Posts made by Cuppykeks

I remember being at the airport seeing someone play through E1M3 with the Realguns Hardcore mod. This was like a decade ago btw :y

Darker ZIMMER forest with lakes of nukage and caves of ZIMMER and moss to go spelunking in. Very likely to have a few slaughter fights!

WADs that had a map where the exit was near-identical to the start of the next one always stood out to me. One instance was in STRAIN, and I can't remember if Eternal Doom III had any like that but I liked the idea of the map that had a portal where you travel through time. The sense of adventure in longer mapsets is one I highly value. Super Sonic Doom made a big impression on me with the variety of different environments and how you traveled through each zone of the journey.

Older WADs definitely had more story to them, and those by Team TNT had a fair share of backstory to go with them: https://web.archive.org/web/20160314072923/http://teamtnt.com/icstory.htm

first use of donut linedef action in (almost) 30 years

Besides health/armor bonuses you can use lighting to help highlight areas to help with navigation. Maybe even decorative objects. I noticed you using warning stripes as an indicator for lifts or lifts that would open later, so you could reinforce that consistency.

Played MAP01 and most of MAP02. I like how you use spectre demons but got lost a lot in the second map where I only chipped away at progression after killing 4 masterminds :S

here's my dsda cl2 FDA:
kvsarispawncell.lmp

Nice, could you tell me what the setting is? I'll go ahead and update the trello. It's complicated to get the lineup right within episodic constraints.

I'm thinking I'll just start a new thread then and request that people need to sign up and lock down a map slot, changing how the project is run and experiment. Before any new mappers try to participate they'll have to play a few maps so they know the standards, as I made the mistake of not being adamant about such involvement. I've messed with how a more complete project might look with concepts as well as the already completed maps:

E1

1. banquet of flames
2. the library theater
3. ??? the war machine/foundry (scrolling floor crushers factory)
4. cinderblood
5. corona raid
6. the druids' citadel
7. incision of the voice
8. ??? the foretold doom
9. ??? something with more floor scrolling and maybe ice, funky castle mansion

E2

1. stagnant neverland
2. the resurrection
3. ??? city of the damned
4. ??? world's end apocrypha
5. ??? middle eastern port city map with boats, cannons, roof hopping
6. ??? water mosaics + underworld pyramids
7. ??? pre-d'sparil
8. ??? the ultimate defiance (d'sparil in the big necropolis)
9. ??? Shadow Runner (secret level)

E3 (loose form atm, sector effect levels there incase they're neglected throughout, but still only possible if I can get the real final boss thing working)

1. ??? Silvershire
2. ???
3. ??? The Tower Level (tower map, vertical progression horizontal hazards map) lava on bottom, ice on top
4. ??? The Wicked Root (tree house level, perhaps elvish?)
5. ??? The Wind level
6. ??? The Ice Level
7. ???
8. ??? The Real Final Boss
9. ???

E4: ??? Dedicated credits map

Just some thoughts/notes for the future: Things are on hold and the project's closed in the front for now (if someone's already doing something let me know), but I want to look into getting resources for animated windy grass, tortured souls, and using the new ANIMATED lump to add swirly effects for FLATs like a black river styx-like liquid. I'm interested in assets for ghostly blue pyramids inspired some by King Quest VI's underworld/land of the dead, and maybe having rugs and other things to help emulate a middle eastern like setting. Requests open. For now I've got to finish up some maps and make resources.

@Fiendish Thank you I fixed and uploaded the V3 for that

@joe-ilya Sorry my bad! Fixed and uploaded a quick v2 + softer dragon claw sound addon

HEAR YE HEAR YE HEAR YE!

From the echoes of a Parthoris whose time is warped is a 7 dungeon sampling of myth relinquished. This quest began from nothing, and now beholds the fate of the entire realm. Maps by @joe-ilya, @RancidSam, @Fiendish, and me! Additional splash artwork by @Tainted-Slav !

---

Play Information:

• Heretic Episode 1
• CL-2 (Limit-Removing)
• BORN TO BE EXPERIENCED USING CRISPY-HERETIC: http://latest.chocolate-doom.org
• Bind your fly and look up/down keys! Mouselook is okay too.

---

Screenshots:

Download:
HereticLRP_OMRv3.wad

ADD-ON:
Quieter Dragon Claw sound add-on

Please enjoy and any feedback would be greatly appreciated

HereticLRP_RSW6.zip

^ here's my compile before I release later.

