///*** VIOLETSHIFT - DEVELOPER COMMENTARY ***\\\

For the record, the following MIDIs were bespoke for this project:
"Flourescent Promises" - Keagan Dunn
"Driven Here, To Unknown" - Keagan Dunn
"Shine of the North Star" - Keagan Dunn
"A Dying Red Giant" - Keagan Dunn
"Harrowed but Conceited" - Keagan Dunn


"Epiphanies of the Lonely" and "Of What She Remembers" were made for other 
projects, and chosen to be used by Rivi.

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// PROJECT HISTORY \\

The origins of Violetshift date back to early summer of 2021. Rivi and I had met in the Hellforge discord server, and another friend of ours wanted to make a set with us that used the assets of Stardate 20x7. He contacted Ribbiks for permission, who accepted, with a few texture exceptions. 
"Liftoff" and "Abridged Connection" were made, but shortly after, our friend disappeared without a trace - at least for a while. As a result, the project laid dormant.

A year later (June 2022), Rivi teased some screenshots of an improved version of "Liftoff". He approached me with the idea of taking the project into our own hands, making a two-person collaboration. That was where development of Violetshift began.

We have to give credit to many friends for the love and support over the years, mainly from the Hellforge discord server.

- Keagan Dunn



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MAP01: Liftoff
AUTHOR: Rivi the Warlock
MUSIC: "Lab Rat" from Jazz Jackrabbit 2 - Alexander Brandon
DIFFICULTY: 1/6
DESCRIPTION: You know the saying that you should make the first map last? Yeah we blatantly ignored that. The map was originally made in the summer of 2021, but life got in the way and the project fell apart. When me and Dunn started on Violetshift I knew from the start I wanted to include this map. There was some retexturing done but it's mostly the same as it was in 2021. A portion of the map was reused for a deathmatch map for Freon DM. Texturing in this map is heavily inspired by the space maps in JPCP.



MAP02: Cauterized
AUTHOR: Keagan Dunn
MUSIC: "Shells" - James Paddock
DIFFICULTY: 2/6
DESCRIPTION: This map took way too long to come to fruition - possibly due to lack of creativity, changing up my mapping procedure, and anxiety about how I was going to follow Rivi's amazing MAP01, with this being my first in the set. Progress was a crawl for most of MAP02's development, but once I started planning out the player path and putting the setpieces together, everything started coming together. I was on a roll. That was where I knew this map had taught me two things. 

The first one - unlike most mappers (it seems) I thrive off of gameplay. I enjoy thing placement more than anything else in mapping, and I do everything at once (detail, layout, things, progression, etc). Focusing on gameplay and experimenting around with setpieces is something I wish my fellow Doomer friends did more, instead of always leaving it for last. By doing so, they probably wouldn't hate thing placement as much.

The second thing - I need to play more Doom. I feel like I brute-forced through this one, desperately sipping up the remainder of my creative juices from the bottom of the cup. Maybe I should be playing something instead of writing this. 
Yeah...I'll go do that.


MAP03: Trinizone
AUTHOR: Rivi the Warlock
MUSIC: "Go Down" from Unreal Tournament 1999 - Alexander Brandon
DIFFICULTY: 3/6
DESCRIPTION: One of two maps made in the summer of 2022. For the duration of the summer I was doing a summer semester for my university at a partner school in Germany. During that period I had the quarantine for COVID-19, where I started making three maps over the quarantine period (Trinizone, Karst, and the Hordamex map Feuermeer). I intentionally wanted this to be a short map, around 5 minutes if you know what you're doing. Probably the most "spacey" of my maps. Name was inspired by the Magic the Gathering card Trinisphere.



MAP04: Abridged Connection
AUTHOR: Keagan Dunn
MUSIC: "Postmodern Muck" - James Paddock
DIFFICULTY: 2/6
DESCRIPTION: This one was made in summer 2021, during the phase of the original idea. At that time, I had only been mapping for almost a year, and my knowledge in challenge-mapping was limited. The original version was much harder and VERY stingy on ammo. So much so that most of the fights were one-strategy-only or relied on quite a bit on luck.
Since then, I have learned a lot about making challenging maps that were still fun and fair. And to avoid using ammo starvation as a means of difficulty. No, seriously, it sucks absolute dick. So when I came back to this thing a year later, I went ahead and nerfed it, along with fixing up some of the janky details around the buildings. It's always fun to come back to old material and apply your newfound skills to it.



