[Now on idgames] Astroverse Doom II vanilla megawad

[Astro X]

Hello, Doom people!

 

This is my first megawad and it's called Astroverse! Consists of a series of maps I made myself from scratch!

 

- IWAD doom2.wad

 

- built using just Doom Builder 1 and Slade 3

 

- tested with GZDoom (Doom strict), Skulltag, DSDA-Doom (complevel 2), Chocolate Doom (non-custom versions)

 

- thanks to @Mr. Meanor, @I_Punch_Demons, @Doomdude89 for playtesting the wad thoroughly. And thanks to @Floowand for the little, but cool tweak to the titlepic and interpic!

 

- you can find YT playthroughs I did for each level starting from MAP07, which I consider the first really complex and difficult map on my channel: https://youtube.com/user/AstroooooX

 

Levels & episodes:

Spoiler

- Episode 1 "Demon invasion simulator" (themes: tech base, marble, jungle, cave, city, hellish)

MAP01: length * / difficulty *

MAP02: length * / difficulty * (my 1st ever map)

MAP03: length * / difficulty *

MAP04: length ** / difficulty **

MAP05: length ** / difficulty **

MAP06: length ** / difficulty **

MAP07: length ** / difficulty **

MAP08: length ** / difficulty **

 

- Episode 2 "Descent into hell" (themes: hellish, flesh, wooden, city, outdoors, cave, rocky)

MAP09: length ** / difficulty **

MAP10: length **** / difficulty *** (crashes in vanilla; still have to figure out why)

MAP11: length **** / difficulty ****

MAP12: length **** / difficulty ***

MAP13: length **** / difficulty ****

MAP14: length ***** / difficulty *****

MAP15: length ***** / difficulty ****

 

- Bonus Episode

MAP31: length *** / difficulty ***

MAP32: N/A

 

- Episode 3 "Earth invasion" (themes so far: tech base, cave, outdoors, marble, jungle)

MAP16: length ***** / difficulty ***

MAP17: length ***** / difficulty ***

MAP18: length **** / difficulty *****

MAP19: length ***** / difficulty ****

MAP20: length ****** / difficulty ***

MAP21: (coming up soon)

MAP22: N/A

 

- Episode 4 (to be continued)

MAP23: N/A

MAP24: N/A

MAP25: N/A

MAP26: N/A

MAP27: N/A

MAP28: N/A

 

- Special Episode

MAP29: special treat!

MAP30: N/A

 

- MAP33-37 (extra unrelated levels)

Features:

Spoiler

- All difficulties implemented (UV starts Plutonia-ish, then ramps up to almost Sunlust)

 

- All levels beatable from pistol start and without the need of secrets

 

- No jumping/crouching; freelook is up to you

 

- There are no inescapable pits

 

- Every level has a computer map at the exit and a teleporter back to the start

 

- Hitscanners are almost non-existent

 

 

Story & trivia:

Spoiler

I started designing maps as soon as I discovered Doom Builder last year. Since then, I had in mind making my own megawad, so I began building the maps in order, essentially. The earlier maps are amateur-ish, but they get progressively harder and more complex. Each one has a theme of its own, so every level is somewhat fresh and you never really know what to expect. My wad focuses on challenging and unique fights. Some maps are linear, others are not and may even contain entire optional sections.

The marine starts at a space outpost in which he is the sole survivor. He then heads to a place he thinks is where the demons are coming from to seek revenge, only to find out at the end of the first episode that he was actually being tested in some sort of simulator instead. After going through the whole thing, he is ready to face hell itself. The first fight really puts the marine on the pressure and sets the tone for the second episode. After each level he descends deeper into the demons's habitat. And when he finally thinks it's over and the demons have been overcome, the marine could not be more wrong. He gets to go back to the surface of his home planet to stop the demons from pouring in through a portal that got activated whilst our man was kept busy. Even scarier fights take place on Earth in this third episode (work in progress).

