This is about my experience with, and my love of GZDoom and Ultimate Doom Builder, and my previous experience with making a complex mapset with another port.
I'll redact names to protect the innocent. :)
Well, thank you. I am trying, quite hard, for a contiguous, cohesive experience. And a feeling like you are in a real base, and not just like you're playing through a collection of Doom maps.
I am also giving a nod to the original guys at id with all of my maps. As follows,
Map01 is based upon Entryway from Doom2
Map02 is inspired by Underhalls, from that same game.
Map03 is a nod to the Gauntlet, also from Doom2.
Map04 is not only inspired by Focus from Doom2, if one looks closely at the map and how it plays, it is almost identical to the Focus, in layout and progression.
Map05 is based very much on Nuclear Plant. You mentioned that gigantic secret area. Well, it works exactly as it did in that original map from Knee Deep in the Dead.
Map06 is Command Control from Knee Deep in the Dead. It is going to progress exactly the same way, with perhaps a few wrinkles and twists thrown in, and on a scope with all of the other Dragon Sector maps so far.
As to GZDoom's capability with models, I'll admit it has been several years since I messed any with Risen3D, but I think GZDoom does a much better job with them than Risen3D did. It supports MD2 and MD3, and from what I understand, they're also writing support in for Unreal's model format. Daryn and I both will be extremely glad when they get that bit ready. We have over 500 models in our inventory, so we are very keen on exploring possibilities with them.
But as to the original Dragon Sector, I loved it, too. That set was truly a labor of love for me. But I wanted to do so much that I simply couldn't. Hell, I couldn't even get 3D floors to work right half the time, and dreaded wanting to put any in. The math I had to do, to make them... it was noggin-breaking, and very stressful. And often frustrating.
With GZDoom and Ultimate Doom Builder, Jesus, you'd not believe how easy 3D floors are. Well, they are for me, anyway. You can adjust them in the visual editor - with textures, changing their heights, and on and on. It's just so... easy!
GZDoom and Ultimate Doom Builder are giving me what Risen3D only ever partially did. It is giving me a true outlet for my creativity. It feels like power in my hands. I can make what I want, and just make it. It just feels so wonderful.
But, I still have to respect Risen3D for what it gave me. It was the first port which supported highres texturing. Without that, it is likely I never would have made the first Dragon Sector. I always enjoyed fiddling around with making and editing Doom maps, but it wasn't until I encountered Risen3D, that I ever thought to make an actual cohesive set of maps. So [REDACTED] has my respect for that.
But that said, heh, enough rambling. Back to working on map06!
