Project Status, Daily report.

    This section is devoted to track the progress of "Against the Clock" through two different reports: one big and general project status and an informal collection of daily reports. While looking at the project status may be enough, the daily reports are there for the most curious and also to mantain a record of what´s being done.

    This is a heavy-reading section (as if the site itself hadn´t enough words on it :P) so if you´re willing to get as much information as possible you could take a look around here.

    Progress page Index:

    Project status.

    Daily reports.

    Project status.

    When it appeared in the old site, this section was called "Currently working on" but I´d always call its contents "Daily reports" so this is the name it will have in this new site. For those of you who don´t know what´s this, think about it as a weblog where I´m storing what´s being done about the project each day I write something down.   

    In the old site each report consisted in only one pharagraph to keep it nice at sight and to avoid using the tab key... This may not be the case anymore. New reports are likely to be clear and organized. In fact, they´re organized by date now!!!. Please, note that the older reports are posted below and the newest are always at the upper part (just as the opposite of the index below).

December, 31th, 2005:

Tweaking world 1-4.

In this last day of this year I have been, as expected, doing some work on "Against the Clock". I did a bunch of changes late at night, including massive playtesting and, today, I have done several other changes and additions and some playtesting too. What can I say?. I love the way this map plays and works!.

To begin with, the map has some sounds now that create a nice atmosphere. Most of them happen only once or twice in the map, but help to difference what´s happening and where. There will be some others that will be present during the whole level in certain places, but those are still to be added... Anyway, I don´t know why I didn´t start with this whole sound issue before since the levels are much more inmersive this way.

About the playtesting, I have the feeling that "Against the Clock" won´t be that hard anymore... The chance script provides the possibilty to win some like (like even 20 seconds in some places) and that makes possible to finish the map playing in a more relaxed fashion. Too relaxed, I´m afraid. I will be surely doing a lot of work on balancing this until I get the right amount of "Chances" for each level and it will be up to the players´ wit to know when it´s a good idea to drop into a death pit to respawn with some more time than was available before... Of course, there´s the whole health issue: now the player will be forced to be more conservative with health and I should take a few health packs from here and there to keep the whole thing on the edge.

Finally, last night I was wondering a little about the ending and I think I have a concept for it. I have not the script with the things that will happen there, but have some kind of idea and it shouldn´t be too hard to make it true. Revealing some things, depending on the difficulty level you play in, you will get different endings.... Well, not exactly different endings, but different interpretations and degrees of revealing of almost the same facts. It seems like a nice idea to me and for players that won´t cheat, it could be an incentive to play again and again in harder levels until they get all the endings.

And that´s almost all for today. Hope you have a nice entry in 2006!!!.

December, 30th, 2005:

Tweaking world 1-3.

As expected, it didn´t take much time to finish this map... Actually, I have been working on it in and out and not continously but in the end most problems are solved easily. Not only did I solve the horrible texture bleeding in software mode but I also added more ambient sounds than planned that seem to work great with the map. I´m almost sure that there is nothing more to be done with this map until playtesting time comes so I´ll be moving on to World 1-4 when I feel like working on "Against the Clock".

So far, the "To do" list for World 1-4 is small... There are two random crashes in the list and the rest is just a question of navigating and doing small visual fixes. Then, of course, there´s the whole sound issue that I don´t know exactly how to manage this time given the particularities of this map. I´m sure I´ll be needing some lava sounds, some water and soft wind too but, what else?. Yeah, creeping fire would be nice too and in the very same fashion I could use some magical "Schwooosh" sounds and stuff... As could happen with the rest of the maps, only playtesting time will be telling if something has to be added to the gameplay and, now that I mention it, I almost forgot about the checkpoints!!!. This map is fairly linear so I won´t be having much problems setting them.

In other order of things, a common item in all the "To do" lists is to fix the "Chance checkpoints" effect. Currently the chance script does only display a number on the screen with no sound or anything. I´m thiking about the possibility of adding some sound effect and some visual stuff (maybe a HUD picture is enough for this) so the player fully notices that he can drop himself into a death pit in that moment :P. If this was a 3rd person arcade I could use some spiral math with OpenGL coronae but that´s not the case (software compatibility and 1st person... sorry!)... Anyway, the spiral thing seems interesting now that I mention it. Maybe I could get a hold of some Heretic sparks for this.

December, 27th, 2005:

Tweaking world 1-3.

I hoped that I could update sooner but real life is always on the way but, anyway, there are some news regarding the development of "Against the Clock". As you can read above, tweaking of World 1-2 is completed... Things were added and little scripting was modified until things worked the way they should but I never got to test the difficulty settings properly: I prefer to wait until all levels are tweaked and done until I get to this... So, well, once World 1-2 was finished it was about time to get World 1-3 going. 