Mini trailer:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Credits:

Spoiler

 

-Music: James Paddock, decino, Tristan Clark

-Texture: Decay, Doomkid and Razgriz

-Sprites: Antares031, Doom64

-Sounds: SeanTheBermanator, Antares031, Doom64

 

 

DOWNLOAD: (the wad has been re-uploaded to idgames and its new version is now available there too)

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mCOUmpNjYlBq7lALQtfdxAr4TIz8HV7z/view?usp=sharing

 

If you have any problems, please let me know. Feedback is much appreciated! Have fun!

 

Other releases:

Spoiler

Astroverse (2021) - 22 maps

Doom 1 remakes (2021) - 03 maps

Tempest (2021) - 10 maps

Holistic (2022) - 08 maps

Triangulum (2022) - 32+ maps

Tempest X (2023) - 05 maps

Crystal Castles (2023) - 03 maps

Pastel Ghost (2024) - 03 maps

 

Edited May 16 by Astro X

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

Cool! SeanTheBermanator did some great work with sound effects. How many sprites and textures are altered in the other version? It might be a good idea to post a comparison screenshot or two. Congratulations though, 17 maps by yourself is quite an accomplishment! I remember liking one of your previous maps.

[Bri0che]

Just finished the first map, this is really cool stuff for now. Good job :)

[Astro X]

1 hour ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

Cool! SeanTheBermanator did some great work with sound effects. How many sprites and textures are altered in the other version? It might be a good idea to post a comparison screenshot or two. Congratulations though, 17 maps by yourself is quite an accomplishment! I remember liking one of your previous maps.

I think I'm going to record some footage, since it would take many screenshots to show all, and this way you can hear a few sounds as well :)

 

Edit: Trailer added!

 

Also, I just updated an area from map12 lol if you want to redownload

Edited August 20, 2021 by Astro X

[Astro X]

Changelog:

 

- I just updated one area from maps 08 and 13.

 

I also would like to know whether I should add co-op settings as well... if there are people interested in that or an UV-plus difficulty.

 

EDIT: I just updated the text at the end of each episode. I'm not super creative but that's an alpha text version kind of thing lol

Edited August 22, 2021 by Astro X

[Fiendish]

Glad to see more maps for this set! I really like your mapping style and focus on combat design. I finished maps 9 and 10, and enjoyed them both. My favorite part of map09 was the bridge room with the megasphere on the pillar. I liked the teleporting pinkies/cacos and the option to jump down into the lava teleporter to trade a bit of health for more space as they close in. (Though I think you could have thrown in even more pinkies to dial up the pressure further!) Possible things that I think could be improved in map09: it did start to feel a little repetitive having a few cyber plasma duels in a row. I ended up just running past the last one. Some of the teleporting archviles felt a little RNG, since the rooms tended to have areas with wide open spaces -- so if you happen to be standing in a wide open space when an archvile teleports in, there is not enough time to reach cover (and if there happen to be monsters in front of the archvile too, no chance to stun it). A little RNG is okay, but I do prefer it when it's undoubtedly my own fault if I get zapped by an archvile. Maybe it could be avoided with enough familiarity with when the archviles teleport in, though, idk.

 

Thoughts on map10: Nice opener (the troll with the SSG and the big red arrow pointing to it was pretty funny). I think the east room was my favorite, with the revs/pinky swarm/cyber. I did get softlocked in the west room after making the platform with the ammo box rise, since you have to walk over that platform to open the exit out of the room but you can't lower the platform after it raises (and I made it raise by accident by shooting the switch). Some more testing revealed that you can also get softlocked if you take that teleporter behind that platform but didn't shoot the SSG switch at the beginning. I couldn't find how to get to the blue door, even with IDDT, so I had to use noclip to get to it. I know the aesthetics aren't the focus of your maps, but I do think more texture variation between the rooms in map10 would go a long way. (I do like the texture choice -- just would be better if it weren't the same throughout most of the map.) Other than that, though, good job -- I'm looking forward to playing the rest!

