The Age of Hell: FPS game for GZDoom - DEMO OUT

[Hyacsho]

On 9/9/2020 at 1:57 PM, Bridgeburner56 said:

 

Very smooth, it's come a long way since the original render. 

[Bridgeburner56]

MOAR ASSETS

While I have been busy with Bastion of Chaos and Mapwich 2 for a good chunk of the year, there has still been plenty of progress on Age of Hell from the people helping me out. Amuscaria and TheMisterCat have both been doing stellar work with the new armoury and bestiary.

A Bone Reaver getting splattered by the new SSG

Ice Sorcerers being mown down by the Judicator

Some assets have gone through a remake due to the quality of work being much higher. TMC has really refined his work flow over the last 12 months. The Brutish has had a full makeover


Guest mappers

I am very pleased to be able to share some of the work done by the guest mappers for Age of Hell. I'm going to share 2 maps with you today, the first by Insane Gazebo for episode 2

 

And the second map is some fresh work from Ronnie James Diner for episode 3

And finally, I have found some time to continue work on episode 1. I have started a collab map with Simpletonium that will be the mid episode boss map.

The Godless Gate




 

And some work from the as yet untitled map 2 for episode 1 from earlier this year


 

So good progress is being made. The rocket launcher is close to being ready at which point all of the core Doom 2 assets replacements will be done. This means you should be seeing a steady ramp up in activity on the mapping front over the next couple of months with AoH being my primary focus for all of next year. The chances of seeing a full vertical slice demo by the end of the year are pretty high as well.

As always join The Hellforge to keep a closer eye on progress. Development shots are regularly shown there and you can also watch me stream work for this on my Twitch page

Edited November 2, 2020 by Bridgeburner56

["JL" was too short]

The Ancient Gods release: I sleep

 

New Age of Hell screenshots: real shit?

[Bridgeburner56]

B O U N C E

[Ribo Zurai]

Holy shit.

[Korozive]

This is taking on a DOOM Eternal feel for me.

[Bridgeburner56]

10 hours ago, Korozive said:

This is taking on a DOOM Eternal feel for me.

There might be some elements drawn from Doom Eternal. We are still focusing on keeping it closer to classic Doom gameplay though

[adamastor]

What a beast of a project.

I've been converted to a new faith and gaze in awe at the works of the true prophets.

[Pixel Fiend]

Where will you advertise this? This might bring a new generation of Doom fans, like me discovering this game this year after seeing Doom 64 release on Steam. I'm just concerned this project will have higher system requirements than Doom Eternal, not unlike the map Bastion Of Chaos.

Edited December 11, 2020 by <<Rewind

[Turin Turambar]

Congrats @Bridgeburner56 for the Cacoward 'Creator of the Year'.

 

Alas, it makes you contractually obligated to release Age of Hell already.

 

...wha? It doesn't work that way?

[Hcoop111]

This is no longer just a wad...this is art.....i cant fucking wait to see this in the future....just makes my jaw drop....i love it when people make something nice and it takes time it shows the love you have for your craft and lets face it mapping is a craft and it takes time..not everyone can just plop out a amazing looking map let alone one after another after another etc...keep up the outstanding work 

[Gideon020]

Is it wrong of me to also want standalone weapons/enemy packs when this is all finished? XD

[Bridgeburner56]

12 hours ago, Gideon020 said:

Is it wrong of me to also want standalone weapons/enemy packs when this is all finished? XD

Lucky for you a standalone mod to use with other map packs and make your own maps will be released after sometime volume 1 is out. This will then be updated with the volume 2 and 3 resources as they are released. 

I'm planning a good sized progress update in the next week or so. Things have definitely been happening

[Kurogachii]

1 hour ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

Lucky for you a standalone mod to use with other map packs and make your own maps will be released after sometime volume 1 is out. This will then be updated with the volume 2 and 3 resources as they are released. 

I'm planning a good sized progress update in the next week or so. Things have definitely been happening

Wow this is just MASSIVE!! 

¿what's your prediction about the size of this wad?

[Bridgeburner56]

6 hours ago, Kurogachii said:

Wow this is just MASSIVE!! 

¿what's your prediction about the size of this wad?

Each episode is slated to be 8-10 maps and there are 6 episodes planned. Individual maps will probably average a couple of hours so yeah, lots of content :D

[NemanjaC]

Can tell how much of the mod is finished in %? will it release all fully complete with all 6 episodes or those will be added on in updates? And is there any chance of 2021 being the year of release? :D It looks amazing , could easily release it on Steam as a premium game, and i think many would buy it , cause its just too good to pass as a simple mod a not standalone game.

[ZuRTr]

This looks like it is gonna be better than Eviternity 

[Dragonfly]

20 minutes ago, ZuRTr said:

This looks like it is gonna be better than Eviternity 

 

When did it become a competition?

[DSC]

16 minutes ago, Dragonfly said:

 

When did it become a competition?

Karl Jobst said it best: even in speedrunning, the Doom community is never about "who will have the world record" but instead "have we reached the run yet?".

[Bauul]

3 hours ago, ZuRTr said:

This looks like it is gonna be better than Eviternity 

 

The two are about as different to each other as Doom mapsets can get. Which you prefer will entirely depend on what kind of maps you like.

