Build Engine Games

[Anonymous No.4806201]

Usermap Autism edition.
Here we discuss glorious Build engine games, appreciate Plug'N'Pray episode and hate on usermade content.

Relatively fresh DN3D maps/mods to play:
http://msdn.duke4.net/revmrthekiller.php
http://msdn.duke4.net/hotdarkseed.php
http://msdn.duke4.net/hothealth.php
http://msdn.duke4.net/hotduketroid.php
http://msdn.duke4.net/mapsmetart.php
http://msdn.duke4.net/hottragedy.php
http://msdn.duke4.net/hotnakeddash.php
http://msdn.duke4.net/hotspacetronic.php
http://msdn.duke4.net/hotpjhostile.php

[Anonymous No.4806375]

I love how these anime girls became the 4chan mascots for the Build engine games.

Waiting for the Mirage Barrage and Hell Beneath hater anon to review more stuff.

[Anonymous No.4806570]

>>4806201
>http://msdn.duke4.net/hotduketroid.php
Is this the one where Bob Averill had been exposed?

[Anonymous No.4806586]

>>4806570
I think so. What was the big deal again?

[Anonymous No.4806943]

I hope this thread won't die.

[Anonymous No.4807002]

relevant to this topic https://3drealms.com/catalog/ion-maiden_56/

[Anonymous No.4808030]

>>4807002
Did anyone try Queen of the Hill? It was buggy as shit for me, the fps was dropping to like 20 after a few waves.

[Anonymous No.4808048]

>>4806201
inb4 Blood shitstorm

[Anonymous No.4808136]

Blood is the best one. The Redneck Rampage series is next.

[Anonymous No.4808183]

>>4808030
Even with update 2?

[Anonymous No.4808262]

>>4808183
Yep. Update 2 implemented this game mode.

[Anonymous No.4809732]

What are the worst build engine levels?

[Anonymous No.4809781]

>>4807002
This game is friggin sick, they totally nailed it. Definitely going to buy it when it hits 1.0.

[Anonymous No.4809949]

>>4809781
Thank god they got rid of those problematic sexist designs for the main character and decided to make her a generic bland covered from neck to toe instead!

[Anonymous No.4810129]

>>4809949
Forgot to take your pills again, green sketelon?

[Anonymous No.4810137]

>>4809949
>mfw that design is better than both the one used in top down Bombshell game, and the one used in the new build engine game.

[Anonymous No.4810138]

>that duke nukem TC where ya kill gooks in vietnam

>>4809781
Is ion maiden actually good? I heard otherwise in some threads.

[Anonymous No.4810159]

>>4810138
It's fun, but monotonous since there's barely any enemy variety

[Anonymous No.4810337]

>>4810159
Ion Maiden's focus is on leveldesign and atmosphere, combat and enemy variety is an afterthought.

[Anonymous No.4810404]

I was to make the building from Dredd in Duke Nukem.

How hard is it to make levels? Thank you.

[Anonymous No.4810430]

What's that word the red cyborg is grunting in IM? I always hear: "Rosbeeerg"

[Anonymous No.4810448]

>>4810404
Moderately hard, mostly because of how much more nuancede it it than say mapping for doom.
Gotta learn lots of effects and hotkey.

[NESfag No.4810487]

>>4810430
you mean
>Fleshbaaag
?

[Anonymous No.4811374]

>>4810487
The generic cyborgs are better, when they shout "grenade" when you throw the bomb at them.

[Anonymous No.4812325]

>>4809949
God, I'm so embarrassed by feminism.

>>4810138
Some seem to like it, some don't.
I'll wait for reviews of the full version.

[Anonymous No.4812337]

[Anonymous No.4812401]

>>4812325
I'm wondering what our famous reviewer anon thinks of IM.

[Anonymous No.4812662]

New Blood E3 playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bTUvtSrAWg

[Anonymous No.4812773]

>>4812662
It feels.. slightly faster than usual

[Anonymous No.4812805]

>>4812662
the way he looks down all the time makes it painful to watch.

also, the city levels look a lot less interesting in true 3d. 2.5d made the buildings look taller. this the case in duke as well.

[Anonymous No.4812865]

>>4812805
aww :(

[Anonymous No.4812884]

>was about to buy Douk Megaton Edition steam key for 19€ in G2A
>wait to buy it tomorrow morning
>it's gone. Now it's at 38€
I fucking hate Gearbox and that hack of Randy.

[Anonymous No.4812896]

>>4812884
Why bother buying a bug-ridden discontinued port? Literally what's the point apart from being able to show it off on your Steam account?

I want it too because autism, but maybe I can convince you otherwise and you'll feel better.

[Anonymous No.4812913]

>>4812896
I played the pirated yet outdated (1.0) version out there in the internet lots of times and I never encountered a single bug. I wanted it so I can have it without worrying about downloading from somewhere else and because I can play an updated version with a working and supported multiplayer and coop.
That and because I am a complete plebian who prefer a simplified version over dosbox.

[Anonymous No.4812931]

>>4812913
Both eduke32 and the anniversary edition ports are a lot better. Megaton doesn't even have proper widescreen lol (it's vert-). Or what about that bug where turning on vsync results in MASSIVE mouse lag (same bug as in Shadow Warrior Redux btw).

Oh and both D3D Megaton and SW Redux were made based on JonoF's free source ports WITHOUT his permission. It's only after the community found this out and raised a stink that they paid him some money and open sourced these ports as per GPL.

Yeah, you can find both of these ports on GitHub and compile them yourself btw. Literally why buy this trash.

[Anonymous No.4812945]

>>4812913
Use eduke32. Megaton is so broken, it's now officialy used for the speedrus, because there are even more bugs than in the original game. Multiplayer is shit too, also no one plays it.

