Zalewa

BETA v2 is released, with the link updated in the first post. The list of changes: - MAP02 "Szeol" made the final fight with archviles easier on lower difficulty levels; at the same time, changed one of the nooks so camping is impossible. - MAP03 "Czern" replaced 2 of the 3 green armors on UV with ammo - MAP05 marked the exit line as monster blocking; chaingunners won't die behind it anymore, preventing the player from picking up their chainguns - MAP06 "ZeLN" corrected midtexture pipes bleeding into ground - MAP07 "Vaclav" added a display case with Szczerbiec and another invulnerability secret (now there are 4 invul. spheres in total) - MAP09 fixed a stray stair builder ruining the red key section in ZDoom ports - MAP09 added another stair builder for the red skull section that allows to return to the entrance from the lava section - MAP09 fixed the lift at start not triggering from some sides - MAP09 swapped 2nd and 3rd wave of monsters after grabbing keys because the 2nd wave was much harder than the 3rd. - MAP09 added more health for the final fight - MAP09 added some more barrels here and there - MAP11 added more ammo, health and invulnerability spheres - MAP11 added more red skull textures to show where the red skull bars are - MAP12 is updated and has a name now: "Cancerous Temple"

Thanks for playing. The difficulty levels are implemented on most maps, and I made my maps super-easy on skills 0 and 1. HMP will probably still be tougher than the vanilla UV, though.

From your demo I see that the revenant in the hidden sector tagged 667 got stuck over the ledge as the sector raised. I need to correct that. This revenant is supposed to move over a monster walk-over line that releases a voodoo doll that, in turn, triggers more revenants to appear.

Found it. This was not triggering in non-ZDooms because of tag 0, and I have neglected ZDoom testing. Thanks.

Oh no, this is bad. Which port, may I ask? This part of the map has lots of stair building so that if you fall down from the cliffs you can quickly get back up. But I don't see any problems with texturing or incorrect sectors being raised.

The maps were made separately, which means that they can all be completed from the pistol start, but when I get a WAD with multiple maps I personally prefer continuous play regardless, which is how I tested this most of the time. Depending on your choice in that matter, the challenge may be greater, but I think that's fine. We're aware that the maps aren't particularly easy, but I also think that the only one that could be called unfair is the last one at the MAP12 slot (which is also why it's got the last slot). In any case, please try Hurt Me Plenty and tell me how it goes. Also, the primary criteria for map ordering was weapon progression, but I also tried to interleave the difficulty slope, so that you get an easier map after a harder one. That's why MAP03 is easier than MAP02.

Download BETA v2 from Doomshack So, a bunch of Polish doomers have been lured by @Ordon to a Polish Discord server to create a bunch of maps with an end-goal to bundle them together into a Polish community single-player map pack. We've been working on this for over a year now, and today we're pleased to release the first public beta. The mapping requirements for this pack were simple: stick to Boom complevel 9 and use the CC4 texture pack. This got us a total variety of 12 maps, that I eventually compiled with a weapon progression in mind. Pierogis are included if you reach MAP07. Play Info Port: A Boom-compatible complevel 9 with UMAPINFO IWAD: Doom 2 Maps: MAP01 - MAP12 Game mode: Single-Player Cooperative: 2-4 player starts; untested Deathmatch: No Tested in: Doom Retro 5.0.7, DSDA-Doom, PrBoom+ 2.6.66, Nugget Doom 2.2.1 Screenshots Map Roster Our Discord https://discord.gg/PsDkyfn2 - Polish DOOM Community

You don't say, bro :D

I have an itch for Egyptian themed levels that needs to be satisfied from time to time and I only wish we had more of them, because this one has scratched it only a little. The landscapes are impressive and the shadowplay is attentive, which make the map an interactive, pretty painting. The one thing is that at times I thought it could use some more color variety (see: https://i.imgur.com/ep0k5Tm.png) -- Egypt had colors -- but I get that it is the visual design preference to keep everything in the color of the sand, and well, okay, let it be like that. Now, apart from the visuals, the level remains unsatisfactory in the terms of gameplay and a variety of issues build up to that. Fights are mostly straight-forward with enemies coming from you from a single direction. There's no need to manage multiple angles during fights. There are large, rectangular rooms with just a few enemies in them. Even the limited ammunition is not a problem because it's so easy to skip the fights. I didn't find the rocket launcher either. Then there's the Skyrim-like layout, in one case literally where the section circles on itself and there's a hidden door opening to the beginning. Looking at the screenshots I expected a journey of exploration, but got a railroad to the level exit. The are some areas that are reused, but only to backtrack. When you wrote that the level is "large" and "outdoors" I expected something else and my expectations were subverted immediately after I booted the level and noticed the monster count. "Large" is not something you expect when you see that there are 100 monsters. It's medium, at most. This level succeeds at visuals, but a wholesome Doom level must succeed in playing Doom too. I see the potential, and succeeding at visuals is not a small feat, but this is just not there yet. Screenshot gallery: https://imgur.com/a/ORwovZp

