[brullov]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Duke Nukem 3D: Fallout Freeze — is a mod that includes one user map for Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition with custom art and code. It’s a Christmas themed mod whose main task is to bring a holiday atmosphere, but keep the vanilla style.

The level takes place in a captured by the aliens shopping mall “Queen's Mall”. Although the first part of the map is linear, the second part is designed for fully free exploration.

Download

[Sanek]

Looking great! You sure come a long way from Flood Zone! The second shot looks like smtn inspired by Ion Fury, heh. Some desciption would be nice, though...
Don't have time to play it right now but it'll be on my playlist during the holidays. Anyway, congrats on finally releasing something!

[darkcaleb]

Wow amazing work here brullov, was waiting for the release! Many compliments on what you created there, from the details to structure of the level! First was walking around and i thought about the familiar look from Ikea and guess i was right hehehehe! Then i''m still surprised about how how you can make use of the original textures of duke that still look very different if you play a little with them. Congrats on the release and wish there was more!

BTW great mix of music!

[brullov]

Sanek, on 30 December 2020 - 03:13 AM, said:

Looking great! You sure come a long way from Flood Zone! The second shot looks like smtn inspired by Ion Fury, heh. Some desciption would be nice, though...
Don't have time to play it right now but it'll be on my playlist during the holidays. Anyway, congrats on finally releasing something!

All my previous maps were more like experiments. I have made them in 1-3 days or so. The description you can find on the download page and in the readme.txt file. Thank you and happy holidays!

darkcaleb, on 30 December 2020 - 04:39 AM, said:

Wow amazing work here brullov, was waiting for the release! Many compliments on what you created there, from the details to structure of the level! First was walking around and i thought about the familiar look from Ikea and guess i was right hehehehe! Then i''m still surprised about how how you can make use of the original textures of duke that still look very different if you play a little with them. Congrats on the release and wish there was more!

BTW great mix of music!

Thank you, darkcaleb.

[Šneček]

I finished this map in 51 minutes. Amazing map. I'm quite surprised that the new nice sprites were made with the help of dukeres? (according to txt)- I've used DukeRes several times and the pictures in the game always looked a bit ... weird↓. In addition, the new graphics (only 256colored PCX, that program crashed when importing the BMP) always had to be used as a texture for the wall, I never managed to make a sprite with transparent background that would not disappear from the game, even though it was used in mapster.

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[brullov]

Šneček, on 30 December 2020 - 07:57 AM, said:

I finished this map in 51 minutes. Amazing map. I'm quite surprised that the new nice sprites were made with the help of dukeres? (according to txt)- I've used DukeRes several times and the pictures in the game always looked a bit ... weird↓. In addition, the new graphics (only 256colored PCX, that program crashed when importing the BMP) always had to be used as a texture for the wall, I never managed to make a sprite with transparent background that would not disappear from the game, even though it was used in mapster.

Thanks! Never had problems with Dukeres, you can try using BAFed.

[Borion]

Top quality stuff, Brullov. Incredible that this is plain old (sweet) DN3D.

Šneček, on 30 December 2020 - 07:57 AM, said:

I finished this map in 51 minutes. Amazing map. I'm quite surprised that the new nice sprites were made with the help of dukeres? (according to txt)- I've used DukeRes several times and the pictures in the game always looked a bit ... weird↓. In addition, the new graphics (only 256colored PCX, that program crashed when importing the BMP) always had to be used as a texture for the wall, I never managed to make a sprite with transparent background that would not disappear from the game, even though it was used in mapster.

Try running game with -alwayssober argument. It blocks Dukes habit of using LSD & DMT on custom maps - thats his way of dealing with new situations.

[Adamast0r]

Great Christmas level. That's how you do it.

'Tis the season of fragging.

[Aleks]

Great level! Here's my review for CGS:

Quote

Artem Brullov, Ukraine-based artist, has been active in Duke’s modding community for quite a while, but also notorious for releasing mostly just screenshots of small (and beautiful!) Mapster vignette’s rather than actual playable levels. This map/mod seems to be his first serious effort and despite the relatively short development time, it has been polished to the slightest detail.