 

For that matter, I don't think anything is like Age of Hell. I certainly can't think of any other Slaughter-centric Total Conversions, let alone advanced GZDoom focused ones.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Bauul

[Bridgeburner56]

5 hours ago, NemanjaC said:

Can tell how much of the mod is finished in %? will it release all fully complete with all 6 episodes or those will be added on in updates? And is there any chance of 2021 being the year of release? :D It looks amazing , could easily release it on Steam as a premium game, and i think many would buy it , cause its just too good to pass as a simple mod a not standalone game.

There will be 3 separate releases (called volumes) with 2 episodes each. First volume will be 2022 with a demo out this year (hopefully very soon). Subsequent volumes will take less time to complete as the assets are much more complete. It'll just be episode specific stuff that needs to be created (bosses, decorations etc). 

Age of Hell will be released/promoted much like a standalone game because that's what it is now, but you will never have to pay for it (there are a variety of reasons for this). I will be investigating things like steam and itch.io as distribution platforms though and there will be ways to support development for those who wish to to help with commissioning stuff

And re: comparisons, if Age of Hell is even close to as well received as Eviternity was I will be very happy. Legendary wad

[General Rainbow Bacon]

^I think I speak for most of us when I say this looks to be one of, if not the best and most ambitious of projects to come out in a VERY long time.  I'd be surprised if you don't get multiple cacowards for this thing when all is said and done.  I just got to play some of your "Bastion of Chaos" and your understanding of architecture is astounding and even your gameplay is great too, which is unusual.  Unfortunately one of the two gets left behind, but this is not the case with your maps.  I can't wait for more of your maps.  

[Korozive]

7 hours ago, ZuRTr said:

This looks like it is gonna be better than Eviternity 

You can't say that. Erm..well I guess you did but what I mean is I think the creators of Eviternity accomplished what they set out to do. I think so anyway.

This project is just way more ambitious.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Korozive

[TJG1289]

12 hours ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

Each episode is slated to be 8-10 maps and there are 6 episodes planned. Individual maps will probably average a couple of hours so yeah, lots of content :D

 

So you're saying we could get up to 60 MAPS OF THIS? Holy crap. These screenshots look incredible, so getting so much of that would be insane.

[Major Arlene]

1 hour ago, Korozive said:

You can't say that. Erm..well I guess you did but what I mean is I think the creators of Eviternity accomplished what they set out to do. I think so anyway.

This project is just way more ambitious.

Kinda an apples and oranges comparison imo- Eviternity never set out to be a total conversion, etc. Eviternity, for what it is (MBF compatible/GZDoom extras) is a fantastic project in its own right. Age of Hell is also a fantastic project in its own right, but as Bridgeburner has said, it is eventually meant to be a completely standalone production using the GZDoom engine. Two different things :) 

[Alfredo]

1 hour ago, TJG1289 said:

 

So you're saying we could get up to 60 MAPS OF THIS? Holy crap. These screenshots look incredible, so getting so much of that would be insane.

Bridge wants us to suffer.

 

Whether it be while playing.

 

Or while waiting for it to be released. c:

[Doom64hunter]

On 3/2/2021 at 10:04 AM, Bridgeburner56 said:

Each episode is slated to be 8-10 maps and there are 6 episodes planned. Individual maps will probably average a couple of hours so yeah, lots of content :D

What the fuck. If all those maps are intended to live up to the impressive visuals showcased in the screenshots here, that is indeed incredibly ambitious, especially considering all the assets that were replaced, and new assets that are yet to be made.

 

I hope however that this is not at a detriment to the gameplay -- I can imagine that having multiple hour-long maps in a row, let alone 60 of them, can get very exhausting, especially in a Doom-engine game.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Doom64hunter

[Bridgeburner56]

18 minutes ago, Doom64hunter said:

What the fuck. If all those maps are intended to live up to the impressive visuals showcased in the screenshots here, that is indeed incredibly ambitious, especially considering all the assets that were replaced.

 

I hope however that this is not at a detriment to the gameplay -- I can imagine that having multiple hour-long maps can get very exhausting, especially in a Doom-engine game.

While slaughter fights will feature heavily in Age of Hell, there will be a wide variety of encounter designs and map styles so people don't get too burnt out. This is also why there is an episode based release schedule, content will be fed out in chunks so as not to be overwhelming. The 6 episodes also have very different design aesthetics and concepts so that should hopefully keep people interested throughout the whole game.
Difficulty balancing will also be heavily implemented with Bastion of Chaos as a kind of bench mark, which will allow people a more relaxed playthrough if desired.

[Insane_Gazebo]

I'm still slowly working away at my giant map and losing my sanity in the process.

[Shulbocka]

Damn, I haven't checked on this project since it was originally posted with just the description and the title image, and I can't believe what I'm seeing now. This looks absolutely amazing so far. I honestly stared at and studied each screenshot like I was viewing art in a museum. The visual quality of everything is just crazy. Keep up the great work, and thanks for keeping us all updated. I'm definitely looking forward to this. I've never really cared about hand sprites before, but even the hands in each screenshot look dope as hell.

I don't want the mod comparison comment to even be a thought in anyone's mind since it was dumb, but I agree that the 2 mods are totally different, at least visually and shouldn't be compared unless you play both and are comparing the experience you have. More than that, ambition and visuals aren't what make something fun and memorable. If you remove every texture in Eviternity or any other awesome map/s, they'll still be extremely fun because it's clever level design, placement of enemies and enemy types, what weapons you have in certain scenarios, and etc. that make Eviternity and all the other maps that we all love great. Based on everything I've seen of this project, it looks great in every way, but how will we know if it's fun until we actually play it?