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Coils of the Twisted Tale - 1 whole 10 part episode in a single map, plus a prelude of sorts. The slowest quick wad I can ever expect to make and now its finally done. The story text file is included as bonus material in the zip file. I'll give it a day or two before uploading to /idgames, in case there are any issues with the wad that I didn't find in my tests. Enjoy
Spoiler: Screenshots
The thread features a lot of text and stuff, but none of that turns up in game. The map itself is sort of like a ZDoom episode featuring classic gameplay.
Gameplay notes: The difficulty follows a curve, but it starts shallow and gets steeper as you go along, however finding secrets will even it out to more of a slope than an upwards curve, as the extra ammo, health, armour, powerups and alternative approaches to battles generally make the challenges less difficult. This wad starts off rather easy and overall its probably not as hard as some of my other releases.
There are also difficulty modes included, which (like most of my wads) reduce the numbers of monsters as you get lower. Generally in easy you'll be fighting small groups of weak monsters, wheras medium will pit you against larger groups of weak monsters, and then hard will chuck in a couple of more powerful ones on top. Ammo, health and the contents of secrets are largely unchanged though.
At the start of every chapter, you get a title and it will change the music and autosave. Usually the way back will be shut off too so that you can't back track to previous chapters and get health that you didn't need earlier. Weapons, monsters and difficulty all have progression, with the player having pretty much everything in the last two chapters. Naturally, due to the no backtracking nature of the wad, its single player only. Should take a good, fast player who knows the map kind of well about 40 minutes.
--------------Old Stuff below-----------
Read this so you can know it all!
Spoiler: Background
Abbotoire... that's what they call it. Theres a planet out there that the UAC have reached. Nobody knows where it is. All they know is that the Phobos incident brought more than Hell forwards. Teleportation experiments have the worst track record in history - in the early days deaths, splicing and disfigurations were rife. Then it started to work. That's when it got worse. The Deimos moonbase dissappeared forever, floating over Hell itself. The Phobos moonbase was wiped out, massacared by the horrors that sprang forth from the gateways. Hell opened a channel to Earth through some means, invading and decimating the planet, but eventually being beaten back by the ever heroic marines.
This is where Abbotoire comes in. The reason Hell breaks loose is that it exists as the space between dimensions. It is a horrific place, filled with fragments of planets, the death of eternity and the demons. Whether it also follows its religious lore is debatable, as the demons do thoroughly enjoy taking lives and tormenting those that they take with them. As the demons have access to technology, and come in multiple varieties, it is beyond all postulation as to what they really are. Their affinity with unholiness may be a coincidence, or perhaps it is deemed unholy from their past intervention in our planet. Where they are concerned, the only understanding is that they can and must be killed for the good of mankind. One of the places easily reached through hell is the planet known as Abbotoire. A grim planet, with its rivers running red and acidic, its soil a dull grey spread over brown rock, giving up its nutrients in the most niggardly way. The vegetation is rough and hardy, though it is known to appear elsewhere, perhaps indicating it came from Hell as well as the demons.
This planet is an intellectual goldmine for the UAC however, and houses several UAC facilities, all built remotely, linked with teleporters and 'safe' routes back to Earth. "Extreme Marines" serve as protection, taking training from the survivors of the Phobos incident, Hell on Earth Invasion, "Evilution" and the Plutonia Experiment incident. These marines are incredibly tough, and have been trained rigourously, aided with genetic experiments to allow them super-human combat ability. Their training consists of multiple arms expertise, unarmed combat, unconventional combat and being able to operate alone or in small groups under extreme pressure against unreasonable odds. For these reasons, any one of these marines can take on an invasion of one facility, and survive to tell the tale... or at least that's the theory. There are more standard UAC Marines who serve as guards and grunts for the facilities, but the Extreme Marines are the only real chance when things go wrong, as they very frequently do.
Since the UAC has found and begun research on the planet, several findings have been made already. An early Extreme Marine home on break during the Hell on Earth Invasion found his way through the channels of Hell in a rage over the loss of his loved one to the demons, emerging in an early UAC Abbotoire base, before being taken back into Hell and yet again fighting his way through to a UAC Abbotoire base, this one the site of a recent battle against Hell. From here he quickly found his way into the 'Cauldren', which is now a major archeological dig site, showing that there was once life on this planet, before it was destroyed by the demons. Nearby this 'Cauldren' there is a teleportation device leading to a giant castle, with three storeys. This further indicates life with some level of technology, and has been an area of major interest to the UAC. At the top of this castle was another teleporter, this one landing near another UAC base, this one being an abandoned marine garrison, also lost to the demons. It housed a much darker secret however. Below it, and below the transport tunnels that the UAC had dug for quick access between bases there was a secret base, which housed experiments on captured demons before it was lost. These captured demons were much stronger, having subverted what was being done to them during the experiments into armour and additional weaponary. These experimental beings all died during the Marines purging of the area, and no additional experiments along this vein have been reported.
