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DNF #1
Duke 3D #1
[RELEASE] L.A. Meltdown 2047 "new Duke 3D level"
#32 Posted 13 November 2023 - 05:25 PM
Hey, @ck3D I'd love to play this again in DukePlus before you incorporate it into Blast Radius 
Could you re-up the wetransfer link one more time?
Could you re-up the wetransfer link one more time?
This post has been edited by Vagan: 13 November 2023 - 05:25 PM
#33 Posted 13 November 2023 - 11:05 PM
@Ax 34noff thanks! And wow that's an astute catch because while I've thought of remaking Donkey Kong in Build before, I don't remember consciously thinking about it here, I tend to make scaffoldings like that one a lot but you're right, now looking at it again the set-up and colors are similar. Donkey Kong probably did influence my approach back when I started making my first ones in fact but I've automated the process of building them so much now they just happen and I forget.
@Vagan did you try this link https://www.moddb.co...kem-3d-user-map
The version of the map that's included with/distributed along BR for now still is the vanilla version as implementing BR enemies in it isn't my priority right now (instead I am 3500 walls into a new level). But even when BR gets its unique version, I'll keep both around and circulating.
@Vagan did you try this link https://www.moddb.co...kem-3d-user-map
The version of the map that's included with/distributed along BR for now still is the vanilla version as implementing BR enemies in it isn't my priority right now (instead I am 3500 walls into a new level). But even when BR gets its unique version, I'll keep both around and circulating.
This post has been edited by ck3D: 13 November 2023 - 11:09 PM
#34 Posted 14 November 2023 - 06:25 PM
My apologies @ck3D as I completely missed that it was posted standalone on ModDB. 
Maybe that's related to my secret finding difficulties. Thanks again.
Maybe that's related to my secret finding difficulties. Thanks again.
#35 Posted 25 November 2023 - 03:56 AM
Passed the map!
Wow! quite a mix of alot of stuff, love the start with the giant buildings, then how it ended with a view of the city from the top of the spacecraft!
I personally really liked how this merged into abyss style Loved all the shrinker ammo sprinkled around those caves. specially liked the wooden bridge panels.
Shading was pretty fantastic in most places, just looked really cool.
Pretty clever shrinker puzzle, at least clever how it shoots out of the telescope. (y)
Also enjoyed working out the movie set red key puzzle.
I was also impressed with how well connected all of the areas were to eachother! nice work!
I added one screenshot with how the map looks the skybox from wgmega, just for fun.
Thanks for the map!
Wow! quite a mix of alot of stuff, love the start with the giant buildings, then how it ended with a view of the city from the top of the spacecraft!
I personally really liked how this merged into abyss style Loved all the shrinker ammo sprinkled around those caves. specially liked the wooden bridge panels.
Shading was pretty fantastic in most places, just looked really cool.
Pretty clever shrinker puzzle, at least clever how it shoots out of the telescope. (y)
Also enjoyed working out the movie set red key puzzle.
I was also impressed with how well connected all of the areas were to eachother! nice work!
I added one screenshot with how the map looks the skybox from wgmega, just for fun.
Thanks for the map!
Attached thumbnail(s)
This post has been edited by William Gee: 25 November 2023 - 03:57 AM
#36 Posted 30 November 2023 - 07:53 AM
Late reply because these days I'm bad with forums but thanks for the detailed feedback WG I'm very happy you liked the map, and I've told you before but wow that screenshot with the WGMEGA sky looks awesome, hope that works as extra incentive for people to try running the level in different mods, guess this one is fair game on the user's end seeing as it doesn't rely on new code, just base Duke 1.4+ w/ enhanced limits.
Happy you liked the abyss part too but I still wish I could have made it grander. Really would have liked to keep the Earth drill theme of the ship too but there would have been no way to salvage enough walls for an underground arena so I figured alright I'll break the story canon there and just have it take off instead, at least will result in cool visuals. But all in all I'm not totally satisfied with the ending, oh well. Might change things around in a later version for Blast Radius (or might not).
Appreciate the appreciation for the shading too, was a specific point of focus on this one, I needed just the right mood everywhere. My favorite structure around the entire map is the multi story parking garage not too far from the start. Fun fact I messed up workflow-wise there and so had to shade each and every individual sprite manually!
Nacho will be streaming the level this saturday, I'll try and be there, possibly hang out and crack bad jokes in chat:
Happy you liked the abyss part too but I still wish I could have made it grander. Really would have liked to keep the Earth drill theme of the ship too but there would have been no way to salvage enough walls for an underground arena so I figured alright I'll break the story canon there and just have it take off instead, at least will result in cool visuals. But all in all I'm not totally satisfied with the ending, oh well. Might change things around in a later version for Blast Radius (or might not).
