[oasiz]

Slum noir

Welcome to the slums of of Neo L.A.
Home to the notorious addicts, keeper of the spike in crime rate.
A place where the alien infestation was just the extra needed bit of saturation to complete the picture.

Duke just got shot down again due to something that seems like an ambush.
Luckily, in the distance looms the quick escape trough the subway.



DOWNLOAD (v2 - no more dethtoll.mid)


No difficulty setting optimizing, has a overall low brightness for mood. (if you are in sunlight, jack up that gamma).
Tested and built with software renderer in mind, polymer does look pretty damn sweet due to glowing in the dark but seems to have slightly more bugs.

Spoiler

Finally!
This is my first Duke map that I managed to complete and it took about 2-3 months to get it to this state.
One of the actual bigger maps that I have ever managed to complete in any engine, about time!

Features some obvious SOS trickery all around, along with a few scripted cut scenes done by sound alone.
However still very stock as the map should be playable in DOS Duke if it was split in to two parts (I broke the wall limit a long time ago).

Whole map started from a simple idea of trying to create a weird tech look from my head along with some Lameduke
city map design for inspiration. Idea kind of ended up being this "alternate universe" Duke3D that was somewhere
closer to Lameduke's grittier cyberpunk look where people love to shove neon lights everywhere.

I am pretty happy with the overall result, more could have been done probably for a long time but I decided just to
finish what I have so that I won't try to over-engineer things too far, It's just a map anyway.

There are a bunch of secrets to find and a bit of build porno in places.

This all made me a lot more familiar with the build editor again as the last time I really used it actively was
over 10 years ago. Things are sure a lot better, mapster32 having so many tiny but "must have" features over build.
See you on the next map.

Enjoy!

Thanks to all the testers and especially Daedolon for providing valuable feedback, a lot of the good stuff is in there because someone had to show me how stupid some things are.

ps. I think I managed to squeeze every annoying bug (aside from occasional sprite glitches) but if you see some nasty ones, let me know

[MetHy]

Really good map! Took me 15mins and found 5 secrets.

The best thing about it is its layout. I loved how you made the player go around and see the map open up little by little with everything being connected together, that's Duke3D spirit right there!
I also liked the original look you gave to the map, after looking at those screenshtos I was even surprised the map didn't come with custom textures! Though I believe some small things here and there could look better with only little work. I also think you could have given the map a better atmosphere, to me it felt like there was a lack of ambient sound, random sounds (and the lack of music also doesn't help)

Gameplay was good, but for the most part I think it's kind of gameplay you'd find in a map early in an episode (First or 2nd map) due to low number of enemies and weapons. This isn't bad, per se, though, but it makes me wish there was more maps after this one.
I really liked the fight at the end of the sewer. I didn't really understand what was going on during the part after that fight btw.

Some nitpicking :

Spoiler

Didn't really like the button hidden inside the crate. Wasn't hard to find but I find it a bit stupid. For the secret where you have to shoot a button and then some walls spin to bring you somewhere else, well, that didn't work for me. i shot the button, the walls spinned behind me, meaning I couldn't shoot the button again since it had diseapeared and I missed the secret. Speaking of secrets, some of them don't feel very secret-ish.

Anyway, good job! Great layout and a look which is surpringsly original for a city map and which looks different than any city map ever made for DN3D (I never thought I'd say that ever again).
Some people aren't going to rate your map very high but that's because they give more importance to meaningless detailing than to good layout.

[oasiz]

 MetHy, on 22 July 2014 - 08:04 AM, said:

I really liked the fight at the end of the sewer. I didn't really understand what was going on during the part after that fight btw.

Some nitpicking :

Spoiler

Didn't really like the button hidden inside the crate. Wasn't hard to find but I find it a bit stupid. For the secret where you have to shoot a button and then some walls spin to bring you somewhere else, well, that didn't work for me. i shot the button, the walls spinned behind me, meaning I couldn't shoot the button again since it had diseapeared and I missed the secret. Speaking of secrets, some of them don't feel very secret-ish.

Thanks a lot for the feedback, really appreciate it !