[Anonymous No.4812968]

>>4812931
>>4812945
Holy shit what the fuck is that true? Didn't know or noticed anything of that, specially the mouse lag (I usually disable vsync by default in my games, so I don't suffer things like these) and the stolen sourceport. Fuck I bought Shadow Warrior Deluxe time ago and didn't know anything about that.

I guess I will stick with eduke then, thanks.

[Anonymous No.4813093]

>>4812968
Aside from included expansion packs and dead workshop, there's not a reason to buy bug-ridden megaton. Stick to EDuke.
Expansions are working perfectly fine with EDuke and you'd be better off checking MSDN and duke4net for maps.

[Anonymous No.4813387]

How do we play Duke multiplayer? I never experienced it before.

[Anonymous No.4813557]

>>4812884
Who the fuck cares about that fucking Megaton edition? I mean OK, the World Tour was less than perfect product, but it at least gave you full 3D rendering and an awesome new episode, which alone made the port worthy.

Megaton on the other hand was just a shitty cash grab, a pointless release with using free source port, no new material, and lots of copyright issues.

[Anonymous No.4813894]

>>4813557
it had the expansion packs with it, that made it worth it alone. no idea why they're not just abandonware, the rights are long lost down some drain.

[Anonymous No.4813961]

>>4813557
Megaton didn't have 3D rendering? Are you sure? 20th had some fancy new lighting and that's about it. And the sound is fucking ABYSMAL.

Megaton came with all the dlc and had proper active online for a while and you don't have to give you money to the biggest cunt in the gaming industry Randy Pitchford

[Anonymous No.4813985]

Say, did Eradicator have even a SINGLE user level created for it EVER? I sure can't find any over the Internet.

[Anonymous No.4814003]

>>4813961
>>4813894
>>4812968
>>4812931
There is also the fact that the add-ons in Megaton where included without the rightful owners' permissions, and they didn't get a cent from it either.
That's the reason why they weren't included in WT, because they're in right hell.

[Anonymous No.4814035]

>>4813985
Not a BUILD engine game. Though I can see why people would get them mixed up, their proprietary engine can be seen as fairly similar if you don't know the internals.

[Anonymous No.4814050]

>>4814035
Still, any custom levels for it anywhere at all?

[Anonymous No.4814054]

Just accidentally stumbled upon the Fate (demo) published by Intracorp. Apparently it's not a Capstone game and was never fully completed.

Here's a link to the demo:
>> http://www.jonof.id.au/build.games/fate

Pretty sure it's build.

[Anonymous No.4814767]

>>4813961
>and you don't have to give you money to the biggest cunt in the gaming industry Randy Pitchford

Not as big cunt as some of you retarded "fans", who were just bitching and flaming around World Tour just because of your retarded hate for one person.

You forgot the actual people who worked on the new episode, they created the original game as well, and you people are just fucking assholes to not realise how big disrespect this shitstorm is towards them.

[Anonymous No.4814867]

>people are now saying the gearbox port is superior to the megaton port

Retards, the lot of ya. Least megaton gives ya the expansion packs. Just use eduke32.

[Anonymous No.4814873]

>>4814867
WT is superior to Megaton in every way possible, except for not having expansions, but you were already explained why they aren't included. If you think otherwise, you're completely retarded.

[Anonymous No.4814878]

>>4814873
Is it still possible to play the expansion packs in WT if you supply the GRP files yourself though? Can you force them to load via a command line arg like on the original DOS game?

[Anonymous No.4814881]

>>4814873
I tried wt and it didnt look much different. Mind you im on pc and not a console but due to the fact that megaton also supplied the expansions it was the better product.

[Anonymous No.4814950]

>>4814767
There's literally not a single problem with not supporting gearbox.

Do I want to play the new episode which is apparently fantastic? Yes.

Will I give money to Gearbox and Pitchford? FUCK NO.

[Anonymous No.4814952]

>>4814873
>Ignores the fucking ATROCIOUS sound quality on WT

[Anonymous No.4815103]

>>4814952
That was patched m8 sorry.

[Anonymous No.4815174]

I'm still salty that they censored the medkits on WT though. I mean they could've at least done it without modifying the original GRP file. Otherwise as it stands there's currently no legal way to buy the original Atomic Edition GRP file to play in a source port.

[Anonymous No.4815240]

>>4815174
It's not like they had a choice.

[Anonymous No.4815559]

>>4814950
You're a moron, officially confirmed.

[Anonymous No.4815759]

>>4815174
Blame the red cross. Besides you can still get a used copy or just pirate the original after buying the new one who honestly cares?

[Anonymous No.4816135]

>>4815559
Why? No seriously, tell me why.

[Anonymous No.4816238]

>>4816135
Well, for starters you would support a port using stolen code from another sourceport released for free and yet you refuse to support the team who worked on original Duke because you hate one guy.
It's not like every cent of those 20 green goes to his wallet. So yeah, you're a moron.

[Anonymous No.4816274]

>>4815759
>>4815174
Alright listen here motherfuckers; the internationally-recognized symbol of the Red Cross being defended or "censored" isn't petty "muh twademarks" bullshit. The symbol is protected under the Geneva convention, and firing on the Red Cross, or engaging in direct combat while under the Red Cross is a war crime. It for a while was synonymous with first aid, but this was not the intention of it, the intention is to be a symbol that says "We are not combatants, we aren't on any side, do not fire on us or there will be consequences".

Using it without permission is a crime, not grounds for a civil suit, a crime. If you use the insignia for anything but the Red Cross, you are breaking the law. The reason it's protected in this manner is to prevent the meaning of it being diluted or otherwise mitigated.

http://theconversation.com/explainer-why-protecting-the-red-cross-emblem-matters-58145

[Anonymous No.4816340]

>>4814054
It is, yes.>>4816274

[Anonymous No.4816342]

>>4816340
Misclick.

