Matt Eldrydge

Brutalist Doom, but played straight. 32 maps of beautiful concrete, steel, glass and lots of geometric shapes, with or without Control-esque weirdness and void stuff in them. Just make a cool map with concrete in the starring role. I understand Doom's engine doesn't let you go wild with room over room and such but this has been on my mind ever since I saw the Quake Brutalist Jam. I might start it myself after I explore what I can get out of a narrow, mostly monochromatic palette.

Mine is "Just keep throwing lines until the map looks interesting". I find myself drawn to making the absolute most out of negative space between large sectors, but most of the time I also don't like making claustrophobic places either so that's fun. Combat isn't really my strong suit but I do like making each encounter its own little challenge as much as I like tossing a bunch of monsters at the player and seeing what happens.

Here's that video I mentioned, I spend most of it just saying how much I liked the map and how good of a time it is but it might offer some insight still. :P Do let me know what other maps you've made, I'd love to check them out!

Gave this a quick try after getting my ass kicked in Helldivers 1, had a lot of fun with it! I'll probably record a video with this map, it looks great and plays really well! I kinda expected a bit more of a bite after getting to the exit room but it's a fun 15 minute romp through what I presume is an underground base. Great job! End screen, spoilered for size I guess. :P

Congrats on the release! It was fun seeing Duality shape up, I enjoyed playtesting 2 of the maps and I'll happily play through the rest of them now. :)

Many thanks! I won't spoil it, but the weapon roster will actually be full next time you get to go through it. ;) The question, however, is if you'll actually want to go through it.

That depends entirely on the spriter. As someone who's friends with quite a few people who sprite and has dabbled in spriting and/or modding to some extent, I find sheets to actually be more handy since I can edit all the frames at once and cut them out later. Everyone has their own methods but most of the time they'll palletize it, adjust it, then post it for use or just to show it to others based on what I know. Offsets is just something you're better off learning on your own, you're likely to need that knowledge sooner rather than later anyway.

Eraser has gotten quite the makeover this week. Instead of playing as regular ol' Doomguy, you'll play as...Eraserguy. I promise there's more to it, but what matters is his arsenal is a bit different (and hopefully more fun). What's certain is the UAC isn't behind this anymore. One of the major changes was a new chaingun replacement that's even better at dealing with single targets. It's significant enough that your limit for bullets has been raised by quite a bit! Hint: It has no spread anymore and is a DPS machine, assuming you can keep it fed and watch that trigger. The map has also changed, but this week really focused on its player character and his weapons. This update will likely be released in the middle of May at the pace things have been going, but we'll see...

I've been polishing up Eraser since its release a couple of weeks ago. This means adjusting parts of the map itself, adding more stuff and generally making it play a bit nicer without sacrificing the tough start and limited supplies feeling it has - but it also means adding new sprites. Here's the new exit corridor as well as the new starting weapon. It sounds dumb, but removing the spread of a slightly faster pistol actually makes it feel quite lame as I found out after playtesting this for the 11th time. An innaccurate bullethose with a delay when you let go of the trigger has proven to be more fun so far. The elusive Gungnir powersuit will also be a reward for those who like exploring in the near future. Don't get your hopes up, it's just blue armor. Some more decorations have been added. And lastly, some more interactivity has been added to the map. Not a lot, just enough to make returning to Eraser feel fresh. The next update should be out at some point in May. It's quite extensive and will also add a few new monsters to keep you on your toes. See you there!

Self-explanatory. I'm trying to do something like what you'd find in Nihility, but I'm not too used to Dehacked still so peering inside it didn't really tell me much other than the ambient sound thing uses repurposed sounds from other monsters and seems to behave as a stationary monster that will make its assigned sound with some regularity. I did try messing around with it, but it's at the point I'd rather ask for help. Specifically, I'm going to free up the pain elemental's states since the monster won't show up in my map. P.S.: I know Nihility is limit-removing, but I'm using Boom so I figured I'd just put that out there.

