Shadow Genesis

First topic message reminder :

Hi all.

This topic is about a new mod that is being created by me and my brother, Mario Maniac. Yeah, he is still alive, in case you are in doubt.

First of all, I feel like I should say that this game, like its predecessors, is based in nazis and demons. I understand some of you may not like the idea, but we do. Also, by predecessors, I mean its prequels, all of them. This one is centered in the same story and it involves elements of previous gameses. 

If you ever played an addon made by us or heard someone criticizing our style, you probably know how things are going to be developed. We enjoy a challenge, and we also enjoy the fact that this won't be a game that you will be able to finish in a couple hours.

Anyway, we've been working on it for a long time now, although we didn't work that much due to other stuff and whatever. Sprites, sounds, coding and all that stuff, except for maps and music, are already done. Like I said before, there are many level specific codings that are obviously yet to be done.

We didn't decide yet how many levels the game will have yet. We are just going on with the story, until it is the right time to end. I also think it is worth mentioning the maps are all 128x128. We always thought it was bad to have so many small claustrophobic rooms, but that was the only way to make big nice levels.

Obviously, I'm not spoiling much yet, but I can guarantee the game has a bunch of never seen before features.

After that wall of text, here are a bunch of screens, to show something that has been made already. I'll post more screens from time to time in here.

Official Beta Screenshots (latest released version as of now):

Shadow Genesis Part 1 Beta Download: (The forum inserts this adfly thing on the link. I can't do anything about that, so don't complain.)
As bugs are found and fixed, I'll upload new patches here. You should download them as soon as possible. I'll also write what the bug is about.

Important things before you download this:

• You can press 'L' to see the ratios so far in the game.
  
• The game is incomplete. What you will download is a demo version, which corresponds to the first part of a two part game. This part contains 39 levels. Whenever the full version is released, you WILL lose your savegame.
  
• It's probably best not to play this on "I am Death Incarnate" unless you want some big suffering.
  
• WolferCooker succeeded in completing the game, but that doesn't mean there are no bugs. In fact, I can almost guarantee there are.
  
• If you get stuck somewhere and you feel like there is a bug that prevents you from completing it, it's better if you post it here so everyone can see it, and we can fix it if it's really a bug. If it's not a bug, I won't spoil anything and I won't give you the solution.
  
  
• There are no secret levels for now, although some "mechanisms" that would enable you to get to them are already in the game. That means there can be keys/switches/things that have no objective the way the game is now.
  
• Although this should be obvious, READ the ReadThis section.
  
• Achievements and mementos aren't in the game yet, even though the ReadThis describe them. Don't mind that, for now.
  
  

Full package (this has been updated and now links to the official beta version):
https://www.mediafire.com/file/nnzijaw3aaehu13/Shadow_Genesis_Pt._1_-_Official_Beta.rar/file


Patches (no need to download any of them anymore. All of the patches have been included in the official beta version. The list of patches has been kept here purely as a log).

:

Full Game (upcoming, not to be released anytime soon):

Small spoiler: Soul Orb Entrance





That's it for now. Cya.

Our main concern at first was to get rid of all bugs that would get you stuck in a level. Obviously not all of them were fixed, as you found out by yourself.   
We tested the levels in the easiest difficulty because the goal wasn't playing the game, just test the features. That doesn't mean we plan to let the game that way. After we finish the second half, we will play the game in a harder difficulty and add armor and health where necessary.

The difficulty itself won't make you lose anything. We even considered adding something like an item to allow you to change the difficulty in mid game, in case you regret your choice.

Yeah, anyone is free to record it. I mean, everything is in youtube nowadays. The moment you release something, you are accepting that it eventually will appear there. It's also a good way to get more opinions about the game. Besides, who plays the game will decide if he/she wants the spoiler or not. If they search for it in youtube, they can risk ruining the fun, but that's their choice. If they are ok with it, fine.

That's awesome that you are considering to add an item to change the difficulty halfway through the game. I will most likely play on the easiest difficulty for my sanity and also to enjoy the game overall more rather than fight every inch on every level.  I assume that the harder difficulties (Bring 'em On and I am Death Incarnate) are just there for a challenge and bragging rights and no extra content or special endings/unlocks for those that play it. 


Also, thanks for clearing up the last part, I'm glad that the other wolf3d LP'ers out there can give this mod a LP, which would be a great watch, especially on their thoughts and reactions when playing the game (That would be someday in the late late future though).