Appreciate the appreciation for the shading too, was a specific point of focus on this one, I needed just the right mood everywhere. My favorite structure around the entire map is the multi story parking garage not too far from the start. Fun fact I messed up workflow-wise there and so had to shade each and every individual sprite manually!
Nacho will be streaming the level this saturday, I'll try and be there, possibly hang out and crack bad jokes in chat:
This post has been edited by ck3D: 30 November 2023 - 07:56 AM
#37 Posted 02 December 2023 - 09:01 AM
Stream by Nacho/TLOD is starting now, YouTube link is in the previous post.
#39 Posted 05 December 2023 - 01:29 PM
My L.A. Meltdown stream has over 1K views, now making it my top stream. Things have been slowly ramping up over time, especially after Lighthouse/Biglight.Optimistic me hopes that means there is just more people interested in Duke Nukem, though I won't deny the possibility that False Fortnite rumour probably gave it a boost. As long as I can convince a few people to give the maps a playthrough, totally worth it.
Also, I mentioned on stream that this might be my favourite map of your so far, and I still stand by that after mulling it over. The only other thought I had post-stream was about the combat. I don't know if I want more combat, since it already felt right as is, but the amount of health and ammo made me think the map was going to suddenly repopulate at some point, but it never really went that far, even though there was some new spawns that popped up. Again, not a complaint, just an observation.
Also, I mentioned on stream that this might be my favourite map of your so far, and I still stand by that after mulling it over. The only other thought I had post-stream was about the combat. I don't know if I want more combat, since it already felt right as is, but the amount of health and ammo made me think the map was going to suddenly repopulate at some point, but it never really went that far, even though there was some new spawns that popped up. Again, not a complaint, just an observation.
#40 Posted 06 December 2023 - 07:42 PM
Glad you enjoyed the map, thanks again for playing and streaming. Re: video popularity I don't think the quality of the catch really matters so much in that everyone starts fresh and humble when discovering a new activity (all the more so when said activity is a pseudo-niche), in this case there are plenty of possible factors and hooks, in general news could be what you're saying, the recent DN1&2 remasters leaking extra Duke hype into the YouTube algorithm, LA Meltdown remake idea plays with the meta a little and then last but not least your presentation of the streams, maps and social media work also is top notch, and so is your criticism/commentary. At the end of the day what matters is people see the stuff and want to learn and create. I'm not even in particular favor of hype at all costs but it's a really cool and modern platform and window into the scene you've been developing to make people aware of tools that exist and thus of their own potential as builders, and of the insane dedication people have been showing crafting all those little mini virtual worlds for decades now. Helps credibility of the art for sure, I think by design it's bound to keep building up.
Map doesn't feel too heavy indeed despite the 600+ monsters and is on the easy side minus a few fights, I wanted it to feel somewhat humble especially in comparison with later Blast Radius events, one thing that might induce that latent feeling also is that it feels like a slow buildup to then nothing that would transform the level completely like some of my other cities do, when Duke completes his mission here the city still looks quite pristine, thought it would be cool to mellow out a little for a change and focus on atmosphere over explosive action.
Tangent but there is one observation I really like in Mikko's review when he says the level looks less like an urban location and more like a Build engine playground. It's totally correct, all the while my map copies real-life architecture when the originals didn't, and so it could be argued they are more abstract and yet they aren't because both takes go for the same playground level design type standard style, and so mixed with apparent extra realism just feeds the uncanny vibe. (Also I haven't even tried the level on Let's Rock yet which removes all the turrets, but assuming that's what Mikko stuck to I'm not surprised he found it to be an absolute walk in the park)
Map doesn't feel too heavy indeed despite the 600+ monsters and is on the easy side minus a few fights, I wanted it to feel somewhat humble especially in comparison with later Blast Radius events, one thing that might induce that latent feeling also is that it feels like a slow buildup to then nothing that would transform the level completely like some of my other cities do, when Duke completes his mission here the city still looks quite pristine, thought it would be cool to mellow out a little for a change and focus on atmosphere over explosive action.
Tangent but there is one observation I really like in Mikko's review when he says the level looks less like an urban location and more like a Build engine playground. It's totally correct, all the while my map copies real-life architecture when the originals didn't, and so it could be argued they are more abstract and yet they aren't because both takes go for the same playground level design type standard style, and so mixed with apparent extra realism just feeds the uncanny vibe. (Also I haven't even tried the level on Let's Rock yet which removes all the turrets, but assuming that's what Mikko stuck to I'm not surprised he found it to be an absolute walk in the park)
This post has been edited by ck3D: 06 December 2023 - 07:46 PM
#41 Posted 25 December 2023 - 07:15 AM
Finally played the map, took me about 2 hours during two sessions. I liked a lot of the city architecture with texture/sprite combinations and shadings. The interconnections between each "level" were neat, I liked how you could see even The Abyss part from the first locations. As for the "level recreations", Death Row was by far my favourite and I kinda wish it would have been released as a separate map, similar to Red Light Rumble - the prison had a nice flow to it, the interconnected layout was great and the design was looking the best. The courtyard fight with the tanks was also my favourite combat in the level.
