24/08/2024 - "Batset + Temple of Seti" by Yrex ("Crypt Pyramid" Redux)

[Sat42]

Map Titles:

• Batset
  Temple of Seti

Author: Yrex, based on Unreal 1996 Alpha conversion of Crypt Pyramid levels by John W. 'Dr Sleep' Anderson
From: Crypt Pyramid
Filenames:

• 2017cp-batset.unr
  2017cp-seti.unr

Video Playthread:



Synopsis: [Data unavailable]

Discuss!

[TigerTheGreat]

Batset is a short hub map. You can go to and fro, I noticed connections to Midianite Temple as well as Siobhan. As for Siobhan, it's a cryptic (pun) map requiring a hop into lava (!) and care when approaching different traps. Due to limited pistol ammo it's best to just run from the Brutes, I didn't find the Quadshot yet despite numerous shells.

Pack definitely feels like what we would've gotten if Unreal released back in 1996 with all its pros and cons, except the bugs. A fantastic experience for fans of Unreal history.

As for Seti, I didn't find an entrance there yet, however judging from the open-ended hub nature of Batset and the overall theme of the pack, I can't imagine my opinion would be different if I had time for a full playthrough.

Honestly, this particular MOTW should concern either the entirety of the pack or just Seti, given Batset's nature.

[Sat42]

@Delacroix: Hehe I figured you might give this a quick spin

Crypt Pyramid is actually surprisingly large (you go in thinking it'll take under an hour and it ends up being significantly more involved than that - on a first playthrough anyway), so not suitable for a MOTW. Functionally, Batset indeed provides a hub connecting to the main maps. But given the obscure nature of the pack and how Batset still offers an intro of sorts (like a "welcome" with the main entrance, music, etc.) to a campaign otherwise devoid of backstory, I figured it would work well combined with one of the main maps as a showcase.

And yes, Temple of Seti is a bit trickier to get to than the others

[Semfry]

As I said on the discord I can't seem to do anything about the massive HUD in 227k, at least it only takes up the bottom of the screen.

Batset works fine as a hub, it's relatively small but there's plenty to find and I'm sure there's a secret or two I've missed, it also introduces the beta aesthetic here pretty well. Temple of Seti is quite open and seems very complex at first, but when you work out the general goal it's not too difficult, and there's a nice moment of discovery when you link the (initially) unlit torches at the start to being a sign of your progress. It's almost entirely focused on exploration, given there's literally two enemies before the mini-boss arena encounter at the end, and the readme says there's no difficulty setting implementation so I guess that's all there is. The gear puzzle with the door could have done with more of a hint of what you're actually opening; it's just around the corner so it's not too hard to work out, but there's very little sign that the gear is opening that specific door. There's also a presumably 227K related issue where the stuff you ride over lava still damages you when it's not far enough above it, so it's better to just hop off and run to where you have to be, it also happens with the ledge in the front of the mirror (luckily the block you ride to get there is seemingly tall enough to avoid the bug). Outside of those issues it's a nice take on a puzzle/exploration map in a slightly different context to the usual.

Also, not related to this MOTW (it is to do with Batset I guess), but is the access to the final Volcano map supposed to open once you've played the other three maps, or is there some other task related to it? I just got a "the volcano isn't active yet" message after playing the other maps, and just ghosted to get to the volcano map, which confirmed it's the finale. Maybe another bug from playing on a newer Unreal version?

[Sat42]

I have to say I am quite impressed by how efficient that video playthrough is, Semfry! Sounds like this MOTW was probably the occasion for you to play this for the first time, you quickly put in the works to learn the level's flow

[...] There's also a presumably 227K related issue where the stuff you ride over lava still damages you when it's not far enough above it, so it's better to just hop off and run to where you have to be[...].

Also [...] is the access to the final Volcano map supposed to open once you've played the other three maps, or is there some other task related to it? I just got a "the volcano isn't active yet" message after playing the other maps, and just ghosted to get to the volcano map, which confirmed it's the finale. Maybe another bug from playing on a newer Unreal version?

Sorry to hear you ran into those issues! I was wondering why you had decided to just run across lava yes, all the floating platforms work as intended on 227I, and the final Volcano map is supposed to become accessible after playing through the other maps (no other special task required), and since that always worked for me using 227I, I have to imagine these issues are all 227K-related.

[Insidious849]

So, I tried this out last night and it's, well... cryptic. I'm completely puzzled on where to go in these levels. Still, the 1996 prototype recreation is nice nonetheless.

[Sat42]

So, I tried this out last night and it's, well... cryptic. I'm completely puzzled on where to go in these levels. [...]

Heh yes this kind of level design is truly from a bygone era: "maze-like" was common among what was then referred to as Doom-like games, and this continued even when full 3D stuff started to appear like Descent and Quake. Abstract spaces only vaguely evoking a theme (rather than an actual sense of place) are arguably still present in Unreal but no longer dominant... unless you go back to the 1996 prototype of course

You really have to do the navigation work and zero in on the only visible objective of the game: finding all the switches. That said, besides Batset which is a small hub map with distinct areas, I found Temple of Seti to be actually the most interesting map in Crypt Pyramid (maybe alongside the final map) because it does have a few more memorable landmarks than the others: you have that great hall at the start (reminiscent of an actual antique temple), a hallway with actually nice, coloured lighting (goes a long way with these otherwise rather barren graphics!), a crypt, a big room with a Skaarj fight, lava rides (and other mandatory Super Mario style traversal challenges), an area with initially unlit torches that light up as you make progress, and even the rhythm of the map is not literally just switch hunting as you get a mini-boss fight at the end.

