[Dave_Billing]

I have finally released Operation Blitzkrieg, an additional episode for Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition, to the world.



visit my blog for screenshots at billingleveldesign.blogspot.com


Moderator Edit: I am taking the liberty of bumping this thread and repackaging the episode. It now comes with a .bat file to launch it, I put the CON which defines the levels inside the GRP (cleaner). The episode has not been modified in any way. I was a beta tester and talked about it over at DNR (though I can't find the thread now).

I don't think this little episode got as much attention as it deserved, and now with the recent releases of classic styled maps, this episode fits right in and deserves a look from those who didn't play it before. Enjoy! And thanks to Dave Billing for bringing this to us.
-Dan

EDIT: restored episode to position 2

Attached thumbnail(s)

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Attached File(s)

•  OPBLITZ.zip (199.14K)
  Number of downloads: 404

[Micky C]

I'll download and play it a bit later when I have time, and I read on your blog that you had to recreate them from scratch, sounds like a lot of work.

[chicken]

I played some of it yesterday.
Well made episode with oldschool feeling, solid design and fun gameplay.

Just what we want! Thanks, Dave!

[Lunick]

I have played through 4 of the maps so far and loved it. I didn't like the fire extinguisher placement at the start but I managed to use them to my advantage.
Keep making more maps

[zykov eddy]

Playing it. Love the level design. Only one problem - too difficult. You should leave a shotgun in the beginning, because without it it's almost impossible to break through the pigcops and lizmans.

[Mister Sinister]

Quote

Only one problem - too difficult

Actually not,it's not too difficult
Overall,it's a quite good episode but in my opinion some rooms were a bit empty

[VinsaneOne]

I had fun with this. Thought worth the download and it played as well as it looked with the HRP.

[underTaker]

Fun map. I liked the design, reminding 3DR original episodes I've found 1 bug however - i could step into the window on the first map showed on the screen below.

[Dave_Billing]

underTaker, on 04 May 2011 - 05:15 AM, said:

Fun map. I liked the design, reminding 3DR original episodes I've found 1 bug however - i could step into the window on the first map showed on the screen below.

Yeah that's to do with the overlapping mirror sector. Not really worth rectifying, however.

[Inspector Lagomorf]

I hate to look like the idiot here, but... I have spent days trying to get the mod to run. I've followed the instructions in the README file, but they don't seem very clear or I'm misreading them. How do other people run this mod? I'm thinking of just running KEXTRACT on the GRP file.

[Mikko]

I supplemented the mod with a txt with the following information concerning the installation process:

"Simply create a folder called OPBLITZ or Operation Blitzkrieg and extract the .grp file
to it. Then select the folder upon EDuke32 [http://www.eduke32.com] startup (assuming
that is the port being used)."

Or put the grp in your Duke3D folder and run the game with "eduke32 /gOPBLITZ.grp"
(replace "eduke32" with the name of the port you're using in case you're not using
EDuke32).

The author probably should have included a bat file with the above command to make it clearer. This is the usual practice.

[Danukem]

BUMP!

I have repackaged the episode so it no longer requires any cumbersome installation procedures. See the first post. Anyone who enjoyed the recent classic styled releases from ck3d and the gang should like this as well, if you missed it.

[MetHy]

I've never played this, thanks!

[rasmus thorup]

This is pretty good. The lightning/shadowing was great, and the scaling was great too. A bit annoying with the same monsters over and over, and there were a lot of them. Rooms were too empty. Overall a good episode because of the scaling and shadowing.

[Mikko]

Yeah, this is a good episode, kinda like a prequel to our Metropolitan Mayhem.

Here's the review in case someone missed: http://msdn.duke4.net/hotopblitz.php

[Danukem]

I may have been rash in moving the episode position from 2 to 5...I now realize that he probably had it that way because it ends with the same boss as episode 2 and he wanted it to play the corresponding cutscene. Can anyone confirm this?

[Mikko]

Yeah I wouldn't have done that.

[Danukem]

Mikko_Sandt, on 13 March 2012 - 08:51 AM, said:

Yeah I wouldn't have done that.

Fixed with new attachment.

[MetHy]

Okay so I actually had already played this, I just didn't recognize it from from the screenshots.

I replayed it anyway and that made me appreciate a lot more than the first time.

This is a really good classic episode. In a sense it's more classic than our Metropolitan Mayhem because, contrary to us, every single of the maps has one theme that it sticks to.
Every map has a the perfect ammount of secrets as well in a classic style (contrary to some of ours).
Design wise it's classic from start to finish: you didn't bother with over the top texturing, unreachables places (walls instead), or trimming.
Gameplay flows well from start to finish (I was low on health in a few moments but nothing too major to complain about), and it looks as if, in a classic-style, every map is playable starting with only the pistol (though I haven't tried).

It feels like it could be a good replacement to episode 4.
We should have asked you to make a map in our episode.

A few complains though, but they can be considered as "nitpicking":
- there are 4 moments when you unlock a door or use a card, enemies spawns right behind you. That was rather unfair and un-fun. That never killed me though but I still disliked those moments.
- to make it even more classic style and feel like an episode, maps could have been more directly connected. Though again, this is more like episode 4, and in episode 4 maps aren't directly connected.

Overall good stuff and everybody should (re)play it.
I hope you make more.

P.S : I'll (re?)play your Doom maps soon as well.

[rasmus thorup]

I think that it would be nice with a sound or something so you know that monsters spawn right behind you.

[MetHy]

That makes me think; adding original midis from city maps would have been nice. From example you could have used the music playing in hotel hell for your hotel map, etc

Because it automatically plays musics from episode2. They were fine, but other midis could have fitted more.

[Danukem]

MetHy, on 14 March 2012 - 05:43 AM, said:

That makes me think; adding original midis from city maps would have been nice. From example you could have used the music playing in hotel hell for your hotel map, etc

Because it automatically plays musics from episode2. They were fine, but other midis could have fitted more.

I don't think he even considered that. Would you mind posting a list of midis? I could update the grp so that it uses them; I can't imagine why he would object, but I will e-mail him first.

As for the classicness of the episode. I think you are right except in the area of difficulty. His episode is way harder than classic episodes imo.

[rasmus thorup]

Please put in E3M2. It's my favorite

[Dave_Billing]

I'm currently in the process of remaking the episode using polymer lighting. Will let you know when it is released. I have a couple of screenshots up on my blog to show you what I mean; http://billingleveld....blogspot.com/.

[Danukem]

Polymer lighting with 8-bit assets is actually not a bad combination, because you get some of the benefits of the new renderer while performance is still pretty good. Except in large, complicated maps (which isn't a problem in this episode).

[Mikko]

Yeah this might actually have decent performance.

[Dave_Billing]

The performance isn't too bad actually, getting good frame rates even on my crappy ATI Radeon 5470 laptop graphics chip.

[Mikko]

That sounds good then, because usually Polymer gives horrible performance with ATI cards. Of course, the simple geometry of your maps helps a lot.