Hey, thanks for playing! I do honestly apologize for the lack of guidance in actually finding the keys, but I should have expected since this map actually has some of Marathon's level design in it - specifically, doors opened with switches and not keys. I should have seen how awful that damn blue-red door was before posting, I can't imagine how many people have wasted at least 20 minutes wandering around instead of just going down that corridor. Version 2.0 does hopefully fix this excessive backtracking and introduce a few more possible routes in the map's first half, while making combat a bit more engaging (especially towards the end) so if you feel like it, you could give that a shot as sort of new game plus. :P The weapon sounds were pretty obligatory, I'm not good with weapon sounds and generally was a bit impatient to get this map done already, so I didn't ask for help with those. Kinda sad to hear you didn't enjoy the bullet weapons, I was super happy with how they turned out and was rather proud for making the chaingun work a little differently. Then again, there's only so much I was able to figure out with Dehacked. Well, with that said, good to hear you enjoyed the map as a whole. :)

Thank you! Happy to hear you enjoyed this map. :) Yep, that's what I was going for - keep the player moving and in search of supplies. You're welcome, and happy to hear you enjoyed it! I might make more maps in Eraser's lane in the future, but perhaps not quite as large as Eraser itself since I have to playtest it all multiple times. :P

First of all, thanks for playing the map! I'm glad you enjoyed it and your comment regarding the secrets almost made me untag them again, but by then I had already figured out a new, rather unintrusive secret sound and didn't want to let it go to waste. :P I also figure the allure of "ooooh new mysterious map" had already worn off and decided it wouldn't hurt to have the sounds turn up on occasion. Maximum immersion was something I was kinda concerned with, but there's just a limit to how much you can make achieve that in regular Doom. Anyway, the idea is still worth pursuing so I only tagged two of them and called it a day. Regarding the final structure, I made sure to put up not only more monsters in it, but also a small ambush right before the exit room in version 2.0 of the map! I don't think it's realistically threatening but it should make it so you can't just waltz out of the map. For this, I opted for just using a quiet, more musical DSSECRET sound. It meshes well with the mostly quiet vibe of the map, I just wish I could change the actual secret found message to match it as well. I couldn't find the related string in WhackED 4, alas. Thanks! I know Doom's thing is usually running and gunning, but if you control supplies and a few other variables it can make for a rather tense survival horror-type thing too. I think Snaxalotl's megaWADs definitely show there's an interest in scarier stuff, so go for it!

Thanks to everyone for the comments, I don't have time to answer to them in full at the moment but the feedback has been taken and used to improve on the map. Download the much-needed update here. Changelog:

Not a bad idea. Will keep it in mind for future projects. Jeez, that demo opened my eyes to just how awful the idea for that double-color locked door was. I'm sorry I put you and anyone else through that, it must have been at least 20 minutes of blind wandering. I've already fixed it by making it so the red skull is only required for the very end, just gotta playtest it to make sure everything is working fine now. As for the suggestion, noted. I'm not great with sounds but I'll look into it. Edit: Since I've fixed a number of things (including secrets, might as well since the cat is out of the bag), I added some doomcute. Might as well.

Thanks for playing! I understand there's not a lot in terms of actual difficulty, but this was also an exercise in making the map itself something you have to overcome. Not sure if I actually succeeded in that regard or not, but by the end I figured it was better to let it go in a more traditional Doom way. I think I was also riffing on Resident Evil, where you barely scrape by but get a rocket launcher to blow everything up at the end but don't quote me on that. Fair points there. Actually tagging secrets or not seems to be kind of a big deal and while I do agree with the completionist angle, I also don't really see it as being a reason to comb through every single room with cheats to see everything the map has to offer. I don't really 100% most of the maps I do play because I like the idea of being able to come back to them someday and find something I didn't know existed, which is something I actually like more than I care to admit. I'm not sure I actually succeeded at that here, so secrets might feel like secrets when I really intended them to be indistinguishable from the rest of the map - if you've played Lost Civilization, you'll know what I mean. It probably doesn't help that at certain points I had actually forgotten what a given part of the map was supposed to be. TL;DR: Secrets aren't something I'm concerned about, I only tag them if I must. If you have to seek out something, the kill count is still there for a reason.