Spoiler

About the end bit in the sewers, it was a stretch but the idea was that the aliens would trap you and flood the water (stay a while in there to see it all). Then they mess up after trying to flood you even more by just destroying the entire place. In the end, the water gets high enough for you to escape. It has like 3-4 connected areas with one-way teleporters, difficult to explain

I agree with the button in the crate, should have maybe put it outside instead and some goodies inside.

The spinning thing, it is intended to fool you that you just get a medkit, the "real" secret itself is a one try thing. You get teased by the lights leaking from the sides if you miss it the first time. Whole idea is to have it a bit harder to reach secret that has no real connection to the actual map, but I made up an excuse to make it work

To which secrets are you referring in this case that could use some work ?
I left a few potential ones intentionally that might have been a bit too easy to reach normally.

EDIT:
About being early on, I kinda wanted to have a really progressive feel to it where you start from rock bottom and advance to the top. You can actually find every gun except the freezer/expander/tripmine in the map if you look hard enough, helps a lot with the end fights

Also what comes to sounds, I get what you mean. I did add some foreshadowing extra sounds to certain scenes though (Such as the liz captain coming down the elevator when you drop to the bottom level with the flowing waste). Some of these are easy to miss though..
Didn't really want to shoehorn a DETHTOLL.MID along with the map (as there are no textures either). Personal preference would be terminator-like unsettling and dark synth ambience.

[LeoD]

Enjoyed it. Quite niceugly ( = mission accomplished ). I recommend putting the map into a ZIP archive and add the usual text file. My first downloads were corrupted and crashed EDUke32, maybe because the browser was in text more when retrieving the map.

[MetHy]

 oasiz, on 22 July 2014 - 08:20 AM, said:

Thanks a lot for the feedback, really appreciate it !

Spoiler

About the end bit in the sewers, it was a stretch but the idea was that the aliens would trap you and flood the water (stay a while in there to see it all). Then they mess up after trying to flood you even more by just destroying the entire place. In the end, the water gets high enough for you to escape. It has like 3-4 connected areas with one-way teleporters, difficult to explain

I agree with the button in the crate, should have maybe put it outside instead and some goodies inside.

The spinning thing, it is intended to fool you that you just get a medkit, the "real" secret itself is a one try thing. You get teased by the lights leaking from the sides if you miss it the first time. Whole idea is to have it a bit harder to reach secret that has no real connection to the actual map, but I made up an excuse to make it work

To which secrets are you referring in this case that could use some work ?
I left a few potential ones intentionally that might have been a bit too easy to reach normally.

EDIT:
About being early on, I kinda wanted to have a really progressive feel to it where you start from rock bottom and advance to the top. You can actually find every gun except the freezer/expander/tripmine in the map if you look hard enough, helps a lot with the end fights

Also what comes to sounds, I get what you mean. I did add some foreshadowing extra sounds to certain scenes though (Such as the liz captain coming down the elevator when you drop to the bottom level with the flowing waste). Some of these are easy to miss though..
Didn't really want to shoehorn a DETHTOLL.MID along with the map (as there are no textures either). Personal preference would be terminator-like unsettling and dark synth ambience.

The mid can also be named after the map in case you didn't know. Even though new textures are uncommon, midis are. For the secrets there are a few which don't feel like secret, like for instance one where you have to blow up the wall (to find the shrinker). Considering you also have to blow up walls for progression sake, it's taken for granted that the player will explode other walls, too.

But for the things that could use a little more work I didn't mean secrets, I meant things such some minor texture issues (some overstretched textures ; the top of a box not fitting with the box ; and even though I like the simplicity of the texture overall and it adds to the atmosphere of the map, some things are a bit too simple like for example the locked door leading to the sewer being the same texture as the walls).


Personally I don't think that stage event worked in the sewer, I only got the feeling that random shit was happening. The first time i even got squished by going to the surface of the water a 2nd time, and that seemed to be a glitch because the 2Nd time through I did the same thing and noticed nothing really happened to that surface.

[oasiz]

 MetHy, on 22 July 2014 - 09:30 AM, said:

Ok, gotcha!
Point taken with the shrinker, I should probably patch that out and maybe add some texture contrast in some areas.

