Beta-Test Page

    Keep in mind that I tested most of the wad on Hurt Me Plenty. So if you're going to play Ultra Violence, be prepared, you may need to use the Berserk and chainsaw sometimes. I tried to make all the levels playable from a pistol start, but I wouldn't reccomend doing so - unless you're one of those thrill seekers. :P

    Anyway. These are the questions I would like you to answer, if you could:

1. I realize the design of some of the early maps is a bit noobish... and around level 16 it gets slightly ridiculous IMO (the linearity, I mean). Starting at map17 I tried to fix this problem. I suppose it's not hard to notice that my mapping style has changed significantly since I began the project. Is it better, do you think?

2. If you played the demo, you may notice that I've done some detail changes and additions to the first six maps. Are they any better now?

3. When I released the demo, one comment was that it was too easy. I think I made the subsequent maps significantly harder... but are they too hard now? Or do you think they're not hard enough? Keep in mind that I'm not going to make this wad anywhere near the monster style of Hell Revealed or Alien Vendetta, or the later levels of Scythe... no matter how much you tell me otherwise (I prefer to map so that players who aren't "uber 1337 monster killarz!!1" can keep their sanity).

4. The puzzles of some maps are questionable. As much as I'm aware of the "what the hell do I do now, there are no clues" problem and have tried to stay away from it, it may present itself anyway. Map25, the Eastern Turret, may be the biggest culprit of this... Map28, Reactor, may also fit in here. I will advise you now to use any visual clue you may find... levels like these make heavy use of bars and switches, although the ultimate goals should always be to disable laser bars as well as to grab the keys. There is, in fact, only one real way to go through Map25... but I hope I haven't left another option open that confuses you.

5. I need someone to help me with the graphic of the "power cell" - the sprite that replaces Commander Keen and is used in maps 23, 27, 29 and 32 as part of the puzzles. As if it weren't blatantly obvious, I will tell you now that I can't draw sprites to save my life, and that the current "power cell" sprite is more of a placeholder than anything else. If you can draw something better, please do and send it to me! You will be credited in the final txt. I also need suggestions for sounds for this "enemy."

6. I need suggestions for new music on all the levels that don't have it... these are maps 8, 9, 23, 25, 26, 28 and 29. I may reuse music if I don't get suggestions... I dunno yet.

7. This wad is ZDoom enhanced... by that I mean, it uses a MAPINFO lump to create story text, par times and level names, but the wad should be doom2.exe compatible. Thing is, I haven't used doom2.exe in a long time, and my copy of the exe is kinda buggy... if you use the original exe a lot, could you run the wad with it and tell me if it's compatible? Keep in mind that you'll have to use deusf to merge the wad, because of the new sprites. Do NOT use Legacy GL or another GL port to run this wad, you will get huge visual bugs in some levels. I also did not build GL nodes for this wad, because of this. If you choose to rebuild the nodes yourself, don't blame me if it doesn't look the same...

8. The par times, BTW, are just wild guesses. Can you tell me how you did (just, in general)?

9. The most important question: how do you think a wad like this one would go over in the /newstuff chronicles? I'm hoping to get a better review than I got for the demo. :-)

    When you are done, please email me at jwall0312@aol.com with the answers to these questions (the ones that apply to you) as well as any suggestions for music, graphics etc. attached. Please respond as soon as you can... if there are things I need to fix, I'd like to fix them ASAP. I'm trying my damndest to release the wad on January 1, 2005.

    Thanks for testing.
 
 

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