Not especially remarkable in any way - good stuff which also works as a showcase of what Unreal would have been like in 1996 In that sense it's fitting that you're immersed in old temples and crypts as you're sort of like an archeologist when playing this! No doubt extra time in the oven helped the final game immensely.

[ebd]

A very interesting glimpse into what Unreal evolved from but thankfully didn't end up being. The level itself is very cryptic and relies on observation just to realize there are switches to hit, let alone finding them. The trap at the end is very 1996 as well, though at least it's well telegraphed.

The lava damages you on 227J as well. I didn't check the scripts but but I'd guess it's checking the floor texture under the player? That changed between I and J.

[Aspide]

This campaign is awesome, Yrex did a great job recreating the look and feeling of the Unreal 96 beta, including textures, sounds, HUD, enemies and even music. This maps were originally made by John W. Anderson (also known as Dr. Sleep), he was a level designer for many games including Master Levels for Doom II, The Ultimate Doom, Daikatana, and of course Unreal, unfortunately all of his maps were cut from the final release of Unreal. Crypt Pyramid was released in 2017, which is haunting considering that Dr. Sleep died due to pneumonia in 2018 , Crypt Pyramid unintentionally became John W. Anderson's swan song.

Crypt Pyramid is basically a HUB where you need to beat all maps to unlock the final map (which is the only level that was done from scratch), every level is puzzle-orientated where you need to look for levers or buttons to progress, very old school level design , however the maps are very cryptic, you really need to pay attention to every detail and every corner to find you way out. The new weapons replicate the 96 beta very well, including the way weapons look when you look up or down, the automag is very similar to the final version except for the mesh, sound effects and the damage it inflicts, the Quadshot is the classic shotgun from old FPS shooters like Doom or Quake, very effective for close encounters . The enemies are great too, it's interesting that the Skaarj have been part of Unreal for a long time, maybe the Skaarj were the evolution of the dragon creatures from the 95 Unreal alpha. The brutes were insanely difficult in this version of the game because their attacks are hitscan, you really need to kill them as soon as possible, but the main enemy of this map is the level design itself, almost like the author of the map is your biggest nemesis, Yrex did a great job at taking Anderson's maps and finish them properly without sacrificing the original map's artistic vision, Unreal was a very different game back then, more based on Quake with elements from fantasy games/books.

I love that the mutator this campaign uses changes the way the game looks, giving it a "software rendering" look even if you're using other renders, the way textures move looks fantastic especially the water/lava and of course the skybox. It really sells the idea of the more mystical feel that Unreal had during 1995-1996. Also the mutator replaces the majority of the weapons from Unreal, so try experimenting by finding a way to play maps with this mutator. (an example would be "open nyleve?mutator=u96game.u96mutator")

This video shows how the maps were originally, I love how faithful Yrex was when he made this mappack:

Issues I found:

Batset:
-This campaign uses a mutator to simulate the look and feeling of the 96 beta, unfortunately some things don't work in 227j/k , like the damaging floors or the HUD scaling, but more bizarrely the mutator is suppose to turn all meshes unlit, something that doesn't work in later versions of 227. This campaign is definitely more functional in 227i.
-That same mutator has an unfortunate side-effect, some changes are permanent like the way sprites look, so you need to restart the game for everything to go back to normal.
-There's a room that has health and ammo for the automag, you are suppose to go there every time you come back to Batset to get what you need, the problem is that some players may not notice this and it may cause many issues since this campaign is very unforgiving when it comes to health and ammo.
-This map is a HUB but in reality it's fake, the campaign uses an inventory item to communicate between maps. Yrex was smart not to put enemies in this map .
-All maps in this campaign don't use that many AmbientSounds or sounds when movers move, however I don't know if this was intentional or not since this mappack is trying to replicate the 96 beta.

Temple of Seti:
-The objective of this map is to activate four buttons, there's a room with torches that give you a hint about what you have to do, however I wished that there was a message to give you a hint of what those torches represent, in other words: this map is too cryptic .
-The system that the game uses to damage players when touching a lava texture is glitched in newer versions of 227, making this level way more difficult than it should.
-The mutator that this campaign uses changes the gravity of all Zone infos (which explains how quickly you fall when you jump), the levels are designed to prevent you from noticing this however this map has some decorations you can push, see what happens when you push a vase off the edge .
-Enemies aren't suppose to have blood decals (because decals don't exist in the 96 beta), however carcasses and chunks still have decals, oops .
-The final mover (after fighting the enemies) can only be activated once, very big mistake.

[ebd]

After reviewing the recording, I had to check how they achieved the dithering effect because bizarrely it wasn't showing up well on video. Did OBS fail to pick it up somehow? Was it some overlay and not done in scripts?

► Show Spoiler

No it's actually really simple and done in the HUD code with modulated and transparent textures, but the effect gets almost totally lost when scaling and compressing videos. Super clever in any case and looks great.

[TigerTheGreat]

I can tell you right now that it is highly unlikely the Skaarj evolved from the Dragon's design. I think they were their own beasts from the get go. With maybe the exception of the Warlord who clearly evolved from the design of the Gargoyle.

[Sat42]

Hehe as usual I enjoyed the trials and tribulations with commentary, thanks for sharing ebd! (added to OP as usual)

And thanks Aspide for that other video too