WITCHELL, a Singleplayer Level For TNT (Boom Format)

[mrthejoshmon]

WITCHELL is a Witchaven inspired level for TNT made for Boom compatible sourceports.

 

STORY:

Spoiler

Thanks to the efforts of malevolent witches, this old fort has been used as a ritual ground for summoning daemons for ill purposes.

The witches weren't exactly thinking ahead however, the wards protecting them and their motley crew of rent-a-cop mercenaries have failed, the resulting disaster has left quite the mess, daemons are running amok and without any bindings keeping them at bay!

Guess who gets to clean this up. Hey at least the witches and their amateur muscle no longer pose a threat to you outside of being a trip hazard.

Better get to it you tough son of a bitch, this witch haven has become a witch hell.

 

The level is another long one, landing playtesting sessions from about 20-30 minutes, the difficulty can be charitably described as intermediate and shouldn't pose too much of a struggle for the average player. Originally I was going to modify the weaponry to have a more medieval theme and be melee focused, this idea was abandoned because it wasn't very good (and you'll see why when you get there).

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

• IWAD: TNT
• FORMAT: BOOM
• MAP#: MAP01
• MOD COMPATIBLE: YES

 

SCREENSHOTS:

Spoiler

 

 

UPDATED DOWNLOAD

 

CREDITS:

Witchaven texture pack by Ceeb on Realm667
Powerslave texture pack by Ceeb on Realm667

Mortal Kombat 3 Wasteland midi by Zero Beats on VGMusic

Crapstone for making Witchaven and giving me a longing for a better game.
Team TNT for making the objective best IWAD

id Software for Doom

You for reading this, maybe playing too.

 

BUGS:

I know about the slime trail on the stairs in the mini fort, I chased that little fucker all over the map and trapped him there for now, hopefully he stays there.

Edited February 4, 2024 by mrthejoshmon

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

@mrthejoshmon First of all... I apologize for not having read the IWAD to which this was directed before... I thought it was for Doom 2 and I never thought it was for TNT.
Secondly, I really liked the Map for the fact that it is not a linear Wad, but rather it has turned out to be an almost open world experience, which is why I really enjoyed having fun throughout the entire journey that this adventure has been, and manage to complete everything 100%. I really didn't think I would go that far but here I am recounting the facts huh. Although the beginning was a bit tough to chew, once you access a large part of the arsenal, things become more controllable, and about the atmosphere of the Wad, I can simply say that the work put in here looks excellent because of how The photos show the entire Wad on the outside. (I really apologize for not playing the map on TNT, my bad...)

 

 

 

[mrthejoshmon]

2 hours ago, ElPadrecitoCholo said:

*snip*

Thank you for the kind words and video playthrough.

 

Don't worry too much about running it in Doom 2 by mistake, it is done quite often.

 

Thanks to your playthrough I have spotted a softlock at the red key area (the one you rocket jumped out of) and will get it fixed as soon as I can, thank you.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

@mrthejoshmon You're welcome, it really has been a pleasure to have been able to play your Wad, the truth is that I had a lot of fun playing it all, and I'll really be waiting for more content from you bro. If you need a playtester for your maps, you can count on me there bro.

Thank you also for your understanding regarding my IWAD mistake, haha... And yes, that Softlock cost me a single death that I had to pass during the tour, but hey, let's just pretend that that death never happened and that I pass the game completely intact haha.

[scrm]

I really liked this map. I liked the open-ended nature and the exploration. The map has a really great and ominous atmosphere, thanks to the different areas, custom textures and music choice. Later on, it really made me anxious for what would be next, even though the difficulty was not that high. The visuals were also very well done. The different areas all looked distinct and like they were introducing something new just often enough for me to never get bored of anything. The white marble area towards the end looked especially otherworldly and cool. It all worked together well, without ever feeling over-detailed.

 

I found myself struggling for ammo every now and then. Sometimes I would have more than enough, at other times, I would run short of everything and had to backtrack for a long while to find more ammo.

 

Unfortunately, the map broke for me at the end. The walls with tag 13 simply wouldn't lower for me. Looking back at it, it was probably because I was playing in -complevel 4 instead of -complevel 9. D'oh. Not a mistake I'll do again.

 

I still rercorded a demo. Maybe it's useful to you. Features copious amounts of the aforementioned backtracking, along with me acting like a dummy in a couple of places, plus the softlock that was my fault. Regardless, I really enjoyed the map.

 

Edit: Replaced demo with the correct one.

 

 

mrthejoshmon-witchell1.zip

Edited February 3, 2024 by scrm

[Oxyde]

 

Well that was an adventure, really!

 

Almost 40 minutes of exploration and I enjoyed every bit of it. I especially enjoyed the non-linearity and how open everything is, you are free to craft your own experience blasting through this level and that's all for the better.

The final battle went even better than I could have hoped!

 

Seeing your initial description and about how you wanted this level to be melee oriented, I think you made the right choice to go Vanilla for this map.

