Bloodbath Babylon I - Into The Sandy City. Single map with explosive city-based combat!

[DreadWanderer]

Update: No issues in the most recent incarnation of the map(s). I recorded a UV max playthrough and I'm uploading it as we speak. Will post it once it's finished processing!

[EduardoAndFriends]

29 minutes ago, DreadWanderer said:

Update: No issues in the most recent incarnation of the map(s). I recorded a UV max playthrough and I'm uploading it as we speak. Will post it once it's finished processing!

Cool, man, glad to hear all went well. Look forward to your vid! :p

[97th Century Fox]

Just played it, very good wad!

[Degree23]

Excellent map. Really enjoyed playing this.

[EduardoAndFriends]

58 minutes ago, 97th Century Fox said:

Just played it, very good wad!

 

8 minutes ago, Degree23 said:

Excellent map. Really enjoyed playing this.

Thanks very much, peeps! :)

[Wo0p]

This was a wonderful map for an intermediate Doom player ^_^ I played on HMP in GZDoom and had no issues or found any bugs. And I love ANY map that reduces Lost Soul health >:) Screw those guys! Also that energetic midi was way too hyper for someone who just woke up lmao! But it was really good and fitting :>

Here's my feedback for improvement. Everything I don't touch on was something I enjoyed and can freely be seen as great praise! :D

 

The three platforms that raise and lower are a bit annoying to deal with. The distance and such between them are fine, I just suck at making gaps lol, but they kinda impede the flow of the map by stopping the player in their tracks and forcing them to wait. Not once, or twice, but thrice. Perhaps if you made the middle pillar lower when the first and third one rises. Then the player just has to get on the first one before they can smoothly get up over on the third. A thought :)

 

The large cityscape arena with the red key card (And the main attraction area!) is so big I was still encountering stray Cacos and Lost Souls when I was running to the exit room o_o Perhaps there's a way to limit their movement by blocking off scenic offshoot areas so they don't accidentally get stuck there and have to backtrack? I'm not sure. Or perhaps if they can't fly so high in certain areas it would help. I dunno! Again, another thought :)

 

Looking forward to seeing more!

[Insaneprophet]

arrggghhhh. I cant access either download link.

I swear this has never happened before. I cant seem to get the files to come up... its a real mood killer...

[DreadWanderer]

It's finally up, sorry for the delay - YT's been taking longer than usual for HD. Btw this is the first time I've recorded and posted your work on my channel, can't believe the situation! Also, apologies for the occasional framerate drops, I'm doing this on a shabby but comfy machine with integrated graphics, so the CPU is doing all the encoding work :(

 

 

[Pomps]

ohhhh yes yes yes!!

[EduardoAndFriends]

10 hours ago, Insaneprophet said:

arrggghhhh. I cant access either download link.

I swear this has never happened before. I cant seem to get the files to come up... its a real mood killer...

Dang. I've put up an alternative link in the OP. Google Drive was giving me sass. Hope it works!

[EduardoAndFriends]

10 hours ago, Wo0p said:

This was a wonderful map for an intermediate Doom player ^_^ I played on HMP in GZDoom and had no issues or found any bugs. And I love ANY map that reduces Lost Soul health >:) Screw those guys! Also that energetic midi was way too hyper for someone who just woke up lmao! But it was really good and fitting :>

Here's my feedback for improvement. Everything I don't touch on was something I enjoyed and can freely be seen as great praise! :D

 

The three platforms that raise and lower are a bit annoying to deal with. The distance and such between them are fine, I just suck at making gaps lol, but they kinda impede the flow of the map by stopping the player in their tracks and forcing them to wait. Not once, or twice, but thrice. Perhaps if you made the middle pillar lower when the first and third one rises. Then the player just has to get on the first one before they can smoothly get up over on the third. A thought :)

 

The large cityscape arena with the red key card (And the main attraction area!) is so big I was still encountering stray Cacos and Lost Souls when I was running to the exit room o_o Perhaps there's a way to limit their movement by blocking off scenic offshoot areas so they don't accidentally get stuck there and have to backtrack? I'm not sure. Or perhaps if they can't fly so high in certain areas it would help. I dunno! Again, another thought :)

 

Looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks, W00p! I'm very grateful for your time spent playing and feedback. Lots to consider and chew over while I let the map sit for a short while in case there are other bits of feedback to consider for a further update. Cheers! :D

[jmac]

I really like this map. Not just because it's beautiful (which it is), but the gameplay is also very satisfying. It's a bit on the easy side, but never felt boring at any point. I had been feeling a bit burnt out on doom for the last month or so, and playing this got me back into the mood, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the mapset.

