile jumping.

2- For the monster blocking linedef i never thinked of that, i never managed to make the cyberdemon in map02 fall, but I will fix that as it is really annoying. And i will fox the archviles one too.

3 -  yeahYeah shootable switches not having a different texture or something really is a bad design choice, i need to rework them.

4 - thinking about the fight before the last fight, with the 3 viles and revenants, i made that as a filler fight just to drain your ammo a little but yeah I will probably change it because it serves literally 0 threats.

5 - Yeah, I will lighten up the part in map02 after the invisible bridge. I like not obvious progression, but managing to find the cave with the cyberdemon shooting at your back is just not fun.

[Ravendesk]

6 minutes ago, angelomerz said:

1 - Both the super shotgun and the yellow key in map01 are intended to be obtained archvile jumping.

Oh right, I avjed to SSG as well.

 

Props for that, that was a cool progression and a cool way to start a wad, really nice how that whole area develops.