Freedoom Update

[fraggle]

Fraggle here with the weekly FreeDoom update.
Unfortunately, not much has been contributed this week. Over the past weekor so the number of submissions has quite considerably dropped. I knowfor a fact that several people are working on sprites and levels, so I'mhopeful that progress will pick up soon. However, I feel I ought to say, we are incredibly close to finishing the textures. If you can make texturesat all and you have any spare time, please consider making a few texturesto contribute. Every submission is useful :)
Among the submissions we have had this week are: some more musics fromScragadelic and Julian, and a work in progress replacement for Map12from MDenham. Saint of Killers submitted some fixed versions of hisplayer sprite, and Edd submitted some powerup and trooper sounds.You can view all the submissions in thedeutex tree.
More FreeDoom next week.

[Law]

I don't want to make anything for this, because there is a good chance somone else is making the same lump, and I havn't got time to waste.

[geekmarine]

Geez, what the heck is up? I mean, last week, we had tons of submissions, and all of the previous weeks before that, as well, but this week, it just suddenly died. This project is just going to die if people don't get off their butts and contribute something, and seeing as how this is possibly the grandest, biggest, and most important project ever created for Doom, that would be a real pity. This is like a fan-made sequel to one of the greatest games of all time, and it will be completely free. I think this will definitely be worth all the effort put into it, and I don't want to see it die.

[Lüt]

Most of the things that could be quickly done have been done. They're at the point where the majority of replacements needed, i.e. maps, will take months to complete. Good maps take a fair amount of time, they aren't just gonna be pouring in left and right like wall patches and flats.

[Lazer]

As Lüt pointed out, the easy parts are done and the harder, more time consuming ones are being worked on. As one of the map builders (making level 20), I can say that you can expect a bunch of maps in soon. (or so I'm guessing) I have most of the map done, but I still need to add some sections, touch it up, and add in monsters. I'm guessing this is what is happening with everyone else.

[AndrewB]

Well, I'm doing my part right now, as Map24 is coming along quite nicely. But it is going to a very large map, so it will be a little while yet.

Nah, Freedoom isn't going to die. It's going to be great.

[AndrewB]

Oh and by the way, to reniforce that statement, Map24 will be almost overwhelmingly huge. The biggest concern for me will be keeping the blockmap under 128k. It's at 35k already.

[Guest pablodictter]

I wanted to make maps 05 and 12 if I remember right, I e-mail the dude in charge, never got an answer...

[Hyena]

Hey, some people poured some hard work into this project. So maybe they might want a break?

Personally, I've already submitted sprites, sounds, music, a texture, and am working on a level.

[Hyena]

How long ago did you e-mail him?

The status page says MAP12 is assigned to someone else, and MAP05 is done.

[sgtcrispy]

I'm doing some sounds

[Guest pablodictter]

like 2-3 weeks ago.
...but i don't care about anymore.

[Guest gems]

since this is an update/sequel, shouldnt it be using both 3d sprites (like those md2models or whatever they're called) and levels with slopes, 3d floors and scripting? i know i said the levels should be like doom2 since one i tested was 'too detailed' as a doom2 map but i've changed my mind..
maybe it'd earn itself a place on the doom3 cd if it turned out good enough..like most of u complain about id software dont make such great maps as yourselves so heres so chance right?

[mystic]

Why not just ask to do one of the levels that isnt already booked out. I never asked for a particular level, I just let whoever was in charge allocate map06 to me.
I have a working map06 made but I need to make it more interesting/challenging and a bit better looking, its strange how much harder it is to do these things for someone else compared to doing it for myself. I cant say when it will be finished, if Im in the right mood I could finish it in a couple of hours but that mood has eluded me these last couple of weeks.
No way is this project going to die, if it got abandoned I would finish it myself, Im sure many others feel the same way.

[Guest LostShrapnel]

Is there anything in place to determine when the weapons will be handed out? Or is every level gonna be more singular in nature? Like if whoever is making map05 puts a PR or a BFG in it but map06 wasn't really designed for thinking the player might have that advanced a weapon yet. I guess what I'm saying is if the people who are making all the maps collaborating with eachother as to make it all a bit smoother flowing..

Do you guys get what I'm getting at? heh.