Yeah. Actually those difficulty settings in Wolf have always been a problem. Sometimes I feel like I want to put a horde of enemies, like it Doom, where that happens a lot. But if you do that in wolf, it's impossible to beat. In the easiest difficulty, where you take 5 damage, you will take 25 in any other. It's hard to make a challenge for every setting like that. That's why we made those changes.
The only thing we considered changing with the difficulties was some coded stuff. Like more enemies in a wave, small changes to the puzzles, and perhaps the change of the random items they drop. I'm not sure this will be done.

I also would like to see their reaction. Impossible to say how long this second half will take, but most likely it will have less levels than the first. After we discussed about how the story will be developed, we estimated something like 30 levels. Since we finished the first half, we have been doing secret levels. We want to make them different, and that takes a lot of work. I started doing one around christmas, and finished it 2 weeks ago. I don't always mod wolf in my free time. More like twice a week. 

So yeah, so far our progress in the second half levels is 0%. That doesn't mean they will take this much to be done. New features, like the extra wall layer were added, and things like that delay the progress.

Just cleared level 19, I have to say it's one of my favorite levels in this mod by far!
It has a nice balance of strategy, movement, and the monsters aren't too hard overall.  I also like the new bloodspawn as well as the firespwan.  I also like the platforms and the teleports it takes you from place to place.  As far as people who played this level, I'd highly recommend those to take advantage of the rifle's long range capabilities and high damage output to pick off enemies before hoping to the next platform, it's a nice weapon used to kill some enemies before hopping/teleporting to the platform. It is a nice break from that hellish boss fight back from level 18.

I've noticed in a few levels even though I've killed all the enemies, I still get 99% kills, but 100% secrets 100% treasures, maybe it's the enemy kill ratio being messed up but I'm not sure.  I'm just happy that this is my first level with 100% treasures, along with a few 100% secrets. I do hope in the final version that the ratios would be fixed since I like to get 100% in all ratios (yes I'm such a perfectionist lol).

In level 20, I found a glitch where you don't die when your health depletes to zero via fake B.J.'s close range attack (similar to the mustard gas glitch).

I might have an idea of what caused the 99% ratio. I'll take a look at it.
I'm glad you liked the level, but I hope you don't get disappointed because this environment won't appear again. That's the  part of Chris' tutorial for more walls. We're not forced to use all enemies in the same scenario. 
I fixed the fake BJ's glitch, which is weird because it wasn't supposed to be happening. I just noticed his deathlog message via this death is also improper. If you don't get hit by the projectiles, the last enemy that attacked you will be the killer if you get killed by the green light.

Did anyone ever manage to get a hellspawn to spawn? I've killed many hellknights and as I know, the chance of it happening is about 1% based on the read me, so I was curious to see one spawn.

That's not what it was supposed to mean, actually. According to the story, demon species fight each other often. The more demons they kill, the stronger they become over time. What it means is that during those fights, hardly a hellknight survive time enough to acquire enough power to become a hellspawn.
This is not a bad idea, though. But danger they impose is too different to allow that to happen. Could screw up everything.

I just realized a bad design for the teleporting in cages part in level 20, when you automatically teleport after a certain amount of time, sometimes you land right on the enemy before you kill them, thus making the enemy impossible to kill, especially if you are standing on top of the enemy.  I'm not sure if this was the way it was intended, but I see maybe two solutions around this, either have a way to kill those enemies in cages before getting to the teleportation part of the level, or have the teleports put in a position where the player doesn't land on top of the enemy.

Anyways, level 20 is pretty cool in terms of Doom like design, it reminds me of the older days when running and gunning down demons.

The first time I've played through level 19 and 20 (The Soul Orb and The Core), makes me feel that even I was halfway through the whole game, it definitely looks like the final levels, especially the music, red atmosphere, void enviroment, puzzle, and the boss; although it isn't the final level at all.

I was also real stunned when the first Cyberdemon on level 19 approached during the gameplay, which stand two times taller and bigger than the rest of the enemies. Which makes me believe it's possible to add enemies larger than 64x64.

Hmm do you know if there is any object for the mixing puzzle on level 20? Other than that, I'll probably just use my best judgment or trial and error for that one.  (I'm looking for a pattern and on the bronze floor tiles.)

Map 20 was made by Luigi, I'll let him know about that.