>>4816274
You'd think they'd be happy if the red cross teaches gamers to learn that it means health and prosperity.

Now instead they're going against that thought. Not surprising though if you dig a bit into their corporation.

[Anonymous No.4816401]

>>4816342
It's a symbol of neutrality, why do you think it's based on the swiss flag?

[Anonymous No.4816421]

>>4816274
>This company should own the graphic of a red cross

Lmao fuck off

[Anonymous No.4816457]

>>4816421
I think you need to read up on the importance of the geneva convention and the importance of symbol usage in times of war.

[Anonymous No.4816681]

>>4816457
Geneva convention is full of bullshit faggotry. I hope that Russia will abolish that abomination in the future.

[Anonymous No.4816839]

>>4806201
>enjoying the shit out of great gunplay and fantastic level designs
>AAAAAND HERE COMES THE BULLET SPONGE BOSSES
>WITHOUT HEALTH BAR

Why tho

[Anonymous No.4816875]

>>4816839
Good thing bosses in Blood are easy as shit.

[Anonymous No.4816985]

>>4816839
Don't play on Extra Crispy, it's meant for co-op.

[Anonymous No.4817198]

Can anyone help me play Blood with a controller.

Yes. A controller. Please don't bully. I have the gog version and just can't figure it out how to work properly. I really wanna play Blood as I love Duke and love horror and the two combined seems like the coolest thing ever

[Anonymous No.4817220]

>>4812884
>>4812896
>They were selling the game for pennies on steam before they removed it
How could you miss it?

[Anonymous No.4817387]

>>4816875
This. They're all stupid and kills the end of a chapter.

[Anonymous No.4817405]

So should we all pistol start?

Is weapon carry over cheating?

[Anonymous No.4817407]

>>4817198
Use a program like JoyToKey or Xpadder to map the keys to your controller

[Anonymous No.4817408]

>>4817198
Blood is really difficult and requires very fast reaction times. I don't think it's possible to beat more than the few starting levels on a controller.

Of course if you really want to you can google on how to use your gamepad with DOSBox or use Joy2Key with the modern BloodGDX port.

[Anonymous No.4817482]

>>4807002
Hadn't even heard of this. It looks sharp. Coming out on linux too.

[Anonymous No.4817489]

>>4817407
Then I can only get 8 directional shit in my stick

[Anonymous No.4817497]

>>4817489
Joy2Key has mouse emulation.

[Anonymous No.4818156]

>>4816274
The Red Cross can get fucked.

[Anonymous No.4818173]

>>4816457
>times of war
>in a fucking retro computer game

i will be happy to bet the crossover between people who played a lot of video games with first aid kits like that in them and people in a war zone who might conceivably encounter the red cross is %0

[Anonymous No.4818232]

Fun fact. The Doom WADs includes in Doom 3 BFG Edition on Steam have the same censored medkits while the standalone versions of Doom 1/2 are untouched originals. Same goes for Quake 1/2, completely uncensored.

Why is it id can get away with this but Gearbox can't?

[Anonymous No.4818475]

>>4818232
>while the standalone versions of Doom 1/2 are untouched originals. Same goes for Quake 1/2
Because they aren't re-releases.

[Anonymous No.4818580]

>classic dukeworld
>407 MB
>4048 maps
Wew, lad. Feels good having it on my HDD.

[Anonymous No.4818590]

>>4818580
That's really nice for collecting and archival purposes, too bad most of those probably suck ass.

[Anonymous No.4818594]

>>4818590
Well, I hope most of those were at the very least playtested (start to finish, that is) by their respective creators.

[Anonymous No.4818692]

>>4818594
I wouldn't count on it.

[Anonymous No.4818790]

>>4806375
About Hell Beneath and Perfect Hatred, see >>4818763.

[Anonymous No.4818820]

>>4818790
Great, we have missed you!

[Anonymous No.4818837]

>>4818820
Thanks, but I must say, I was preoccupied with other stuff. It's not my intention to leave anyone hanging or anything, and I don't want to act like a self-important dick, but basically I post here voluntarily and only as I feel that way, and I don't feel any obligation to change it from being that way. I didn't play much, because I was very preoccupied recently, and I am not making promises in regards to near future. If I think I have something to say, some ideas I happen to think are interesting enough to share them, I might post that. As simple as that.
Just, well, so there is no misunderstanding.

[Anonymous No.4818864]

What are the best Duke Nukem 3D fan map packs?

[Anonymous No.4818872]

>>4818864
*Is the DN3D fan expansion "Duke Nukem Forever" good?

[Anonymous No.4818876]

>>4818872
It's more like peculiar. It's definitely not the "TEH WAY IT WAS MEANT TU BI DUKE NUKEM FOREVER TRUE DUKE NUKEM 3D STYLE".
Maybe the DLC is though, haven't played it.

[Anonymous No.4819736]

>>4818837
I always wanted to hear your opinion on Levelord, what maps do you like by him, how you consider his style etc.

[Anonymous No.4819771]

>>4819736
I am not done with him yet (I still don't know how to interprete his Edge of Oblivion or his hidden object game, and I have only played one of his Quake maps to completion), but overall, I would say, that his levels (starting from Duke) are basically this. You follow a linear ambush-ridden path, for each ambush, there is a VERY SUBTLE (tm) hint provided beforehand (if it's not SUBTLE ENOUGH (tm) it's probably a bait), that lets you deal with the ambush with minimal possible losses. If you misinterpret or miss the hint altogether, chances are you would want to replay that encounter due to all the HORRIBLE CONSEQUENCES (tm) to your health and supplies. And when there is non-linearity, it's always about discerning the only correct linear course of progression - using, again, SUBTLE HINTS (tm) - that lets you proceed with minimal losses. When playing his levels properly, you are, like, crawling through them at a rate of a couple of inches per hour - or, at any rate, progressing through them MUCH slower than you would probably prefer to. Oh, and all the placements are SIMPLY PERFECT (tm), like, if you pick that rocket launcher just there in that room, you just know, that you picking it WILL be seen by a group of enemies in the next room through the tiiiiiiiiiiniest possible crack of unobstructed direct sight - and no, there isn't any way to pick it without aggroing them. And yes, you will want to pick it before tackling them because ammo shortage.

