[ck3D]

Been stuck home and relatively up to date on work for the past couple of days so progress has been great. Two more random screenshots from a testing session, one where we're going full abstract and one where we're Scorpion Tanking. I'm still heavily working on those areas but figured whatever, let's show cool shit.

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[Ninety-Six]

I think these are the first enemies we've seen in any of these shots. And the pigs shoot rockets.


I'm down.

[ck3D]

Glad you're into it, monster placement in all levels is going to be one of my favorite tasks to tackle and do all at once I think, I've been looking forward to it for a long time now to the point where I know exactly how I want all the sequencing and encounters everywhere to go down in my head. Just having the structure of levels sitting around for a while has allowed me to consider what if's everywhere on top of my original direction whilst drawing the maps, the extra perspective is always welcome. Going to be fun.

Here I really just mostly threw the pigs in there, I'm still working on that area and sort of recycled it into a test chamber really to remember which pigs fired what exactly. Map is big and spread out and so I've been sprinkling in some random action here and there to experiment with scenarii whilst testing. But I do intend on pigs there in the final version, and regarding the palette swapped ones I'm counting on new .art for them. Scorpion Tank is actually a lot of fun to fight - maybe less annoying than the classic Pig tank, and less unfair on your reflexes (albeit unforgiving if you do miss), fun has been my modus operandi with the enemies for sure. I'm also quite stoked on how the new minibosses play, all simple stuff yet feels fresh.

[Ninety-Six]

hype train gaining speed

[ck3D]

Lots of progress on map 12 now strong of 1867 sectors, 14760 walls, 11722 sprites. Here are some WIP screenshots from a new area I'm already just about to wrap up - only a few rooms and a couple of sequences left and then it will be boss arena time. I have some funny plans, just hoping not to come short on walls. Level is so over the top now, it will fucking feed you.

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[Aleks]

Hah neat, you've even managed to use the "WTF is this thing maybe some Borg circuitry" texture from E3 tiles on the 3rd screen and make it look good with the red palette

[ck3D]

Officially 500+ backups deep now, less than 1000 walls left and map is basically structurally complete, with the exception of some detail here and there I just need to design the final arena/boss fight now (for which I have plans that should turn out pretty cool if 1/ I can build them the way I envision them and 2/ Build handles them the way I envision them). Here are two screenshots of the final form of some areas I've shown before, and a bonus pseudo-Rigelatin spaceship fight that may or may not undergo some cosmetic changes, and perhaps I can somewhat easily turn it into a second sector boss.

@Aleks yeah that texture has to be one of the weirdest in the set, it's from LameDuke isn't it? Did 1.3d+ even use it anywhere? Surely it did but I can't remember off the top of my head right now.

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[ck3D]

Boss 'map 12' is now structurally complete, weighing in at 1.3 megabytes it happens to be the heaviest one of the entire pack so far and given that the level name is Payback, you know you can expect just as heavy metal vibes. Here's one last screenshot that's most certainly redundant with the rest again because I don't want to spoil the cool stuff, and the 2D map to celebrate. I'm pretty stoked on the final boss - I have yet to finalize the sequence to make it actually beatable, but it looks and plays well already (and I was this close to being imbecilic enough to spoil it already but realistically, no, you'll have to earn its discovery by yourself). Map is full of surprises and will challenge each and every of your Duke skills, as if some ultimate test. It's also my most effect-loaded level ever. Took exactly one month to make and that process was a big trip in itself, I spent most of that time mentally living inside of it, trying out new stuff. Feels particularly good to have out of the way now.



Only one map left to make (secret map) before they all get their final pass, Jay sounds excited to work on the new Pigcops soon too. Still debating whether or not I want two secret maps, the second one possibly being my scrapped A.W.O.L. map; project in its current state already has loads of content and I would like to avoid redundancy but since that level is already built, perhaps it's worth repurposing in an interesting way too as one more bonus. So time will tell us if I can work that one in too.

[Merlijn]

Looks like the scale is going to be absolutely insane! Also, am I seeing things or do 2 of those alien towers have a custom texture (the 2 higher ones with the red and yellow theme)?

[ck3D]

No custom textures, it's that same alien door texture I used on that one large central building in the far back (just left from those vertical beams of green light), just broken down and used in a funny way (no texture rotation though, only basic Build stuff). I think I actually fell in love with that tile to an extent, actually works really well for buildings and balconies because of its twisted patterns and rather uniform tones.