Yeah, it's possible to add larger sprites. This game uses 128x128, but all of them have the same resolution. Cyberdemon is scaled up, to make him look more like he does in Doom, but the resolution is still the same.

The mixing puzzle is about pushing walls to the proper positions. I would be lying if I say I know what to do because, as I said, it's Luigi's map. We didn't test each other's maps.  
I remember he said something about mixing colors and knowing the result to know where to place each wall.

I've been (mentally) away for some time, so sorry if I took too long to answer.

-Level 18: thanks for the input, I might add some more health and ammo to it.

-Level 20: Yeah, that really shouldn't happen. I'll code a fix for that, don't worry. Still, glad I succeeded in making the doom-like environment, that's was precisely the intention I had.

-The puzzle: Yeah, I never gave an in-depth explanation of the whole process to Mario, but what he said is correct. There are no objects there, it's all about pushing the walls and their respective colors. The walls that are already positioned should give you enough information about what color to put in each position. Think of it like a table that you must fill. Also, I really don't think you should go on a trial and error approach, that will be painfully awful. The bronze tiles mark the places where walls must be placed, and every bronze tile must have a wall on top of it for the answer to be correct (not any wall, obviously, but the correct one). The answer to this is really not that hard, and I decided to leave this as an suspiciously "easy" puzzle precisely because it takes quite some time for you to have an well-formed answer (as in every bronze tile has a wall), even if it's not the correct one. It should be something you don't have to do more than one or two times.

-Scaled up enemies: By the way, there are other enemies with different scales too, such as the Dark Inquisitor itself. Maybe you will notice that.

Thanks for the feedback Luigi.

So far, I'm on level 22 now and I love the nostalgic feel. Anyways, I'm wondering about the bronze chaingun guarded by the artifacts of death. I have killed a boss monster that drops a holy cross, but there isn't a way to access that (I have found all the secrets though), yet there is a golden swastika treasure behind the portcullis.  Maybe I had to do something earlier?  Was going for 100% in all ratios this level but I'm just a bit short of getting there...

Does anyone know if there is a sequence or another switch to open the portcullis to access the yellow key? I am unable to progress further without the yellow key.  Also, I noticed a switch west of the main area, in the long hallway with the invisible wall, spawns Pain Elementals, so I'm not sure if there is a way to get across there as the invisible wall can be crossed by enemies but not by the player..

It's not a sequence. The switch you activate to open the gates to the room where the yellow key is make a different sound for a reason. One of the switches near the place you spawn pain elementals make the same noise to give you a hint about that room. Pain Elementals don't spawn there because they look nice, you must use them. Call Snake to see what he says, and use the green torch as your limit.
I don't want you to die trying this, but I need you to try that because I have to know how difficulty it is to people figure out it, if it's too difficult. At least, WolferCooker has good memories of this level.

I shall try it, and also I did succeed in luring the Pain Elemental to the blue key door (since there was enough room to run around I think, but for the gold door (needed to progress), well I don't quite have that yet, not sure if I'm luring the enemy correctly.

Edit: I just found another way across! I used a rocket launcher and shot a rocket at the door, and then it opened but..  lots of enemies are pouring through, so the good news is that I can progress now and time to bring all the heavy weapons to quickly waste the enemies, not get beat up too badly, and still make sure the door doesn't close. 

I hope in the final version there is another more conventional way to go about things, maybe luring the Pain Elemental towards the blue door is ok (imho) but for the gold door maybe a different design (easier) might be better?


Edit2: I just found another bug, and this one is more fatal because it crashes the game.  After the gold key door, and after the Nightshade ambush, there is a secret and in there is a book of the dead. Upon trying to read the book, it crashes the game (I'm wondering if it is null or maybe it's corrupted?).

Milanor wrote:I shall try it, and also I did succeed in luring the Pain Elemental to the blue key door (since there was enough room to run around I think, but for the gold door (needed to progress), well I don't quite have that yet, not sure if I'm luring the enemy correctly.

Edit: I just found another way across! I used a rocket launcher and shot a rocket at the door, and then it opened but..  lots of enemies are pouring through, so the good news is that I can progress now and time to bring all the heavy weapons to quickly waste the enemies, not get beat up too badly, and still make sure the door doesn't close. 

I hope in the final version there is another more conventional way to go about things, maybe luring the Pain Elemental towards the blue door is ok (imho) but for the gold door maybe a different design (easier) might be better?


