"The Stalker" - a creepy doom level I dare you to play

[FanTazTiCxD]

I present to you my creepiest creation:

"The Stalker" - A perfect wad for a true horror-videogame fan

 

 

Story:

Imagine a mashup between Slenderman and Hogwards

 

In this map you are wandering around some creepy and strangely empty marble hallways searching for a way out to the sound of nothing but the sounds of a dungeon and some weird voices in your head... Or are they in your head? Or are they real? Where are all the monsters? Or maybe you are not alone after all? Suddenly, you see something moving, but before you know it, it's gone... You could swear you just saw something, but now you're just all alone again... Every hallway you see looks uninviting and dangerous. But standing still also creeps you out, because someone or something is definitely heading your way sooner or later. So you have to get moving. It's like no matter what you do, it just feels wrong.

 

Concept idea (this may include some spoilers):

Spoiler

I wanted to make a sequal to my other map called "Haunted Halls" many years ago. Haunted Halls was done using repetitive copy/pasted sectors, and it followed the idea that you were walking through some long and dark hallways while being chased by some arch-viles that teleport around - inspired by Slenderman. This time, I wanted to avoid copy-pasting a lot, so I put more effort into making it less repetitive. Your job is to find and press 6 switches hidden around in the hallways to open up 6 walls that will guide you to the secondary part of the map, where you can finally start slaying monsters using weapons like the classic doom experience. But the first part of the map is the creepiest part. So yeah, the map is divided into two parts: A creepy part and an epic battle part. The map finishes off with a difficult boss battle, and a small joke at the end to catch a relief.

 

 

Important information and gameplay rules:

This is a one-level wad replacing MAP01 in the Doom 2 iWad. It's meant to be played using a sourceport that allows jumping and crouching. CAN be played using vanilla doom, but unlocking all secrets would then be impossible without IDCLIP, since jump/crouch isn't an option.

When starting the game:

- Go to settings and turn off the in-game music. Sound effects including music is a part of the experience (The file-size is big for this reason also)

- Recommended "Hurt me plenty" difficulty

- When starting a new game, open the console at type "Turbo 45" to decrease your running speed to 45%. In vanilla doom, you can also simply disable running, but that would make you slightly faster, which is an advantage.

- Turn off all the lights in your room, play when it's dark outside, and use headphones for authentic experience (Don't worry, there are no jumpscares or other terry-trap alike stuff)

 

-----------------------------------

 

Download link: https://we.tl/t-77a6SwuENg (If this is the wrong way to share a file, please tell me how I should do it instead)

Secondary download link in case first one expires: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rv1wc25yaKOKWUtsd2EGAp0pL84TdCtY/view?usp=sharing

 

-----------------------------------

 

Tell me what you think. Did it creep you out? I would love to see some gameplay of my map, if anyone is interested in posting it to YouTube :-D But other than that, I just wanted to share my creation and spread some joy... And some creepiness too...

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by FanTazTiCxD
I had accidentally uploaded an early version of my map. The download links are now updated with the newest version

[LadyMistDragon]

Try uploading the file somewhere where the link doesn't expire on seven days. Google drive and MEGA are pretty good for that usually.

[FanTazTiCxD]

10 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Try uploading the file somewhere where the link doesn't expire on seven days. Google drive and MEGA are pretty good for that usually.

Thanks, I added a secondary download link from google drive. Hope I have done it correctly

[Sonikkumania]

I can't play it atm but judging from the screencaps some of the texture choices seem odd. Don't get me wrong, the architecture looks nice but for example what's with the Wolf3D Nazi eagle within an obviously hellish enviroment? I will post a review when I've done.

[DoomGappy]

56 minutes ago, Sonikkumania said:

I can't play it atm but judging from the screencaps some of the texture choices seem odd. Don't get me wrong, the architecture looks nice but for example what's with the Wolf3D Nazi eagle within an obviously hellish enviroment? I will post a review when I've done.

 

That's just his stylistic choice. Looks really interesting IMO. Would you suggest he use another texture there?

[Sonikkumania]

10 minutes ago, jo2ukegappy said:

Would you suggest he use another texture there?

I suggest he aligns some of the textures and reconsiders some texture choices with bearing this John Romero quote in mind:

Quote

Use special border textures between different wall segments and doorways

And yes I think using Wolf3D textures on a Doom setting can be challenging and sometimes it doesn't fit.

I WILL POST A REVIEW CONSIDERING GAMEPLAY WHEN I'M HOME.

[dmh094]

I’ll have a play of this. Looks pretty promising.

 

if you wanted to go with a creepy looking tone, the gothictx pack on realm 667 would go a long way to give you some options :)

Edited October 18, 2023 by dmh094

[Guff dotD]

5 minutes ago, dmh094 said:

if you wanted to go with a crappy looking tone, the gothictx pack on realm 667 would go a long way to give you some options :)

Do you mean 'creepy'?

 

[DoomGappy]

@FanTazTiCxD, what is the average playtime of this?

 

51 minutes ago, Sonikkumania said:

I suggest he aligns some of the textures and reconsiders some texture choices with bearing this John Romero quote in mind:

And yes I think using Wolf3D textures on a Doom setting can be challenging and sometimes it doesn't fit.

I WILL POST A REVIEW CONSIDERING GAMEPLAY WHEN I'M HOME.

