The Ethereal Shard - SPOTLIGHTED!!!!

[ShadesMaster]

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/14917200_10102289139872304_5061816103863702970_o.jpg?oh=4981eeac548e307a9e984e33543127df&oe=58F67F4F

The Ethereal Shard - LVL1 - W8HQX44E
The Ethereal Shard - LVL2 - E7N5Q8YD
The Ethereal Shard - LVL3 - V3QGEGWZ
The Ethereal Shard - LVL4 - L6QNM9PG

Secret Map 'Pandemonium' - 93VUGA63
Secret Map 'Icy Requiem' - GSFMPTFF

Hello everyone, Shades here! This is a *complete* campaign of 4 main missions and two secret levels. What are the highlights?

- Carrying over of weapons mods and Rune abilities, secret levels nab you things like the BFG
- An organized PDA system, and Doomslayer dolls that summon the banished man to guide you to secrets and give advice.
- Custom architecture co-mingled with existing modules, tested with AI to fullest effect.
- Abilities that kick in when near-death, such as 'Haste makes Waste' and 'Breaking the 4th.' Complete actual Rune Challenges to nab 'em.
- Carefully laid-out 'Imbued Monster' encounters and monster introduction, using new particle effects, trailing spawns and abilities.
- a final boss that isn't any tradilotional demon on the roster.

Edited April 4, 2017 by ShadesMaster

[snapshot]

2nd Level is really good, I Liked sneaking in to rooms for switches, I also liked the changes you made to each module, They almost feel like all new modules, there are some nice secrets too .

Spoiler

* Outside after climbing the rocks, there's a Plasma rifle that will spawn enemies when picked up
* There's a teleport near start behind stairs

The only thing that didn't look too good IMO was the outside area near the Plasma rifle, The ground feels flat, You might want to change that .

1st Level was kinda meh, But this is still really good, waiting for your other maps ;) .

[ShadesMaster]

Yeah... the first area you fight in the first level had less in the way of module modification... I'm still open for changing the first map however (more toxic everywhere, etc). I'm partial to the final boss fight tho maybe I could use less shield guys (a 'special' enemy in this campaign). But be specific about what you'd like to see in that level because I'm open to suggestions and nothing is final! :D

As for the third level, I'm going to have a field day with it and I'm feeling very inspired about that. Thanks to decals, I can make my environments look truly *icy*. ;)

[snapshot]

Icy :) Sounds promising, good luck .

[kavananga]

Very cool maps, can't wait to see icy level =)

[ShadesMaster]

A VERY EARLY preview, and obviously not final. Didn't even work on the 'medieval' Argent D'Nur areas nor the icy river that'll be in the Grid room....

[zepolleon]

Wonderful job man! I love the decal work, looks gorgeous. The ice and organic stuff really stands out. Skyboxes are well done for ceilings/walls.

Nitpicking two "problems":
1. Didn't get the "powerup" on the start of the first map: is it really necessary to kill players getting the pickup? You might wanna try alerting the player beforehand.
2. Jump boots reset inventory - but then again, I don't think you can not reset it. My micro missiles got removed by picking up jump boots, and considering it's before a fight with 3 PSecs, it's kind of a hassle. As far as I know, though, there's no way to add a double-jump without resetting inventory altogether. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Have no problems with the map's pacing and layout though, it's perfect! The second level's hub is simple enough to navigate, but interesting enough to explore.

Also digging the new screens, the third one has that TNT feel to it.

Vids:
https://youtu.be/QZL2iMMlWCo - LVL1
https://youtu.be/RTtvhlVUanA - LVL2

[ShadesMaster]

I can fix those issues, easily. The damage for 'Waste Makes Haste' is supposed to kill you without you getting the powerup; there's a secret when you first enter the module to disable the hazard. Look to the right where you first see the corpses in the larger module, and there's a catwalk with a pipe and switch. I'll instead make the hazard into an actual jumppad since it won't break flow - it'll be fun to move the ability to haveta pick it up in-air. The secret in that case would have a new item entirely.

You also missed another 2 secrets in your playthrough... the room with the forcefield and first Blood Shard also has an extra wall on the lower level. You can climb this to unlock a door that currently leads to a classic module with a shotgun upgrade. Disabling the forcefield also disables the Hell portal barrier at the start of the map. The secret climb in the later slime room has a teleporter that simply gets you back to the beginning, though you can backtrack to the Hell secret all the same. Look to the base of the support pillar in the slime for a switch to enable this two-way teleporter.

Lastly, to fix the micro missile problem, I'll simply make that powerup happen after the jump boots. So that secret will contain something other, such as an armored multiplier. I'll change these things and other fixes (such as weapon upgrades being consistently represented by 'drone' containers) when I upload level 3, since that warrants a re-upload of level 2 anyway. :D

[ShadesMaster]

The Ethereal Shard - LVL3 - V3QGEGWZ

BUMP!!!! This campaign has received major uodates, thanks to Free Update 5 and AN ENTIRELY NEW LEVEL!!!! Check it out. Bigger, badder and more numerous secrets and abilities. An organized PDA/ Quest / Guide Doll system, monsters that leave fire as they walk, and more!

[Doom64guy6]

ShadesMaster
Dude seriously put an inhibit AI spawning box behind the windows in the room where the 3 gore nests are I can't beat the second level because of it.

[snapshot]

Found a bug on 3rd Level, Behind the yellow Barricade in the Room that requires blue key, the teleport doesn't seem to work, will get you stuck, Good level though.

