[MBF21] [Final Version now on idgames!] The Human Condition; a 34 map megawad

The axe has no effect in my play(GZDoom 4.5)

Played through the first 9 maps in DSDA Doom. The maps are fairly simple, but the weapons are good time to sling around! I'll spoiler my reaction for those who want a clean experience, but the short version: this arsenal will ruin every horde of demons that dares face you!

Nice work putting out a solo megawad, with a full soundtrack no less! The maps and tracks are both quirky, but they play on each other in a charming way. Another Base was a standout so far, both for progression and music. Excited to see what else this wad has in store for me.

3 hours ago, plastrio said:

The axe has no effect in my play(GZDoom 4.5)

 

You probably need a newer version of GZDoom, the version you have is from before MBF21 support was implemented.

4 hours ago, Shepardus said:

You probably need a newer version of GZDoom, the version you have is from before MBF21 support was implemented.

OK with newer version it's good now.

BTW you can use graphics for rifle,axe etc from other mods, the currect pics looked weird.

I've now played all 34 maps in DSDA on UV.

While some of the graphics and level design were on the crude end, the ideas presented were well worth the journey. For anyone who enjoys 90's-style aesthetics, it's a win-win; charming locales, funky 3D renders, and a bunch of good ideas in both the levels and dehacked.

Standout maps, for me, were MAP06: Another Base, MAP13: Cave In!, MAP21: Gray Matter Mines, MAP22: Nostalgia, and MAP25: Theobromine, so if you don't want to commit to playing 34 maps, try these five out (and maybe the secret maps too, which earn their slots). I especially appreciated the music for Another Base and Nostalgia, which both fit their environments delightfully. A few tracks grated on me after a while, but that's nigh unavoidable when you're stocking an entire megawad with new tracks.

Regarding the weapons, I must once again commend your implementation of the plasma defender. However, it didn't see that much use given the unbridled power of the other weapons, which managed to shift the otherwise mighty BFG down to 3rd place in my weapon pecking order.

Custom enemies were a treat, even if that green baron had some tendency to slow the pace of gameplay. I'm totally unsure what to think of the "jumpscare pickle," but it played its role well enough without feeling cheap at any point. Humanoid enemies added nicely to the roster of glass cannons, so I was glad to see them.

Difficulty-wise, the "slightly above Plutonia" marker might be accurate on average, but there are some significant swings in there. MAP21 will trounce the unprepared, and MAP25 is oppressive in a way you don't see elsewhere. Combat spiked pretty wildly between being tough and being well within Doom 2 range, though the tough fights can be dismantled in many cases by properly using the busted arsenal this wad provides.

I'll spoiler my individual map thoughts:

Overall, great work! There are rough edges to be sure, but sometimes its best to eschew the design dogma in favor of reaching out of the box.

Just gave this a whirl!

The MS Paint weapons might look a little amateurish but they don't clash with the aesthetic and that's all that should count if one's artistic abilities aren't quite developed.

It's kind of nice to see maps that don't just shove hundreds of monsters and blazes its own trail. And from the frequent story prompts, it kind of feels like if someone made a wad like Revolution! in MBF21.

This soundtrack is actually really nice! For a wad that's basically using Doom as a template to reflect on, well, the human condition, you're really following a path that feels independent from established Doom tradition. But I really like it. It's quite a nostalgic perspective, and I caught the downtuned "Into Sandy's City" remix in the map....Nostalgia. (haha) One little note: I did have to turn it up a bit because it seemed overly quiet. That feels like kind of the point, but it's not really ambient as such and even on the lowest sound settings, it can be hard to hear at times.

I sort of regret missing out on more of the custom monsters

One more thing: I played this in an outdated source port but I ran out of time and I'm not sure if anything is actually affected. But I'd recommend DSDA or a Woof/Woof derivative. 

map 7 crashes DSDA Doom

15 hours ago, Mr. Meanor said:

map 7 crashes DSDA Doom

Which version of DSDA were you using? If it's more recent than 0.26.2 I'll look into it and try to figure it out and get it fixed.

Hmm, changed pickups are looking interesting. It's like Doomguy's marine helmet lights up those items! It can even be a standalone mod.

i cant open the thc.zip from the github download link i take its because its obsolete but then you should replace it with the idgames one which i managed to find on google https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/thc

anyway i started playing it and it looks like the axe sprites get cut off at the bottom on my 2560 x 1080 monitor but not the starting assault rifle which looks fine

On 4/5/2024 at 11:21 PM, NickMP said:

Which version of DSDA were you using? If it's more recent than 0.26.2 I'll look into it and try to figure it out and get it fixed.

It crashes for me in 0.27.5. 

Alright, attached a Version 2 update to the original post that fixes the MAP07 crash, and every other technical issue I'm currently aware of, it also contains some graphical updates that I ran out of time for the deadline I set for myself for the initial release. Going to take a look at getting midi audio balanced better and try and see if there's any other issues before uploading a final update to the archive.

Thanks to everyone who's played my wad so far, and all the valuable critique/bug reports!

The wad was an interesting journey. The things done in this, and can be done with MBF21 are quite the work. Nice! The whole wad also has a 90s vibe which gives it an extra points. And the fact that you made this all on your own is remarkable.