I agree that the event could have been done better, I had different plans in my mind initially but had to scrap those due to limitations. This was sort of the best I could come up with while keeping the original idea. Original idea was to go press the button manually, but this would be even more confusing as the water already 1-way linked to the area with the higher water.
I decided to make everything automatic in the end to get the water level higher.

Thanks for the feedback!

[brullov]

That palette. I love it!

[Forge]

looked good, but could really use some trim work to break up those long stretches of one texture walls

you should rotate your touchplate sprtie tails 180.

the player can jump over the first "security" section which leaves the gate down - this lets the player go straight to the section with the yellow key

speaking of which, the player can walk up to the crack in the wall which shows the yellow key laying on the floor, crouch, and get the key - thus skipping that little section it takes to go through the vent shaft and those couple of rooms

your map can be finished and 90% of the level is skipped.

[Mark]

Could someone zip the map and attach it here?

For some reason my browser gives me screen of gibberish instead of the download link.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[Forge]

 slum_noir.zip (120.92K)
Number of downloads: 228

or try right-clicking on the link in the OP and select the "save as" option

[Shaq Fu]

Wow that was one of the most atmospheric Duke 3D maps I have ever played.
I used Shift+F5 to change the song to LemChill.mid and it was a genuinely scary experience in the dark. Awesome map!

Spoiler

[Sixty Four]

Yeah I agree with it all, it's a good map for sure with nice fresh atmosphere. It was kind of hard finding my way but it wasn't a bother since the map was pretty and okay to look at while trying to navigate. Thanks for making doors non giant.

[MetHy]

Dunno what's your thing with giant sized doors, but trust me it's unlikely you'll find some outside of Megaton's workshop

[oasiz]

 Forge, on 23 July 2014 - 05:32 PM, said:

Oops, I forgot that one, generally I used downwards pointing ones but this one I forgot even while testing.

About breaking the textures, It could be improved in some areas like the sewers.
Although I don't want to start redoing major stuff just for a patch as I have already decided to release it in this state.
Maybe in the future.

Thanks for the feedback so far,
Gonna implement some of those minor fixes in about 2 weeks once I get home.
Meanwhile, don't jump over the force field

Also if you get text instead of the file, CTRL + S should force file save in browsers.

[FistMarine]

edit

[Merlijn]

Nice map! I enjoyed the gritty, worn down atmosphere. It's definitely different from your average city map and it has been pulled off very well. Especially the outdoor sections. I agree with Methy about the layout, it's cleverly done. Gameplay was solid as well, some nice fire fights. Not very hard, but I don't like huge amounts of monsters anyway. It usually gets old fast.

In short: thanks for the map, hope you create more!

[Cage]

Hey, played the map and I can finally write something about it (no internet connection at home at the moment)

I like the looks of the map and the atmosphere is great, plays pretty well too, there's only one thing I don't like:

Inconsistency.

The map has both areas which are detailed as well as some which are very bland - the same thing with lighting.

Other than that, this is a pretty great first release!

[Paul B]

For a first public release map - WOW! this map is fantastic! I found it very high quality and typically i'm not a fan of changing palettes but you've pulled this off flawlessly. I did unfortunately miss a lot of the secrets so I'm going to have to go back and do it all again. There has been an influx of high quality maps lately its nice to see the community is growing with new members and fresh ideas. Thanks for sharing! You definitely need a readme to go along with this map!

[Micky C]

I'd hardly call him a new member; he joined the forum around the same time I did.

Nice that he decided to make a map though.

[ck3D]

that map was really nice. took me 20 mins (i spent a while looking for that button inside the crate until i eventually found it by total chance - not a very logical location to operate a switch from), found 3 secrets. like MetHy, i thought the layout was the best part - everything is connected to everything in a fairly coherent maneer and a real sense of progression can be felt all the way throughout the map. in these regards, the gameplay felt very reminiscent of the original duke maps (especially the first maps of episode 1) which i really appreciated. the firefights were good - intense yet not overwhelming and the enemy placement and respawns were on point. i especially liked the timed respawns in the second street area, and the little scripted sequences in general.

