MAYhem 2024 - EXEMPLARY CADAVER (Compiling mode engaged, please stand by)

[ByRntStarOEI]

3 hours ago, Obsidian said:

I DID IT

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

I'll need a bit of a breather before I can get stuck into tweaking the maps for a proper release candidate, but I will at least try to get a rough beta of MAP04 out in the next couple of days. Ladies and gentlemen and everyone in between, we made it. ✊

 

Seems rather fitting, I would say. You started off the project with the first piece and now finished it off with the last.

[Obsidian]

The MAP04 beta is up!

 

Some notes:

• Alrighty, the names I have for MAP04 are The Iron Price, Provisions, Metalworks and Cadaver Carnage. Pick yer favourite!
• The wad contains five potential MIDIs for the map: just like before, the ones not used in the map occupy the next few music slots and you can use IDMUS## to listen to them.
• Made a couple of tweaks here and there, mainly in terms of flow consideration and accessibility. I also started doing external detail before jolting out of my mapping trance and realizing that I should probably share the map first, heh. You can see a little bit of extra detail in the northern section of the map.
• Gameplay still needs to be balanced and difficulty settings need to be universally implemented. Suggestions on both of these things would be greatly appreciated.

As for me, I'll start hacking away at a polished release. I'm tempted to wait until September 9th to release it, but that might be a bit much. :P

[Timilyo80]

From what I've played of MAP04 right now, I think I seriously fucked the whole map with my dumbass caco invasion...

Sorry yall ^^'

[Timilyo80]

After a couple of clears and trying out some different MIDI, here's my conclusions:

 

-For the tittle, I will go with "The Iron Price". If I refer to Google, that mean "seizing something by defeating someone instead of paying/trading with him", and I think it strangely fit the map really well. Not only we were able to keep an iron aesthetic between our maps and the meaning of Iron Price is as violent and vile as the map itself, but there's also a theme of seizing keys while defeating all the demons protecting it, which fit with the meaning of the tittle pretty well

-For the MIDI, I was REALLY torn between the 1st and the 5th one, but I thing I will go with the 1st one. The former have more of a violent feeling while the later have more of a techno feeling, and I'm predicting that a bunch of people will have a lot of difficulties finishing that map (especially the beginning (stop looking at me, I swear my caco invasion looked better on paper!)), so I will go with the one that make you feel like you gonna have a bad time

-The map itself is really difficult, but not TOO bad when you get use to it. It's mostly yet another problem with being blind unfriendly, but I think it just come with the gimmick at this point. The beginning can easily become merciless without a proper strategy, but if you're able to survive it, the rest should be a smooth cruise. 3 out of the 5 cyberdemons felt a bit aimless and mostly a waste of time for UV-MAX players. The 2 in the top left room are especially useless, because there's no crushers to kill them, so why not plasma them to death now rather than later? The left room is definitely the most diabolical: you can't enter it at the beginning, because the chain gunners will shred you and the key spawn 3 pain elemental (that you'll pretty much NEED to rush as fast as possible), a bunch a chain gunners and 2 arch-vile in a room with impractical cover. I'm not complaining, maybe I just have a skill issue, it's just an observation. I also want to mention I already really like the added details outside the windows of my map ^w^

-There's a shotgunner stuck in a wall over here, might wand to look into that

I think that's pretty much all I could think about

Wish you all a nice day and I can't wait for the RC1!

[DankMetal]

Alright, sorry for taking so long

Here's the extended version of Spinal Cord Waltz.

Now it's 4 minutes long, which i still think it's not enough for map 3...

But at least it loops, yay.

Spinal Cord Waltz Extended

 

And now i will take a moment to share some nerdy facts about the song.

Spoiler

 

This song was inspired by Mpaxe Tsifliki.

but more specifically, in the version found in Embalming Theatre's debut "Chainsaw Melodies", in the song "Bags with Heads"

(go to 1:42 to hear the Mpaxe part)

This song was made for 30 Minutes to Midnight (please play it), map 17 "Damned Damned Damned". There are 2 hallways with the spine texture, in a similar vein to Spirit World from Doom 2. That's how the song got it's name.

And lastly, despite being called a "waltz", this song uses a time signature of 5/4, giving it a more "messy" feel to it.

 

I hope y'all like it!

[Li'l devil]

On 6/3/2024 at 5:47 AM, Obsidian said:

As for me, I'll start hacking away at a polished release. I'm tempted to wait until September 9th to release it, but that might be a bit much. :P

Wait, are you planning to spend several months on finishing it? What will take so long? It's just 4 maps, and from what I can tell you only need to add some outoor scenery, implement difficulty settings in a better way, and compile it all. Unless you're very busy during summer for whatever reason, this shouldn't take long, no?

Edited June 6 by Li'l devil

[MFG38]

1 minute ago, Li'l devil said:

Wait, are you planning to spend several months on finishing it? What will take so long? It's just 4 maps, and from what I can tell you only need to add some outoor scenery, implement difficulty settings in a better way, and compile it all. Unless you're very busy during summer for whatever reason, this shouldn't take long, no?

 

I take it you didn't read the page behind the link?

[Li'l devil]

I really don't see a point in waiting so much just to celebrate some anniversary. Anniversaries are pointless.

[Egregor]

7 hours ago, DankMetal said:

Alright, sorry for taking so long

Here's the extended version of Spinal Cord Waltz.

Now it's 4 minutes long, which i still think it's not enough for map 3...

But at least it loops, yay.

Spinal Cord Waltz Extended

 

And now i will take a moment to share some nerdy facts about the song.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

This song was inspired by Mpaxe Tsifliki.

but more specifically, in the version found in Embalming Theatre's debut "Chainsaw Melodies", in the song "Bags with Heads"

(go to 1:42 to hear the Mpaxe part)

This song was made for 30 Minutes to Midnight (please play it), map 17 "Damned Damned Damned". There are 2 hallways with the spine texture, in a similar vein to Spirit World from Doom 2. That's how the song got it's name.

And lastly, despite being called a "waltz", this song uses a time signature of 5/4, giving it a more "messy" feel to it.

 

I hope y'all like it!

 

I'm always fascinated with the back story of composition. How metal band Embalming Theatre desided to include a Chatzi Mpaxes song within their tracks seems particularly strange.

 

As for influence, I only hear the faintest bit of it. With that said, I will say I enjoy your track, especially this extended version, much better! You use a more compelling chord progression, your sense of melody is more dynamic (flow between highs and lows) and is more catchy, and the instruments within your arrangement all blends together nicely. The more I listen the more I like it. Great work!

[Obsidian]

7 hours ago, Li'l devil said:

I really don't see a point in waiting so much just to celebrate some anniversary. Anniversaries are pointless.

 

That's a nice opinion you've got there. It'd be a shame if someone were to recognize it as such.

[ByRntStarOEI]

 

On 6/2/2024 at 5:47 PM, Obsidian said:

The MAP04 beta is up!

 

Some notes:

• Alrighty, the names I have for MAP04 are The Iron Price, Provisions, Metalworks and Cadaver Carnage. Pick yer favourite!
• The wad contains five potential MIDIs for the map: just like before, the ones not used in the map occupy the next few music slots and you can use IDMUS## to listen to them.
• Made a couple of tweaks here and there, mainly in terms of flow consideration and accessibility. I also started doing external detail before jolting out of my mapping trance and realizing that I should probably share the map first, heh. You can see a little bit of extra detail in the northern section of the map.
• Gameplay still needs to be balanced and difficulty settings need to be universally implemented. Suggestions on both of these things would be greatly appreciated.

As for me, I'll start hacking away at a polished release. I'm tempted to wait until September 9th to release it, but that might be a bit much. :P

 

Oof, missed this somehow, but I have been rather busy lately so that'll be my excuse.  I also didn't realize the name I provided was for the map as a whole. Otherwise, I would have tried coming up with something less bland...  That said, I agree with Timilyo80 about the aesthetics and that the Iron Price seems the most fitting out of the names. Same goes for the music. I like the first one the best, as well.

As far as the difficulty, it's a bit rough in the beginning, but settles down once that hurdle is figured out. I actually found myself swimming in ammo, health, and armor once settled, but it was put to good use, however. I did include some difficulty settings in my piece, but it probably still needs some adjustments, especially for the initial wave when the main doors open. I'll give some more input on the map (and the others) once I get some more playtime in though.

 

On 6/3/2024 at 4:34 AM, Timilyo80 said:

-For the MIDI, I was REALLY torn between the 1st and the 5th one, but I thing I will go with the 1st one. The former have more of a violent feeling while the later have more of a techno feeling, and I'm predicting that a bunch of people will have a lot of difficulties finishing that map (especially the beginning (stop looking at me, I swear my caco invasion looked better on paper!)), so I will go with the one that make you feel like you gonna have a bad time

-The map itself is really difficult, but not TOO bad when you get use to it. It's mostly yet another problem with being blind unfriendly, but I think it just come with the gimmick at this point. The beginning can easily become merciless without a proper strategy, but if you're able to survive it, the rest should be a smooth cruise. 3 out of the 5 cyberdemons felt a bit aimless and mostly a waste of time for UV-MAX players. The 2 in the top left room are especially useless, because there's no crushers to kill them, so why not plasma them to death now rather than later? The left room is definitely the most diabolical: you can't enter it at the beginning, because the chain gunners will shred you and the key spawn 3 pain elemental (that you'll pretty much NEED to rush as fast as possible), a bunch a chain gunners and 2 arch-vile in a room with impractical cover. I'm not complaining, maybe I just have a skill issue, it's just an observation. I also want to mention I already really like the added details outside the windows of my map ^w^

 

 

 

I wasn't a fan of all the cacos at first either, but after awhile it did start to become rather fun trying to figure out the approach for clearing them out. (Seems the best approach is rushing into the northern room, grab as many rockets as possible, blast your way back out and into the east room, and use the l shape hall section to take whatever comes in, out. There's even rushing into the north west room so the cybers can do all the dirty work, but this route is a bit harder to pull off.)

The biggest hurdles are the big waves of enemies rushing in from all sides and the low ammo of ammo to handle it all in the initial area. I believe the caco invasion could still work though with a little tuning. Perhaps rather than all of them being released at once they could rather come in timed waves or slowly fed into the area? Would make it to where the player would always have to watch there back until it ends or is dealt with.

 

It's funny you state that the west room was the most diabolical. I was worried it was going to be too easy, so I may have went a bit overboard with the enemy placement (Actually come to think of it, I initially had 5 pain elements spawn in but decided that was a bit much lol). My intent there was for UV challenge and since the player starts with pretty much a full arsenal.   As for the beginning part,  I actually don't remember having chaingunners stationed in the room until the key is grabbed, but I did implement some basic difficulty settings for the section, so it could have been something I did only for UV.   For me, the southern room was the biggest headache in the beginning. Rush in to far and you have to deal with barons, archvilles, chaingunners, revenants, and two bolted side doors while a wave of other nasties start trickling in the main entrance.

 

 

Quote

21 hours ago, DankMetal said:

Alright, sorry for taking so long

Here's the extended version of Spinal Cord Waltz.

Now it's 4 minutes long, which i still think it's not enough for map 3...

But at least it loops, yay.

Spinal Cord Waltz Extended

 

And now i will take a moment to share some nerdy facts about the song.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

This song was inspired by Mpaxe Tsifliki.

but more specifically, in the version found in Embalming Theatre's debut "Chainsaw Melodies", in the song "Bags with Heads"

(go to 1:42 to hear the Mpaxe part)

This song was made for 30 Minutes to Midnight (please play it), map 17 "Damned Damned Damned". There are 2 hallways with the spine texture, in a similar vein to Spirit World from Doom 2. That's how the song got it's name.

And lastly, despite being called a "waltz", this song uses a time signature of 5/4, giving it a more "messy" feel to it.

 

I hope y'all like it!

 

Nice! I really liked this tune when playing through the map. Fits the mansion theme quite well.

 

 

Edited June 7 by ByRntStarOEI

[ByRntStarOEI]

Well I finally had some time to play through these maps again, and figured I'll give my thoughts on each. 

 

- I believe all the maps played rather well considering how they where just pieced together from different sources. All mappers on a each map set seemed to be on point as I never came across any sections that felt out of place. Interactivity between each section was rather low, but I reckon that's expected and allows for more non linearity, which is a plus.

 

- For all the maps, I liked the first include songs the best.

 

- I realize texture misalignments can be rather subjective (especially when it comes to rocky surfaces) so I didn't really go looking for them, but noted the ones I came across that stood out.

 

 

Here are some breakdowns of each map with pictures to make it easier to explain:

 

MAP01

 

Spoiler

Nice map to start off the wad. Difficulty is rather tame, but feels good for the starting map. The cyber area feels a tad out of place in that regards, but it should give the player an idea of what to expect in the maps ahead. Ammo and health seemed fine to me, as well. I feel the middle section is built to have a least a couple cacos stationed in there.

 

1: Some texture misalignment in these spots.

 

2: These traps rooms seem to activate much to soon. Making them rather simple affairs since the player is barely through the door when they activate and can easily retreat back.

 

3: Something is off with this mid texture as it bleeds through the floor. I guessing it is from a misalignment.  Also, I find it kinda strange that this spot is

considered a secret, being how easy it is to get to.

 

4: Perhaps some stronger monsters could be swapped in, being how with is the last area to the exit.

 

 

 

 

MAP02

 

Spoiler

Compared to that first map, difficulty is ramped up quite a bit, but this is mostly due to the first section. I feel the start of the map can be a bit rng with the archvilles and demons. For me, it's mostly due to the demons blocking the player from moving forward, the demons being hard for autoaim to target when up higher, and the limited ammo. Perhaps giving the player a chainsaw at the start would give the player another option (although a bit riskier) to help alleviate these problems. This would also help out in clearing lost souls if it so happens that a painelement was brought into infighting and ended up filling a room full of them while the player is off in another section (Happened in one of my playthroughs). I would say there is enough ammo for the most part, not too little or too much, but depending on how fights with painelements or archviles play out, it's possible to run out if one is not careful.

