Posts made by Cuppykeks

@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 !

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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.

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Screenshots:

Download:
HereticLRP_OMRv3.wad

ADD-ON:
Quieter Dragon Claw sound add-on

Please provide feedback and enjoy

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

@Fiendish Played the latest version of your map! Demo: fd_citadelv4_2.lmp Died once, but beat the map the second time. Hope it doesn't desync this time (I theorize it did last time due to me alt-tabbing after that first death). I stare at the green leaves for a while early on because I was waiting for ShareX to take a screenshot of the vines bleeding into the floor:
screenshot doesn't get the angle though

The text box get blocked by her head a bit, maybe it could be moved upwards if that feels right.

About the map's gameplay I enjoyed it greatly this time and I'm hoping if the demo plays to its conclusion that it'll give you greater insight on how you might want to adjust the balance. In my second playthrough I was overflowing with time bombs in particular, if you think that should be changed.
I enjoyed the new hellstaff secret and the backpack that replaced it. I do kind of miss the wings of wrath being where it used to be if there is still one you can get before the blue key, since I thought it was a good tease but I guess the greater ease of transportation takes away from that desire. I really enjoyed the amount of chests you can open, with great use of the door texture that's much better than it being a door! Again, awesome map and a joy to play!

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Thank you for the demo of my map! I noticed that you don't use keys to look up and down as that would helped in particular at the giant staircase part so you could shoot at the monsters up above before making your way across. I'll try out halving the gasbags and see how it feels to me, but yeah having more playtesters would help and maybe I could even have a trigger to unlock the other half of the gasbags as well as a trigger to shut them down or instead.

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Kind of a stream of consciousness write-up sorry but anyway with the help of reference art I've started on a map I hope to be more slower paced and puzzling. Still don't know exactly how the layout will be but here's a picture

Thank you I've fixed them! I'll go ahead and share the next version: SCT_IncisionofTheVoiceV2.wad

Just small adjustments and fixes, even added additional detail to that boat. Didn't change the large stairs much besides adding sectors that might catch the player in a fall, and I've decided to stick to my guns on the final fight. I'll keep in mind that aesthetic if it comes up for a "Phase 2" map in the red sky slots.

@kvsari I do not sorry. Stagnant Neverland has sidedefs go over the 65535 limit, and I had to call it around there but cutting down that number did not help the map run before the sourceport updates.

@kvsari It was too big yeah. It wouldn't load in Crispy Heretic until the sourceport was updated twice, lastly to support DeepBSP nodes. I am building my maps using DeepBSP. Make sure your port is updated if you haven't since the project started: http://latest.chocolate-doom.org

About your portal problem you'll have to move the teleport lines further away for it to work. DSDA can't handle so many action linedefs so close together. I had this issue with Cinderblood.

If your map is still glitching out for some reason then try opening a new map and copy pasting everything over to a new WAD. You'll have to re-do all your merged sectors and such though. This is a last resort option of mine.

@Fiendish Played your latest version! Here's my crispy-heretic recorded demo: fd_citadelv3.lmp

The layout flows better but the thing I noted the most is how much more there was in supplies, so it was lacking the scavenging element I liked about the previous version as this time it felt like I didn't have to use everything in my arsenal to survive as well as never having to look far for protection. It's a lot easier this time around with an abundance of ammo more than I could carry! Having played the map already helps but I didn't feel this way when replaying the previous version multiple times. I don't know if you want to change a lot about this, but while the map flows better the gameplay wasn't as engaging for me as it previously was.

missing texture here (also maybe that sector is supposed to be darker to match too:

wooden beam isn't wood on this side here (also the wings were pretty easy to find!):

@Fiendish Thank you for playing glad you liked it a lot! I enjoyed watching your demo, though it desynced after the first death (good run)! That stairway could have been more considerate for sure. I built it that way to make the running across it difficult but I should have paid more attention to how impractical it felt to navigate more than just rushing through the correct path. I'm still attached to the current setup though so I'll see if I can help mitigate the guesswork first before I start repairing that bridge.

The final fight is a challenge for sure, but I knew it'd be very tricky so I'm really just hoping players simply deal with it and maybe use some secret artifacts to help cheese it, or hitting the (super?) secret to disabling the gasbag generators altogether in that room (dang I wish this forum had spoiler tags). I do enjoy trying to beat it without the extra help though, but at the very least I could do difficulty settings later.

Thank you for testing the other maps again (and for the praise altogether)! Stagnant Neverland is like the top contender for me to keep away from the demo release mwahaha.

Thank you I'll check it out! I'm leaning more towards the single episode approach and calling it a demo episode release. It seems there'll just be barely over an episode anyway and can save stuff for later to tease with right off the bat.
EDIT: Actually maybe I'll make it shorter with a credits map and replace the credits graphic with a teaser image.

Now without further ado I bring my NEWest map:

SCT_IncisionofTheVoiceV1.wad
Plays on E4M5. This is some hardcore Heretic gaming. Please let me know what you think! Yes I changed the map name again :y

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Quick updates on my old maps, not asking for playthroughs but keepings things up to date and collected:

SCT_BanquetofFlamesV3.wad

• tried fixing possible stuck teleporting enemies (lowering the ceiling of gargoyle containers)

SCT_StagnantNeverlandV3.wad

• same thing with the enemies but it's not exactly perfect here (lazy D:)

SCT_CinderbloodV3.wad

• small visual upgrades with exactly one less bumpy sector and all time bombs removed

@Fiendish Glad to hear that! Thank you. I was contemplating that if released on schedule if it would be a single episode's worth, like a demo. It'd be more for everyone other than myself, as I'm fine with withholding my own work from the public eye if cutting things out I made for just 1 episode, beyond just trying to keep my word on releasing March 23rd. But that in itself sounds kind of disappointing, and there might be too many maps already for that anyhow.

The other avenue was the default of wrapping everything up as is and get close to a full 2 episodes as can be to release. Doing it this way and pushing forward to a "Phase 2" would ideally have me look to 3 episodes for the end of episode fights and an experimental fight I wanted to try for a "true final boss," if it can actually work. I'll need a new sky for an E3 too though :y

I am thankful to know you're interested in continuing to make awesome Heretic maps with me and that's a great reason to continue past the original scope of the project. Either way of going about it I'll have to change my plans on what maps to make so the D'Sparil fight I was going to make would be postponed until Phase 2. Because not only would it be a tease for players on completing the game, it would also drive me nuts knowing how it can't possibly be finished without the final showdown in the flying fortress! I'd have to get back to work on this Heretic project ASAP then if it's like that!

I'll have to think more on the name still, but could stick with The Ultimate Heresy by the very end since I'm still attached to it and want to believe it worthy of such a title then. Haven't got anything else that is punchy or clicks in the right way like that yet. I've been thinking along the avenues of being the sole individual standing against the doomsday cult that has taken over the realm. The only optimist in a world of pessimists? And that this current invasion is the culling, the promised time of death. "The Ultimate Defiance" ..? Sounds like a good boss map name at least.

Thank you again.