[Release] Waterlab GZD

[cortlong50]

i like waaaay too much metal. plus enjay is a righteous dude.

so im gonna download it.

[cortlong50]

god damn it enjay...how the hell did you do that leaning thing?

by the way...your use of reverbs...phenomenal.

http://i.imgur.com/E5V9hW8.png

[Caligari87]

3D models, bruh. They're pretty awesome when used properly for flavor like that.

[Outtagum]

This is a fantastic map. I've a couple of questions, if that's okay.

1- Does the map bear much resemblance to the Doom Legacy inspiration? I've never had much luck with Doom Legacy...

2- Is it possible to play the map using Xasers Argent weapons mod? I tried but the red door wouldn't recognise the red key. Not sure if that's user error or not (knowing me, it probably is!).

Anyway, this is really good fun. Can't wait for the rest of the megawad!

[cortlong50]

3D models, bruh. They're pretty awesome when used properly for flavor like that.

i love those little simple additions that just flex gzdoom capability without oversaturation. love that shit.

[JohnnyTheWolf]

I found out about this map on pagb666's channel.

I do not think the Realm667 monsters were really necessary outside of the final boss, but all in all, it was pretty good!

[Clay]

Just played this and LOVED it. The end was intense....died a lot. It was just an over fun and visually satisfying map. I like it when there aren't many textures. Thanks for sharing!

[Enjay]

Been off the radar for a while, so thanks for all the comments that have been posted in my absence. It's very much appreciated.

I did use a few models but I tried to keep them consistent with the general Doom aesthetic and resolution so I restricted their use to situations where using models for a proper 3D structure was better/easier than using map architecture and to provide little details that integrated with the general feel rather than beng "OMG - it's a model". I suppose the exception to that might be the lamps but, again, I did try to make them (as far as possible) 1:1 with a pixel sprite. I just felt that the lamps needed to be a bit more solid and part of the 3D world.

This is a fantastic map. I've a couple of questions, if that's okay.

1- Does the map bear much resemblance to the Doom Legacy inspiration? I've never had much luck with Doom Legacy...

Thanks. If you still want to know, it does and it doesn't. The basic layout of the first few areas/rooms is very similar but I added a lot of details and quite a few twists and turns to it. Beyond that, I extended the map significantly and a lot of it was never in the original WAD. The original WAD was just intended as a demo for the watery feature and not really as a full playable map. You can see a video of the full map here:

2- Is it possible to play the map using Xasers Argent weapons mod? I tried but the red door wouldn't recognise the red key. Not sure if that's user error or not (knowing me, it probably is!).

It's probably not you. From memory, the doors work by using scripts that check the inventory rather than just being standard key-requiring doors (because they doo a bit more than merely opening when the key is used). So if Xaser has replaced the keys, the check will fail I guess.

Anyway, this is really good fun. Can't wait for the rest of the megawad!

Thanks, but it will be a long wait.

I do not think the Realm667 monsters were really necessary outside of the final boss, but all in all, it was pretty good!

Thanks for your comment, always appreciated. The main reason for using them was that I wanted to keep most of the bad guys in the map quite "low tier". Think Doom Episode 1 (+maybe 2) + a bit more. However, as the map grew, I thought that mowing down 100s of Episode 1 bad guys in a map this size would start to get tedious so I tried to introduce a bunch of monsters at about that kind of level but which would bump up the variety a bit. Then I started getting obsessed with providing female versions of the normally male-only bad guys and so the number of additional enemies grew. Accepting that I was adding enemies then opened the door for me adding other ones that I felt worked quite well with the atmosphere of the map. I did, however, try to keep to my initial idea of keeping things quite low tier and very few (if any) of the added bad guys are above Baron of Hell level (except in the final arena, of course).

