Chief Smokey

Merry Christmas! After much testing and fixing Classic Edition is ready to go. You can download it HERE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sGH0S4lqPjUUnT46nehHntZlB8x2Al6M/view https://www.mediafire.com/file/fe8vk3311ahcgzk/UF_Classic.zip/file

Well I wasn't really expecting to come back and bring this old mod back from the dead after Ultimate Edition shipped but I've got some more tricks up my sleeve yet. Last year around Christmas time I found upon a beta build of Unfamiliar predating the release of Martian Fury containing material stretching from E1M1 to E3M1 (it may have been a pre-release playtesting build but I can't know if that's true or not) which was in a mostly playable state. So to end my tenure in the Doom modding scene for good I've decided to fix the build up and release it as Unfamiliar Classic Edition. For the most part the polished build will be faithful to the source material, although some liberties have been taken for the sake of quality of life improvements. Don't expect anything near the quality level of Ultimate Edition, of course, since this is a relic of a different time. This is an act of preserving a personal historical artifact, first and foremost. Currently this is going through playtesting and post-production. Depending on how much further work in required after receiving the testing feedback, it may release either this week or next week.

Here's V1.1! Because of constant setbacks I've decided to release the build as-is (which is an entirely playable state, no worries) and shelve it for the moment. Over V1.0 it features many quality of life improvements, aesthetic tweaks and most importantly NPCs - albeit still in an unfinished state. It generally feels more "full" and polished. DOWNLOAD: Google Drive Mediafire

Here it is. The Ultimate Edition. 29 maps of demon-slaying mayhem. On the surface it may not look too different from the Episode III release but under the hood there has been a slew of fixes and quality of life improvements across the board. DOWNLOAD: Google Drive Mediafire

I think it was mainly a growing feeling of disenfranchisement with the project. Plus I was never that interested in TFC to begin with (to me it feels like more of the same content tacked on as an afterthought that undermines the hype for Doom 2 built up by Inferno's ending) and I wasn't really sure of how to Unfamiliarize it since it doesn't really have that much of an identity of its own outside of the orange sky and higher difficulty. I've been planning to finish up work on my Doom projects this year anyway and move on to other stuff, so it would be the more pragmatic choice to finish Unfamiliar at an acceptable point in its lifetime (i.e. containing at least the three main episodes) rather than go through the messy process of doing another episode. Circles of Hell was a bit of a nightmare behind the scenes and I think at this point I don't have the motivation to go through something similar - or worse - in order to top it. I wouldn't say I'm "giving up" as much as bringing things to a close at a point that I'm satisfied with. Sorry if there's any disappointment.

Unfamiliar is wrapping up. Instead of producing an Unfamiliarized version of Thy Flesh Consumed, I've instead decided to bring things to a close by doubling down on polishing the content already made and adding a short two-map bonus episode to take Episode IV's place.The bonus episode in question is a revamped version of Everglade, a side wad in production around the same time as Episode I Redux and fell under the radar. You could consider it to be a mini-expansion since it inherited some of the custom assets I was also using for Unfamiliar at the time. Unfamiliar: Ultimate Edition will release tomorrow.

Acquire your unmonetized televisions!

Finally I've taken the first steps to NPCs. Currently they are immobile and lack any pathfinding abilities (this will be done with ACS scripting eventually) but they do certainly make the environments feel a lot more alive and less lonely.

To give some more life and grit to the city, some new sprite props (mainly trash) have been strewn around. I've also added surveillance cameras and tweaked the level layout in a couple of places to get more use out of previously superfluous areas.

The vehicle roster is now complete. The APCs have been joined by the Razor Train, Shuttles and the beloved "Beta Bus" (the other addition is the Metrocop watchtowers). The next step is to get them moving via ACS and then the process of adding NPCs can begin.

Welcome to City 17. After around two and a half months of work the City 17 overhaul update is ready for the public to play. No NPCs and scripted sequences yet, but they'll be added along with any bug fixes in an update that may be within the year. DOWNLOAD: Google Drive Mediafire

Things are wrapping up now that the last pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. 3D skyboxes with parallax scrolling (meaning they move with the level like Source skyboxes) and rain effects have been added. The rain effects are part of a larger weather mod created by Boondorl that'll be releasing on its own in the near future complete with documentation, allowing easy use by the community for their own projects. Currently DTB is undergoing a playtesting run, after which it'll be released to the public following any bug fixing that needs to be done. After that I'll return to the project at a future date and release an enhancement update which will add NPCs and scripted sequences (probably after GZDoom 4.8 releases so Nash's lightmap system can be integrated).

The 2001 Manhack Arcade map has been revamped and moved to a bonus map position. That's nearly all of the main mapping work done now. Next up is implementing 3D skyboxes and then figuring out NPCs and scripted sequences. At this rate, the mod may release sometime late this month or the next (perhaps in time for HL2's 17th birthday?).

C17_08 - The Lab