The Crystal Maze (GZDoom edition)

[The Ultimate DooMer]

You'll be surprised to hear that I've been secretly working on a mapset (well, 1 big map divided into 4) over these past few months. So, without further ado:

What is The Crystal Maze?

A quirky British TV gameshow from the early 90's, based around a series of bite-sized challenges against the clock. A description is here. You can also find all the episodes on youtube, the very first one is here. (it will look a bit cheesy nowadays, but it was legendary back then )

The text file has a description of how to play, including the differences between the original show and this Doom version of it.

I did recreate the maze in Fragport back in 2000...but the show was revived this year in the form of a live attraction in London (which is totally awesome) and that inspired me to recreate it again. So it doesn't mean I'm out of retirement, this is just something I had to get out of my system

And while that version was done from memory using vanilla limits...this version has no limits. I studied the footage to recreate the layout as precisely as I could (but with 2 extra rooms and a prison), including the show's finale and the notoriously bad prizes. (and with GZDoom I could make things work as close to the original show as possible)

What will I be doing if I have a go?

The games inside cover a wide variety of challenges:

Physical games are about killing monsters - you'll get 3 weapons and some armour, more health/ammo can be found inside.
Mental games are about puzzle solving, some based on those in real-life while others are more Doom-related.
Skill games are about movement, dodging and shooting. (of various flavours, old and new)
Mystery games can be anything at all, but often involve navigation or exploration.

Unlike both the original show and the vanilla remake, this version has difficulty settings - so everyone should be catered for:

If you're playing it for the first time and/or not very good with puzzles etc. go with Beginner.
If you've played it a few times and are more confident with it, go with Intermediate.
If you've played it enough to want a bigger challenge, go with Advanced.

The 12 games from the vanilla version have been recreated with improvements, and 20 new ones have been added (so 32 in total, meaning half will be played each run). 4-player co-op is also supported, but is untested. (it will work like the show though, with 1 player in a game and the others watching)

So where do I get this Doom-ified TV show?

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/level ... -c/cr-maze

(GZDoom required, tested with official 2.2.0)

Click here for screenies.

[Beed28]

Huh, I was wondering why someone's custom title on here was "Will you start the fans please!". Now I know.

Any screenshots you can share?

[ReX]

Having played some of this, I would highly recommend it. It's innovative, clever, and different. A game show in DooM? Who'da thunk it.

[BFG]

Yeah! my favorite gameshow!

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[The Ultimate DooMer]

Updated with idgames link, and screenies at the bottom. (a few changes to the maps themselves too)

[Wiw]

Oh, now I like The Crystal Maze. I'm gonna give this a go!

[Wiw]

What's with the sound lag? At some points the sound is heavily delayed, like I fire a gun but I don't hear it go off until a few seconds later.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

That's engine-related I think...happens on other mods too.

[Wiw]

Is there any way I can remedy it?

[Viscra Maelstrom]

Try increasing the amount of sound channels maybe? Haven't played this mod bug i have it set to max and i have never got any sound issues that way

[Wiw]

No, that doesn't seem to work. It's like, it queues a sound up and plays it right after the next one plays.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

I wonder if it's to do with ambient sounds, as my mods always have a few playing at once. (and the only other mod I've seen it on is Serpent ofc)

[Wiw]

You know, that may well be the case.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

Updated with a few changes, mainly adding quick exits to a few games (so it's easier to come out), adding an extra-hard-difficulty patch wad (it was getting too easy for me to play) and rearranging stuff into a pk3. (dunno why I didn't do it before)

[Serious Cacodemon]

Playing on Intermediate difficulty, I've noticed some issues I've come across some issues while playing (I'm using version 2.3.2 of GZDoom):

The well in the Mystery game at the Medieval Zone where you return the Tome to where it belongs cannot be escaped from once you enter it. I have to noclip out of this one.

The Skill game where you jump across pipes in the Industrial Zone has one of it's escape paths blocked due to a floor and ceiling where a lamp is placed in being too low. Only solutions were to noclip past there or continue through the advanced obstacle segment and escape through it's exit at the end.

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Screenshot_Doom_20170215_225117.jpg

Also, I'm not sure if it's limited to the Aztec Zone, but you can play extra games if you end up failing to escape in time or dying in the fourth game required to move on to the next zone. This can be repeated as long as you keep failing at subsequent games, but ends once you manage to get another crystal out. Not sure if this was intentional or not.