I think you in particular might really like this map, by the way. Or maybe not so much because of the difficulty spike (it's purposely a bit more intense than the rest and requires watching for danger most everywhere), but at least it's set to Slayer. I really tried some new things (for me) with it.

[Mark]

After being asked to tone down the bright fancy colors for AWOL I see ck3d is coming back with all colors blazing.

[ck3D]

Haha, in all fairness I was never even really told that I don't think. Just not to hesitate to request new .art for my map, which makes complete sense, just there are times where it's natural to just make do with what's already there. But yeah, the colors in this one are brutal. Whole map deliberately goes over the top in all kinds of way (well my humble top at least), there's a lot going on, you want easy identification of the different areas and hazards.

[Mark]

I know you weren't told. It was mentioned and asked. Hey, every mapper probably has a trademark. Large and colorful are yours. After thinking about it, I can't determine what mine is.

[ck3D]

I've started work on the first (not-so-)secret map of the episode: Anarchy City 2022/Remake (working title). This is the last map I need to structurally build for the project, and one I'm going to have a lot of fun making in particular (I mean every map was tons of fun, each for a different reason, but this one may be a special kind of interesting for me). As a secret level, it's going to feel a bit more different than the rest and maybe closer to user mappy style with less reliance on mostly 1.3d textures which I guess makes sense in a way for a distinct look and feel. Gameplay will still retain my favorite base Duke 3D elements. The plan is to remix the stronger locations from the original AC 1, 2 & 3 within one same level with better design than the relative mess those old levels were, I also want to include some from Downtown Ride and Happy Hangover if resources allow, and obviously all redone from scratch. Everything is of course still heavily W.I.P. (I'm only a few hours/sessions in), maybe don't trust the current pristine look compared to the other Blast Radius maps, the way I'm envisioning things right now I'm most likely going to literally ruin the crap out of many a zone I have yet to handicraft.

After this one is done, I'll be experimenting with finalizing the potential second secret level, but that one already is fully built (it's my scrapped A.W.O.L. map), I just need to polish its conversion to Duke 3D and see how well it performs. Then the whole of the mapping will be complete minus a few areas here in there in some of the levels that still need minor detail or some basic effects sounds (but basically I'll be tackling that as I'm implementing gameplay).

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[Ninety-Six]

So why are you limiting yourself to 1.3D outside the secret level, anyway? Personal challenge, distaste for E4 stuff...?

[Aleks]

Love these hedges, nice way of shaping them to look more 3D. Also that building in the back of 1st screen (which I believe can be seen from the other side on the 2nd one) - is it based on the RL one you sent me pics of few days ago, with weird shaped/distributed windows?

Ninety-Six, on 25 February 2022 - 10:35 PM, said:

So why are you limiting yourself to 1.3D outside the secret level, anyway? Personal challenge, distaste for E4 stuff...?

I don't think he's exactly limiting himself to 1.3d textures in other levels, just not relying on them so much. But I still think there's plenty of Atomic textures around, like the purple lava or the buses. Judging by what I've seen so far, I think 1.4 textures are generally used with similar frequency like in most user maps.

[ck3D]

No yeah, I'm not exactly limiting myself to 1.3d outside the secret level at all, I just tend to naturally favor 1.3d art these days in general because I personally think it has more soul to a degree, or at least it's more to my taste, but I didn't exactly make that a rule per se, 1.4+ art is very practical and I've also been using it whenever most convenient, as Aleks was saying. I don't really think about it, just naturally, these days my usual ratio tends to look like something around 85% 1.3d art and 15% 1.4+, whereas from the looks of things right now this particular level will use both equally, which I'm not exactly used to anymore. It feels funny because I feel like I'm dipping my toes into the style of Happy Hangover/Bottles/Anorak again for this one for some reason, taking different liberties in design basically all the while revisiting a mental room I grew up in many moons ago but has been rearranged since. Actually all those older maps were based on locations around the town I grew up living in, so that's barely a metaphor and actually a bit of a trip.

About the hedges, they're actually not shaped in any special way (assuming you mean their structure is any more elaborate than basic flat walls with curves), I'm just using the right texture to make them look like they are and it's actually really cool to hear the illusion works on more people than just me. Building in those screens is not the one you mean, Aleks (I really only just started that area too, still needs heavy work), but the map will in fact feature that one somewhere else yes.

