Down Under - NOW ON IDGAMES!! A 500-Line Limit, Speedmapped Mapset with Breezy, Quick Combat

[EduardoAndFriends]

DOWNLOAD (idgames link: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/dunder)

 

Hello again, Doomers! This is Down Under, a mapet consisting of speedmapped levels all made with 500 or less linedefs. Why? Well, I wanted a fun challenge, and it turned out I really love speedmapping, I had no idea. I wanted to make a collection of zippy maps that would take 2 - 5 minutes to play with uncomplicated, explosive fights and all decked out in some gorgeous OTEX grunge. 

 

EPISODE ONE and TWO now available to play! Maps 1 - 12 (map 13 is a thank you map).

 

PLEASE READ REGARDING MAP 12: This final map is a time trial - as the intermission text says before the map loads, you have 5 mins 30 secs to escape the base! After 5:32(ish) you will be DESTROYED! It's very possible to get all kills and secrets in under five minutes so good luck! :)

 

The Story: With the Australian outback being used in the past for exceedingly horrendous deeds such as dumping nuclear waste and nuclear testing and the development of Sarin Gas (that story is INSANE), I figured that the dumb old UAC would undoubtedly have constructed a base somewhere in the desert for their unsavoury purposes. Our hero has come a-knocking and is taking out the trash, clearing out the surface base ... and what lies beneath.

 

All map names are sourced from Australian rock and pop song titles, albums, and band names. It’s all good stuff, track them down and give it a listen!

 

Map01 Loaded Gun: a song by The Living End.

Map02 Raise The Alarm: a song by The Living End.

Map03 Solid Rock: a song by Goanna.

Map04 Frogstomp: an album by Silverchair.

Map05 Torn: a song by Natalie Imbruglia.

Map06 Never Tear Us Apart: a song by INXS.

Map07 Spiderbait: an Australian rock band

Map08 Fire Hive: a song by Knife Party

Map09 Black Bugs: a song by Regurgitator

Map10 White Noise: a song by The Living End

Map11 Red Right Hand: a song by The Bad Seeds

Map12 Stayin' Alive: a song by the BeeGees

Map13 plays Down Under by Men At Work

 

The Deets:

IWAD: Doom II

Comp Level: 9, Boom for some line specials.

NO JUMPING OR CROUCHING.

Levels: 12 playable maps, with a 13th thank you map.

Difficulties: All difficulties.

Each map made with pistol-start in mind, but feel free to play continuous.

 

Extra squishy thanks to @Biodegradable for testing and providing feedback!

 

PICS:

 

Please let me know if you encounter any issues.

 

Cheers. -Edz xo

Edited July 29 by EduardoAndFriends : Edit

[watto3699]

I can confirm this is what Australia is like 

Love the waltzing matilda midi

[EduardoAndFriends]

37 minutes ago, watto3699 said:

I can confirm this is what Australia is like 

Love the waltzing matilda midi

Haha thanks mate. :)

[Firedust]

Silverchair rules.

 

Seeing as how this thing is called Episode One, is episode two planned as well?

 

Screenshots look nice and clean!

[EduardoAndFriends]

1 hour ago, Firedust said:

Silverchair rules.

 

Seeing as how this thing is called Episode One, is episode two planned as well?

 

Screenshots look nice and clean!

Yeah man, I’m making ep 2 at the moment in between other things. :) early Silverchair is so damn grungy and super cool especially!

[mancubian_candidate]

Yaaaay, more EduardoAndFriends.

 

My question is: will these maps be predominantly filled with baby and mama spiders? 😂

[EduardoAndFriends]

2 hours ago, mancubian_candidate said:

Yaaaay, more EduardoAndFriends.

 

My question is: will these maps be predominantly filled with baby and mama spiders? 😂

Haha! Not quite, but I have used far more arachnos than I previously have. It’s fun finding good sniping spots for them! :p

[DreadWanderer]

Welcome back Edz, hope you're doing well. Really excited for this project, the screenshots intimidate me but I'll give it my best shot!

 

Edit: I blazed past this set for the last 25 minutes or so. My general impression is very positive. On the visual front, the mad maxish aesthetic is very distinctive and cool. Bonus points for the custom palette and the skybox, really pleasing. In terms of gameplay, what I noticed is a higher body count per square centimeter, with some devilishly delicious hitscanner traps and teleport shenanigans. I'm personally pretty comfortable, but in general you definitely feel the upwards tick in difficulty when compared to your other projects - that mancubus trap in 'Torn' made me sweat and almost killed me. It might just be an impression due to the more limited playground available. In any case, it mirrors the purported dangers of the Outback, so it checks out narratively!

It's always a pleasure to explore your work, what I see here is a confident mapper building upon previous experience and pushing the boundaries in just the right way. I haven't encountered any bugs or problems, and all the maps so far can be maxed (including items). Great job and looking forward to more!