Not a softlock, it's deliberately possible to exploit that open door. You can skip most of the level this way, although you will be much less prepared for the final fight.  Well I just wound up at the same door and had it close on me permanently because I didn't immediately go through. The first thing I did was to IDCLIP through it, then wondered if prboom-plus broke it (I'm running with complevel 11, tho), then came here to check if the problem was reported already. What I didn't think was that this was intentional. I'm too used to see this kind of things as a mapping error instead of a mapping feature.

Played in PrBoom Plus 2.6.2, didn't notice any serious bugs aside from a few vertical texture misalignments. For a first WAD I would call this a success. It has 11 levels of varying sizes and creating 11 coherent levels is not a small deal. When it comes to detailing I think you definitely nailed the tech-base theme. Other themes look a bit more spartan, but adequate. It's on par with what I would expect when going into a vanilla WAD. I'd prefer not to see so many crates and crate rooms, however. Gameplay is a door-room-door pattern with nearly always upfront enemies that don't pose much threat. Because of this, and because of generous provisions of spheres and armor, the difficulty is low, while the flow is interrupted by the doors being closed all the time. I think the difficulty picks up a bit in the last few maps. The "door-room-door" pattern is something I learned not to do early on, even though here it's not the worst because it's not in a straight-line. There are some off-shoots and some revisiting. Unfortunately, that last part also produces some non-obvious and lengthy backtracking, especially in map 10 as @Kor has mentioned. The vibrant detailing also helps with making the maps appear more interesting. For a seasoned player there are definitely more substantial WADs out there, but for someone who took a break from Doom and is just coming back this is a cute and cozy little adventure. Any tips for future WADS? This kind of backtracking is not cool. Think of layouts where if you wish the player to revisit a location, ensure it's rewarding and interesting, instead of having the player navigate the labirynth in the auto-map mode. The door-room-door pattern could probably be broken easily if you simply removed some of the doors and left open pathways there. It could probably even work in some places without changing anything else. Monster fights could also be made more interesting by making layouts more open. Feel free to steal some ideas on decorating hell from other designers. Anyway, congratulations on your release.

Did GZDoom go back to the Vanilla RNG array in recent versions? Does PRBoom+ use a different RNG method than the Vanilla RNG array? Zandronum, for instance, has a specific Compat_OldRandom compat flag that enables the Vanilla RNG. Otherwise it uses the RNG method that was in GZDoom 1.8.

Then all you need to do is clearly state in the readme file that the intended source port is Boom and you'll be good to go. I would've applied all of the Boom rules if I'd seen such statement.

You can still fall on that ledge regardless if you're using freelook or not. Use the automap if freelook is disabled and you'll still figure out that the ledge is there. Or just drop, see that it's there, reload and drop again. In regards to freelook: you just stated that "freelook is not allowed", but in the original post you said that you tested the WAD in ZDoom and PRBoom. You also disabled jumping through MAPINFO, but not freelook. Furthermore, as I have mentioned before, you have not clearly stated the intended source-port for this WAD. Not only there was no indication whatsoever that freelook should not be used, the fact that you mention ZDoom as the port you tested the WAD in suggests that using or not using freelook is up to the player's preference.

