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Duke Map/Mod of the Month Club - June 2022  "10 unique maps by two authors!"

User is offline   FistMarine 

#1

What's this thing?
We play through a set of maps/mods during the month, and use this thread to discuss it as we're still all fresh with our comments/opinions/feelings about the maps.

What's the purpose?
Basically, there are 4 purposes:
  • Showcasing some of the older mods/maps to wider public - they definitely deserve the attention!
  • Getting more people to actually enjoy and appreciate the user content - because let's be honest, over the past 26 years this was really what kept Duke alive after all.
  • ...and while we're at it - keeping Duke alive by still enjoying it, as there's no new games in the franchise on the horizon (and let's be honest, they wouldn't be as good as some of this stuff!).
  • Having a more structured discussion on maps than what's going in "Last map you played" thread - which is great, but it's basically a monologue most of the time.

Can I join?

Sure, as long as you find some spare time during the month to play the stuff that's on the table!

Why a month?
Because people have lives, jobs or other stuff to do (like mapping). For smaller maps, this could be shorter time - it's all up to debate in the future!

What port should I use? Are mods allowed? Where to get the maps?
It's entirely up to you how you play the game, so you can use whatever port or mod allowed - it would be cool to state in your posts what you're using too, as there might be some slight differences between the ports! As for the maps, they should be always linked within the first post.

How should I play the maps or post about them?
Again, it's up to you. You can finish them all in one go or play them one by one whenever you feel like. On Doom forums, there's a rule that you should keep the pace by not posting about a map that has a higher number than the day of the month, so e.g. on 6th you shouldn't post about map 7 etc. I think that might be a good practice if there's a large interest in this, but first let's see how active the thread is for a start - so if there's nothing going on, feel free to post about whatever map you want to.

Previous editions:


For this month, two mappers (Billy Boy and Bob Masters, both of whom may be familiar to you from the early days of Duke mapping/modding) have been chosen! Expect many of the maps to take you at least an hour or two to complete and most of the maps also contain new art/con/sounds and a lot of other surprises!

First, we have 7 maps by Billy Boy. They are: Oranges, Valves, Dukem Memorial Hospital, Lighthouse, Clearwater, Deadfall, Bedrone. Lighthouse also includes Dukem Memorial Hospital as a secret level, so you get to decide between playing through either one or both versions of Dukem Memorial Hospital.

Second, we have 3 maps by Bob Masters. They are: Bizzare, Asylum, 2121 A.D.

Because most of the maps contain new art, con files and other stuff, it is recommended to install each map in a different folder. A few of the maps don't contain anything new, so they can be put in the same Duke3D folder without any conflicts. Maps highlighted in bold contain NEW stuff! ALL maps chosen for this month are made for the Atomic Edition and they don't require a source port to play, so it is up to you to either play in the original DOS Duke3D version 1.5 or use any port you want! Just be careful with what version of the source port you use, so that the map won't break for you. ;)

Since we have exactly 10 maps for this month (11 if you count the secret level), it is recommended to post about a map once at every 3 days, though it is up to you to decide when to post about a map or 2-3 at the same time. Just don't post about all maps at once early in the month. You can start with any author you want and do the maps in any order (or skip one if you get stuck in it), though it is recommended to do them in the chronological order. If a map seems confusing, I will try my best to offer a walkthrough for it, when I get around playing and reviewing them. :)

Download links:

Duke Repository:
Oranges
Valves
Dukem Memorial Hospital
Lighthouse
Clearwater
Deadfall
Bedrone

Bizarre
Asylum
2121 A.D.

Dukeworld:
Oranges
Valves
Dukem Memorial Hospital
Lighthouse
Clearwater
Deadfall
Bedrone

Bizarre
Asylum
2121 A.D.

Other websites (such as Gamers.org and MSDN) didn't contain all the maps, so I tried finding a place that had all of them. For now, I found Duke Repository (archived) and Dukeworld to be the best places to contain the maps!

Also, this edition marks the first anniversary of the Map/Mod club event! Many thanks to Aleks for hosting the 2021 editions (June to December). Without him, we wouldn't have been here in first place. :D

Have fun! :)

This post has been edited by FistMarine: 01 June 2022 - 03:25 AM

3

User is offline   Aleks 

#2

View PostFistMarine, on 01 June 2022 - 03:21 AM, said:

(...) though it is recommended to do them in the chronological order (...)

Hmmm I'd say start with whatever map but Oranges actually. It's a good map, but particularly confusing and probably has the highest access threshold of them all, also will take hours to finish. I'd rather advise you to start with other Billy Boy maps before playing this one to get accustomed to his style a bit.

Quote

Also, this edition marks the first anniversary of the Map/Mod club event! Many thanks to Aleks for hosting the 2021 editions (June to December). Without him, we wouldn't have been here in first place. :D

Oh thanks! :)
2

User is online   Quacken 

#3

I don't really like to ask for help when finishing a map, but I think in this instance I have to, or else I'm going to go insane trying to figure it out: Currently on the first map I'm planning to review, Valves, stuck on trying to find the yellow key, around the four-pointed water tunnel immediately after picking up the second blue key. I can see the yellow key in darkness, but it's blocked off, and I can't seem to find anything that would help me progress. I would appreciate some help on this, thanks!
2

User is offline   Ninety-Six 

#4

I got to Billy Boy's stuff back in April as part of my extensive backlog.


They were the reason I needed to take a break.
3

User is online   Quacken 

#5

5 days for any of us to post a review, huh... well, allow me to be the first! I've just beaten one of Bob Masters' maps, Bizarre.

I happen to really love Bizarre. What you'll first notice upon booting up the map is its striking visuals. Bizarre may look like complete nonsense at first, but each of the nine sections you'll have to go through have their own method to the madness. Each of them are consistent in their visual designand they're all very short, making sure your eyes don't hurt after a long time spent in the Green Dimension. 4, 5 and 6 are definitely my favourite sections, the Mapper's Office, the Upside Down Office and Giant Land. These three have the funniest gags and ideas thrown in. Upside Down Office is very short but the flipped monsters are quite funny to look at, and the fake wall and suicide booth in the Mapper's Office gave me a good chuckle the first time I encountered them. In terms of its combat, Bizarre's lynch pin is its trippy visuals. Monsters pop in and out like cardboard cutouts, some of them are different colours, and Bob Masters isn't ashamed to have his geometry blatantly clip in and out between portals, making you waste shots as you fire into illusory monsters. With a very generous supply of rockets and Shrinker ammo to fall back on, none of the combat encounters are particularly tricky, except for the very ending fight, which is hilariously telegraphed to you, but still able to catch you by surprise by suddenly dropping you into a slam dunk of Devastator and Shrinker spam. Bizarre is a delightfully trippy and eccentric map that doesn't overstay its welcome, and displays some of the finest creativity I've seen from Duke 3D since I started getting into community maps.

9.5/10.
4

User is offline   Forge 

  • Speaker of the Outhouse

#6

View PostAleks, on 01 June 2022 - 11:26 AM, said:

Hmmm I'd say start with whatever map but Oranges actually. It's a good map, but particularly confusing and probably has the highest access threshold of them all, also will take hours to finish. I'd rather advise you to start with other Billy Boy maps before playing this one to get accustomed to his style a bit.

If you aren't already familiar with billyboy puzzles, or it's been awhile - start with Deadfall. Probably one of his easiest maps.
3

User is offline   ck3D 

#7

View PostQuacken, on 06 June 2022 - 04:23 AM, said:

5 days for any of us to post a review, huh...


I think it's because Billy Boy's levels are typically ambitious (to the point of being considered somewhat of an acquired taste by some, but past subjective concerns, they have great qualities). Some of those maps one shouldn't expect to spend less than two hours on, especially as a first-timer - they're full on adventures. I've been meaning to play at least Lighthouse and Bedrone for this for days now but haven't done it yet because I know that means I'm going to have to find myself a whole spare afternoon. I would recommend those two in particular if you're not worried about complicated navigation and yet want to see what I think is his best work (but if you're trying to get acquainted with the style and don't care much for visuals, listen to Forge's advice).

If you liked Bizarre, you'll trip out on 2121 A.D..

This post has been edited by ck3D: 06 June 2022 - 07:46 AM

3

User is offline   quakis 

#8

Just a reminder: I wrote walkthroughs for two Billy Boy maps back in 2007, linked below for convenience if anyone needs them. They're ancient by this point and have been unedited since so don't expect masterful writing. I replayed Cranium last year and even needed to refer back to my own guide, haha.

Lighthouse aka Biglight Text Walkthrough

Clearwater aka Cranium Text Walkthrough
6

User is offline   Ninety-Six 

#9

Billy Boy is very similar to Fernando Marquez in my opinion. Both make very good-looking maps (though their goals for their appearances couldn't be more opposite), but basic progression is often an absolutely confusing nightmare.
3

User is offline   FistMarine 

#10

Hey everyone! I apologize for taking me forever to write for the topic. It seems the topic is quite dead this month. I will try to revive it. Not too long ago, I have finished ALL maps by Billy Boy, so I try my best to talk about them. In today's post, I will talk about the first FOUR maps (Oranges, Valves, Dukem Memorial Hospital and Clearwater).

There is a LOT to talk about them and I will try my best to write a small walkthrough for the most important parts of the maps. I can't offer a FULL playthrough and I may not remember the exact details about each, so I hope my walkthroughs will be useful for solving certain parts. Note that this post is going to be very long!

All maps were played in Duke3D v1.5 in DOSBox 0.74-3 on CGS skill.

Oranges

Despite Aleks' recommendation to start with anything else (besides oranges), I decided to start with Oranges anyway. I don't really regret my choice but it sure was a VERY LONG map. In fact, it was probably the longest Duke3D map I've ever played in my life. The map took me about 8 hours to fully finish properly, on the span of two consecutive days. I am surprised the map ran fine in the original Duke3D v1.5 in DOSBox. I didn't have any crash with it (I had one crash in the Valves map, we will get to this below). I was very surprised to see a map like this working fine in the DOS version of Duke3D. With that said, due to limitations, I am not able to tell the exact time it took me to complete and the amount of monsters I've killed in total. The stats shown at end aren't helpful due to vanilla limitations (timer resets at every hour, kill count glitches when you kill more than 255 monsters).