I also liked the custom enemies a lot. The grey barons can be a bit too much sometimes but nevertheless most of them seem fairly balanced given the arsenal.

Hope to see more stuff from you in the future :) 

 

nevermind i found them although i had to restart because it doesnt look like i can warp back to the initial areasi cant get all secrets on map01 not sure if its a bug but i can see on the automap two spots on brick walls - one in starting room and the other one in the room with the teleporter to the icon of sin wall - that look like they could be opened but when i interact with them nothing seems to happen

anyway i have mixed feelings about the level design and new graphics that are reminiscent of hell 2 pay and im usually not fond of custom enemies and weapons but i must say i love the reworked arsenal especially the plasma defender as ever since doom 3 and brutal doom ive been wanting to be able to shoot down projectiles in classic doom

if i have one major criticism its that its way too easy to kill yourself with the new shotgun since the altfire trigger is too sensitive and anything more than the quickest of taps will set it off i dont know if it would be possible to bind it to a different key or to give it a longer charge time with a visible cue a la megaman so this doesnt happen all the time

im sorry for the double post but i have some serious praise to give here

map04 is fucking brilliant in the way it acts as a tutorial for the plasma defender using only level design to teach the player how to make the most of it

i previously compared this to hell 2 pay and i stand by it as you clearly had a lot of fun experimenting with the capabilities of the doom engine to design all sorts of clever unusual scenarios like that tower using invisible teleporters but also the run the gauntlet style challenge of map02 that plays like a bonus level straight out of sonic the hedgehog or toejam and earl in panic on funkotron

however i have to ask how do i get the bfg secret in map06 because i keep going back and forth but i cant finda way to unlock it without cheating

On 4/9/2024 at 6:27 AM, bnbhehe said:

The wad was an interesting journey. The things done in this, and can be done with MBF21 are quite the work. Nice! The whole wad also has a 90s vibe which gives it an extra points. And the fact that you made this all on your own is remarkable.

I also liked the custom enemies a lot. The grey barons can be a bit too much sometimes but nevertheless most of them seem fairly balanced given the arsenal.

Hope to see more stuff from you in the future :) 

 

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P.s. I did get 1 broken green baron on map30 on V1 in the final boss area, don't know if the fix in the changelog for v2 is related to it.

 

I'll definitely be making more stuff in the future; I think I've been hooked on Doom mapping for life.

On 4/9/2024 at 7:05 AM, TMMMS said:

if i have one major criticism its that its way too easy to kill yourself with the new shotgun since the altfire trigger is too sensitive and anything more than the quickest of taps will set it off i dont know if it would be possible to bind it to a different key or to give it a longer charge time with a visible cue a la megaman so this doesnt happen all the time

Yeah the Shotgun's timing is pretty strict, I based it on the vanilla shotgun having a 3 frame delay between pulling the trigger and the damage coming out, in this wad after those 3 frames are up, is when the game checks if you're still holding the fire button and decides between a mini-missile or a shotgun shot. I did consider alternatives, but in the end just went with the current design to keep the Shotgun's animation/timing the same.

Edit: Okay just looked back at the dehacked, the timing window is 5 frames, which isn't the same as vanilla. (Although total animation time is the same). I'll look into it and probably increase the window by another 2-3 frames if it doesn't hurt the animation look for the final update.

5 hours ago, TMMMS said:

im sorry for the double post but i have some serious praise to give here

 

map04 is fucking brilliant in the way it acts as a tutorial for the plasma defender using only level design to teach the player how to make the most of it

 

i previously compared this to hell 2 pay and i stand by it as you clearly had a lot of fun experimenting with the capabilities of the doom engine to design all sorts of clever unusual scenarios like that tower using invisible teleporters but also the run the gauntlet style challenge of map02 that plays like a bonus level straight out of sonic the hedgehog or toejam and earl in panic on funkotron

 

however i have to ask how do i get the bfg secret in map06 because i keep going back and forth but i cant finda way to unlock it without cheating

Haha, glad you're liking the wad! And yeah, a lot of this wad was me kind of using it as a "stepping stones" project to get used to what you can do in Doom modding.

Regarding Map06

thanks i knew i was missing something i guess that switch wasnt appearing on the automap hence my confusion

ive been equally impressed with the level of care that went into designing map06 btw every time i thought i had broken sequence or gotten softlocked you surprised me with ways to revisit previous areas and the only real issue i have with the map overall are the instakill floors or rather the lack of indication that theyre so deadly since the mapset so far has been pretty inconsistent when it comes to the appearance of damaging floor

14 hours ago, NickMP said:

 

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Regarding the broken baron, how did it break? Did it fail to teleport into the arena, or did it get stuck inside another monster? Or was it something else entirely?

 

Spoiler

It was stuck inside the teleporter - I had to noclip to kill him. It was one of the green barons that spawns when you damage the Icon of Sins

 

I may be biased, but I have respect for anyone who comes out and releases a fully functional solo megawad project complete with original soundtrack.

These are some soulful levels! Definitely impressive work for, if I am to understand correctly, a new creator.

Version 3 has now been uploaded to and accepted into the idgames archive! Thanks to everyone who's given my wad a try!