[Now on /idgames!] 3x3 - 3 flats, 3 textures, 3 monsters! community speedmapping(ish) project

[MFG38]

 

3x3 is a 29-level Boom megawad that came to life as a community project hosted by Yours Truly. Participating mappers were given a week to make up to 2 maps each while being only allowed to use 3 flats, 3 textures and 3 enemy types. (A select few textures/flats were excluded from the limitation - which ones should become clear during gameplay.)

 

IWAD: doom2.wad
Port: Boom/MBF-compatible
Map #: MAP01-27 + 31-32
Mode(s): Single-player, coop (partial), DM (partial)
Difficulty settings: Yes... mostly
Tested with: PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, GZDoom 4.5.0
Estimated play time: 2-4 hours

 

A few noteworthy things:

• The maps were compiled into the megawad in order of submission, barring a few exceptions, so you can expect the difficulty curve to be all over the place.
• Pistol starts are not enforced, but the intended challenge of most maps is (expectedly) somewhat trivialized in continuous play.
• Jumping and crouching are disabled in ZDoom-based ports. Obviously. *stares at (G)ZDoom users menacingly*

 

SCREENSHOTS

 

Spoiler

^{(MAP03: Rocketfest by Omniarch)}

^{(MAP08: Realm of the Matriarchs by NaturalTvventy)}

^{(MAP15: The Tale of Sir Doomalot by muumi)}

^{(MAP20: Immundus Stagnum by Worst)}

^{(MAP25: The Gentle Dark by InfernalMonsoon)}

^{(MAP31: Blazing Emerald by akolai)}

 

DOWNLOAD LINKS

/idgames: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/3x3

Personal website: https://mfg38.github.io/files/doom_wads/3x3.zip

Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k1mlzt447fp5hlb/3x3.zip?dl=0

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KC0rboudrAjqQh8ISzUhoc4kqz0-7Ys8/view?usp=sharing

 

LIST OF MAPS

MAP01: Unwelcome [by forgettablepyromaniac]
MAP02: Waterlogged [by Dunn & Dunn]
MAP03: Rocketfest [by Omniarch]
MAP04: Rusty Tower [by Walter Confetti]
MAP05: Permeable [by Salmon]
MAP06: Redwood Grange [by InfernalMonsoon]
MAP07: Plain and Simple [by elio.exe]
MAP08: Realm of the Matriarchs [by NaturalTvventy]
MAP09: They Come at Knight [by MFG38]
MAP10: Dwindling Growth [by Alper002]
MAP11: Batalioni ne Balte [by elio.exe]
MAP12: Boxes Chaos [by waciej]
MAP13: Iron Pillars [by revlis]
MAP14: Hecks'd [by MFG38]
MAP15: The Tale of Sir Doomalot [by muumi]
MAP16: Deadly Tech [by Weird Sandwich]
MAP17: Bloody Circle [by Alper002]
MAP18: Ambush [by PinkFlamingo]
MAP19: Badwrong Canyon [by Swalzi]
MAP20: Immundus Stagnum [by Worst]
MAP21: Rocket Tears [by Death Bear]
MAP22: Ankheg's Keep [by JudgeDeadd]
MAP23: Buckshot Bourgeoisie [by Breezeep]
MAP24: Plutocracy [by muumi]
MAP25: The Gentle Dark [by InfernalMonsoon]
MAP26: Blood Crypt [by Mike_C]
MAP27: Two Thou-Zoned Out [by A.H. Sankhatayan]
MAP31: Blazing Emerald [by akolai]
MAP32: Malum [by AtticTelephone]

Edited October 11, 2021 by MFG38

[Austinado]

Hummmm....

[Alper002]

I think I'd like to participate... the rules are clear, and I've been wanting to get something out.

One question though, do switch textures count towards the limit if they're used only for auditory purposes, or is it exactly 3 textures no matter what? The reason I ask is because there is a trick where if you put a switch on an upper/lower texture that can't be seen, it'll still make the switch noise when you activate it.

