Dyatlov Canyon (7 Maps, Doom II, Vanilla Compatible)

[Wilster_Wonkels]

This is about seven maps I've been working on for the last couple of months. They're all vanilla compatible, and most of my testing has been with Chocolate Doom.

 

The skyboxes are custom, and there are some other custom textures that mostly consist of reworks of previously existing patches, or recolors of vanilla textures. As well as this the music is original too. The dehacked file changes some of the intermission text.

 

One noteworthy quirk about this set of levels is that it doesn't start on Map01. With the way I wanted intermissions and skybox changes to work out the first map is actually map10, and the final map is map16, so please start from there. Another issue is that Map15 does not function properly in GZDoom. There is some voodoo doll trickery that turns the player into a ghost but it just kills the player outright in GZDoom.

 

As always, I look forward to feedback, and hope you enjoy yourselves.

 

Download:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/3v7cvikni936wrj/DYAT_1_1.zip/file

Sreenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by Wilster_Wonkels
Release of Version 1.1

[ryiron]

This is really good. I like the quiet atmosphere at the beginning, and the maps keep the spooky, unnerving vibe throughout. The music choices fit perfectly too. Gave it a go continuous. Died towards the end of the third map: dyat-fda-ryiron.zip

[Pechudin]

Given the title I was expecting a blizzard-style map, snow and winter.

[Wilster_Wonkels]

12 hours ago, ryiron said:

This is really good. I like the quiet atmosphere at the beginning, and the maps keep the spooky, unnerving vibe throughout. The music choices fit perfectly too. Gave it a go continuous. Died towards the end of the third map: dyat-fda-ryiron.zip

I'm glad you liked it, and judging by the demo you also did pretty good. Would you mind if I included your demo with future updates to the wad?

[ryiron]

22 minutes ago, Wilster_Wonkels said:

I'm glad you liked it, and judging by the demo you also did pretty good. Would you mind if I included your demo with future updates to the wad?

 

Sure, however if you change the map at all the demo likely won't sync any more.

[galileo31dos01]

Good to see more from you. I found some time to play a couple maps a day and currently I'm stopping at 31 for the moment, great stuff as usual. I do have a question though:

 

Spoiler

Is it intentional that you become a ghost in map 15? Judging by the text screen afterwards, something about not coming out alive, I'm gonna gauge that yes.. well and the absence of ammo past the "ghosting" phase should be a sign as well, methinks

 

[Helm]

I really loved your stuff! You're very talented, you have a great mind for encounter design, for atmosphere, for a simple (in terms of sector count) layout that is both devilish and vanilla-reminiscent in aesthetic in the key ways, without being slavish to the jank that often came with the old stuff. Great choice of music (I only played 10-14 so far) and the escalation of violence is much to my liking. Your Pain Elemental usage is a good spice on your spice rack. I would absolutely love to see your set grow to a full megawad, I say this very shelfishly, I know how hard it is to make such a thing, I only say this because I would want to see where you'd start narratively and where you'd end in a longer format. There's a lot to be inspired about in here. I hope many people play this.

[Firedust]

54 minutes ago, Helm said:

I really loved your stuff! You're very talented, you have a great mind for encounter design, for atmosphere, for a simple (in terms of sector count) layout that is both devilish and vanilla-reminiscent in aesthetic in the key ways, without being slavish to the jank that often came with the old stuff. Great choice of music (I only played 10-14 so far) and the escalation of violence is much to my liking. Your Pain Elemental usage is a good spice on your spice rack. I would absolutely love to see your set grow to a full megawad, I say this very shelfishly, I know how hard it is to make such a thing, I only say this because I would want to see where you'd start narratively and where you'd end in a longer format. There's a lot to be inspired about in here. I hope many people play this.

He's already made two fantastic megawads

[CrueCut]

Great maps, but...

 

Spoiler

Is the yellow key on map 15 supposed to kill the player and end the game?  Using GZDoom 4.10, I enter the yellow key room, the bars shut, and all I can do is push the switch.  But pushing the switch kills me after a few seconds and then the game ends and I have to restart from my last save.  Any clues what's going on here?  I know the level continues, so I have to assume this behavior is not intentional.

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Well....I wonder what happened to you! Have you ever mapped for any other games perchance?