This Marine ultimately succeeded over Hell, making his way into Hell from another UAC base he encountered on his journey and opening the primative block that the extinct species had erected over Hells passage and diving into its depths to destroy the gateway for good. From there, he found his way out and now serves as a commander in the Extreme Marines, having pledged to fight Hell until his death in memory of his dead wife.
Other Extreme Marines have enjoyed similar success on the planet, particularly the marine who executed Operation Warpzone, a battle into a heavily infested teleportation anomoly which had effectively ripped a chunk out of hell. This area is now considered safe, and there is no Hell infestation. Experiments are now conducted into what Hell may be like, judging from the section of Hell floating in the field. Extreme Marines are always called in to clear out areas that have been invaded by Hell to a degree that the in-place defenses failed, as they are best trained to be reactive, rather than fight during the initial invasion. Aside from Operation Warpzone, and the multiple bases cleared by the current second in command, an Extreme Marine recently had to clear what was considered to be a secure base, raising concerns over the UACs security protocols. The base itself was merely a toxins processing plant with some weaponary testing facilities, but it proved to be tactically and strategically important, and was very quickly subverted by Hell into a death trap for any normal human being. The switch the marine pressed in the pit that was lowered in the exit to this facility was odd however, as it was not in the plans, but served the purpose that the original switch was intended to.
The Extreme Marines are considered to be one of UACs greatest successes, and their service on Abbotoire has been highly recognised.
Ok, that's actually fairly irrelevant, but it serves as a story for Scourge, Warpzone and Scars of the Wounded Prey, and I fancied getting it out there, and as this wad exists in the same 'universe' as those, I may as well post it here. It also links these wads back to Doom, Doom2 and Final Doom, for an over-arcing story effect (White Light is meant to be on some mountain sanctuary in Tibet or whatever, and Twisted Joke has no point aside from being christmas-y, so they don't get big story sections )
Coils of the Twisted Tale is my second Quicky map, which is about half done so far, and I'll be working on it a bit in the days to come, as I haven't got much more to do. As I go, I'll occaissionally put up odd story snippets (it's a tale ) and a screenshot from the part of the map it's about. Whilst none of these wads are sequels of eachother, they do co-exist on the planet Abbotoire and are linked by the background I've put up there. I'm going to try and get a post up for each section of the map before I release it. And of course, once this is done, I'll get back to Virus.
EDIT: Ok, I've removed some of the screenshots from my website, so you can expect most of the ones here to be missing. This was done because its only one map, so it doesn't need 10 screens. Two or three are sufficient - and I'm sticking to two on my site for the time being.
Last edited by Phobus on Sun Feb 06, 2011 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
It is a good word. It is the perfect word to use in certain situations. It is not a racial slur. It predates the word nigger by hundreds of years and didn't have any racial association for most of that time. It didn't until excessively sensitive and lexicon-ignorant dimwits started objecting to it because it "sounds a bit like nigger".
As well as being the right word, it also has the additional benefit of upsetting the ridiculous "PC" dullards who have a limited vocabulary and who get righteously indignant over anything they perceive as racist. It gives you the opportunity to berate them for their inappropriate objection and to educate them. Those people are a problem in many, many ways. Do not "dumb-down" your vocabulary. Do not limit your use of the English language to try and appease these cretins. Remove the word and they win.
Just in case you are taking it that way hnsolo77, I'm not calling you a dullard, or anything like it. I'm insulting the people who object to the word because of their own ignorance.
Anyway, I'd better read the rest of the thread now. What's it all about anyway?
enjay: i agree that its a good vocabulary word, and i dont take it the wrong way at all, if there is a wrong way for a person of Viking descent to take it in the first place, i was just making the suggestion to help Phobus from accidentally pissing some moron off and stop flames from erupting before they happen
ive seen flamewars like that and i can tell you they are not fun
EDIT - in just used to having to censor myself normally anyway, i did live in an area that can be called 'the hood'
i was mostly left alone though due to my actions, because someone tried breaking into my car and the alarm went off i ran out of my apartment with a very large knife/shortsword and jumped the second story balcony to the ground and started chasing the bastard, when i did that i heard this "HOLY SHIT! did you see what that honkey just did?!? remind me not to piss off that crazy white muthafuka" and after that no one ever complained about my loud Metal Genra music
hnsolo77 wrote:ive seen flamewars like that and i can tell you they are not fun
Oh I dunno. Actually, the last entry in such a flame war should be - you don't know the word and you are wrong (with evidence). Anything after that is simply a continuing public display of ignorance on behalf of the objector.
