The Gateway Experiments

• Download The Gateway Experiments from Archive.Org
• http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?file=levels/doom2/Ports/g-i/ge5-pd.zip

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Advanced engine needed  : GZDoom 2.0 or greater
Primary purpose         : Single player
Archive maintainer      : Replaces levels/doom2/Ports/g-i/ge5-pd.zip
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Title                   : The Gateway Experiments
                          Episode 5: Prime Directive
Filename                : GE5-PD.PK3
Release date            : 30 June 2015
                          Version 1.01 - 23 July 2015
Author                  : Ethan Watson aka GooberMan
Email Address           : [email protected]
Other Files By Author   : Doom - The Arcade Game
                          Space Station Omega

Misc. Author Info       : But Goober!? Why are you making Doom maps again? 

Description             : Bet you never thought you'd see this, eh? The next
                          installment in the Gateway Experiments series, just
                          in time for Doom's 22-and-a-halfth-ish Anniversary.
                          Where's episodes 2, 3, and 4? Well, I'm not making
                          them. I've done a George Lucas, skipped a few
                          chapters, and tweaked Space Station Omega slightly so
                          that it could fit in this package with the new stuff.

Additional Credits to   : An extensive list of credits is kept in licenses.txt.
                          Shout outs to Randi, Graf, Enjay, Nash, Xaser, ReX,
                          wildweasel, Gez, Blzut3, Kinsie, Jimmy, Edward850,
                          grouchbag, scalliano, and other ZDoom forums/IRC
                          people I've missed.

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* Play Information *

Executable needed       : GZDoom 2.0 or greater
IWAD Needed             : DOOM2.WAD
Map #                   : GE1MAP01, GE5MAP01 - GE5MAP09
Single Player           : Yes
Cooperative 2-4 Player  : Forget it
Deathmatch 2-4 Player   : No way
Other game styles       : No
Difficulty Settings     : Kinda (less enemies in places, no balancing)
New Graphics            : Yes
New Sounds              : Yes
New Demos               : No
DEH Patch               : No, but plenty of DECORATE work

* Construction *

Base                    : Mostly from scratch. Spot the skybox reuse.
Build Time              : Started on December 26, 2012. Finished June 2015.
                          There was about five months of work in total.

Tool(s) used            : GZDoom Builder, SLADE 3, GIMP, Audacity, PSPad.           
Known Bugs              : It's probably possible to desynchronise a few things.
                          
Will Not Run With...    : Brutal Doom or any other weapons mods. Remix this
                          project yourself if you want it to work with your
                          favourite weapons mod. Because I won't.

* General info *

VERSION 1.01

This is version 1.01 of Prime Directive. There have been a couple of bug fixes.
The SSG marines now have a reload delay. Marines are now colour coded according
to their weapon. I  *really* would like someone to make a vwep version of the
female marine sprites I'm using (notice Ghastly Dragon's male marine sprites
are already in the archive, I'm literally just waiting for the female versions
before I make the complete switchover).

I also had to block off an area before you get the yellow card, as it was
possible to not collect the yellow card and get down to the marine barracks.
Once you're down there, the only way back out is with a yellow card. If there's
a demand for finishing this with minimum percentage, I might upload a 1.02
version that tweaks it slightly to allow you to skip the yellow card. As it is
currently, the people that have given me feedback are only interested in
100%'ing the thing.

FAQ

Q: GZDoom 2.0? But 1.8 is the latest version?

A: Graf no longer has control of that site. Point your browser to either
   http://forum.drdteam.org/viewforum.php?f=23 or to the bleeding-edge builds
   at http://devbuilds.drdteam.org/gzdoom/ to get a compatible GZDoom.

Q: Halp! I'm stuck behind locked doors!

A: Contact Elaine. On your radio. You have checked the key bind, right?
   The Elaine logic has gotten a bit more complicated since Space Station
   Omega. You can now contact her in contextual situations, such as computers
   and doors that she can hack. You can also talk to her about major events
   that just happened. But importantly, if you're stuck, she may be able to
   hack that door that's in your way.

Q: So I heard map transitions are like Half-Life. Why does the screen melt
   between maps then? Doesn't that defeat the point?

A: Yes it does. Go in to your display options and turn the melt off.

Q: Do I need to play Space Station Omega again?

A: If you want a 100% rating. It is impossible otherwise.

Q: Where's the detailz?

A: In another castle. I've focused purely on gameplay and story with this
   release, and relied on 3D models for detail. GZDoom's dynamic lights already
   incur a performance (as such I've had to split geometry up to get better
   performance) so I really didn't want to go overboard on the detail. Also,
   I'm a programmer, not an artist. I don't have the patience to perfect visual
   details.

Q: Cutscenes really what is this Call of Duty how do I skip this shit 0/10
   worst WAD ever would not recommend

A: Check the key bindings. There is a "Skip Cutscene" key. Pretty much every
   cutscene except a handful in the intro are skippable. Also of note is the
   "Text Delay" option found in the options menu. Smaller values speed up all
   text in the game.

Q: Why do none of my weapons in my weapons mod work?

