[DONE!] Doom: The Lost Episode

[Xaser]

Hehe, the strangest thing is... that's dead-on *exactly* what I'm planning to do! Aaah, stop reading my mind before it makes you lose yours!:P

Notice how M2 and M3 are demonic while E5 and onward are slightly more human-ish? E5M4 will be a neat "transition", and yes, it'll make good use of the whole floaty-void surreal style. It's simple enough to not be too 'modern', yet cool enough to still rule. It just might work.

Weirdly enough though... I'm actually thinking about keeping the current name (Though now I'll prolly throw a secret sign in there somewhere saying "Welcome to Da Void of Levelness" for grins ). I know, only a few individual Marathon fans would ever get the reference, but it's quite random enough and I actually *will* add a railway somewhere, so it'll fit.

On a similar note, has anyone happened to notice how on the north side of E5M2, the landscape beyond the windows is *upside-down*? subtle yet cool.


*ahem*, all right... though, I've run into a slight bit of trouble on my end. I've added some neat new areas to M3 and as a whole it's better, but the south end (which resembles E2M7 far too much), I can't seem to find the inspiration to change it around. Would anyone mind helping me on this just a little? Wills, is your offer of help still standing, perhaps? Hmm...

In the mean time, I'll start on either M1 or M8 soon. At least there, I just might have an idea of what to do.

[Wills]

Would anyone mind helping me on this just a little? Wills, is your offer of help still standing, perhaps?

Sure is.

[Nuxius]

Thinking about something else (a piece of trivia, if you will) you actually have 3 levels in your wad that had secret exits in the PSX version. Spawning Vats had the secret exit to Fortress of Mystery (which you accessed through a hidden remotely operated door in one of the vats). The PSX and Saturn versions were the only ones that had that though.

I *think* it works the way as intended, but I was unsure of the path to get to the exit itself. You'll be the judge once the next beta comes out.

Yep, you did it right. What part of the path are you unsure about? This is how they intended you to do it:

Prerequisites: must have all 3 keys (with the red key bars in the lift room lowered) and the door open to the secret area that houses the lift to the secret exit. With that said, in the lift room...
1)drop into the lava
2)activate the lift that reveals the hidden switch
3)use the switch to lower the lift to the secret exit room
4)back up onto the teleporter right behind you, which will put you in front of the teleporter that you had to lower the red bars to access
5)run forward to use that teleporter, which will put you in front of the door that leads to the normal exit room
6)back up off of this hallway, down to the intersection of the three hallways below (you should see the secret room that leads to the secret exit lift off you your south)
7)run to that room and fall down the exposed shaft before the lift comes back up.

The key is you have to be fast as a mofo to do it.

[Amuscaria]

Looking nice. Very consistent with the oriignal Doom stuff. A good amount of detail at that, within overloading.

[Xaser]

Hehe, thankses, Eri! And, well, If you mean "overloading" as in M2... well, lots of E4 was pretty detailed too, ehehe... (E4M6 anyone?).

@Nuxius: Thanks a boatload! Hmm, I think I may have made it too simple though (you can access the rising/lowering teleports from the side now... then again that's prolly a bad idea since one is supposed to be red-only @_@ ... will change). Your path makes sense! And interesting about the Vats exit... I guess that one was taken out during Kaiser's conversion? Or was the secret red-door to the blue armor supposed to be it?

[Gez]

Thinking about something else (a piece of trivia, if you will) you actually have 3 levels in your wad that had secret exits in the PSX version.

Hey, isn't it possible to have several secret levels anyway? Of course it wouldn't be very "quasi official just like Doom was" if it strays from the 8+1 formula, but...

[Xaser]

An interesting thought, but the only two 'new' secret levels are Mansion and Marshes, which are here already. Then again, there's Club Doom, but I've explained my reasons for skipping that one.

Hmm... maybe an "extended edition", completely non-classic, might be in order eventually? Then I'd have an excuse to do both Club and Hellgate. Maybe so, maybe no?

Oh, and a "small" note: Wills is a hero. He rearranged and added some very nice areas in E5M3, passed the map back to me, and together we finally finished the sucker. Let's just say I was completely wrong to call it "90% complete" before.

Well, that just leaves Logos, Redemption, and Caroll Street to go. The first two shouldn't take long (since they've got a base at least), and even E5M4 is starting to take shape. Yep, it'll make good use of "da void", for sure.

Hey, thanks to everyone for all the support so far! Kind of a silly idea of mine, this is, but it's good to see that at least a few of you don't think it's a *complete* waste of time!

[Nuxius]

Hmm, I think I may have made it too simple though (you can access the rising/lowering teleports from the side now... then again that's prolly a bad idea since one is supposed to be red-only @_@ ... will change).