Like I said, there are still things I don't understand about his mapping, but if I were to throw a guess right now, I'd suppose, that you are supposed to waste your time there (all the loadgames included) just to get the idea of just How Much Time And Effort said mapping really required out of the dude, like, to make you REALLY FEEL IT. Is it about the measure of gratitude, or, like, compensation, or something?

[Anonymous No.4819776]

>>4819771
As for CHAIN EXPLLLLLLOSION GALORE, it could be: a) a bait, tricking you into thinking it's just like 80s action movies in order to make you rush and get yourself killed, b) a way of telling the player he CAN be explicit but prefers not to, c) fuck knows, anyway, his levels do NOT play in the manner those explosions hint upon in the fucking slightest.

Also, his Doom levels weren't ambush-ridden fests his Duke (and that Quake level I did complete) were, and made do JUST with the perfect item and enemy placements, just, well, in plain sight. Apparently, that ended up not being enough.

[Anonymous No.4819779]

>>4819776
Although even in Doom levels he repeatedly disguised main progression path for a side path.

[Anonymous No.4819786]

>>4819779
And by Doom levels I mean his GrayDOOM wad that can be downloaded from idgames.

[Anonymous No.4819831]

>>4819786
GrayDoom is horrible. Luckily the guy improved his mapping skills a lot for Duke and Quake.

[Anonymous No.4819842]

>>4819831
It's pretty boring and repetitive, sure. But at least it isn't downright obnoxious, you know.

[Anonymous No.4819846]

>>4819831
Besides, the constant process of "walk a meter" - "spot a SUBTLE hint" - "decrypt the SUBTLE hint to the best of your ability" - "tackle the imminent ambush" - "reload if necessary or proceed a meter further" is pretty repetitive and occasionally boring as well.

[Anonymous No.4819857]

>>4819771
This is why Episode 3 is so fucking annoying. He made 90% of the levels and most of the levels are ambush enemy spawns from nowhere or after picking anything up. It's infuriating

[Anonymous No.4819914]

>>4819771
Come to think of, a certain pattern kind of fits here. I wonder if that will lead me anywhere.

Basically, the pattern in question concerns notions I'll call "courtesy" and "help". Let's say, personA provides something to personB. If personA provides something by his own choosing, that's "courtesy". If personA provides something of personB's choosing, by personB's request, that's "help". As a gratitude, generally speaking, it is expected from personB to pay back to personA correspondingly. Like, commensurate reciprocal courtesy for the received courtesy (B gets something of A's choosing, A then gets something of B's choosing), commensurate help for the received help (B gets something from A by B's own choosing, A then gets something from B by A's own choosing). That leads to the distinction between acquaintances and friends. Acquaintances have a history of exchanging mutual courtesies, while friends have a history of helping each other. Now, there is this schtick, it MIGHT be colloquially called "imposing one's friendship onto somebody", although I am not sure about that. What I mean is when a person behaves like an acquaintance, but poses to be a friend, all the while drmanding reciprocal friendship. What this means is that that person has a habit of providing more often than not symbolical courtesies of his own choosing noone ever asked for, all the while demanding to be provided with, more often than not, real help, again, by his own choosing.
I have a suspicion this might be the case with Levelord. If that is the case, then what's going on seems to be him trying to force the player to accept flowery superficialities of his mappings as actual gameplay-related help.

[Anonymous No.4819928]

>>4819914
In other words, what could be going on here is Levelord trying to make the player to perceive his environmental dressings as parts of the level layout, to artificially blur the line between environmental and layout design. This hinges however upon an assumption that the latter is generally much harder to create or at least playtest than the former - or at least was in mid-90s.

Come to think of it, Levelord seems to only build gameplay on a room scale or adjacent rooms scale. There isn't a "bigger picture" almost anywhere, just a bunch of disjointed unrelated encounters.

[Anonymous No.4819954]

>>4819928
Level is treated like a sculpture, enemies are there to make sure you take your sweet time to PROPERLY APPRECIATE said sculpture. The point of Edge of Oblivion is that it's completely anti-Quake in visual design, so that Quake monsters look completely alien and ultimately redundant against its background, which, in conjunction with EoO beong primarily a multiplayer map drives home the point that the monsters there are the complete afterthought, and the focus of this map is neither the combat nor even the player and his progression, but the map itself, from its visual standpoint.

[Anonymous No.4820143]

>>4819857
Episode 3 also has a claustrophobic leveldesign, despite being partly outdoors. Levelord's cities look more like a studio backlot, instead of true cities with realistic streets. LA rumble and to a lesser extent, Flood zone are the exceptions.

[Anonymous No.4820204]

>>4814873
>World Tour superior to Megaton
>no expansions
>awful sound
>Duke says Bazinga

[Anonymous No.4820247]

>>4820204
The sound was patched and fixed 1 week after release, like all the major issues.
Duke never says Bazinga.

Once again WT haters prove that they don't know shit and just hate it because they're think they're being cool and hip.

[Anonymous No.4820275]

>>4820204
>no expansions
Legal reasons. Unfortunate but it is what it is.
>awful sound
Already fixed.
>Duke says Bazinga
No, he doesn't. Try playing WT before making any claims.