If I had to guess, I killed at least 500 monsters. The time as mentioned, took me around 8 hours to finish in the span of two days. This means this map alone is as long as the ENTIRE Duke3D game (the original 3 episodes take around 8 hours to complete if you go slower and make sure you get all secrets, etc). This map puts to shame the Khaki Space map (from Last Reaction) and even a typical Redneck Rampage map (that can take up to an hour or more to complete on your first playthrough). Oranges is just too damn long and the moment you insert the third card (the yellow card) you are just halfway through the map. Oranges outstays its welcome by that point and it's not very fun. I managed to complete the map on my own and solving ALL puzzles by myself (there were a few points I was stuck and left me scratching my head but even when consulting Mapster, it didn't help me much because searching for a sector tag to unlock a particular door, wouldn't always help me or find me the exact solution). In total, I must have died around 15-20 times, most deaths were towards end (usually by the bosses). With that said, I will try to write a short walkthrough:

At the beginning, kill all the troopers, grab the stuff and blow up the fire extinguisher to reveal a secret area containing a bunch of goodies (shotgun, ammo, armor). Save the single pipebomb you find for later, don't waste it for this secret as shooting the extinguisher does the same thing here. There is also a water fountain right at beginning. Let's pretend it is orange juice and will greatly help Duke, although the health, ammo and armor supplies in this map are plentiful. The orange water (juice) is also harmless and you can stand on it without worrying about consuming health/boots. There are very few harmful liquids in this map, I think. You can decide to swim and kill two commanders (on the area with the bridges that you will visit later) or just move on with the map. I recommend moving on with the map now, though you can kill the commanders and destroy a few turrets right now if you want, saving yourself some trouble from later.

You have to unlock the library room by pressing on one of the switches in the starting room. Look out for a switch hidden below the desk. I recommend first clearing the other room (with the pig cops in it) as well as the bathroom and then moving on to the library. Once inside the library, when you enter a dark room with the pig cop and a locked door, you have to rush to the previous room as one door temporary opens. Once you get there, be careful of pig cops and some explosion trap. Once you clear this room, you have to use your pistol to shoot some switches. I forgot the solution to the puzzle but it is not difficult to complete it, just shoot certain buttons until you unlock the other side of the room. You will then have to find a switch, press it and fight some spawned monsters. That switch will unlock the door earlier in the dark room with pig cop and a bloody handprint (inside the library). Once there, press another switch and look at the screen. You will unlock the safe that contains the blue card and other goodies in a room earlier (where you fought many pig cops at once). There will be many monsters waiting you, so be prepared.

Once done, go back to the starting room and use your blue key. I recommend from this point on to make multiple saves and have a backup save just in case something goes wrong. Take the elevator and now you are presented with a few choices. I don't remember the exact order here, so try to see which door is unlocked. Take the hidden elevator to complete a challenge in the white room, be careful with two commanders spawned above you. Once you clear them, you need to make that automatic shooter (shooting mortars) hit that cracked wall to escape. Don't forget to press on the switch labeled "5". This will unlock one of the doors you've seen earlier. Now go there and look out for pig cops in the darkness and some trip mines. This is where I died the first time, not because I didn't see the trip mines but because of that stupid pig cop that tripped them and the explosion took us both. You need to use a pipebomb or simply wait for the pig cop to trip them while you take cover from the explosion. In any case, you should have probably grabbed an extra pipebomb from a secret (behind the dog poster) in the previous room.

Once you clear that corridor, you will get to the next part which is going to be the most interesting part of the map. This is where you need the red card to unlock the next door. But you also have to complete a bunch of puzzles. Press on the switch that shows the SECURED AREA sign. This unlocks a door AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MAP, on the other side of the room (near where you activated the elevator that required blue card). In this room, just touch the sector containing the goodies (medkit, armor, ammo. if you don't need them, they will be useful later). This will unlock the next room. You need to jump into the orange water and then activate a bunch of switches to eventually unlock the door you have seen earlier. Just be careful of those things to not squish you. Once done, go back and then you will notice you unlocked that bridges room from earlier (where you killed two commanders and a few turrets at beginning of the map if you went this way). You have to watch out for respawning enemies while going to the top. Looking behind that pillar, there is a switch hidden behind the forcefield. Remember this switch as you will need to go back later. Once you make to the top, follow the arrows and make a tricky jump (save before doing the jump!), press on the switch. This disables the forcefield on the switch you have seen earlier. Go back down and press on the switch, then go back up to the top of the bridges! This switch will unlock the next room. Go through the mazes and pick up the red card (and take a look at what's behind the forcefield, this will give you a view for the later part of the map). You will have to go all the way back to the room earlier to insert the red card. Hope you didn't forget where you need to go! You can choose before dropping down the vent or going all the way back with those bridges and elevators.

Once you reach the place, insert the card and now you need to solve a couple tricky puzzles. You need to look at a switch you have to shoot in order to unlock. This part is a bit messy, so I will focus on parts I remember the most. You need to jump above the switch you activated earlier (that says SECURED AREA) and swim into that tube. I recommend conserving the various scuba gears you will come across, don't grab them randomly. You have to do quite a bit of swimming in this map. You need to find a multi-switch. This will open the 3 compartments you have seen earlier in the vents. I recommend going in order, as in 1 to 3. You can only have one hatch open at a time, so just remember its location and then go back to the room you unlocked with the red card. The first two hatches are the ones required for main progression (and contain more puzzles each), the third one simply contains armor and atomic health (they are very much needed).

At one point, you will end up with a clever shrinking puzzle. You need to shrink yourself while standing on the moving platform and then slide through the tiny gap in order to reach the room that contains the yellow card. This was a very clever puzzle that I didn't think Duke would fit through that tiny gap. He doesn't fit by default even when shrunk but when pushed with the help of a riding car, then he will fit. This yellow card will be required for one of the rooms earlier, which can be reached from the white room that had the dog poster on it (which contained a single pipebomb).

Once you get there, you just reached the halfway point of the map. There are a lot of things to do here, some puzzles are pretty annoying. There is one where you need to run through the crushers and get to the elevator but at same time make sure the elevator hasn't been called (you can press on those green arrows to call it up/down) or if you did, then you will get squished down here. You just need to ride it to the top and jump on the next building. There will be many pig cops shooting at you, so be careful! At another point, you need to shoot at some switches to raise the slope until you reach to the top. This is another clever puzzle but also quite irritating. Not to mention many other puzzles to do, as if the author tried to get as many puzzles as possible into a single map.

There is one part where you need to fall down and activate a few switches (some of which are hidden). You may come across to a room that has two ladies together (the ones from XXX-Stacy) waiting for you! DON'T GO towards them or else you get teleported to a place filled with purple lava and you will die! You need to find a few hidden switches in order to unlock more switches and then finally escape from down there! This part was very annoying and had me stuck for about 30 or so minutes. I even had to check Mapster but it didn't help me much. Then I figured out the solution and when I found these hidden switches, I was able to progress. The switches will unlock the elevator to allow you to escape. Don't forget to activate that switch in the corner as well (which contains an atomic health). Once you get out, you have two choices. Either progress with the map or find a SECRET EXIT. The secret exit is probably the "easy way" out. It is guarded by two mini overlords and one mini cycloid and allows you to complete the level earlier, if you had enough of this map, although you still have one secret left to find. If you don't want to exit, you can continue to complete the whole map. Make another save if you want. I recommend using all 10 available save slots (if using newer versions of EDuke32 since 2018 or so, you get infinite saves). There is also NO WAY BACK once you got to the secret exit room, so I hope you have an earlier save if you want to explore the rest map.

To move on to next part, just shoot the alien switch on top of that building surrounded by lava (orange juice). This will unlock the nearby hatch which leads to the next part of the map. At this point you will have to complete a couple more puzzles, easily taking at least another 2 more hours. I recommend exploring everything. You can disable the forcefield (where you found the red card earlier) and allow backtracking to the whole map. Be careful to not get stuck (when you get on the other side of the area), there is a tunnel you have to go through but if you go to the left side first and didn't unlock a door (in the area where you get ambushed by the assault commander, with the two pirate flags), you are softlocked and I hope you have an earlier save. Ignore this part for now, you will unlock that door later to allow backtracking.

At the end, you need to reach the platform containing a jetpack and a switch. That door leading to said platform requires you to solve a switch puzzle that ONLY STAYS OPEN FOR 5 MINUTES (notice the 5 Min. sign!). After that, you can't open that door anymore. This is another place you can get soft-locked if you are not careful. You can still reach the switch (needed for the end of the level) if you have collected the jetpack. I recommend just grabbing the jetpack for now. DON'T PRESS THAT SWITCH YET (until you have explored the whole map and got all secrets, except one you unlock in the last part of the level). Pressing that switch spawns BOSSES. That's right, you get not only a Mini Battlelord (maybe meant to be a full-sized Battlelord?) but also TWO OVERLORDS, A CYCLOID and AN ALIEN QUEEN (the queen is underwater, though overlords can also fall into water). You have the choice between killing any of the bosses (to finish the level) or ignoring them and trying to find the normal nuke button. Or you can go back and get to the secret exit. The choice is yours!

Moving on, you need to complete another puzzle before reaching the exit. In the middle of the orange river, you will notice a place that is closed (or was closed earlier) and contains two atomic healths and a flamethrower trap (which is from ROTT and unused in the original Duke3D maps). This place is unlocked by flying with the jetpack into the middle part of this area and pressing the switch. I recommend pressing THIS switch first before the one near jetpack, so you don't have to deal with the bosses for now.

