my Heretic map (d/l and screenshots)

Started by reflex17, 26 February 2014, 06:44:10

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reflex17

Over the past week or so I made this custom map for the Doom engine game Heretic, I figured I would post it in case we have any fans here... I got the craving to map this game and so I decided to revisit a concept of my long lost first-ever-level, a medieval sewer system the player must battle through

It's a one map replacement for E1M1 made with doombuilder2 level editor and tested with ZDoom port.

"Flame of the Sidhe - The Sewers"

d/l link for anyone interested: mediafire.com/download/srkbz6rs9wcs0lb/REFLXSEWR.zip

screens:







James

Just played it - not a huge fan of Heretic but I found it a pretty enjoyable map. The sewer system had a nice feel to it due to Heretic's colour palette, and the outside bit at the end was a breathe of fresh air as well. I think there was probably too many supplies in the map, but I was playing on normal mode so I probably could of bumped up the difficulty a bit. I managed to find 3 of the secrets, which also helped out a bit.

Nice job overall I'd say :)

reflex17

I've been trying to get activated on doomworld forums with no luck so far, if I ever upload it there maybe I'll trim back the items a little bit

Thanks for playing, I appreciate the feedback! :)

quakis

I like Heretic, so I'd like to give this one a spin! Nice to see someone around these parts giving that game some love. Hoping to get back to you with a review over at my site, but if you plan to make any major updates then I would rather wait until that is ready.

Only nitpick I could point out from the screenshots is those torches, they're just sitting there in dark rooms not doing much. Perhaps you could try playing around with some high contrast light come off from them? Might enhance the atmosphere a little in places, though if used too often it could destroy that dark ambience. Probably worth experimenting though.

reflex17

#4
Heretic's always been one of my favorites as well, if I wasn't wrapped up in Mars base for Duke I'd consider making more... this was mainly an exercise in mapping quickly, like I said in the OP it's a re-visit of a concept from the first map I ever made, but I could only remember the first 10 seconds or so from that old level... I learned a lot though so that will help with my other current projects.

Good point about the torches, that's something I noticed which stood out in the shots, as well... the torch sprite is always fullbrite, so in a few of those areas the sectors are flickering and looks much better in-game... some places though, like in the last shot of the house interior, it does stand out in an odd way so I'll do a quick lighting check and update the gameplay slightly

I'd love to see a review so I'll update the map and post a new link a.s.a.p. Thx for the input quakis!

reflex17

UPDATED D/L: mediafire.com/download/3fh33h906102a3w/RFLXSEWR.zip

- I took out a few health and ammo items so the balance, at the end especially, should hopefully be better, I hope I didn't take out too much but I think it should be OK...

- Those torches in the shop are gone, they are mainly meant to be seen from outside and don't serve much purpose so it was best to just take 'em out to keep the gloomy feel.

quakis

Since I'm taking longer than I anticipated to get the review done, I'll drop a quick response here for now.

I have played and enjoyed it, only found 4 secrets during my run. Map starts slow and tame giving a fair amount of ammo but eventually tenses up with large encounters that makes use of it all. Just feel there were far too many Quartz Flasks and Vials scattered about, which kinda diminishes the oncoming threats. Maybe cut back on most Tome of Powers to make them feel more rewarding to find; especially if this becomes an episode. The only other criticism I have is the linearity, or perhaps a lack of interconnectivity in some visual form; but some guys over at Doomworld already explained that to you.

I'll try to get around to that review soonish, I only recently and slowly got back into the swing of doing so.

reflex17

Looking at the map again I realized I still left in a lot of health, especially near the end. I suppose I didn't factor in the idea that the player will be carrying healing items by that point, the item balance is a little too heavy given the inventory system in the game.

I'll have a look at it again and I'll upload a new version soon, if this map is going on your site I'd like it to be as good as I can make it.

Thanks for the comments quakis :)

quakis

Alright, I'll wait for the next update and give it another spin. ;) When you're happy with the final version, be sure to get this map uploaded to the /idgames archive on Doomworld.

quakis

What happened regarding the update you mentioned?

reflex17

#10
Oops, I had worked on it a bit, got distracted and made a Doom level then completely forgot. I don't like to say I'm going to do something and then not do it, my bad.

I'll look into this, I appreciate the nudge :)

EDIT: Oh and recently I made a map that's compatible for Doom and Doom 2, If you'd like to try it let me know.