Edited September 21, 2023 by DreadWanderer

[EduardoAndFriends]

4 hours ago, DreadWanderer said:

Welcome back Edz, hope you're doing well. Really excited for this project, the screenshots intimidate me but I'll give it my best shot!

 

Edit: I blazed past this set for the last 25 minutes or so. My general impression is very positive. On the visual front, the mad maxish aesthetic is very distinctive and cool. Bonus points for the custom palette and the skybox, really pleasing. In terms of gameplay, what I noticed is a higher body count per square centimeter, with some devilishly delicious hitscanner traps and teleport shenanigans. I'm personally pretty comfortable, but in general you definitely feel the upwards tick in difficulty when compared to your other projects - that mancubus trap in 'Torn' made me sweat and almost killed me. It might just be an impression due to the more limited playground available. In any case, it mirrors the purported dangers of the Outback, so it checks out narratively!

It's always a pleasure to explore your work, what I see here is a confident mapper building upon previous experience and pushing the boundaries in just the right way. I haven't encountered any bugs or problems, and all the maps so far can be maxed (including items). Great job and looking forward to more!

Hey thanks dude! :) I tried to pile on the hit scanners (not too many chaingunners!) cos you can mow em down with the chaingun in great swathes hehe. I hope to do something similar but quite different for episode two.

[Biodegradable]

11 hours ago, EduardoAndFriends said:

Haha! Not quite, but I have used far more arachnos than I previously have. It’s fun finding good sniping spots for them! :p

 

Knowing what a pain they can be for mappers thanks to their large hitboxes, it's always good to see Arachno representation.

[EduardoAndFriends]

1 hour ago, Biodegradable said:

 

Knowing what a pain they can be for mappers thanks to their large hitboxes, it's always good to see Arachno representation.

I looked at how pcorf dealt with em in Zone 400 and it was pretty inspiring. That man’s a wizard. :)

[CrueCut]

Just finished playing this -- tons of fun!  Looking forward to the next episode!

 

[EduardoAndFriends]

10 hours ago, CrueCut said:

Just finished playing this -- tons of fun!  Looking forward to the next episode!

 

Thanks mate. :)

[Shaqodemon]

Just finished it. I had fun. Very quick maps. I can tell you like Eggboy because I see some inspiration here. Especially in Map01.

 

My favorite of the set has to be Map06. It had some good fights in there. I like the one where the arachnotron and two hell knights were. It was cramped but not irritating. Forced the player to be quick. I felt the final fight was underwhelming, especially after finding the BFG. It's not a bad thing l, though. I think the difficulty fit the rest of the mapset. It was the first Cyber after all. I also just finished a fairly tough megawad before this so I have some difficulty bias right now.

 

My least favorite was Map03. I can't really remember it. I think it felt like it was over before really started. Nothing bad about it, just didn't leave an impression.

 

One fight that stuck out was in Map05, I believe. It was the one where you get a rocket launcher and fight two cacos and hell knights in a cramped area. At first, I thought it was kind of bull and didn't know what I was supposed to do. But after beating it, I felt pretty accomplished and had a shift in perspective about it. I liked it. I will admit it did feel a bit out of place within this mapset but I approve nonetheless.

 

Overall, great job. For a speedmapping project with limited linedefs, I think you knocked it out of the park. Excited for episode 2 and beyond!

 

(This is Sherberto from your YT comments btw)

 

[EduardoAndFriends]

3 hours ago, Shaqodemon said:

Just finished it. I had fun. Very quick maps. I can tell you like Eggboy because I see some inspiration here. Especially in Map01.

 

My favorite of the set has to be Map06. It had some good fights in there. I like the one where the arachnotron and two hell knights were. It was cramped but not irritating. Forced the player to be quick. I felt the final fight was underwhelming, especially after finding the BFG. It's not a bad thing l, though. I think the difficulty fit the rest of the mapset. It was the first Cyber after all. I also just finished a fairly tough megawad before this so I have some difficulty bias right now.

 

My least favorite was Map03. I can't really remember it. I think it felt like it was over before really started. Nothing bad about it, just didn't leave an impression.

 

One fight that stuck out was in Map05, I believe. It was the one where you get a rocket launcher and fight two cacos and hell knights in a cramped area. At first, I thought it was kind of bull and didn't know what I was supposed to do. But after beating it, I felt pretty accomplished and had a shift in perspective about it. I liked it. I will admit it did feel a bit out of place within this mapset but I approve nonetheless.

 

Overall, great job. For a speedmapping project with limited linedefs, I think you knocked it out of the park. Excited for episode 2 and beyond!

 

(This is Sherberto from your YT comments btw)

 

Thanks for playing, Shaqodemon / Sherberto. :) really appreciate you taking the time to pass on your thoughts n comments! The crate area in map 05 is where I lost focus the most I think .. before I knew it I’d gobbled up a huge amount of linedefs due to the crates and rusty cubes but I liked the way it vibed so I stopped myself from scrapping it and starting again. But yah, it’s more akin to my other stuff than the rest of the mapset.