It is perhaps worth pointing out that many of the added enemies are not straight inserts from Realm 667. Although I got many of the resources from there (of course) I did a lot of tweaking to their DECORATE, visuals and sounds myself too and some are quite new combinations of sprites/colours/behaviours. Some were hardly changed, others were essentially new combinations that didn't previously exist. That's not to say that the Realm 667 ones are bad, or needed "fixing"*; more that I wanted to tweak them to my tastes or make new ones to fill particular slots.

*one exception might be the one armed scientist who really needed full rotations done to stop his arm swapping sides as he turned around.

[JohnnyTheWolf]

I did like the former human variants. That was a nice touch. My issue is more with some of the monsters feeling out of place, like the Nightshade and the Hellion, and the Mud Elemental (whatever its actual name is) being placed in areas that did not feel appropriate for its type; I would have expected to encounter a lot of them in the water caverns, for example.

[Clay]

A bit of a bug to report if you haven't fixed it.Possible spoiler ahead.

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If you haven't fixed it. When you first take the elevator down to the lower floors...the first room after the elevator room... I assume there is supposed to be a zombie scientist there after opening the door. But only a part of its head stick out of the floor. I assume its z height is too low.

[Enjay]

I did like the former human variants. That was a nice touch. My issue is more with some of the monsters feeling out of place, like the Nightshade and the Hellion, and the Mud Elemental (whatever its actual name is) being placed in areas that did not feel appropriate for its type; I would have expected to encounter a lot of them in the water caverns, for example.

Fair comments. I can't disagree with your points and I will keep them in mind for future reference but I'm also happy enough with the choices I made at the time.

A bit of a bug to report if you haven't fixed it.Possible spoiler ahead...

I can't say that I've noticed that. It never happened to me in testing but I'll take a look.

[edit] Hang on, do you mean this:

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If so, that's quite intentional. Walk up to it and you'll see why.

[Clay]

[edit] Hang on, do you mean this:

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If so, that's quite intentional. Walk up to it and you'll see why.

Yes I did mean that...and ahhh....I see what you did there. I saw it when my wife was playing and she just unloaded the chaingun on it. Thanks for clearing that up.

[FFFFRRRR]

Really nice map. I Especially love the sound-design. The heretic-music at the final battle is perfect.
Also, that's a Iot of secrets in this map. I got only 3 on my first playthrough. I'll be exploring more when playing this again the next time. I feel like somewhere in this complex, there might be a big heckin gun.

Only thing I found a bit frustrating: At some parts, enemies spawn into rooms one after another. Once, a Plasmagunner spawned behind me and did loads of damage to me. I didn't know that they were still coming.
Haven't encountered other problems.

Definitely gonna play it again a couple of times. Nice work!

[Enjay]

Thanks all (again).

Only thing I found a bit frustrating: At some parts, enemies spawn into rooms one after another. Once, a Plasmagunner spawned behind me and did loads of damage to me. I didn't know that they were still coming.
Haven't encountered other problems.

I guess that was a bit of bad luck, mostly. Most, if not all (I don't recall for certain), the spawning is done by monsters teleporting in from elsewhere on the map rather than scripted spawning. I like doing it this way because the monster count is correct from the outset (minor point) and it also means that the spawning can be quite random in, what I feel, is a sort of "natural" way. It does, however, mean that sometimes monsters do take a long time to teleport in.

Good luck with if you go back in for more secrets. There are a lot and many are reasonably well signposted but others may be trickier - though none are really difficult to access IMO (but then I know where they all are ).

[cortlong50]

well, ive played through it four times.

and i like it better and better each time. its just a banger of a map man, and it kinda pisses me off to be honest. you made 500 some odd dudes ina decent sized map without it feeling slaughtery. the final scene is monumental and fun (and the heretic music its just a fun map dude. its official. youve never put out anything i havent liked. your older stuff is showing its age which is to be expected but this seals the deal that youre keeping up and implementing all the new features naturally. youre a legend man. the map plays great.

i had something else to say but i forgot. its just good.