i am also with MetHy when he says that the gameplay in this map feels like you are playing (one of) the first map(s) in an episode. the overall feel i was getting throughout my playthrough was that of a slow build-up for something else. maybe it's because of how the progression was orchestrated (low amount of baddies and weaponry at the start), maybe it's because of the ending which feels like it's leading up to some kind of sequel.

i loved the fresh look you managed to pull off with this map, too. the 'lameduke'-look and -feel is something i have tried to replicate in my own works for a while myself - pretty sure i have used the same label to describe some of my own levels on here before as well. for about a year i have been sitting on new city map that's about 80% complete and happens to look and play very similar to your level (except it's all in pal 7, old screenshot to be found here : http://forums.duke4....post__p__177560). it has the same type of blend of unusual hi-tech texturing and lo-fi aesthetics too (relying on shadows, atmosphere and minimalistic detailing). a few of my latest maps have been going down a similar route as well and i remember starting an industrial-themed map (i never finished) back in 2005 or so which had the same kind of texture and palette combinations as yours. so i could definitely relate to the style you were going for.

[High Treason]

Played this yesterday, but have been trying to find time since it first appeared.

I haven't ever seen another map quite like this one, very well put together. I am not about to say it was perfect, but it's hard to find fault and given that this seems to be your first release it's certainly well above average.

The texture choices are rather unique and they work well, also some of the architecture such as where there's an overpass near the end of the map work very well for me. This is the kind of thing I always wanted to build but can't pull off with my mapping style. Parts of the map made me think strongly of Duke II and LameDuke, others made me think of Dark Forces. I agree with ck3d in that it feels like the start of a series of maps rather than something on it's own.

Anyway, I enjoyed it.

[oasiz]

Ok, was away for a few weeks. Finally back and some time to reply.

FistMarine: Ouch, I'll have a look on that! It's intended to be sort of an easy miss but it didn't work that well in the end, definitely not supposed to murder you. Glad you still enjoyed it !

Merlijn: Thanks! good to know that the balancing worked out.

Cage: That is something I was a bit worried about as well since I tend to be very linear with my map making, things and style tends to change a bit change as I go.
Overall, I think it turned out fine considering that I tried to create a bit of an unusual look.
About lights and details, I agree that something could be done in here. Don't really want to start changing stuff now that I finally settled on this, Now I've just gotta live with it
Especially the "backroom" on the bar and the top floor are something that stick out a bit in my eyes.
But thanks for the feedback!

Paul B: Glad to know you enjoyed it! I decided to have most of the readme stuff in the post itself (under spoiler tag).

ck3D: That crate thing is something I am not very happy with either, it sorta slipped by and I got too used to it. I think I'll patch it away.
Good to know that the combat worked well at least for someone! I was a bit worried if I went too overboard with the "Monster in closet" style, which is very useful when wanting combat on more cramped areas.
I guess these "part of series" comments really push me to make a sequel now, no promises but I have some initial ideas and stuff ready, a few things I didn't utilize in here
PAL7 and PAL24 master race! These actually work pretty well with low shades, normally easy to dismiss since they are otherwise too bright and saturated.

High Treason: Good to hear you liked it! I love parallax trickery so overpasses are always cool in my book, some times even a bit underutilized.


And to the rest I forgot to mention, thanks for playing.
I am sorry for the overload of red.
I'll do a v2 which introduces basic bug fixes, music and some sort of a readme in it. I know I could fix some other things but I want to stick by what I put out there.

I know I am always interested on how things evolve from start to the end, if someone wants to follow the revisions of this map then check THIS LINK

[oasiz]

Double posting,

v2 has been uploaded.
I lied and updated a bit more than just two bugfixes, but this mostly just includes some ambient sounds as that was really lacking.
Also I think there was a showstopper bug at one point that could leave you locked behind, no clue what caused that.

DOWNLOAD

No more dethtoll.mid as it now has a custom .ogg made for this map.
Big thanks to 'Hot Multimedia / LHB' for his contribution.

Should be easier to download now as the files are inside a .zip
I suggest playing this version instead of you haven't played the original yet.

[LeoD]

Rushed releases and lack of beta testers taken aside, I appreciate mappers who care about improving their work to increase the replay value.