Realms Of Cronos is a community hub for Hexen with 10 levels. The hub is non-linear, but you must complete certain goals and retrieve keys to unlock certain maps. There are extra enemies, decorations, and textures for new themes like an Aztec city, a snowy castle, and a Chinese village.
It's made for GZDoom (tested in 4.3) and some levels were made with dynamic lights in mind.
Realms of Cronos is a community hub for Raven Software's Hexen. Experienced and inexperienced mappers alike are welcome. This project will have two phases, mapping & refinement. Mapping will last one month, and an at least completable map is expected by the end of that time (December 1st). After that, there will be two weeks in which the maps can be playtested & refined, and the project can be finalized. More time for refinement can be added if it becomes necessary.
There is a Discord server for the project. You are very much encouraged to join, because discussion & communication is much quicker there than on traditional forums. However, you may instead just post your work on the forum thread, and any vital information posted on Discord will be cross-posted here.
This project is for GZDoom. Your map may be made in GZDoom: Hexen (Hexen) for a more limited, old-school style, or GZDoom: Hexen (UDMF) for full use of the engine's features. Either way, you are encouraged to use ZDoom ACS format. Jumping is allowed, crouching is not.
The project uses a resource pack that includes various extra textures, monsters, & decorations you may use if you wish. It includes variations of Hexen's texture set and expands the range of possible themes, including medieval city, snowy/winter, Egyptian, Aztec, Roman, and Asian. There are also some decorations that fit these themes. The new monsters are the Lava Golem, Undead Piranha, Posessed Scimitar, and Wolfman. Explanations of their behavior can be found on the Discord's "resource pack" channel.
Your map be as big or small, as puzzle-oriented or action-oriented, as old-school or modern as you wish. If you want resources outside of what's provided, they can be added (provided they're quality and appropriate). And of course you can bring your own MIDI and sky texture if desired. I do not want to restrict anyone's creativity. However, you should also make sure to be realistic about what you can accomplish within the timeframe.
Maps must include a puzzle switch, which will affect the hub map. I will take care of scripting that, just place the switch in your map. To ensure players can't miss it, it must be required in some way to exit the level. You may claim one or more of Hexen's keys & puzzle items for use within your map. Additionally, I will provide custom puzzle items you can use if you wish. If possible, I would like for one map to instead include a portal that leads to a new area of another map. So one mapper makes a sealed-off area of his map that can't be accessed from the hub, and another mapper makes a portal in their map that leads to it.
Any map may include the Dragon Lich, but you must claim the Heresiarch or one of the death kings if you wish to use them. The Dragon Lich and Heresiarch require special scripting to function, which you can read about on the ZDoom wiki. However, I would advise against feeling as though your map needs to be capped off by a boss fight.
I will take care of designing the hub map. It will be non-linear, but some maps must be unlocked over time. You must announce what theme/style your map will be so I can design its portal accordingly. Weapons will be unlocked in the hub map over time by completing levels. So for testing purposes, simply place the weapons your map is balanced around at the beginning.
For newcomers to Hexen, there will be guides posted on Discord. These will cover things such as ACS scripting, puzzle switches, using puzzle items, class balancing, and so on.
Testers and musicians are very welcome. Testers using Discord should take the tester role by typing "-role tester", and should be okay with being @'ed when someone posts a map.
Re: Realms of Cronos: Hexen Community Project
Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2019 10:23 pm
by Rip and Tear
It's always great to see more Hexen content being made.
Re: Realms of Cronos: Hexen Community Project
Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 6:51 am
by ShadesMaster
I've begun work on my map, a village swamp of sorts. Untitled, MAP08 slot atm!
Those screenshots look positively gorgeous! Glad to see it's still being worked on!
Re: Realms of Cronos: Hexen Community Project
Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2020 3:42 pm
by Vendash :^)
Can you reupload the resources? I Want to help :^)
Re: Realms of Cronos: Hexen Community Project
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 5:08 am
by CaptainToenail
Very cool. I may be interested in mapping for this once I get Quest for the Crystal Skulls out of the way. I've never used Discord however - will we be able to add our own custom resources?
Re: Realms of Cronos: Hexen Community Project
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 2:06 pm
by whirledtsar
Sorry, no more map submissions at this point. We're past the original intended date as it is and just waiting for the remaining maps to be finished.
Also, the OP resource pack link is now updated.
Re: Realms of Cronos: Hexen Community Project
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2020 7:44 pm
by Vendash :^)
Oooh Thank you, also I can use some textures to my own project? It's hard find good textures in the web.
Re: Realms of Cronos: Hexen Community Project
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:22 pm
by whirledtsar
Vendash :^) wrote:Oooh Thank you, also I can use some textures to my own project? It's hard find good textures in the web.
Yep, but keep in mind credits because almost none of them were made by myself, theyre collected from various sources. Most are in subfolders named after their source.
Re: Realms of Cronos: Hexen Community Project
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2020 9:04 am
by Vendash :^)
Yes I give credits to the respective owners
Thanks :^)
Re: Realms of Cronos: Hexen Community Project
Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:29 am
by Lagi
looks amazing cant await for release
Re: Realms of Cronos: Hexen Community Project
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:23 pm
by whirledtsar
The project is in the beta phase and we'd appreciate testers who can play the hub and check for balance & errors. Feel free to join the Discord linked in OP.
Re: Hexen hub: Realms of Cronos [rc1]
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 4:13 pm
by Emmanuelexe
Awesome, it will be cool to play it, the screenshots are really nice