In this Christmas special for 2021, Artem takes us on a journey through an exceptionally well-designed mall full of Christmas decorations, yet currently closed (perhaps due to alien occupation). It continues the long tradition of Christmas Duke releases, being a worthy successor to such classics like Kevin Cools’ Christmas 2001 & 2002, Taivo Maripuu’s Just Another Christmas or more recently – MRCK’s Poison Heart.

From the very beginning it is obvious where the Author excels the most – design is simply stunning, with creative use of textures (some of which are new, but incorporated in such a good fashion that they don’t clash with Duke’s regular tileset, rather expanding on it and the vanilla feeling of the level) and top-notch spriteworks. Even the ceilings, which often are neglected by mappers, are a true work of art in this department (especially ceilings inside the mall, with intricate structures for lamps or clever use of sloped sprites for roof windows). Some other particularly cool spriteworks can be found in a forklift design, tiny shelfs that are present just everywhere across the mall and creative chairs and tables at the bowling alley. The layout of the mall with its impeccable design makes this one of the best shopping centres ever recreated in Mapster. Also some True Room Over Room was thrown in to emphasize on the two-storey arrangement of the mall, but rather than making them an easy gimmick, which a lot of people would feel tempted to, here it feels so seamless and natural that it might even go unnoticed, except for its actual purpose and functionality.

If the visuals of the map consist almost exclusively of eye-candy, same meticulous care has been put to the sounds and ambience. All the decorative doors and lockers make a clicking noise when you try to push them like in modern FPS games (unfortunately the same can be said about cash registers, which can be a bit disorientating for the players looking for secrets) and there are constant walking sounds dependable on the type of surface Duke steps on (which is appreciated, although might get annoying after playing for a longer while). The music is a Christmas jingle mix of City Streets, a classic that all Duke fans will immediately recognize. It goes very well with the Christmas mood, which can be felt particularly strong in this map. New graphics used for seasonal decorations scattered around the mall, falling snow outside (especially in a really cool and sadly unreachable area with impressive sprite-made high voltage truss poles) help to emphasize on it as well.

The player arena is mostly open to exploration, with a few very creative and interesting puzzles to solve along the way. A bunch of new CON effects has been thrown in, particularly for a code-secured lock and working jackpot machines. They’re mostly minor stuff and welcome additions rather than radical gamechangers here. Another thing that deserves to be mentioned is very creative approach to secret places. Particularly one of them, hiding an atomic health and a personal message from the author, is worth noting due to innovative and super-creative puzzles required to access it. When it comes to Mapster technicality, effects and sequencing, there’s some quite complex elevators, working crane/lift that moves boxes and a very unusual way of opening one of the secrets. Nothing that really stands out, but every effect used is working well and clean.

Combat offers you your standard Duke experience with mostly decent enemy placement. Chances are you won’t encounter any memorable battles here, also some enemies will stray in confusion and get stuck in the corners due to the complex layout and amount of spriteworks in the map. There is more than enough ammo to suit everyone, but for the bigger part of the map, you will most likely just rely on good old-fashioned shotgun action. Heavy use of stayput enemies results in some particularly easy encounters, but this might also be a conscious decision due to Duke’s bad guys rather little will of cooperation with the mapper for creating interesting firefights. Despite relying heavily on sprite constructions (which Duke will sometimes randomly climb upon touching), the map doesn’t feel cramped at any moment and shouldn’t restrict player’s movement.

The level can be finished in about 15-20 minutes, but most players will probably spend a lot more time in it, just wandering around and staring at the design (and sometimes also due to poor visibility, which makes navigation through the mall difficult at times). Even if the general concept behind the map was making it dark and moody, and the high-contrast shadows are present wherever you’d expect them, a bump in visibility would probably improve the map as a whole – but that is just a slight nit-picking in what is otherwise a complete and fulfilling piece of mapping art.