[Lüt]

Heh, I've barely got Map13 begun :

Shouldn't take long once I get it going, but I'm still really busy with Millennium.

[Guest Matt]

That's kinda why I'm trying to hold myself to rocket launcher and below.

Come to think of it, the only weapon I've actually placed in the level so far is the rocket launcher. I'm being cruel at this point.

[w@velength]

Chaingun replacement(uncompiled) is on my site:
www.angelfire.com/realm/silvericarus
use it in Freedoom or your computer dies.

[AndrewB]

The chaingun has already been replaced.

[Fredrik]

ROFL

"weapon"

[Guest pablodictter]

nah, no mapping.
I was just curious why they didn't wrote me back, that's all. = )

[Guest Excalibur_Z]

I know just what you mean. If it were me, I'd have it so the first 4 or so levels you'd fight with only fist and pistol (where it counts, on Ultra-Violence). Rocket Launcher with only 2 rockets comes next in the 5th level. Level after that, shotgun makes its appearance and you start getting shotgun ammo. Level 7, Chainsaw. About level 9 or so you'd get the chaingun. Level 12 you'd start getting more rockets (very rare though) to compensate for the lower amounts of barrels around. Level 14, Berserks start popping up every so often in the following levels. Level 17, BFG, with enough payload for one shot. Level 19, backpack makes its appearance (one more BFG shot). Level 22, plasma rifle and rare cell ammo. Level 25 super shotgun and more cells. That way by level 30 you're all set.

Of course this is only suited for my playing style. I'm not a big fan of all the crazy-powerful weapons. I want to fight a Hellknight or Baron with a pistol or fist, using barrels so it actually takes some effort. I want to get a BFG with only enough ammo for a single shot so when I see that Spider Mastermind I can take down a good chunk of its life with the weapon I've saved from a few levels back.

Plasma, BFG, Rockets, and SSG (and to a slightly lesser extent the shotgun) I believe to be too easy to abuse, that's why they get introduced in later levels. Of course, this is all if it were me... obviously I recommend this construction style =)

You definitely have a good concern with that. Good call.

[Guest Excalibur_Z]

Addendum to that last post, I think backpacks count for the amount of the smallest type of ammo collection for each weapon, so instead of one backpack (for one BFG shot) it would be two stacked on top of each other to make it look like one =)

[Espi]

Wow, you really did that gun with paintbrush...

[cph]

Law: If you're worried about being jumped by other people doing the same stuff, then ask for it to be assigned to you. Simple.

Lut: maps are hardly a problem, we're swamped in people to do those. The thing holding it up at the moment is that some textures contain figures which ought to correspond to sprites, so people have been avoiding them. We may need to put some temporary textures in to make the initial release, then revisit them once the corresponding sprites are ready.

[NiGHTMARE]

Law:

From http://freedoom.despayre.org:81/freedoom-readme.html

<< If there are textures you particularly want to do then email fraggle who can edit the list files marking you as "assigned" to those textures (to stop duplicated efforts). >>


<< If you want to do one sprite in particular, email fraggle and ask to be assigned to that sprite. >>

<< If you want to make one sound in particular then email fraggle and asked to be "assigned" to that sound. >>

<< If you want to make a level, it is highly suggested that you email fraggle and ask to be allocated to that level so that we know you are working on it and to avoid duplications. >>

'nuff said.

[NiGHTMARE]

pablodictter:

Most of the Doom 2 levels are assigned, but a couple of us (Tom Robinson and myself) are doing Doom 1 levels too.

Everything except E1M1-9 and E4M1 is currently free.

[Swedish Fish]

I'm curious (sorry don't know much of anything about Freedoom) ... are people trying to capture essences from the original dooms when making levels (like you are with textures)?

Or is it just going to be a random collection of levels? I was thinking, if you guys aren't trying to follow a level theme the levels will probably be grossly variated. A common mistake in most megawads..

[Guest Matt]

Such as doom2.wad and doom.wad...

[Lüt]

At least, such as Doom 2.

Fish: the idea behind these maps is (supposedly) to recreate the feel of the map you're replacing, i.e. I'm doing Map13 so it's a fairly large city map, people doing something like Map24 would be making somewhat of a Chasm-ish map, etc.