MAP05: Intermission I - Promises
AUTHOR: Keagan Dunn
MUSIC: "Flourescent Promises" - Keagan Dunn
DIFFICULTY: 0/6
DESCRIPTION:
N/A



MAP06: Karst
AUTHOR: Rivi the Warlock
MUSIC: "Of What She Remembers" - Keagan Dunn
DIFFICULTY: 4/6
DESCRIPTION: Working title "Schloss." The second of two maps made in the summer of 2022. It was inspired by real life architecture in Braunschweig, DE, though the final map looks nothing like the inspiration other than being made of bricks and being vaguely a castle. The map is very dense, which came from trying to cram the map's design under a half-used page of notes instead of wasting a whole piece of paper.




MAP07: Bleeding Green
AUTHOR: Keagan Dunn
MUSIC: "On the Next Day" - Kevin Martins (Velvetic)
DIFFICULTY: 3/6
DESCRIPTION:
Connected directly with "Karst", this map really helped me experiment more with mixing traditional Doom gameplay (incidental combat) with difficult/memorable setpieces, using little stings around the map to keep the player engaged at all times. This is also one of the rare occasions where I tried to block out a map before taking the plunge. I'm very happy with how the map flows, even if it doesn't make much logical sense. (A cave system on the top floor of a castle???)

Secrets are sparse but they turned out really well. The secret fight is hard, especially if you try it early on, but rewards with early weapons + extra ammo. One of the other secrets is the best thing ever.

On the setpiece side of things, however, this was where I began to realize my lack of output on more esoteric and memorable setpieces, similar to ones from Fractured Worlds or SWTW. I want to say the fights in this map will blend together in the player's head, but that's okay - because you might notice that this map is a step easier than the previous ones. 

The difficulty drop is intentional, similar in spirit to Sunlust's last third. Constant difficulty curves, especially in megaWADs, tend to wear players out much faster.



MAP08: Quadrille
AUTHOR: Keagan Dunn
MUSIC: "Sombre Visions" - Tristan Clark
DIFFICULTY: 4/6
DESCRIPTION:
I will make no bones about it - this was my burnout map. The last one made for the set, finished in a hastily manner shortly after Liminally Adrift. This was started around spring 2022, when I realized that a guest map wasn't going to happen and I only had one map in the second episode. This was my opportunity to go nuts with light sequences, since I haven't been using them nearly enough. Other than that, there's really nothing else that's special about this one. Combat and detail could be way better, but I had left this map for a long time trying to work on Liminally Adrift, then came back in late May and hauled ass to get this one done. It's one of those things where you have a decent concept, but not enough motivation left to execute it well.

I think Rivi and I will be very relieved when Violetshift is released. Because holy shit on a shingle, I think we're tired of this. lmao



MAP09: Entering Eternal Fire
AUTHOR: Rivi the Warlock
MUSIC: "Incan-Tations" - James Paddock
DIFFICULTY: 4/6
DESCRIPTION:
Made autumn 2022. At this point I was very sick of 'space' maps, so I wanted to switch gears from the 'outer' part of outerspace and rather do the interior of some terrestial object. A more slaughtery style of map than what I usually do, but I think it turned out quite well. Probably my favorite map visually and gameplay wise. Map's name comes from a Bathory song. (https://youtu.be/EOWxUYEl-54)



MAP10: Intermission II - Tempest
AUTHOR: Keagan Dunn
MUSIC: "Flourescent Promises" - Keagan Dunn
DIFFICULTY: 0/6
DESCRIPTION:
N/A



MAP11: Amethyst's Wasteland
AUTHOR: Keagan Dunn
MUSIC: "Lethargic Eyes" - Kevin Martins (Velvetic), remixed by Keagan Dunn
DIFFICULTY: 5/6
DESCRIPTION:
The first in the episode of three magnum opuses, made in summer 2022. This is actually the first map I made for this project (in its new phase), inspired by the likes of Eastern Sun from sd20x7 and my desire to create a more open-ended layout with incidental combat and a plethora of secrets. Noting my secrets in previous works were sparse and cryptic as hell, I opted for easy secrets that can be found through simply paying attention to your environment or finding and completing an optional setpiece.

The map contains some of my most difficult setpieces yet, barring the stupid joke experiments that were Detrimental and panicstation.pk3. Also contains probably the most complex voodoo doll setup I will ever make - a two-part Simon Says game, located to the south. For the sake of avoiding any breaking, take the game slow! I don't want to touch it again...

This map, along with "Bleeding Green", really helped me experiment more with mixing traditional Doom gameplay (incidental combat) with difficult/memorable setpieces, using little traps and stings placed around the level to keep the player engaged at all times. Overall I'm proud of this one, and expecting it to be a standout.



