Brigandine [RC2, updated 2017-05-13]

[Viggles]

It's that time of year again.

Brigandine is a standalone singleplayer map for limit-removing ports. (-complevel 2 if you swing that way.)

Download: http://doom.washboardabs.net/brigandine/brigandine-latest.zip (RC2, updated 2017-05-13)

Textfile: http://doom.washboardabs.net/brigandine/brigandine.txt

Screenshots: (Taken in GZDoom 2.3.2 with ambient occlusion)







This began life as a quickie while I was wrapping up Breach and needed a break from techbase. Then it crashed on my couch for 2 years and ate all my food and drank all my beer and didn't pay a god damn cent for electricity. It's time for us to move on with our lives; don't let the door hit it on the ass on the way out.

Music kindly provided by Conelrad, who wanted to do an old-school Doom track and knocked it out of the park.

Edited August 26, 2017 by Viggles

[rehelekretep]

damn those screenshots are sexy!

[Viggles]

This is still a beta: it's been playtested mostly in (G)ZDoom, and while I've checked for egregious failures in PrBoom+ and others, I haven't done a proper playthrough in a more vanilla-y port. It looks and plays best in a port with mouselook and monster-over-monster; there are likely to be traffic jams in ports with infinite-height monsters.

Many had remarked that Breach was a breeze, so I tried for a more Doomworldy level of difficulty; hopefully the result is suitably vicious in parts and manages to backfoot the player. Let me know of any encounters that felt too hard or too easy or didn't gel for you, and any spots where you died an unfair death or ran out of ammo in an unfun way.

I also wanted to make a singleplayer level that would have a deathmatch flow and connectivity, with areas overlooking and feeding back into each other, and plenty of ways to get up and down between levels. I'm curious whether it's worth trying to make it work as an actual deathmatch level too, or if it's too large and unwieldy for that.

[rehelekretep]

well you hit all that! this map is fantastic, really enjoyed it.
i decided to bite the bullet and play with glboom+, didnt actually encounter too many gameplay problems (aside from wanting to look up - as the verticality in this map is fantastic)
also, my PC doesnt have the best CPU, but this was quite the resource hog, i havent tried g/zdoom yet.
i only found 1 secret but im awful at that, so hopefully others will chime in on those.
have an fda with some deaths and saves
glboom+ 2.5.1.4 complevel 9, skill 4

[Gez]

Gorgeous screenshots! The first one immediately made me think of a Quake level with Doom textures.

[esselfortium]

Chiming in with the other folks expressing love for your architecture and detailing. The aesthetic style you've used here feels like an extension of the best aspects of Crucified Dreams' design. It's great -- really elaborate with interlocking layers all over the place, but also totally sleek and clean.

[Breezeep]

Just finished up the map with 100% kills and secrets. Absolutely incredible stuff! The texture usage and the detail in this map is just mind blowing! Also, I found a software render bug in the first half of the map. Aside from that. Great work!

[jazzmaster9]

This is probably the most Beautiful Limit Removing map screenshots ive seen :D I will definitely be checking this out.

The first screenshot looked like something from Quake.

[rehelekretep]

Viggles - did you try having a void/different coloured backdrop to the level? while beautiful, the similarity with the actual map itself created some visual 'noise' at times that was a little distracting.

[jmickle66666666]

very cool stuff! had a bit of trouble finding the switch before the red key, ran around a LOT trying to find it haha. other than that it plays super nice, looks gorgeous too :)

[didy]

Wow. Ultra cool looking, fantastic screenshots. I like those curves a lot. Will download tomorrow. Thanks.

[Liberation]

Loving the screenshots, looks totally epic!

[Walter confetti]

Viggles said:

It's that time of year again.

What, the time of another Cacoward nominee?
Because from what i see, this could be one of those!

[NaturalTvventy]

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamnnnnnnnnn!!

Amazing level. Stunning. The vistas are superb. It's the kind of thing I dream of doing but never have the patience for. Gameplay is solid. I found a couple secrets. You clearly have a mastery of the DOOM engine and textures. 10/10.

