| The Project: |
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Singularity Complex is an episode of 9 levels for Ultimate Doom, done in the "classic" Doom style. It is the successor of the much acclaimed Classic Episode, so I guess you could also call it Classic Episode 2. Originally I had the idea to release a mini-episode of 3 levels, under the "classic" flag and name it "Classic Trilogy". I ended up with more than 3 levels so, feeling inspired, I decided to try something different and create a full Doom 1 episode centered around a HUB level ("The Singularity Complex") to which you return after each level. In essence this means that there are 4 unique maps and 1 HUB/Endboss level to which you return 5 times. The project is not designed with a specific Doom port in mind. It should play fine on any limit removing port, maybe even the original Doom engine (haven't tested it yet). For my testing, I mainly use gzdoom, with lights.wad, because, being hardware accellerated, it's fast and smooth and it looks awesome too. (lovely dynamic lights!) Classic Episode 2 is finished! It can be downloaded here. |
| The Story: |
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The story takes place on the planet Mars, parallel with the events on the
moon bases of Phobos and Deimos. You are a marine, stationed as a guard at a UAC military research facility: The Singularity Complex. At this facility experiments are carried out with gravitational singularities to enable faster than light travel or even interdimensional jumps. The military applications of such a technology are obvious. Of course, the UAC wouldn't be the UAC if they didn't screw up big time and you just happen to be on duty when the brown stuff hits the fan. Isn't that just your luck? Your primary mission objective is containment: you must travel to the 4 locations on the planet that have teleport links to the Complex, eliminate all threats, return and close down the gate. Finally you must shut down the Singularity: a gateway to hell itself... Secondary mission objective: survival. |
| Levels: |
| E1M1: The Singularity Complex I |
| E1M2: Mars Space Port |
| E1M3: The Singularity Complex II |
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E1M9: Orbit Control Station |
| E1M4: The Singularity Complex III |
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E1M5: Mercury Mining Facility |
| E1M6: The Singularity Complex IV |
| E1M7: Mars Technology Labs |
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E1M8: The Singularity |
| Obligatory Screenshots: |
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| About me: |
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Name: Jan Van der Veken Age: 30 Profession: System Engineer E-mail: user:janvkn domain:yahoo.com You can figure it out ;) I started making maps for Doom when I was in college, back in 1996. I first did some crappy Doom 2 maps, which I never released to the general public. They served as a learning experience. My first public release was the Dawn of the Dead episode for Doom 1, back in 1997. It was very well received at the time, but although it's still fun to play, it's really showing its age now. Through Dawn of the Dead, I got in touch with Travers Dunne and we decided to work together on a megawad. Some more people got on board and eventually this resulted in The Darkening Episode 1. More or less the same team started to work on The Darkening Episode 2. Throughout the development, I started to get a bit burned out on Doom, and Ola Björling took the lead of the project and dragged it to the finish. After The Darkening, I returned to my old love: making levels in the classic Doom style, mostly E1 inspired. I released a few standalone levels, Nick Baker and Anthony Soto of The Darkening team did the same and eventually they got bundled in the first Classic Episode. With the episode released, I didn't touch Doom again for 2 or 3 years, until I got the itch again in 2003 and made two more "classic" levels, with the intention of making a 3rd and bundling it in a mini-episode. Sadly, I lost interest again halfway through the making of the 3rd level. This brings us to today (november 2005). I recently got interested Doom again, and to my surprise I found that the scene was still alive and kicking, partly because of all the cool new Doom ports around I'm sure. So I picked up some old unfinished levels and started this project. I really intend to finish it this time. What the future holds after this, I don't know. Maybe I'll do some E4 inspired levels in a hellish theme, or something with the Darkening E2 texture set, or something specific for a port like (g)zdoom, who knows :) |
| Links: |
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The Original Classic Episode Dawn Of The Dead The Darkening Episode 1 The Darkening Episode 2 Swedish Fish' site |