Ascension (MV) Alpha 9.0 [Erebus]

Back to quick turnarounds! It's nice to work on another straightforward adaptation stage. To be honest, by the end of working on that last stage, I was starting to get sick of it! But with this stage released, the end is starting to materialize on the horizon. Erebus is the point at which our protagonist finds out whether he will be able to escape Hell. It is also the point at which the game ends if you are playing on Easy Mode. To access the final stage, Purgatory (which is a bit of a relief after spending the whole game in Hell), you must be playing on at least Normal Mode. I can't wait to get working on it!

Ascension (MV) Alpha 9.0 (including all stages up to Chapter 11 - Erebus)
Download (~230 MB): Windows | Mac [see sidebar for latest release]

Reminder: I've rigged it so that after starting a new game, you can reload and select continue to access all stages that have been completed so far. (Without doing the work to get there).

Ascension (MV) Alpha 8.0 [Labyrinth]

As anticipated, this stage took considerably more time to pull together than the last few. In keeping with my new commitment to stay grounded, it's not everything the Labyrinth could be, metaphysically speaking, but it's a functioning level (perhaps for the first time ever), that allows me to tell the story I want to tell. Navigating the maze remains a challenge, but hopefully one that will not be so frustrating as to prevent the player from advancing (which is its purported purpose - but the story relies on the player solving it). Here's what I did to make the maze what it currently is:

To start with, I generated a brand new maze using the latest version of the Daedalus program that I'd used before. I actually stitched my Labyrinth together from four separate mazes, to represent four quadrants, although they are integrated so as to function as one whole. The maze loops horizontally and vertically to create the illusion of being even larger than it actually is. At its deepest point, you are never more than 80 branches from the center (and end of the level) - and if that number still seems large to you, a lot of those branches are short dead ends that can be quickly ruled out.

For that matter, I've implemented a "marking" system, where you can pick up rocks scattered about the maze, to carry around and place, at your convenience, anywhere within the maze in the shape of an arrow pointing in one of the four cardinal directions, or an "x", to help you solve the maze. I figure this will be a good way to make the maze more interactive, to let the player feel like he is using his wits to narrow down the pathways, rather than merely stumbling down the same blind alleys again and again, until randomly hitting on the solution.

I've also added a functioning compass - just for the fun of the challenge of seeing if I could. At any junction within the maze, where the path splits and you have to make a choice of which direction to go, you can press the Page Down key (or whatever it's mapped to), and an icon will momentarily display on screen, pointing the direction you must go to reach the center of the maze (for curious RPG Makers, it keys on Region ID). As this defeats the very purpose of the maze, I don't intend for it to be a normal part of the level, but you can certainly use it for testing purposes if you get lost. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to leave it in the final game as a sort of cheat or Easter egg.

As far as difficulty goes, if you play the game on Easy Mode, your only challenge is to solve the maze (I can't really make it simpler than that, without undermining the integrity of the level). Normal Mode includes the addition of wandering clouds of fog (that you might remember from previous incarnations of this level). If the player touches the fog, he will be scattered to a random position within the maze (and there is always the chance that you will get lucky and wind up close to the center, so it's not all bad). These clouds of fog may bar your path at some points, but they dissipate after being touched (and after you are scattered), and also temporarily vanish whenever it starts to rain.

The only additional challenge in Hard Mode is a screen overlay that reduces your visibility a little bit (though not too much, I think), so you can't see quite as far from your current position in the maze. In all cases, the only thing you have to do to end the level is reach the center of the maze - and the actual pathways in the maze never change (which is something I'd originally wanted to do). To reach the secret bonus on Hard Mode, however (which right now doesn't do anything, but will contribute to unlocking the secret level in the final game), you have to navigate back and forth through the maze to find four switches that open a gated path to a restricted chamber within the maze.

Additional note: You may be gratified to hear that I've increased the player's movement speed for this stage (essentially making "run" the walking speed), because in testing out the maze, I quickly discovered that I had the shift ("run") key constantly held down. That will no longer be necessary. (And if running is still too slow for you, pressing the "run" key will now enable you to positively break into a sprint :-p).