At first sight, this world needs no tweaking on the visuals so they´ve been left almostt untouched (little alignments and things like that) but some other parts of the level needed of massive tweaking: ambient sounds have been added (they seem a little poor but will feel better when music is done), new graphics have been inserted, scripts have been corrected along with some bugs and, well, the map seems more alive now than before... Of course, the "To do" list keeps on growing as testing goes but sometimes it takes much more to write down items on the list than to add them or fix them ;)...

Right now, the "To do" list is made of four items and only one of them (a massive texture bleeding in software mode) is really relevant while the rest are little details that I´d like to fix so we could expect this level to be done (again) soon. I´m sure I´ll like to tweak and change some little things before getting to work on World 1-4 (in wich there´s a lot of work regarding the "chance" script) but it won´t take long before I move on... Now that I think of it, there are still two levels (the ending and the secret level) to be done so I should start working on them as soon as I finish the current polishing of things... Maybe I could release a "testing-beta" of this levels so they can be tested in terms of difficulty and gameplay while I make this two last levels. Time will tell.

December, 19th, 2005:

Tweaking world 1-2.

It has been a long time since I´ve been away from Legacy Editing but today I finally got to it again after finishing my "New Doom Community Project" map fixes and getting some spare time (still have to work on the "NewDoom Wad Reviews"!)... Getting back is strange: I didn´t remember what was I doing and what was left to be done... In fact, I finished what was left of World 1-2 rather quickly adding some ambient sounds, scripts and the "chance" script to it.

I have been reconsidering about the "Chance" script during the process and surely the current method ain´t the best work that could be done on implementing... I am thinking about a different way of looking to it. Currently maps are regarded as a "tube" with this script and I´d prefer a more wide look in case I come with other kind of maps... First steps have been taken on this and now, for example, the player can trigger the very same checkpoint as much as he wants. Since the checkpoint doesn´t give any extra score or time there´s no problem with it :).

Another thing that has been puzzling me during the work on this map today has been its difficulty. I didn´t remember the UV setting being so damn wild and hard!. The time limit doesn´t seem fair or tight, it just seems impossible!. Maybe I have lost some practice in navigating through these maps but, hopefully, I will be able to have some objective betatesters that will be able to tell me if the maps are playable or not.

Future plans?. Well, most work on this map is done (in fact, the "to do" list only tells about problems I don´t even remember) so I guess I´ll take some plays through it to ensure everything works fine and start to work on the next one... The three maps that are left will only need the "chances" script and some other minor tweaking to them, since I consider their visuals to be on par with the rest of the maps. Does that mean that "Against the Clock" is drawing near?... Well, no nearer than Legacy V2.0, I guess :P.

November, 9th, 2005:

Detailing, fixing and tweaking world 1-2.

I think I´m near the end of this detailing process so soon I can start adding the stuff related to gameplay and the "To-do" lists... The main cause for it is that I don´t think I can get much further without going insane so I´ll better stop than obsessing over detail. The second excavation has ended up being a nice place as well as the third (yes, it´s already done) so I´ll be polishing the ending area, adding the checkpoints and tweaking the gameplay real soon. When I look at this level now I don´t think the changes are as noticeable as in World 1-1 (except in a few areas) but mostly I´m satisfied with it. Isn´t it a big irony that I´m worring that much about the looks of something that is meant to be played fast?. At least there´s always the tourist mode to take a look around but, you know, the next project I start won´t be having any time limits and stuff like that: if I want to concentrate on a part being creative I would like people to notice it and enjoy it as it is instead of in a rush!.

Well. Regarding current changes added there are new visual elements (lots of lighting, some crates, cracks and rocks here and there, a small garden with a basic well, tweaks on secret areas, columns, borders...) and some gameplay ones like traps, additions to secret areas or new monsters. I think that with these changes the level with be unbalanced so I will surely have to run through it again until it feels right again. 

The future plans for this level (apart from ending it as soon as possible!!) include adding some details into the last area (maybe even some secret area hidden among the rocks accessible only by jumping) and start to think about the checkpoint system: it will have to be scripted due to the "triple fork" structure of the level but I don´t think I will be running into a lot of problems. There´s also a problem in where to add them. I´m almost sure of the location on the first excavation (in the line that clearly divides the areas) and in the third (it´s small so will only have one in the beginning) but I don´t know where to put anything in the second (fork into fork structure) and I think they will be most needed (at least in a particular section)... The last thing to add will be the ambient sounds. This will also be hard since I have only some basic ideas and I would like this level to aurally come alive as the first does. To sum up, I don´t think I will be done with this level until, at least, the next week.

November, 8th, 2005:

Detailing, fixing and tweaking world 1-2.

