/idgames Down - Limit removing chainsaw-happy single map from 2013 (Now on /idgames)

[Stupid Bunny]

 

 

Mortal Soul is the name of a project that technically started in 2010 with a single map--not this one, mind you--that kind of snowballed into a multi-map project that I have made continual if uneven progress on since then but for which the goalposts have just kept moving too far for it to ever actually be finished.  As of this year, I am...not discontinuing the project, per se, but I will be releasing the finished maps, one by one, with the hope that it will give me some peace.  Maybe I will fill in the remaining maps and planned boss enemies, some day, and release them as a set.  At least now I won't feel like I have to.  Once it's been tested a bit more it'll be my first upload to /idgames since 2010 (assuming /idgames isn't down ;3)

 

Here is a small rant about it

Spoiler

Trying to make all these maps a single project was a mistake.  They have no real thematic coherence with one another.  They were not intended from the start to form a narrative or shared concept of any kind.  My conception of what it is and what mood it should strike changes both within and between maps so much that it still makes my head spin.  And I am not being unfair to myself when I say none of these maps are good enough to be worth waiting 15 years for.

 

I am tired of sitting on these.  I hate that I confined myself into trying to make these maps part of some bigger statement instead of releasing them, one by one, and not demanding they be something more.  Because of this they have languished gathering dust for almost half of my life, for basically no reason at all.  The very first map was originally not meant to be part of a set, though after the fact I thought I'd add a couple more on to it, and was fun to make because it had such modest pretensions.  I won't say the rest haven't been loads of fun to make, of course, but it's exhausting putting any effort into these when it's felt like they were never going to see the light of day.

 

That's why I'm releasing them like this.  If they made sense as some kind of whole, and it was obvious that they were of a larger piece to the point that they didn't make sense in isolation, then I would maybe soldier on with it.  But they're mostly huge maps, perfectly valid as standalone pieces, and I feel completely at ease letting these go as single maps.

 

Anyway this was a fun map to make, one of the faster builds of the bunch.  It was originally a Tyson map when I first made it in 2013, but upon revisiting it in 2021 I decided that was boring and not fun and swapped the berserk out for my friend the chainsaw.  Also added an extra zombieman or two.  The name of the map derives from an incident in 2013 when /idgames was, in fact, down.  Boy if I had released this in 2013 it sure would've been funny(er).  Of the maps in this set it's one of the shorter, punchier ones, hence the shorter build time and, maybe, better flow.

 

*** DOWNLOAD ***

 

HOW TO PLAY

Port: Any limit-removing.  Mostly tested in Crispy and GZDoom.

Jump/crouch: No

Freelook: Permitted

Map: MAP01

Difficulty levels enabled; if it's too steep on UV then step it down, no one will mock you

 

SCREENSHOTS

 

 

Edited March 21 by Stupid Bunny
Uploaded to /idgames! Guess it must not be down huh lol lmao

[yakfak]

i vibe with the entire post and will be grabbing the wad <3 congrats on releasing thing

[Not Jabba]

I have this one old list of my most anticipated Doom projects from years ago, and occasionally I open it up and see Mortal Soul in there and wonder what ever happened to it. It's great to see you releasing the finished maps.

[Plerb]

I'm gonna have to check this out! The only other maps by you I've played is the one map from your abandoned Commander Keen TC from 2008, and MAP12 of TNT: Revilution (slightly off topic but now I'm wondering, what are your thoughts on the later changes made to it?). I'd love to see more of these released!

[Stupid Bunny]

@Not Jabba It means a lot to hear that.  I hope at least some of the maps will have been worth the wait.  There's two in the set that are in a reasonable state of progress but not finished (well, three if you count a boss map that I never animated the Floating Fat Man for).  One is maybe like 40% done, the other more like 90-5% but it's huge and I've belatedly realized the progression in it is a complete mess.  They'll still both get out at some point.

 

@Plerb Thanks :) They'll be coming out as I have time to package them up right.  One or two might go straight to /idgames anyway since they've gone through almost a decade and a half of testing and at some point don't really need more.  (Incidentally, those Keen textures, though not the map itself, will also see the light of day in the bigger project I've got coming down the pipeline soon.)

 

Spoiler

 

I was absent from the Doom community for like 7 years so when I came back I was surprised to see my name co-credited in what was apparently one of the more memorable maps of that period.  I think somebody (possibly Kyka) asked me what my thoughts were when I resurfaced, and as then I'm tickled that the little map fragment I put out there got turned into something really brilliant.  I take very little if any credit for what it became--Kyka, Megamur, and dobu are the ones who gave it the suspense, atmosphere, character and of course that truly terrifying ending sequence that really make the map what it is.  If you're curious, my exact contribution was this.