Edit2: I just found another bug, and this one is more fatal because it crashes the game.  After the gold key door, and after the Nightshade ambush, there is a secret and in there is a book of the dead. Upon trying to read the book, it crashes the game (I'm wondering if it is null or maybe it's corrupted?).

I'm not going to answer concerning the Mario's level, but I can confirm that the book is indeed bugged. This had been reported by WolferCooker some time ago, and it is already fixed in the current version, but, for some reason, it is not fixed in that beta version. I'm not really sure why that specific book crashes with that old code, but the other books seem to be working as intended.

About the level, what you did is really close to what has to be done. You just had to keep your  eyes in the green torches. If you try to get past the gold key door the way you got past the blue key one, it won't work. I wouldn't do something that harsh. Forget where the pain elemental is. Your position is what matters.

Currently on level 25 now, about to enter level 26, one suggestion for the level is to have a bit longer (maybe another 10-15 seconds at least) before being teleported out of the small secluded island, I barely collected all the treasures (yes I know I'm still a perfectionist when I can be lol), and missing the enlightenment orb itself as well as the gunpowder, steel helmet, and medkit.  I did grab the artifact of invulnerability first though.

Edit: On another try I did grab all of the treasure items but still haven't gotten the gunpowder and other steel helmet.  I would say about 3-5 seconds extra would be helpful.  And, on the same token, perhaps having a longer time before the level ends on level 21, would be great since it is difficult to get 100% in all ratios given the time limit and screenlock.

In my case, I picked up the artifact of invulnerability seconds before the dialogue ended, then I pressed shift to make B.J. run and grab all treasure and orb of fate alongside with orb of enlightening, gunpowder etc.... I think one to three seconds more sounds better, but that is just me:)

For that small island, you must run, indeed. We consider a decent challenge when even if you know what to do, how to get there and how to do it, you will still be challenged. So yeah, when you are not ready, the time will look really short. Failure is almost a certain in the first try. We test those parts to be sure it's always possible to get those things. Well... sometimes the game's code seems to undo itself. Things we adjusted may not be working the way they were supposed to be. I can take a look at this again. But brick said he can do it, so I still believe it's possible.

As for level 21, that one is deceiving. You can get 100% there easily, if you don't let the temptation fool you. There's only 1 item you really have to collect there.

I am now on level 28 and wow, those snipers are cruel, the positioning and such.  I got to the last part with the enemies. Also, enemies spawning after killing certain enemies or even crossing a part of a map, it makes quite the ambush .  I have run low on ammo a few times, nearly died a few times as well.  I'm still hunting for the green key and sadly, I have expended my artifact of invincibility to get past the sniper infested area + barricade guard area, so I don't have another artifact to do so.

Also, the camera shows the place where BJ has to go when entering the main central area, however, the screenlocks then all of a sudden lots of enemies spawn in the room before me.  I don't know if the invincibility artifact helps much here because the cutscene taks about a good 14-15 seconds or so.  Also, a new enemy appears and it's very deadly...

Unless I've done something wrong, I'm in a tight situation with no invincibility artifact, haven't found any secrets yet and lots of barricade guards and snipers in the central area... Hmm this will be very hard to do.

On the plus side, I do like the music as well as the environment . It is a bit better than the previous level where I had to kill snipers in the dark. (even harder to see where they are).

Yeah, I admit that those snipers are indeed cruel. Don't worry though, they won't bother you that much again anytime soon.

As for the artifact of invincibility, you don't have to use it to kill the enemies that spawn during the cutscene, but it is an option. I left that for the player to decide, as there are many parts where that artifact can be of great help during the level. But yeah, I guess it would be better if you could pick it up after spawning the enemies. Just as a side note, did you realize there are two ways to enter the central part, right?

Glad you liked the environment. It's a quite original one, and that's the only level it appears in (so far). Still, even though that level can be a pain, enjoy it now, because there are going to be some major changes on it for the final version .

Are you planning to make the level harder in the final version than it is currently? Oh dear, the mist along with the sniper's positions make it taxing to kill them. What would have made the level a bit easier would be having ways to kill off the snipers before heading into the central part, as well as dealing with the extra barricade guards (4-5 of them in a group all positioned towards the eastern section) such as having another invulnerability artifact or better area to work around with, since positioning and angles are extremely critical in taking out the snipers and barricade guards. I guess this level really summarizes the title up quite "literally", the defenses around the area is so densely covered with machine gun nests, snipers, and enemies around the corners. 

