Prototype Invasion Demo - Review by Catastrophe

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Catastrophe
Retired Staff / Community Team Member
Posts: 2558
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2012 2:44 am

Prototype Invasion Demo - Review by Catastrophe

#1

Post by Catastrophe » Sat Dec 26, 2015 9:16 am

Image
Created by Blast88
Get it here (Requires skulltag actors and data)
Project Background: This project contains four maps all designed for the invasion gamemode. The maps all vary in size and typically have seven waves per map with each wave usually being harder than the rest. The project doesn't contain new weapons and monsters, but instead uses Skulltag weapons and monsters to keep the gameplay from getting too stale. Keep in mind this project is just a demo and is labelled as version 0.1.

Content: The main reason anyone should download this project is because of the maps, it doesn't really have anything else to offer. The maps are clearly a first-attempt at mapping for invasion, or perhaps even Doom itself. Most of the maps start off small and slow with each wave unlocking newer areas which progressively make the map much larger. Sometimes this is well executed, and others... well not so much.

Gameplay: I'll be honest, after the second map I was basically forcing myself to play. The maps get stale, fast. There are various problems, I will list them one by one.
  • First problem is that there is a lack of ammo in every map for basically all weapons except the chaingun. Like here, in the first map, this is all you get for the shotgun. Ammo needs to be increased for all weapons ASAP. Right now it's a chore to collect ammo, and I can imagine it being far worse in multiplayer.
  • Weapons need to be spawned before monsters spawn. In various maps you'll see that after a wave is cleared, any new weapon is usually spawned at the same time as the monsters; which effectively makes the weapon useless for the upcoming wave because you don't know exactly where it is and the weapon itself (and ammo) is usually near the monster spawners but with no landmark near it. This wouldn't be too much of a problem if ammo wasn't so scarce.
  • Monster spawner placement needs work. After each wave monsters seem to only come out of one area and NOWHERE else. I think the gameplay would've been much better if they actually swarmed you from different spawns instead of predictably spawning in one spot every time. And no, the maps don't even reuse monster spawners from previous waves.
  • The spawn timing and selection of monsters are really annoying. Every monster, including Cyberdemons, share the same delay of ~one second before the next spawns. Meaning if there are multiple archviles, then they will spawn at once early game instead spawning later with time gaps. Besides this, all monsters seem to spawn equally. Like, if there are 20 Cacodemons, then there are also 20 Cacolanterns, along with 20 Abaddons. This spam of higher tier monsters makes the maps take too long because of how much health they have. The mass-spam of these monsters need to be smoothed out, maybe increase the cacodemons but decrease the abaddons. It's just not satisfying to see monsters tank so much damage.
  • For the most part, map progression is alright but in some maps it's wonky. For instance, in one map on wave 2 it contained three archviles along with hordes of demons and imps, but the wave afteronly had spectre's and lost souls in a large new area, making them basically useless and rendering the current wave to be way easier than the last.
  • This project should've taken more of an advantage of Skulltag. There are no Skulltag runes or powerups; it just uses the weapons and monsters. It should've placed at least some in, to keep killing high-hp monsters from being a snooze fest.

    I understand this isn't meant to be the next Armaggedon invasion or something like that, but these basic flaws need to be fixed. It would also help if the maps came with custom-coded monsters and weapons, but that's fine since it's mainly a mapping project.
Rating:
Fun Factor - 6 / 10 It was fun at first, but then got stale fast.
Balance - 6 / 10 It's decently balanced. Needs work on spawns.
Creativity - 5 / 10 Nothing new besides maps.
Replay Value - 2 / 10 Not worth.

4.75 / 10 - Only try if bored
Last edited by Catastrophe on Tue Mar 28, 2017 8:49 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Blast98
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RE: Prototype Invasion Demo - Review by Catastrophe

#2

Post by Blast98 » Wed Dec 30, 2015 5:57 pm

I got version 1.1 currently in progress right now and that version is where there will be more ammunition, power-ups, runes, etc. Levels are moved to PTINVxx slots, the first level is completely revamped into "Bloodfall Trip", the every level will have a boss fight at the end (similar to Skulltag Armageddon), custom things (monsters, items, weapons, etc) come into play, and there will be some bug fixes. However, I do plan to have version 1.1 into a PK3 file rather than a wad file itself. So do you know step by step how we can put our files into a PK3.
Oh and also of course this is not the next Skulltag Armageddon but this is still going to be kind of similar to Skulltag Armageddon.
Last edited by Blast98 on Wed Dec 30, 2015 6:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Catastrophe
Retired Staff / Community Team Member
Posts: 2558
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2012 2:44 am

RE: Prototype Invasion Demo - Review by Catastrophe

#3

Post by Catastrophe » Wed Dec 30, 2015 7:01 pm

Blast88 wrote: I got version 1.1 currently in progress right now and that version is where there will be more ammunition, power-ups, runes, etc. Levels are moved to PTINVxx slots, the first level is completely revamped into "Bloodfall Trip", the every level will have a boss fight at the end (similar to Skulltag Armageddon), custom things (monsters, items, weapons, etc) come into play, and there will be some bug fixes. However, I do plan to have version 1.1 into a PK3 file rather than a wad file itself. So do you know step by step how we can put our files into a PK3.
Oh and also of course this is not the next Skulltag Armageddon but this is still going to be kind of similar to Skulltag Armageddon.
Sounds good. Will definitely re-review this when it's finished.

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