Ascension (MV) Alpha 8.0 (including all stages up to Chapter 10 - Labyrinth)
Download (~230 MB): Windows | Mac [see sidebar for latest release]

Note: This update also fixes a graphical oversight (due to a changed filename) I noticed in Sheol, as well as eliminates an extraneous bat in Chaos that I had placed in order to test and fix a glitch resulting in the bats interfering with the moving platforms, as well as cleaning up a few other minor testing oversights.

Ascension (MV) Alpha 7.0 [Gehenna]

Another quick turnaround, as Gehenna turned out to be a pretty straightforward level to adapt. It's another fun one - all fiery and bright orange. Next up, though, is the largest obstacle between me and putting out a finished version of this game - Labyrinth. I've put considerable effort, yet had considerable difficulty, building a maze that's worthy of living up to its own hype of stranding travelers for ages, until they lose all memory of ever having entered the maze in the first place, yet not being so difficult and frustrating that it prevents players from completing the stage. And that's the task I now have in front of me. The bright side is that once I surmount this obstacle, it will be pretty much clear sailing to the end, so that's what's motivating me. But it's going to take me a little time. So, fair warning. If nothing else, I've made respectable progress this month!

Ascension (MV) Alpha 7.0 (including all stages up to Chapter 9 - Gehenna)
Download (~230 MB): Windows | Mac [see sidebar for latest release]

Note: It occurred to me, after my last release, that if anyone had played through all the available stages in the previous release, they might want to dive straight into the new level added to the next release, and not have to play through all of them again just to get to that point. I apologize. For this release, I've tweaked the stage unlock function so that after you run a new game once, up to the Chapter 1 heading, the next time you load the game and select Continue, all completed stages will be unlocked on all difficulty levels, for you to peruse at your leisure. For testing purposes only. :-p

Ascension (MV) Alpha 6.0 [Sodom & Gomorrah]

Back within a week for another update and release! I am now forging ahead into territory I never made it to, two years ago when I started adapting Ascension from VX Ace to MV. Which is to say, I've completely recovered from my computer crash that corrupted my project files. So that's good news.

With this release I am featuring the adaptation of Chapter 8 - Sodom & Gomorrah. This is a fun level, that really adds a lot of color to the world I've constructed in this game. Another change I've made to the game with this release is that I've added a "story completion" percentage that will display on the continue/map screen. This will give you a general feel of how much of the story you've experienced as you work your way through the game, with the idea that when you reach a sufficient percentage, an extra scene will be unlocked during the ending credits.

I plan to provide a brief explanation within the readme file when the final game is released, but the percentage mainly keys on chapter introductions and Archfiend autobiographies - stuff that fleshes out the story, but that you're given the option to skip to facilitate faster (and less tedious) playthroughs. You only have to read them once, and the percentage will be saved even after you close the game.

That's the reward for completing the story - there will be another reward for dominating the arcade challenges in the game, which is the bonus level and secret ending, but that's for another day. In the meantime, have fun seeking companionship from the denizens of Hell, as you explore the streets of Sodom & Gomorrah!

Ascension (MV) Alpha 6.0 (including all stages up to Chapter 8 - Sodom & Gomorrah)
Download (~230 MB): Windows | Mac [see sidebar for latest release]

Note: One thing that has been frustrating me endlessly is the way that this map is taking unusually long to load the first time. I've concluded that it's the Preload Manager plugin that's causing the lag, but I can't for the life of me figure out why this particular map should be significantly slower than any other in this game so far. I can't figure it out, so you're just going to have to live with it, for now at least. It's only a cosmetic issue, anyway - a matter of a few extra seconds loading the map. I think it's annoying, but it doesn't actually change the way the level plays. [Update]

Ascension (MV) Alpha 5.0 [Chaos]

And, after a two year intermission, we pick up right where we left off - almost to the day* (how weird is that?), with the very next update I would have published, featuring the completed level that I was working on (Chaos - The Yawning Chasm) when my program crashed and my files were corrupted, and before my home life turned into a chaotic whirlwind that has since mercifully stabilized.

*Which also happens to be Valentine's Day - because nothing says love like the impending doom of crushing darkness, leading to the ultimate destruction of the universe!

I'm about as tired of making promises now as you are no doubt tired of hearing them, so from here on out, it's what you see is what you get. I am determined, however, to complete this project. I've given up on the pipe dream of making this game "everything it could be". I don't need this game to be perfect, I just want a finished product I can share with the world, that can be played start to finish, that brings to life the story that I wanted to tell.