Anyway, fall into one of the 4 possible places (recommended to choose the first one if it's your first visit) and then you will eventually end up with a room with another multi switch. This is necessary to solve the last puzzle before the exit. By default, switch 1 is seen but the correct solution for the puzzle is switches 2 and 4. The switch 3 can't even be pressed, which confused me initially because I thought I needed to press them all. They are also needed to access the final secret place. Once you are done, go back and fly to that switch to spawn the bosses which also unlocks the normal exit button (though also disables your chance to get the final secret, so get it before doing that!).

If you have managed to get this far, then congratulations! You have completed the most complex Duke3D maps ever made! Or at least one of the earliest complex maps. Either way, congrats! This was sure a very long and painful map. I found most secrets by myself, with only a few requiring a look in mapster but even that last one confused me that I eventually figured out the solution myself.
There are 9 secrets in total, I don't even know how to offer the correct locations for them, most you should find by just progressing through the map. There is one RPG secret hidden inside a building (near the medkit on top of box, in the middle section of the map, when you access the huge area after using yellow card). And few other secrets I mentioned earlier, the rest can be found in vents and stuff like that. As I said before, I died about 15-20 times (forgot exact number) but all I know is many deaths came from the last parts. I was already getting sick of this map. I don't regret playing it, though I don't want to ever play it again.

Overall, I respect the author's ambition to make this map but unfortunately I didn't enjoy this map too much. I don't know if I can say I had a miserable time but it certainly wasn't a very pleasant experience. I never felt so exhausted after playing a Duke3D map! Let's hope the next map will be better.

Valves

I will say this map is shoter compared to the previous map, though it will still take you hours to complete, I suppose it took me around 4-5 hours to do it? The map has a few better puzzles but it still was a pain in the ass overall.

At the beginning, don't forget to grab a hidden portable medkit, you WILL NEED IT! You will need it to survive that next room with many pig cops shooting you. I didn't even see the damn armor pickup under my nose until I got low on health and even though I survived in the end, I could have used that armor a bit earlier. There is another armor pickup near the ledge in case you need it, though armor pickups are plentiful in the map. There is also a water fountain (and a few large medkits) in this room that will greatly help!

Once you do that, you need to advance to the next part. You need to find your way out of the room. There is a puzzle you need to solve, after you do some underwater action, you will come across a solution for a puzzle. I didn't think this was the solution for the valves puzzle earlier, so I looked in mapster because I didn't see two valves on the other side of the room. Then I saw the solution and that allowed progress the next part.

Eventually you will make it to another part of the map that has TOO MANY goddamn pig cops (I died a few times here due to being low on health) until I found the bathroom where I found a whole bunch of health packs. There seemed to be much less health available compared to Oranges, as I fully consumed about 5 portable medkits overall in the whole map and it didn't help there were many nasty traps and annoying monster placement, with pig cops all over the place (sometimes not even seeing where the fuck I was even getting shot from). And the vanilla controls certainly didn't help much, having me tank damage at some points and hope the pig cops don't do full damage, which was a problem at 30 or less health. I had to rely a lot on drinking water from fountains at some points in the map.

Oh yeah and there is a random shrinker puzzle, though unlike the one from the previous map that was required for progression, this one is just to access a nearby room (notice the Think Smaller above the small vent) which contains... a protector drone. Fuck that bullshit protector drone, he managed to squish me 5 times! He timed it to always step on me as soon as I was returning to normal size. Yes, I know I was getting frustrated by this point (since I decided to start this map in the evening, in the same day I completed Oranges) and I know I could have thrown pipebombs through the hole and kill him earlier but I didn't think of that at the time.

Anyway, on my 6th attempt, I managed to make it through, kill this bastard and get rewarded with the SHRINKER which is actually required to escape from this room and get back to the previous area, although for some reason, it didn't immediately reflect the shot until a second or two later, the shot seemingly went through the mirror and eventually it hit me. I have noticed this oddity in a few Duke3D maps, however it's not that big of an issue. Oh and noticed a few random bugs (and even one random crash) where I got squished randomly by crouching near some gates and some times I got killed and teleported on top of a moving train...for some reason.

This is probably the place where I stopped for that day and continued the next day. I don't feel like writing much more about this map, as there's so much to talk. There are some more confusing parts that took me a while to progress, such as the room that contains a crane and you can't reach it yet because that platform doesn't seem to raise. I think to progress, you had to slide down the water currents and fall into a different place and then there's a lot more underwater diving action and more puzzles to solve.

At the end of the map, once you make through all the complicated puzzles and unlock the nuke button, you get TWO Cycloids spawned that guard the exit. You can choose to kill any of them to end the level/episode or ignore them and rush to the exit. It is very random whether they shoot you or not (they will often 1-hit kill you if it's a direct hit, even at 150 health) so I just recommend saving often. As with the previous map, I did it both ways (kill each cycloid separately, load the save and go to the exit).

Two secrets to find (found the second one by myself):
-At one point in the map, on a bridge that has pig cops, find a hidden vent to climb to reach the bridge and collect an atomic health. I have a hard time describing the exact location of this secret, it's near some small corridor with the water flow.
-In the room with many barrels (where you have to activate some switches on a rotating gear), go through the fake brown wall to destroy slimer eggs and collect an atomic health

Overall, as with the previous map, I respect the author's ambition to create a large puzzle-themed map but I just didn't have that much of a good time, to be honest. Will the next map be better or not?

Dukem Memorial Hospital

This is an interesting and large hospital themed map. It's not often you come across a hospital themed map for Duke3D. The author has learned a few things from the previous two maps and progression is a little bit clearer but unfortunately the gameplay is still somewhat miserable at times with the annoying enemy placement.

I will admit I have played and finished through this map once before (in 2014 or so, in EDuke32) and it wasn't a full blind playthrough this time around (when compared to the rest maps by Billy Boy that I played for first time), although I didn't remember much of the map except the puzzle at end (with the switches) which was annoying. The solution for the puzzles can be found below:
The puzzle at the end (with many switches and the targets to shoot) requires you to press/shoot all buttons with the exception of the third and sixth button/target. It is same for both, including the truck at near the beginning. Buttons are required for progression, the targets just spawn devastator ammo.

The other puzzle near the end, in the room that contains pig cop tanks (and a bunch of RPG/Devastator ammo) requires you to press all buttons except the two middle ones. Also make sure to not jump through the hole before unlocking the door and elevator in this room or else you get stuck with no way out (requiring you to load the save or cheat). You can jump into the hole from the outside but when trying to jump from the inside, Duke doesn't seem to fit through or at least I may not have tried enough. Either way this isn't intended and you need to find more hidden rooms and switches to properly progress through the map.

Anyway, back to the actual map, most of the things I didn't remember from my first playthrough, so it was nearly a blind playthrough. And doing it this time in DOS and with classic keyboard controls, was a lot more painful, to be honest. Starting you being attacked immediately (thankfully there is a place to drink water from) and hoping you survive before you move on. You will find many pistols, so you have to do a bit of pistol sniping before finding better weapons and armor, etc.

The next part is problematic. There is a place where you need to ride the jeep and it crashes into another car driven by a pig cop. What happens is it immediately exits Duke3D with the error: "Too Many Sprites Spawned". I tried this about 5 times and from an earlier save and I have almost given up until I decided to turn Adult Mode off, to prevent spawning too many explosions/gibs and it worked! I was able to advance the map from this point on! I saved, turned back Adult Mode on and after that I had no more sudden exits.

After this part, you need to make your way into the nearby buildings before finding an entrance to the hospital (once you do that, you can open the front doors and allow shortcuts). You have to solve MANY puzzles in this map as well, though they are a bit easier compared to the previous two. There was a part (with the switches and the gates) that confused me a bit and at one point I thought I got stuck once inside the sewers until I found that I can open the garage door to get out of the underground section. I initially did not activate those 2 switches into the sewers (that would have led me to getting out from the other side of the sewers) because initially they did nothing, so I turned them off later and then I was afraid I'd screwed up when I realized that I also had to press them. Thankfully, I could move on to the map and after I managed to escape, go back to those two switches, I unlocked a door that makes backtracking to these sewer areas a bit easier.

There is a nice red card puzzle in the map that looks a bit similar to the one Aleks used in his Submachine map, as I read somewhere recently a comparison was made (I think it was mentioned in a different topic). I find this coincidence interesting. This red card puzzle has you hit the multi-switch to gather goodies and the red card through the teleporter, while making sure the babes don't get blown up by the trip mine. Sadly, the babes couldn't get saved and as punishment I get a Mini Battlelord spawned nearby. It caused some trouble but thankfully was taken out with ease, as the RPG was available by this point.

There is also a clever puzzle at the very end where you must shoot a ROCKET through that target while looking at the monitor and timing the switch correctly (it is a timed switch and you can't reach the door yourself even with jetpack/steroids), so that the rocket hits that cracked wall in the right moment. It may take a few tries and once you pull it off successfully, it feels satisfying.

The only strange thing is at some points, there seemed to be random bricks (the default brick texture) placed at some points in the map. Not sure what was with that but it seemed distracting at times. I wonder if it's caused by vanilla limitations or the author accidentally placed this texture and forgot to delete it or change it into something else? This error wasn't present in the updated version of the map, which is part of the Lighthouse map, where this map is included as a secret level and has a few changes. I will talk more about that on the next post, which will focus on the remaining maps by Billy Boy.

There are 6 secrets to find and they are mostly on the easier side, as I found them all by myself. Locations:
-In the underground section, you can find an armor pickup (guarded by a red pig cop tank)
-Secrets #2 and #3 are inside the vents, located in the entrance of the hospital, can be reached from dropping down the vents from the rooftop (or if you have collected a jetpack, just fly up there). One vent contains the Devastator, the other vent contains the Jetpack.
-This secret seems to be reached in multiple ways (?). Find one switch in the entrance of hospital (near one of the monitors) and then you can take the elevator on the roof or use the jetpack to reach the secret. It contains a few enemies, Pipebombs and Large Medkit.
-Inside the hospital, near the gate with the slimer eggs and captured babes (this gate can't be opened at all, although slimers can get through the gate), enter the room in the right, kill the commander and drop down the vent. You will fall and come across a Portable Medkit. Continue going until you fall into another vent (rewards you with an atomic health) which leads to the sewers area.
-At the part with the DEATHS door (after inserting the yellow card in one of the two possible places, both places are unlocked by the same card) where you must deactivate the forcefield, go through the D door, kill the hanging protector drones and other nasties, also look out for trip mines. At one point, you will come across to a boss door with pipebombs in front of it. Near this place, there is a hidden atomic health in a dark vent.

