[ck3D]

Hello, here's a new map I've made - see post attachment.

It's my reinterpretation of the 1996 user map COMPWARS.MAP ('The Computer War') by Patrick 'Hunter' Mulnix, who then went on to make one more level that same year called 'IT. That's IT.' before vanishing from the scene as far as I'm aware. 'The Computer War' could be found on most shovelware compilations of the era and is one of those that left a strong impression on me as a kid (I even remember sending it to Kim to host on DN-R back in 2004) and so now twenty-eight years later, here's my take on the concept.

EDuke only - breaks the old limits and uses a couple of invisible switches as well as rotated wall textures.

The story as pitched in Patrick's original COMPWARS.TXT:

Quote

After Duke Nukem repels the invading lizard aliens, he decides to take some much deserved time off (probably to write a book).

Meanwhile, after two attempted alien invasions, the government has given a grant to a major corporation to construct the ultimate global defense computer, called C.O.M.P. for Computer Operated Master Plan.

Of course, something goes wrong, and the computer begins trying to take over the world.

Since Duke conviently lives only a few blocks away from the lab, he takes it upon himself to save the world again.

Keep in mind that C.O.M.P. can access any electronic device so that many everyday items may have become deadly.

The original 1996 map by Patrick 'Hunter' Mulnix is available online through the following mirrors:

https://www.arrovfnu...-patrick-mulnix
http://www.scent-88....omp/thecomp.php
https://dnr.duke4.ne...mputer_War.html

Hope you enjoy, and merry holidays.

edited post - reuploaded the map without a confusing leftover redundant keypad

[Dr.Panico]

That was unexpected. COMPWARS was one of the more original usermaps from the early days. It's nice to see some appreciation.

As for your version, it was pretty wild and entertaining. A little tight on ammo, so a lot of times you just have to haul ass while everything is shooting at you (that last sequence was particularly heavy); but hey, who said a machine revolt would be a walk in the park? (I'm not sure what was I supposed to do with the Freezerthrower, since the Drones would just dodge it anyway; Ended up using it for blowing up trashcans, since I've became wary of them at this point *shudders*)
I also liked the little clever details hidden in the map.

Still missed one secret, but I'll give it another go later and see if I can find it.

[ck3D]

Thanks for playing. Glad you too remembered COMPWARS - at the time it helped me realize there was so much more to make in Duke 3D than typical alien shooting galleries, and despite its relatively undeveloped state (layout of the original was quite poor), conceptually it was an interesting take on Build. At least in this one, there always is a way to turn off every appliance that turns on (and against you), sometimes it's discreet. Maybe later I will post a list of methods/walkthrough.

Re: ammo, did you try pressing use on the locked doors - they all spawn bonus stuff (except for one that triggers some opposition). There also is a way to get the shotgun early (it's barely hidden but still easy to miss) as well as the chaingun. Otherwise the streets can get a bit rough indeed. Freezethrower is last resort to use against the turrets, it indeed sucks against drones although you can still occasionally corner them or get lucky, usually it's a powerful weapon but here due to no organic enemies it's renderered suboptimal. I wanted the individual roaming drones to be more of an actual threat around the block and possibly stick around if the player chose to run away until they got better weapons.

There are a lot of references in the detail around the map.

Spoiler

The Compuserve ad on the C.O.M.P. building is a real ad from the 90's that actually takes a much darker meaning now. The big screen that turns on in the car park when finding the key is a replica of the Compuserve copyright disclaimer. To exit the demolition company office, Duke needs to type in a DOS command. The original COMPWARS had 'DOS' integrated into the layout as sector work, this map does it somewhere too but differently. And to allow access to C.O.M.P., Duke has to use the Total Entertainment Network chat to lie about his identity (the joke is a double entendre since the name you give also is the first name of the author of the original COMPWARS). Finally during the last fight, the corruption warnings C.O.M.P. tries to defend against are worded a bit similarly to the corruption warnings in Build/Mapster (although the real accomplishment for me in that part was to give the boss a functional health bar). Corruption level 2 it uses the expander as 'machine learning' because seeing as the emergency cooldown didn't work it's now trying to emulate human fever to get rid of the infection.

Am going to update the file once more in a few hours to fix a forgotten (empty but also untagged) secret in the first apartment Will found on stream that I had completely forgotten I had made back in October when I had just started the map.