It seems like I finally got the hang of the second excavation and little is left to be done: some paintings on the wall, fixing a HOM in a couple of windows and the rest is a question of wanting to add extra detail or not. Surely I will... I don´t know if there will be segments left to work on the second and third excavations though since I´m reaching the 20.000 linedefs and in the moment I do that I tend to stop to avoid problems (now that I think of it, I reached 26.000 in some other map, the one that crashed so maybe there´s still hope :P)... Let´s be positive and say that I still have 6000 sidedefs to work with so maybe I will be adding some more areas to the third excavation.

Today´s work has been about detailing and finishing the new section and then switching to tweak some stuff. For example, I changed a crusher trap to a pit one (that looks fairly nice with those spikes) that also has an scripted trap near (that I have to script) and that adds a some variety to the section. I´ve also figured out how to add a rotating blade trap (like the ones seen on the Prince of Persia games) and make it work properly (I tried to do it when I did this level but never succedded) but I don´t think I´ll be adding it on this map: I think I have better places to set them up in some sections of the other two maps... The biggest problem with this trap is that is uses a lot of 3d floors and sectors and it may slow down the rendering. Thinking about it I´ve come to an option that does not use any 3d floors but middle textures. The visual quality of it is much poorer but would work faster and I could set lot of them in a row :).

Well, still I have a long way to go on this but I feel like I´m finally getting nearer :).

November, 7th, 2005:

Detailing and fixing world 1-2.

Finally I succeded in getting a proper idea on what to do to the second excavation... I haven´t detailed a lot there but there has been a considerable boost in the level´s numbers since I tried to simulate a cave and it takes a lot of lines... I´ve also added the first change in the gameplay. It´s a rather simple "switch-door" puzzle action but it has some jumping added and also it´s required to acess one of the challenges on the level. Adding this has given me the opportunity to add even more tech to this map (and this is something I enjoy a lot).

Having outlined the main purposes in detailing there´s not a lot left to do than detailing and fixing. Surely I will be looking for some new textures to help creating a nicer look and I´ll be doing some lighting work too. Other than that I´ll detail an area with crushers and then will move on to the last part of this excavation... Bear in mind than the second excavation has two main areas and only one of them was quite hard to detail. The other one is just some brick and that´s always easy :).

Now, even a single look at the editor can tell that this map is much more detailed and looks a lot better than it did before. That´s not the primary purpose of this project but I´m sure it will be a welcome addition... Anyway, when this excavation is done there will be little work to be done on this world regarding details. I will be adding some stuff to the third excavation and to the final area, but that will be done within a couple of days. Then I will be adding the "checkpoints" and finally I will be able to move on to Worlds 1-3 and 1-4 to add this very same features. When the moment comes the road will be open to keep on advancing with the project into the ending and the secret level :).

November, 4th, 2005:

Detailing and fixing world 1-2.

I feel like I am not working a lot on this project lately. Maybe it has to do with the new "Newdoom Reviews" project I´m on (wich requires a lot of time to set up things as well as to play and write reviews) and, of course, it deals with real life but sometimes, when I have some spare time, I sit down and continue working on this project.

To be honest, the task of detailing already made levels is starting to be complex and somewhat boring since sometimes you just don´t know what to do with an area. Right now I can say that I have finished working on a section of the map: the first excavation. It has now some nice improvements on it´s look though no changes on the layout (I´ve specially worked on lights and on creating a new decorative and non accessible area that I doubt anyone will ever notice) and has taken some time to finish since Doom Builder is acting quite strange lately. 

Just a while ago I started working on the second excavation: the bare cave I was reffering to in the previous report... It has taken some time to finish a decent looking entry room (still it´s not anything special and looks quite messy) and I can´t imagine how much it will take to do the rest... You know, I don´t even know what I´m gonna do with the rest!!!. The area´s ceiling is quite high and that makes specially difficult to make anything to it so surely I will be lowering all ceilings except the one that surrounds a tower in the center of the area and then I´ll add beams, crates and tech stuff to give the sense that something has been happening there. Besides that, I must be careful since changes in the ceiling on this part can greatly affect the gameplay but there´s no problem if I outline what I´m gonna change first.

When I´m done with this area I will start with the third excavation that, right now, looks nice enough, so it will be easy to finish it and move on to the final touches here and there.

October, 31th, 2005:

Detailing and fixing world 1-2.

Having finished (or reached the limit) what was to be done in World 1-1 it´s time to move on to World 1-2... I don´t think this is gonna be as hard as the previous one since I have ideas on what I exactly want to do... I don´t mean exact ideas but rather concepts. Also I´m sure it will be morally easier since it´s divided into five different areas and I´m sure to get a sense of accomplishment as I´m done with them. Right now I´m working on the second area (the first excavation) since I don´t think I´ll be adding much to the first... Detailing here is easy and fun: there´s a lot of tech stuff and you can add nice lights, cables and wiring everywhere. Also it gives a chance to use transparent textures and coloured lighting in small bits here and there.... To sum up, I don´t think it´s gonna take much to finish this section. 

