Heartland - final version available on idgames

49 minutes ago, skillsaw said:

Originally, nine maps were planned

13 minutes ago, Turbine2k5 said:

Edit 2: I reloaded the map and IDDQD'd over, and reloaded a test save after getting crushed (while the crusher is in a down position) and the bug is repeatable.

Thanks for reporting -- but this is a known bug with EE 4.02.00 it's been fixed in the dev builds.

Playing this now and loving what I've seen so far. One weird thing I noticed is that I always set my opacity percentage in EE to 100 but every time I start up Heartland or load up a save it resets it to 66. Looks like that's part of the forced options but is there specific reason I should leave it on 66%?

12 minutes ago, Ryath (aka scwiba) said:

Playing this now and loving what I've seen so far. One weird thing I noticed is that I always set my opacity percentage in EE to 100 but every time I start up Heartland or load up a save it resets it to 66. Looks like that's part of the forced options but is there specific reason I should leave it on 66%?

It can have residual visual artefacts if changed to something the level wasn't designed for, as some older transparency effects rely on that setting rather than a set explicit value.

Had some time to sit down with this again, and decided to start over with the latest release. Cleared out Map 2, and made it to Map 3. Really enjoying this level so far! Not much else to say, but I did notice a possible sequence break:

skillsaw made a wad, yay. been waiting for this since ancient aliens.

i must have missed the eternity wads by @NokturnuSand @stewboy

didn't know that eternity is so good for modding, anyway it seems great for more "realistic" maps, something seen in build engine games.

2 hours ago, Snarboo said:

It's possible to straferun onto this ledge, and return to the area before the red key that's closed off when the water is drained the first time. I'm not sure if this has any effect on the map or scripting, since I reloaded my save just in case, but I thought I'd mention it.

That shouldn't break anything, iirc. I did a lot of ledge hopping around the map and hopefully just one skip is left in, heh.

6 hours ago, skillsaw said:

The Tortured Soul is an EDF port of a monster from Realm 667. I guess I never bothered trimming it from the resource.

 

There is a bit of challenge when using custom monsters and weapons in a short, 7 map episode. I don't want to introduce too many new things too quickly. Originally, nine maps were planned, so I would have introduced the Tortured Soul in one of the cancelled maps.

Out of curiosity, why did you decide to add custom monsters to the mapset? Were you not satisfied with the vanilla bestiary?

Don't know if anyone else has run into this yet, but I managed to get stuck here on map05:
 

Didn't jump down from anywhere or anything -- I just easily slipped through the gap going one way and then couldn't get back through.

29 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

Out of curiosity, why did you decide to add custom monsters to the mapset? Were you not satisfied with the vanilla bestiary?

I like high threat, low health monsters and wanted more variety.

52 minutes ago, skillsaw said:

I like high threat, low health monsters and wanted more variety.

Okay! I have just started playing the mapset, so I was surprised to hear about custom monsters, since your original post made no mention of them.

Do you plan on Heartland remaining an Eternity exclusivity or will it be ported to other... well, ports eventually?

31 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

Do you plan on Heartland remaining an Eternity exclusivity or will it be ported to other... well, ports eventually?

At the moment there's no other port that can run it, as it requires edge portals (portals that exist on upper and lower walls) which no other port supports, among other general incompatibilities with things like EDF and the map action behaviours. Plus, you know, why? It's perfectly fine being an Eternity mapset.

2 hours ago, Pirx said:

skillsaw made a wad, yay. been waiting for this since ancient aliens.

 

i must have missed the eternity wads by @NokturnuSand @stewboy

didn't know that eternity is so good for modding, anyway it seems great for more "realistic" maps, something seen in build engine games.

This, pretty much!

Eternity Engine may be in line with the Build Engine, and even far better.

So yeah, not only a source-port, also a completelly new game development tool ;)

Hope to see a complete Total Conversion soon.

In the mean time, i will sit and wait for Mordeth to come :)

I finished this just now and don't have much else to add to the chorus of praise.  It was an intense and often surreal experience--and such a great adventure that it's hard to believe it was "only" seven maps.  Really glad to have played an episode from one of my favorite mappers for my favorite port.  I'm already skeptical that I'll play better Doom content than this for the rest of the year.

I did want to say thanks for allowing the whole reuse/modification permissions deal.  It's a generous gesture and I hope we see more Eternity projects because of it.  People will be picking this apart for years looking for inspiration.

Is this supposed to play without autorun?

Edit: I couldn't find autorun at first. It's all good now. LOL!

43 minutes ago, fveitsi_ said:

Is this supposed to play without autorun?

That's a strange thing to ask (is this something GZDoom mods do now?). No, Eternity has no capability to even disable autorun, you are still perfectly able to toggle that yourself.

6 minutes ago, Edward850 said:

No, Eternity has no capability to even disable autorun, you are still perfectly able to toggle that yourself. 

You can certainly disable autorun in Eternity, in fact I believe it's off by default.

1 minute ago, Fairweather said:

You can certainly disable autorun in Eternity, in fact I believe it's off by default.