[EduardoAndFriends]

Update: 

It’s been a minute and things are coming along swimmingly. Maps 7, 8, 9, and 10 are getting polished up and 11, the final map, is in the works. Certainly gets spicier in the second episode! Having a ball making these maps, really good fun. A testable chunk is coming SOON! -Edz xo

[pcorf]

Project looks great.

 

Zone 300 and Zone 400 come from down under. (I'm from Australia)

[EduardoAndFriends]

3 minutes ago, pcorf said:

Project looks great.

 

Zone 300 and Zone 400 come from down under. (I'm from Australia)

Thanks mate. The line restriction is a really fun exercise. Got me thinking about certain shapes and mechanics I can and can’t use; traps become more physical and less teleport heavy. Very fun!

[Pomps]

This is insane man! Like all your maps mate 10/10 :D

[Matt Eldrydge]

Just tore through maps 01 and 02, really liking it so far. Great work as usual Ed! 

[EduardoAndFriends]

2 hours ago, TheNonDrinkingLeprechaun said:

This is insane man! Like all your maps mate 10/10 :D

 

1 hour ago, Matt Eldrydge said:

Just tore through maps 01 and 02, really liking it so far. Great work as usual Ed! 

Thanks, folks! Really appreciate the feedback. Episode two is proving to be really fun to make!

[Matt Eldrydge]

A friend of mine made a very cool mod that fits Down Under like a glove, so I took it for a spin! Again, the maps are a lot of fun despite the line limit and I enjoyed the overall vibe of the episode, though I did struggle a tiny bit with telling lift textures from wall textures - not really your fault, I recorded this kinda late in the night. :P

 

 

 

[EduardoAndFriends]

UPDATE! Project not dead, I swear, just been occupied by other things recently. Going to be getting back to work on the mapset so I look forward to releasing episode two soon! :) -Edz xo

[DreadWanderer]

4 hours ago, EduardoAndFriends said:

UPDATE! Project not dead, I swear, just been occupied by other things recently. Going to be getting back to work on the mapset so I look forward to releasing episode two soon! :) -Edz xo

 

Take your time, when it's done it's done, right? :D

[EduardoAndFriends]

Update:

Completely remade map11 as the previous version wasn’t working, kept hitting the line limit so I’ve got a new one which is pretty action packed. :) I’ve reshaped the end fight in map06 to make it hopefully more fun and now to map12!

[EduardoAndFriends]

UPDATE! Episode Two playable!

 

Finished a working full flowthrough of the maps, all 12 of em. I’ll pop up an updated link tomorrow for folks to test if they wish!

 

I’ve reshaped the end of map06 to hopefully make it stronger and smoothed out some rough edges too.

 

Let’s f-ing goooooo!! :p

 

Thanks as always to tester extraordinaire @Biodegradable for his greatly appreciated support and testing. Yee!

 

-Edz xo

[DreadWanderer]

39 minutes ago, EduardoAndFriends said:

UPDATE! Episode Two playable!

 

Finished a working full flowthrough of the maps, all 12 of em. I’ll pop up an updated link tomorrow for folks to test if they wish!

 

I’ve reshaped the end of map06 to hopefully make it stronger and smoothed out some rough edges too.

 

Let’s f-ing goooooo!! :p

 

Thanks as always to tester extraordinaire @Biodegradable for his greatly appreciated support and testing. Yee!

 

-Edz xo

 

Great news, looking forward to more Outback action!

 

[EduardoAndFriends]

UPDATE! Full version of Down Under Beta is now available both at the top and in this update...

 

HERE: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8sgsy512ipcspj5djox4i/D-UNDER1-12-22_11_23.zip?rlkey=ao1thvwzjmps7c57wow6z3qcw&dl=0

 

Please note! The final map, map12, is a time trial. You have to reach the exit in under FIVE MINUTES or you'll be destroyed. You can definitely get all kills and secrets in this time but it may take a few tries. Hope you enjoy! All comments and recommendations are greatly appreciated!

 

-Edz xo

[EduardoAndFriends]

PS. Check out the song inspiring Map09's title, Black Bugs. It's got a really cool riff and talks about being killed in a video game which is highly appropriate, lol

 

And has gnarly 90s 3D models. :p

 

 

[DreadWanderer]

3 hours ago, EduardoAndFriends said:

UPDATE! Full version of Down Under Beta is now available both at the top and in this update...

 

HERE: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8sgsy512ipcspj5djox4i/D-UNDER1-12-22_11_23.zip?rlkey=ao1thvwzjmps7c57wow6z3qcw&dl=0

 

Please note! The final map, map12, is a time trial. You have to reach the exit in under FIVE MINUTES or you'll be destroyed. You can definitely get all kills and secrets in this time but it may take a few tries. Hope you enjoy! All comments and recommendations are greatly appreciated!

 

-Edz xo

 

Wonderful, time to do some playtesting. Thank you!