[ck3D]

Some more progress on the AC remake, been slow due to work but steady. I've figured out the exact direction I want this one to take I think, gameplay will be of the Metroidvania type, should make for a breeze of fresh air as a secret level. I just started implementing some of the destruction and also making this church (tower is still one big bare block for now) which will be one of the focal points in the map, visible from most places. It's not going to be the only 'monument' either as I want several patches of land like this with their respective recognizable landmarks.

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[Ninety-Six]

Will the Metroidvania aspect translate over into continuous play?

[ck3D]

I'm not completely sure of what your question means. What I'm thinking of doing for this map in particular is splitting it up in different poles (right now this is maybe like half of one of them) and the player has to find the right inventory items in every section in order to make progress, ideally in a non-linear way too. I'm also thinking of coming up with a unique gimmick with the doors, making all of them decorative/inoperable but instead giving them a completely different purpose just for this map (but for the whole map) so that they're never exactly disappointing or misleading and just serve a different function, could be cool.

Rest of the levels in the pack I wouldn't describe as Metroidvania per se, however I do plan on heavy use and placement of inventory items so indirectly some of the gameplay in general at least takes that logic into account. Otherwise I have a lot of funny stuff planned for everything item supply-related throughout the whole episode, this is not going to be a bunch of user maps that just feed you bunches and bunches of weapons and monsters at random. Every level is articulated around its own gimmick(s) in that department and item distribution won't be improvised at all, so that aspect is fundamentally orchestrated and under control.

[Ninety-Six]

Yeah you basically addressed the question in the second paragraph. I was talking about what a player's inventory might already look like upon entering the level.

[Aleks]

So basically the player will be able to skip 90% of the level's "Metroidvaning" if he starts with a jetpack

[ck3D]

Ninety-Six, on 03 March 2022 - 12:14 AM, said:

Yeah you basically addressed the question in the second paragraph. I was talking about what a player's inventory might already look like upon entering the level.

Yeah, alright - I'm always trying to cover as much ground as possible, in more ways than just in replies I guess. That's actually an important concern to have and I'm glad you're bringing it up but no really, I didn't build random settings with eye-candy in mind first and then gameplay, everything you see has player progression in mind already with planned item and weapon distribution that sticks to that logic as far as dictating part of the episode's level order. Whole point of the bigger scale for the maps isn't just pure dumb wank too, it's really my way of pushing the base Duke 3D mechanics - there's only so much hack factor to the jetpack if being savvy with it still only allows you to explore one tenth of a level before you run out, if anything I think that magnifies the usefulness of each item, I'm also not boosting any of them in .con (for instance item duration use, or player health or max ammo, etc.) so everything you do find will come with the challenge of thinking a bit more than usual within the classic, familiar mechanics.

And in a way something else I'm also trying to push specifically is that possible hack factor, what I like calling the jetpack in E1L2 syndrome. I've said it countless times before but I always thought supplying the player with two jetpacks as soon as E1L1 in the original game was a fucking ballsy move from the designers and I always absolutely loved this, basically supplying the player with theoritically unlimited (possibility-wise) but technically limited (opportunity-wise) number of shortcuts in seemingly (key word) pure fuck it fashion - 'it's dangerous to go alone, take this'. The large scale only introduces a new dimension as far as considering and experimenting with options (hence the potential appeal for speedruns) and also paradoxically enough, more control on my end over a fundamental linearity all the while making the player feel like they're really free to do whatever. E.g.. you can only think you're so smart when you have a jetpack if said jetpack only allows you to climb one fifth of a structure and then the question arises, which fifth do you skip if any at all?

I don't think at any point in this the player will be safely stocked up with a full arsenal, that's game in single user maps because those only allow so much leeway for progression within but not in the context of an episode I don't think. Also like I was saying, different levels are fundamentally articulated around specific gimmicks, for instance the map with the amphitheater will be the jetpack map, also there are some where steroids will be supplied in abundance and a particularly important point of focus, same goes for weaponry, good luck using the same guns in every map here unless you're particularly good at spotting the numerous secret places (and even then!). Distribution is planned to make sense both in continuous play and on pistol start, and I'm aware of many different reasons why artificially resetting the player's weaponry on map start sucks so that's also how I will force instill both linearity and variety, it's mostly the base gameplay that will drain your shit whenever I feel like that's needed. I do plan on taking your weapons away twice which sounds like a lot, but really isn't in the context of 15 hours of gameplay and most importantly you'll get them all back shortly in both instances.