 

 

[bioshockfan90]

Cool stuff! I can relate to being out of the scene - until mid-last year I was checked out from Doom. Good to back though. If I had a nickel for every unfinished layout I had, I'd have like... maybe 20-30 nickels. Maybe enough to buy a Faygo, I dunno.

 

Chainsawing Cacos is underrated! Loved doing it as a save-ammo stratagem back when I was actually good at this game. HNTR was friendly enough to me, no issues on balancing there. Aesthetic is great, love the final corridor. I got a little stuck on a switch to press but blame that on me, I have a bad memory of where I've been and where I haven't. 100% kills on finish. Plasma + chainsaw supremacy! 

 

Consider me interested in any future releases in this thread, this was a joy to play. Thank you! :)

[LadyMistDragon]

This is so vintage Stupid Bunny, it hurts! Someone mentioned Transmission or whatever it was called, but I think there's not whole lots there that's recognizable and probably feels more like a Kyka/Dobu Gabu Maru map. You'd forgive me if I thought this was an outtake from the speedmap megawad too!

 

 

[Plerb]

@Stupid Bunny That early version of Transduction is fascinating! I have to wonder what the logic was in making it a Doom 1 map :P I wonder if Kyka and Megamur's versions are still available anywhere, those would be really interesting to look at as well.

 

Anyways, I played through this map yesterday, it was pretty good. I loved seeing a few Doom alpha textures at the start, and especially the BPRD assets! I see some Equinox influence in here as well, especially that impossibly spacious ending room.

 

The main issue I have with this map is the switch in this area. It took me a good while of aimlessly running around to find it. I thought it was completely hidden at first, but upon looking at it again, it seems to raise when you get close to it. Making it raise from further away might make it more clear.

Spoiler

 

[Stupid Bunny]

16 hours ago, bioshockfan90 said:

I got a little stuck on a switch to press but blame that on me

I have a history of making progression really obtuse for no reason so I wouldn’t blame you (see: Plerb’s post and also other playtesters who got confused by the switch sequence towards the end). Glad you had fun! The map was originally berserk+shotties+rocket launcher but I swapped them out with the rapid fire cousins when I realized it’d flow better that way (and let me cram more shit in). I don’t know if the other maps will be in this thread or each get their own but either way keep an eye for the next one in a week’s time or so

 

@LadyMistDragon I would definitely forgive you, my “serious” maps are more detailed than my speedmaps but not by much (and 0% more well-planned).  Thanks for the play video, always good go see how someone else approaches it since it’s always different from my preferred approach. My strategy at the beginning is just to barrel into the zombie hordes with chainsaw blazing like an idiot and grab the healths around but I suppose that’s a risky strategy if one doesn’t know where the health actually is.

 

@Plerb Yes you’re not the first person to be thrown off by that switch. Having it automatically rise on approach is a good fix. Believe it not those light textures are not from Equinox but were made by myself way back in like 2007 or so (although very consciously and obviously modeled on the Equinox ones, I cite it constantly as an inspiration).  The map that became Transduction was originally supposed to be a single large vanilla map that transitioned from E1 to E2 and then to E3 style over its length. I ran out of steam and shared it somewhere like “Someone feel free to do something with this”. And then someone did do that

[Not Jabba]

Nice, had fun with this. I like how it's all one quick interconnected scramble, but it goes from desperation and winnowing a path for yourself when you have just the chainsaw and then quickly kicks up into a power trip with plasma and infighting. It's cool to see older maps released because they always have a little bit of a vintage feel to them that you could never truly replicate by trying -- it's basically undefinable why that is, although I loved seeing the

 

Spoiler

entrance door is a secret

 

trope, and the MIDI was very fun. Still has a great energy to it, regardless of age.

Edited February 15 by Not Jabba

[Plerb]

15 hours ago, Stupid Bunny said:

The map that became Transduction was originally supposed to be a single large vanilla map that transitioned from E1 to E2 and then to E3 style over its length. I ran out of steam and shared it somewhere like “Someone feel free to do something with this”. And then someone did do that 

Ah that makes sense. I'm gonna have to add this info to the DoomWiki page for Transduction sometime, as well as some other information that was commented by IIRC everyone else involved in the map under a decino playthrough of it.

 

Also I remembered another issue I had. I got stuck at the exit door because I couldn't find what opened it. I had to load it into a map editor to remember there was a switch behind bars all the way back at the start. A teleporter near the exit taking you back there might be more intuitive.

[Stupid Bunny]

Lol I don't think you're the first person to have that problem.  Like I said about cryptic progression and all that.  Teleporter would be the easiest fix, I'll think about it and see what works.

 

 

[Clippy]

Very nice I still remember this map even from 3 years ago so happy to see you get it on the archive

 

Here's a blast From the past: