ZONE 300 - New 32 level vanilla compatible megawad released. 300 linedefs.

[rampancy]

hey paul thanks for this. its funny because i started biowar on the same day you made this release. i have to say biowar is pretty cool...

i really like this new one as well (im on level 11 now). the music is cool just like what the other guys have been saying. you are one of the most prolific doom composers out there which is awesome.

it is interesting how clearly limitations have helped to mold the doom atmosphere. limitations seem to encourage spaces to feel more "doomy". anyways good job dude.

[DeathevokatioN]

Simple, fast paced and fun gameplay, with solid layouts while keeping a DooM atmosphere! YES!!!

Played up to level five so far and I'm loving every second of it, haven't had this much fun playing DooM in ages. Like someone else has said, this is a great breath of fresh air from all the complex wads I've been playing lately (including my own overdetailed designs :P ).

Oh and bonus points for the soundtrack!

[LodiB88]

Just played the first level and, I'm already impressed. The only thing I already know is there isn't going to be any progression in level size, but that's kind of inevitable for a wad like this, so it isn't a complaint.

300 lines is a very balanced limit it seems. Short levels, but not absolutely trivial (TBH for that reason 100 didn't really work for me). I even prefer it over the 1024 concept because there is no stress to cram and jam as much gameplay as possible into a small space, often leading to over crampedness.

Now I'm almost inclined to suggest a 300 lines community project...if 100 was a good experiment, 300 is where I could see it really maturing.

[pcorf]

LodiB88 said:

Just played the first level and, I'm already impressed. The only thing I already know is there isn't going to be any progression in level size, but that's kind of inevitable for a wad like this, so it isn't a complaint.

300 lines is a very balanced limit it seems. Short levels, but not absolutely trivial (TBH for that reason 100 didn't really work for me). I even prefer it over the 1024 concept because there is no stress to cram and jam as much gameplay as possible into a small space, often leading to over crampedness.

Now I'm almost inclined to suggest a 300 lines community project...if 100 was a good experiment, 300 is where I could see it really maturing.

A 300 or 400 linedef community project is a great idea but I will leave it up to somebody else. I think I am going to upload zone300 to the archives within the next 24 hours. Thanks for all the feedback dudes. Hope you liked the changes to the maps and especially the new song in MAP32.

[Philnemba]

Play half of the maps so far and I have to say Pcorf the maps in this megawad are very fun despite the 300 linedef restrictions.

[pcorf]

Did final checks in XWE to make sure the maps are in order and all maps have exactly 300 linedefs except for MAP32.

I think it is now ready for upload to idgames.

I will update my webpage in a few days time.

[Tormentor667]

Any screenshots?

[chexwarrior]

Yay a new pcorf megawad! Lovin' it so far, very action packed.

[pcorf]

Tormentor667 said:

Any screenshots?

Maybe. Best to take a look on page 1.

[rhinoduck]

Seems like I come too late, but:

map24: p2 start overlaps with a wall and the player gets stuck when spawning there (at least in ZDaemon)

map25: could use some extra coop suits at the first entrance to the lava area and maybe near ysk drop; just a matter of convenience though

Anyway, a nice wad, the playthrough we had with pain settings was fun; short maps are ideal for this. And the plainer design imposed by the linedef limit indeed makes it feel like good old doom.

Btw, I'm removing mp items using the port's capabilities, which makes sense for all the dm weapons, but it may not be ideal for those maps that have mp cybers for example. Atm, mp ammo and power-ups get removed as well, but item respawns are on anyway. If something was intended to be there specifically for coop, just say and I can selectively keep it to make the experience as close to what it was meant to be.

The survival servers on ZDaemon have been updated with the new version, feel free to come for some coop, be it with standard or pain (fast + 2xdmg monsters) settings.

[Magnusblitz]

Really digging this, 300 lines is enough to make a decent chunk of level that still looks nice, but limits it to a short level. I tire of long levels easily so I'm enjoying myself. It's especially impressive considering how little amount of time it took to put together! The music is great, too.

[Dragonsbrethren]

This amused me more than it should have.

[pcorf]

Dragonsbrethren said:

This amused me more than it should have.

That was the whole point. You had to parallel your views to see the past truth.