Overall, if you prefer to skip the previous two maps due to their length and puzzles, this is probably the best starting place, as the map is still vanilla and doesn't use any new assets, so the gameplay is more approachable compared to jumping directly to Billy Boy's newer maps (that have new art, cons, sounds, etc). Just take into account the various issues mentioned and prepare to spend at least 2-3 hours into the map, even longer if you get stuck at some parts.

For me, the map was alright overall. I still suffered around 20 or more deaths and some parts felt a bit frustrating but even then I found the map to be an improvement compared to the previous ones. By this point, the author has started to improve a lot. But the puzzles and the annoying combat will still give you a hard time.

Clearwater

Once more, the author shows that he has improved once more and brings us this map that I'd consider just good enough. Progression is mostly clear, although I only got stuck at 2-3 points, both involving where to insert the two later blue cards (yeah there's multiple cards being used).
I also want to thank Quakis for writing the walkthrough as it proved VERY USEFUL to consult it for those few parts I got stuck. In rest, I didn't have much of a problem with the puzzles.

As for the map, you start weaponless and you will first find the shotgun, chaingun and so on (eventually you will get the pistol as well). There is an early LAUNCH CODE puzzle that has the solution on the door if you look carefully. The correct answer is the same code from Area 51 (first row: 124. second row: 34).

I don't feel like writing a walkthrough for this map considering one already exists, so here is the secrets guide instead (3 secrets to find):
-At the place where the Mini Battlelord ambushes you with the vehicle, where you find a bunch of captured babes, go through the fake wall to find another babe, as well as atomic health, armor and expander ammo.
-At halfway point in the map, near where you insert the yellow card, you should find a secret area. It contains two compartments, press on them to reveal the goodies. One contains Portable Medkit and Shotgun ammo, the other contains the Shrinker (the only one present in the map!). I found this secret the first time but only collected the medkit and shells, I didn't check the shrinker compartment until I was pretty much done with the map and I assumed the secret only contained the medkit and shells. :P
-Inside the bathroom, where you find the blue card lock (to insert the last blue card), blow up the door and find inside Portable Medkit and Pipebombs.

Although I didn't have a very high amount of deaths in this level (compared to previous maps), I did get killed a couple of times from random pig cops that were shooting at me and I couldn't even see them, mostly on the last parts of the map, which caused a bit of frustration but not very much. However, the most annoying part was that Mini Battlelord in a cramped room inside the ship (the same place you revisit later to unlock the exit and spawn the final boss). That fucking bastard killed me about 10 times! I didn't have access to the Shrinker and I thought using the Devastator while tanking the damage would be a good idea. Didn't seem to work most of the time and I would always die just before finishing him off. Other than that, I don't recall many other problematic parts.

At the end you get the choice between killing the spawned Cycloid Emperor or going to the nuke button. I did both choices because why not. Too bad I hit the 256 monsters limit when I finished the map, so it says I killed no enemies at all. :lol:

Overall, this map was good. Good enough to play through it once. I was also impressed by the water being more realistic (it is transparent and you could see and shoot enemies through it, unlike the usual duke3d water). Now I realized why the level is called like that!

So far, Billy Boy's maps have been a mixed bag. There wasn't anything outstanding for me (besides many creative puzzles and effects, which were quite impressive), though Dukem Memorial Hospital was okay and Clearwater was good enough that I'd consider these two worth playing, especially if you consult the Clearwater (aka Cranium) walkthrough by Quakis. The rest maps (Oranges and Valves), you can probably skip and you won't lose too much in not playing them.

I will attach the screenshots in four zip files, as I took many screenshots for each map and some are helpful in solving certain puzzles, while others are general gameplay screenshots and even a few where I died (mostly by pig cops and mini battlelords).

In two days, I will return with reviewing the rest maps by Billy Boy, nominations for the next month and then hopefully writing about Bob Masters' maps (until now, I've only beaten Bizarre), before the end of the month.

Have a nice day! :)
5

User is offline   slacker1 

#11

Lighthouse and Clearwater are two of my favorite maps of all time. I wish I had time to replay this list this month. I never actually was able to finish Bedrone though the others I remember finishing. There's definitely a real sense of accomplishment finishing a Billy Boy map, one that I still remember to this day years later. I wish I was able to give a fresh take on these maps for the sake of the topic (who knows, there's still a about a week left in the month, maybe I'll have time to pick one up).

In any case, the complexity and length of Billy Boy maps is one of the draws for me to CK3D's latest project "Blast Radius". I have no idea if it will play similar at all but the time required seems to be similar from Aleks' beta testing posts. :)
4

User is offline   FistMarine 

#12

Before reviewing the remaining maps by Billy Boy, I will respond to a few comments that I should have responded earlier:

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I don't really like to ask for help when finishing a map, but I think in this instance I have to, or else I'm going to go insane trying to figure it out: Currently on the first map I'm planning to review, Valves, stuck on trying to find the yellow key, around the four-pointed water tunnel immediately after picking up the second blue key. I can see the yellow key in darkness, but it's blocked off, and I can't seem to find anything that would help me progress. I would appreciate some help on this, thanks!

Just wondering, have you managed to complete the map? If not, I will try to help based on my memory of the map: To get that yellow card, I think you need to go through a trash compactor (this also makes this room unreachable after that point) and solve a couple more puzzles, as well as have a mini battlelord spawned nearby, which turned out to be tricky to deal with, as he fell into the water and would often kill me as soon as I submerged. Eventually you will get that yellow card to escape this room and then grab the second yellow card, which alongside the other two cards you have at that point, you must go to one area on the roof (where you also find the shrink ray puzzle) and then climb on the ledge carefully (just be careful to not bump into the fence) to insert the 3 cards, they will unlock the exit I think. Either that or more places to explore. I wish I could offer a complete walkthrough but some of the maps seemed too much for me to write a full walkthrough. I hope all the information in this topic will be enough to help people complete these maps. :)

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If you aren't already familiar with billyboy puzzles, or it's been awhile - start with Deadfall. Probably one of his easiest maps.

I agree, Deadfall seemed to be rather easy compared to the author's rest maps and I especially liked the multiple custom access cards colors in this map (see more below for Deadfall review).

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I think it's because Billy Boy's levels are typically ambitious (to the point of being considered somewhat of an acquired taste by some, but past subjective concerns, they have great qualities). Some of those maps one shouldn't expect to spend less than two hours on, especially as a first-timer - they're full on adventures. I've been meaning to play at least Lighthouse and Bedrone for this for days now but haven't done it yet because I know that means I'm going to have to find myself a whole spare afternoon. I would recommend those two in particular if you're not worried about complicated navigation and yet want to see what I think is his best work (but if you're trying to get acquainted with the style and don't care much for visuals, listen to Forge's advice).

If you liked Bizarre, you'll trip out on 2121 A.D..

Billy Boy's maps are definitely ambitious. I just found the whole experience exhausting because I felt that the maps dragged on for far longer and some of the maps really outstayed their welcome. By the time I wanted to be done with the maps, I realized I was about halfway through them. At least most puzzles are easy to figure out but there are a few where you will get stuck. As for the maps by Bob Masters (which will be reviewed the next week), they are all good and I recommend playing them all (Bizarre was definitely great, Asylum was alright but its experience was somewhat ruined by the con file not working and 2121 A.D. which I have beaten twice, both last year and years ago and I will beat it again later today, it is one of the best Duke3D maps I've ever played).

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Just a reminder: I wrote walkthroughs for two Billy Boy maps back in 2007, linked below for convenience if anyone needs them. They're ancient by this point and have been unedited since so don't expect masterful writing. I replayed Cranium last year and even needed to refer back to my own guide, haha.

Once again, thank you Quakis for the walkthroughs! All the help is much appreciated. :)

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Billy Boy is very similar to Fernando Marquez in my opinion. Both make very good-looking maps (though their goals for their appearances couldn't be more opposite), but basic progression is often an absolutely confusing nightmare.

I agree for the most part. Although Fernando's maps often have clean layouts (I dig the classic aesthetics), are easy to navigate and are well balanced, there were a few parts where I have gotten stuck for a while (especially back in 2010 or so when I played through FM2X first time, I remember getting stuck at nearly every level at a particular puzzle especially in the second episode, by comparison FM3X episode seemed more straightforward for almost every level, haven't played FM4X episode yet) but the overall experience was very good with very few frustrating parts.

By comparison, when I played through Billy Boy's maps, I found myself exhausted and sometimes even annoyed/frustrated by some particular puzzles and sections that seemed to lack health or have annoying combat (example pig cop snipers). The maps themselves are still impressive of course, except Oranges and Valves, these two aren't that great IMO, at least when compared to the later maps by Billy Boy.

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Lighthouse and Clearwater are two of my favorite maps of all time. I wish I had time to replay this list this month. I never actually was able to finish Bedrone though the others I remember finishing. There's definitely a real sense of accomplishment finishing a Billy Boy map, one that I still remember to this day years later. I wish I was able to give a fresh take on these maps for the sake of the topic (who knows, there's still a about a week left in the month, maybe I'll have time to pick one up).

In any case, the complexity and length of Billy Boy maps is one of the draws for me to CK3D's latest project "Blast Radius". I have no idea if it will play similar at all but the time required seems to be similar from Aleks' beta testing posts.

