[WIP][V2] Phobos Anomaly: a more interesting boss battle

[the_darknut_rises]

E1M8 is pretty exciting the first time you play it. There's a big fight with some big demons. For a veteran doomer who has slain hundreds of Hell Barons though it's just two enemies in a fairly boring room.

In my not so humble opinion it's not really a boss battle either. A boss battle is one that requires particular tactics above and beyond the way you deal with regular enemies (i.e. not just shoot it until it dies). Rather than sit here and complain about it I decided I'd make my own version that fits better with my definition. So I present for your consideration a bigger, badder baron battle which takes brains as well as bullets to win. Download link at the bottom of the post.

Screenshots:

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Credits:

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---Flames (adapted from the UTNT Flamethrower)---

Submitted: MasterOFMorag
Decorate: Eriance
GLDefs: Keksdose
Sprites: Eriance, 3d Realms
Sounds: Eriance, Raven Software

---Fog Spawner---

Submitted: zrrion the insect
Decorate: Tormentor667, zrrion the insect
GLDefs: None
Sounds: None
Sprites: zrrion the insect
Idea Base: Clouds in TCoTD

---Fence texture---
Taken from Justin Fisher's Aliens TC

Feedback welcomed.
I've tried to make sure you should be able to work out how to beat the map just by playing it. I will explain how to beat it in the following spoiler but please try without looking here first and let me know how badly I failed on that count!

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First shoot it until it starts shooting flames everywhere. When this happens one of the switches should descend from the ceiling. It's random which one it is each time but whichever one it is will be illuminated by a blue glow. Use the switch to activate the "cooling mechanism", this will cause the water to rise and extinguish most of the flames before receeding again. Then go back to shooting the baron. Rinse and repeat until it actually dies (This should be after the third time you activate the switch). Once it is dead enter the portal (in the big red glowing area) to finish the map.

The map replaces E1M8 (if that wasn't obvious) and requires GZDoom (or Gloome) to play. It should be beatable from a pistol start. There is a little bit of support for different difficulty levels but I haven't done much balancing of it yet. Enjoy!

Download link:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/487 ... nomaly.pk3

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-Added some health pickups and more ammo.
-Replaced the broken overlay effect with a FadeTo. It looks much nicer.
-Flames no longer last forever.
-It now ends the way Doom episode 1 is supposed to.

[Captain J]

Very. Very impressive boss fight! Also i really love what you did for zelda-styled boss introduction there.

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- It's really bummer that there's no healing items and ammo. I mean, you could eventually out of health or ammo. And some players would bad at this kind of fight.

- I played it with gzdoom, latest version, but it the orange screen when baron heats the place got cut off for some reason.

- It would be nice if baron has own scaled, big and awesome sprite. But of course it's too much, so nevermind.

- The green flames baron breathed seems standing for like hours, and you have to move quickly. It's hard to dodge them when they're covering the way, TBH.

- Kinda frustrated when i didn't killed off after walk into the teleport, that's the right way to finish the episode 1 in doom, right?

There you go! and i hope i can see more of this kind of boss fight maps, from you or not!

[the_darknut_rises]

Thanks, glad you like it!

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- You're absolutely right I can't believe I forgot to add any health, that will definitely be there in the next version. There is actually is a bit of ammo around the edges, enough for me not to run out but then I know what I'm doing. If players think there isn't enough then I will add more.

- I think you might be able to fix that if you set hud messages to scale in hi-res mode. Obviously not everyone will want that though so I'll look into a proper fix.

- I would love a big awesome sprite but alas my artistic skills are, let's just say not what I will be remembered for. If any spriters out there want to collaborate let me know.

- The flames are actually everlasting until the cooling mechanism removes them, but of course this doesn't happen for those on the raised areas. When I first (ahem) borrowed them from the flamethrower they would last for a random amount of time. I didn't like this as it meant they could potentially all go out before you even hit the cooling switch so I removed the jump to the death state. Them lasting forever never actually bothered me so I forgot to put anything back to make them eventually disappear. In the next version I'll time them to all go when the cooling cycle completes.

- Ha! I totally agree and I'll get on that.

I definitely want to make more, I was already planning to give E2M8 and E3M8 the same treatment.

[InsanityBringer]

Even despite the changes the fight was overall pretty dull. The scripting gimmicks didn't really make all that much harder.

also, you are aware that the acs command FadeTo is a thing right?

[the_darknut_rises]

also, you are aware that the acs command FadeTo is a thing right?

Well I am now, that's much better.

Even despite the changes the fight was overall pretty dull. The scripting gimmicks didn't really make all that much harder.

Could you clarify? Were the gimmicks themselves dull or was it made dull by being too easy?

[Nightsentinel]

Hey! can you please re upload the file? i'm getting a 404 error when trying to download it.
I'd really like to try your E1M8 recreation.

Thanks

[Caligari87]

Hey! can you please re upload the file? i'm getting a 404 error when trying to download it.
I'd really like to try your E1M8 recreation.

Thanks

For future reference, please do not necro old threads to ask for reuploads. We have a thread specifically for that.