[pcorf]

rhinoduck said:

Seems like I come too late, but:

map24: p2 start overlaps with a wall and the player gets stuck when spawning there (at least in ZDaemon)

map25: could use some extra coop suits at the first entrance to the lava area and maybe near ysk drop; just a matter of convenience though

Anyway, a nice wad, the playthrough we had with pain settings was fun; short maps are ideal for this. And the plainer design imposed by the linedef limit indeed makes it feel like good old doom.

Btw, I'm removing mp items using the port's capabilities, which makes sense for all the dm weapons, but it may not be ideal for those maps that have mp cybers for example. Atm, mp ammo and power-ups get removed as well, but item respawns are on anyway. If something was intended to be there specifically for coop, just say and I can selectively keep it to make the experience as close to what it was meant to be.

The survival servers on ZDaemon have been updated with the new version, feel free to come for some coop, be it with standard or pain (fast + 2xdmg monsters) settings.

Its not really designed for MP or DM. Mostly for SP and I never really had a chance to test in MP so it aint perfect in those modes. I think DM without monsters will work better.

[Traysandor]

The wad looks good and has some pretty small, fast paced levels that can be blazed through in a few short hours. However the end boss is way too easy if you turn on looking (for source port users) you can just spam rockets and GG the boss before even coming under threat.

Of course the simple solution is just to extend the corridor behind the boss (so that you have to fire directly at the boss to score a hit, whereas an angled rocket fired with freelook won't even hurt it). Or you could lower the platform that you teleport in on a bit lower so that the player can't just say oh look I can kill the boss easy from here.

[Walter confetti]

played the whole megawad in these days, just awesome stuff!

[pcorf]

Just happy people are enjoying it. The aim was to create something that was fun to play and had a good rockin' soundtrack.

And to those source port users. Do not go beyond Boom or Zdoom and make sure all settings are as compatible as vanilla. No mouselook, jumping, walk over Cacodemons etc as its all considered cheating.

If you think its too easy, just play with fast monsters or on nightmare difficulty.

No big deal if it does or does not get a Cacoward. But given the rubbish that has been released year its going to be hard to chose. But I don't really care about Cacowards. I care about quality and that is all I have to say and they can have their say. I am not perfect, I like classic wads with me, a retro Doomer from the 1990's era.

[plums]

Played through a bit of this, and watched some of those FDA demos. Looks really nice! As someone that's been away from Doom for awhile, I have to say it's pretty easy for highly-detailed levels to feel overwrought and cluttered; not all of them are like that, certainly, but I can always appreciate clean and simple level construction like these maps.

I like the tunes here and really appreciate that they work with the OPL synth. General MIDI just sounds bad with some genres IMHO, no matter how good a soundfont or MIDI synth you've got. Also, I'm pretty tired of Doom 2's music, I thought Doom 1 had much better compositions overall, so it's always nice to have another replacement soundtrack that covers all the levels.

And while I'm on about music, I don't care for RoTT's music at all :P And I could be wrong but I haven't come across many Doom levels that take Hexen 2's MIDIs, which is a shame and surprise since those are some excellent songs.

[pcorf]

plums said:

Played through a bit of this, and watched some of those FDA demos. Looks really nice! As someone that's been away from Doom for awhile, I have to say it's pretty easy for highly-detailed levels to feel overwrought and cluttered; not all of them are like that, certainly, but I can always appreciate clean and simple level construction like these maps.

I like the tunes here and really appreciate that they work with the OPL synth. General MIDI just sounds bad with some genres IMHO, no matter how good a soundfont or MIDI synth you've got. Also, I'm pretty tired of Doom 2's music, I thought Doom 1 had much better compositions overall, so it's always nice to have another replacement soundtrack that covers all the levels.

And while I'm on about music, I don't care for RoTT's music at all :P And I could be wrong but I haven't come across many Doom levels that take Hexen 2's MIDIs, which is a shame and surprise since those are some excellent songs.

The music was mixed down using the Roland Sound Canvas sounds (1990's MIDI standard) using my Beyerdynamic dt770pro headphones and then converted from .mid to .mus to assure full vanilla compatibility. Scythe 2 has some Hexen 2 music. In MAP07 and MAP09.