I understand but disagree. It's very personal. I hate the cement textures in Doom because to me they just look greenish and ugly, but other people use it all the time. I like the way he used the wolf texture here. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Edited October 18, 2023 by jo2ukegappy

[Proxy-MIDI]

Well, I tested this wad and all I can say is... a huge disappointment ! >_<

 

Spoiler

My gosh, I thought this will be a duel against the invisible archvile all along on this creepy map. The jumpscares worked so well and the atmosphere was so unsettling that I absolutely wanted to keep that to the end. So the beginning is incredible ! Everything was very good ! <3

But unfortunately, there's the second part of the map... and this was a slaughter-ish map when you're finding the missing keys. And that's all. So ja, too bad... :/

 

Maybe next time try to keep the first part for an entire map and this will be a perfect creepy wad ! ;)

[dmh094]

19 minutes ago, Guff dotD said:

Do you mean 'creepy'?

 

That I do 😂😂

 

edited :P

[DoomGappy]

1 hour ago, Proxy-MIDI said:

Well, I tested this wad and all I can say is... a huge disappointment ! >_<

 

  Hide contents

My gosh, I thought this will be a duel against the invisible archvile all along on this creepy map. The jumpscares worked so well and the atmosphere was so unsettling that I absolutely wanted to keep that to the end. So the beginning is incredible ! Everything was very good ! <3

But unfortunately, there's the second part of the map... and this was a slaughter-ish map when you're finding the missing keys. And that's all. So ja, too bad... :/

 

Maybe next time try to keep the first part for an entire map and this will be a perfect creepy wad ! ;)

I felt the same way, honestly. I loved the creepy vibes in the beginning, the slaughter didn't match this at all. Uploading a gameplay for you, OP.

Edit: Here's the video: 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by jo2ukegappy

[FanTazTiCxD]

Spoiler

Hey man, I appreciate your feedback! 

 

Yeah this would definitely work with the creepy atmosphere from start to finish also. As a creator, I just felt so disappointed that I built all this, only for the player to never really use it for regular doom play, and not pay attention to the architecture out of pure fear from the arch-viles approaching. So I wanted the reuse the map that I built (in a mirror'ed version) for regular doom gameplay as well - where the player really gets to move around the same areas to collect items and shoot monsters to notice everything more. My thought was that the player would have a big relief from finally finding that rocket launcher and seeing normal monsters ahead to kill. Metal music kicking in. I made it! No more being stalked, now it's time to release the action! I liked the idea of that contrast. But I agree, that this map could have worked perfectly with only part 1 as well. Thanks for your feedback!

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by FanTazTiCxD

[FanTazTiCxD]

3 hours ago, Sonikkumania said:

I can't play it atm but judging from the screencaps some of the texture choices seem odd. Don't get me wrong, the architecture looks nice but for example what's with the Wolf3D Nazi eagle within an obviously hellish enviroment? I will post a review when I've done.

Haha, I know a lot of people have mixed feelings about the wolfenstein textures and monsters being used with anything other than that :P Personally, I don't mind it. I wanted to use a painting, and what I could find was either the one with Hitler, or the one with the eagle, so I had to choose one. I haven't learned to use custom textures yet, so I'm just stuck with the vanilla-textures, which is also fine for me :P

 

Besides, that eagle could also look similar to the Ravenclaw logo from Harry Potter, fitting in well with the hogwards theme in that room

Edited October 18, 2023 by FanTazTiCxD

[FanTazTiCxD]

Oh my god... I just realized that the google drive download link was an older version of my map using different background sound effects and less monsters. Both of the download links has now been updated. If you downloaded from WeTransfer you got the newest version. If you downloaded from Google Drive, please delete the file, and download the one I linked to now instead

[SupremeBioVizier]

This is good stuff.

[FanTazTiCxD]

50 minutes ago, jo2ukegappy said:

I felt the same way, honestly. I loved the creepy vibes in the beginning, the slaughter didn't match this at all. Uploading a gameplay for you, OP.

Edit: Here's the video: 

 

 

I watched the whole thing, and I really enjoyed to see your reaction! You downloaded an older version of my map, that I accidentally uploaded to begin with, but he difference isn't so big.

 

Spoiler

The version you played featured only one arch-vile teleporting around chasing you, while the newest version has 3. Still beatable though. Plus the background sounds are a bit different on the newest version. You also forgot to turn turbo down to 45, but oh well... 

 

A bit disappointed you didn't finish to experience the boss fight and the joke at the end xD But that's okay. I am glad you found it creepy as intended! And I totally understand the confusion you had about the change in style halfway through the map. But I explained my thoughts on that in an earlier post here

 

[DoomGappy]

7 minutes ago, FanTazTiCxD said:

I watched the whole thing, and I really enjoyed to see your reaction! You downloaded an older version of my map, that I accidentally uploaded to begin with, but he difference isn't so big.

 

  Hide contents

The version you played featured only one arch-vile teleporting around chasing you, while the newest version has 3. Still beatable though. Plus the background sounds are a bit different on the newest version. You also forgot to turn turbo down to 45, but oh well... 

 

A bit disappointed you didn't finish to experience the boss fight and the joke at the end xD But that's okay. I am glad you found it creepy as intended! And I totally understand the confusion you had about the change in style halfway through the map. But I explained my thoughts on that in an earlier post here

 

 

Oh, I forgot the speed thing. Man, that would be absolutely terrifying. I really think you should divide this into tqo maps, the first one with only the archviles until you get to the end, and the second making away from the end back to the beginning. It would be incredibly crazy.