DTS-T addon

Dts-t.com

After a lot of hard work and frequent visits to zdoom.org my megawad is finally shaping up for release now, so I would like to present it to you and take this opportunity to thank everyone that I pestered with my (mostly ACS-related) questions over the last two years here.

Project history

DTS-T is a 33-level megawad for ZDoom and GZdoom. The idea to do something like this all by myself came up in 1998, where I designed the first one or two levels. Back then, the game was running on the TNT IWAD using Doom95.exe. By 2000 I really got started on this, finishing about 60% of the levels until the end of 2004. A five year hiatus from the project ensued...

In 2010 I resumed development on DTS-T, now running on the Doom2 IWAD. The decision to make this into a ZDoom megawad was already made in 2004 but it wasn't until 2010 that I really got going into ACS scripting. The fourth of the four chapters you see presented below was done with ACS scripting in mind and in the last couple of months, I revisited all of the older levels, unifying and smoothing the experience, adding ACS scripts where originally crude classic Doom mechanisms were in place. I "beautified" all the spots that looked way too "1994-ish", added voice acting to the levels and threw in weather effects here and laser beams there to further intensify the experience. I decided that a ZDoom exclusive mod should allow jumping and crouching and spent weeks making all 33 levels robust for these movements.

Despite being ZDoom exlusive, DTS-T still is supposed to have a classic touch to it. Most of the time, you will only encounter the classic Doom and Doom2 monsters, although I did add a few surprises here and there. In many of the older levels, I mostly use ACS scripting to guide the player a bit, for example in cases where a switch does something far away. Later on, there is a bit more scripting: There are complex puzzles in some of the levels; there are conveyor belts; there is a time limit on one level and in another level you are required to kill every single monster to get teleported out, rather than finding a physical exit. There is a slope here and there but most of the time I used conventional architecture. And of course there is voice acting in every level. Nothing intrusive and skippable most of the time, the voice acting is supposed to guide you through the story and create a bit of atmosphere.

Lately, I came to play more and more with GZDoom, so I made sure to tweak things here and there to look good in the GL renderer as well. All the screenshots below were done in the GL renderer with dynamic lights on and texture filtering off.

I am currently playing the game over and over, balancing things, fixing the last ugly spots. My brother is going to play through the finished game soon, giving me final feedback. DTS-T is just a couple of weeks away from release.

Features

-33 new Levels from scratch, that have never been released (with the exception of two demo levels a decade ago)
-Explore four wholly differing realms, ranging from medieval castles to dusty tombs, to a sinister space station, and apocalyptic and hellish regions never seen before!
-Lots of references to pop culture: Subtle (as well as not so subtle) allusions to those fantasy, adventure and space operas you all grew up with!
-ACS scripting in all levels to bridge the gap from classic Doom gameplay to wholly innovative puzzles and mechanics.
-Voice acting! (yay! )
-A fistful of Realm667 assets thrown in: Just enough to enrich the experience, without digressing too much from the classic doom gameplay.
-Music from all classic Doom games, Hexen and Hexen 2, Quake2, Duke Nukem and more, to always create the right mood, whether you battle through dungeons or tech bases.
-Slow and consistent ramp-up of assets and difficulty. If you want to see Plasma Rifles, Arch Viles or Cyberdemons, you have to play far into the game.
-Supports ZDoom and GZDoom.
-Jumping and Crouching supported (but not mandatory).
-Designed for a Singleplayer experience, ITYTD to Ultra-Violence supported.

Not included

-Multiplayer (Unfortunately, I had to cancel my coop ambitions at some point, because ACS scripting got too complex).
-Nightmare! (It's untested. I might do a Nightmare!-patch later on, though)
-Icon of Sin typed final level

Difficulty

DTS-T was built to have a slow and steady ramp-up in difficulty. The first couple of levels are fairly easy, about KDITD difficulty. The difficulty then ramps up to about Doom 2 level by the middle of the game. The final chapter is probably a little above Doom 2, maybe somewhere between TNT and Plutonia, with the hardest levels scratching Plutonia difficulty. It never gets unfair, though, and stays below Scythe difficulty. This is my personal perception, of course, and might be perceived differently by other people.

Story:

A hidden UAC base on Phobos: Not satisfied with their achievements, scientists have developed a new kind of teleporter, capable of not only sending things through space, but also through time and into different dimensions. There were two prototypes of this machine but one morning, one of them was found missing! Needless to say that one lone marine is sent through the second device, to find out where the missing prototype might be and who is behind the theft...