[Anonymous No.4820380]

And who the fuck cares if Duke says Bazinga???? Seriously, how one harmless quote can create such a retarded hysteria? Really? Duke had some stupid quotes in the original game, were that enough to not buy it?

This is the most fucked up thing I've ever read, it's reflecting the community's mental state.

[Anonymous No.4820385]

>>4820380
People are dumb. At least we got a funny video out of it all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO53c9A8StY

[Anonymous No.4820664]

>>4809949
community manager got chewed the fuck out for this stunt and developers immediately proceeded to damage control

[Anonymous No.4820668]

>>4816839
just wait until they become regular enemies on later stages, cheers!

[Anonymous No.4820672]

>>4820385
it's just a throwback to L4D mod where everything is bazinga even textures and models

[Anonymous No.4821094]

>>4820143
Wouldn't that be due to limitations at the time?

I mean, now we can have massive levels like in DNF 2013 mod but at the time the shit had to be way scaled back

[Anonymous No.4821120]

which Build game do you enjoyed the least?

for me Shadow Warrior mainly because I only played the shareware version growing up compared to owning Blood, Redneck Rampage, and Duke and all its expansions

[Anonymous No.4821126]

>>4820385
This is literally the best mod for Duke 3D.

[Anonymous No.4821269]

>>4820385
I liked the part when he said bazinga xD

[Anonymous No.4821570]

>>4821094
Eh? Rides Again had pretty fucking massive levels. Also Blood had Ganglion Depths, Shadow Warrior had Master Leep's Temple and Dark Woods of the Serpent, which, I'd say, were also pretty freaking big..

[NESfag No.4821573]

>>4821570
No, he's right. DN3D was made to be playable on a 486.
Blood and Shadow Warrior came out after and had higher minimum specs requirement, also their big maps aren't as detailed as in RR:RA, which came out even later and even had higher specs requirements.

[Anonymous No.4821763]

New Duke 3D overhaul mod "Kick Ass Duke" is finished and set to release in the next 24 hours!

Yay!

[Anonymous No.4821823]

>>4820247
Thats not true.

I hate it cuz it killed any possibility to play douk in a smartphone that is not a galaxy s9 or so.

Not to mention randy bitchface holding hostage those dnf betas out of spite, i mean, he is not even planning to sell them or something!

[Anonymous No.4821916]

New map "Magdalene" has just been released on Duke4.net.

[Anonymous No.4821953]

>>4821570
Not to mention Dark side or Derelict, which maps still run circles around usermaps in terms of scale and architecture.

[Anonymous No.4821957]

>>4821953
Or Smithsonian terror in DC.

[Anonymous No.4821963]

>>4821957
Come to think of Travis and usermaps, his first map, Moonbase Beta One (pretty much THE prototype for the Smithsonian) is just fucking vast. Not all that playable, mind you, but it's pretty fucking huge. It just dwarfs you, as if you weren't even there. And it was made in 1996, IIRC.

[Anonymous No.4822009]

>>4821963
I always thought the entire DC episode was just made to release Smithsonian commercially. The rest all felt afterthoughts.

Also Smithsonian is the map that truly represents Travis' old usermap style. It has many similarities with Anslem, Aztec, Betatwo as well.

[Anonymous No.4822026]

>>4822009
Aztec and BetaTwo are at least playable (and Hoth is Fucking Amazing, but I digress). BetaOne and Anselm - now THOSE are a different story altogether. What I've seen of Smithsonian was definitely closer to those two.

[Anonymous No.4822073]

>>4822026
So you don't like Smithsonian? That's strange, you seem to like big, unlinear maps with intuitive ideas.

And Hoth was a terrible map, what did you see in that particular one?

[Anonymous No.4822094]

>>4822073
I haven't played Smithsonian to completion yet.

As for Hoth. I like the purity of concept, how clearly separated environmental and layout design are in this level. It's like, okay, horizontals = gameplay, verticals = looks. It's ridiculously terse and to the point, and it manages to make a very strong impression (dat atomic health atop of the cracked cliff near the end of the level). It's definitely a concept proof level rather than conventionally entertaining one. However, while it lasts, it plays great, and it looks great (although, truth be told, it playing great has nothing to do with its looking great, and visa versa). And even though it's over in like 5 to 10 minutes, it was definitely much more memorable at least for me for me than a lot of much bigger levels. I guess, Travis just really had something to say with it.

[Anonymous No.4822097]

>>4822094
Also, I've played the original Dark Forces level this one was inspired by - and Hoth wins hands down. Maybe not in quantity of the content, but definitely in killer impression it ultimately made, at least, in my case (although Duke is arguably a much more playable game than Dark Forces to begin with).

[Anonymous No.4822134]

>>4822094
The word that comes to mind when I try to express both the impression that level made upon me AND what its theme sort of seemed to be in my opinion is "admiration".
And, for Aztec, for me, its theme sort of boils down to "condescension" (from leveldesigner's perspective on the level down to player's perspective on the level).
Interesting, I'll keep that in mind for my future Travis' levels, we'll see whether it'll lead me anywhere.
I really do want to complete BetaOne prior to Smithsonian.It's just seems like such a gigantic waste of time however (more so due to my tendency to get absolutely lost there, "where haven't I been already?" style).

[Anonymous No.4822138]

>>4822134
>is "admiration"
Well, not quite, maybe sort of a crossover between "admiration" and "exaltation".

[Anonymous No.4823256]

>>4822134
None of these Travis levels aged too well. I played Betatwo yesterday, which map I considered pretty good, and it looked and played horrible. Empty areas everywhere, poor texture selection, and combat is as interesting as listening how dogs bark.

[Anonymous No.4823292]

>>4818864
Duke hard is great. every contributor got to a floor each based on the die hard skyscraper. All with their own themes/gimmicks.
>>4818872
quality mod, short but sweet. They simply used the old Dukeforever trailer as a base of inspiration, don't expect it to feel like a complete game.