The context here is mods disabling it, not the user, which no "this" (the mod in question) can't do that in Eternity.

1 minute ago, Edward850 said:

The context here is mods disabling it, not the user, which no "this" (the mod in question) can't do that in Eternity.

Ah, the entire question confused me on that basis alone, mb.

So I've played through Map 05, and all I can say is this: 

Holy. Shit.

Seriously, this is some of the most fun I've had with Doom in a while, and I've been playing some amazing WADs lately. I love pretty much everything about this WAD so far. The level design is amazing. Like others have said, this feels like a Build-engine game with all the room-over-room going on here. It kinda feels like Ion Fury a bit, honestly. The texture work is immaculate with this. Otex and the rest have combined to make some of the most realistic-looking areas I've seen in Doom. It really did feel like I was going through a subway, construction site, etc. That opening on the subway trains may be one of the best opening minutes to any WAD ever, that was seriously so cool. And I loved how toward the end of that level when you go back down into the subway, 2 trains come into the station and stop. That was something I would have never expected in a Doom WAD before. Same with the moving walkways in Map 05. This is the first Eternity WAD I've played and I'm really liking it. Shooting guns feels satisfying, and the sound effects for them sound crunchy and impactful. I really like the new additions to the arsenal so far, especially the dual pistols and uzis. I just got the flamethrower which I think is a pretty interesting plasma replacement. It doesn't have a long range so you have to get close, but if you get too close you burn yourself. Really smart idea there. And the new enemies are pretty cool so far. Going back to the end of the first level, I fully expected demons to come off the trains, but I was not expecting the return of Valiant's suicide bombers. I went from "bring it on" to "OHSHITPANIC" as soon as I heard that beautiful "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA". Nice to see the Cybrusiers as well return. The one enemy that drops a mine when killed is a pretty cool idea, but those new flying enemies are somehow worse than Arachnorbs ever were. Combat as a whole feels like classic Skillsaw, so no complaints here! Lots of action, a nice amount of weaker enemies to mow down, with some hard ambushes thrown in to spice things up.

Yeah, so just to reiterate, I'm really, really enjoying this so far. Some of the best designed Doom levels I've ever played, with great new additions to the weapons and enemies. It may have been 5 years since Ancient Aliens, but so far, this has been worth the wait. I know the last 2 levels have a ton of enemies, so I'm expecting some big maps, and I can't wait to play em!

Played through Maps 3,4 and 5. Loved almost everything in them. Pretty much what I wanted to say has already been said by TJG1289 above my comment. All I can add is that I hope we get to see more levels like these that make use of the portal features to combine realism with tight gameplay design (even if it means they have to be EE exclusive).

Quote

The one enemy that drops a mine when killed is a pretty cool idea

I like this one as well, but his sounds are over-amplified, cause clipping and distortion during playback. Similar to "bass boosted" videos on youtube. Almost like it was tested using audioplayback device incapable of producing sub bass range at true volumes. Feels out of place comparing to other sounds.

Last I knew, Eternity didn't have 3D sector transfers, but am I correct in guessing all the true 3D type stuff in this was done with different types of portals? Upper/lower edge portals were mentioned.   I did linear and vertical portals in GZDoom, but damn this is amazing.

Forgot to report that I did come across an issue in RC2 that no one has reported yet

I can't autoaim at those imps in Map02

1 hour ago, ReaperAA said:

I can't autoaim at those imps in Map02

Thanks, there were a few other cases of autoaim breaking down through portals here and there... not sure if I can fix this or if it's more engine side, but I'll play with it a bit.

11 hours ago, Edward850 said:

At the moment there's no other port that can run it, as it requires edge portals (portals that exist on upper and lower walls) which no other port supports, among other general incompatibilities with things like EDF and the map action behaviours. Plus, you know, why? It's perfectly fine being an Eternity mapset.

I guess I better get used to Eternity, then! I have been playing on GZDoom for long that it is a bit disorienting to use a different source port, almost as if I were playing an entire new game - or even a different console, to return to my previous "console wars" analogy. :P

Anyway, is it possible to kill all the possessed enemies on the concurrent speeding train at the very beginning of MAP01? If not, do I get another shot later on the level or do I have to kiss my 100% Kills score good bye?

32 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

Anyway, is it possible to kill all the possessed enemies on the concurrent speeding train at the very beginning of MAP01? If not, do I get another shot later on the level or do I have to kiss my 100% Kills score good bye?

If they're still alive, you'll run into them later.

33 minutes ago, skillsaw said:

If they're still alive, you'll run into them later.

That is a relief!

By the way, was the intro inspired by Blood II? Playing through the first level, I cannot help but be reminded of it. Well, that and Final Fight for some reason; I was surprised to find out that the track was composed for this mapset and is not from a SNES game.

2 hours ago, Rudolph said:

That is a relief!

 

By the way, was the intro inspired by Blood II? Playing through the first level, I cannot help but be reminded of it. Well, that and Final Fight for some reason; I was surprised to find out that the track was composed for this mapset and is not from a SNES game.

The music also reminds me of SNES era beat'em ups :)

But no on Blood II - I've never played it.