The second excavation will be the harder of them all (the third looks good enough and the exit zone is small and easy): I´d like it to look like an excavation, a cave or something and right now it´s the barest thing to be seen on the level. When the moment comes I´m sure that the sector and segment count will be boosted a lot here... Luckily I´ve got a little experience on those things so I don´t face this completely unarmed.

Finally, some other stuff will have to be added to the level like the new "Chance" checkpoints involving some scripting, new scripts and maybe new gameplay elements... The best thing of this is that when this level is done the others won´t need of a "look" update but only of the checkpoint and maybe gameplay stuff. I´m gonna take this easy and slow and when done I will abort the "hold" and start working again.

October, 28th, 2005:

Detailing on World 1-1 and Various things.

The rest on "Against the Clock" continues but that hasn´t stopped World 1-1 from being fully detailed... I´m quite proud of the result but still I find that somethings could be done. I´ll explain myself: some areas don´t look the same anymore and nice details have been added until the segments are almost two times what they were. I´ve been adding details as the map goes but in the latests areas I found that the limits were about to be hit to I had to start adding less details and do it more carefully resulting in the final areas looking more similar to what they were. Anyway, it´s not like the whole map looks different but new gameplay elements have been added and new architecture will make it look nicer to the eye... This work has taken a lot and I presume that the very same work on World 1-2 will take it´s time too. You know, it´s really fun and satisfying when you go over something you´ve done and can make it look much nicer with new textures and tricks you´ve learned :).

But not only detailing has been added to this level: the master script has been updated with the "Chances" script that Psyren suggested and that allows players not to die instantly when they fall into a death pit but, instead of that, they teleport to a near checkpoint. The script is wonderfully simple and so it is the implementation on the maps themselves: to set the checkpoints in World 1-1 only took five minutes :)... But with this change in the scripts also have come others: for example, the restarter no longer takes the player to the beginning of the map with full health but to the last checkpoint he passed... Also, the script that adds score at the end of each level depending on the time and ammo left must also be modified so points are given with "Chances" left too (and also by items left too!!). The only drawback I see on this (nothing some scripting can´t fix) is that it may not work with fork paths if you set checkpoints on them and this will make some things specially challenging in World 1-2 (I´ve thought of a script to fix them anyway). It seems to work with backtracking though :D.

Along with this, several things have been added to the "To do" for their inclusion when Legacy v2.0 is out :).

October, 21th, 2005:

Various things.

As promised, I´m taking a rest from "Against the Clock"... I´m still doing work on it and so on, but usually I use small periods of time and detail only some things here and there. During the last days I´ve been working mainly in World 1-1 (yes, we´re back again) since it had some "To do"´s that I wanted to solve (and to find an efficient way to solve!!!)... After some work I could say it was O.k, but when playing I thought it did not look like I wanted to.

Back when the map was done and finished the aesthetics of the levels were not that important (or maybe I just lacked an habit of making things look nice... maybe it was just my skills) but when I replayed World 1-1 I found that it played rather nice, but looked really bland compared to the rest of the levels, specially to the last ones. Wouldn´t it be nice to have the levels also to look good?. Definitely it would so I have come to the conclusion that all maps will have to go under some face wash. This will affect (in a rather dramatic way) Worlds 1-1 and 1-2 (World 1-3 can´t take a segment more and the other two look nice enough to me) but I will try that it won´t affect their gameplay settings and feel. 

Work on World 1-1 has already begun and the first area is almost finished (maybe I´ll add little things here and there, but nothing important)... In the next days I will be slowly working on the other areas until I think the map looks good enough. Then it will go under playtesting and additional fixing... Surely it will be a good moment to have the "Chances" script added then. I will try to post screenshots of the areas as I go so I can both enlarge the picture database and show the results... Stay tuned :)!.

October, 16th, 2005:

Various things.

I figured out I could never take a rest so easily so here I am again, doing even more work on this mod each day. Having finished World 1-5 already I could think that my main goal is to move on to the next level but there´s one thing that tells me not to do so: the "To do" list. As I take a look at it I find that there are several things to be done and I think that most of them would be better fixed in various stages depending on the difficulty and nature of the task. For example, adding the "Chance" script that would allow players to survive death pits is a difficult task that could easily take several work session while fixing some minor stuff regarding difficulty levels can be done in one session that I can also use to fix up things in other levels... And that´s what I´ve done. I improved a little the "Master Script" and got to work in World 1-1 just to see things fixed and new things appear. It may be me growing more demanding with each level, but I see a lot of work to do in this very same level. I fixed some moving platforms, some scripts and then added ambient sounds that make a lot for the map but while testing I saw that more things could be added and, well, they´re on the "To do" list now. 

