OBLIGE Level Maker

by Andrew Apted.   February 2007

INTRODUCTION

OBLIGE is a random level maker for the following games: DOOM 1, DOOM 2, Final DOOM, FreeDOOM, Heretic 1 and Hexen 1. These games all share the same basic level structure.

OBLIGE will have the following features which set it apart from existing programs (like the famous SLIGE by David Chess) :-

STATUS

OBLIGE 0.85 is the current version (the previous version was 0.81, the very first public release). The core level-making algorithm exists and works well, and the GUI interface is simple but very usable. The battle simulator produces reasonable ammo and health to fight the monsters in the map.

See below for the status of each game

There is still a lot to do however. There is no support (yet) for the special levels, such as the end-of-episode levels of DOOM 1 and the end-of-game level (MAP30) of DOOM 2. Other nice features would be: secret areas, player teleports, and better lighting.

Nearly every decision in OBLIGE, such as what monsters to make and what themes to use for rooms, is just roll-of-the-die random. There is so much potential for using much better algorithms (and hence creating much nicer levels). Send me an email if you are interested in helping out, you certainly don't need to be a programmer!

CHANGES IN 0.85

+  Hallways!  Crates!  Exit themes!
+  better algorithm for choosing floor/ceiling heights.
+  user adjustments for health/ammo/monsters/traps.
+  current settings are remembered when you quit.

-  support for FreeDOOM, TNT Evilution and Plutonia.
-  levels are watermarked with some Oblige logos.
-  delete temporary wad when build has finished.
-  collect all log messages into a file (LOGS.txt).
-  removed the unnecessary menu bar.

-  fixed the (rare) non-working switches and lifts.
-  surprise traps: improved placement, fairer monsters.
-  tweaked battle simulation to provide more ammo.
-  improved cages, now at more reasonable heights.
-  neater placement for health and ammo items.

SCREENSHOT

(Created with SEED = 1234)

Picture

USAGE GUIDE

The graphical interface for OBLIGE is quite easy to use.

At the top is the Settings panel, which contains the most important settings.

The first control is the "SEED" number. Each SEED number produces a unique, distinctive level. Using the same SEED number always produces the exact same level (as long as the other settings are the same).

Other settings include:

In the Adjustments panel you can control how much health and ammunition, and how many monsters and traps are put into the created levels. OBLIGE also implements the different skill levels for each map (e.g. Hurt-me-Plenty vs Ultra-Violence).

After you've chosen the desired settings, press the "Build..." button, which will open a Save-File dialog asking you what the output file should be. Enter something appropriate, e.g. TEST, and after that OBLIGE will starting building the levels.

To exit, press the "Quit" button in the bottom right corner.

The levels created by OBLIGE are ready to play. There is no need to run the output WAD file through a node-builder program, since OBLIGE does this automatically.

You should use a Source Port to play the levels, because the original DOOM.EXE, DOOM2.EXE (etc..) may not cope with the architecture which OBLIGE creates. For example, you might get the dreaded "Visplane Overflow" error, which is fatal.

STATUS OF EACH GAME

DOOM 2: by far the most well tested and stable game target, and contains the most number of different themes.

DOOM 1: has been tested and works pretty well. Some extra themes would be nice to have (e.g. for hell levels that DOOM 1 does so well).

HERETIC: poorly tested and very lacking in different themes, and it's possible that some keyed doors might not work properly (requiring the wrong key) or other similar problems.

HEXEN: basically borked, can create levels but they won't work properly, e.g. none of the linedefs have the correct line-types (for doors and lifts etc). Also very lacking in themes. Plus none of the HEXEN special features, such as the hub system, player classes, or the three-part weapons are supported yet.

DOWNLOAD

Windows Package: oblige_085_win.zip (??? KB)

Linux Package: oblige_085_linux.tar.gz (??? KB)

Source Code: oblige_085_src.zip (??? KB)

COPYRIGHT and LICENSE

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: <ajapted@users.sf.net>

Website: http://oblige.sourceforge.net/

Project page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/oblige/