Conclusion: You don’t want to miss this one, as it has some of the best design and most creative puzzles you’ll ever encounter. This is a perfect gift for Christmas made with passion and respect to the original game, but not restricting the Author’s own creativity and ideas at any point. Although the map is completely free to play, Artem made an option to donate him for the massive amount of work put behind this map. It is something rarely found or even talked within the Duke community, but if you liked the level, support the Author – he really deserves it for this little masterpiece!

Score: 95/100

[brullov]

Aleks, on 31 December 2020 - 02:46 PM, said:

Great level! Here's my review for CGS:

Thank you, Aleks! I really appreciate it. I want to mention people here who helped me a lot, without them it would not be possible to complete this mod as-is.

Oasiz. He is a sector effector god, I am impressed by how this man loves his passion. He implemented sector effects for all elevators and gave me very informative feedback after the test.

Cage. He is the best artist for 90s style graphics (I call it low-resolution graphics) I know. He made top-quality custom art in 2 days! Immediately after I asked him for help. Could you imagine how much inspiration I have got?

RichardStorm. My old friend, he helped me so many times... I owe him a lot. Richard created numpad, slot machine, snow effect, step sounds, and end screen. Everything works like a clock.



I want to thank everybody who plays this modification. I created it because I love Duke Nukem, this place, and you. Donations are an optional feature, I don't have in my mind to earn any cent from it. My biggest reward is your playthrough and feedback.

I am back. Preparing myself for next, more ambitious projects. I will also release a little patch for FF soon (some minor bug fixes).

[Sanek]

MSDN review:

https://msdn.duke4.n...lloutfreeze.php

brullov, on 30 December 2020 - 07:34 AM, said:

All my previous maps were more like experiments.

Yeah. Sure.

[brullov]

I've released the v1.1 patch:

- I accidentally forgot to mention Gambini in credits, I've used some textures from the DNF 13 modification;
- Empty secret fixed;
- Some other minor things fixed.

[oasiz]

Malls are something I've wanted to do for years so this is a well realised version of such
Only critique I have is that few more strategic additional textures and custom sounds would've really elevated some pieces to the next level (i.e. locksound and few repurposed graphics that stick out).
Overall I hope to see more from you.

[brullov]

oasiz, on 03 January 2021 - 10:47 AM, said:

Malls are something I've wanted to do for years so this is a well realised version of such
Only critique I have is that few more strategic additional textures and custom sounds would've really elevated some pieces to the next level (i.e. locksound and few repurposed graphics that stick out).
Overall I hope to see more from you.

Thanks, oasiz. Next time I will try to avoid stupid deadlines and pay more attention to such things.

[Merlijn]

Damn, I missed this release until Aleks and Maarten pointed it out.

Awesome map! I can only echo others and say this is some of the best design I've seen.
I always like the Mall as a setting so this was right up my alley.

Highlights for me are the IKEA (funny thing I toyed around with the idea of doing an IKEA map.. but there's no way I can improve on this haha), the bowling alley and
the front of the mall (including the beautiful looking background scenery).

Gameplay wasn't very challening but not every map has to be. It flowed well and the layout was nicely planned out as well.
The secrets are fun and feel rewarding. Thanks for this release.

[pavigna]

I really gotta say something about this map. I played it when it first came out but i forgot to post my opinions on it. This map? boy oh boy. It's something else. I genuinely felt something while playing it, almost made me cry lol. the level design itself is amazing, the spriteworks and all of the tiny details are crafted with such love and care that it's incredible. Now, i really have to thank you for releasing this. 2020 has been a difficult year for everyone, and i know this might sound stupid but something as simple as a mall while it's snowing outside is something that i missed dearly and that's what moved me lol. gameplay is amazing, the choices of the enemies and their placement was done masterfully which shows the probably extensive playtesting you went trough, seeing as how literally every section is just pure fun. only thing that i noticed, in the final bossfight, if you climb on those vent structures you can cirle around the topmost part of them and the battlelord can't reach you. aside from that, i rate this map a solid 98/100. really really liked it and i cannot stress this enough, it's my favorite user map so far, keep it up!