[ShadesMaster]

Welp, thats the way the cookie crumbles I suppose.

Lol j/k... not sure of the 2nd level bug, I'll check out again, but third level gotta change. That reminds me me, the 'Draining the Blood' secret in LVL2 is bugged in regards to the one gore nest, since if u lower the blood level the nest will float in midair. The quick fix is to make the red core that grants access to the secret accessable only after u defeat the Pinky bosees.

To be fair, all my maps get updated with microfixes from time ever to time (and new secrets) so nothings' truly permanent. Only through continual change and constructive criticism, can we experience improvement (not 'mindless' compliments like 'good work' b/c that's not a basis for progress). :P

Also I wonder if my LVL3 Ice Shard 'reduce speed but restore health' / medical table speed boost tradeoff worked properly for u guys. If u forgo the Shard, the medical table grants you 125% pace, versus simply restoring u to normal.

[snapshot]

Excuse my Ignorance :3, But hey at least I gave some good feedback on the first two levels.

[ShadesMaster]

Agreed. :P

[ShadesMaster]

Draining the blood, achievement "Draining the Swamp," ppl!

[Doom64guy6]

ShadesMaster said:

Draining the blood, achievement "Draining the Swamp," ppl!

Lol is thst a real achievement?

[ShadesMaster]

Next time I micro-update it, just as 'Haste makes Waste' and 'Breaking the 4th' are Rune Powerups. Backtrack to use the red powercore in all drainable blood pools, and that should be the message lol! As of now, you'll aquire the only chainsaw in the campaign. A Trump reference but for a very different 'campaign' lmao. A very credible source. Ok I'll shaddup now.

EDIT - 3rd level updated with not 1 but TWO secret exits. God damn this campaign is going to be 7 levels including the secrets lol.

[ShadesMaster]

Updated AGAIN, this time with secret level 'Pandemonium' which can be played standalone as well as found in the Ethereal Shard campaign as a secret map. :D

93VUGA63

[ShadesMaster]

Ok guys, at 4 levels, this campaign is officially complete. Not *5* like a planned, but with TWO secret maps it balances out.

The Ethereal Shard - LVL4 - L6QNM9PG

Look to the thread's start for all the info! If you're up for it, play a level like 'Pandemonium' to have access to the BFG in level 4.

[ArchangelOfHell]

Great work Shades, looking forward to your future work !

[ashiaor666]

lvl-3 glitches

Baron's module: There is a path to move behind the rocks!
Hell module: teleport isn't work...

[ShadesMaster]

Hell module I've fixed by now (I never even had a teleporter, u had to suicide -and still no rune ability! Also fixed). But the Baron Hell Walker area has a hole in it - where?

[ashiaor666]

[ShadesMaster]

Ah-HAH so that's it! Thanks, I'll fix it shortly.

[ChickenOrBeef]

I played through the first three levels so far. I'm enjoying the campaign, but I did experience what seems to be a bug.

In the 3rd level the player is told that the "Operation table will augment your speed", but it actually made me a lot slower. Was that a bug or an epic troll job?

[ShadesMaster]

Bug. The table should speed you up, while the Ice Shard down below slows you down. Depending on the otder you pick them up, you could even out at the same speed, or use JUST the table to be faster, or JUST the shard to be slower. So something was reversed....

I might just scrap the shard altogether and just have the table as a 'secret' speed boost....

[Moon Marin]

played the first map of this campaign today for the first time. the boss fight at the end was a lot of fun and i liked how the module looked with the skybox in the top a lot. i think he was a little too beefy, i died 2x on the boss to refill my ammo. i felt strapped for ammo a lot of the level, in a survival horror way i always had just enough to finish the level, except the toxic room where i had to find the quad secret and kill the revenant with just melee attacks in quad mode lol.

fun map. tough challenge.

[ShadesMaster]

Glad u like it so far; greater challenges await in later levels! (Although u will be better armed, and ammo goes a longer way)

:D

[Lazy Cat]

Hi. First of all the maps are really nice. I like 'em.

That been said, I have a personal beef with custom geo. The AI doesn't know how to navigate it. They get stuck on columns, even walls, trying to walk THROUGH them. The Icewalker decided he wasn't going to walk, for instance. Or the specter didn't know how to go up and down the ramp...

Two minor problems that I found is that you can't really choose the upgrades you get. Or whether or not you actually want them. You punch the drone and there goes your missiles. You fixed that by the 3rd map and I think you should implement it on the first two as well. On the 2nd map (I think) there was also the part where you get the plasma rifle and a trio of riot guys pop up behind you. I had full (upgraded) life and some armor, but they still insta killed me. Didn't even have time to turn around.

I couldn't finish the 3rd map, unfortunately. At the rune challenge I controlled an enemy and couldn't kill him afterwards. The challenge wouldn't complete and I couldn't leave. (Which also circles back to that first problem. My grenade was switched for a demon control grenade and I didn't even know it)

Well, that's what I have to say about it. Overall I really like it. Hope you can fine tune it to perfection sometime.

[ShadesMaster]

Glad u enjoyed it! Thanks for bringing up issues I didn't visualize happening, with all of this new stuff cones limits in how we can implement things. But there's alwaystill a [more complex] workaround. Additional fixes also encourage me to republish the levels so they're yet again 'new' for hopefully new ppl to see, to boit! :)

Be sure ton play level 4 and the secret levels; you can load any map standalone if you wish, skipping earlier adventures.