[Anonymous No.4823521]

>>4823292
Have you played any recent maps? Can you recommend something?

[Anonymous No.4823787]

>>4823521
No i don't know anything more recent than that.
If you want a classic instead i could recommend "ADG episodes". Solid level design and it has a vanilla feel to it.

[Anonymous No.4823892]

My oh my. I thought HOTH was the only Travis' Duke Xtreme singleplayer level. However, there are 5 more SP ones with his signature: DIRGE, EXANAGON, OPAKA, RIGEL and SHAKAAR.

There are also 6 SP levels bearing the same "SCS:)" signature level 7 from D.C. addon has (which corresponds to Shawn Swift). Those are: FINLDEST, FRANK, MIRATRIT, MUNITION, PESTLNCE and RIFT.

There are also two SP maps bearing a weird "PTA"/"PJA" (it's unclear what the middle letter is) signature: STUDIO9 and YDTC.

The rest of Xtreme SP levels are not signed in any apparent way.

[Anonymous No.4823993]

Okay, I think I get it. About Travis. I think it's basically "A _smart_ player would, however..."
Like, I think, the main point of his mappings is to fuck up those who regard Duke Nukem 3D as power fantasy, and are basically there to kick ass and chew bubble gum. He basically tries to hide his trickery behind apparent (but not meant to be taken at a face value by """smart""" player) visual and gameplay monotony, but the main point actually seems to be coming up with ways to genuinely surprise the player who gives a shit and thoroughly confuse the player who doesn't. Also, recurring absolutely useless devastators and shrinkers. Also, brutalist gigantomaniac achitecture (brutal = brute force = dumb).

Smithsonian in particular, however, I think, is like an enhanced remix of everything he's done before (well, not everything, but there are a lot of throwbacks - up to, yes, Beta One - also, Beta One's point is pretty much "A dumb person would probably hit the exit, once having completely randomly stumbled upon it, a SMART person, however, would seek out the abandoned armory heavily hinted upon throughout the level", also it REALLY requires the player to really work with the map, and to really think about where he is going and in what order, so that not to scramble the map, since it's used to designate where you've been - and those exact skills are actually required once again in Smithsonian). Something like "I think I am a smart person, like, I learn from my mistakes, look how much I've improved since then and since then and since then in particular - now whether YOU learn from your mistakes remains to be seen", but well, it's too monotonous and straightforward in the way it drones its point, as for my liking.

I very much prefer bite-sized levels of his from Xtreme purely in terms of format, although, apart from Hoth (which IS the best out of those 6), I wouldn't call them all that great. Pretty entertaining while they last though, even if simplistic looking.

[Anonymous No.4823998]

>>4823993
>Smithsonian/improvement
Also, that FUCKING oceanarium (yep, that's the remake of Beta One's one).

Anyway, monotony or no monotony, he does consistently come up with new stuff, and I like that.

Ultimately I prefer Blum and Schuler however.

[Anonymous No.4824005]

>>4823993
An attempt to try to sum up everything aforementioned. His levels are apparently straightforward and covertly tricky arguably in an attempt to confuse those who continue to judge by the looks even once having been repeatedly proven wrong.

[Anonymous No.4824023]

>>4823993
Although the biggest FUCK YOU to the kickass&bubblegum players, of those levels of his I've played, seems to be Anselm. That shit just needs to be seen in order to be comprehended, And without having cheated and basically partly reverse-engineered as to how you had been meant to progress at all, I probably wouldn't have completed it, since I DID miss the most crucial point in that level (I did think something was funny there, but I ended up being able to find what exactly only after I knew what exactly I was looking for in the first place). And I think don't know where one the keycards is (although there is superficial trash only behind that particular locked door).

[Anonymous No.4824082]

>>4823993
Also, if I am not mistaken, I think, the "there doesn't seem to be anything noteworthy there, but there actually is" sort of thing could be pretty safely called a "nuance". So, it's like, Travis' stuff appears thoroughly boring and mediocre, but is actually fairly nuanced once you start paying attention as well as get fairly accustomed to his mapping style. And those "nuances" are by and large fairly important gameplay-wise, not just superficial window-dressings.

[Anonymous No.4825295]

>>4824082
P.S. In fewer words: Disguised as samey, but actually nuanced.

[Anonymous No.4825326]

Good analysis, but my overall impression on Travis was he simply focused on creating large architecture, and forgot to make his maps lively in terms of details, including decent lights and shadows or spritework. His gameplay was even worse, most of his maps are just pigcops (which for some reason didn't fit with his style) and enforcers.

In terms shading, detailing and gameplay I think Ian Boffin (PnP creator) got the game's essence much more.

Travis style I think would have excelled in Unreal's conceptually grand mapping. He is also a clear forerunner of William Gee, whose maps are modernised Travis maps.

[Anonymous No.4825450]

>>4825326
>William Gee
Iiiiiiiinteresting. I'll take a look at his stuff eventually.

[Anonymous No.4825456]

Also to note that both Gee and Travis seemed to have an Indiana Jones obsession. Travis made that Lost Lagoon level for Caribbean, that might be the prequel to WGRealms.

[Anonymous No.4825494]

By the way, do SW's beta maps from 1996 work in the release or redux version of the game as usermaps?

[Anonymous No.4825503]

>>4825494
Also, is there the full version of 1996/11/28 SW beta (or anything around that time) anywhere? Mine only has 6 maps in it, which is kind of disappointing. Mind, I do have 1996/06 and 1996/08 betas, as well as the 1997/04/04 one, I am interested in map versions from 1996/11-to-1997/01 specifically.