 

As for adding co-op enemies, I generally don't use those, but I always appreciate knowing that they're there in case I revisit a wad and want to add an extra challenge.  

[Astro X]

Thanks, @Fiendish!

 

I tried to make map 09 a short one but also challenging, preparing the player for the multiple cyber encounters ahead. I agree the archies spawn on open area but there is plenty of health/ammo. My concern was the fight was too "circle strafe to win", so I had to spice it up a bit. I start building a map, it feels short, but when I play I realize oh well, already 15 minutes I'm not even done with the sections. I'm not sure I should reveal this, but there is actually a BFG on map 09.

 

As for the aesthetics from map 10, I agree there's not much variety there, but that's due to the fact that I made each map unique with its own texture theme, and the vanilla texture there is available is very limited.

 

The supposedly softlock, indeed I knew about that, but I tried to teach the player he should shoot every skull texture he sees on that map (and next maps as well, like a sigil eye thingy). It stays the same, but now you can get away with no shooting it in the beginning, and also zero chance of softlocking.

 

Regarding the blue door, the way to get there is exactly via shooting 3 skull boxes beforehand, located on each of the 3 prior big rooms. Those will raise one pillar each, creating a path to the other side of the blood pit.

 

Also made some minor changes to maps 11 and 12 to help on blind runs.

[Fiendish]

15 minutes ago, Astro X said:

Regarding the blue door, the way to get there is exactly via shooting 3 skull boxes beforehand, located on each of the 3 prior big rooms. Those will raise one pillar each, creating a path to the other side of the blood pit.

 

Ah, I think the main issue with the shootable switches on map10 comes down to their texture. The one you used for them doesn't change or make a sound when activated, so there's no way to tell if you've already activated a given shootable switch. I think that must have been why I got stuck, because I thought I hit all the switches but must have not activated one of them somewhere. You might want to swap them for one of the SW1 textures for that reason. 

[DuckReconMajor]

Great stuff! Enjoying it so far. 

In MAP03, Sector 98 got stuck closed for me. I don't know how exactly, the archvile opened then closed the door right as it was dying or something, anyway I was stuck with the S1 switch already pressed. I was save-scumming so it didn't set me back too far lol

 

edit: went back and got video of the problem area

 

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by DuckReconMajor

[Astro X]

25 minutes ago, DuckReconMajor said:

Great stuff! Enjoying it so far.

Thank you, @DuckReconMajor!

 

Fixed. The linedef was allowing monsters to open up the door repeatedly from the other side, whereas the switch was one time only for door open stay. The monsters can no longer interact with the door. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

Also, I'm really curious whether the secrets are okay or too hidden, and if they feel rewarding enough.

 

And the custom additions, what you guys think about them!

[DuckReconMajor]

I'm not the best at finding secrets, usually I don't bother with 100% ever so I'm not the best to ask.

That said, I like the setup you have where it gives the automap at the end so I can go back and grab them. I did that for the first two maps as I was struggling with ammo.

Since then though I've been abusing ZDoom's fixed blockmap and chainsawing the hell out of everything when I run low on ammo

 

As for the secrets themselves, when I'd go back and find them, I'd be like "doh how did I miss that?", for what it's worth

 

I like the custom additions! I'm using the modified version. As far as I can tell it's just sprite changes, I don't think I noticed any weapon changes.

I was waiting to see which weapons did and didn't get replaced. I accidentally spoiled plasma when I made the above video, but eager to see if BFG has been changed

[Astro X]

- I edited again the "exittext" from each episode because I found out they were not aligned properly (I had never written an exittext before lol).

 

- I added map 33, an unrelated level for those who may have interest in other creations of mine! It's 100% vanilla.

 

I also have more separate levels I could add, but they use other texture packs besides vanilla, that's why I'm not including them here as well.