I´m planning on fixing (and adding more stuff) to the "To do" for each of the levels and in the meantime I´ll also work on general things (like the "Chance script") so almost all functionality is implemented when I begin working in the next level... This is somewhat a rest from mapping but not from the project and, as stated before, I would like to take some of my time to work on other things too!. Guess it´s just a question of hitting the "pause" button and starting to work on anything else, but I don´t feel right when I have things left to be done... I´m mostly to take a rest when all of these "To do" are fixed, and it´s gonna take some time.

October, 15th, 2005:

World 1-5: The hall of white light.

Finally all pieces for this level have fallen into their place and the puzzle is complete. After fixing all gameplay and scripting problems I´ve been able to play and finish a nice experience... This boss battle is somewhat like the ones in the old games where you got to see different patterns the more you get into it and, well, I think it captures the spirit of the mod pretty nicely. 

All difficulty levels and their time limits are balanced now and work as expected: you could even finish the "Easy" level in your first try (no strange jumps, no head-ache provoking puzzles, no tight time limit, no senseless running to get hourglasses) since this is a boss fight but then try in "Hard". It will take some time until you get used to the position of the ammunition in the level (you´ll really need to have your weapons loaded!) and even then you can get killed by the boss or his minions if you let your guard down for a moment!!!.

Anyway, I´ll update the project status right now and, as promised, will try to take a rest from "Against the Clock" but, who knows?. Right now I feel the urge to start fixing the "To do" stuff in other levels!!!.

October, 14th, 2005:

World 1-5: The hall of white light.

Everything is going all right, or so it seems... After some work I managed to reduce the "To do" list to only one item (redoing a big script that I don´t think is exactly elegant, efficient or clean). In order to do that I messed with some more architecture, little alignments, scripting and things like that... In the way I found a bug related to the "Master script" that I had to fix (one entry of the resource file changed and caused a "Segmentation violation" error each time you´d finish a level) and another related to Legacy that it´s even more annoying. Remember when I said I set to work a score counter that would be able to hold up to 9.999.999 points?. It doesn´t seem that´s accurate anymore since Legacy would crash when reaching 40.000 points. I can circumvent it but I´d prefer to wait until Legacy v2.0 is out ´cos it may have fixed the math error that caused this... Right now, each time you reach 39.000 points you get an apology message and your score gets reset to zero again :P.

Anyway, as said, there´s only a script to do and then only extensive playtesting. The script itself doesn´t affect the gameplay at all so I can say that playtesting began when the map had an "Ending" to it. So far I´ve been able to finish it in "Tourist", "Easy" and "Normal", almost made it in "Hard" but died in a trap (it´s stupid to die in a trap you set yourself, isn´t it?)... Surely I will get to finish it in "Hard" sometime soon while I rewrite that script... 

And you may be asking yourself, how does it play?. Quite good in my opinion. I like the fact of this being my first "Boss level" and I think it works nice. It´s not exactly hard until you get to the second half of the level and it´s not tight on time (you get a big amount of seconds to do the job since I wanted the player to have some margin to fight)... Ammo is another matter: you should not have any problems in "Easy" or "Normal" but beware of "Hard" snice you´ll have to know where ammo is and try not to miss too much shots if you want to be able to finish this map... Some "Ballet-style" gameplay again, free formed but with a choreographic feel.

To sum things up, this map is about to be finished soon so the body of World 1 would be done. After doing that I´m most likely to take a rest from mapping and spend some time in other things. When back to work again I´ll be working on the rest of the levels (they have "To do" lists too...), fix as much "To do" as I can in the "Master script" and then get to work on the tutorial level again or the secret level since I´ll leave the ending for the moment everything is done.

October, 13th, 2005:

World 1-5: The hall of white light.

At this state I can say the level is finally playable!!!. It has a nice balance in difficulty levels I´ve played and though the time limit hasn´t been set yet I don´t think it will be much trouble to add it.

Surely this map could be done by now if I wasn´t taking small rests from the project here and there but well, real life concerns exists and so it does getting tired of something. Right now I´m a little tired ´cos the "To Do" list for this level is the biggest of all. Not all items on the list require of excessive working (some of them are playing existing sounds) but I´m feeling a bit lazy now. Surely I´ll go work on some of these items once I finish writing this and leave the bigger deals for later (like, for example, rewriting a whole script) or align some 3d architecture.

And well, there´s not a lot to say about this that what I´ve just done. I hope I can finish this map soon so I can take a bigger rest to get back with new energy to the project!.

October, 9th, 2005:

World 1-5: The hall of white light.

    I have been playing this world for about half an hour (getting killed, trying it again, making some small improvements) and I have to say I like the results so far. I´m currently playing in Hard mode and it´s equally challenging and rewarding to go through the different parts of the level (I won´t say anymore)... I´ve been fixing different problems with the scripting and the ammunition and I´ve also made a path that the player can finally take to get to the end of the level... It´s true that the player can´t reach that in the current state of things (there´s not enough ammo) but it will be a nice touch for the end of the map, fitting with what is seen in the others.