Thank you for your comment. I would suggest (this applies to everyone who is still interested in this month's event) to choose just one map and play it in the remaining week of this month. Considering the length of all these maps, it's hard to decide which one to play. I suppose you could try playing through Clearwater? It was easier than Lighthouse and it has no new art or anything like that, just vanilla Duke3D atomic assets. Both of these maps are also covered by Quakis, so they should be easier to complete (though Deadfall is also an easy choice). As for Bedrone, based on my own experience (see below), the map's custom batteries seem a bit bugged. Some will get activated even if you don't pick them up and others will not activate the place you are supposed to unlock next, essentially softlocking you. This turned out to be a major problem, see why below. Also I'm waiting for ck3D's Blast Radius episode as well. :)

Anyway, it's time to review the other half of maps from our boy Billy Boy. :D

Lighthouse

Another long and impressive map (containing new art, con, sounds, etc) that is unfortunately plagued by many gameplay annoyances. Although the beginning isn't too bad, by the time you make it to the higher parts of the map (after that stupid puzzle with the two moving crates that can insta-kill you if you don't time your jumps correctly when they aren't moving), you will be constantly low on health and ammo and have a bad time until you save-scum your way to victory. Luckily, as with the previous maps, you have the option to drink from water fountains in some places but that point, before getting to that gate (which I unlocked by somehow jumping behind it at one point), you will have to deal with many bullshit pig cop snipers, a mini battlelord on a rotating platform, a goddamn CYCLOID EMPEROR (though he can be ignored for now) and other threats, while your ammo runs dry at this point (will be mostly low on first 3 weapons and have about 15-20 pipebombs left that will not be any help against those snipers). Those modified stronger red pig cops with mortars are bastards. It was so frustrating having to die like 100 times in this map (though half of the deaths were caused by the moving platforms, as I had to deal with them when backtracking several times) because I was stuck with about 10% health at that point and really had to savescum or jump into water (if I could make it instead of falling to a hard surface) so I could reach that cabin at beginning to drink toilet water. I had to repeat this a couple of times. It was just very frustrating and time consuming.

And the map has points where you have to drink water as there isn't enough health until the better parts with unlocking the gate (in front of building that requires red card, there is another water fountain that allows faster health recovery by carefully tapping the OPEN button) and the elevator with multiple floors when unlocking that part of the map which is IMO the best part of the map because at this point you will get most of your weapons and be doing good on health, ammo and armor. Until that time, you have to endure all that crap earlier and some confusing puzzles (that I have to admit checking mapster at few points, though I also read Quakis' walkthrough a few times, mostly at that part halfway in the map, before the floors part and maybe the part near the end because I had missed the part that leads to the yellow card).

Oh yeah and got softlocked once when I jumped down and killed a few enemies, only to find out that gate was locked and I couldn't jump back again, effectively having no way out. I had to use an earlier save game to continue as I refused to cheat. Good thing I had many backup saves.

It's impossible for me to talk about all the puzzles and to write a full walkthrough when Quakis has kindly offered to help us (I highly recommend his walkthrough instead) but I will give some hints and some tricks.

There is a multi-switch that operates a cannon. You can use it to kill (or weaken?) the Cycloid Emperor. I didn't know about this until after I killed the Cycloid with my own RPG/Devastator. This was after the frustrating parts when managed to find more weapons and have decent ammo for them. Until that time, you should ignore the Cycloid. He DOESN'T end the map/episode when killed, so don't worry about that, as the map makes use of a few bosses and there is an Overlord later that also doesn't end the map when killed. Thankfully ammo is plentiful by this point.

There are various secrets in the map, most of which are just found on ledges (they reward you with shotgun shells, health, RPG ammo and stuff like that). One of the secrets (which I found at end with help of Mapster, as it was only secret left I found) is actually empty. A pointless empty secret! It is found just above the entrance of the main building that requires the red card. Use the jetpack (which you get at the end of the map) to fly up here and reach it. See one of the screenshots to see what I mean.

There exists a SECRET EXIT. It is found on a wooden beam (after you activate the switch to make the elevator go to Floor 8). Be careful when jumping on the beams or if you fall, you will get injured or potentially die (if it was a very long fall). If you make your way, you will get an atomic health, kill a few troopers and find the green nuke button. This sends you to a modified version of Dukem Memorial Hospital. Thankfully, you retain your arsenal, so make sure you have as much health/armor/ammo/inventory stuff as possible before choosing the secret exit!

There are also two other ways to end the level: Defeat the boss (Alien Queen) or press the normal nuke button. I decided to go for all the endings to get the full experience.

I entered the secret level with 110 health, 100 armor, full ammo on everything (except pistol ammo and shrinker ammo, which were 130 and 30 respectively) and all inventory items (most were at 100%). This should make the hospital map more bearable, if you found the map too difficult when starting with just the pistol. The map is otherwise the same as the standalone release (there are very few differences but I think the enemy and item placement should be the same).

As for the new features, you get new modified/stronger enemies (an orange octabrain that launches 2-3 octa blasts, inspired by LR&WB octabrain variants), an orange protector drone (that launches freeze blasts and can actually be shrunk, though I didn't know that until very late in the map when a regular protector shrunk that orange one by mistake) and of course the annoying-ass red pig cops that are stronger and have mortars as well. The troopers also seem to die instantly upon touching the water. There may be more modified enemies as well, such as more colored pig cops with more health/stronger shotgun attacks.

New art, seems pretty good. Though you also get some art from REDNECK RAMPAGE and that gives me mixed feelings because based on my own experience, I'm not a huge fan of RR and its art was often used in trashy duke3d TCs/mods. Though it didn't affect this map's quality and the RR textures were nicely used and fitting in some places.

Overall, a decent map that had too many frustrating parts that dragged the experience down. Which is a shame because I really liked the design and the puzzles in the second half of the map. I just didn't like some of the earlier sections, they seemed too much.

Bloodyhell

This is a modified/updated version of the Dukem Memorial Hospital. The only differences I could notice was that it no longer crashed with Too Many Sprites Spawned near beginning, though I still had a few random granular crashes at times, mostly in the beginning street areas and that ugly brick texture was no longer present in the map. Some modified enemies from Lighthouse have also appeared this time around, such as the stronger red protector drones, who use freeze blasts and they can be shrunk.

I've also had a weird-ass glitch where microscopic sized Protector Drones spawned at one point (when I managed to kill those captured babes with pipebombs/trip mines, just to also get rid of those slimer eggs) and they killed me a few times before I realized what the hell was going on and why I was getting attacked out of nowhere. Turns out they spawned at size 1 and they were very difficult to see and get rid of them, not to mention they could also shrink me (which dealt 3 dmg this time around instead of 0 dmg). It was pretty annoying. Other than that, I had another death later from two protector drones clawing me in a cramped space, despite having like 160 health and a decent armor left, they still managed to fuck me up as the shotgun was a bad choice when they surrounded me. I should have selected chaingun/freezer. :P

Not much else to say. The map is pretty much the same as it was when released initially. I had much more fun this time around starting with all the weapons and inventory items present from the previous map, which allows a more relaxing time with the map and not having to worry too much about health and ammo anymore.

Deadfall

This is probably the easiest map from Billy Boy and is also probably the coolest (and the one I've enjoyed the most). Puzzles are a lot more logical (I rarely got stuck, not sure if I ever had to consult Mapster, besides finding the secret I missed), there are only two secrets to find and besides some expected con changes, there is even a nice feature where you have SIX access card types. Besides the usual 3, you also get BROWN, GREEN and BLACK. As the readme file mentions, you will find them in this order: BROWN, BLUE, RED, GREEN, YELLOW, BLACK. The green card is actually called "Greenish card".

As expected, the cards and their corresponding slots function as intended, with the only limitations (as the readme says) being the new access cards appear as blue into the inventory box and when Duke does the inserting animation, the card in his hand is blue. Otherwise, this is masterfully done and for this feature alone, this makes the map worth playing.

As for the actual map, there's many things to say. Boss fights are epic (there are even two blue cycloid bosses awaiting you later in the map, one which you can kill with some weird ass projectiles fired from a gun, though I didn't find about that until I killed him with my own weapons), puzzles are well done (although slightly confusing in a few places), gameplay is mostly good (far better than any map so far) and so on.

Two secrets to find:
-In the room with the commander and red card, look through the window on the left side, jump on the roof of that building (use steroids if you can't make the jump), you will collect Devastator + ammo, Shrinker ammo and Atomic Health
-In a later part of the map (where you will deal with the first blue cycloid), go through those windows until you arrive in a small room with some enemies and a pool table. Look at the sign which says QUIET ON THE SET. Behind the fake wall, you can find a bunch of ammo packs (Shotgun ammo, Expander ammo, Freezer ammo).

Overall, I highly recommend this map. It's not often you see custom access cards being used. Not to mention it was quite action packed and it flowed better than the other maps with only a few parts being confusing. Will the next map be better or not? Let's find out!

Bedrone

Honestly, as impressive as this map is, I have mixed feelings about it.

I admit I couldn't finish this map initially due to some bugs/glitches that prevented me from advancing further. The furthest I got at that point was killing the Cycloid Emperor that spawned on top of one pillar and then later on I managed to kill a Mini Overlord in an underground section. I ended up with two places where I needed to insert a battery and I couldn't find any more. I suspect they spawned earlier than intended and when I grabbed them earlier, they probably got replaced by another battery I picked up at a later point or something like that. Not to mention that one door could only be opened with kicking, telling me that something broke and eventually I got stuck again. This led me no choice but to restart the map because all 10 save slots I had were long past the part I supposedly screwed up.

Not to mention, the very first time I played the map, I didn't load the con files, as I just started the map with the command line parameters instead of running the Bedrone.bat file. After playing for 5 minutes and realizing my mistake of not loading the con file (noticed a floating microphone, a canister from Shadow Warrior that couldn't be destroyed and some B letters), I exited and then realized I had to run the bat file. Running the bat file (in dosbox of course) renames some files and automatically starts the map on skill 2 (as it is also the case with two maps from Bob Masters). To change the skill in game, just select the USER MAP option (yes if you load an user map in original DOS version, you get the USER MAP option, though it only works in Atomic v1.4/v1.5, not in the original 1.3D release).

