Relyctum.wad

Can you give us a link that isn't so sketchy?

@randy I second the less sketchy link thing, so @BeeWen just put this link in the OP instead (or reupload it yourself, I dunno, just tryna help ya out).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dlswx4vkxof4zs2/Relyctum.zip?dl=1

P.S. Did you mean to put those screenshots in a spoiler? You put 2 spoilers around the pictures instead. Just select them all and drag them into one of the spoilers and delete the other.

P.P.S. Those screenshots look pretty good friend. c:

edit: the link seems fine but it's got a scary name :c

The link provided by op is fine, I don't what's your problem guys.

Is this for complevel 2 or 9? I played the first 3 maps and recorded demos: relyctum_fdas_p1.zip with complevel 2 but MAP03 isn't possible to finish (arch-vile is stuck in the sector and it doesn't lower).

Is a very nice set so far. Ammo is very scarce most of the time though. On MAP02 I had some big problems when I reached the baron on the pillar but I was (surprisingly) able to survive and collect some resources to progress. I died later at the teleport that takes you at the hell knight, that is cheap. MAP03 is also broken: if after you pick the rocket launcher you fall back to the starting courtyard there's no way to go back to the upper battlements. I think that it could be worth to add at least the waterfall textures instead of using compblue. The levels aren't very big but there are lots of switches to press and stuff to do, good job.

4 hours ago, bonnie said:

P.S. Did you mean to put those screenshots in a spoiler? You put 2 spoilers around the pictures instead. Just select them all and drag them into one of the spoilers and delete the other.

P.P.S. Those screenshots look pretty good friend. c:

 

edit: the link seems fine but it's got a scary name :c

Tried to do so in the spoiler appear only the names of the pictures. Themselves previously published pictures delete does not work, they reappear when sending the edited message.

3 hours ago, gaspe said:

The link provided by op is fine, I don't what's your problem guys.

 

Is this for complevel 2 or 9? I played the first 3 maps and recorded demos: relyctum_fdas_p1.zip with complevel 2 but MAP03 isn't possible to finish (arch-vile is stuck in the sector and it doesn't lower).

Is a very nice set so far. Ammo is very scarce most of the time though. On MAP02 I had some big problems when I reached the baron on the pillar but I was (surprisingly) able to survive and collect some resources to progress. I died later at the teleport that takes you at the hell knight, that is cheap. MAP03 is also broken: if after you pick the rocket launcher you fall back to the starting courtyard there's no way to go back to the upper battlements. I think that it could be worth to add at least the waterfall textures instead of using compblue. The levels aren't very big but there are lots of switches to press and stuff to do, good job.

Better 9, with 2 possible graphical errors in some places. Not quite clear about the inability to go back upstairs after taking rocketlauncher. From the courtyard there is a hole at the wall, which was a way to get there. He remained the same. Doors re-open is not necessary, you can get there faster.

---------------

The output of the 3 arch has a low ceiling, so the sector can't sink. It complevel 2 there is such a case. Corrected, the archive is updated.

I gave your wad a quick try. Only the first map, it was good. Tight in ammo, which makes one of the secrets useful from a continuous perspective. I'll try the other maps later and post some feedback.

One thing, the TITLEPIC should be fixed to cover all the screen, cause at this moment it looks like this.

"Relyctum, damn near killed 'em!"

But yeah, these are fun. Like the vertical scale, makes it more... Forbidding? Atmospheric? Something

Are you ok?

EDIT: thanks tax bot

yes i am currently fine thank you for asking :)

14 hours ago, BeeWen said:

From the courtyard there is a hole at the wall, which was a way to get there. He remained the same. Doors re-open is not necessary, you can get there faster.

The first time I tried to go back from the path at east but they way stopped at the room where the floor lowers. I checked again in the editor and I noticed that the door (sector 208) must be opened from the other side, I think that it would be better if it opens when you walk over a line.

8 hours ago, gaspe said:

The first time I tried to go back from the path at east but they way stopped at the room where the floor lowers. I checked again in the editor and I noticed that the door (sector 208) must be opened from the other side, I think that it would be better if it opens when you walk over a line.

Thank you. Corrected on the line. There were more errors in other maps are fixed. A link to the WAD is the same.

Nice! Intricately designed. Great the use of height. Love crossing the same area from different directions at different heights without using 3D floors.

Up to MAP05. Some monsters didn't teleport in. Linedefs tagged 95 (3 of them) are all W1 and should be WR. Also noticed that linedef tags 94 and 102 are W1. If the landing spots are blocked, the monsters wouldn't teleport in.

Edit: MAP06 - Odd situation. If you cross linedef tag 60 first (which lowers the room to lowest), before you use linedef tag 61 (which lowers the wall in the Chaingunner closet to lowest), then the 2nd sidedef, lower texture on linedef tag 61 is missing and HOM. If you use linedef tag 61 in the Chaingunner closet first, then cross linedef tag 60, everything looks fine. Except that either way, the Potion next to that wall sector floats in the air.

