Take a break and play Doom

[A.Gamma]

So, part of my Doom year resolutions was to actually release something this year (so I cheated).

 

This is a Vanilla mapset containing 10 speedmaps, a few of them old, most of them new. I was going to wait until I had a full megawad, but decided to release it now because I'm too lazy to actually do 32 maps feedback could be useful and maybe even encouraging. 

 

The maps are intended for pistol starts, and were tested with DOOM2.EXE, Chocolate Doom, PrBoom+ and Zdoom.

 

The screens:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

The Download: https://waa.ai/zgra

 

Enjoy!

 

Edited January 19, 2018 by A.Gamma

[SP_FACE1]

17 hours ago, A.Gamma said:

Enjoy!

I enjoyed!

 

Took a small break from my daily chores and played the first five maps! Nice looking maps with good flow. Reminded me of the best maps of Plutonia. The title of the WAD is accurate.

Edited January 19, 2018 by SP_FACE1

[SP_FACE1]

Played the rest. Much fun!

 

Some issues:

Spoiler

MAP06

 

MAP09: you can get stuck in here

 

[A.Gamma]

Hey! Thanks a lot for playing! I'm glad you liked the wad, and also am thankful for your feedback, the issues will be adressed as soon as I get home :D

[A.Gamma]

Alright, updated version's up https://waa.ai/zgra 

 

Thanks again @SP_FACE1 for pointing out the bugs.

Edited January 19, 2018 by A.Gamma

[Moustachio]

I'm really enjoying these layouts so far. In fact, the combat is quite good too! I'm in MAP02 right now, and I'm enjoying it more than the first so far thanks to the chaingun. I feel as if MAP01 doesn't have enough ammo to take care of all the enemies.

[A.Gamma]

1 minute ago, The Mysterious Moustachio said:

I feel as if MAP01 doesn't have enough ammo to take care of all the enemies.

Heh, that's actually the idea with MAP01.

Spoiler

You need to get the arachnotron to kill everything in the main room and save the shotgun and pistol for the side rooms.

 

[Moustachio]

@A.Gamma This is an awesome idea!

 

Spoiler

However, infighting got my arachnotron killed about halfway through the map, so I think there should be a berserk pack somewhere so that UV-Maxers can at least punch the rest of them to death. It can be at the end too, so the arachnotron idea doesn't lose pertinence.

 

[A.Gamma]

@The Mysterious Moustachio, adding a berserk was my first idea actually, and IMO makes the map much too simple.

[baja blast rd.]

Played some of the later maps. These are solid designs. Would not have guessed they were speedmaps purely based on the map scale.

 

To be blunt here, I thought the usage of monster-blocking lines ruined a lot of encounters. I also see a tendency for a sandwich made of blocking lines on one side and a meaty monster like a mancubus on the other. The net result is you can't just run in and set infighting going and then keep running forward deeper into enemy territory, which would otherwise be kind of fun. It's kind of an atypical mix of giving leeway in some ways and being controlling in others, one that should be flipped imo -- better to prevent camping but to allow charging forward, than the converse. 

 

I liked the ending set piece of map10, so I did a casual playthrough of this map, which I'll post below.

 

This map specifically -- yeah you can see where the block-lines and chokepoints mess things up. The use of chaingunners, turret viles, and meat doors also makes it less fun to play aggressively, so let's just camp the shit out of everything. There are some cacodemons that teleport in (stuck) on the chaingunner turrets outdoors. I didn't even bother looking up how to free those because I wasn't going to kill 1600 HP worth of stuck monsters with the chaingun. That's another thing. Some of these later maps have a sort of equal opportunity policy with ammo. What that meant is that first playthroughs would often see me accruing a full cache of bullets (400 plus some boxes laying around in the case of map10) midway through the map, and having to use that as the dominant means of fighting mid-tier monsters, which these maps also tend to lean on. 