As far as the central area, yes I am aware of that one, so I'm thinking of maybe having the enemies lured and temporarily trapped in the opposite hallway and if time allows, then pick up the invincibility artifact after spawning the enemies by making a mad dash towards it. I did manage to pick up a holy cross when fighting in the eastern part of the map along with a blue key, so I predict it'll be handy later on in the level.

I wouldn't say harder, but longer, yeah. Actually, you can get rid of most of them before getting in the central part. Dimalicia is pretty good at this, or you can use the sniper rifle itself, if you don't want to use Dimalicia ammo. Not necessarily easy, but effective.

At least I'm happy to know that things so far turned out as planned. That's really good to know. But yeah, you really should use the fact there are multiple paths to your advantage.

It's good that you found the holy cross too, since you won't be able to proceed without it later.

Also, I forgot to mention, there are a couple of Infrared Goggles around the level. Those are incredibly helpful with those hideous snipers

Level 25, Underground, has a lot of inspiration from Japan, mostly from the music, high grasses and Underworld Zombies. Gives me a lot of relaxing times.

Level 26, The Proving Ground, is definitely rumble in the jungle. Tropical forest, river and music says it all. Gives me a Diablo II feeling. The atmosphere is kind like a voodoo magic, a witchcraft here and there.

Level 27, Death Scent, is so dark that it reminds me when I walked a few times in the forest at the blackest night. Very scary to proceed into this area.

Level 28, INFS, reminds me of Poland in the concetration lairs and the mod "Operation Eisenfaust - Origins". The music is really a swansong to B.J.; that he's standing as an one man army against all on the level. One of my favourite levels, despite it's the most difficult of all levels so far. I guess on the lowest difficulty I've died over a hundred times, as I consider as the most bloodiest wolf3d mod level in the history.

As for the green key, do not grab it after the scene is ending, and do not flee from them or fight at them in the open area where the key is, as you will be doomed by doing this. Best suggestion is to stay clear before the green key door and stay armed, as one and one will come at you automatically. Use Chain Gun or Nordenfelt against the armies, and rifles against the tanks, as the vehicle will drop rifle rounds upon destruction. Five tanks will appear during the situation. Kill all of them, grab the green key, and you are on the second part of the level.

Thanks for the tips brickgolem, and I have made it to the 2nd part (after many saves and reloads).

Speaking of Dimalicia ammo, I do use them but as a last resort since they are very rare to find, and also Allgemeine guards rarely drop them too.  Would you consider raising the drop chance for Dimalicia ammo or is it intended to be very very rare?

Yeah, they are intended to be very rare, since it is more or less of a secret weapon, and it also has some properties that make it special.

I only use the Dimalcia as a last resort and/or if there is ammo for it to where I can fully replenish what I lost.

For beginners on that green key area part of level 28, I hide in a corner where no enemies outside the bushes can fire at me and I use the Sten/Blitz to take the enemies out one by one until the red skull turns off.

But since I am familiar it, as soon as that cutscene ends, I turn right back around, run past the enemies in that room (sometimes you're not lucky enough to do so), and I run back to where you get the yellow key the first time with all those sets of mounted machine guns. I use them to take out most of the enemies. The snipers and mounted gunners are a pain to kill that way since they're very far away, but this method saves me a lot of arsenal ammo and gives me leeway to use my weapons a bit more recklessly later on in that level.

In fact, take advantage of any mounted gun you see (minus the very first one you encounter) and lure as many enemies as possible or to the point where you have enough ammo pickups to fully replenish what you lost. It's a real ammo saver for all your weapons in the end.

Good idea for conservation of ammo.  I had to resort to that before I reached the green doors or the 2nd part of the level, I ended up killing an ultramutant, mancubus x2, a few lost souls, and also a few other common enemies that way.  Mancubuses dropped rockets which are useful and what helped me deal with the pesky snipers so far away (especially if I can't see their muzzle flash) is to shoot a rocket down there (works if there is no object blocking the way), the same thing with the barricade guards as well. 

Anyways getting closer to the end of the mod, on level 29 now.

You still got a long way to go my friend 

Woot, just obtained the firewall, it looks like a fancy weapon! It is said to be an effective demon slaying weapon, and has a lot of ammo but the only downside is that the range is limited and I think damage is low but continuous.  If demons do stun, then perhaps it would be an effective weapon (similar to the plasma gun in Doom II).

