[Demo/Beta Release] Beyond the Portal (Indie Game Megawad)

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ReedtheStrange
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[Demo/Beta Release] Beyond the Portal (Indie Game Megawad)

Post by ReedtheStrange »

A while ago, I posted a WIP thread on Beyond the Portal right here: http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f= ... the+portal

I'm nearing a demo, which is why I'm posting again because I know I haven't been updating. Right now, I may be nearing finishing the demo of Beyond the Portal. I've working on this project for two years obsessively off and on and it's close to being presentable to a stranger. It's art style is more similar to Wolfenstein than it is to Doom because after playing Spear of Destiny 2 and 3, I've realized that sometimes similar art styles can create the illusion of being more colorful. Not everything is simpler in art style, however; skyboxes, for example, usually transition between colors. I want the environments to make the player feel strange

You play as Dr. Rakim Xavier, an engineer with doctorates in physics and engineering. Rakim is a genius and has been offered a job and special training by the Gokstad facility. When something wrong happens and strange people and creatures start appearing around the facility, rather than escaping, Rakim decides to delve into the portal to other universes to investigate why what happened at the Gokstad happened despite the Gokstad generally being able to manage such instances. Rakim Xavier is a former soldier with three purple hearts and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and well known for being courageous by those close to him.

These are most of the weapons. More interesting weapons are found later in the game.

1. Fists - Primary fire for jabbing and secondary fire for a full-body swing.
1. Energy Saw - A standard cutting tool for colonial scientists.
2. Pistol - An intermediate caliber pistol carried by mysterious men.
2. Ricochet Pistol - A semi-automatic energy pistol firing powerful, ricocheting round.
3. Pump-action Shotgun - No description necessary
3. Double-barreled shotgun - Primary fire for firing one round; secondary fire for pulling both triggers simultaneously.
4. SMG - Automatic sub-machine gun. More accurate than pistol unless sprayed.
4. XEAR - Experimental xenomatter energy assault rifle. More powerful than smg, although the projectiles move slower. Primary fire for automatic firing; secondary fire for 4 round burst. Xeno matter is a valuable material found in a universe known as "The Absolute Wilderness." One of its disadvantages to other energy sources found in other universes is that it is much more difficult to hold in large quantities and it quickly uses all of its energy.
5. Pod Rocket Launcher - Rocket launcher originally used by colonial Gokstad scientists for mining. Quickly became modified for use on larger creatures and has remained combat oriented since.
5. Xenomatter Bomb Launcher - A revolver-style grenade launcher that uses energy grenades.
6. Neutron Rifle - A high-powered all-purpose rifle that fires small particles of highly condensed matter that rip apart everything in its path. Can "shish kebab" small enemies and is effective against larger enemies.
7. Xenomatter Bomb - Primary fire throws like a grenade. Secondary fire drops on the ground. Dropped xenomatter bombs serve as landmines and will not detonate until stepped on.
8. Particle Thrower - Basically, a giant blowtorch using high-energy supersymetric particles with a better reach. It is useful in overwhelming situations.

More interesting weapons later in game:
Spoiler:

Gameplay

The gameplay is more similar to Blood than it is to Doom, although it is slightly more difficult than Blood. Enemies will often kill you very fast by themselves and corners are to be watched either by gunning you down or eating you (some monsters do both). You are given large amounts of ammo as you progress and usually won't be forced to use a particular weapon other than at the start of the game. Enemies are challenging and may force you to use a variety of weapons for different situations and environments. Many enemies have tricks to defeating them, depending on the situation. Enemies range in size from small enough to step on and randomly hiding in destructible barrels to being two stories tall, and that's without considering bosses. The player will feel slightly on edge for most of the game, some music promotes this to give the feel of someone walking around with PTSD. There is a story that you choose whether or not to be interactive with. NPC's may talk to the player, but the player can dash off at any time, cutting the conversation short and for players very interested in the world around them, there are monitors that can be read. The beginning intro can be skipped.


Screenshots
Spoiler:




Why I wasn't going to continue:

Recently, I watched the video Shock Value by MovieBob on the Escapist analyzing Bioshock: Infinite. I have never played Bioshock: Infinite, but there appears to be so many similarities that I now feel like my game has lost its creative value significantly. Below are the similarities (spoilers because there are spoilers to both games). It's really taken a hit to me, considering I've been working on this project for two years now and am in love with it. I'm extremely sad to see that at least storyboard wise, someone has put out art similar to mine before I was able to. While all aspects of the story are not yet stated in the game, there is evidence of it everywhere even if nothing is said. Either way, I feel a certain coldness in my chest to see that someone else has thought of one of the ideas that I was proud of.

Similarities in story
Spoiler:


Why I will continue:

Because the game is fun and the colorful and diverse environments make you feel indescribable emotions. I've found out that I've been kind of beat to that finish line by Void, Foreverhood and Beyond Reality, but my environments do feel different from these games.





Update: I am currently working on the demo. It should be available by the end of June. I say by because it may be completed sooner. The demo will most likely be maps 01-06 in addition to one secret level. All that needs to be for the demo is a few textures fixed and two sound effects and some changes in enemy placement. Most likely, all weapons will be available through console commands, but obviously, not all will be placed within maps 01-06 + secret level #1.

Update 7/11/2013:

Will give myself a Thursday deadline to wrap things up. I've decided to make it maps 1-9 instead of 1-6 to give a more accurate sample of the game. I am giving myself a due date of the 18th (unless complications arise) to wrap up the demo version.