 

I really recommend people play through this level!

Edited February 4, 2024 by Oxyde
Youtube re-upload

[LadyMistDragon]

At first, this seemed just like the last one, in a laughably rote manner. Things did start looking different once the central fortress was entered though.

 

 

 

[mrthejoshmon]

@scrm @Oxyde

Thank you for the playthroughs, I have spotted some rooms for improvement through viewing your demo and video, I have some changes I will be making, especially around ammo in the desert/forest section

 

@LadyMistDragon
Thank you for the video, it is still processing on my end and I will get to viewing it shortly.

 

EDIT: I have finished the video, once again I have noticed issues regarding ammo in certain areas I need to address.

Edited February 3, 2024 by mrthejoshmon

[Zahid]

classic style map i like outdoor area more fights wise than inside castle...it seems at first you put items and monsters randomly but after two deaths i realize the health ammo and sniper monsters requires a balance....it was fun play

my third attempt prboom cl9 uv demo

popi9.zip

[jmac]

What an absolute titan of a map. I had a lot of fun playing through it, and it almost felt like a mini adventure game with all the different environments to explore. I grew up playing Witchaven, so the textures felt nostalgic, even if they are a bit ugly. Difficulty is fairly low (I died twice on UV), but it still manages to feel oppressive at times. Especially near the beginning, when I hadn't accumulated much ammo yet. My favourite moment of the playthrough was when I was starting to get a bit desperate because I was running low on ammo, and the rocky outer area was still swarming with mid-tier demons, and then I stumbled across the mine full of shotgunners. I don't know if I've ever been so happy to wander into a horde of hitscanners.

 

I have only two nit-picks:

-The difficulty pacing feels a bit off. It actually seems to ease-off quite a bit once you get into the central fortress, when I was comfortably equipped with all weapons and plenty of ammo, and the fights (for the most part) got smaller.

-It felt odd that in such a sprawling nonlinear map, the only secret was the super shotgun, which didn't seem hidden at all. It was one of the very first things I found playing blind.

[mrthejoshmon]

2 hours ago, Zahid said:

classic style map i like outdoor area more fights wise than inside castle...it seems at first you put items and monsters randomly but after two deaths i realize the health ammo and sniper monsters requires a balance....it was fun play

my third attempt prboom cl9 uv demo

popi9.zip

Thank you for the demo.

I have some ideas on how the later sections can be improved by watching this.

 

2 hours ago, jmac said:

What an absolute titan of a map. I had a lot of fun playing through it, and it almost felt like a mini adventure game with all the different environments to explore. I grew up playing Witchaven, so the textures felt nostalgic, even if they are a bit ugly. Difficulty is fairly low (I died twice on UV), but it still manages to feel oppressive at times. Especially near the beginning, when I hadn't accumulated much ammo yet. My favourite moment of the playthrough was when I was starting to get a bit desperate because I was running low on ammo, and the rocky outer area was still swarming with mid-tier demons, and then I stumbled across the mine full of shotgunners. I don't know if I've ever been so happy to wander into a horde of hitscanners.

 

I have only two nit-picks:

-The difficulty pacing feels a bit off. It actually seems to ease-off quite a bit once you get into the central fortress, when I was comfortably equipped with all weapons and plenty of ammo, and the fights (for the most part) got smaller.

-It felt odd that in such a sprawling nonlinear map, the only secret was the super shotgun, which didn't seem hidden at all. It was one of the very first things I found playing blind.

Thank you for the feedback.

 

A lot of the issue with the later section is down to it both being indoors and the fact it was developed first in the map, I find large expanses easier and more manageable to make something interesting out of whilst indoors I lack such skills. I've noticed a lot of indoors sections are easily door camped and I think I have a few ideas on how to fix this.

 

-

 

UPDATED DOWNLOAD

 

• More resources in desert/forest area
• Forest area more navigable by players and monsters alike
• Small changes to later encounters
• Small fixes

Edited February 4, 2024 by mrthejoshmon

[eharper256]

Played this with Walpurgis as it seemed fun to attack a fortress with the Crusader.

Looks super cool throughout, loved how the exterior looked and it's clear you've put lots of love and effort into that. I did die in the finale, though part of that is down to how deadly Cybie rockets are in small spaces in Walpurgis since they send you flying (into the barons in my case, leading to my demise). Even so, I would consider a Soul Sphere for the finale (maybe even Invincibility on Easier difficulties). Other than that, though, the map progression and difficulty felt fine to me.

It's a little strange you've not had more interest in this, decent map you've got here, but I guess you'll lose quite a pool of potential testers when using the TNT wad rather than Doom 2.

[mrthejoshmon]

2 hours ago, eharper256 said:

Played this with Walpurgis as it seemed fun to attack a fortress with the Crusader.

Looks super cool throughout, loved how the exterior looked and it's clear you've put lots of love and effort into that. I did die in the finale, though part of that is down to how deadly Cybie rockets are in small spaces in Walpurgis since they send you flying (into the barons in my case, leading to my demise). Even so, I would consider a Soul Sphere for the finale (maybe even Invincibility on Easier difficulties). Other than that, though, the map progression and difficulty felt fine to me.