[floatRand]

A stunning level with great gameplay. I would have also mentioned the slimetrail in early map, but it got posted here already.

Keep up amazing work.

[didy]

I coudn't wait. Downloaded and played on HNTR. It is a brilliant setting: Beatiful, great layout and the playability is fair and surprisingly. Maybe there is too much ammo and health - Will check it out on UV again.

[Mechadon]

Oh hell yes! I loved Breach, it was definitely one of the more enjoyable maps I played that year. You have a fantastic eye for architecture and detail, and I found the gameplay right up my alley too. And your stock texture usage is very creative as well. So I'm pleasantly surprised to see this :D

The gothic city aesthetic here is very nice. I like your usage of the skin+metal textures and the hanging cages. Beautiful screenshots all around. I will definitely be giving this a spin as soon as I can ;)

[bradharding]

Oh my! You know how much I love Breach, Alun. This looks like you've gone above and beyond even that. Fkn incredible! Will try out as soon as I can!

[Soundblock]

Hats off, poster quality screenshots.

[Killer5]

Here is an FDA.

Comments in txt file. I enjoyed the map overall.

[40oz]

Can you take screenshots for my wads please? Good lord

[Szymanski]

Gorgeous map. Managed to get stuck briefly at the red key assuming the switch texture was just detailing. Difficulty seems about right.

[Not Jabba]

I hope your wife still has some gold yarn.

[tourniquet]

those screens loke hot af, i need to play this soon....

FDA Fantastic effort, detail and lighting is just delicious. Gameplay was fun too, not very harsh so it should appeal to a lot of players. My one minor complaint would be the bumpy floor in a few places though compared to Breach it was definitely less noticable.

[Steve D]

These are Doom Orgy-quality screenshots. Downloaded and will play as soon as I can, along with the 2 tourniquet and 1 Yugiboy map I need to catch up on. ;)

[TheOrganGrinder]

Good grief this is beautiful. A very different flavour to Breach but it bears all the same hallmarks and is just as much a joy to play through. Difficult felt about right on Hurt Me Plenty - the map definitely has teeth (especially when squads of revenants are dropped on you in close quarters) but opposition is never overwhelming. I love the unfolding interconnectivity of it all, and there's a nice callback to the void sections of Breach at the exit, where the player looks out over a cityscape that's gradually being pulled apart and devoured by an infinity of darkness rather than the city skyline the player has seen up to that point. Different perspectives on a similar event, different moments in the same narrative?

While the means of accessing the secrets were all of a similar character (tiny recessed/concealed switches immediately adjacent to a necessary path of progression) the variety in the secret areas themselves was delightful, and I feel as though the order in which the player finds them could influence the playthrough just as much as whether or not the player finds them at all - I think my favourite area is probably the sunken and flooded area with the berserk pack just because it's so substantial and it delivers an entertaingly meaty fight in a wonderful example of organic-feeling cave/ruin geometry that lets the player feel both clever and agile as they exploit it against the waves of demonic reinforcements.

[roadworx]

holy hell, are you an architect? that looks AMAZING!!! i can't even imagine how long it must've taken to get all the details and stuff right! i need to play this RIGHT AWAY!!!!

[Aquanet]

This plays great, definitely more flowy and challenging than Breach. My only quibble is it's easy to skip past the final fight, after the yellow key, especially with the elevator chute thing facing the exit doors.

[Mechadon]

Just played through this. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, it was definitely as fun as Breach for me. So excellent job there!

I was trying to put my thumb on what the visuals reminded me of, and I realized essel already said it. Your detailing and architecture reminds me a lot of Crucified Dreams. Your texture usage is super clean but you use lots of variety to pile on details. And the larger architecture lines weave in and out everywhere. You have a mastery over stock texture usage as well, which is something I highly admire.

Anyways, I only ran into one problem. This may have been reported already, I'm not sure. But I was able to squeeze through the gaps in the BK "cage" and get stuck down in the water below:



I hope you continue to map, I would love to play more creations by you :)

[Urthar]

Looks beautiful, downloading.