 

Maybe an interesting note, but I showed screenshots of it to a friend who doesn't play doom, and he said the visuals gave him Serious Sam vibes. I don't know if that was something you were going for, but I kind of see the similarity now that it's been pointed out to me.

[EduardoAndFriends]

6 hours ago, jmac said:

I really like this map. Not just because it's beautiful (which it is), but the gameplay is also very satisfying. It's a bit on the easy side, but never felt boring at any point. I had been feeling a bit burnt out on doom for the last month or so, and playing this got me back into the mood, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the mapset.

 

Maybe an interesting note, but I showed screenshots of it to a friend who doesn't play doom, and he said the visuals gave him Serious Sam vibes. I don't know if that was something you were going for, but I kind of see the similarity now that it's been pointed out to me.

Thanks! Yeah, it’s not a tough map by any stretch of the imagination. :) I’ve not really played Serious Sam, but I know what you mean. Certainly Painkiller was a bit of an influence, especially the later Arabian levels.

[Insaneprophet]

  Thank you so much for dealing with my inneptitude. Still dont know why everything was locked out for me as Ive been downloading wads off various sites forever and have pretty much never needed accounts and permissions, infact both google and dropbox have many times over just given me what I wanted including no problems dowloading all of your previous mapsets. 

  Anywho... I feel safe saying that this may be my favorite map of yours so far. Unknown exactly why because Ive loved everything from Relic to Down Under to Deep Breath to Grime. Perhaps because I love city lvls, perhaps because it really is beautifully designed and feels like Im fighting through the hanging gardens or maybe the combat, though fairly easy, felt a little more organic without all the lock ins, arenas and teleport ambushes I know you for. I am for the most part a fan of pre-placed monsters and incedental fighting, it makes a map feel more like a real place and opens up the oportunity to add in traps and set piece fights without breaking the immersion of the world.

  Had no problems finding the two mega-sphere secrets but the other two, plasma and "was here" really took alot of hunting despite seeing them, good job and really well implemented, I love all the different approaches. For a second I thought I may have sequence broke the map by jumping to the red key from the second mega before ever climbing the buildings, getting the rocket launcer or entering that half of the map but in hind sight I dont feel it matters what order thing are approached which just makes it that much more enjoyable and cohesive.

  Again, anywho, thanks for making this, sharing it and putting it up in multiple places just so as I could get a chance to play it. This will be a wonderful first map and I am really looking forward to more. 😀

Edited January 7 by Insaneprophet

[DreadWanderer]

Something really minor: at some point I think you should take the first image in this thread and put it in the wad as an M_DOOM picture.

[DoomGuy2077]

Great map! I wish there was more.

[EduardoAndFriends]

10 hours ago, Insaneprophet said:

  Thank you so much for dealing with my inneptitude. Still dont know why everything was locked out for me as Ive been downloading wads off various sites forever and have pretty much never needed accounts and permissions, infact both google and dropbox have many times over just given me what I wanted including no problems dowloading all of your previous mapsets. 

  Anywho... I feel safe saying that this may be my favorite map of yours so far. Unknown exactly why because Ive loved everything from Relic to Down Under to Deep Breath to Grime. Perhaps because I love city lvls, perhaps because it really is beautifully designed and feels like Im fighting through the hanging gardens or maybe the combat, though fairly easy, felt a little more organic without all the lock ins, arenas and teleport ambushes I know you for. I am for the most part a fan of pre-placed monsters and incedental fighting, it makes a map feel more like a real place and opens up the oportunity to add in traps and set piece fights without breaking the immersion of the world.