[DuckReconMajor]

some videos of MAP04 to MAP07 (MAP07 one will be processing for a while). I couldn't figure out the exit to MAP07, there's the sector blocking the red exit door, I couldn't get it to open

 

 

 

 

[Astro X]

54 minutes ago, DuckReconMajor said:

I couldn't figure out the exit to MAP07, there's the sector blocking the red exit door, I couldn't get it to open

When you interact with the final "double" red door, it actually lowers a part from the mancubi cliff, revealing a switch that then actually opens up the final red door. Maybe I should draw an arrow on the floor indicating that cliff should be investigated.

 

Thank you so much for the videos, I'm going to watch all of them and comment later :)

[Clippy]

 

 

[Astro X]

Thank you, @Clippy for the video!

 

Watching this now I think the last room is a bit unfair to players on a blind run. You almost did it, too sad you forgot to grab the soulsphere earlier! And there's no inescapable pits on my maps, buddy. You could have dropped down there and be rewarded with a treat. The same applies for map06. lol

[Clippy]

On 8/27/2021 at 1:00 PM, Astro X said:

there's no inescapable pits on my maps, buddy.

 

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by Clippy

[Astro X]

@Clippy But there aren't inescapable pits! Go double check it and then come back here :D

 

Thanks for the video, I hope you enjoyed it!

[Clippy]

8 minutes ago, Astro X said:

@Clippy But there aren't inescapable pits! Go double check it and then come back here :D

 

Thanks for the video, I hope you enjoyed it!

 

I tried to get out of that pit at the end of map 5 and couldn't unless I miss something 

 

EDIT: okay I checked the walls and found out that one of them did lower. It didn't seem like there was a way out since there was no defining area that look different than any of the other areas. I thought I clicked everything but I guess I didn't 😖

 

 

[Doomdude89]

Map08 how do you get the BFG or is it just there to tease you? I couldnt figure it out.

[Astro X]

2 hours ago, Doomdude89 said:

Map08 how do you get the BFG or is it just there to tease you? I couldnt figure it out.

It is obtainable

Spoiler

There is a shootable skull texture (in which only the red eyes from it are visible) hidden on a wall at the large open arena. It raises a step to grant access to the bfg later on the hellish area.

If you want to know specifically where

Spoiler

The shootable texture is behind the central switch of the large open arena.

Also, do I troll players too much for you to think that lol?

[Doomdude89]

I think i broke the map somehow how do you get out of there. 

map14.rar

Ah you have to use an teleporter. But when you dont and backtrack to that area you will be stuck.

But i finished the megawad 6:24:45 deem, one hell of an experience. 8.5/10 

Highlight: 

 

Edited September 3, 2021 by Doomdude89

[Astro X]

15 hours ago, Doomdude89 said:

Ah you have to use an teleporter.

Hey @Doomdude89! Yea, thanks for pointing that out. I've added an arrow indicating you should take the teleporter there, as it may not be so obvious at first.

 

And thank you so much for playing my wad thoroughly. That was the first review I got from it as a whole. I'm really happy to hear you enjoyed it :)

 

If you wanna comment more I'd love to read all your impressions, also so that I can improve the gameplay for the upcoming maps. Which map was your favorite? Which one was the toughest? The best one visually or that had the best atmosphere? The one with the best fights? And whatever you feel talking about.

[Nikku4211]

I'm playing the modified version in Chocolate. I had to remove the last 4 textures from both TEXTURE1 and PNAMES to get it to work, because those textures have missing patches, which crash the game. I also had to convert some sounds from WAV to Doom's sound format so that they won't be silent. Don't worry, they're still high quality, since Doom's own sound format supports any sample rate up to 65 kHz.

 

I then had to load the WAD with the -merge parameter because of the new sprites.

 

Been noticing some tutti-frutti here and there. For example, what's this?

 

How did GSTVINE2 become this warp dimension in MAP05 when used as a middle texture? Sometimes, it crashes the game, other times, it does nothing but look weird.