Thanks for the video! It was fun seeing someone go through it with just half of the weapons, even though I didn't really account for that happening. :P Good to see the shotgun/chaingun only combat actually worked out, though! Ammo and supplies are indeed tight, but if you do drag down the place for it you should always have just enough to get by. By the end you'll have a full backpack, assuming you did that. Thank you! I'm considering making a mod-friendly version, it shouldn't be too hard but the thought of having to playtest this map another time makes me want to not do it right now. :P Aside from fixing the odd texture misalignment here and there, I'm not sure what else I can do to "improve" the map though. In fact, that's the main reason I decided to release it after making the exit room - just couldn't think of ways to make it better. I'll look into making some doors two way, maybe, but the less geometry I have to change the better. Still, happy to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks for playing it! I was super worried the pacing would be too slow (which it might be for some people), but then again it's easier to build tension if you take it slow and steady. Congrats on finding the SSG, I tried to make it decently challenging but not too cryptic to find. :) Also, noted on the texture misalignment. It's so minor I'm surprised you even noticed it. Good eye! Thanks for the feedback! The second one doesn't show in DSDA-Doom but I'll look into fixing it, since I'm pretty sure it shouldn't happen with the way the map is set up at the moment. The main reason no secrets have been tagged is simple: they tell you there's more to the map. If you remove them, then the player will be almost completely in the dark which is usually not what a mapper should do - but on the other hand, it's a good way to make the player not worry about exploring everything either. It's a bit complex and definitely subjective, but since secrets ideally are optional I think it's fine to make them, well, entirely optional. It can also boost replay value, but in Eraser? It's just to make the map that bit more hostile to the player's presence, which is one thing I was interested in tackling from the start. It's why the map is very dense and rather difficult to navigate, why supplies are quite tight, why you start with almost nothing in terms of health and ammo...the whole idea is you don't know anything about the place you're in and having a readout that says "hey you have these secrets to find still" went against it. I got the idea from this writeup by Stewboy, which is definitely worth a read in my opinion. It's not something I think every map ever should do, but it is a very interesting way to bend Doom's level design rules.

Thanks for checking it out! My comment about Structure is there more because that map is more or less composed of quite a few individual maps put in a single, massive map. It doesn't have any specific theme or mood unlike Eraser, which is meant to be horror-ish and oppressive. The red key often comes up in feedback and I'm not sure if I should "fix" it or not, given the map's thing is kinda being impenetrable, you know? It does take people a little while to actually find it...but anyway, glad to hear you enjoyed the combat. :) Also, good time considering the map is large and not super clear on what it wants from you! I'm not sure this is worth a cacoward, but the sentiment is welcomed - thank you! Being lost in a strange place is actually a fairly common dream I have, and much like most of my maps, my dreams end up playing a large part in inspiration. Abscission as well as Snaxalotl's previous work in Stickney Installation informed a lot of the "feel" the map wound up having, and reaching out to her for the midis is another way to thank her for the excellent reference material. :) There's also most of the second half's layout being made while I was dealing with a fever, so the abstract "stairs everywhere" look is only partly Escher-inspired. :P Anyway, very happy to hear you enjoyed your time in Eraser! I'll certainly look into making some more stuff in that vein, survival horror in Doom is an idea that just fascinates me!

Sorry to hear you didn't like it, it's just how the cookie crumbles though. I really wanted to try something different. Thanks for the demo.

Don't let them erase you. PLAY INFO Complevel: Boom (9) Mouselook: Feel free to use it. Difficulty: Only UV is implemented. Couldn't think of any reason to balance it lower. Crouching, jumping: No. It shouldn't break anything, but still. Ports tested: DSDA-Doom 0.27.5, GZDoom 4.11 Renderer: Software, or DSDA-Doom's hardware renderer. Slot: 01 + 02 as a stopper. DOWNLOAD: Version 2.0 You can find all the versions here. You find yourself in a strange space, at the edge of a dead world suspended in darkness. Getting here wasn't easy. You nearly died in the process , but at least you still can move and aim well enough. The rules are the same: survive and find a way home. P.S.: Since Eraser has a lot of asset replacements and Dehacked changes, it won't play nicely with mods. Use them at your discretion. Weapon changes: More details:

Fun little mod! My only suggestion so far is to maybe make the pickaxe have a faster select speed or having a hotkey for quickly smashing rocks. Other than that, I feel like the arbalest's primary fire could do some more damage since it seems to more or less replace the shotgun? I do believe I had to two tap zombies with it. Looking forward to whatever else is brought to this mod. :)

I am a Matt and I endorse this map. :)

No problem, just doing my part! I should probably go back and specify the showcase was recorded on that particular date in fact - it's what I did with Faspons, since that one also has a pretty fast release cycle. Cheers!

Fear is the mind-killer indeed. I reloaded a few times myself, it's a good hectic 10 minute scramble!

Yo, there might be a miscount somewhere. I only made box 07 (what's in the box).