  Had no problems finding the two mega-sphere secrets but the other two, plasma and "was here" really took alot of hunting despite seeing them, good job and really well implemented, I love all the different approaches. For a second I thought I may have sequence broke the map by jumping to the red key from the second mega before ever climbing the buildings, getting the rocket launcer or entering that half of the map but in hind sight I dont feel it matters what order thing are approached which just makes it that much more enjoyable and cohesive.

  Again, anywho, thanks for making this, sharing it and putting it up in multiple places just so as I could get a chance to play it. This will be a wonderful first map and I am really looking forward to more. 😀

Thanks very much, matey! So glad you enjoyed. I certainly wanted to take a more organic “lived in” approach to the city by having most of the monsters locked behind the descending walls with as little teleporting baddies as possible. I see the red key has caused some mystification for some people but I was adamant that I wanted people to leap to it, as rooftop leaping is something going back to Downtown and Industrial Zone. I just had to do it! :) I’ve since put in the subtlest arrow pointing there also as a reference to Sandy’s arrow in Downtown, lol. 
 

cheers!

[EduardoAndFriends]

1 minute ago, DoomGuy2077 said:

Great map! I wish there was more.

Thanks! There will be, no worries about that. :p

[EduardoAndFriends]

9 hours ago, DreadWanderer said:

Something really minor: at some point I think you should take the first image in this thread and put it in the wad as an M_DOOM picture.

Well, it was, originally. Then it made things far too busy when opened on the title screen, which I don’t wish to change as I feel it’s nice and simple and would double up on the title when the menu is opened. I’ll think on it some more, though.

[Aeddes666]

 

Edited January 9 by Aeddes666

[EduardoAndFriends]

5 hours ago, Aeddes666 said:

 

Nice one! Gonna watch this later … thanks for playing!

[Doom Wads]

Amazing!

 

[EduardoAndFriends]

5 hours ago, dragzxnd said:

Amazing!

 

Thanks mate! Can’t wait to watch later. :D thanks for playing!

[EduardoAndFriends]

On 1/10/2024 at 5:20 AM, Aeddes666 said:

 

 

On 1/11/2024 at 4:24 AM, dragzxnd said:

Amazing!

 

Excellent playthroughs, guys! Really fun to watch. Thanks again. :)

[Oxyde]

 

 

Here is my modest FDA!

 

What a level! I especially enjoyed the flow and how open the level is, nothing too difficult so it gets the job done.

Amazing visuals, these new barrels look really cool though I personally had a bit of a struggle to notice them during fights. My guess is that the level's color palette/theme is a bit too close to the actual barrel's, resulting in the prop blending in a little too well.

 

Excellent job!

[EduardoAndFriends]

17 hours ago, Oxyde said:

 

 

Here is my modest FDA!

 

What a level! I especially enjoyed the flow and how open the level is, nothing too difficult so it gets the job done.

Amazing visuals, these new barrels look really cool though I personally had a bit of a struggle to notice them during fights. My guess is that the level's color palette/theme is a bit too close to the actual barrel's, resulting in the prop blending in a little too well.

 

Excellent job!

Hiya! Thanks so much for playing. :) I actually tried making the barrel a couple of different shades (red, yellow, orange) to see how they looked and they really stood out, but in a bad way if I didn't keep them a natural wood tone, unfortunately. I'll think on the issue for a bit and see what else my brain comes up with. Thanks for the feedback and for the FDA!

[worldoffood]

This looks so good! Any plans to add more maps?

[Clippy]

Excellent as always really dig your mapping you got a good feel down - I looked up those secrets later lol crazy stuff - was fun - well built and a great eye for detail look really nice kudos 

 

 

[EduardoAndFriends]

4 hours ago, Clippy said:

Excellent as always really dig your mapping you got a good feel down - I looked up those secrets later lol crazy stuff - was fun - well built and a great eye for detail look really nice kudos 

 

 

Thanks, bud. Big thanks for playing!

[EduardoAndFriends]

On 1/14/2024 at 11:33 PM, worldoffood said:

This looks so good! Any plans to add more maps?

Thanks! Yeah I’ve got a few more maps in mind… but they’ll be a little way off. Got one finished but I need to balance it better before inflicting it on people! :D