Added features:

Destructible walls
Ricochet pistol
Destructible barrels with random drops


Update 7/18/2013:

I am wrapping up maps 1-9 and will be presenting them later tonight (or tomorrow, depending on your timezone).

Update 7/19/2013 - The Demo/Beta Release:

I apologize for being a little bit late.

I highly recommend using GZDoom 1.6.0.. I'm not sure why, but newer versions of GZDoom seem to have problems with decals. There may or may not still be bugs (the ones that have occurred are very rare and hard to test), but if the WAD is run through Doom II, they will never appear. I have not yet made a color palette for the ZDoom version to look as it should, but I may or may not because it is meant to be played through GZDoom.

Nothing is final and all criticisms are welcomed. In fact, if any of you make a video of you playing Beyond the Portal, I promise to watch and study how you play to see what I could improve.

Download Link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dup2qc6wc5jbxka/PORTAL.wad
Last edited by ReedtheStrange on Sat Jul 20, 2013 1:21 pm, edited 9 times in total.
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Ribo Zurai
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Possibly going to abort; near d

Post by Ribo Zurai »

Well, I like of this kind of insanity/surrealism, and would love to play this out. I think you should continue with it. :)
janiform
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Possibly going to abort; near d

Post by janiform »

I think you should continue.
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Sunbeam
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Possibly going to abort; near d

Post by Sunbeam »

I also think you should continue working on this. I'm not very experienced when it comes to released Doom WADs but I think just from the looks of it your mod will be something fresh. Also you shouldn't just let all your work go to waste. Another thing is: How many stories are out there which are nealy the same? Just look at some movies, it will be very hard to come up with a story that's completely new. And as you said it shouldn't matter that much since you can play the game without story.
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VICE
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Possibly going to abort; near d

Post by VICE »

Deliberately trying to make a story that was never done before is an exercise in futility (read up on something called "The Hero's Journey"). Especially since all media is influenced by other media.

Just create what you like, your story sounds original enough, even if it shares structure and tropes with Infinite. Having played Infinite and having seen the same Moviebob Review you did (I watch Escapist videos too :D) I can tell you you're worried about nothing, you haven't played Infinite so you're missing a lot of little nuances and details that Moviebob didn't mention that set your game apart from it more.
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ReedtheStrange
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Will now be made; near demo)

Post by ReedtheStrange »

I am currently working on the demo. It should be available by the end of June. I say by because it may be completed sooner. The demo will most likely be maps 01-06 in addition to one secret level.
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Master Of Metal
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Indie Game Megawad; near demo)

Post by Master Of Metal »

Download link?
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Trooper 077
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Indie Game Megawad; near demo)

Post by Trooper 077 »

Doom Nukem wrote:Download link?
Really? What does the post right above yours say?
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QuickShotGunman
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Indie Game Megawad; near demo)

Post by QuickShotGunman »

Doom Nukem wrote:Download link?
You could really check some of the fine print before you go and press "submit",it would make some of us happier,Mr.Nukem.
Otherwise, you'll be bumping unfinished projects that haven't had an demo yet with the same darn question.
Just a word of advice :) .
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Master Of Metal
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Indie Game Megawad; near demo)

Post by Master Of Metal »

Em.... You know my name is changed now is not Doom Nukem.
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Xaser
 
 
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Indie Game Megawad; near demo)

Post by Xaser »

Master Of Metal wrote:Em.... You know my name is changed now is not Doom Nukem.
There's a little concept called "time" that you should familiarize yourself with. It's generally very helpful in determining the order in which things occur, which will help clarify situations like this. For example, the post you responded to was posted on May 4th at around 1:00 PM (in my time zone; that's a concept I will not cover yet, so just take it as-is), which according to the rules of time, comes sometime before 5:40 PM which appears to be the time that day at which your name changed (according to this post). As such, it's entirely reasonable that a person quoting and responding to your post before your name changed will not yet see the new name because that event hadn't actually happened yet (again, according to the basic rules of how time works).

It's a bit confusing, but if you'll brush up on the topic a bit, it'll serve you well in the future.
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ReedtheStrange
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Indie Game Megawad; Beta Releas

Post by ReedtheStrange »

I apologize for being a little bit late.

I highly recommend using GZDoom 1.6.0.. I'm not sure why, but newer versions of GZDoom seem to have problems with decals. There may or may not still be bugs (the ones that have occurred are very rare and hard to test), but if the WAD is run through Doom II, they will never appear. I have not yet made a color palette for the ZDoom version to look as it should, but I may or may not because it is meant to be played through GZDoom.

Nothing is final and all criticisms are welcomed. In fact, if any of you make a video of you playing Beyond the Portal, I promise to watch and study how you play to see what I could improve.




Also, you will notice that your HUD will obstruct your view of how many monsters you've killed and how many secrets you've found. This is intentional because I never want you to know if you've found all secrets and I want you to have some doubt as to whether or not there's more to find in a map.
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grouchbag
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Re: [WIP] Beyond the Portal (Indie Game Megawad; Beta Releas

Post by grouchbag »

Oh,boy!Am I ever gonna enjoy this! :D
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Ribo Zurai
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Re: [Demo/Beta Release] Beyond the Portal (Indie Game Megawa

Post by Ribo Zurai »

I'm liking it a lot so far, reminds me of a very very old DOS game to me. :D
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ReedtheStrange
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Re: [Demo/Beta Release] Beyond the Portal (Indie Game Megawa

Post by ReedtheStrange »

Also, I would like to know which maps were the most fun for those who played through. I would like to know what general direction to go with map design and what works. I'm pretty sure I need to make secrets easier to find at times and to design certain levels to be more maze like.
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