Played the rest of the wad, demos here: relyctum_fdas_p2.zip, played with the first version with cl9 now.

Didn't had particular problems with MAP04 once I overcome the initial stages and survived the trap at the SSG big hall. MAP05 was very difficult to endure, didn't finished it in the demo I beat it with saves. You can get stuck in the elevator (sector 467) where there's the revenant. It's a much longer level than the previous ones and while MAP04 still has many of the vexing traits you can encounter in the other levels it is somehow more forgivable than MAP05. A big problem is that the combat scenarios don't change so much from being set in cramped places with occasional snipers from high areas. The ammo given is very scarce and you have to go through many areas without health support. Also on MAP05 some repetitive ideas become really glaring, especially the "press a switch and a fast door with a monster behind opens". I think that the south-east part was cheap: you have an elevator with a revenant at the top, followed by another elevator where at the top await you 2 imps at your sides and a mancubus; and later on you have also the same to fight the same battle twice. The only SSG is very awkward to pick, the pain elementals (and all the lost souls) serve more to waste your low ammo. MAP06 was my favourite level visually, the corner with the maze and the crates was cute. I'm surprised that I went so far here I was going to give up intially tbh. I'm not sure about the invuln. setup, it's a nice idea but it's easy to screw things if you don't clear all the elevators. MAP07 was a very welcome change with its arena setup.

Overall there are many nice ideas here but I think that the wad suffers from not changing what it does. Almost all the combats take place in tight corridors or in confined rooms, it would be nice if more open spaces appear. Another thing is that basically at every new room/corridor you enter you always encouter small groups or even lone enemies. Biggest problem of the wad is the health and ammo starvation and how it combines with the other issues mentioned before. The idea isn't bad and having low resources can add tension and challenge to the map but in the way it was done here it ends to create a gameplay that isn't really engaging and it's also tiring. I didn't mind that the maps are very linear per se but here there are few options to choose different routes and most of the times you are bound to go into another cramped corridor, it lacks the possiblity to make some exploration so even if you die you can try to tackle the level in a different way. This doesn't happen here, you have basically only one way to solve the map.

Visuals and architecture was very well done, the levels are very pleasant to look at with some cool themes and a good use of the vanilla textures.

2nd map was confusing, didn't want to bother figuring it out due to ammo shortage.  

On 10.01.2018 at 7:27 AM, Bryan T said:

2nd map was confusing, didn't want to bother figuring it out due to ammo shortage.  

Intricate? The path around the pool for circuit breakers is gradually building a bridge is difficult to call confusing. Then what to say about 5 the map, interesting to know)). I like to make big cards with non-linear passing not for one-time game. But for this project it is necessary to restrain appetites.

2 more levels of continuation of this project, 8 and 10 are constructed. The link works the old.(https://yadi.sk/d/_sLlP8U73QHsrS)

Enjoy the game.

this is hard.  i only got past map02 and map03 was too hard for me right now, so that's as far as i got.  also i am certianly not in a well-off mental state to get through this right now.

fdas noisy_Relyctum.zip (prb+ cl9 uv)

just passing by :)

On 07.04.2018 at 7:21 AM, NoisyVelvet said:

this is hard.  i only got past map02 and map03 was too hard for me right now, so that's as far as i got.  also i am certianly not in a well-off mental state to get through this right now.

fdas noisy_Relyctum.zip (prb+ cl9 uv)

just passing by :)

 Thank you for the demo. Advise in the game my levels more accuracy and less haste. Especially try not to leave behind active monsters. Hope to see your further journey.

Fdas for the new maps relyctum_gaspefdas3.zip, made with prboom+ with cl9.

Despite my problems with the previous maps I think that this new levels went in a better direction, while they maintain the same hard traits of the other levels with the ammo shortage and small encounters in tricky places. They require a very meticulous gameplay and mistakes get punished heavily but you can recover in the long run.

On MAP08 I died in the southern area near the blue armor, I didn't react well to the trap and got overwhelmed by the demons. On MAP10 I died after you pick the plasma rifle, maybe I would add some little health there since the nukage floor is damaging and with only 1 radsuit if you don't do everything right the first time you're likely screwed.

Quite nice! i play this later.

Add map 11.

Bump!

I'm up to map 06, Ultra-Violence and Continuous carefully looking at weapon/ammo placement, and here's some feedback:

- Map01: All good, secret berserk is highly important to save ammo whether the player decides to pistol start or continue from a savestate. 

- Map02: Some high-HP enemies drag the pace a bit when your armory is mainly shotgun+chaingun, like the hell knight behind the timed door. I'd personally suggest a third weapon like a secret rocket launcher or plasma rifle, along with a box of its corresponding ammo. 

