It’s getting closer to release. I still feel like I have mounds of items on my To-Do list for Blight but for the most part, its almost complete and is on schedule for May release. Wikipedia has DOOM II® listed as it’s release was in May, September, and October. Since I wasn’t in the PC scene during that era, I can’t confirm the exact date so the internet has failed me. I guess John Romero’s release of HELLION will let me know that time. In case it was May, I was shooting for that release date. But now I’m unsure. Either way, May is the month I’m shooting for.
I’ve gotten about half of the deathmatch maps created, and all but the last two maps have been populated with ammo, monsters, and power-ups. I’m working on the administrative building right now, and ran into several bugs, and undesired effects. Some I can’t help, but I did fix the errors. This map didn’t have many monsters or ammo at all, but the outside is so populated with monsters that the sounds of the growls are fitting for the name of that map. I will say I did beat it, but I know which weapons works well with monsters, and when you can control them, aren’t overwhelmed, and have the write weapon (despite no ammo), then you can easily cheese your way through the maps. I’m looking at you Berserk Pack. I love that power-up.
Though my skill in DOOM® is not that high, I do feel like I’m pretty good. So it does feel strange when I have secrets and levels that are hard for me to complete on pistol starts in Ultra-Violence mode. I have managed to complete all my maps with all secrets, but a complete play through, I haven’t done yet. And for this last map I don’t have all the secrets. I did populate it with enough to test, and I’m looking at adding more secrets. Much like Romero, I too have target marks to hit. I need ‘X’ number of secrets, Blood Sacrifices have to be apparent, Bone Idols have to be within the affected areas. And I have to make sure all of them actually work. Several are bugged to where you can’t see them at all. I know where they are, and can still interact with the line definition, but the visual representation of what is happening is definitely missing.
My weeks are tied up extensively with other things that naturally pull me away from development, but time permitted, I will always work on this. The biggest hurdle will be the final boss. But I cleared two maps this weekend, and even though next week is booked for me already, I have a good pace.