After a couple of days, I came back, started the map from beginning (disregarding any of my saves) and after making my way faster to the place I got stuck previously, I eventually managed to complete it. I had it no longer glitch on me. I avoided the battery that spawned on top of pillar (in middle of map) and I didn't collect the red battery (that you get in those frustrating areas with lots of pig cops/enforcers spawned) until the very end before the backtracking part. Not sure what's with these batteries, they are glitchy at times and sometimes grabbing (or not grabbing them) still activates the place it is supposed to unlock (and spawn more monsters).

Even the ones already activated in the wall told me "New Battery Required" when pressing near them. You can tell this complicated battery system is quite buggy. Which is a shame because I really liked the idea of using these batteries, it was a clever idea that turned out to be not that well implemented. Might have worked better if each battery color was used only once and in rest the access cards being used or maybe mixing up new access cards (from the previous Deadfall map) with the battery system. It's too bad because the level design is some of the best I've ever seen and there were some clever features being used (like how your explosives get temporary removed from your inventory at some points in the map, which is indicated by the ammo reading the minus sign) and I liked the battery system overall but it's too bad the frustrations with combat (especially the new bullshit titular BEDRONE enemy) and the glitchy batteries dragged down the experience with the map. And some sections not having much health, relying me on having to drink water from a few sources in the map.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention there's a new enemy based on the RECON car from the original game. This one has a ton of health (most effective weapons are shotgun and chaingun), spawns lasers at you which can kill you quickly or heavily injure you (if you have bad luck and the projectiles are constantly hitting you) and also even fire freeze blasts at you. If you haven't been frozen in Duke3D before, you will experience it in this map. You will be left with 1 HP for a few seconds and your armor (if you had any before being frozen) will disappear, much like how the armor disappears when you die. This means if you get frozen, it's better to load your save (more often than not you will get shattered by the lasers anyway) as it's not worth wasting the armor like that, even if health can be recovered with water fountains. It's a waste of time and you are better off just trying until you survive. Oh and don't worry, you get to fight at least 10-15 of these in the whole map. So be prepared and make sure you save often and use several save slots!

Puzzles as usual are clever with the exception of a few that seemed confusing at times. I also liked the return of the clear water (heh) from the Clearwater map. It's so cool to see this water being done in vanilla Duke3D, which is something that I thought only source ports can do. And while there were user maps before (such as Alejandro Glavic's maps) that had transparent water, I think what Billy Boy has achieved within vanilla Duke3D limitations is truly impressive.

Such a shame that various factors had to drag down the experience in this map. After enjoying Deadfall a lot and felt like the author's maps were getting even better, Bedrone felt like a step backward with a couple annoying/confusing puzzles, a new cool and buggy feature with the batteries, annoying monster placement and a somewhat miserable gameplay experience of save-scumming and drinking lots of water, Bedrone wasn't very fun to play through. A masterpiece in terms of design but not something that I'd want to ever play again. Oh and if you are wondering, the map has no secrets at all. I killed 253 enemies in total, not sure if there were more than that.

If you want to play ALL Billy Boy's maps, I'd recommend playing them in the chronological order with maybe skipping Oranges and Valves. Or at least if you want to experience them all, then start with Deadfall, as Forge suggested. This is the map I recommend the most, with being more accessible compared to the rest. Other highlights include Clearwater, Lighthouse and of course Bedrone. Just watch for those annoying parts and the potential softlocks. If you want to play Dukem Memorial Hospital, then you can decide between the standalone version or the one included as a secret level inside Lighthouse (aka Biglight).

With all that said, I will be reviewing the Bob Masters' maps soon. Hopefully writing about them before the end of month. I suppose I can also say that I've had enough of hearing Dethtoll this month as every single map for this month, used the default E1L2 song, with the exception of the secret level Bloodyhell (which is named E1L11), which played Sneaky Snake (the song from The Abyss).

In the meantime, here are the previous month's nominations:

Community Build Project Series
Mikko Sandt's Maps + Duke Tournament + MSSP Episode + The Brave New World
Trilogy Packs (Aqua + JMW + Jungle Tour + KaiseR Land + Lorch + Munasta + Skycity)

NAM disappears from the list as it was one-time only nomination for a BUILD Engine game. Don't worry, other BUILD engine games will be nominated later this year. I promise.
I don't have any new nominations (not even one to replace the earlier option) as I want to give a chance for existing entries to win. Starting with July's nominations for August, there will be many new nominations and they will overwhelm the existing entries. Because of that, it is recommended to choose wisely. You have the choice between two packs/series of user maps or a series of maps and TCs made by Mikko Sandt. As usual, add a + next to your choice and highlight it in Bold.

Thanks everyone for the comments! Have a nice weekend and enjoy the pictures, which are inside the zip files. Just note that biglight.zip also contains two bonus screens from the secret map, while in bedrone.zip, the first 31 screens are from my "failed" playthrough, the rest screens are from my successful playthrough (it also shows a screenshot of the save/load menu that the map was completed on CGS skill).
2

User is online   Quacken 

#13

Since making that first comment on being stuck, I've yet to complete Valves, remaining at that same position being stonewalled by the first yellow key. I started a new Billy Boy map, being Deadfall, but fittingly I got stuck on that map's (first?) yellow key, and I don't have quite enough respect for this guy to go back and try to find a solution. I would have loved to play Bob Masters' other maps, but they both didn't load their custom textures upon me loading them up. I know I have to finagle around with the BAT file included with both of them as per the instructions on their text documents, but I'm not as knowledgable with Build-adjacent files as I am with Doom-adjacent ones.

I'm definitely abandoning ship on Billy Boy's maps. I'll probably only write a general review of what I've played of Valves and Deadfall only to let off steam, if I'll even do that at all. I am still interested in Bob Masters' other offerings, but I'd definitely need some clearer instructions on how to actually use a BAT file.
2

User is offline   Aleks 

#14

View PostQuacken, on 24 June 2022 - 01:28 PM, said:

Since making that first comment on being stuck, I've yet to complete Valves, remaining at that same position being stonewalled by the first yellow key. I started a new Billy Boy map, being Deadfall, but fittingly I got stuck on that map's (first?) yellow key, and I don't have quite enough respect for this guy to go back and try to find a solution. I would have loved to play Bob Masters' other maps, but they both didn't load their custom textures upon me loading them up. I know I have to finagle around with the BAT file included with both of them as per the instructions on their text documents, but I'm not as knowledgable with Build-adjacent files as I am with Doom-adjacent ones.

I'm definitely abandoning ship on Billy Boy's maps. I'll probably only write a general review of what I've played of Valves and Deadfall only to let off steam, if I'll even do that at all. I am still interested in Bob Masters' other offerings, but I'd definitely need some clearer instructions on how to actually use a BAT file.

You can try opening the BAT file with notepad, it should be just a few lines of code that would explicitly state it's making a backup copy of your original CON/ART tiles and renaming the CON/ART files that come with the map to the names used by the game. You can then manually change the names of the ART and CON files to match the names as per the source in BAT file, then put all the files into a new directory in your main Eduke directory and run the game specifying this new directory in the "custom game directory" list.
2

User is offline   FistMarine 

#15

Sorry for taking forever to reply! Here is my review for the remaining maps for this month, this time for Bob Masters! But first...

View PostQuacken, on 24 June 2022 - 01:28 PM, said:

Since making that first comment on being stuck, I've yet to complete Valves, remaining at that same position being stonewalled by the first yellow key. I started a new Billy Boy map, being Deadfall, but fittingly I got stuck on that map's (first?) yellow key, and I don't have quite enough respect for this guy to go back and try to find a solution. I would have loved to play Bob Masters' other maps, but they both didn't load their custom textures upon me loading them up. I know I have to finagle around with the BAT file included with both of them as per the instructions on their text documents, but I'm not as knowledgable with Build-adjacent files as I am with Doom-adjacent ones.

I'm definitely abandoning ship on Billy Boy's maps. I'll probably only write a general review of what I've played of Valves and Deadfall only to let off steam, if I'll even do that at all. I am still interested in Bob Masters' other offerings, but I'd definitely need some clearer instructions on how to actually use a BAT file.

Rename the art file to tiles014.art and the con file to game.con. Assuming you are using EDuke32, you can put each map's content into its own directory and load it up with Custom Game Directory, as Aleks mentioned. I think it should work. Hope this helps!

As for the maps you got stuck on, sorry to hear that! This proved that Billy Boy's maps are very difficult to play through and not very player-friendly from what I can see. Based on my own experience, you need to have a LOT of patience to even get through them. While looking now in Mapster, I got a solution for finding the yellow card and where to place it in Deadfall map:

Finding the yellow key: Go near the beginning where there was a forcefield (that blocked you at the beginning of the map) surrounded by toxic purple lava. It should be disabled at this point in the map. Go further and you should fight some monsters and eventually an Overlord boss that doesn't end the episode/map when killed. Kill him and collect the yellow card and other goodies.

Using the yellow key: Near the place where you used the blue card earlier, you have to swim and then resurface in a different location which requires you to climb some stairs. Once you climb the stairs, it will lead you on top with some monsters waiting you. Once you get rid of them and watch out for some traps, use the yellow card, then you will unlock the last part of the map, which should take you at least 30 more minutes to complete, depending on how fast it will take you to solve a couple more puzzles. You aren't very far from the exit, so I recommend going back and completing the Deadfall map. If not, you can try playing the rest maps by Bob Masters. :)

Speaking of Bob Masters, it's time for the reviews and wrapping up this month! ;)

Bizarre

Wow, just wow! This map was very impressive! Amazing visuals and the new art used was really cool. Puzzles are mostly on the easier side and the combat is also fairly easy (compared to Billy Boy's maps) because you are given a lot of supplies. The ending is tricky and since there is no way to backtrack (after solving the 9 rooms puzzle and dropping down), it is recommended to grab everything before advancing. I hope you saved a few atomic healths for the end, as you will need them for the final battle! And make sure to have some armor as well.