 

1: Texture misalinments

 

2: Misplaced textures? They don't seem to match the rest.

 

3: Icicle appears to bleed through the floor

 

4: Traps seem to break depending on how the player progresses into this area. If the waterfall entrance is not taken or if the player "sprints" over to the ledge next to it, one can avoid activating the initial entry trap. Maybe this is intended, but the payer is in for a nasty surprise if they try to walk over the baron hidden in the floor. Also, there is a spider mastermind hidden at the end of the dark alley that doesn't seem to serve a purpose? Unless I'm missing something, the only way to activate it is by hitting it with splash damage from a rocket.

 

5: Wasn't able to get over to a box of rockets on one of the hills. Also, I have a potential monster replacement idea for UV difficulty. Replace the to mancubus on the island with a cyberdemon? Would make transversal through the area a bit more interesting being how it receives a lot of foot traffic.   

 

6: The mancubus hidden in the entrance  floor can be seen and attacked before activation. Also, the demons that spawn in the bottom section when the player is heading towards the exit, seem a bit underwhelming since they can't reach the player. Perhaps spawning in a cyber or mastermind would make it more "fun"?

 

 

MAP03

 

Spoiler

This map is a bit different theme wise compare to the others, but that's not a problem in my book. It is a bit easier that map02, so perhaps they could swap places?

Then again, I feel this map has the potential to be quite challenging if one wanted to go that route with it.

I thought at first this was going to be a no ssg map, which I'm fine with btw, and it wasn't until I almost completed it that I found out one was located near the start. Oh well, I ended up using more rockets that way, which seem to be more that enough throughout the map. Ammo and health seemed plentiful, maybe even a bit much at times.

 

1: This door doesn't open from the back.

 

2: These hanging corpses can't be walked under, creating a invisible barrier for the player or monsters to get caught on.

 

3: These enemies appear stuck and don't attack.

 

4: Not sure if this is intentional, but most of these cacos can be activated from behind when one gets close enough to the ledge/wall.

 

5: The enemies in this room can become active before the player drops down. This could potentially make it almost impossible to drop down later due to monster blocking and the height of the ledge makes it hard to target them.

 

6: I was able to grab this key without triggering the trap, although it is a bit hard to pull off consistently.

 

 

 

 

 

MAP04

 

Spoiler

The final map and perhaps the most challenging out of the bunch. Could even say it's a tie with map02. Like map02, the start is a bit rough, but once I figured out a solution I found it rather enjoyable. Like I stated in a reply above, perhaps doing a controlled release of the cacos in smaller groups would give a player some more time to get situated while also making them watch there back more when dealing with other sections. As far as ammo and health goes, it always seem like I had more than enough (except for the start), but also was also quite easy to burn through it as well.

 

1: The mancubus are stuck and can't attack. The hellknights can be seen and attacked through the ceiling before they are lowered down.

 

2: The conveyer belt still likes to get clogged. Adding another teleport line in front of the other (Length about 16 px) seems to help alleviate this. Also, there is a misplaced texture on the small barrier that is suppose to match the rest of the "fencing"

 

3: These pickups can be changed to potentially something better if needed. Actually, swapping out the shotgun with a chainsaw seems like an idea since I do think there are any on the map.

 

4: One can fall off into the pit of lava from here with no way of escape, but that might be the point, so ignore if it is. It's also easy to cheese the cybers from this entrance. Could have a wall or something to block it or have a way for the cybers rockets actually be able to reach the player.

 

5: The central area seems ripe for some archviles to teleport into once all the keys are collected...

 

 

 

 

[Li'l devil]

38 minutes ago, ByRntStarOEI said:

1: This door doesn't open from the back. 

Yeah, this door on map 3 was meant to be openable from both sides. I'm pretty sure I made everything openable, so I think this was "overwritten" by the preceeding map piece when the pieces were connected.

[BeachThunder]

4 hours ago, ByRntStarOEI said:

Well I finally had some time to play through these maps again, and figured I'll give my thoughts on each.

Just wanna say, this is a really handy way of pointing out multiple issues with a single map.

[MFG38]

5 hours ago, ByRntStarOEI said:

The enemies in this room can become active before the player drops down. This could potentially make it almost impossible to drop down later due to monster blocking and the height of the ledge makes it hard to target them.

 

Fixable by making two lines around the entrance door sound-blocking. I would implement that fix myself, but I'm not the one who made the actual door and I don't want to intrude on other people's portions of the map. Giving the monsters the ambush flag is also an option, but that would defeat the purpose of the fight at best and completely trivialize it at worst.

[Obsidian]

Cheers very much for the comprehensive feedback @ByRntStarOEI. I've been focusing pretty heavily on schoolwork over the past two weeks, but progress has been made on tweaking the gameplay and what you've put here is very much appreciated. 👍