Chaos Colosseum

[Arctangent]

Something I whipped up today, it's a map that's an endless arena deal, but with a twist: each new "round" not only dumps a new set of enemies on you, but also changes the arena itself!

Right now it's pretty proof-of-concept-y, with no real sense of progression or objective. It should be coop compatible, though I haven't tested it. Though if you want to try that, you're going to want to use Zandronum 3.0 - something behind that lacks some features necessary for this.

Download here.

[Мichаеlis]

Played it for 30 minutes and killed some 1200 monsters with my gameplay mod Death Foretold on Zandronum 3.0. As far as I can tell, nothing broke, which is always nice when gameplay mods and maps with ACS meet.

Had fun.

Suggestions:

• Visible wave counter
You know, to show screenshots and brag, "I made it to the thousandth wave!"

• Monster formations
For example, a block with 9 imps, or 3 HK + 1 baron.

• Wave length by progress
If there are more than N remaining live monsters, might be nice to postpone the next wave a few seconds.

• Spawn obstacles
Sometimes, spawn torches or lamps in randomly oriented (or even curved) lines crossing block boundaries. Remove on next wave. Barrels are a good idea, too.

• Spawn BFG and Spider Mastermind
Very rarely or on some specific late wave, like every 30th.

• Spawn BossEyes
Place BossTargets on map. On some waves, instead of spawning monsters directly, add one or more Icon of Sin cube spitters. Remove after that wave, so they don't overwhelm player over time.

• Decimate monsters after each wave
On wave change, randomly kill 10% surviving monsters to help player in case situation goes out of control, for example, with Pain Elementals, or Boss Eyes if you implement these.

• Change cell texture pattern
Checkers are but one way to color a geometric map.

• Damaging floor cells
Rare lava/acid/strobe cells that deal damage.

Edit:
• (a must) Scale by skill and player count
Both prefer lower class monsters on lower skills and prefer to spawn fewer of them.
Spawn more of everything when there are many players. Not necessarily double for 2 players, triple for 3 players, but at least to some extent.

[kadu522]

Played it for 30 minutes and killed some 1200 monsters with my gameplay mod Death Foretold on Zandronum 3.0. As far as I can tell, nothing broke, which is always nice when gameplay mods and maps with ACS meet.

Had fun.

Suggestions:

• Monster formations
For example, a block with 9 imps, or 3 HK + 1 baron.

• Spawn BossEyes
Place BossTargets on map. On some waves, instead of spawning monsters directly, add one or more Icon of Sin cube spitters. Remove after that wave, so they don't overwhelm player over time.

I really like the idea, but i like to add another recomandetion to the above.

<Enemy Limitors>
Becuse fighting a arch-vile and several aracnatrons just with a pistol is not a good idea.

[unRyker]

I love arena maps but I despise anything that has to do with luck/extra RNG which can interfere with the enjoyability of the map and this unfortunately is one of those maps.

My experience is summed up in this video:


I imagined it to be something like Skulltag Invasion with a twist but wow, the map design can turn from pleasant to atrocious within a matter of seconds with a double-edged sword concept [I'm glad it's not a fully-fledged project, but it's still interesting to see what happens!] of the shifting platforms and damaging floors. However, this concept/map would bring in a lot of entertainment as a fun Deathmatch map! I feel that this map isn't a very good level to play against monsters in because they can survive underwater, Archviles, Revenants, Cyberdemons etc.

Anyways, with your map the way it is, I do have valid concerns for your map:

• Some floors can remain as a damaging sector, it's very odd and you can see it in action in 0:48 of the video.
• The level transitions too fast, which can lead to unfair deaths. A tad slower and it could help resolve my annoyance with the map.
• I think the liquid should be slightly transparent, so you can see monsters without having to go under. It's annoying being lit on fire by an Archvile hiding in the acid.
• The boundaries beyond the fencing in the exterior of the Colosseum is prone to Pain-Elementals and Lost Souls getting stuck outside and infighting each other. Since they can barely be shot, it can lead to a horde of Lost Souls flooding back into the play-area.

Regardless, this was a very cool map to play in-- have you considered the visible wave counter suggested above by Michaelis?

[kadu522]

• Some floors can remain as a damaging sector, it's very odd and you can see it in action in 0:48 of the video.
• The level transitions too fast, which can lead to unfair deaths. A tad slower and it could help resolve my annoyance with the map.
• I think the liquid should be slightly transparent, so you can see monsters without having to go under. It's annoying being lit on fire by an Archvile hiding in the acid.
• The boundaries beyond the fencing in the exterior of the Colosseum is prone to Pain-Elementals and Lost Souls getting stuck outside and infighting each other. Since they can barely be shot, it can lead to a horde of Lost Souls flooding back into the play-area.

Regardless, this was a very cool map to play in-- have you considered the visible wave counter suggested above by Michaelis?

I think another good adition to complement the above is to add a "Defalt starting arena" so that way you have some time to gear up until the RNG Kicks in.

[Xyz]

Damn, killing the monsters is soo satisfying