Which I think it already can - it just needs to be put together. Which is to say that I need to finish the adaptation effort I started two years ago in porting the game from VX Ace to MV. Which I am now once again working on. The good news is that, although there are periods when I struggle to even open the program, the fact is that once I have it open and am working on it, I really enjoy the work quite a lot (barring the occasional frustrating coding challenge that I can't seem to surmount). It's just that - and this is true in a lot of disciplines - putting together a large project, and seeing it through to a level of completion is hard. (Which is why I have to finish this one before I work on Dragonfaith again).

But, like Sisyphus, I'm still chugging away. And these periodic downloadable updates are the proof of that. I've made a determination this time around to cut out some of the fat, so hopefully that will make my task easier. No more save files - you can continue from any stage once it's been unlocked. And I no longer have anxiety about the length of the game - this will be one you can probably complete in a single sitting. (But maybe not the first time; or at least, it will take some added commitment to unlock the secret extra stage). And that's okay.

Ascension (MV) Alpha 5.0 (including all stages up to Chapter 7 - Chaos)
Download (~230 MB): Windows | Mac [see sidebar for latest release]

Note: The download size has jumped quite a bit, because I couldn't use the option to "strip unused files" because I tried it that way, and it stripped some files that were used but not recognized because I referred to them only implicitly via a script command (and not a traditional eventing command). It sucks, I know, but I'm not going through right now and individually hand-picking which files are used and which aren't, so you'll just have to live with it.

Doom Update

As today is the last day of February, I'm a little bit surprised that my SIGIL box hasn't come in the mail yet. (According to this update, production has been pushed back to April). I haven't been terribly concerned by the delay, not because I'm not eager to play these new levels, but because it's taken me this long just to go back through all the original levels again - from Ultimate Doom's four 9-level episodes, to Doom II's 32 levels, and including Final Doom (which consists of two separate Doom II-size mission packs [two of the most memorable and inspired levels being Wormhole, and Hunted]) - which I'd wanted to do before I played the new ones. Now I guess I still have twenty-five years of the best fan-produced levels according to Doomworld's Cacowards (for which I've been toying with the idea of writing some reviews) to keep me company until that time comes. In between working on my own level, of course - because playing other people's levels is always good for inspiration.

And I have been working on that level. Although constantly cursing my overambition (why couldn't I start with a simple "space base" level?), I've made a lot of progress over the last month and a half, though the level isn't quite nearing completion just yet. I'm realizing that there is one element in particular that's holding me back, and that's this idea I have in my head of constructing a city block (which is an integral part of the level I decided to work on). In addition to the question of where to position all the different elements of the level, there is the challenge of building a 3D-looking and feeling landscape in what is essentially a 2D engine. Since you can't put rooms on top of rooms, the trick with buildings is that you can either have an interior, or a roof, but not both. You can create the appearance of a roof, looking up from below, but you can't walk on it, nor can you view it from above - and I intend the player to rise above street level in the course of navigating this level (working his way up from the sewers to the rooftops).

Now, that doesn't mean there aren't workarounds - some of the most memorable levels, including in Doom II, simulate city blocks (particularly Downtown, and Industrial Zone). You can mix false facades with accessible roofs and the like, but depending on where you put what, it may or may not look good, and I want to create a sense of immersion in this level. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that I have underground sections too. So, that's the thing that's tripping me up and slowing me down. On the topic of what I have accomplished, I have a cell block where the level begins, a tunnel leading into a sewer infrastructure that can be shaped as necessary when I get the overall layout of the level worked out, a bath house that I'm quite excited about, and the latest monstrosity I've been working on: a courtyard flanked on three sides by an apartment building, complete with a reception area, several rooms, working elevators, and fire escapes.

I look forward to taking all kinds of screenshots later, when things are a little more settled (one of the unexpectedly harder elements to level building for me is interior design - not furniture, necessarily, but matching floor, ceiling, and wall textures). There are a lot of good pieces in my level, but it has yet to come together as a whole. Another thing I need is a title. The working title is "sexxxydoom", but as the original idea was for a total conversion, and this iteration of the level removes everything "sexxxy" about it, I don't think that's going to work. I'm thinking something along the lines of "demon beast invasion", if that's not too generic, because that's the general idea behind this level.

