🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <7ea9f4f7-0ff3-47ca-8a01-
58bf461e11cf@g20g2000vba.googlegroups.com>, chrisbazley@bigfoot.com 
says...> 
> Hello,
> 
> I have just released a new patch WAD for Doom 2, which is now
> available to download from my web site:
> http://www.starfighter.acornarcade.com/mysite/doom.htm#rienzi
> This is something of a personal milestone because I started designing
> it when I was still at sixth form college (in 1999, or thereabouts)
> and I haven't released a brand-new Doom WAD since 'Fish!' in May 2003!
> 


Nice, but not that difficult on UV.

-- 
da se ne baci...

chrisbazley@bigfoot.com posted:
>Hello,
>
>I have just released a new patch WAD for Doom 2, which is now
>available to download from my web site:
>http://www.starfighter.acornarcade.com/mysite/doom.htm#rienzi

>I have cross-posted to comp.sys.acorn.games because I did all of the
>authoring on an Acorn Risc PC using Lee Noar's port of the Doom Editor
>for Total Headcases ( http://www.leenoar.ukos.com/deth ) and
>playtesting in R-Comp Interactive's port of Doom.

Oh nice. I have a Risc PC, although it hasn't seen much use of late. It
has your SF3K hack on it. I also used to play Doom on it, but with the
other RISC OS engine (DIY) since I already had the IWADs.

I remember trying to use that port of DETH as well. I don't know how you
can stand it really :)

>Any feedback would be much appreciated. However, I used the maximum
>number of sectors allowed by DETH (it crashes when saving a map with
>more than 511), so extending the map or adding more detail would be
>out of the question!

It's obvious you've put a lot of effort into making it look nice.
However making it look nice is of secondary concern to how it plays, and
here I found it dark, cramped, and having hardly any ammunition and
instakill traps. I quit after having spent several minutes tediously
working my way through the awkwardly cramped cave system with nothing
but a pistol, only to get through the blue door and almost immediately
squashed under a ceiling. I'm not a fan of this kind of gameplay, I'm
afraid.

-- 
http://rjy.org.uk/

On Apr 17, 2:35 pm, chrisbaz...@bigfoot.com wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have just released a new patch WAD for Doom 2, which is now
> available to download from my web site:http://www.starfighter.acornarcade.com/mysite/doom.htm#rienzi
> This is something of a personal milestone because I started designing
> it when I was still at sixth form college (in 1999, or thereabouts)
> and I haven't released a brand-new Doom WAD since 'Fish!' in May 2003!
>
> I have cross-posted to comp.sys.acorn.games because I did all of the
> authoring on an Acorn Risc PC using Lee Noar's port of the Doom Editor
> for Total Headcases (http://www.leenoar.ukos.com/deth) and
> playtesting in R-Comp Interactive's port of Doom. At one time I
> intended it as my entry in Acorn User magazine's Doom WAD design
> competion - but narrowly missed the deadline for submissions by nearly
> a decade!
>
> This is a very detailed map with a volcanic theme and several
> specifically-designed graphic elements, which was mainly designed for
> a single player (although is has untested multiplayer and deathmatch
> start positions). You must descend through caves and potholes to the
> innermost sanctum of a cyberdemon before making your escape from the
> bowels of the earth via the crater of a volcano.
>
> The hostile environment can be almost as challenging as the minions
> bent upon your destruction: if something looks hot then it is probably
> painful to some extent! In most places falling into lava is fatal
> because there isn't anywhere suitable to climb out. There are also a
> couple of traps where you must act quickly to save yourself.
>
> I have tried to design the map so that gameplay isn't completely
> linear: there is no single correct order in which to explore, and more
> than one method of tackling the few set-piece encounters with powerful
> monsters. You won't always be in possession of the ideal weapon with
> which to fight an enemy - that would be too easy! Availability of
> ammunition is also limited, so you may have to wield a chainsaw on
> 'ultra-violence'. You don't actually have to kill the cyberdemon to
> reach the exit, but failure to do so would likely result in your
> dishonourable expulsion from the Society of Armed Volcanologist
> Exorcists (SAVE).
>
> My original inspiration came from an audio cassette adaptation of
> Jules Verne's classic tale 'Journey To The Centre of the Earth', which
> I enjoyed as a child. It featured Wagner's Rienzi overture as
> incidental music, from which this WAD got its name (rather than any
> direct link to the medieval Italian politician Cola di Rienzi).
>
> In several locations this map is more complex than typical of Id
> Software's original maps, and therefore the game may run jerkily on
> slower computers. If you are using a RISC OS machine then I recommend
> a StrongARM processor as the minimum specification.
>
> Any feedback would be much appreciated. However, I used the maximum
> number of sectors allowed by DETH (it crashes when saving a map with
> more than 511), so extending the map or adding more detail would be
> out of the question!
>
> --
> Christopher Bazley

It was okay; a worthy effort.