[SilverMiner]

14 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

no custom assets are allowed

Why

[MFG38]

36 minutes ago, Alper002 said:

do switch textures count towards the limit if they're used only for auditory purposes, or is it exactly 3 textures no matter what?

 

Switch textures count towards the 3-texture limit in all use cases. I'd encourage making switches visible anyway, just for the sake of clarity in progression.

 

18 minutes ago, SilverMiner said:

Why

 

Because I decided so.

[Alper002]

2 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

Switch textures count towards the 3-texture limit in all use cases. I'd encourage making switches visible anyway, just for the sake of clarity in progression.

Alright. I wasn't thinking of doing invisible switches, just switches that look weird, so this doesn't really change anything about what I was thinking of doing.

[forgettable pyromaniac]

ooo! i haven't had much to do! I wanna try, if that's alright :D

[waciej]

Im in, just litle problem is - 1 texture is a door texture, 2 texture is switch and 3 textures is free, but i think i can handle it :p

[Walter confetti]

Nice idea!

[Btyb88]

Out of curiosity, are you counting a pain elemental as 2 or 1?

[Omniarch]

This seems like my cup of tea! One question though: may I use textures from Ultimate Doom that do not appear in Doom 2? Technically such textures are not 'custom', but I don't want to come off as a rules-lawyer.

[MFG38]

26 minutes ago, forgettablepyromaniac said:

ooo! i haven't had much to do! I wanna try, if that's alright :D

 

Absolutely! Doesn't matter to me if you're a beginner or a veteran as far as this project is concerned - I want as many people to be able to participate as possible. c:

 

15 minutes ago, Btyb88 said:

Out of curiosity, are you counting a pain elemental as 2 or 1?

 

PEs count as 1 monster.

 

15 minutes ago, Omniarch said:

may I use textures from Ultimate Doom that do not appear in Doom 2? Technically such textures are not 'custom', but I don't want to come off as a rules-lawyer.

 

You do make a fair point, but nah, I'm firmly limiting the texture selection to Doom 2's stock textures, minus a custom sky texture if you wish to use one.

[Omniarch]

3 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

You do make a fair point, but nah, I'm firmly limiting the texture selection to Doom 2's stock textures, minus a custom sky texture if you wish to use one.

Fair enough. Luckily, I've got texture schemes to spare!

[NaturalTvventy]

I like this idea. I might try to make something.

[forgettable pyromaniac]

three more small questions:

1 - Only 3 Obstacles/weapons/lightsources as well, or can we use them all?
2 - Do we have to make deathmatch/multiplayer stuff, too?
3 - If we use another texture (when I don't have skyboxes enabled) for telling me where sky is (as long as it's not visible), would that be fine?

[MFG38]

22 minutes ago, forgettablepyromaniac said:

Only 3 Obstacles/weapons/lightsources as well, or can we use them all?

 

No, the limit of 3 only applies to the aspects stated in the rules. You can use as many different weapons/decorations/etc. as you like.

 

23 minutes ago, forgettablepyromaniac said:

Do we have to make deathmatch/multiplayer stuff, too?

 

You can if you wish, but they're not mandatory.

 

24 minutes ago, forgettablepyromaniac said:

If we use another texture (when I don't have skyboxes enabled) for telling me where sky is (as long as it's not visible), would that be fine?

 

Unless I horribly misinterpreted this question, the general rule is to use F_SKY1 wherever a sky is needed, since it doesn't count towards the texture limitation. At any rate, all textures and flats (with the exceptions stated in the OP) count towards the texture/flat limitation, visible or not.

[KeaganDunn]

I'll be taking part in this! The deadline might be a little too close, though. Only a week? I'll see what I can whip up from then.

 

EDIT: That's the point. lol

Edited December 23, 2020 by Dunn & Dunn

[NaturalTvventy]

I'm going to be testing with prboom-plus. I just checked and 72-tall textures vertically wrap without any errors. Can we assume to be correct for all expected source ports?

[Walter confetti]

A question about skyboxes and new sky textures: is the skybox texture chosen for the map been part of the texture limit or not?