[brullov]

pavigna, on 07 January 2021 - 01:38 AM, said:

I really gotta say something about this map. I played it when it first came out but i forgot to post my opinions on it. This map? boy oh boy. It's something else. I genuinely felt something while playing it, almost made me cry lol. the level design itself is amazing, the spriteworks and all of the tiny details are crafted with such love and care that it's incredible. Now, i really have to thank you for releasing this. 2020 has been a difficult year for everyone, and i know this might sound stupid but something as simple as a mall while it's snowing outside is something that i missed dearly and that's what moved me lol. gameplay is amazing, the choices of the enemies and their placement was done masterfully which shows the probably extensive playtesting you went trough, seeing as how literally every section is just pure fun. only thing that i noticed, in the final bossfight, if you climb on those vent structures you can cirle around the topmost part of them and the battlelord can't reach you. aside from that, i rate this map a solid 98/100. really really liked it and i cannot stress this enough, it's my favorite user map so far, keep it up!

Thank you for the feedback, glad you liked it! Never tried to hide on the vent structures, maybe I will make a little update to fix it.

[ck3D]

Merlijn, on 05 January 2021 - 10:42 AM, said:

(funny thing I toyed around with the idea of doing an IKEA map.. but there's no way I can improve on this haha),

Yeah I also kind of went for it too in my map for Duke Hard with the 'Dukea' section and funny-named furniture but it was just a tiny corner of the map and mostly a joke that went over most people's heads, I think most players instead really thought 'what the fuck is this?'. Many things in that map were too obscure in retrospect.

Haven't gotten to play the map yet but the screenshots look fantastic and it's great to see something playable from you, looking forward to trying it.

[Merlijn]

ck3D, on 07 January 2021 - 10:34 AM, said:

Yeah I also kind of went for it too in my map for Duke Hard with the 'Dukea' section and funny-named furniture but it was just a tiny corner of the map and mostly a joke that went over most people's heads, I think most players instead really thought 'what the fuck is this?'. Many things in that map were too obscure in retrospect.

Actually I do remember that part, and did recognize it as an Ikea parody. In fact, that might have planted the idea in my head in the first place.

My idea was to make a large scaled warehouse-like space. I had the idea to let enemies spawn far away on the other side, you would see them drop in but because there's a lot of showrooms in the way you wouldn't know exactly when you would encounter them. Anyway, that never made it past a rough idea and I don't know if it would even work with the enemy AI.

Also don't hesitate to try this map, it's worth it!

[ck3D]

Someone on YouTube made a video playthrough of your mod:



Haven't gotten to play it directly myself but I did spoil my anticipation with some of the video and the map looks amazing, you really know how to use this engine. TROR is crazy and that's a language I'm too lazy myself to even bother trying to learn how to speak. Design and attention to detail everywhere look lovely, the interactive elements appear to give the classic Duke 3D vibe (which is retained here thanks to really good new .art) a modern shooter touch, just watching footage I'm a bit reminded of Duke Plus in that sense. General atmosphere of the multi-story mall reminds me of Preto Murara's mall map in Downtown Journey, in a different style though, so I guess that's just how good Duke malls feel. Combat looks cool too so I'm looking forward to playing it sometime.

[brullov]

ck3D, on 01 February 2021 - 12:38 PM, said:

Someone on YouTube made a video playthrough of your mod:

I wonder how many people found all 3 secrets on the map. The guy on the playthrough almost found the biggest one. Regarding the spoilers, here is some cut content:

Spoiler

The player could explore the electronics shop.



There were no important items inside, just a few shotgun ammo.




I also had to simplify the ticket office. It used to look way more detailed:

[quakis]

Great level, loved touring the visuals. Better late than never, here's a review. Been two years since the last update so I feel a little rusty but hopefully I've covered everything I wanted to say. https://taw.duke4.ne...fallout-freeze/

[brullov]

quakis, on 03 March 2021 - 08:33 AM, said:

Great level, loved touring the visuals. Better late than never, here's a review. Been two years since the last update so I feel a little rusty but hopefully I've covered everything I wanted to say. https://taw.duke4.ne...fallout-freeze/

Thanks, quakis! I've learned a lot from your texture placement, The Flaming Shipwreck in particular.