EDIT - correct version fixing the forgotten secret, adding one more, and fixing some bugs

Attached File(s)

•  CKCW2024.rar (154.02K)
  Number of downloads: 55

[Jan Satcitananda]

Interesting rethinking of the concept. I think you managed to get a pretty accurate depiction of a dystopian cyberpunk world ruled by megacorporations, with all the appliances attacking player and hostile environment with no living soul but robotic enemies.

I played your map first, then checked the COMPWARS.MAP to see what references I can find. Even though Patrick's map was sloppy and plain design-wise, apparently it was something original enough to inspire you to take its concept and build a solid map.

[Jan Satcitananda]

Edit: double post

[ck3D]

Jan Satcitananda, on 20 December 2024 - 08:19 PM, said:

Interesting rethinking of the concept. I think you managed to get a pretty accurate depiction of a dystopian cyberpunk world ruled by megacorporations, with all the appliances attacking player and hostile environment with no living soul but robotic enemies.

I played your map first, then checked the COMPWARS.MAP to see what references I can find. Even though Patrick's map was sloppy and plain design-wise, apparently it was something original enough to inspire you to take its concept and build a solid map.

Happy you liked it. I find COMPWARS.MAP is inspiring (as far as calling for a remake) as much as it is barebones, in comparison I've taken a look at 'IT. That's IT.' and remaking that one wouldn't work since it's a better level with more intelligent construction. COMPWARS was easy to deconstruct because it's already deconstructed; the streets are random and very generic, and that just makes their few distinct features pop and easy to isolate and repurpose: the destructible building, the radio store, the firetruck. I always suspected the author must have had it in mind for their own firetruck to ram into that wooden barricade originally in that map because of their respective placement but then couldn't get an effect to work, or something. Some other elements I've reused are the 'MS-DOS'-shaped sector work (in my version it's directly integrated into the layout you traverse, whereas Patrick's was just letters in the ground), the C.O.M.P. building having two sections, one for R&D that's entirely collapsed in the original but collapses on you in the remake and one for the CEO (+ the 'In C.O.M.P. you serve' joke), having a reactor to blow up, and the boss room I made an actual challenge out of (the original one being passive always was disappointing) but kept some elements from such as the rotating pillar with the switches. The original also had copy-pasted Freeway police cars all around the start that implied all the cars had blown up, but instead I made that one parking lot.

[Aleks]

I started by playing the original Computer War to see what the fuss was originally about before proceeding to your map and thought it looked more like a proof of concept than an actual map. But I'm really happy with what you did with it - it's probably my favourite of your maps since Blast Radius, loved all the small details and how pretty much everything tried to kill you. Some attacks seemed a bit unfair (e.g. inserting the first blue keycard was a mandatory hit of 50-100 HP), but you did compensate for that with plenty of health just lying around so I ended up with plenty of unused atomic healths anyway. Some really cool ideas like the moving searchlight triggering drones spawning, which date back as far as that old 1996 or 1997 prison map by Bud Drakir (probably one of the Alcatraz maps, certainly the best one), but I haven't really seen it used much every since. I liked how diverse the dangers present in the map were and how detailed some of that stuff was. Even the turrets and sentry drones didn't bother me this time around as they, obviously, fit the theme of the level (also plenty of freezer ammo was a bliss against the turrets in a distance). The 'boss' fight worked really well too, I liked how there was enough cover to actually calmly study what you have to do before just randomly running and acting. The jetpack fight with all the drones on the slopes was pretty fun too. Great job and congrats on the release!

P.S.

Spoiler

I doubt you'd want to 'fix' the map again, but I've found two small bugs. The swing door to the bathroom at the beginning is a bit buggy and might go HOM from certain angles from inside when the door is opened. Also, it is possible to softlock when going for the double atomic secret by using the large neon as a lift - if you fall to the side of the wall you've already cleared (which was my first idea, since there was an elevator to mitigate the damage), it seems impossible to lower this neon back again, since the switch is only on the other side.

[ck3D]

Thanks for playing and for the feedback Aleks I suspected you in particular would enjoy this map. Thanks for the reports too, I'll address those issues sometime, IIRC the neon gate thing shouldn't be a problem since you should be able to retoggle it from the computer you lowered it from originally but I'll double check that it is and work it out if not.

Here are some screenshots of the map:

Spoiler

And some references used throughout the design:

Spoiler

[ck3D]

https://msdn.duke4.n...uterwar2024.php Mikko's review.