 

MAP06 is literally broken in Chocolate, too. I used my chainsaw to trigger the switch and I got a HOM over the pit, the ceiling apparently disappearing and it now being impossible to pass through the pit. When I used my pistol to trigger the switch, I got the same issue.

 

For some reason, the switch is repeatable, does that have something to do with the issue?

 

Moral of the story: If you want your WAD to work in vanilla Doom, please test in Chocolate or Chocorenderlimits. GZDoom has completely different physics from vanilla Doom, and way too many changes for the strict Doom compatibility setting to be adequate. At the end of MAP05 I've noticed that the decorations on the ceiling were set to the blocking variants of the decoration types, a clear ZDoomism as vanilla Doom does not have proper height collision between solid sprites.

[Astro X]

Hey, @Nikku4211 thanks for trying out my megawad!

 

I never tested it on chocolate or chocorenderlimits. Maybe I should make my wad compatible with that as well, I'll see what I can do about it, since I'm not familiar with different source ports.

 

I used to play Doom a long time ago and by then I had Skulltag. It wasn't until recently that I got back playing, and I got my hands on GZDoom. On the description I state I only tested with those.

 

But yea, I hope you have a great time playing my maps :) I'm gonna google how to make this vanilla compatible.

[Nikku4211]

3 minutes ago, Astro X said:

I never tested it on chocolate or chocorenderlimits. Maybe I should make my wad compatible with that as well, I'll see what I can do about it, since I'm not familiar with different source ports.

 

 I used to play Doom a long time ago and by then I had Skulltag. It wasn't until recently that I got back playing, and I got my hands on GZDoom. On the description I state I only tested with those.

 

Yeah, I did read, I'm just saying, since the .txt file that came with the WAD said no 'Advanced Engine' was necessary, which generally means it was made for vanilla.

[Astro X]

9 hours ago, Nikku4211 said:

MAP06 is literally broken in Chocolate, too. I used my chainsaw to trigger the switch and I got a HOM over the pit, the ceiling apparently disappearing and it now being impossible to pass through the pit. When I used my pistol to trigger the switch, I got the same issue.

 

For some reason, the switch is repeatable, does that have something to do with the issue?

I just fixed that, although it was not a problem at all on GZDoom.

 

The thing was that the door was not tagged (the tag was 0), which causes vanilla source ports to work really weird.

[Nikku4211]

12 hours ago, Astro X said:

I just fixed that, although it was not a problem at all on GZDoom.

 

The thing was that the door was not tagged (the tag was 0), which causes vanilla source ports to work really weird.

Of course GZDoom would have no problem with this. It's a heavily modified source port.

 

This is exactly why you should be testing in Chocolate Doom or Chocorenderlimits, which don't modify game logic as heavily.

[Astro X]

23 hours ago, Nikku4211 said:

Been noticing some tutti-frutti here and there. For example, what's this?

I've opened up my wad on Chocolate and apparently all fake walls (or some of them) present this bug.

 

I'm trying to figure out what to do. I can't seem to find any tutorials on making your wad fully vanilla-compatible.

 

I have edited everything you pointed out on the previous post, except for the fake wall thing and the sprites, which I also don't know what to do about.

 

Also, new version available. Changelog:

 

- Edited exittext after you beat map16

- Added maps 34 and 35 for anyone interested in extra content (although I read exiting levels beyond 32 crash vanilla source ports)

- Rebalanced map 07 beginning area

Edited September 5, 2021 by Astro X

[Nikku4211]

2 minutes ago, Astro X said:

I've opened up my wad on Chocolate and apparently all fake walls (or some of them) present this bug.

What nodebuilder are you using? ZenNode? ZokumBSP? Or something else?

 

2 minutes ago, Astro X said:

 I'm trying to figure out what to do. I can't seem to find any tutorials on making your wad fully vanilla-compatible.

It's a shame so many tutorials focus on ZDoom that not as many focus on vanilla compatibility.