    In a sense, the level is not enough since I don´t feel it intense enough. That is likely to be about the ambience and sounds. This map is very special and must rely a lot in acoustic stuff to have the proper feel. It´s not only about the ambience but also about making the experience more enjoyable and playable since certain sounds can be signs of things happening or soon to happen. I won´t stop working in this map until it feels really intense but I´m sure that after this map is finished I will take a break from mapping to get new ideas for the two parts that are still to be done.

October, 8th, 2005:

World 1-5: The hall of white light.

    We almost have a winner here!!!.  All scriptings for the final boss are in a fully-functional state and all to do with them is either change them, improve them or leave them as they are but in all cases, nothing really susbtantial. Other scripts for the map are working as well and at the time of writing there´s only two three things left: first of it all, there´s working on objects and balance (with may involve some scripting too). Second, the end of the map is still to be done: there´s no end and no way to lead the player there, so a little (but very little) bit of architecture and some more scripting will have to be done before the map is "Fully playable". Then there´s only testing and more testing to do, seeing if it crashes, fixing gameplay problems and making it as balanced as possible (usually by messing with scripts, since this is a heavily scripted level).

    So well, right now we can consider "Against the Clock" nearer than ever (well, each step is a step nearer but hey...) or, at least, we can consider a non-full version (no v2.0 stuff, no ending, no secret level, no music, no new sounds...) done. This could be used for betatesting while the rest of the work in music and sounds and optimization is done but surely I´ll prefer to have a full version to test it.

    So, well, there may be new screenshots coming soon (about some things of this World 1-5) and also a surprise talked about before. Then surely I´ll take a small rest, work on Psyren´s Blood map and in Adz´s project map too. Until Legacy v2.0 is out I can´t say I´m in a hurry!.

October, 7th, 2005:

World 1-5: The hall of white light.   

    Seems I finally decided to settle for a title... It´s more a question of it being written in the script itself than me being completely convinced but, anyway, it sounds good enough for me. This is the first part of the level itself beginning to look like it finally will in World 1. And I must add I´m very satisfied with it!.

    I haven´t done much to World 1-5 today that doesn´t involve typing things and doing schemes of scripts. So far I have been able to make some ambient sounds that add mood to the place. I´ve also managed to make the player be able to get out of the first area and move from there to the last one where the script for the boss if halfway done. Actually, there are two different scripts, one for the boss itself and other for it´s life gauge. The first one is still in development and the second we could say it´s done... O.k, it´s somewhat messy, not in the way that it looks strange and without order but it´s rather big and doesn´t depend directly on the boss health. It´s like that ´cos I wanted to avoid problems with players cheating and well, I´m still trying to figure out how I can make an elegant script that will manage what happens when the boss recieves too much damage (of a weapon not present in the level itself). 

    Anyway, the biggest problems will come caused by the first one. I´ve played it as it stands right now and it´s a rather easy boss. I haven´t still added some aditional minions that could help it on the fight but I´ll have to come with some things more if I want to make this challenging enough. Hopefully I´ve got some tricks under my sleeve :P.

October, 6th, 2005:

World 1-5: The hall of light (I just don´t know which one sounds right).

    Another day with small but worth day done: mainly I´ve been avoiding crashes that appeared in software mode from nowhere, making new textures and doing some new architecture with detail to consume segments... Right now the map is not precisely big but takes a lot to build the nodes; I guess it´s about time to stop detailing stuff and moving on to gameplay, isn´t it?. 

    I´ve played around (nah... Actually walking around) the layout and have find a couple of areas where I could use some detail and where I should make some new textures to finish the look but apart from that there´s only a little architecture to do (the exit) that will be done when the time comes. I´d say that all that it´s left to do is the gameplay itself with all it´s scripts and some texturing. About the gameplay and scripting, what can I say?. This is going to be a complicated map and I want it to be really memorable for the feeling and sensations. To implement it all I will need a decent number of scripts running but luckily they all will be short and easy to do except a few.

    If I had to talk about the current state of the map I´d say that it´s unplayable now since you can´t get out of the first room without cheating... The method I´ll use from tomorrow to complete the map will be to slowly work on everything the player has to do. From example, I will start with the possibility of getting out of the first room and then on all the events that lead towards the end. As said in some other post, I don´t expect to complete the mod real soon but this map will be done soon enough :). By the moment this map is done I will start working on a small surprise. I´m not revealing any details but if everything goes all right you will know about it. Anyway, enough work on Doom for today.

October, 5th, 2005:

World 1-5: The hall of white light (remix revisited).