New map in the E1M5 slot by @RancidSam

update your crispy source port for hehacked strings

@Fiendish About the optional area in your map, if the geometry allows if you can make it loop back onto the main path that would be nice. It's always better than having to backtrack directly to where you came from.

---

A public release is supposed to be out in the next few days.. oh dear

@Egregor About the visual language I am indeed referring to the switches and such. The NPCs in the project are used in a way that you can't see behind them, and are interacted with to reveal text. These issues can be addressed but even still I don't think this map belongs in this project. It works fine on its own. I'm sorry.

@Egregor Thank you for the map! I'm sorry but this isn't cutting it for me. The map isn't bad, it's slow to start but once the combat gets going it's fun and engaging however I really felt an ammo and health drought past the starting area. Maybe I'm missing something though but I think you have the balance down really tight where there's not much to spare, and the placement of some supplies is a bit inconvenient. But regardless the visuals for the most part are on a lower standard from the rest of the maps submitted, the visual language is entirely different, and the NPCs being nothing but cardboard cutouts was a letdown. No demo as I was saving and loading my game repeatedly. My time upon completion was almost 30 minutes. As for the design of the layout itself, the symmetry is a let down as once you see one half of the map you already know what the other half looks like. I know the map isn't entirely symmetrical but it's more than enough to dull the excitement of exploration upon this realization. The combat was kind of a grind, but I made it better for myself by rushing ahead a bit and with the power of savescumming and blasting away the heavy opposition, even utilizing some infighting. I got a little lost at the start of the map, so I think some signposting in the visual language would help make navigation easier. There was also a distinct lack of ambient sounds. The gameplay is definitely more on the side of being more Doom than Heretic. Lacking in inventory usage, ghost enemies, and generally running around firing away with whatever can be found. About the visual language, for instance you use door textures for lifts, and the switches aren't consistent in the least. It would have been much safer to stick to the conventions of Heretic. I also found the progression from yellow key front gate to the door to the farm barn to be convoluted. I do like the barn though it's pretty cute.

This map for the most part plays okay, but I'm sorry I just don't think it's a good fit for this project.

I don't notice the phoenix rod or shield outside until most of the monsters are dead or I do naturally run out there. It's not very known in the midst of combat and it isn't much brighter outdoors than it is indoors. You could make it much darker indoors, but with a torch outdoors (torch pickups are always bright) to lead outdoors. Instead of monsters teleporting when you enter the room, you could have them teleport gradually within that darkness but you have no idea where they are (kind of like the final encounter) and the only bright area is the way outdoors. Actually you don't even need the torch, but it's an option for sure!

• I would like the shadowsphere to stay, but elsewhere in a harder to find secret if you can find a spot (nice to have the option). It could be replaced with the backpack perhaps.

• Random backpack tip: Without the backpack you can't carry as much ammo. Sure, that's obvious but that limited ammo capacity allows you to carry over a lot of extra ammo over from each encounter. Without the backpack the player can't hoard as much and will run out of ammo quicker to force weapon usage variety more often. They'll have to backtrack for anything they missed later. So keep in mind how this can affect gameplay balance and possibly give extra gameplay due to the exploration factor it can lead into.

• The optional room doesn't even have to have a fight. It could just be the tome of power with or without the disciples of d'sparil.

• The torch being pushed around I think is just proximity based. Maybe something to do with the map nodes/blockmap or however. If a sector moves in the same vague "chunk" of the map the Thing will adjust to the height of the floor that will accommodate its mass/hitbox. Like when placing items on stairs if the item box overlaps with the next higher stair it will hang in mid-air to that floor height. You can solve this through distancing the sectors that change height, or by making the hole in the ground the same mass of the Thing so it only has that floor to move on.

• Having to get creative a bit instead of holding fire with egg usage. As for the ghost monsters the claw weapon hits them all, but only the crossbow's largest bolt can hit them. If there weren't so many crossbow bolts then the player wouldn't feel they can waste them all shooting ghost monsters in the least efficient way (which is what I did since I never ran out). Having to make sure phoenix rod shots count is good too.

My current map has been long delayed since the plans have changed a lot, heh. It was going to be a lot more straight forward but then I thought about focusing on what gaspod and teleporter gimmicks I could do so I've been sitting on that for a while seeing how to blend in all the ideas I've had and hoping it can work out. If not then I'll just go back to the super simple plan I had starting out. Need to experiment faster. That means failing faster which means getting to the successful path sooner. Truly wonderful advice :S

@kvsari Demos:
kvsari_furnace-00001.lmp <- IDK if this desyncs but this is my first playthrough I had to cut short.
kvsari_furnace2.lmp <- my latest one. I didn't finish the map.