Btw, I found a minor glitch with the molotov cocktails, if you have max capacity, you would still pick up another one and you don't get anymore, thus wasting it

Edit2: I found yet another minor glitch with the demonic sphere.  If you have 45 or more rifle rounds, then the number should be set to 15.  I tested this with 50 rifle rounds, and the number stayed the same.  Let me know if someone already found the bugs.

Another bug (maybe) is when you have 15% health or less and you pick up a cursed helmet (no holy crosses) then you end up back at the start of the level similar to warping back there, but there is no dying sequence.  Is this intended or is it a bug? I've also checked the death log and nothing was written to there.

I will also find a situation to test the 4 unholy crosses while being 40% or less health.

The Molly bug I already knew, but not the others. Man this is more bugged than I originally thought. Then again I have different ways to beat the levels compared to you.

Molly bug, what is that one?

Molotovs.

Ah I see, and speaking of which, it works great for enemies that are across a river/lava tile, as well as stationary enemies, it does quite a bit of damage over time. I've killed off Arachnotrons and core tentacles with them.

Made it to level 32 now. A few comments regarding level 30 and 31. 

In level 30, I do like the floor burning effect, reminds me of Doom II where you would burn on the floors unless you have a radiation shielding suit. There is one caveat though, it's the part where you teleport and you end up facing 3 fallen, it's not so much the teleports that are a problem but the positioning and no objects to hide behind, thus equals very fast death (I barely survived with less than 40% health left, little to no armor, then using at least 2 portable medkits).  Maybe in the final version there could be a small change to it? Also, yes there are times where ammo shortage is a problem, had times where I was running very low on ammo and had to resort to throwing molotovs whenever as well as using the dimalicia bullets (felt kinda bad but had to be done in desperate times). Meanwhile, I'm still struggling to find enough dimalicia ammo or getting lucky enough for the allegmeine guards to drop them.  (I suppose I can save+reload frequently to do so but it is very time consuming to do that 100's of times).

In level 31, the level is pretty cool, I like the portcullis effects as well as the new mini bosses, it has a interesting attack pattern (reminds me of the bloodspawn), though a few problems with that is one of the areas where there are many columns as cool as it looks, I almost had to use my entire round of chaingun ammo to clear it, unlike the 1st and 3rd ones.  Maybe someone had a different strategy in mind perhaps? Also, the worst part was the 3 islands hopping segment, it was too heavily reliant on RNG as well as a timer for the monsters to spawn (sometimes you get easy spawns like a pinky, imp, golem, lost soul, etc.). A few suggestions for the arenas are to either have more obstacles to hide from enemy fire, a fixed (predictable) spawn of enemies, only spawn next enemy when the current wave is done rather than spawning more and more.  I'd get easily overwhelmed by the strong enemies (like hellhound, hellknights, fallens, and etc. )

Since I'm on level 32 now, I do hope to find the other weapons and hopefully the landmine soon (I have a feeling it can be a good defensive weapon).

Also, similar to the cursed helmet bug, the possessed skull does the same thing as well. When you have less than the hp of the damage done by the artifact, you automatically start the beginning of the level with your current health (in this case it was 2% hp) and then you still keep your weapons as well as all the other pickup items and your score gets set back to the score before you start the level.

Lot'sa things for me to comment about, huh. Let's see:

-Firewall: Yeah, it's the most efficient weapon for demons (in terms of weaknessess), and it's pretty useful in my opinion. Its damage type is represented by the "Toxin" field on books of dead.

-Molotov being pickable even after you have maxed the ammo: Yeah, this is unintended. Since this is actually the item that gives you the weapon, the code was made similarly to other weapons, where you can still pick them up, even after having maxed out the ammo. That will be fixed.

-Demonic Sphere: Interesting, actually that is a "bug" in the ReadThis section . That "rifle ammo" is supposed to be "blitz ammo". That is the one being decreased, actually. That's been fixed now.

-Teleporting when dying: That one is a real bug. I've already found what causes it, and it is now fixed. The cause of this problem was the same for skulls, ending game with F7 (and screwing the level a la Wolfercooker ) or any other "teleporting death" you may have encountered. I strongly suggest you not to continue playing after you died in that way, many weird things might happen because of some variables that won't be reset if you die like that.

-Level 30: Yeah, I know the part you're talking about. I'll change it a bit, and will also add some more ammo to the level as well.