I was lucky that I never died, although there were a few tricky parts. Besides the final battle (which is foreshadowed when you visit the room first time), there are a few platforming bits, a timed sequence to grab the blue card before the ceiling crushes you and a somewhat obvious trap (make sure to read the message first). I got saved from that trap by stepping back at the last second and it caused that room to simply be unavailable. Might be possible to grab the goodies by jumping and not triggering the touchplate, though I haven't tried that yet, plus there is no jetpack to avoid it. And during the final battle, I got saved by the medkit, as I got swarmed by a couple monsters, though there are also plenty of supplies. The RPG and Devastator were the best choices for me, obviously being careful to not blow myself up in the process.

There are 5 secrets to find, with the first one is ONLY POSSIBLE TO GET AT BEGINNING, as it's the first point of no return!
-At the beginning, in the second room that contains two enforcers and has the sign reading PROTONIC RESEARCH, press on the computer which will open a nearby compartment that contains two large medkits.
-After door number 2, at part with the invisible monster footsteps, just before the part with invisible monsters, go behind the waterfall to access the next secret containing one atomic health and two chaingun ammo boxes.
-After door number 3, when you get to the last part (with the commander and a switch), press the switch to reveal two secrets, one contains a Portable Medkit and RPG Ammo, the other contains Pipebombs and Holoduke.
-After door number 4, press on the computer with the Duke3D art opened inside BUILD editor, it will reveal a nearby compartment containing Laser Trip Bombs.

Although you can do the puzzle in any order you want, I recommend doing them in the order you can do them at first, with the last 3 rooms (4, 5 and 6, if I'm not mistaken) done at the end. I did them in this order, except I started with the second room because I needed some extra pipebombs for those trip mines in the dark corridor after the first room and thought that I might as well gather some more explosives first by doing the second room first.

Once you complete the entire puzzle (all 9 rooms), go back to the beginning and you will notice a new passage has opened. This leads to the final part of the map. As I mentioned earlier, I highly recommend making a save before dropping down and be sure to grab everything before entering the final areas!

Without repeating what Quacken said in his previous review and to avoid spoiling too much, I will just say this was a very cool map and it certainly exceeded my expectations. Don't miss this one! Will the author's other maps be as good as this one? Let's find out!

Asylum

Unfortunately, I couldn't get this map to work properly. I installed it correctly into the folder (a copy of the ATOMIC folder renamed to ASYLUM, I always use backups and clean folders for each map/TCs, especially one like this) and every time I tried to run the map, it gave me a CON error about the SPACESHUTTLE parameter not defined (or something similar). I read the text file, it claims it runs both in v1.3D and 1.5. And yes, whether I ran the bat file or renamed the art/con files myself, I still couldn't get the map to work.

It wasn't until I realized that the ASYLUM.CON file is based off the Duke3D 1.3D GAME.CON file for some reason. I'm not sure why couldn't the author supply different con files (like Penthouse Paradise and Zero Hour TC) and have the batch file detect which Duke3D version you have installed. This is also unusual compared to the author's other two maps that use the Atomic GAME.CON file, not to mention the text file claiming it runs in both Duke3D versions, yet it doesn't work in the Atomic Edition.

I didn't bother with installing the map's contents into a copy of DUKE3D folder (basically a copy of the Duke3D 1.3D folder), since all maps for this month were for Atomic Edition and I decided to play this map without the con changes, just the art installed. I think the map still worked fine in the end, except for one point where I had to lure an enemy and jump on it to get higher access because I was required to pick up a barrel but due to con not installed, I couldn't. :o

As a result, I also ended up with fire vases placed randomly around the map that had to be destroyed to progress and they were even inside one of the secret areas.

I died a few times this time around, from falling into the pit near beginning (hint: those vases are showing the correct path to walk on the invisible ledge), I got squished twice by the fast crusher later on (I thought I needed to use steroids to run through it but then found a nearby vent to progress through the map) and a suicide with RPG near the end in those lava rooms.

While the map felt a bit disappointing (especially compared to the author's previous cool Bizarre map and the even better newer entry, 2121 A.D.), I still liked some parts, such as the rooms that had the enemies and stuff "frozen" in time, I got reminded by a similar area in one of the levels of Oblivion TC (in episode 3 I think?). That makes me wonder if Zaxtor (RIP) was inspired by Bob Masters' maps or is it the other way around?

If you have trouble getting this map to work, please at least try to play it without the con file, it will still work fine. At the part where you are supposed to place a barrel, just lure an Octabrain (I initially tried with an enforcer and didn't really work) and jump on the monster's head, then you can get rid of it when you have reached the ledge. Have a backup save before that, just in case something goes wrong. And if you killed the monsters earlier and got stuck, hope you have an earlier save!

There are 4 Secrets to find, with the first one only available early before the platforming part!
-Destroy the fire extinguisher near the CONFORMITY IS BLISS sign, to access a small room. In the left side of the room, press on the panel to reveal an atomic health.
-In the dark room with a blue line in the middle, press on the middle computer to reveal a room that contains blue fire vases (???)
-In the room with the blue triangle and 3 buttons puzzle, press on the map to reveal a small compartment containing Shotgun ammo and Chaingun ammo.
-Near the end of level, before you find the Devastator, fly with the jetpack high into one opening that contains RPG ammo, Devastator ammo and two large medkits.

Unofficial secret: Before dropping down into the lava room, press on the left panel to reveal a jetpack! Will greatly help you traverse lava in the next room. You will find another jetpack a bit later in the next room, though having this one early on is very much needed! Actually, just realized now while looking in Mapster, there are 3 jetpacks in total, the last two will be found in the last lava areas. They will greatly help to navigate, fight monsters while flying (which proved somewhat problematic when doing the map keyboard only) and backtrack to the previous rooms if you missed any secrets or goodies.

At the end you fight a Mini Battlelord. You shouldn't have any problem with taking him out. After taking him out, press on the nuke button to finish the map!

Overall, despite this map being a bit disappointing, I still had fun with it and I don't regret playing it, even if I did without the con file loaded (the new art was enough to make the map playable for me) and the next map is going to be even better.

2121 A.D.

Here it is! A true masterpiece! The futuristic setting is amazing, while the new art and con effects are very impressive! I actually played through this map many years ago in EDuke32 (back in 2014 or so, after an initial failed attempt in 2008-2009 when I downloaded the map from Duke Repository and couldn't get the map working properly in JFDuke3D) and just last year I played through it in DOSBox. Now, I decided to play it once more and take new screenshots because I can't seem to find the old ones.

I don't want to spoil it, just play this map, it's very good! The puzzles should be logical to progress, so I don't need to write a walkthrough for it.

Instead, here are the 3 secrets to find in this map:
-Inside the theater, press on the handprint near the Duke Nukem II panel to reveal a hidden room. The room is guarded by a pig cop. Once taking him out, collect the atomic health behind the crate and press on the switch to reveal a nearby compartment containing chaingun ammo. Note that this secret is only accessible early on as the theater becomes unavailable much later in the map!
-Inside the restaurant, behind the coffee machines, go through the fake wall to collect an atomic health.
-Above the East Town Towers, in the right side you will find pipebombs, chaingun ammo and atomic health.

Final thoughts: While Billy Boy's maps are very impressive and I'm sure they took a long time to be made, I just didn't like how most maps suffered from being very long, very puzzle heavy and very annoying combat-wise (too much reliance on sniper pig cops and sometimes there wasn't much health around, though it usually compensated with having a place to drink water from, so health wasn't very limited, only in some areas and it was annoying having to go and stand there to refill your health every time you lost so much health).

I don't know if it was a good idea to have all these long maps played in a single month, maybe I should have only focused on having Billy Boy's maps for this month as even then it would be still too much. One map can take hours to complete. 7-8 maps (depending whether you count the separate updated hospital map) can take days to complete. I didn't know how long were the maps until I played them, as until this month, I wasn't very familiar with Billy Boy's maps. I only finished the hospital map many years ago and attempted to play others but didn't get very far.

Now having finished ALL the maps in their entirely without cheating, other than consulting Mapster for some parts and secrets (which may or may not be cheating), I don't regret playing these maps, it was nice to finally finish them all in their entirety.

The only actual cheating I did was separately with DNKROZ & DNCLIP, like in my first failed attempt of Bedrone when I got soft-locked and wanted to see the rest of the map, as well as to find a particular secret or place of progression in Valves (I was probably near end of the map anyway), though after I did that, I always quit the game to reset cheats and then start the game again as I don't like cheating and then saving with cheats activated. I always prefer to do clean playthroughs without cheats, as it feels more satisfying to beat the maps without any cheating. Still, I felt some of the maps were too much for me and I didn't have that much of a good time with them.

As for Bob Masters' maps, they were all excellent (Asylum was less so, due to the non-working con file, which partially ruined the experience) and worth playing at least once just to see what they are about. Bizarre and especially 2121 A.D. are highly recommended!

As for the next month's choice, interestingly there have been no votes so far. Don't forget to vote as otherwise a winner will be decided randomly using random.org. ;)
Here are the current choices once again:

Community Build Project Series
Mikko Sandt's Maps + Duke Tournament + MSSP Episode + The Brave New World
Trilogy Packs (Aqua + JMW + Jungle Tour + KaiseR Land + Lorch + Munasta + Skycity)

Additional note: At the beginning of July, I will be away for a few days with my parents in a trip and I hope I will be able to host the new topic before I leave. Otherwise, I hope someone volunteers to host the topic. The new July 2022 topic should hopefully be up in Friday evening (Eastern European Time). :)
For now, I will upload the remaining zips with screenshots.

Thanks everyone for participating and see you on the next month's club! Have a nice day!

This post has been edited by FistMarine: 29 June 2022 - 02:38 AM

4

User is offline   ck3D 

#16

Fun fact: 2121 A.D. was released exactly twenty years ago today (see: http://www.scent-88....21ad/2121ad.php)

I still want to play at least Bedrone and Lighthouse for this. Can't believe it's already been a month since I kept postponing finding the time. Will definitely be bumping this thread at some point though, if not before the end of the month.