    Today I´ve tried to get as focused in real life tasks as possible (and also I´ve taken a nap... Usually I map during nap times) and that results on small work done in the project. Of course, the work has been more than enough and much more than I expected. Aside from some texturing (nothing special, just a ugly filler for the chair) I´ve managed to almost finish the copy and paste section in a very satisfactory way. This main seem trivial but the usage of 3d floors there makes it more complicated than it seems!!!. Anyway, you´ll get to know when you play.

    One thing that is troubling me a lot is how I get crashes in software mode with this map. I´ve already discarded some ideas that came during the process of making the map and still I´m getting more crashes due to the architecture. It´s a real problem when it happens in this area I talked about. This area is key to the rest of the level and the whole mod and I don´t feel like deleting it and making something that doesn´t crash... It usually takes a work of deleting sectors individually (as I explained in some other entry) before you actually find where´s the root of the problem. While doing that I always feel that the problem is the whole idea :( but most of the time I can always find where the problem is and solve it (sometimes by deleting some elements that were particularly nice)... Anyway, that´s the price for wanting both renderers to work.

    As said before, this a much more work than I expected and leaves little architecture to be done: some scenery for the boss fight (you knew about the boss, didn´t you?) and a way to lead the player towards the end. Then it´s all about scripting (wich embodies most gameplay), balance and some graphics here and there. Suddenly I see the end near, but I know the scripts for this particular level are not to be done within a single day but, who knows?. Maybe I´ll manage to do it when the time comes. Anyway, I know for sure that there is even more work to do in the main script, as well as in previous maps, not to mention the secret map and the ending and then all music and sounds and such so "Against the Clock" isn´t precisely near. It´s even less near considering it will run under Legacy v2.0 and it ain´t out yet!...

October, 4th, 2005:

World 1-5: The white light hall (just doing remixes).

    Before getting to work today I though about what was exactly needed to get the map going. I can go on adding small details forever until the linedef limit eats Legacy whole but surely there were some things missing that were absolutely crucial to the map. It took about two seconds to answer "Textures".

    So today I have done little linedef work and a lot of work on textures producing around five or six new textures. May seem a small number of them (and two have been discarded) but since I´m still learning how to work with graphic tools I´m quite satisfied. I specially like the mosaic textures that feature writings in esoteric characters. These are used in some places of the map, sometimes as borders and are a nice touch of ambient. They don´t look as good as the ones in Heretic (I love the wave mosaics there) but they´re o.k and surely will look better as I get more experience with texture making. I´ve also done some sides for staircases as well as a piece of a throne (you know now that there´s some chair or throne in the place) and well, as said, a whole lot of textures. Right now there´s only a few textures left to do before I can continue on mapping.

    And mapping wise there´s little left: almost everything can be done with copy and paste and the biggest work will be to apply the Legacy effects, but that won´t take more than a day or two. When done I can finally get to gameplay and scripts and, then?. Then I have a little problem ´cos I have to create an ending for this first world!!!. I don´t know if I will make another map that correctly scripted will serve as ending (surely) or if I´ll use this very same map for it (maybe). I think that a blend of the two would be very nice. Anyway, I never counted on doing the ending and now I see that it has a lot of work too so I will add it to the status report!.

October, 3rd, 2005:

World 1-5: The hall of light (I like this title).

    In days like this I think I have done a lot of work but when I look and imagine the work that is to be done it´s seen as something really small. But it ain´t really small. Today´s work has been all about details and the degree of satisfaction I got has made me take three more screenshots and upload them to the media section... And well, there´s a lot of detail added so the place does no longer look bare but without looking excessive. I´d say that all detail blends the architecture really well and I´m quite proud of the results. 

    But not only details have been done, but also textures. Among the many new textures (with some modified ones, of course) I could say that there are two specially worth the work. The first is a brick arch to be put in some doorways that looks quite good to have been done by me. The second is a big stained glass texture that is set now where it has to: in the front of the main building. A glimpse of it can be seen on one of the new screenshots but the quality of the image is poor.

    Along with this, more things have been added to the "To do" list. I´m starting to be afraid of this list since sometimes it says of adding even more textures and other media that may make the size of the file increase a lot. Currently the file is about 4.5 mb zipped (against the 3 mb of the previous version) and I´m sure it will grow a lot more before I finish this project... I think I should resign anyway. I will put the mp3 music files in a separate download for those who want it so I can take some size out of the mod but I´m afraid I won´t hold the size of this below the 6mb. Still, these are future concerns that will be discussed when the time comes.

October, 2nd, 2005:

World 1-5: The hall of light (just switching titles again).

    We´re into a new month and we´re not exacly nearer the end of the map. More and more progress is done, more textures are added (mostly modified doom ones, to be more exact, I recolor them :P), more details added, more architecture done but well, that doesn´t move us towards the end ´cos the end is nowhere to be found still. Wherever I look I like what I see but I know it could look a lot more better if I used some new textures here and there and that means a lot of graphical work I don´t feel like doing right now... Anyway, now when I look at the map I think it would be a nice moment to take back the "grandious" look of World 1-3. I promised to never do such a "prone-to-slowdowns" map again, but I could take some of its look and ideas... The screenshots depicting this World 1-3 have got some good feedback and I can´t think of nothing better for the great finale now.

