2 Year Anniversary, Map Of The Week and Developer Q&A
Hey everyone!
First off, I would like to announce that on this particular day, March 14 2018, the game celebrates its 2 year anniversary. That's partially the reason we postponed the MOTW, hehe.
To celebrate, I contacted hopoo and we decided to do a Q&A, where you can get answers to all of your DEADBOLT-related questions you've ever thought off.
All the questions are to be sent onto hopoo's tumblr blog. They also post dev blogs and all that there, and occasionally answer questions outside of any Q&As, so be sure to follow them! You don't have to register and can send questions anonymously.
http://hopooo.tumblr.com/
Now, with that out of the way...
There were a lot of really awesome maps to choose from, but there can be only one.
This week's Map Of The Week is "A Special Night" by Atlasle.
The map consist of two buildings, one is a large vampire building with an underground club and the other is a small zombie warehouse.
In order to progress through the map, you first have to collect keycards from the enemies on the upper floors. You have to collect them, as those keycards unlock doors that otherwise would prevent you from leaving the building or even simply going from room to room.
Despite how outnumbered you are, there's a bit of fair breathing space due to the enemies mostly standing with their backs directed at you, making it easy to just walk past them or flank them.
Collect the keycards and proceed to your next objective, which is burning all ash caches. Some of them are located inside the club, while others are located inside the warehouse.
After doing all of that, you should be good to g...
Oh, backup.
A lot of backup, actually. Won't spoil how many, but be prepared.
After all is done, the only thing left to do is to talk to the candle (if you haven't done it prior to doing everything else) and leave the stage.
Being Atlasle's only second map, it surely shows that he has a lot of potential. The map is huge and full of misc details, packed with ememies yet rather fair.
The only problem is perhaps the map's framerate, as even my rig struggled to run it smoothly, but it's not the mapmaker's fault.
Oh, and there's also a hidden room with doggos and cool weapons. Neat.
This week’s Map of the Week is “Middleman” by Fry.
This map is very competently made for a first level – there aren’t any technical flaws in sight. The level consists of a small building populated by vampires and skeletons. If you just walk through the front door you’ll find yourself very quickly flattened, but thankfully you’ll find there’s a whole host of viable entry points.
There are a few weapons scattered about, but with the exception of an Old World Rifle there’s nothing overtly powerful, and even then it’s not too easy to get to. The vents present in the level are placed well enough that moving through the level is a challenge, but you can still easily flank enemies once you’ve alerted them.
As a side note, I can't help but adore this crane part for no reason. It amuses me far more than it probably should.
Overall, a short and sweet level that wouldn’t be amiss amongst the levels from the main campaign. Get in, kill everything that moves, burn drugs, steal intel, and get out.
And as a reminder, we have a Discord server! Memes probably guaranteed.
https://discord.gg/3Z9YPnn
Map Of The Week (February 19-25, 2018)
Hey everyone!
Today’s Map of the Week is “Occupied” by RPD_Hunter_482. This map is part of the long running Flatline campaign, which has a history of quality maps – I actually thought these maps would be dominating MotW before I started it back up again.
Anyway, onto the map. As is with the rest of the Flatline campaign, there are introductory cutscenes that move the story along. These won’t be covered here for the sake of entertainment and not wanting to spoil too much. Be warned that the cutscenes have some nasty words in them though.
You start off at the doorway of a large building, with a sniper out for your head. You need to collect keycards, and the only way is up, and the only staircase available is guarded by few, yet quite dangerous enemies. The first half on its own is linear and gets progressively harder the higher you climb.
The second half opens up a bit, allowing you to traverse between different parts of the building. Don't forget about the sniper though!
I found myself darting left and right, up and down, in and out of vents as I picked off enemies one by one and grabbed weapons. Once you kill all the undead and grab their keycards, you’re free to head back down to where you started.
I liked this map’s complexity, and its difficulty felt nicely balanced, although a little unfair at times, like when a vent you’re required to use exits into a lit room when the sniper’s still on you. Still, I enjoyed this map a lot.
Sorry for being late with this week's MOTW as well as skipping the previous one. Life happened, you know? But now the coast’s clear and we’re ready to roll again! Consistently, at that.
This week's map is "famine" by EPM.
This map stands out from all the other contenders by its volume and amount of enemies, as well as this classy blocky design, familiar within the levels from the Zombie Kingz campaign.
Due to a large amount of enemies, you can't just storm in guns blazing (although, who knows, maybe you can) and instead you have to come up with a clever plan, flanking and taking enemies out one by one, while avoiding traps the building's riddled with. Granted, this level has a large amount of entry points to choose from.
The premise itself is rather simple - no flashy cutscenes or anything outside of a normal mapmaker's limits. It’s just you, a gun, and a building full of enemies to kill and drugs to burn.
While not without flaws, I find the level to be promising for a first map, and very much look forward to EPM’s future work.
Personally, I found that this level’s decoration and good balance of difficulty stood out from all the others. Even with just the revolver, it’s not too difficult, yet isn’t a pushover by any means, and there are just enough weapons scattered about that you won’t run out of unless you’re careless. There is one tricky part on the roof, but it's rather easy to figure out how to clear it.
As is tradition in SockPuppet’s levels, there are a few easter eggs hiding out of sight. While not too difficult to find, they’re still fun to search around for.
...and just to remind anyone who missed it, we have a Discord server!
Hop in for memes and game discussion!
https://discord.gg/3Z9YPnn
Map Of The Week (29 January, 2018)
Hey everyone!
