Missing Skill Levels

[Catoptromancy]

This is important. Freedoom is already hard enough but so many maps are missing skill levels. We could really use help in making sure the game is fun for everyone, in all skill levels. Grab a map and help fix up the skills.

*If you want to help and edit a map, post here and say which map you are doing. This keeps two people from working on the same map at once.

I have made a google spreadsheet that lists every map's skill level status.
The blank fields are untested. If -skill 2 is marked as "done" I will assume -skill 3 is also done(but not tested).
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19gcbbjXInbcigF1NIXy912EQszMk4s6VZTv3wlOpwW0/edit?usp=sharing

[joe-ilya]

How do I open the file?

[Catoptromancy]

I have converted it to google sheets. Should be better now.

[joe-ilya]

Do I just take the needed map and just put the needed skills? I don't have anymore questions.

[Catoptromancy]

Pretty much. Can be creative with how you tone down the maps for -skill 2 and 3.

When I have time, I will test Freedoom1 and edit the spreadsheet.

[joe-ilya]

Thanks for the information! I'll add difficulties to two freedoom levels, even more if I won't burn out of it.

[Z0k]

i would like to hear about skills levels on map

map12 (the new one)
map15
map28
E1M5
E2M5

so i can make the needed fixes on skill levels on them. thanks!

[Catoptromancy]

Zok, check the spreadsheet, all the info is there.

MAP15 done done
MAP28 not started done

MAP28 does not have lower skills. I have not yet played/tested the others yet.

[joe-ilya]

I just opened MAP01 and it has all the difficulty levels while the spreadsheet says that skill 3 is missing.

[Catoptromancy]

joe-ilya said:

I just opened MAP01 and it has all the difficulty levels while the spreadsheet says that skill 3 is missing.

The blank fields are either untested or unsure. If a skill is confirmed to be missing, "not started" is listed.

I assume if a map has -skill 2 implemented, then -skill 3 is. Not tested though.

[Z0k]

ok i will work on the skils adjustments on my map. as far i can see:

E1M5: its that i never did the skill adjustment for the mobs in Easy and Medium Skill that will explain the lack of shells. but anyway i added a few boxes and shells in the map.

E2M5: its weird i remember i did the adjustment it need before submit it. but anyway going to check it after im done with E1M5

i will wait for the other reviews on map 12 (assuming its the new one) and map 28, for now im going to work on doing the skills adjustment on these 2 maps.

[Catoptromancy]

I update spreadsheet somewhat regularly. It is working out extremely well I think.

Missing skill levels are considered a bug and sheet is working to also keep track of bugs.

[fraggle]

Adjusting the skill levels to have a sane progression is some really important work. Thanks for doing this.

[Catoptromancy]

New release is on the horizon. I have established a goal and rewritten the first post.

I am working on MAP27 and MAP29 right now.

The entirety of Episode 4 is likely also done and tested, but have not tested myself.

[Catoptromancy]

Bump. Edited top post. A nice handful of maps are now fully tested and adjusted in all skills. Will bump thread once more updates are in order.

[fraggle]

One thing that occurred to me recently: we don't have clear guidelines for when particular monsters are introduced. Most shooters are careful about how they introduce new monsters: for example, Doom II MAP11 introduces the arch-vile in a careful way (releasing it when a door is opened). If you've played the Half Life games, they do similar things in introducing new monsters gradually, one-by-one so that you can learn their behavior and adapt to the new challenge.

This is quite important because different monsters present very different challenges and require different strategies to deal with: Linguica wrote about it here a couple of months ago. We should remember that we're all Doom fans who have been playing the game for years and we might take for granted the fact that we already know how to fight these monsters effectively and defeat them.

To clarify: this doesn't apply to low-level monsters; rather, I'm referring to higher-level monsters like the Doom 1 "boss" monsters (and possibly the Cacodemon), and the newer monsters introduced in Doom 2.

I suggest that we designate specific maps as being "monster introduction" maps where particular monsters are introduced (eg. "Archvile is introduced on MAP15"), ban all use of that monster before that particular level, possibly with build tests to detect and enforce violations of these rules, and possibly rearchitect levels so that the new monsters are introduced in a smoother way that recognizes that these are their first appearances.

[Catoptromancy]

I added a new column to my spreadsheet. Introduction, will show which monster/item/weapon first appears on the map. Easier to visualize and figure out how to adjust later.

The BFG has been bothering me. They are rare and show up much later, I think. I have been thinking about these introduction maps.