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Paradox v1.02

This bundle is marked as high quality. It exceeds standards and is highly desirable.
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Author:
Game Type:
Genre:
Language:
Fukuro
Single-player
Puzzle / Action
English / Russian

Re-release of my old project from 2008, originally published only in russian as "In the Stellar Abysm" ("В звёздных пучинах"). That was my first WC3 project released to public, made when I was 16-17 years old. Originating from just tinkering with in-game textures, it grew into something peculiar and extraordinary.


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  • Unique visuals: Unseen graphic design similar to that of TRON.
  • Variable gameplay: Every level introduces new gameplay elements and mechanics.
  • Clever puzzles: Mazes and memory puzzles are simple, but able to twist a weak mind.
  • Challenging action: Mostly in later levels, the game offers third-person shooter-like sequences and fierce boss fights.
  • Atmospheric music: Magnificent ambient and perfect action music mainly from Final Fantasy, Portal, Painkiller and Serious Sam.


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Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

Screenshot 3

Screenshot 4

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Changelog


- Rebalanced difficulty in Easy and Normal modes;
- Fixed the bug, due to which the player could get stuck if a tentacle spawned too close;
- Increased time of life for Souls in Easy and Normal modes;
- Minor visual fixes for final boss;
- Other minor changes.

- Improved performance due to rendering issues with WC 1.31;
- Fixed the bug, due to which the game was broken on level 3 after loading saved game;
- Fixed the camera resetting on level 1;
- Other minor changes.

- Released.

Credits


Crystal World (Final Fantasy IX) by Nobuo Uematsu
Pandemonium (Final Fantasy IX) by Nobuo Uematsu
Procedural Jiggle Bone (Portal) by Kelly Bailey
4000 Degrees Kelvin (Portal) by Mike Morasky
Prayer (Silent Hill 3) by Akira Yamaoka
Traveling Through Limbo (Half-Life) by Kelly Bailey
Cemetery Fight (Painkiller) by Mediastudio
I Stand Alone (Prince of Persia: Warrior Within) by Godsmack
Freedom (Serious Sam: The Second Encounter) by Undercode
Results (Silent Hill 3) by Akira Yamaoka


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Previews
Contents

P A R A D O X (v1.02) (Map)

Level 3
Joined
Dec 17, 2017
Messages
39
This map is really awesome! Has a surreal feel to it and the music gives it an astral touch:)
i made it to lvl 2, then it started lagging, but i think its because of my pc (im doing some other stuff in the background on it). gonna see if that happens again next time - ill update this post then;)
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
Played on 1.31.1.

You could also use the Escape/Maze tag since there's no puzzle tag.

For some reason the site sees this as a 3 player slot map.
You should explain what differences there are between the difficulty options.

  1. Is the loading screen supposed to be pitch black?
  2. Ah, so the character is supposed to look like a bad loaded model? The cube too. Maybe you could find more fitting textures especially for the hero.
  3. Love the camera angles, remind of point and click games. However, the blue flashes become annoying after a while. Maybe, leave them only for the switches.
  4. At least there's no danger of falling :D Would be annoying since the camera shifts.
  5. A downside is that you can't see the whole zone and you might need to press switches often or move around to get a better look at the point of interest.
  6. DEL/DELETE can set the camera to some weirder look until you get to a region that triggers the camera to shift.
  7. Technically, you shouldn't be able to pass through any parts of the red lightning, not just the middle zone of interest.
  8. The tome use FX trap zone could have been longer. You only need to get past a few traps to the left/west to get to the long linear platform which leads to the rune and then to the four cluttered switches.
  9. Shooting doesn't work. Clicked all mouse buttons one after the other and nothing. So, I'm stuck on the first fight with the green monsters.

I thought it would be a fully peaceful game.

For what it's worth,
Approved.
Please fix the shooting issue on the third level.


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EDIT:

  1. Is it intended to have Blink now (from the start)?
  2. Now, you can shoot before you get the message that you can.
  3. Sometimes activating a switch while holding the movement keys forward+a direction will make the hero move after the cinematic mode/pause without the player doing anything.
  4. Maybe you could implement an out of combat short stamina run for this part by double forward (up arrow key). It could take mana.
  5. It's a bit difficult to dodge and shoot those things coming at you when you're surrounded by that fence because you have to move with your back and can't see anything behind; also you can't turn without rotating which takes time and basically almost keeps you on the spot until you rotate at least partially.
  6. Hovering the mouse over the upper part of the command card, you can see Move's and other command descriptions.
  7. I'm playing on Easy and there are too many enemies coming from many sides where the spiral zone is with the spawning Forgotten One. You can't turn back to kill them strategically because the web is gone and if you go forward more appear. There's no means to strafe so that you could move to the sides. You can't run to the spawning entity because there's a wave which appears right in front of you and you can't pass through it without being killed. At least add a cooldown AoE spell or something. Also, not fair that the mana and healing orbs disappear. OK, managed to do it with a lot of save-load patience. The first wave is the most annoying one because you have less space to move back to.
  8. Scrap that, the boss is more annoying. You can easily get stuck into those spawned tentacles, especially if they spawn on you/your position. You don't have enough mana for the boss and troops even if you click less often. On top of that, there's free damage you take from the tentacles. I don't want to imagine how normal or even hard are then.
 