[capodecima]

I really hardly finished some SP wad (maybe doom2 lol). I am natural MP player. But this wad i really enjoyed to play.

[plums]

OK, finished it. Some additional comments:

• I like the way that triangular structures became a sort of motif, even though it was clearly done to save linedefs, you made good use of it as a style.
  
• I found the Icon fight fun and a nice change from usual MAP30s.
  
• The maps are way, way harder on pistol start. I think someone else mentioned this already.
  
• A few spelling errors in the new text, but no big deal.
  
• In MAP31, the unfindable secret comes from the switch sectors, which have unknown effect type 255 that somehow ups the secret count by 1. (though not in vanilla I think?)
  

Again, nicely done!

[Larzuk]

I'm loving this map set so far. Nice levels that aren't too difficult and some really cool music to go with them. So far I have only found one issue and that is in map32.

While playing with prboom and complevel 2, there are a couple sectors that don't lower in that setting. Sectors 208 and 210 are supposed to lower when hitting the switch for the yellow key. It does work perfectly fine under default boom settings.

Also, if you don't mind, I have started a playthrough of this wad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxeBrdijmtE

[pcorf]

Larzuk said:

While playing with prboom and complevel 2, there are a couple sectors that don't lower in that setting. Sectors 208 and 210 are supposed to lower when hitting the switch for the yellow key. It does work perfectly fine under default boom settings.

The sectors all lower no problems in both doom2.exe V1.666 and V1.9 with nomonsters.

But with monsters, they get stuck and do not lower.

Only way to solve this is move the monsters away from the sector walls or increase the size somehow. I blame Doom Builder 2 for this for the way it displays enemies in things mode.

[pcorf]

plums said:

OK, finished it. Some additional comments:

• 1. A few spelling errors in the new text, but no big deal.
  
• In MAP31, the unfindable secret comes from the switch sectors, which have unknown effect type 255 that somehow ups the secret count by 1. (though not in vanilla I think?)
  

Again, nicely done!

1. My English is not perfect and was aware of mistypes in the text file. Always rushing.

2. Thanks for finding the problem in MAP31. I am still trying to adjust to Doom Builder 2. The switch sectors should have had a brightness of 255 and I typed the brightness into the sector effect as well. Stupid me.

3. Fixed the problem in MAP32 where the enemies got sectors stuck.

Eventually I will reupload the fixed version to idgames.

[NightFright]

Having played the first 18 levels (including secret maps) so far, all I can say is this megawad totally nails it for me: Compact maps which can be finished in about 5-10mins max each while offering enough fun and diversity to keep playing. I like to make fast progress, not needing to do lots of backtracking or getting lost in complex mazes.

A big plus is, of course (and it has already been mentioned), the custom soundtrack. I have the luck of owning an SC-55, and listening to music optimized for it just brings tears of joy to my eyes.

Looking forward to checking out the rest of these maps! Congrats to Paul for delivering yet another proof of his mapping (and composing) skills, especially since the limitations of this project didn't exactly make things easier. I would be surprised (not to say disappointed) if this doesn't at least get an honorable mention in the Cacowards this year.

[Jayextee]

Finally finished this, just now -- I tend to play in short bursts, which this is perfect for. Archvile usage gets evil later on (I totally approve of this), and levels never seem to drag on too much.

I'm impressed that you managed to make 31 maps with the limitation; I know that by the end of 900 Deep in the Dead I was fearing that I'd ran the well dry of ideas. But, you're obviously more than up to the task. :)

[NoWaves]

This is one of the best wads I've played in a goddamn while. More focus on gameplay than details and over designing.
Simplicity at its finest.

[Vermil]

A great wad. Pretty much all of it was fun.

[Average]

dachauncinator said:

This is one of the best wads I've played in a goddamn while. More focus on gameplay than details and over designing.
Simplicity at its finest.

Agreed. :)

I have a real soft spot for these 'simple' mapsets.

[pcorf]

dachauncinator said:

This is one of the best wads I've played in a goddamn while. More focus on gameplay than details and over designing.
Simplicity at its finest.

Gameplay has always been my weak point. Really concentrated on it this time. I will also reupload the fixed version to idgames this upcoming week. Thanks for enjoying it players!