You could in the PSX version as well, of course, they didn't intend that. You can also grab the blue key right off the bat with a strafe run from the stairs at the start (in PSX Doom, and your map).

And interesting about the Vats exit... I guess that one was taken out during Kaiser's conversion? Or was the secret red-door to the blue armor supposed to be it?

No, when you picked up the blue armor, you crossed a linedef that caused a wall to temporarily open behind one of the other vats.

On Club Doom, it lost a lot of it's gander in Console Doom, since Kaiser had to drop the strobing colored lights and the techno rave soundtrack that played in the background. You're right in that it was a novelty level, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNpho45LnhE

As for Hell Gate (PSX/Saturn Doom)/Tower of Babel (Jag/GBA/3DO Doom), I have a personal distaste for that level, mostly because ID, for some reason or another, found it a fit replacement for the real Tower of Babel. Imagine that disappointment. >: Thank god they changed it in PSX Doom, renamed it Hell Gate, and put the real Tower of Babel with Mr. Cyberdemon back in. Of course, they renamed Fortress of Mystery "Dis" in Jag Doom (it was the last level), which they reverted back to it's PC name in PSX Doom as well.

[Penguinator]

Expected in 2053 2054: Knee Deep in the Lost Episode!!!

[Gez]

Oh, and a "small" note: Wills is a hero. He rearranged and added some very nice areas in E5M3, passed the map back to me, and together we finally finished the sucker. Let's just say I was completely wrong to call it "90% complete" before.

Any chance we might see it?

[Xaser]

Hehe, soon. I'm still working on this, don't worry. I think I'll finish up E5M1 and E5M8's improvements and upload the next beta. No progress on M4 as of late but I've got ideas, and that actually means a lot in this case.


One slight 'worry'... some maps might be slightly too "detailed" for iD maps (though nothing compared to today's standards), but think about it. E4's maps were noticeably complex compared to the first three (I cite E4M5 and E4M6 as evidence), so it figures that if iD had done a 5th episode of their own, the quality standards would rise slightly as well. I hope.

Here's some E5M1 screenies to help tide everone over:

Anyone recognize the rooms now?

[Skunk]

Hey Xaser, would you like me to create an animated interpic screen for this? I need a project for an interpic to actually ANIMATE and the one I made for Ep 4... eh... it kinda sucked and was just an experiment. I wanna create something totally new and original... what do you say? If you don't like it you can put your awesome skills to work and make it look better.

Besides I already have gotten SOME ideas on what to do for this one.

EDIT: I also have some Bobby Prince stylized and inspired by midis I made... if you want.
EDIT 2: Oh, yeah, episodes should have bosses, E4 was disappointing in that aspect.

[Xaser]

About the interpic: Hehe, really? I'd be honored if you'd do something for this! I could probably make *something* myself but somehow I have a real problem with starting things from scratch. I can do things well from working from a base (E5 sky for example), but starting is tricky. So, yes! If you're interested at all, I'll PM you the design I had in mind (rough notes mostly so I don't constrict your creativity). Hehe

And regarding the midis: do send! I like the ones I have now but I'm afraid they might cause some legal confusion, hampering the distribution of the wad. Plus, if something seems to fit one of the other maps (the ones that use standard UDoom music) I might throw in a few more, hehe. I am very much interested, truly!

About the boss: Hmm... not sure on this though. A custom boss would be cool but that would probably involve DECORATE (breaking a personal rule of mine) and some new sprites... not sure on this.

Semi-unoriginal, but perhaps a more challenging sprite replacement for the Archvile could serve as a "boss-y" enemy? I have a semi-creative fight idea for the final map and the Archie isn't used at all in-game. I can see this working, actually, with maybe a monster-spawner (Doom2-style) as a backup plan? Hmm... I don't want to pull an E4M8 here but I don't want to pull something too non-iD out of nowhere. Any thoughts on this, guys?

Hehe, thanks in advance, Skunk! You've got me psyched about this crazy project again.

[Skunk]

Interpic: Yeah sure, give me all your info! I'll use your screenshots to generate some ideas as well. Just let me know something.
Midis: I'll pm you.
Boss: I think an archville along with a million of some low cost enemies might be the way to go... since archvilles can revive them and all. Maybe possibly. Who knows? If you're going to introduce some D2 enemies, you should use one as the boss, and since it's known as BOSS anyway in the graphics description maybe that's the way you should go. But whatever you come up with will be great.
Thanks: No problem, I'm excited to have new episode to play anyway!

[Sodaholic]

Could you remove the damaging shadow in the start room of E5M1? It was probably there just for the testers to test the damaging sectors without having to go to the middle of the level at slug-like speeds. (Doomguy as moved slow as hell in the prototypes!)