This week’s Map of the Week is “Punch Club” by Nintee.
The first section of the map has you hunting down keycards to get access to a vent leading to the titular Punch Club, located somewhere underground.
The level is filled with nice little details and overall looks great aesthetically. I particularly like the crane that’s moving the cargo container.
The level is pretty complex, filled with many pipes and stairways to flank enemies with. There are many different ways to clear the first stage, so feel free to experiment and find the best route!
Most importantly though, stay on your toes and don't let your guard down.
If you’re feeling confident, there’s an optional challenge to complete the first section without using any weapons. Good luck with that!
There's also an inaccessible Auto Grenade Launcher, placed simply to annoy you.
...or is it accessible after all?
The Club itself is more of a linear gauntlet, fighting your way through undead on your way to retrieve information on your target’s whereabouts. Don't forget to stay on your toes though.
While this level can be enjoyed in and of itself, it’s part of a larger campaign that tells its own story – the Last Stand collection. If you want to understand what’s going on, I’d advise that you play the rest of the levels. Even if you don’t care about the lore, you should still play them. The series has been running for a long time now and personally I enjoyed every single one of its levels!
Map Of The Week (22 January, 2018) + A Discord Server!
Hey everyone!
This week’s Map of the Week goes for the third time in a row to SockPuppet with his map “A Wise Use of Time”.
In contrast with his last map, SockPuppet’s taken a simple mechanic, the timer, and used it to make a short but challenging map, where you have just 53 seconds to clear a building of enemies. Fortunately, there’s an 8 second headstart before the timer starts counting down, allowing the player to prepare before jumping in (literally).
There’s a large variety of enemies on this map – the building’s occupants feature all four factions, all out for your head. The short time you’ve got to complete the map means you need to strategize quickly and carefully – the timer’s constant march towards failure really builds up the pressure, and yet it’s long enough that the level isn’t impossible at all. Don’t let your guard down after you’ve beaten the clock, though. There’s backup. Lots of backup.
This map also features 3 easter eggs, including a spy who’ll be served right, a “cheaty” way through the map and a totem that'll stop the timer if you burn it. That's what they're supposed to do, right?
I’m also happy to announce that we now have a semi-official Discord server to gather deadbolt players in one place, moderated by yours truly & his buds.
We’re planning on enhancing the server and will probably even allow memes at some point, so hop in!
https://discord.gg/3Z9YPnn
Map Of The Week (15 January, 2018)
The flames roar to life.
This week we’ve seen a lot of great levels rolling in and I'm happy to see that, but there’s one that stands out the most among all of them.
This week’s map is once again one by SockPuppet, who you’ll recognise from last week, but this new map is truly a cut above his last one. His new map is called "Rolling (to the) ‘Land’".
This map seems like a simple newbish map at first glance – there’s a huge wall of weapons at the top of the map, and only three enemies present. You grab your weapon of choice, kill the three of them, then proceed to the exit. Then you’re back where you started, except there’s one more zombie.
Gradually, the level gets more and more complex as you proceed further down the rabbit hole. It remains well-balanced, however. With the number of weapons you’re given, there’s an astounding amount of variety in the tactical decisions you can make – something that this game is all about.
Overall, the level takes a truly unique concept and works with it wonderfully – it’s unlike any other level I’ve seen before, perhaps the best one I’ve ever played. It blew my mind and will surely blow yours.
Hey everyone!
There haven’t been quite so many maps as last week, but hey, we've just started, I'm sure there will be more in the long run.
This week’s map of interest is SockPuppet’s remake of “Puff”!
Much like the maps from the "Hardcore" series that have been previously highlighted, this map aims to amp up the challenge of one of the original campaign missions.
Despite not differentiating much from the original Puff level in terms of aesthetics, it’s certainly much more challenging than its official counterpart. Ammo conservation is key here.
The map takes use of the Trigger system, which I've rarely seen in use in custom levels.
The most notable and challenging difference this map has is that there’s backup. Lots and lots of backup.
Luckily, this map’s backup is divided into two waves, which either arrive separately or all at once depending on your actions, adding a unique element of strategy to the level. The level also offers a fair amount of vents and even windows at the top floor with a ladder below one of them, allowing for a lot of potential for flanking enemies and getting the drop on them. Experiment and find out the perfect strategy!
To get the map, just hit the Subscribe button on the map page - it will automatically be downloaded and will be playable in the "Load Custom" portion of the main menu.
Map Of The Week (December 31, 2017) & Happy New Year!
Hey everyone!
As the year comes to an end, we decided to kick off 2018 with a new and (hopefully) improved Map of the Week! Yes, it’s been a long time coming.
This week’s map is Giraki’s "House of Kingz"!
The map seems simple at the outset – a fairly small map, with only zombies to kill. However, as you play you’ll find that Shamblers will surprise you, as a given head isn’t necessarily linked to the body you think it is.
Personally I found the map had a similar vibe to some of the official Zombie Kingz levels, and it was fun to develop different strategies to beat it.
Be sure not to get caught out by the backup on the way out!
Play it now!
With the reintroduction of Map of the Week, we aim to usher in a new era for the DEADBOLT community. We’d like to ask you for feedback on this. Would you prefer to have multiple maps chosen each week, or just the one? Any community events you’d like to suggest? Post a comment below, we’d love to hear from you!
And, of course, happy Christmas & New Year! Even the Reaper is taking his time off, so be sure to do that as well! (Artwork by Nintee)