I've only now managed to complete the WAD with some rather lengthy breaks, which unfortunately means that my thoughts on MAP08 and MAP09 are not as fresh as I'd want them to be. I'll try to summarize and rate the WAD as a whole regardless. First, some thoughts as usual: MAP09 - the crusher in the crusher arena at XY = (-5600,7000) got stuck after 3rd wave in a position where it was impossible to get out from the safe area This chandelier is oddly placed in a walkway. It doesn't block walking. I don't remember which map it is. MAP09 - you can skip some portion of the map by jumping off the ledge at XY = (2131, 5627). There's a fake floor hole with a Mancubus and two shotgunners that doesn't rise up when you do that. This area is normally accessible with the blue skull key. 90 minutes were needed to beat MAP09, but this time doesn't count the reloads, so I'd imagine the real time is more close to 2 hours. Actual spoiler here: Typo in post-MAP11 text repeated twice "invation" -> "invasion" Protip: If you mark the voodoo doll and monster compartments linedefs as always hidden on the automap, they won't appear on the automap when player picks up the computer area map power up. Some nice pics: So, MAP09 is the pinnacle of this WAD. With 1400 monsters that are evenly spread it's an adventure on its own and it's a good idea to leave this map for a separate session. The layout design shines through especially here, as even though the map is huge and the pathways wrap around, the player always ends up in the spot they need to be. There's not much running around cluelessly - there's just moving forward almost the whole time. I expected MAP10 to be a bit of respite after MAP09 - a "breather level" of sorts. While it is much smaller than MAP09, it's still demanding. I liked the theme of collecting the keys here and then gradually climbing that pyramid. Also, those ships that you see in the distance are a nice visual treat. MAP11 is an Icon of Sin cube arena and it's meh. While still up-to-the-par visually, the gameplay premise doesn't hold up. IoS cube maps are usually time limited - when horde amasses too much, you cannot beat them anymore. Here, however, there's enough playfield to render the horde completely irrelevant. Even though all those cube shooters managed to spawn over 600 enemies, none of those except for Arch-Viles were any threat, and even the Arch-Viles were just little ticklers given all those megaspheres lying around. I also am not sure whether that's for the best or for the worse, because I dislike the time limitation imposed by the IoS maps as this usually forces the player to beat the map through reloading. So, to sum the WAD up as a whole I'd vote MAP06: Mount of Steel to be the most memorable level here. This map is distinct from all other maps in this WAD. Through its visual design and the animations it brings refreshment after the jungle/pyramid design. The player may become fed up until this point with the repeating theme and this map is placed just at the right spot. The subsequent maps return to the previous theme and stick to it until the player becomes fed up again. This is somewhat of a gripe of mine. The WAD sticks to a single theme and by this I mean a single theme that goes on for hours. If we go back in time and look at the Ultimate Doom we can see the same thing in E1 and E4. Nowadays whole games can use the same approach to theming. I'm thus not saying that it's invalid, but it can be expected that the player will become tired of the repetition. If you took all 12 maps in Avactor and glued them together into a single map there would be nothing jarring here - it would feel like a big but coherent level. Fortunately, the gameplay doesn't suffer from the same repetition and the maps are basically made distinct not by their visual themes, but by gameplay gimmicks or layout. I think it's possible to mention pivotal points for each map. Some examples: the rocket launcher secret in MAP01, the red skull fight in MAP03, the not-so-small village in MAP04 with huge pyramid at the side, the central arena of MAP05. MAP08 has probably the most hallmarks, with the lava pit, the column room (with soulsphere), and the chains room as presented on one of the screenshots above. I'd still like some more diversity in visuals. Now, for the gameplay - as mentioned above by others there are some silly things here like the pinky berserk punch-out, but in overall the WAD holds up to the best of them. It never gets slaughtery, but it doesn't mean that there aren't hectic and populated figths here. There are some arena fights here with lots of enemies, but they are spread evenly with long moments of progressive/procedural gameplay in-between. I like the exploration and freedom of movement. Even though there are defined paths throughout the levels, I didn't feel railroaded. In terms of difficulty Avactor doesn't take baby steps. It immediately demands the player to focus on the game or die. It also does get harder in later levels, but it's still within the limits of being beatable without too much reloads. Generally. At times there are some traps that will fuck the player up if they don't expect them. In the later maps the player should have their BFG equipped whenever walking down a corridor, approaching a switch or collecting a really nice item (or just at all times, really). Even then, there are several instances where a Revenant will pop up just in front of you and immediately sell you a punch with a ticket to the other side. In the past I've downrated many WADs that used such tricks. When I see something like this I think that the mapper did one of the two things: Expected that the player will reload a previous save and reapproach the trap with beforehand knowledge. The mapper has 100% beforehand knowledge of the map and didn't realize how the trap will be seen by someone who has none. Both of those are mapper failures. But downrating WADs on this basis made the forum regulars explain to me that I'm mentally incapable of understanding the game, the grandoise design of such maps and the life in relation to other sapient beings in general. In Avactor, when I noticed that such traps started to happen and happen often I also started to quicksave a lot which throwed me off the rythm and reduced the fun. Stars: Visuals - 5 / 5 Sprites - 4 / 5 - the Arch-Vile and mechanical enemies still don't sit well with me Music - 3.5 / 5 - there are distinctively repetitive themes in each track and given the length of levels there's a strong desire to just turn the music off after a while. Gameplay - 4 / 5 Overall - 5 / 5