[Ninety-Six]

ck3D, on 03 March 2022 - 06:28 AM, said:

I've said it countless times before but I always thought supplying the player with two jetpacks as soon as E1L1 in the original game was a fucking ballsy move from the designers and I always absolutely loved this, basically supplying the player with theoritically unlimited (possibility-wise) but technically limited (opportunity-wise) number of shortcuts in seemingly (key word) pure fuck it fashion - 'it's dangerous to go alone, take this'.

Honestly, that's always been one of my favorite parts of the vanilla game, too. You get a jetpack in the first level of every episode (except AWO) if you know where to look, and 3DR wasn't afraid of giving the player the ability to just do as they wish. They were confident in their level designs and gameplay to let the player skip whole sections if they wanted.

You don't see that kind of brass testicles...anywhere, really. Either in modern games or even games of the time. It's an aspect that's purely Duke 3D's own. Not shared with Doom, not with Half-Life, not even with Shadow Warrior. Even Lameduke has it, so obviously the jetpack was a main feature they wanted from the getgo.

I love the confidence in how it isn't even pushed that hard. It's just there and they leave it up to the player's discrection to discover it, play with it and then use it however they wish.

[ck3D]

Some more map 13/Anarchy City remix progress as I've been adding a couple more patches of land and so maybe it will be more obvious exactly where the Metroidvania direction for this one is heading, I guess those screenshots can also make for a demonstration of how to use the sector grid technique to sculpt into terrain (in this case the grey road behind the church has yet to be dug into and modeled).



Rest is some cute random detail that's there, first two screenshots have this underground parking lot with a sprite ceiling and top floor (basically a cleaner take on the one from Anarchy City 2 that held the tanks), last one is from the newest island I've started, still working on both and then I think I'll want two more (that would be closer in size to the first one).

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[ck3D]

Got more progress done, all three existing 'islands' are now done (second screen is an updated shot of the most recent one), I've enclosed half the map (first screen) and started a fourth 'island' with one more focal point visible from most everywhere in the map under the form of that big water tower visible in the upper left corner of the third screen. Stats are looking like 1452 sectors, 11850 walls and 3923 sprites so far, I'd say the level is about halfway done which is cool, progress has been quick and especially satisfying since this is the last map to build in full.

[ck3D]

Map progress is going well, I'm working on the last island I'll want in this one (ended up cutting my plans a bit shorter and jettisoning the idea for one of the locations that will really function a lot better as a possible stand-alone user level, also in order to help with the limits and performance, and because I don't exactly want this map in particular to drag on for too long either).

Here are two random pedestrian screens from a testing session, and one screen of part of the new 'block' I just started, which may or may not bring back memories to some.

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[Aleks]

ck3D, on 12 March 2022 - 01:38 AM, said:

Map progress is going well, I'm working on the last island I'll want in this one (ended up cutting my plans a bit shorter and jettisoning the idea for one of the locations that will really function a lot better as a possible stand-alone user level, also in order to help with the limits and performance, and because I don't exactly want this map in particular to drag on for too long either).

Here are two random pedestrian screens from a testing session, and one screen of part of the new 'block' I just started, which may or may not bring back memories to some.

Nice you keep these phallic focal points around the map, that's the water tower on the first screen?

Also yeah the building on last screen definitely does ring a bell, love the architecture in this one, the texture combinations you used there look really quite unique and consistent, love how you used the palm tree trunks on the pillars there!

[ck3D]

Thanks a lot, yeah the phallic focal points actually play a huge role in a map that's so spread out and yet so disconnected, and on the first screenshot that's the water tower indeed although I still need to work on it a bit (current blue light texture being a placeholder for potentially something). I think I want slightly higher Z height for the sky map-wide too so that I can make it protrude even more, as well as some of those towers on the AC3 part which right now look a bit squished. Probably tackling that right after lunch.

Also I don't think that sprite is meant to be a tree trunk, I think it's meant to be the matching supporting pole for that light sprite I'm using for the lamp posts here, hence its apparent shading and also why it matches the bottom of said light sprite perfectly, you're probably aware yourself but for some people that just might click only now. The 'true' tree trunk is the same dimensions and style but a bit different, I'm sure many have used both interchangeably before though.

[Merlijn]

Looking stellar as always! Really cool idea to remix locations from the AC series.
Again I see a lot of alien corruption and destruction, so I'm really curious about the lore and the context behind that.
Is it an 'end of the world' type of scenario?

I do recognize the AC3 area, it probably helps that I replayed that map recently haha.