 

 

[A.Gamma]

Hey! That was a lot of fun to watch. Watching other people play my maps is always one of the best ways to get feedback. As for the size of the maps, these are small by my standards, you should check my Mayhem 16 map to see a big-ish Gamma map. 

 

1 hour ago, rdwpa said:

To be blunt here, I thought the usage of monster-blocking lines ruined a lot of encounters. I also see a tendency for a sandwich made of blocking lines on one side and a meaty monster like a mancubus on the other. The net result is you can't just run in and set infighting going and then keep running forward deeper into enemy territory, which would otherwise be kind of fun. It's kind of an atypical mix of giving leeway in some ways and being controlling in others, one that should be flipped imo -- better to prevent camping but to allow charging forward, than the converse. 

 

I liked the ending set piece of map10, so I did a casual playthrough of this map, which I'll post below.

 

This map specifically -- yeah you can see where the block-lines and chokepoints mess things up. The use of chaingunners, turret viles, and meat doors also makes it less fun to play aggressively, so let's just camp the shit out of everything. There are some cacodemons that teleport in (stuck) on the chaingunner turrets outdoors. I didn't even bother looking up how to free those because I wasn't going to kill 1600 HP worth of stuck monsters with the chaingun. That's another thing. Some of these later maps have a sort of equal opportunity policy with ammo. What that meant is that first playthroughs would often see me accruing a full cache of bullets (400 plus some boxes laying around in the case of map10) midway through the map, and having to use that as the dominant means of fighting mid-tier monsters, which these maps also tend to lean on. 

 

 

Thanks for not sugar-coating. I see where you're coming from with the monster-blocking lines, and I kind of agree. I resorted to using them mostly to keep things from getting too chaotic, and to be honest, the testing was minimal (I set myself a strict time limit with these maps) and so overlooked the choking points.

 

As for the blocking line-meaty monster sandwiches, that was a little more deliberate, since I wanted them to prevent the player from walking forward and encourage exploration, but seeing your gameplay I can see how it can become an annoyance. Where I will absolutely remove the blocking lines is in that revenant-archvile combo in the exterior area, and while I'm at it maybe remove some of the heavy meat from that same hallway.  Also, going to look into the stuck monsters you mentioned.

 

Thanks a lot for your feedback and I hope that at least you got some fun out of the maps.

Edited January 20, 2018 by A.Gamma

[SleepyVelvet]

fda dump: noisy_AG_TBPD.zip

prboom+ cl2 uv pistol starts

 

These were good.  They felt like a mix of KDitD and Plutonia, or something i dunno.

The only one I didn't beat was map10 but got as far as the last cyber; got spooked by viles though and got pushed into the cyber landing pad: the cyber surprise butt-sexed me when I started trying to bum-rush the exit that opened.  I think I got the full extent of the level though.

 

I played the last half with -nomusic and substituted rain+jazz.  I might have even played slower but less anxiously.  It was nice and relaxing. 

 

Thanks, and good night.

[A.Gamma]

@NoisyVelvet thanks a lot for the FDAs! As I told rdwpa, I can learn a lot from watching people play my maps. Now. I'll point out some of the stuff I noticed ( I didn't watch 9 and 10 because it's late and I need to sleep).

 

MAP01: This one worked flawlessly so I don't think I'll make any changes here.

 

MAP02:Works as intended, but seeing you die so many times makes me think it should be placed later in the wad.

 

MAP03: Also works as intended. Maybe I'll make the secret a little more obvious.

 

MAP04: Lol'd at you breaking the secret! I will place the items further back so that can't happen anymore. Otherwise it works as intended.

 

MAP05: Oh man, that untextured platform at the end is an embarrasment. Will fix. Otherwise it works mostly fine but I think I'll change some Barons for Knights.

 

MAP06: I'm so sorry for all the deaths! This map will probably end up in slot 08. Also I noticed one of the block monster lines chokepoints rdwpa mentioned. Again it  will get fixed. The teleporter fight with the viles and the plasma rifle will probably get nerfed.