Won't vote yet because I can never seem to manage playing on time and hate influencing results when that's the case (which seems standard), but looking forward to what others will be picking and might eventually cast a last minute vote if I can make it through Bedrone and Lighthouse on schedule. My sleep schedule seems fucked again, so actually maybe.

Enjoy your trip FistMarine!

This post has been edited by ck3D: 29 June 2022 - 04:52 AM

3

User is online   Quacken 

#17

Okay. It might have taken the last day of June to do it, but I did in fact finish a Billy Boy map - Deadfall, thanks to FistMarine's advice. My greatest thanks to them for their advice, and I hope they enjoy their trip. With that being said:

Deadfall

Just... where do I even begin with this? I guess by starting with the elephant in the room. If you want the shorthand version, Deadfall is a nightmare trip through a hideously labrynthine hellscape built by an individual who is about as interested in telling you where to go as he is interested in being a nice person. Billy Boy almost gets off at the fact that his maps are far too cryptic and convoluted than they should be. In Billy Boy's world, a cracked wall without a Pipebomb in front of it could either lead to somewhere useful or take you out to the main hub which you already have plenty of access to. A door could either open perfectly fine or send you on a goose chase to find a hidden macguffin that magically decides you get to play Duke 3D more. Or a button combination could either open the door right next to you, or the one that's around two corners and a flight of stairs (without an audio queue of course). If this is really what are defined as "puzzles", they're about as effective as trying to hit a bullseye in Darts while blindfolded. As a matter of fact, they're not puzzles at all; they're just brute forcing every door in the area you're in trying to figure out which one unlocked when you hit a random switch, because YOU KNOW it could be any one of them. And the rest of the map, oh god... this will definitely bite me in the ass later on, but it's relevant for this map, Billy Boy's other offerings, and other maps later on in Map of the Month Clubs that fit this criteria, so I'll just put my stance out on this:

If your level requires 5 or more keys in order to exit it, that level is garbage.

The six keys in this map don't really do anything in interesting ways, they only really serve to artificially extend the map's runtime to keep you running around and going insane. You could probably cut the yellow, brown and black keys with minor alterations to the map and it would probably make it tolerable to play. Not even the combat is particularly interesting. I also hate Valves from what I've played of it, but at least that map had some decently frantic combat. Here there's just not much of anything. The new Protector Drone variant gets majorly gimped with the fact it no longer loses its edge of being able to "shrinkfrag" you, and it's also just used in genuinely awful places. The Mini variants of the Overlord and the Cycloid Emperor along with their bigger counterparts feel like afterthoughts, and Assault Commanders just get shoved into tight spaces where they can easily close the gap on you and spin around. Fuck this map. If I ever have to play another Billy Boy map for whatever reason, it'll be too soon. It's not quite the worst thing I've ever played for Duke 3D, but it's sure down in the trash heap.

1/10.

As for my vote:

Community Build Project Series *
Mikko Sandt's Maps + Duke Tournament + MSSP Episode + The Brave New World
Trilogy Packs (Aqua + JMW + Jungle Tour + KaiseR Land + Lorch + Munasta + Skycity)

This post has been edited by Quacken: 29 June 2022 - 03:01 PM

2

User is offline   ck3D 

#18

@Quacken: I'm going to sound like a broken record (that can barely play itself, too), but it sounds like coincidence has had it that you've literally tried all of Billy Boy's 'worst' maps; his entire catalog is cryptic, but my favorites are by far Lighthouse and Bedrone because in those the design, conceptual grandness and sense of adventure really make up for the time getting lost and turns a lot of the negative into a positive. Those still take forever to beat, though and since you're obviously not a fan of this style of levels, I wouldn't necessarily recommend that you give them a try (even I have been discouraged for a month), but maybe you can check them out in the editor or in God Mode out of curiosity and maybe that will help you understand the hype behind Billy Boy's style a bit better, I know for me those two maps were key in learning his language, and they're regarded as Duke 3D user map classics (in my opinion rightfully so).

This post has been edited by ck3D: 30 June 2022 - 12:47 AM

3

User is offline   Aleks 

#19

View PostQuacken, on 29 June 2022 - 03:00 PM, said:

If your level requires 5 or more keys in order to exit it, that level is garbage.

Well, in all fairness my Submachine had 6 keys (one of them being optional and 2 yellow keys being kind of parallel to each other), so... :D

View Postck3D, on 30 June 2022 - 12:46 AM, said:

@Quacken: I'm going to sound like a broken record (that can barely play itself, too), but it sounds like coincidence has had it that you've literally tried all of Billy Boy's 'worst' maps; his entire catalog is cryptic, but my favorites are by far Lighthouse and Bedrone because in those the design, conceptual grandness and sense of adventure really make up for the time getting lost and turns a lot of the negative into a positive. Those still take forever to beat, though and since you're obviously not a fan of this style of levels, I wouldn't necessarily recommend that you give them a try (even I have been discouraged for a month), but maybe you can check them out in the editor or in God Mode out of curiosity and maybe that will help you understand the hype behind Billy Boy's style a bit better, I know for me those two maps were key in learning his language, and they're regarded as Duke 3D user map classics (in my opinion rightfully so).

Agree here, I would also add Cranium/Clearwater to the bunch, if only for the sole uniqueness and the Build tricks it used that were quite groundbreaking.

Anyway, on one hand, I feel kinda bad for not replaying any of the maps suggested for this month, but on the other hand, maybe Billy Boy's maps might really be something you should only ever experience once to be able to say you beat it, then not really ever come back to them. I was quite busy spending most of my playtime either beta-testing on two large-scale projects or working on my own map (and also playing a bunch of the newer releases that sprinkled lately). Not sure how I would find them now, but here are some of my short impressions about each of the 10 maps for this month. I've played all of Billy Boy's maps about 10 years ago, while I played/replayed Bob Master's maps a year or 2 ago.

Bizarre
I played this one as a kid and obviously was blown away by how unique and complex this was due to new art and con/build tricks. Stuff like the main Escher-esque main hub was a genuinely cool idea with great execution, and the "giant invisible alien" thing was also stuck with me for a long time. Then there's all the stuff with inverted gravity (an idea which was probably better executed in Asylum). Despite being quite long, this map doesn't overstay its welcome as each room is kind of different.

Asylum
First of his map I've played as a kid and once again, the "green rubber can be dropped" thing stuck with me, this is also something that kind of inspired part of the mouse puzzle in The Conundrum. There're also the rooms with slowed down time, which is such a cool sci-fi concept implemented in mere Duke. The design might not be the best, being rough here and there as if the author was just trying to push his ideas, but it's a very enjoyable map.

2121 AD
Didn't play this one as a kid for some reason and this is the most "regular" level by Bob Masters that somehow respects the general level design principles at least to some degree. The futuristic city looks great and still implements a lot of great ideas, but doesn't feel as gimmicky as the other two maps (which doesn't necessarily mean it's his best one). There's the no-longer working trick at the beginning with the text on a fake transparent background that was abusing a glitch fixed by now in EDuke. The other stuff I remember quite vividly are the conveyor walkways for "citizen" Dukes and the large ass Battlelord serving as a boss (that doesn't really pose that much of a threat).

Now for Billy Boy...

Oranges
This map is pain. It probably didn't take me as much to finish as it took FistMarine, but it's still one of the longest and most convoluted maps for Duke. Not sure if I checked in Mapster or used some kind of walkthrough to beat it, but it still felt like an achievement. Kinda funny it's all based around, well, the orange juice factory?

Valves
I kinda enjoyed this one as far as I remember, though it gets a bit blurry now. With the red brick walls, puzzles and the title, it now somehow ironically reminds me of the Submachine game series by Mateusz Skutnik.

Dukem Memorial Hospital
Pretty sure this is the one where I also got stuck a few times, also remember I've been having some crashing problems with too many sprites spawned while playing it, not sure how I mitigated it in the end. IIRC it lost its hospital theme quite easily and ventured into something completely different, also being difficult enough to guarantee to check out how to proceed in Mapster.

Deadfall
From what I remember, this was the most straightforward map of Billy Boy, but now after Quacken's comment, I'm not sure anymore. It also felt like the texturing in this one was the most consistent, something not all of his maps tend to be exactly precise at, but it made me think it was his last work (which, well, is not true at all).

Clearwater
This map is great, even if kind of annoying to play. It probably introduced the (in)famous Billy Boy's window trick, which was also used in Bedrone and Lighthouse IIRC - which is making a one-way window that lets you see from a building on which you can also climb from the outside up on the roof. This might not be as directly noticeable to people who don't have a hands-on experience with Build, but nevertheless always helps to increase the "fake 3D" immersion stemming from all the SOS structures. Not sure if it's this map or Bedrone, but there's one particularly neat pipe opening mechanism that uses slopes and rotated sectors to imitate a hatch going up as if rotating around a horizontal axis.

Lighthouse
This map indeed is an adventure of its own, as we are literally ascending up a mountain and then up the lighthouse for progression. There's new art (from Redneck Rampage, at least in part I think?) that doesn't clash with Duke's regular art. The map's layout is once again a complete SOS mess, to the point I'm kind of afraid to even open it up in Mapster - but despite all the convoluted logic, it's a wonderful map.

Bedrone
This level is something else, it should be approached really as its own episode/game inside of Duke's engine. It probably does as many new effects in CON as pre-EDuke Duke would allow without looking bogus or gimmicky, yet also maintains a very Dukish feel throughout. The grand scale of this level is super impressive, even more so with how it was still done within the old limits. Billy Boy's best map and my favourite piece by him.
2

User is online   Quacken 

#20

View PostAleks, on 30 June 2022 - 02:44 AM, said:

Well, in all fairness my Submachine had 6 keys (one of them being optional and 2 yellow keys being kind of parallel to each other), so... :D


At least one of those keys are optional, and the two yellow keys are really just a big elongated section where you get to choose how to start it. I was definitely thinking of Submachine when I wrote that though, I wasn't entirely sure how many keys there were, so I took a bit of a risk in not sounding like a hypocrite. Well, you sure caught me red-handed!

This post has been edited by Quacken: 30 June 2022 - 03:12 AM

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