Moon's Call (followup to Moonsong)

[InsanityBringer]

A while back I made Moonsong as an attempt to get back into mapping and see if I could maybe make maps that aren't absolutely terrible. I thought the map was okay, though in retrospect it did have some flaws. I did tease a followup in that map so here it is! This one puts you deep in an isolated hellish dimension, right in the center of a demon fortress. The gate doesn't seem to let you return, and you still need to figure out what the hell is going on with the moon back on earth...

Images:

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The gate found in the base has left you in an isolated location

The location is laid out with a central hub. Expect to visit a few times

Monsters come from above whereever you go

Mancubi stand on guard. You can push through to get the yellow skull

An archvile, enraged by your efforts, stands on guard while other companions come to their aid to add additional pressure

The demos built a underground city. This is probably only a small slice of it, the actual thing may run miles deep into the ground of wherever this is

You're free and have returned to where you came... or are you?

Without any other options, the only option is to proceed further. Why is this gate so distant? And why is it on a rail...?

Download here (version 1.1). Should work in vanilla, tested in ZDoom, Eternity Engine, and PRBoom+. Has custom MAPINFO and EMAPINFO for intermission and tall sky in in their relevant ports.

Hopefully I'll get this up on idgames relatively soon, if things go well (with a custom midi, there's no new music yet because I'm not sure what would fit)

[InsanityBringer]

I just uploaded a 1.1 update fixing a few bugs that got through at the last minute

-Patched up some cases of the default flat remaining on ceilings
-You can now actually get the map's secret
-Fixed some VPOs and Drawseg overflows in the transition area from the yellow key area back to the start.
-Changed all lifts to fast lifts
-Fixed a bug that was preventing one trap from working in Vanilla. it turns out vanilla is picky about doors being split.
-Actually put new music in! I settled on Unresolved from Jimmy for the tune. Its maybe a little too upbeat, but I feel it fits okay.

And some bugfixes made later:
-Fixed weirdness with one of the invisible bridges, but not in an elegant way. I have no idea what happens in these cases but the bridge spans a larger area than its defined to.
-Took out some lines to try to guide you around certain details. Vanilla's handling of diagonal lines makes them make getting around the details harder rather than easier. ugh

Any feedback would be wonderful!

[agaures]

First thing that came to mind when playing this map was that there's a fair bit of symmetry in monster placement. Mainly in monster closets or traps. I found there wasn't enough cover from chaingunners, revenants (especially in narrow hallways where i had to run back and wait for them to come to me) and archviles. What didn't help is the openness of some of the rooms where there were too many sight lines for enemies to spam at me. Although the rooms were open, they felt empty as most of the enemies were used at sniper/turrets put on high ledges and weren't able to move around the room.

Good difficulty progression along with the items. The encounter with the cyberdemon was good and had sufficient cover although you could run straight past him and progress through the map without touching him.
The map had good texture variation and consistency in themes and architecture. I think the overall lighting of the map could be improved as it's mainly one shade of dark or light with not a whole lot of transitions or clear light sources.

I hope you continue mapping and see more work from you in the future. You will improve a lot.

[InsanityBringer]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to address symmetrical monster placement in further maps, and I definitely need to work on, uh, ground encounters I guess. A lot of the reason why I kept monsters high up is because I don't know how to get a good encounter balance where infighting isn't impossible, but it doesn't devolve into it without any effort. I like infighting, its a great mechanic, but usually whenever I try mixing up monsters, it just happens instantly and without any skill involved, which doesn't feel quite right.

I'm probably going to upload a finalized version (with proper intermission text in vanilla, PRBoom+, and the like) tonight or tomorrow to idgames. as much as I'd love to sit and tweak the same level over and over I do want to get on to newer maps.

[agaures]

I rarely encounter monster infighting in my own or others maps. i usually have to position myself to force it to happen. Maybe when placing enemies on the ground you should try to space them out a bit in the corners or sides of the rooms rather than in the middle clumped together. But if it's really occuring that often, I'm not sure what can be done to fix it. Just try mess around with monster placement until something works.