It's a little strange you've not had more interest in this, decent map you've got here, but I guess you'll lose quite a pool of potential testers when using the TNT wad rather than Doom 2.

Thank you for the kind words, video was a good run though and I must say I cannot think of a more fitting mod than Walpurgis and I think I'll do a run of it with it myself (Walpurgis is a great mod, I usually play as Illitheya, the next map I'm working on is for Heretic and I'll be recommending using Walpurgis when I release it).

I swear I put a soulsphere in that fight but I probably accidentally left it untagged for lower difficulties like a dope, I'll have to check that (maybe a megasphere would be more fitting).

As for interest, TNT mapping is niche and that's fine by me, I love TNT and just want more of it.

Edited February 6, 2024 by mrthejoshmon

[Sikreci]

Nice! Quite a big map you've got here, but it plays fast enough still that it doesn't drag. I clocked in at 26 minutes, without trying to 100%. Not too rough, a little spicy in places, I'll be honest I mostly just ran past everything outside the castle, I didn't really feel forced to do much killing until I got inside. Some of the areas, especially deep inside, were kind of samey looking and I got a bit lost as a result a couple of times, but nothing too bad, I spent probably a 1 minute or less total feeling lost.

 

It was a fun little jaunt. Felt more old school in both visuals and gameplay than a lot of the more "modern" maps I've played, but in a good way, you know? Well done, thanks for making it!

 

Bugs found:

HOM here, I think this is the slime trail you already mentioned?

 

Mancubus got stuck on this ledge while being lowered and couldn't move or shoot. This may be my fault, I forgot to set complevel 9 so it defaulted to complevel 21, but I think the ledge behavior is the same between them. I believe that setting the linedefs that form the border between the lowering platform with the stairs to block monsters it will stop this from happening, so that only way it can get off the platform is at the bottom.

[mrthejoshmon]

22 hours ago, Sikreci said:

Nice! Quite a big map you've got here, but it plays fast enough still that it doesn't drag. I clocked in at 26 minutes, without trying to 100%. Not too rough, a little spicy in places, I'll be honest I mostly just ran past everything outside the castle, I didn't really feel forced to do much killing until I got inside. Some of the areas, especially deep inside, were kind of samey looking and I got a bit lost as a result a couple of times, but nothing too bad, I spent probably a 1 minute or less total feeling lost.

 

It was a fun little jaunt. Felt more old school in both visuals and gameplay than a lot of the more "modern" maps I've played, but in a good way, you know? Well done, thanks for making it!

 

Bugs found:

 

Thank you for the feedback.

 

Aye, that is a problem when I come to making interiors (hence why the majority of recent efforts are outside adventures), I tried to separate the sections via colour but the grey and later marble sections failed hard here.

 

As for the bugs, the slime trail is indeed that HOM, I can rebuild the room to fix it but it will just relocate elsewhere (it was so much worse originally). As for the Mancubus that is a funny oversight on my behalf, it can happen in every version of the engine and the slow moving lift allows him enough time to get stuck.

Will think of a fix, the block lines may interfere with any wandering Cacodemons but may be the best course of action.

[Sikreci]

6 hours ago, mrthejoshmon said:

Will think of a fix, the block lines may interfere with any wandering Cacodemons but may be the best course of action. 

Ah, in that case I think adding a gap between the lift and the stairs might be the best bet then, but that also would require new vertices that might cause your HOM issue to blow up all over again.

[kalensar]

Heres a nice 2 video upload of playing this map with my Doomed Over Zelda Mod. Quite the beast, but the fantasy quality of the map was a banger!

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[mrthejoshmon]

14 hours ago, Sikreci said:

Ah, in that case I think adding a gap between the lift and the stairs might be the best bet then, but that also would require new vertices that might cause your HOM issue to blow up all over again.

I'll mess around with it and find a fix.

 

5 hours ago, kalensar said:

Heres a nice 2 video upload of playing this map with my Doomed Over Zelda Mod. Quite the beast, but the fantasy quality of the map was a banger!

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

Thank you fort the playthrough! Interesting mod I haven't seen that one before but it fits pretty good.

[kalensar]

7 hours ago, mrthejoshmon said:

Thank you fort the playthrough! Interesting mod I haven't seen that one before but it fits pretty good.

 

Its a creation that hasnt been an enthusiastic reception, but is fun for what it is. haha. It fits well with these fantasy styled maps, and there are many for Doom. It also works on Heretic. I played in Software mode for your map with zero issues, and ease of compatibility for recording. Any trouble I had in the map was purely from the mod itself and nothing to do with navigation of the map which is awesome.

 

Your Map is a wonderful testament that falls into the same category as The Castle Pack; Doom can make great Fantasy/Medieval textures even when its not necessarily built to do that. Can't wait to try any further creations from you.