    Anyway, only architecture is being done. Some architecture inspires some ideas that could be scripted (like differences in gameplay depending on the gate the player chooses to enter the center hall) but we´re not near the end, as said before. Maybe, when I look at it and don´t see it as "plain" I will stop with the look and start with the gameplay and scripting.

    Still, I think it will take some long time to finish the map due to do facts: the first one is that I don´t work a lot on this project these days (as I have real life things to do). The second is that there´s a long queue in the "To do" list that keeps growing. Let´s just be positive and think that some new screenshots may be available soon :).

September, 28th, 2005:

World 1-5: The white shrine (working title).

    The change of the working title means nothing, I mean, the concept of the map hasn´t changed and it´s not being rebuilt or something like that: it´s just that after thinking about it I came with a nice title I forgot, so I just wrote whatever came to my mind.

    As you can see, the work on the map carries on and now it has been carrying on quite fast!!!. Several details and changes to the main area have been made so now it makes much more sense and it´s more exciting to play. The planned gameplay elements have also been changed so they fit this new shape and I think it will be much better this other way. So, what has been done exactly?. Height changes, lots of height changes, stairs, two underdetailed 3d bridges (that I will surely make much more better), some water here and there to host mini gardens... You know, small details. I´ve also finished all balconies (yes, it has some of them) and added some texture work. Now this is starting to look like something I could take a screenshot to!!!.

    Other than that I don´t know if the development will continue that quick or if I will get stuck when looking at it and not having a clear idea of what I´m going to do. Wait to the next report so you can know what´s gonna happen!.

September, 27th, 2005:

World 1-5: The white hall (working title).

    After two days investigating, deleting and recreating some parts of the level I´ve finally come to something that I could consider more stable in what is the main side of the center building of the map. It´s nothing horribly complicated but has taken several tries to get the feeling right. By looking at it now I can tell that I will be needing more textures to create some kind of contrast in the existing architecture but as textures take their time to be made I will wait until I have more parts done so I can work on all textures needed at once.

    That´s for my main problem. I´ve also added architectural stuff to a large wall that, obviously, needed something in. The result is quite interesting, ranging from arabic resemblances to classic european gothic ones. Of course, it has a lot of copy and paste and is not precisely complicated but once I add some light dimnising effects it will look much better.

    In the level there´s also a 3d bridge I finished to model just yesterday. I´ve tried (again) combinations of elements in several ways and the current layout is the most balanced of all since it´s functional without covering some areas the player must see!!!.

    If I ask myself how much it will take to finish the architecture I can ask by talking on the planning: the first part (or the entrance) is not finished yet and needs lot of light and decoration work. The second part (or the passage) is mostly done, small, almost naked in a sense, but feels good. The third part (or bridge) has a lot of things to be added until I think it looks like it should (Doom never shows things the same as you imagined them!!!) and the fourth part (or the white hall) is almost outlined but I´ll surely add some garden stuff to it so it looks much more alive. The rest will be solved much easily and since the scripting is outlined too I´ll only have to use my imagination :).

September, 25th, 2005:

World 1-5: The white hall (working title).

    I´ve been working in this map a little more based on some sketches I did just to find that it wasn´t as I imagined, so I just did another sketch to map from... To be more concise, I was working in the entrance to a hall that had to be impressive... It was impressive when finished, but somewhat naked, dull and with no connection to itself so it didn´t fit really well. I´m thinking that maybe a smaller entrance may do the work much better. Surely that means that I´ll have to change a few things in the hall that lies beyond, but if the sketch is accurate it will look both clean and impressive without the feeling of being empty that I got.

    I´ve also worked on some music. I got problems with my music software when it comes to work with real audio (it lags real bad, never happened before!!!) so I´ll have to take a look at it before I continue... Midi has no problems at all. A small piece to be used as the title music has been done and it´s available in the "media" section... It will have to wait until I do a full mp3 version!!!.

    And that´s all the work that has been done today. Not a real lot, but there are a lot of things to be done here and a lot of things to do in real life!!!.

September, 24th, 2005:

World 1-5: The white hall (working title).

    To be honest with everyone that is reading I haven´t been mapping a lot during these days. I tried to catch the drift again tonight and came up with some interesting architecture (since it´s what matters the most in this map, in a certain way) at the cost of completely destroying existing sections of the level. That´s not a big problem to me: sometimes you come up with an idea that requires of heavily modifying some part of your map and well, you could as well start the thing from scratch... When I test this map I realise how much is to be done: some small textures that will add only detail, big problems with empty spaces that I never imagined empty,