- Map03: This is where I stopped last year. This time I was more careful and could save some bullets for the keycards ambushes. It still needs more ammo and health, granted if on continuous you can almost run of ammo, then on pistol start you have to skip enemies like the spam of lost souls. Even with berserk usage a player low on health may not feel comfortable to punch barons or revs in such tight spaces; another thing is the teleport near the row of imps/barrels, the one that takes you to the start of the map... well that's the problem, it takes you a bit far away from where the player wants to be. Thing is the teleporters to the sides of the yellow/red doors already serve for that purpose (I think so...). 

- Map04: The least linear map so far, my favourite map so far on that regards. My only suggestion would be to place another SSG somewhere else in the way to the blue door, as you did with rocket launchers.

- Map05: This has many things to consider, first one is a minor issue with a hanging corpse in a cage near the start point, it can infinite height the player; then, like gaspe said above, some of the traps here are mere clausterfucks with no way to escape damage or death, assuming you get the bad RNG, which is more probable. What this map needs is a bit more ammo, shells and bullets mainly, health supplies too if you want to keep the cramped traps; the secret with six green armors seems like a silly joke I didn't get, I understand you wanted a hard-to-get secret, but not even a casual player like me will ever want to go back there to resupply; finally, at the final section behind the yellow door, I liked that you built a way to backtrack in case a player wanted to look for missing secrets, thing is in order to return to the final section you have to cross the slime pit again, naked. Seems to punish greedy players but a I'd put a second radsuit or a teleport pad to skip the pain sector.

That's it for today, more feedback coming on tomorrow hopefully. One question, are you planning to expand the wad? @BeeWen

Second part!

A couple things I forgot to mention: TITLEPIC needs to be resized to 320x200 to fill the screen; in map 05 a bunch of enemies never teleported anywhere.

- Map06: This map has a severe unbalance in terms of ammo, lots of snipers and lost souls/pinkies, unless you planned this map to be the ending of a journey on continuous, I'd suggest you place a berserk or chainsaw and many boxes of ammo, many rooms don't have anything else than monsters. Health is fine, apparently; it's also awkward to navigate, the linearity and ledges make for things like slipping off a punishment, and backtracking all the way back to the switch that lowers the lift at the start point is boring. My suggestion is to create a few shortcuts here and there that become available as you progress in the map; a minor thing is the non-secret blue armor+health potions, that could be tagged as a secret; lastly, at the corridors with the invul sphere, you can get stuck outside in the void if you jump off the leftmost lift.

- Map07: Honestly, at first I was afraid of pistol starting this, because of the pain sector 11 in the previous map. This is a big improvement in terms of ammo balance, also health, nothing about resources scarcity. On another side, some things to revisit: at the mud pit with the barrels and a baron, when you take the lift there's a hell knight on top ready to corral the player instantly, that's a cheap move imo; the switch to lower the circular lift blocks the cyberdemon's rockets, I'd make it teleport in the main arena along with some other monsters too; the row of spectres at the exit are stuck on each other; the archvile that teleports in the pit is useless, should spawn on the exit pad imo.

- Map08: Seems like ammunition will no longer be an issue in these later maps, a great advance! I can't find a way to get the red skull key, or any other key, thus I'm stuck in the map. The bridge is already up, so what am I supposed to do??

Third and last part!

- Map08: Figured how to get the RK, nevermind... this map is pretty good, no ammo scarcity at all, a bit convoluted progression. 

- Map10: I liked this, you captured quite solid shotgun/chaingun gameplay, probably the best so far. Another highlight was the secret cyberdemon, you can leave him dormant or, if you want to kill him, use that secret BFG to perform an atypical two-shot method (sort of peekaboo, smash him after the third rocket); a couple important things to consider, one is progression, particularly at the platform with the plasma rifle, it did never occur to me to hit the wall behind the baron+rockets until later after wondering for so long how to get the RK, nothing there tells me that's the way, so I'd suggest some hints to point the player out they should go there; also, when you have to cross the nukage (that has revenants) it's possible to not have any radsuits to protect you from damage, since it's also not very obvious that you have to get in there. I wasted the only radsuit because of low health, then grabbed the secret megasphere, and that saved me from dying. An extra radsuit, for example in the pit of revenants, should be good.

And that's it, there're no more maps in the last release. Hope this is helpful for you!

Thanks for the tips, most of them will be made in the release version of this project. Now 12 maps are ready, + bonus 31. The link is the same.

bumping this exciting project :3 beewen rules

Decided to please the next level of this project. 14 ready and waiting for the brave players.

Link old

Yeah the link is fine, its Yandisk. Its a reputable site, I've done many downloads from there, anyways maps look interesting. Thanks BeeWen, gonna try this now:)

You're now producing a 14th map. How many do you plan to do on the finished project, BeeWen? 

I've enjoyed playing Relyctum and 

I would like to know when @ anytime so I can finish playing the wad.

Thanks :) 

played the first few of these, really enjoying them! I really like your heavy usage of lifts and raising platforms, and the visual style is really appealing to me