 

MAP07: This worked mostly fine, except for some misplaced plasma ammo and a lack of rockets. Also good job on getting the cyber to kill the arachnos.

 

MAP08: This one will get the most changes. I will replace most of the barons with knights, will remove the door at the start and make the super shotgun more obvious.

 

MAP09: TThis is definitely out of synch. Most of the demo consists of you staring at walls and dying at the start :(

 

MAP10: Pretty much what I expected after seeing rdwpa's video. As I stated before, a lot of the monster blocking lines will be gone by the next version. Expect chaos.

 

Anyway, thanks a lot for playing. Will update on Sunday (maybe Monday).

Edited January 21, 2018 by A.Gamma

[SleepyVelvet]

13 hours ago, A.Gamma said:

MAP02:Works as intended, but seeing you die so many times makes me think it should be placed later in the wad.

lol nah.  don't rule out the possibility that i just suck.

[A.Gamma]

Just finished watching @NoisyVelvet's demos. I updated my previous post to reflect this. It was a good learning experience watching those.

[EffinghamHuffnagel]

Just finished this. Enjoyed it, for the most part. Nice design/flow. Found a few things.

 

MAP06 - Sector tag 17 does not have a teleport landing spot for the Revenant.

 

MAP08 - Linedef tag 6, W1 OpenDoorStayOpen is not necessary. The only way to cross that linedef is while the door is open, during its Open/Close action, so it will never work the way you want. It doesn't break anything, but it does put the previous SR DoorOpen/Close sector in an open state, so if you decide at the last second to go grab ammo before exiting, you have to go back and trigger the first switch which is now up in the ceiling.

 

MAP10 - I think your linedef tags 17, 18, 19, 20 are wrong. They're all closet linedefs which teleport Cacos and a PE to some MonsterBlocked columns near the Red Key. The columns are exactly the same size as the Cacos and PE, so they can't move. More importantly, the switches which opens the closet doors for them are in the exit room and also open the exit. I think you meant for them to teleport into the exit room with the other monsters. Also, those linedefs as well as 27-30 are all W1. I would think the second teleport linedef in each Caco closet (18, 20, 29, 30) would be WR, just in case the landing spots are blocked.

 

I can't really comment about gameplay. I died way too much, so I saved way too much. But I was surprised that the Chainsaw and Berserk didn't show up until MAP09. There were some close-quarter fights earlier where either one would have been a life-saver. Literally.

[A.Gamma]

40 minutes ago, EffinghamHuffnagel said:

Just finished this. Enjoyed it, for the most part. Nice design/flow. Found a few things.

 

MAP06 - Sector tag 17 does not have a teleport landing spot for the Revenant.

 

MAP08 - Linedef tag 6, W1 OpenDoorStayOpen is not necessary. The only way to cross that linedef is while the door is open, during its Open/Close action, so it will never work the way you want. It doesn't break anything, but it does put the previous SR DoorOpen/Close sector in an open state, so if you decide at the last second to go grab ammo before exiting, you have to go back and trigger the first switch which is now up in the ceiling.

 

MAP10 - I think your linedef tags 17, 18, 19, 20 are wrong. They're all closet linedefs which teleport Cacos and a PE to some MonsterBlocked columns near the Red Key. The columns are exactly the same size as the Cacos and PE, so they can't move. More importantly, the switches which opens the closet doors for them are in the exit room and also open the exit. I think you meant for them to teleport into the exit room with the other monsters. Also, those linedefs as well as 27-30 are all W1. I would think the second teleport linedef in each Caco closet (18, 20, 29, 30) would be WR, just in case the landing spots are blocked.

 

I can't really comment about gameplay. I died way too much, so I saved way too much. But I was surprised that the Chainsaw and Berserk didn't show up until MAP09. There were some close-quarter fights earlier where either one would have been a life-saver. Literally.

 

Oh boy, thanks a lot for pointing out those bugs. And here I'm saying that MAP10 worked as intended LOL!