[RC2!] Hardfest 2 - Boom Community Project with 40 challenging levels

First one was cool! Seems October is hard wad month. And 40 maps! Screenshots look  super impressive too.

I am proud to have taken part in this project. I've always wanted to be a part of this, ever since the release of the slaughterfest series. It was a pleasure to work together with such talented people. I hope you, the player, enjoy to play it.

I was still disappointed I couldn't finish my map for hardfest 1, so when this got announced I had to map for this! Working in this project was a pleasure. All of these maps are amazing: go play them now!!!

I had a blast working on the first one, even more so with the second one! Congrats to everyone who put their hearts and souls into this project for the release. Huge thanks to the musicians for their advice on making MIDI tracks; I learnt a lot from them and very glad to make music for the first time!

I had a blast working on this. Finally getting around to playing it now and damn there's some great stuff in here!

Congrats on the release !

Just got softlocked on map 07 : action on linedef 6433 should be WR, not W1.

Congratulations on getting this into the RC phase. It was great contributing something to this, even if in my case the map was actually going to be for something else before being repurposed for this project. 

Congratulations on the release, very interesting mapset!

Loved MAP27. Found a HOM on it in the arena before the blue key:

This is where Hardfest gets harderer!

One of my favorite sets from this year, congrats & good job to everyone involved :)

Beat the first twelve maps, this is insanely good. Already looking like the best 'fest' mapset ever created, slaughtermax included. Very fun fights and polished visuals.

I tried maxing map 12 but upon seeing voodoo doll trickery mechanism opening the door to heaven, I screamed internally. Would be fun to watch someone uv max this map because there's a lot of going back and forth with all the secrets inside cliff caves. Gorgeous level btw.

Looking forward to the rest!

Apologies for the double post. I will edit this one for bug-reporting purposes.

Map 13: sector 1483 cyberdemon is deaf and because of that it's impossible to get 100% kills.

Map 14: red key fight after you activate the switch to raise the key - left hand side green cyb teleports in stuck. Becomes unstuck when the pain state triggers. This may be a sourceport thing (I'm using GZDoom 4.10.0). Oddly enough the other cyb is just fine.

Map 16: More of a question than a bug report. How on earth do you get to the secret vile area?

Map 17: sector 836 and 839 arachnorbs always teleport in stuck, rest are fine.

Map 19: Chaingunner lift trap works as intended but I had one stuck the entire time - managed to access the secret teleporter to the infinite RL, kill everything there, come back, and only then did he teleport in. No idea why lmao

Map 20: One of my favourites of the set so far. I really wish you'd signpost the BFG area because some players might get the wrong idea :p

Map 21: Two monsters didn't teleport in, no idea why: https://prnt.sc/1QHJTxig6qMR Tried crossing the required linedefs multiple times but to no avail. Edit: Oh, oopsie, just realised those are lost souls. I guess it's only problematic for zdoom-based ports because you'll get 100% kills elsewhere anyway. I guess you could add instant crushers that would activate after the player takes the lift to the exit if you wanted to...

Map 24: Two things. 
1. To access the final fight, you need all six keys. However, the red skull key is in a secret area. Luckily, I did find it, but... if you don't find it, do you somehow get it later on?
2. If you don't use one of the invulns during the final fight, then proceed to grab it and enter the exit teleporter, you won't die and instead will become permanently stuck. For some reason, you can't even rocket yourself to death there. Maybe make the floor damaging or let the player rocket themselves to death, you know, just in case?
Also... finally a map where you get to play around with the IRL for the duration of most of the level!

Map 25 aka My Ribbiks PTSD has just kicked in: Unfortunately, I couldn't beat this map. I tried to rack my brain as hard as I could and I just don't understand how to do the cyb fight. I don't have the ammo to fight them. There doesn't seem to be a way to telefrag them. I have to kill them to get out of the arena. What did I miss? I checked the editor and got nothing. Damn.

Map 28: Benjogami, is that you?
Tried various sourceports, and it appears you can't squeeze through the gap hinted at by the grey arrow in GZDoom. Damn.
Also, why is there a 'jump' inscription on the edge of a cliff? So that gullible folk like me would yeet themselves to death? lmao

Map 29: Cool af map. Two things to note:
1. Rounding up the monsters during the big fight can be a real pain. I've had imps decidedly hiding away and listening out for their oinking sound cues was not fun.
2. Sometimes the cacos during the big wave got stuck down in one of the square lava pits surrounding the main area. No idea why the were refusing to fly up.
Also, the cyb disappearing effect in the final fight is cool as hell.

Map 30: Wherefore art thou? Is this still being worked on? I did notice you hadn't even mentioned it in the OP.

Map 31: This map gave me a headache ahaha
Same thing as with Map 21, it would be nice if you added an instant crusher for that lost soul :p

Map ??: Dear players, for true family experience, we recommend you play this map with the lost soul limit DISABLED. Thank you and fuck you.
- thelokk probably

Jokes aside, wouldn't it be a shame if two cacos got stuck in the triangular alcoves in their teleporter closets? Well, shit, that's what happened to me. I hate life.