The lava motif was pulled off pretty well, with all the flowing
channels, but they didn't impede progress (if that was even what you
were trying for.)  It was better than level I've ever designed. :)

On 25 Apr, 11:16, RjY <R...@sp.am> wrote:
> chrisbaz...@bigfoot.com posted:
>
> >Hello,
>
> >I have just released a new patch WAD for Doom 2, which is now
> >available to download from my web site:
> >http://www.starfighter.acornarcade.com/mysite/doom.htm#rienzi
> >I have cross-posted to comp.sys.acorn.games because I did all of the
> >authoring on an Acorn Risc PC using Lee Noar's port of the Doom Editor
> >for Total Headcases (http://www.leenoar.ukos.com/deth) and
> >playtesting in R-Comp Interactive's port of Doom.
>
> Oh nice. I have a Risc PC, although it hasn't seen much use of late. It
> has your SF3K hack on it. I also used to play Doom on it, but with the
> other RISC OS engine (DIY) since I already had the IWADs.
>
> I remember trying to use that port of DETH as well. I don't know how you
> can stand it really :)

Yeah, it's pretty tricky - and not just because it takes an age to
rebuild the nodes (and the result is so poor that I then have to
rebuild them again using a different node builder). The two things
that annoy me most are the insanely short key auto-repeat delay (I
have to 'peck' at the keyboard, which probably makes my landlady
wonder what on earth I'm doing) and the bad GUI design whereby moving
the pointer over a sector, thing or linedef highlights it and
refreshes all the information at the bottom of the screen. The latter
issue makes the info boxes at the bottom almost useless for editing
values (unless you can twitch the mouse very quickly over any
intervening selectable entities).

> It's obvious you've put a lot of effort into making it look nice.
> However making it look nice is of secondary concern to how it plays, and
> here I found it dark, cramped, and having hardly any ammunition and
> instakill traps. I quit after having spent several minutes tediously
> working my way through the awkwardly cramped cave system with nothing
> but a pistol, only to get through the blue door and almost immediately
> squashed under a ceiling. I'm not a fan of this kind of gameplay, I'm
> afraid.

The beginning is supposed to be cramped and lacking in high-powered
weaponry, although it certainly isn't supposed to be tedious. I don't
like to throw the player into the grandest location right at the
beginning of the map, and I found that larger caves just looked stupid
and unrealistic due to lack of detail. I am also trying to resist a
general inflationary trend towards more monsters and bigger monsters:
fighting an imp with the pistol can be just as challenging as fighting
several barons of hell with a chaingun. For example there is only one
cyber-demon in my map. :-)

Instakill? Hardly. You get two seconds and lots of visual clues that
it is a trap. The only way I can think of making it easier would be to
raise the ceiling, but that would spoil the architectural symmetry
with the other rooms.

If I've learned one thing, it is that it is impossible to please
everyone (even despite the fact that I spent tens of hours
playtesting). Here's a selection of the other (somewhat contradictory)
feedback that I've received so far:

"Chris, your level is INCREDIBLE! I just completed it. I found the
plasma gun. :)"

"This level confirms that you and I have never seen remotely eye-to-
eye in terms of what constitutes an acceptable level of difficulty.
It's a shame it's unplayable, really, because it is certainly the most
intricate level I have ever seen."

"Nice, but not that difficult on UV."

"Great scenery. Was too easy on UV for myself but still fun."

"Nice map. Normally I'd find a map this easy a little boring, but all
the lighting and extra detail had me eager to keep exploring your
little cavern system."

Cheers,
--
Christopher Bazley

chrisbazley@bigfoot.com posted:
>The beginning is supposed to be cramped and lacking in high-powered
>weaponry, although it certainly isn't supposed to be tedious.

I think it's really just having to use the pistol for longer than, say,
killing one guy to steal his shotgun. It's not a specific issue with
your map, I often find myself irritated by maps which don't have a
better weapon available quickly.

>Instakill? Hardly. You get two seconds and lots of visual clues that
>it is a trap. The only way I can think of making it easier would be to
>raise the ceiling, but that would spoil the architectural symmetry
>with the other rooms.

Thinking back, I didn't spot any visual clues. I just saw some shells
and ran to pick them up because I had next to no health or ammo and a
cacodemon or something had just woken up nearby. So I grab the shells,
quickly look at the automap to get my bearings, and the next thing I
know, the ceiling has fallen on my head.

>If I've learned one thing, it is that it is impossible to please
>everyone (even despite the fact that I spent tens of hours
>playtesting).

Well yes, the main thing is that _you_ are happy with your map. If
anybody else is, that's just a bonus. :)

-- 
http://rjy.org.uk/