A: Because I do things that weapons mods don't like - specifically I override
   the player class; and I've reimplemented all the Vanilla weapons as tracked
   versions. If you want it to work with your weapons mod, remix it and upload
   it for everyone else's benefit too.

Q: Where's episodes 2, 3, and 4?

A: Yes.

GENERAL

Reading 2012's (finally eventually there) Cacowards got me thinking - wouldn't
it be cool to release a Doom map for the 20th Anniversary? Sure, I retired from
mapping some years ago. But that hasn't stopped me. I've done some private
mapping projects; released a few anonymously; and am even using the WAD format
for prototyping purposes on a hobby project I'm coding using the D language.
Why do I keep coming back to Doom mapping? Surely being a professional game
programmer at a high profile company is more than enough for a guy like me?
Well, to put it simply, Doom is a game I know backwards, and editing it allows
me to easily prototype new ideas in a familiar framework.

Prime Directive, though, isn't exactly an experiment. It takes a slice out of
the Gateway Experiments story that I thought was interesting. Then it takes the
speech system, expands it, and combines it all with gameplay more akin to
Metroid Prime. It has become somewhat fashionable these days to make maps in
an old school style, or compatible with your favourite weapons mod. I never had
a hipster cred, but I'm handing it in anyway. Conversations, hubs, a complete
day/night cycle, new abilities for the player, and more put this firmly in the
"mod" section that was quite popular back when Space Station Omega was
originally released. Further, Prime Directive is NOT compatible out of the box
with any given weapons mod. This was built on, and balanced with, Vanilla Doom
capabilities.

I certainly didn't get this out in time for the 20th anniversary. Oh well. The
original map was about three weeks or so of work spread out over 14 months,
and this one was about five or so months of work spread out over two and a half
years. I certainly have a precedent for taking my time.

I've been programming games professionally for twelve+ years now. You'll notice
the quality of my scripts has substantially increased... but they're still a
bit shit. I didn't start out with a proper scripting plan, and I had to work
around ACS limitations the entire time. Also, the quantity of scripts has very
definitely increased. Holy crap. It's a bit messy inside each map's scripts
lump, but only because I haven't gone through and ordered everything correctly.

Once nice thing I've done though is put every string used in a languages lump.
If you want to translate this to your own language so that others you know can
enjoy the mod, go right ahead. Space Station Omega's strings are still hard-
coded though...

The likelihood of making another episode of The Gateway Experiments after this
one is minimal, so I've tried to wrap it up as nicely as possible. It ends at
a nice high point in the story.

GZDOOM

This mapset is targeting GZDoom exclusively. Lighting and sloped 3D floors are
used all over the place.

SPACE STATION OMEGA

Of course, the fact that Space Station Omega is a ten year old WAD these days
tells me that there's a chance not many would have played it. I've taken the
opportunity to repackage and give it a HD remix of sorts. The conversation
scripts have been updated to use the new Prime Directive framework (mostly),
and as PD targets GZDoom exclusively I've also redone the station lighting.
It's darker and relies on GL lights. As such, light now becomes an important
visual clue as to what's going on. Hear a gunshot or a teleport? If you see
light nearby, now's the time to get shooty.  

Aside from the lighting and conversation scripting updates, you shouldn't
notice any real differences - the map plays exactly as it did ten years ago.
Sure to be the most controversial change is that Elaine is now ACTUALLY
represented by a female marine skin. I know, right?

The scripts are still a mess, but they needed work to play nice with the latest
ACC and the PD framework. I could clean them up, but it's not worth it.

Suffice to say if you play through Space Station Omega again it will have a
subtle impact on how Prime Directive plays out.

DEVELOPMENT HISTORY

I've kept an extensive development diary on the ZDoom forums. Point your
browser to http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=35115

I've also kept extensive revisions on my Google Drive. If seeing how this
mod progressed is of interest to you, point your browser to
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwyzBGIW1RhvYnlMSnByRGxqWnM
This may not stay up forever, I'd need to be running out of space on my
drive to get rid of it though.

I have also recorded a playthrough detailing how to get 100% as well as
providing general commentary on the development and thought process behind
Prime Directive. Point your browser to http://youtu.be/B_43lSRCAIQ and be
prepared to hear my voice for two and a half hours.

REMIXING

I've made no effort to ensure compatability with weapons mods, excepting the
fact that I've tried to name all my things appropriately for the Gateway
Experiments. I encourage you to remix this mapset to work with your favourite
weapons mod and upload the result to /idgames. Don't be lazy, though. If you're
going to give yourself all the massive weapons, put the work in to give the
marines you face the same weapons.

Since the original release, people have complained that it doesn't work with
their weapons mod. If you intend on remixing it to work with one, note that I
use a custom player class and I've reimplemented the vanilla weapons to track
weapon stats. 

CREATIVE COMMONS

Once again, this is being released under a Creative Commons licence. This gives
both you and I more freedom to do what we want with PD.

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* Copyright / Permissions *

Certain select third-party resources are contained in this archive.
licenses.txt explains these resources in detail.

All original work in this archive is released under the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. You are free to
reuse any original portion of this archive for non-commercial purposes as long
as you credit me and share any modifications made using the exact same license.
 
More info can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/