Map 32: Is there a softlock in the secret bfg fight area? I killed the cybs, viles, and smms, and couldn't figure out where to go next.
Also, this teleporter closet is broken: https://prnt.sc/NflgeBx90BtE

Map 34: Yep, I couldn't figure out how to uv max this one, sorry :(
But I am looking forward to watching someone do it!

Map 35: Holy shit. Will have to do multiple edits because this map is massive and I will 100% forget about something if I don't post about it right away.
Sector 4306 (rl with AV lift) is a softlock. If you take it up, there's no going back.
Sector 613 (computer area lift) is also a softlock. Shouldn't this be a secret btw?
Lava area where you telefrag the SMM - so... if you don't ride the platform that goes up when you press the switch, do you just get stuck? Because I couldn't figure out a way to lower it back.
Secret area accessed via teleporter from the red key area: why is there a box of rockets in the water if there's no way back lmao

The triple key door actually only requires the blue key to be opened.
Why is sector 5872 a secret? It's empty...
We done! This map is a work of art. Damn shame about all the softlocks, but I'm sure they're all fixable. Or intentional...

Map 37: If you are playing continuous, you'll notice there's a spelling mistake in the loading screen (should be Grafaiai not Girafaiai).
The vile in this teleporter closet is deaf: https://prnt.sc/KN_0RuxbMTi6
Broken teleporter closet: https://prnt.sc/5uDJ79QJNGiR
These are broken too: https://prnt.sc/SisBbzMCs548
How on earth do you get the secret radsuit by the starting area btw? I checked the editor and it doesn't seem to have a tag. Logically, I'd expect the eye switch in the lava to open the door but apparently it doesn't...

Map 38: Taviow, you're such a nerd :p

Map 39: Fantastic BFG spam map but that final fight is annoying. Why, you ask? Because of 20 damaging floors of course! Not only health is fairly limited in supply, eventually, you won't see what's underneath your feet, so you'll be constantly taking liquid damage. And that's not all! After you've rounded everyone up, you have to run through this shit to press a switch, AND run back to fight a bigass horder of archviles. Not enough? Well, after you've killed everyone, you have to run through there AGAIN, because that's where the exit is. So even if you kill everyone but are out of health, tough luck, bitch, you ain't beating this level. Very mean.

16 hours ago, Firedust said:

Map 16: More of a question than a bug report. How on earth do you get to the secret vile area?

Yeah, after Vile playthrough i realized that this secret is very well hidden. I made it more easier to find, it will be released in next wad iteration. You can find the secret when

22 hours ago, Firedust said:

Apologies for the double post. I will edit this one for bug-reporting purposes.

 

Map 13: sector 1483 cyberdemon is deaf and because of that it's impossible to get 100% kills.

-

Thx for playing! I noticed this after Viles stream so it's fixed for the next RC.

23 hours ago, Firedust said:

Map 25 aka My Ribbiks PTSD has just kicked in: Unfortunately, I couldn't beat this map. I tried to rack my brain as hard as I could and I just don't understand how to do the cyb fight. I don't have the ammo to fight them. There doesn't seem to be a way to telefrag them. I have to kill them to get out of the arena. What did I miss? I checked the editor and got nothing. Damn.

I recall there not being much room for error in that fight, I think you have to

30 minutes ago, taviow said:

 

I recall there not being much room for error in that fight, I think you have to

  Hide contents

try killing the cybers that come in as efficiently as possible, preferably 2-tapping them. The ones standing on each side of the arena don't need to be killed.

If we don't count the outside ones, there are like eight in total and there aren't any cells in the arena :(

Thanks for trying to help anyway :3

I really really hope someone posts a uv max demo, this map is tough as nails. Despite having such a modest kill count, it does not fuck around lmao

42 minutes ago, Firedust said:

there aren't any cells in the arena

That might be an issue with GZDoom, since you're supposed to get fed a BFG & cells as the fight progresses and the cybers spawn in. Doesn't make it much easier, but I imagine it at least makes it possible :P

Thanks for all the bug reports! They've been really helpful :D

On 10/22/2023 at 6:47 AM, Firedust said:

Map 20: One of my favourites of the set so far. I really wish you'd signpost the BFG area because some players might get the wrong idea :p

Thanks for the kind words! By signposting it do you just mean let the player know that it's how you get the BFG, or that you should have all the keys by that point?

1 hour ago, whybmonotacrab said:

Thanks for the kind words! By signposting it do you just mean let the player know that it's how you get the BFG, or that you should have all the keys by that point?

I mean so the player knows it leads to the BFG area. I wasn't initially sure which of the two paths to take, because what if one of them was a point of no return? By indicating which ones leads to the exit and which ones doesn't, you will make it easier for folks like me to instantly know where to go next :3

@Firedust thanks for pointing that out! On MAP32, the linedef should be action 38, instead of 19.

On 10/21/2023 at 8:47 PM, Firedust said:

Map 31: This map gave me a headache ahaha
Same thing as with Map 21, it would be nice if you added an instant crusher for that lost soul :p

Lost souls are used to differentiate between difficulty settings in voodoo closets in map 21. I can fix that and use non-monster blocking objects for them (like I did in map 31). However, for map 31 I need a lost soul specifically to make separate voodoo closets when map is launched with -nomonsters parameter, so the map is possible to complete without archviles. Crushing lost soul will activate nomo-only line actions that may break the map. So map 31 will have to stay the way it is, I'm afraid. The map is probably not very gzdoom-friendly anyway though.