 

 

Anyways, there'd be some faux salt or ironic Hellbound references or something but I'm sort of busy atm so I just wanted to say that a)you're clearly a person of culture from the name used here and b) the midi for Map 02 was really, really good!

 

 

 

[Wilster_Wonkels]

19 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

Is it intentional that you become a ghost in map 15?

 

The ghost effect was intentional, yes. That map was mostly about taking power away from the player, with that being the final challenge.

 

1 hour ago, CrueCut said:

Is the yellow key on map 15 supposed to kill the player and end the game?  Using GZDoom 4.10, I enter the yellow key room, the bars shut, and all I can do is push the switch. 

This might be an issue with GZDoom, I forgot to do any testing with it. The intention is to turn the player into a ghost, taking away their weapons but still letting them move around. It works in Chocolate Doom and PrBoom+ just fine, but I might need to add something in the OP about that.

 

16 hours ago, Helm said:

I really loved your stuff! You're very talented, you have a great mind for encounter design, for atmosphere, for a simple (in terms of sector count) layout that is both devilish and vanilla-reminiscent in aesthetic in the key ways, without being slavish to the jank that often came with the old stuff. Great choice of music (I only played 10-14 so far) and the escalation of violence is much to my liking. Your Pain Elemental usage is a good spice on your spice rack. I would absolutely love to see your set grow to a full megawad, I say this very shelfishly, I know how hard it is to make such a thing, I only say this because I would want to see where you'd start narratively and where you'd end in a longer format. There's a lot to be inspired about in here. I hope many people play this.

It's always nice getting a glowing review like this. I'm really glad you liked it. As for expanding this set, this is pretty much as it's going to stay. I did a couple megawads last year though as @Firedust pointed out.

 

3 minutes ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Well....I wonder what happened to you! Have you ever mapped for any other games perchance?

 

 

Anyways, there'd be some faux salt or ironic Hellbound references or something but I'm sort of busy atm so I just wanted to say that a)you're clearly a person of culture from the name used here and b) the midi for Map 02 was really, really good!

 

Yeah, I've been spending summer on a bit of a Doom hiatus after some people screwed me over and ex-communicated me for something I didn't do. I've had a good time playing some baseball though!

[taufan99]

I loved Stickney Installation Silence a lot. Gotta try this!

Edited September 3, 2023 by taufan99
Just mixed Silence with Stickney Installation since yesterday. D'oh!

[Firedust]

Just to echo what the other kind folks are saying, I adore your maps and am very excited to have you back. Looking forward to playing the episode!

[Kyka]

On 9/2/2023 at 10:23 AM, taufan99 said:

I loved Stickney Installation a lot. Gotta try this!

 

wait? Is wilster snaxolotl?

 

ON topic, this mapset looks cool. Will try when I get a chance.

[taufan99]

8 minutes ago, Kyka said:

wait? Is wilster snaxolotl?

I got Silence mixed up with Stickney Installation lol

 

Anyway, I also just played this mapset. I love its more mysterious, thriller-esque atmosphere so far.

[Wilster_Wonkels]

There's been an update to the mapset. The maps themselves are mostly the same, with only minor changes, the biggest change is that I cleaned up the wad file and cleared out extra files leftover from scrapped map ideas and such.

[Breezeep]

This is such a great set! It has that appealing DTWID-lite look and has the kind of punchy gameplay that I really enjoy. A definite contender for a cacoward in my book.

Spoiler

 

Just a minor nitpick: I wish these bodies of water had a proper waterfall texture.

 

Some oopsies.

 

 

[Wilster_Wonkels]

39 minutes ago, Breezeep said:

This is such a great set! It has that appealing DTWID-lite look and has the kind of punchy gameplay that I really enjoy. A definite contender for a cacoward in my book.

  Hide contents

 

Just a minor nitpick: I wish these bodies of water had a proper waterfall texture.

 

Some oopsies.

 

 

I was really hoping no one would notice that issue with the midbars.

[kalensar]

Glad to see you  back and with another cool mapset! Looks enjoyable.

[Somniac]

I finally got around to giving this a try and damn, killer set of maps that deserves more attention IMO. I loved the day/night transition, the music and atmosphere are super moody and the combat maintains a consistent level of spiciness. A highlight of what I've played this year for sure.