If a person gets pissed off by the word, it's an opportunity for them to find out what it really means and thereby expand their vocabulary. If Phobus changes the word, then the person continues to be ignorant of the word and is still going to go off on one when they do eventually hear it. Everyone loses.
I've always been a fan of delving into the deep end of the English language. Means people who talk to me on msn need to use their dictionaries and learn a few words every now and then
-----------
Spoiler: Prologue: A New Level
Situation:
The UAC has managed to erect a biodome on Abbotoire. Although the air is breathable on the planet, it is considered dangerous as it becomes highly corrosive if kept in a confined space (as has been indicated in deep caves on the planet). Therefore it was decided that a safer working environment is needed for more delicate research. Consequently, Dome 1 was created. Aside from filtering the air, the dome also has it's own large lake, complete with a tributary to serve as an onsite fresh water supply. This is formed through he filtering of the air. An odd result of this is that the soil underneath the dome has released its hold on the nutrients, allowing grass to grow along with the twisted and deformed Hell vegetation.
Located within Dome 1 are multiple small communities and a research centre, which manages it's own power and waste disposal. The research centre is highly secure, and is blocked off by large walls from the rest of the dome. Whilst it could be scaled, or flown over, the general security is quite high, with a single gate leading to its reception area, and teleporters linking the different buildings.
Security is not an issue for demons however. Communications with the facility ended recently, after what can only be a demon attack. Not many personnel were in the facility at the time, and it is assumed that the security forces were overwhelmed from within, though this does lead to questions into what happened, we can't know until the facility has been cleared.
This is where you come in:
-{LOGFILE1}
*image removed*
I am an Extreme Marine, and I know my job. Having been next on the rota after the last Marine who cleared out the "secure" facility, I got the Dome 1 job...
Should be easy though. Its a tiny facility to clear out, and we didn't have anything big there. Ok, seems to be entirely deserted at my drop point just past the gate. I can see the two other buildings in the facility... I had no idea that they'd be poisoning the land like that. I thought we were creating a safe environment, not destroying any hope of one.
Well, whatever, I'll do my job and be sure not to come back here. Just got to get into the reception and clear it out before firing up the teleporter to the technological part of the facility. It's unnervingly silent in here. Where is everybody? Only one door opens to my command, but something opened the opposite door as soon as I walked into the room and grabbed the armour. Ok, switching on the teleporter now. It's active. This ones clear. Here I go.
There is one in the spoiler titled Prologue: A New Level, and there will be one in each of the spoilers that come up next as well. It's so the screen isn't always stretched and the text isn't an oppressive wall.
Its only bright because its outside, and yes, the big thing is an atmosphere processor, as taken from Aliens Doom (not the TC though). Makes a nice sky, and fits my story quite well.
Phobus wrote:Its only bright because its outside, and yes, the big thing is an atmosphere processor, as taken from Aliens Doom (not the TC though). Makes a nice sky, and fits my story quite well.
Coming through the teleporter I was instantly beset by the undead and demons. They fell quickly, being rather weak and ineffectual. Moving on up to the stairs, I was faced with a lift and a singular brown demon. Killing it and moving forwards, I was alarmed by a grunt to my side. No idea where that pink demon came from! Moving down the lift I saw a dead marine with his chaingun, and used it to kill the demons rushing at me. Going up another lift and clearing out my opposition, I was faced with a puzzle. A switch raised a platform, and moving across the equipment in the room allowed me to leave, although one of the switches was broken. That required some circumvention with unconventional means.
After this room I was faced with two options... I took one, then the other to ensure it was all clear, and moved on to the teleporter to the next - and final - area. The battle that ensued was unexpected. The room seemed clear until I'd stepped in and the door closed behind me... but I succeeded. Now onto the toxins factory. That is a slightly larger building, and the map I found indicates it is quite open ended in flow... I shall have to clear all of it. Here I go...
-{END LOGFILE2}
There we are, another screen shot. I used kill monsters to move about eaisly, so all enemies are dead.