[MFG38]

9 minutes ago, NaturalTvventy said:

I'm going to be testing with prboom-plus. I just checked and 72-tall textures vertically wrap without any errors. Can we assume to be correct for all expected source ports?

 

That should be the case as far as I'm aware. OpenGL-based ports may introduce some visual glitches, but I don't expect them to be too prominent.

 

1 minute ago, Walter confetti said:

A question about skyboxes and new sky textures: is the skybox texture chosen for the map been part of the texture limit or not?

 

Ah right, the sky texture doesn't count towards the texture limit. Should probably edit the OP and specify that in the rules, now that it crosses my mind.

[NaturalTvventy]

4 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

 

Ah right, the sky texture doesn't count towards the texture limit. Should probably edit the OP and specify that in the rules, now that it crosses my mind.

Does that mean that the sky texture can be used as a normal wall texture, or only as the sky texture?

[we're closed]

Sounds like fun, I'm in

[Snaxalotl]

I'm definitely going to try this

[MFG38]

10 minutes ago, NaturalTvventy said:

Does that mean that the sky texture can be used as a normal wall texture, or only as the sky texture?

 

I'll accept both use cases, since using the MBF sky transfer (which will be the preferable method for specifying the custom sky in the map) is theoretically already using the sky as a wall texture.

 

On another note, I'm positively shocked how much interest this project has generated in such a short time. I'm looking forward to seeing what you all conjure up! I'll of course be making a map or two of my own as well. Have fun! :D

[forgettable pyromaniac]

I think this could be a good Map01, so I called it Unwelcome. I dunno for certain though.
With Player Starts and Deathmatch Starts.

I was careful to keep it to 3 monsters (per diffculty), 3 Walls, and 3 Flats.
If I accidently added another one, leme know.

Unwelcome.zip

[MFG38]

@forgettablepyromaniac A very breezy but fun map, definitely befitting of the MAP01 slot, I'd say. The only thing worth mentioning is I counted 4 flats, not 3 - I'd replace the few FLAT20's with either FLAT1 or FLAT4. That way, the number of flats will be within the allowed maximum, and the few places where FLAT20 does appear will be that much less jarring. A random curiosity was that HNTR and HMP both had more enemies than UV, but that's by no means a problem. It just struck me as slightly odd when UV is generally the difficulty that has the most enemies in a Doom map. :P

 

Decent work overall. c:

[KeaganDunn]

2 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

@forgettablepyromaniac A very breezy but fun map, definitely befitting of the MAP01 slot, I'd say. The only thing worth mentioning is I counted 4 flats, not 3 - I'd replace the few FLAT20's with either FLAT1 or FLAT4. That way, the number of flats will be within the allowed maximum, and the few places where FLAT20 does appear will be that much less jarring. A random curiosity was that HNTR and HMP both had more enemies than UV, but that's by no means a problem. It just struck me as slightly odd when UV is generally the difficulty that has the most enemies in a Doom map. :P

 

Decent work overall. c:

It's pretty interesting when mappers implement difficulty settings like that. UV may have less enemies but the enemy type matters most. 20 imps on lower difficulties getting replaced with 5 Hell Knights on UV, for example.

 

As for my entry...good lord, this is harder than I thought. I'm taking it slow, coming up with different ideas, so it'll be a couple days or so.

[MFG38]

1 minute ago, Dunn & Dunn said:

As for my entry...good lord, this is harder than I thought. I'm taking it slow, coming up with different ideas, so it'll be a couple days or so.

 

Take your time. This is supposed to be fun first and foremost. :)

[forgettable pyromaniac]

12 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

@forgettablepyromaniac A very breezy but fun map, definitely befitting of the MAP01 slot, I'd say. The only thing worth mentioning is I counted 4 flats, not 3

alrighty, mb on that part :)

leme go ahead and fix that up rq.

 

[forgettable pyromaniac]

I added another secret as well, when I was messing with the flats.

Unwelcome.zip

I just decided to make all the lights FLAT20 instead of LGHT_1_6 or whatever.