[Anonymous No.4827463]

>page 10

[Anonymous No.4827621]

>>4827463
Meanwhile
>page 1

[Anonymous No.4827860]

>>4827621
Cacodemon champion when?

[Anonymous No.4828803]

>>4809949
We need to go back

[Anonymous No.4828815]

Anyone else love how subversive Plug n Prey is?

[Anonymous No.4829314]

>>4828815
Why is it subversive?

[Anonymous No.4829470]

REMINDER THAT REDNECK RAMPAGE IS THE MOST UNDERRATED FPS SERIES EVER

[Anonymous No.4829473]

>>4829314
You expect to play a quality mod and yet you get steaming pile of shit thus subverting your expectations

[Anonymous No.4829476]

>>4829473
i mean episode

[Anonymous No.4829483]

>>4829473
What is quality?

[Anonymous No.4829497]

>>4829473
I think it's a quality mod except maybe for a few levels.

[Anonymous No.4829502]

>>4829497
There are only six, of which the first one is the obvious "Guys! Guys! My first map! Guys!" and the fifth one, I think, was not playtested on pistolstart at all. Also, Duke Royale and the disco level are pretty boring, which leaves only Trackside and Hotel as something more or less worth looking at.

[Anonymous No.4829927]

>>4829502
Nightmare Zone is awesome, why it's so hated?

[Anonymous No.4831847]

>>4809949
How is that sexualized. It looks like it could have come from any SJW comic book

[Anonymous No.4833229]

Any news on Ion Maiden? That Queen of the Hill game badly needs a fix as early levels are very annoying.

[Anonymous No.4833264]

Lots of people comment on Duke3D's social satire and humorous homage to action and sci-fi movies, but I think that it's also worth noting that it tells a great story in multiple emotional registers.
I still remember how awesome it was that first time seeing the alien ship through that crack in the rock in "The Abyss" after a grueling slog through the mean streets of downtown LA, the prison, the submarine, the toxic waste facility, and then the climb up into the canyons.
Then the slow, eerie, haunting trip to outer space to those orbiting human vessels now devoid of their former crews and occupied by the alien force, the slowly strengthening alien presence, and then the trip to the moon culminating in the lonely moon base of "Dark Side" and that frightening and mysterious cave with the monolith.
Then back to LA, the momentum building toward the final showdown, the humor back and the horror of the lonely fight in outer space receding, a feeling of new strength while savagely Ramboing the alien army across the flooded, overrun city. The jetpack verticality of LA Rumble, the flashback to the moon in Movie Set, the collapsed buildings and earthquake-torn streets.

[NESfag No.4833287]

>>4833264
This. People who claim DN3D is all humour like ITT >>4821281 are being influenced by the post 1.3 biaised image of the game and Duke in general.

It's only starting 1.4 and with the following games that Duke became full-on parody, in 1.3 the humor are just a few jokes and very sparringly. For some reasons those few jokes struck with people and afterwards Duke insisted in that direction.

[Anonymous No.4833412]

I think the first two episodes can be considered as canonic storytelling, the other 3 are bonus.

[Anonymous No.4835287]

Bump.

[Anonymous No.4835724]

Did anybody play any of the maps posted in OP?

[Anonymous No.4835840]

>>4835724
Duketroid, yes, it was a nice idea, but execution was clumsy, night vision area with the Newbeasts is broken for example.

[Anonymous No.4836170]

>BloodGDX
holy shit it just works

[Anonymous No.4836839]

>>4836170
Seems to have a better palette than the original.

[Anonymous No.4837440]

>>4836839
I love BloodGDX but that's just straight bullshit.

[Anonymous No.4837524]

>>4836839
looks identical in dosbox

[Anonymous No.4837791]

>>4837524
the snow levels do look very similar (apart from the sector shading/lighting). it's the browns that are most noticeably different. there's often this pinkish tinge/hue that is lacking for a lot of them and you definitely don't get the full colour fidelity of the game. generally bloodgdx looks a lot more washed out. It's a tiny sacrifice for me though because I can't stand dosbox's awful performance and variable input lag that gimps the shit out of Caleb's movement and precision.

it doesn't matter if you prefer dosbox or bloodgdx; it's merely a choice on what the player deems most important to him. just try out both and see which one you prefer.

[Anonymous No.4837929]

>>4837791
Weird how Shadow Warrior doesn't have a slightest problem with DosBoX, eh?
You sure DOS Blood isn't just framecapped to some weird value of max framerate which is a reason DosBox throws a hissy fit with all the timings in the first place (the same way it throws a fit with Doom Engine's 35fps)?

[Anonymous No.4839735]

Did you notice the second episodes of both Blood and Duke are notably different to the rest of the games?

Blood has a snowy 2nd episode while Duke had a space themed one.

Why exactly the second one, god knows.

[Anonymous No.4839790]

>>4839735
Something related to monomyth structure, if I were to guess.

[Anonymous No.4840117]

>>4839693
>>4839963
>>4840103
>>4840113

[NESfag No.4841126]

>>4840117
Interesting

as a kid I had no access to the internet, but I bought this magazine that came out every 3 months and which among tons of other things, had DN3D maps on its CDs.

Hexhouse is one of those memorable maps I got from that magazine which I remember to this day.

[Anonymous No.4841320]

>>4841126
Pretty cool. Did you play the sequel back then?

[Anonymous No.4841738]

>>4841126
The only memorable levels I played back in 1996-97 were the Aqua series by Ben Roffelsen. Did he make any further stuff for any games?

[Anonymous No.4843773]

Bump.

[Anonymous No.4845834]

I really don't want this thread to die, but I know this will happen eventually.
Godspeed.

[Anonymous No.4845846]

I hope Ion Maiden will give the Build engine a second chance. At this moment the Build and Duke modding scene is dead.