Resurrecting Doom

So far, I've only used this blog to talk about my RPG Maker projects. But I recently learned that original Doom titan John Romero is set to release (in February) an all-new chapter to the original Doom in celebration of the game's 25th anniversary. It's titled SIGIL, and will be considered episode 5, to take place between Ultimate Doom's episode 4, and Doom II. I've been going back and playing through all the old Doom levels in anticipation.

Romero mentions in an official interview that he used Doom Builder 2 to create these new levels - the same level generator fans can use to create their own custom Doom levels. It's a perfect example of how, ever since id Software released Doom's source code, the game has been placed into the hands of its fan community, which has kept it alive with continually new user-generated content over the past 25 years and counting.

SIGIL isn't even an official product by the company helming the modern Doom franchise (which I must admit, I do not keep track of). The levels will be released as freeware - like the first episode of Doom originally was - and can be loaded onto your favorite Doom source port (GZDoom seems to be the favored one at this time). It's essentially another fan-made product, except that the fan in this case is none other than one of the masterminds behind the original game itself!

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Naturally, in all of this, my mind has wandered back to level editing for Doom. I've dabbled in the past, but it had always been a chore wrestling with level editors which tend to be finicky about how you build lines and sectors and such, often producing frustrating errors. But technology tends to improve over time, and Doom Builder 2 looks to be as user-friendly and foolproof an editor as I've ever seen. So I've downloaded it and already gone through some basic tutorials. It's worth giving this level editing thing another try.

Sadly, from what I can gather, all of my old files and folders related to custom Doom levels I've worked on have been lost, probably in hard drive crashes over the years. All I've got is what little I've held onto in my own memory, and an unfinished project I fortunately had the foresight to publish to the 'net at some point. It's my magnum opus - it's called Realms of the Berserk, and merges three of my favorite fandoms, with a story inspired by dark fantasy manga Berserk, and levels drawing on environments from the cult PC adventure horror game Realms of the Haunting.

I re-downloaded and played through the two levels (out of nine planned total) I have posted in semi-complete form, and I have to say, I'm very impressed with what I'd managed to accomplish. The levels are imaginative, even more complex than I'd remembered, and actually quite challenging (I say as a veteran Doomguy who only ever plays on the Ultra-Violence difficulty). And seeing some of these environments from Realms of the Haunting rendered in Doom is a sheer delight! I feel inspired, and disappointed that I'd never completed this project.

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If I am to work on this project some more, however, I feel like I should warm up by building a "dummy" level in Doom Builder 2 first, to get familiar with the program and make sure I'm confident using it. I've decided to try putting together a stand-alone level I have in mind from a separate unfinished project. Once upon a time, it was intended to be part of a total conversion (where even the names and sound effects and graphics are changed), replacing the violence that is intrinsic to this game with sex, instead.

The whole idea is that there is this demon beast invasion (think Urotsukidoji/Legend of the Overfiend), and rather than killing, their goal is to mate with the human population (with a nod to Duke Nukem, which I enjoyed playing immensely as an adolescent). Your only recourse is to stimulate the demons to exhaustion before they have a chance to push you over the edge to orgasm.

Instead of health, your life meter is replaced with sexual stamina. Your armor is just clothing - a buffer against the ministrations of the damned. Punching becomes stroking, the chainsaw a vibrator. Instead of rockets you can launch dildos at your enemies. All bodily fluids would.be changed from red to white. Chaingunners are re-envisioned as trenchcoat flashers; Barons of Hell become satyrs. You run around collecting panties (clothing boosts), and gulping down Red Bulls (stamina boosts). Secret sectors consist of hidden naked virgins that must be found before the demons do!

I'm pulling this all from memory. I'm sure it sounds silly, but I had it all worked out. In lieu of the total conversion, however, I think it would still make a fun straightforward Doom level. You start out in a holding cell in a police station, break through the wall into the sewers, climb up to street level, then explore some high-rise buildings. I'm gonna try to put the level together and see how it turns out. I know - it's pretty ambitious for a "dummy level", but as you've probably figured out by now, I'm nothing if not overambitious...