However, I have some general criticisms of the map: firstly, the whole thing felt way too overscaled, especially in the vertical direction, which made a lot of fights with flying enemies pure chaos in a negative sense. The combat felt a bit tedious for the most part as well, there were plenty of monsters and with the self-imposed limit on the roster, there's not much else that could be done really - I'd hope in BR you would use the hell out of the palette variants of pig cops and troopers in particular to make it more interesting. The resources were too plentiful for my taste, so at some point the whole challenge was actually spotting the enemies that were shooting at me then RPGing the hell out of them. I ended up missing about 20 enemies, most of which probably fell down in the chasm near the end. The sentry drone/turret heavy gameplay is also not something I'm particularly fond of to be honest. RPVs on the courtyard felt bugged, I think they were trying to reach a locator 0 that was used for the 2way train and it looked like they were climbing a wall (if you get to re-release the map, make sure the locator 0 used for RPVs has a higher spritenum than the one for the 2-way train). And the rotor felt really janky, it was the only thing that randomly killed me, but also it seemed that the underwater part wasn't synchronized with the one above water and completely stopped moving at one point.
However, my biggest issue with the map was the sprite clutter - it was especially annoying in the rocky mountains and, in particular, the climb leading to the sewers. I'd remove all the "underwater rock" sprites and about 80% of the upside-down roots. It took me a while to find the first red key door, despite the viewscreens - but that's on me, I just never visited this part of the map and forgot it exists
Personally, I'd say the emphasis on the city part was too large, I'd much rather see more action in the Death Row and Toxic Dump parts. The final fight was nice and I liked the platforming that led to it, even despite the turrets and sentry drones being quite dickish there. The puzzles felt good all the way through the map. Loved all the little details/environmental stroytelling and the cancer mouse, obviously. Overall, it's interesting to see someone else's take on L.A. Meltdown just to see the differences in how other people perceive the episode, I'd imagine my recreation would be completely different and focus on a lot of different aspects. Also liked the overall "nostalgic 1996 user map" vibe some of the locations had!
However, I have some general criticisms of the map: firstly, the whole thing felt way too overscaled, especially in the vertical direction, which made a lot of fights with flying enemies pure chaos in a negative sense. The combat felt a bit tedious for the most part as well, there were plenty of monsters and with the self-imposed limit on the roster, there's not much else that could be done really - I'd hope in BR you would use the hell out of the palette variants of pig cops and troopers in particular to make it more interesting. The resources were too plentiful for my taste, so at some point the whole challenge was actually spotting the enemies that were shooting at me then RPGing the hell out of them. I ended up missing about 20 enemies, most of which probably fell down in the chasm near the end. The sentry drone/turret heavy gameplay is also not something I'm particularly fond of to be honest. RPVs on the courtyard felt bugged, I think they were trying to reach a locator 0 that was used for the 2way train and it looked like they were climbing a wall (if you get to re-release the map, make sure the locator 0 used for RPVs has a higher spritenum than the one for the 2-way train). And the rotor felt really janky, it was the only thing that randomly killed me, but also it seemed that the underwater part wasn't synchronized with the one above water and completely stopped moving at one point.
However, my biggest issue with the map was the sprite clutter - it was especially annoying in the rocky mountains and, in particular, the climb leading to the sewers. I'd remove all the "underwater rock" sprites and about 80% of the upside-down roots. It took me a while to find the first red key door, despite the viewscreens - but that's on me, I just never visited this part of the map and forgot it exists
Personally, I'd say the emphasis on the city part was too large, I'd much rather see more action in the Death Row and Toxic Dump parts. The final fight was nice and I liked the platforming that led to it, even despite the turrets and sentry drones being quite dickish there. The puzzles felt good all the way through the map. Loved all the little details/environmental stroytelling and the cancer mouse, obviously. Overall, it's interesting to see someone else's take on L.A. Meltdown just to see the differences in how other people perceive the episode, I'd imagine my recreation would be completely different and focus on a lot of different aspects. Also liked the overall "nostalgic 1996 user map" vibe some of the locations had!
This post has been edited by Aleks: 25 December 2023 - 07:16 AM
#42 Posted 17 February 2024 - 01:43 PM
TetrisThaurus on YouTube played the level on DIG using this strange gameplay mod I'm not familiar with (but does a few interesting things). The mod spawns metric tons of sprites so I was paranoid it would crash a lot but didn't seem to happen or maybe was cut. Seeing the map with different enemies was inspiring to a degree and is making me more and more curious about adjusting the three remakes around the Blast Radius/Zero Zone roster. Probably won't look too out of place at all.