[Anonymous No.4845951]

>>4845846
Not completely dead though, there are map releases time to time, you just have to check duke4net since it's pretty much the only place people post their maps.
I estimate a new map once a month, but i guess it still counts as dead.

[Anonymous No.4846087]

Why is the entire modding scene in Doom/DoomGDX when Build can do a lot more at least in regards to level design

[Anonymous No.4846134]

>>4846087
Doom is easier to get into, Build engine has lots of quirks

[Anonymous No.4846760]

>>4846087
>DoomGDX
u wot m8

[Anonymous No.4848219]

You know, a thought about Mirage Barrage.

Point is, what ticked me off is that it's very loosely balances, very sparsely, as per Blum standards, detailed, and, generally contains way too much unused space, espectially in the part immediately preceding entering the pyramid. Pretty much the only, like, bait is the novel artistic theme, and maybe the color lights, basically all of that relating to environmental design, not layouts/balance/scripting which are very simplistic and very much not up to Blum's usual standards.

The thought I mentioned above was that the impression that map gave me was something like "As if it hasn't been playtested all that much". Which led to another though that maybe, could it be, that Blum just didn't particularly like the theme and, that the map was made in self-explanatory manner, as an attempt to convey something like "Sorry, guys, I'm just not feeling it"? Basically, at least, for me, it makes impression of a sketch (speedmap?) painted with VERY, unnecessarily, broad (at least for Blum) strokes. And that the emphasis on the environmental artistry (which wasn't even all that good), including Pyramid as a visual bait and the final from-outer-space shot, was an attempt to play it cheap.

[Anonymous No.4848223]

>>4848219
What ticked me off was that, basically. Well, for one, that's pretty unprofessional, even if it's self-referential about it being unprofessional. Second, if author just wasn't feeling it, why should I be feeling like completing it? That raises an interesting question of, well, basically, the map is worked on iteratively, through revisions, redoing stuff here and there based on the feedback from playtesting. Player, however, completes it linearly, from start to finish. And, basically, while Mirage Barrage is definitely very much completeable, it feels unfinished in a way that it feels like a sketch that could use much more playtesting-based revisions in order to be brought to the usual Blum's level in terms of layout/scripting/encounters/pickup_balance. Maybe, like, it's not polished, it's primitive. Which raises a question as to the extent to which I should (or rather should've) bother with it.

[Anonymous No.4848256]

>>4848219
>>4848223
So, basically, everything aforementioned brings to the forefront the theme of "apology", as arguably on of the central ones for this map (the vistas could thus be interpreted not as baits, but as, basically, what constitutes that apology). Problem, however, is, it doesn't mesh with Lee Jackson's musical track to it, at all. Which raises a question about the amount of cooperation between AWO staff there was during the development of AWO.

[Anonymous No.4848263]

>>4848256
>the extent of how closely AWO staffers interacted between them during the creation of AWO

[Anonymous No.4848547]

Happening.

[Anonymous No.4848590]

>>4848219
Like it or not, along with Golden Carnage it's the only map here which made people think. The other 6 maps are already forgotten as I see it.

[Anonymous No.4848838]

>>4848547
awwwwwwwww shieeeeeeeeeeeeeet

we can get our own Blood /vr/ multiplayer going!!!!!!

any europoors in here?????

[Anonymous No.4848864]

>>4848219
You actually fight with your own demons here, and remind me of the people who are listening to music they’re not suppose to like only to reassure themselves the music is bad. Meanwhile deep in their souls they love that music more than the music they happen to like.

[Anonymous No.4850645]

Freeway, Derelict and Golden Carnage aside, nothing from e3-e5 can match the gorgeous atmosphere of the first two episodes. Even Blum’s other levels felt different a bit.

[Anonymous No.4850708]

(In context of Blum's maps)
Self-referential maps -> Self-explanatory mapping -> Sincerity?

[Anonymous No.4852117]

Why Shadow warrior enemies are so fucking strong??

Even the basic ninja is accurate as shit, the others need multiple shotgun shots to come down. There is literally no easy enemies in the game.

[Anonymous No.4854390]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0F2_MvgUqc

[Anonymous No.4854519]

God bless these magnificent bastards

[Anonymous No.4854902]

Jesus Christ oasiz' Exhumed map is utter fucking shit.

It plays like a tutorial level, except you are constantly starved for ammo, and that it looks like absolute crap despite having way worse framerate than any native Exhumed map. Zero novelty, like, "oh, I'll adapt all those tried and true tricks to the Woefully Inferior Version of Build Engine, For Sure How Far Did We Come With Glorious EDuke".

It's, like, the worst thing isn't that this map sucks ass in comparison to stock Exhumed map. The worst thing is, it sucks Slum Noir's ass. And that kind of "oh, I am an expert/knowitall" disposition from a mapper that had 1 (ONE) map in his roster prior to doing this map, is, like, WHAT?!

Also, Exhumed's mappers at least had the sense to try to obfuscate the linearity of maps' progression routes by making it extremely convoluted. Here, the linearity is so self-evident, it's almost being boasted.

And that utter disrespect towards the aesthetics of the game is, like, fucking hell, did he even try?

[Anonymous No.4854925]

>>4854902
It's almost as if the whole point of the map was to make the base game look noticeably worse than it already was (due to shortcomings of its own, which, let's be real, PC Powerslave/Exhumed does have in spades).

[Anonymous No.4855784]

Bumping, if only for the hope of BLOODDGX multiplayer

[Anonymous No.4855851]

Why did the humour in Blood age so much better than that of Duke3D and SW?

[Anonymous No.4857086]

Are the maps in Ion Maiden built around pistol start or no?

[Anonymous No.4857096]

>>4855851
dark humor is much more ageless in general

[Anonymous No.4857204]

>>4810137
It really isn't. It's not any better.