-Level 31: That's elderly Mario's level, I'll let him know about your comments.

Anout level 31, you can use the torches to defend yourself from the fallens. If you two get close to the torch, you never get hit, actually. And maybe spawn some extra ammo when the stronger enemies spawn. I wanted to make a fast pace thing, so I'd rather give you ammo to be wasted than making the spawn time slower.

For the pillars, the flamethrower can hit multiple of them with one shot, if you stay between some. They should be imune to fire, but whatever. I should add more ammo for that. Seeing the map now, that doesn't look much.

I know things are a bit crazy as far as having so many weapons (but it's necessary considering all the enemies you have to face), but my first weapon of choice to always use is the machine gun for the common enemies (minus the common enemies with lots of HP). It's always been that way for me since their earlier mods (Weltmeisterung, Weltgericht, and Lost Relic)

On level 36 now, I really like the environments so far, however, I don't know if this was intended but there is a part (Jungly forest part) where the background trees and objects cover the floor and it is very hard to see where you are walking or where the enemies are at.  Maybe in the final version there could be a jungle trim? Otherwise I had to guess and shoot at the enemies, not knowing where they are at.

Also, just now on level 37, and really like the new features there! Things are definitely very very tense now in the levels, and demons are ruthless as ever (of course, I never expected demons to be kind or have much of integrity.). I made it this far on Bring 'Em On difficulty and I believe I will try to get to the end of the beta with this difficulty, but I'll see.

That jungle thing is actually intended, yeah. I know it screws your field of vision, but that is a part of the challenge for that area.

Just as a comment, levels 36 and 37 were (by far) the most time consuming levels for me to make. Well, that was true until I started making the secret level, at least

I find it really impressive that you got that far on that difficulty, really . My guess is, if you got this far, there is probably no reason why you wouldn't make to the final level.

The Mancubica levels (Level 36 and 37) is one of those levels which impressed me much more than I ever imagined. Just as I thought you'll never reach deeper than the hellish realm (Level 30-33), I went completely wrong, as Mancubica realm represent the absolute depth you'll face. Black water, black atmosphere, black enemies; I'm stunned, really.

I guess that, if author H.P. Lovecraft were still alive, he will be impressed too, as Mancubica reminds me lot of realm of Cthulhu (R'Lyeh).

I managed to get deep past the underwater portion of the map, but wow, I'm stuck on where to go on the level.  I'm in the large room with make sea-mines and lots of treasure, but I don't see any passage way to take.  Maybe I have to trigger an event of some sort?

What you found was an unmarked secret area underwater. You'll have to go back the way you came. Where you started in that part underwater, another platform was right in front of you to get out of the water and you went around it. When you go back to that area, use THAT platform to proceed through the level.

Thanks Wolfer, I managed to progress though in the siege part of the stage, I need to find a robust strategy to survive.  

A few comments about level 37 was the part where you come up from the water, you end up getting ambushed by a mancubus, hellkeeper, and littel space to work with, then the next room, minotaurs.  I only survived with the sliver of a bit of health left, I think either more room to maneuver or weaker enemies there would be nice.  I had to use my skull staff and I didn't want to waste it's uses throughout the level. 

Also, another strange thing is that when going underwater or coming up to the surface, sometimes Snake spawns on top of you, making you unable to move and having the constant humming noise (when you are hugging the wall), this might be a bug that could make the game almost unplayable.

Finally made progress, got past the demonic onslaught part, though I probably didn't do it the right way or the easier way (it was an endurance test, similar to Overkill level in Spear Resurrection 2011 SDL but more intense, I literally ran low on ammo, nearly died many times, though it was more fun and at least wasn't as bad as my *cough* Dark Inquisitor *cough* battle (Dark Inquisitor does look pretty cool and has some serious attacks).  Hope to clear level 37 so I can move on to the last two levels and finish the mod

Oh wow, level 37 is very long and I've spent over 5 hours on it .  I'm at the part with the avoiding the death artifacts while swimming, it will be a bit of trial and error on my end because I tend to get the underwater/surfacing part mixed up.  Also when coming back on land, I would suffer enemy fire.

Ok, just cleared the level now, the underwater part was hard and tough sometimes requiring to run quickly, especially putting a sea mine near the location, but most of the underwater puzzle was ok given my positioning when submerging and emerging back to land. Onwards to level 38.