Since you've withdrawn your map IDK how interested you are in the feedback but I'll say some anyway. I don't think there's too much health but there are a lot of ethereal arrows once the map opens up the first time. The map was confusing to navigate particularly in the first furnace area where I think the 3 switch sequence was too much. The progression was a bit confusing and the yellow door doesn't seem to open from the other side. I got around the softlock by running into the lava and hitting a teleport pad (which are missing the indicating sparkles) to take to the other side, which makes me question if I could sequence break the map by just doing a lava run. Not that I'd mind that as long the map's design takes that into account. The real void area with the black sky was pretty cool.

---

I'm thinking of calling this project

...Of Myths Relinquished
The Ultimate Heresy of Myths Relinquished

Yay? Nay? Cool or lame? I assembled it just earlier today and so far have had 1 positive and 1 neutral reaction.

So the demo album release thread would look like
[HERETIC] Of Myth Relinquished DEMO EPISODE

@Fiendish Demos:
fd_resurrectionv2_1.lmp <- I just rush here
fd_resurrectionv2_2.lmp <- I take it more seriously and beat the map.

SOME REAL CRITIQUE TIME:

I decided to play this map full force and the extra abundance of ammo made it pretty easy to do so. I think I played it pretty efficiently but by the end I had plenty of ammo and just held left-click as I blasted through for the most part. I miss the eggs, and they actually would have come in handy to prevent deaths in the first demo (for crowd control). I actually forgot I had the phoenix rod for the most part after acquiring it as there wasn't much reason to return to using it afterwards. I do feel like there's too much ammo now on that note since I didn't ever use the phoenix rod to deal wider damage to save ammo on the ol' reliable crossbow and dragon claw.

The sigil lighting the floor makes sense knowing what's ahead, but I wonder if players will stay confused by it. Maybe you can glow a sector from away as well to hint a secret area (with an egg if anything)? To give it purpose in the moment, but easily recalled when they re-appear.

I find the area in and around where the gaspods are in particular to be a bit stale as it's just clearing the area of the usual enemies until the path to progression is found. Some spice and variety could do well, maybe an iron lich when you turn the corner before pressing the switch to access the yellow key? I feel that area is lacking in interest. For instance there's not much reason to enter the outdoors outside of picking up an item seen there. Instead of the few monsters on the emptier end of the area there could be a small place to explore there, like a separate crypt or storeroom. Would be a good place to stock some supplies.

The entire secret combat scenario was a bit odd, but it did allow me to restore health through the gauntlets and tome of power. I wondered if it was part of the progression until I remembered you saying you implemented an optional area.

If the map is easy to blast through and there's not that much to explore then without that resource management the map becomes a bit stale and makes it too obvious how a sizable portion of the map is just rooms to battle through with no real stakes. If it wasn't greatly detailed then the areas that don't have anything too interesting about them would be quite bland and reveal themselves to be lacking in the level design department. It'd be nice if the Hellstaff got more use too.

This map feels like it could easily be translated into a Doom map rather than remaining a uniquely Heretic map.

---

In the optional area I noticed this torch higher than the rest.

@kvsari Thank you I understand. Thank you for your efforts, I greatly appreciated your interest.

@Fiendish Crispy Demos: fd_resurrection1.lmp fd_resurrection2.lmp Stood still for a bit in the first demo trying to take a screenshot. Beat the map in the second demo!

Awesome tense crypt diving map with cool effects. The glowing light room was really cool, though I didn't notice the much earlier floor sigil having any effect if it did. I ran out of ammo many times but that might have been because I was being stingy with my inventory items. There may be a discrepancy there though with the non-linear progression so watching the demos should help a lot. Thank you for the map! I didn't notice many visual bugs besides sprites clipping through under the floor like with the exit room sparkles. The cloudy liquid where the gaspod generator was could use a damaging sector too if it's not a bother.

@kvsari I played a bit of your map but I'll have to finish later. First impressions are that the map definitely needs more time in the oven. The wait time from the start waiting to lower is longer than I'd like, and the area looks pretty samey. Besides the issue of gameplay balance and intrigue I wonder if it would be better to widen the gap between the floor and the lava walls, so you would have to stay within otherwise you'll take lava damage. I went inside that fire hole where the waterfall is and was a little disappointed in it not being a damaging sector.