Thanks for the reports, however. I will update map 21.

On 10/22/2023 at 3:57 PM, Firedust said:

I really really hope someone posts a uv max demo, this map is tough as nails. Despite having such a modest kill count, it does not fuck around lmao

I'll UV-Max it eventually, and also there are enough cells if you 2-shot every cyber that spawns into the center. It's a really hard fight, so don't feel bad about not being able to figure it out. One strategy I've tried is on the 2nd to last stage, when one cyber spawns on the outside and one in the center, 2-shot the one on the outside, makes the final phase easier. Alternatively if you bring enough shells into the fight, it'll allow you to SSG cybers, saving you 1-2 BFG shots depending on how much SSG ammo you bring in. Without either of those strategies however, the final phase is extremely hard, probably one of the hardest fights I've ever seen.

I playtested the map so you can blame me for the fight being as hard as it is :D

1 hour ago, Kinetic said:

I'll UV-Max it eventually, and also there are enough cells if you 2-shot every cyber that spawns into the center. It's a really hard fight, so don't feel bad about not being able to figure it out. One strategy I've tried is on the 2nd to last stage, when one cyber spawns on the outside and one in the center, 2-shot the one on the outside, makes the final phase easier. Alternatively if you bring enough shells into the fight, it'll allow you to SSG cybers, saving you 1-2 BFG shots depending on how much SSG ammo you bring in. Without either of those strategies however, the final phase is extremely hard, probably one of the hardest fights I've ever seen.

 

I playtested the map so you can blame me for the fight being as hard as it is :D

I think the problem was that I was using GZDoom so I never got the cells and bfg to tackle that fight :p

All done! Had to play map 40 over several sittings to preserve my sanity.

This is such a uncannily massive improvement over the first entry in the series (well, technically, not the first, seeing how it's a spiritual successor to slaughterfest), it's unbelievable, really. Although the thing about 'yellow' being the theme of the mapset was a fucking lie :p

100% cacoward-worthy material right here. Thanks, everyone, for making this happen!

Hopefully, we'll get a Hardfest 3 one day.

EDIT: If possible, try to get ducino to play it. He's been really keen on uv maxing harder mapsets like Haste, apparently. Considering how there aren't that many long maps here, think he might give it a fair shake (except map 40 olololol).

Also I apologise for useless feedback, some of it was def port related, although I do think there aren't all that many changes that need be implemented for this to run as intended in GZDoom. Obviously, this one is up to you, guys :3

11 hours ago, Firedust said:

I think the problem was that I was using GZDoom so I never got the cells and bfg to tackle that fight :p

you are supposed to receive the cells and BFG via voodoo doll in that fight, looks like a port issue

2 hours ago, Firedust said:

All done! Had to play map 40 over several sittings to preserve my sanity.

This is such a uncannily massive improvement over the first entry in the series (well, technically, not the first, seeing how it's a spiritual successor to slaughterfest), it's unbelievable, really. Although the thing about 'yellow' being the theme of the mapset was a fucking lie :p

100% cacoward-worthy material right here. Thanks, everyone, for making this happen!

Hopefully, we'll get a Hardfest 3 one day.

EDIT: If possible, try to get ducino to play it. He's been really keen on uv maxing harder mapsets like Haste, apparently. Considering how there aren't that many long maps here, think he might give it a fair shake (except map 40 olololol).

Also I apologise for useless feedback, some of it was def port related, although I do think there aren't all that many changes that need be implemented for this to run as intended in GZDoom. Obviously, this one is up to you, guys :3

Thank you for all the feedback & bug reports! It's useful to know port-related bugs since I can see about making compatibility patches for those maps (or at least skip them via mapinfo lol) so don't worry, the feedback isn't useless at all!

I'm really glad you enjoyed it so much, I definitely agree that it's a massive improvement over Hardfest 1!

Oh, and for being the first person to mention the existence of map99 in the thread, thelokk has told me you've won a special prize and should contact her on discord to receive it. I have no idea what this is, so good luck with that :P

On 10/21/2023 at 4:47 PM, Firedust said:

Is there a softlock in the secret bfg fight area? I killed the cybs, viles, and smms, and couldn't figure out where to go next.

Hey, @Firedust! The way out is an archvile jump. You get an invul during the fight, so it should be okay to perform it. If you happen to revisit the area, a teleporter appears, so you don't have to jump again, obviously.

On 10/21/2023 at 4:47 PM, Firedust said:

How on earth do you get the secret radsuit by the starting area btw? I checked the editor and it doesn't seem to have a tag. Logically, I'd expect the eye switch in the lava to open the door but apparently it doesn't...

The door opens using the Commander Keen special action. That means, it opens when you kill all arachnorbs in the map (they only appear in the optional 'tesselations' room; when you activate the secret eye switch, one final arachnorb teleports near the door in the spawn area).

congrats