Last edited:
Level 10
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
Messages
234
Apparently 1.31 broke some things, I did not expect this. It worked flawlessly in 1.30. I hate this...

i made it to lvl 2, then it started lagging
So it started lagging on level 2, but it was okay on level 1?
It seems 1.31 rendering is so bad, now I have 10-40 fps in level 1 (depending on camera angle), and 30-40 in level 2. WTF Blizzard???

For some reason the site sees this as a 3 player slot map.
Idk, there is 1 player slot and 2 computer slots.

Is the loading screen supposed to be pitch black?
Ah, so the character is supposed to look like a bad loaded model? The cube too.
Yes, this is intended.

Love the camera angles, remind of point and click games. However, the blue flashes become annoying after a while. Maybe, leave them only for the switches.
I had to make those color flashes, because I can't find a way to switch the camera seamlessly (it needs to be reset for a split second). I can make flashes as black, though.

DEL/DELETE can set the camera to some weirder look until you get to a region that triggers the camera to shift.
Yeah, I have no idea how to prevent this. Reapplying this type of camera every 0.05 sec won't work, because it will jitter and give you a seizure :\

Technically, you shouldn't be able to pass through any parts of the red lightning, not just the middle zone of interest.
I can't understand what you mean. You can pass through red lightning?

Shooting doesn't work. Clicked all mouse buttons one after the other and nothing. So, I'm stuck on the first fight with the green monsters.
Yes, this is 1.31 witchcraft.
I need to fix this.
Upd: This new bug was the reason
 
Last edited:
Level 10
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
Messages
234
Also can you port me to the third level?
I could send you the debug version, it has such text command.

Now the mouse scroll is indeed worse and very annoying in maps like this. I guess maybe he could use ESC as a way to fix the camera. Other than that I don't see a way to remove these functions.
I found the way to prevent this. Should be fine now.
 
Level 10
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
Messages
234
Is it intended to have Blink now (from the start)?
This "Blink" presents only in the debug version I sent to you. For testing purposes.

Now, you can shoot before you get the message that you can.
Not a problem. The message is just a hint for those who for some reason didn't click.

Hovering the mouse over the upper part of the command card, you can see Move's and other command descriptions.
I'll fix that once I redo the interface using new framehandle natives in the future.

It's a bit difficult to dodge and shoot those things coming at you when you're surrounded by that fence because you have to move with your back and can't see anything behind; also you can't turn without rotating which takes time and basically almost keeps you on the spot until you rotate at least partially.
I'm playing on Easy and there are too many enemies coming from many sides where the spiral zone is with the spawning Forgotten One. You can't turn back to kill them strategically because the web is gone and if you go forward more appear. There's no means to strafe so that you could move to the sides. You can't run to the spawning entity because there's a wave which appears right in front of you and you can't pass through it without being killed.
Alright, this needs rebalancing. I played a lot during testing, so all those moments are very easy for me. I suspected something like this would emerge.

Scrap that, the boss is more annoying. You can easily get stuck into those spawned tentacles, especially if they spawn on you/your position. You don't have enough mana for the boss and troops even if you click less often. On top of that, there's free damage you take from the tentacles. I don't want to imagine how normal or even hard are then.
I will fix the thing with getting stuck, but you know that you can kill tentacles too, right? As for mana, you get quite a lot from corpses.
Anyway, I guess for easier difficulties I could increase the time limit for souls before they disappear.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
I will fix the thing with getting stuck, but you know that you can kill tentacles too, right? As for mana, you get quite a lot from corpses.
I'd rather shoot the creatures coming at me or the boss than static tentacles. And no, you can't get close to the orbs after killing something without getting hit as there are more enemies coming and/or tentacles nearby.
I'll try some more.
 
I thought it was a puzzle game first. But at level 3 it becomes a shooting game.
Final BOSS is impossible for me. I tried at least 10 times and finally gave up and turned on "whosyourdaddy". There're too many tentacles to worry about.
Also, what do those levels mean. Is it a story about system got infected? Level 1 is on system surface. level 2 is firewall, level 3 is virus.
 
Last edited:
Level 10
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
Messages
234
Final BOSS is impossible for me. I tried at least 10 times and finally gave up and turned on "whosyourdaddy". There're too many tentacles to worry about.
You mean the escape phase? Or the fight?
And what was your difficulty level?

Is it a story about system got infected? Level 1 is on system surface. level 2 is firewall, level 3 is virus.
Yeah, you got your impressions right.
I didn't include any dialogues or anything, since I'm bad at writing stories, so I went for "the feel".
 
You mean the escape phase? Or the fight?
And what was your difficulty level?
Yeah, you got your impressions right.
I didn't include any dialogues or anything, since I'm bad at writing stories, so I went for "the feel".

I mean the fight phase. Escape phase would be easy if one remembers the path.
My difficulty was "easy"... But boss fight it's not easy at all. I played both "normal" and "easy" level, and found that the rest parts are fine except for boss fight.

Haha, it's fun to guess the story. That's also a part of the game.

PS:"Easy" is easier than "normal", but i can't still beat the boss. The character don't have enough mana to deal with boss, creeps and so many tencles at the same time. That's Challenging, but not easy.
 
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