MAP12: Der Edelsteinweg
AUTHOR: Rivi the Warlock
MUSIC: "Epiphanies of the Lonely" - Keagan Dunn
DIFFICULTY: 5/6
DESCRIPTION:
Working title "Heimweg." Started autumn 2022, finished over my holiday break from University. My minor is in German so I like using their funny words. All jokes aside this was meant to be my personal 'magnum opus' style map. For me this is quite a long map, as I prefer maps that range from 5 - 15 minutes from the standpoint of both a player and a designer. The map is intentionally somewhat callous with tough fights and platforming. The secret platforming has a consistent line up for the SR50, I wouldn't put it in otherwise. I think the map struggles just a little from me tending not to make larger maps, and growing tired of it as a result. I think it turned out well despite this.




MAP13: Liminally Adrift
AUTHOR: Rivi the Warlock & Keagan Dunn
MUSIC: "Driven Here, To Unknown" - Keagan Dunn
DIFFICULTY: 6/6
DESCRIPTION:
[KD]
(MARCH 2023)
Well, here we are. The final map that is, appropriately, made last. Generally, I was inspired by Magnolia MAP03. We made the decision to work on the final map together, through bouncing it back and forth to each other. That way, it would kinda give off the same energy Magnolia's final map has - a dark, atmospheric collage of ideas that the player may get lost in.

However, the map lay dormant with the starting room for a while, and once we both got back on our feet in February 2023, I started to realize how much of a big undertaking this would be. Accounting for the fact that Rivi was creatively burnt out and busy with college, I would likely need to take this and the finalization of Violetshift into my own hands.

(MAY 21, 2023)
Well, jesus. I've just aggressively closed UDB - this map is finally in a finished state, with the layout finalized and all the setpieces added.  Rivi said he'll help out on detailing a bit more. Plenty of balancing and testing to be done with this one, considering its difficulty. Something I've learned from skilled players is that if I can beat a fight in one or two tries, it's pretty easy for them. Most of the setpieces in this one take me several attempts...so kudos to those who were willing to UV-Max this saveless!

I was planning on making more updates while working on this final map, but ehh. I've been doing nothing but busting my ass on this one for the past two months, and ESPECIALLY these past three weeks. It's been nothing but **M A P**, and it will actually remain so because I still have "Quadrille" to work on. I've wanted to establish a hard deadline of June 10, my 3rd anniversary of playing Doom, but if I want that to happen, I will likely have to scrap the idea of a guest map. I've been meaning to reach out to people, but it's far too late now. We'll see what happens.



MAP32: Purple Drain
AUTHOR: Rivi the Warlock
DIFFICULTY: 4/6
A scrapped secret map by Rivi, from the original phase of the project, made in June 2021.




JUNE 10, 2023.
KEAGAN

I've just released Violetshift, just past the stroke of midnight into June 10, MDT time. I'll be updating the WAD with this new message when I'm finished.
I don't know how to start writing this, other than the fact that I've had a lot of thoughts on my mind in the hours leading up to release. To be straightforward, I've fallen into a mental state of crippling self-doubt and self-deprecation following recent playtesting sessions and constant bugfixing.
Part of it is because...thinking about it, this mapset has been a pain in the ass for me, creatively. MAP02, MAP07, MAP08, and MAP13 all had the same development process - I try drawing a few rooms, get frustrated and don't touch the map for a while (or only move a few linedefs at a time), then at some point I start implementing the combat and suddenly I'm on a roll, and the map is done in decent time.

But the combat itself - eh...sometimes I feel like I haven't been giving as much thought into setpieces as I've always wanted and always did before. It's to the point where I keep forgetting the most ridiculous and obvious things, such as a missing line action entirely or failing to see a very obvious cheese strat to a fight.

My vision for the Doom maps I create is to have people think laterally. Turn off their autopilot and pay attention. Try to figure out the best way through a setpiece and place their targets well. In a sheer twist of irony, I've started autopiloting as well, both in making my own maps and playing them. There's probably been more bugs in the first drafts of the Violetshift maps than in anything else I've ever made (disregarding my earliest sets).

In another set I released this year, Disillusion Ch. 1, I completely disregarded some of the most obvious exploits that my friends found and I had to fix immediately. I bet me from a year ago would NOT have missed that.

When the time comes for other people to play my stuff, I feel...weird. Embarrassed if not frustrated with myself when those kinds of problems arise. I make these to provide an experience to the player - and when my friends do me a favor and help test it, they play those buggy beta builds which, when in such a state, often can detract from the experience. The maps become more of an embarrassment to me. Especially when they are difficult, and in every death, I can feel my tester's frustration rising, and I recoil in guilt...and silence.

And with me autopiloting through my own maps and not paying as much attention to bugs, I really feel like I've stooped down creative-wise and skill-wise in the past year or so. 

Another general note: I've made very few maps that I am not proud of. I was pretty confident in Violetshift and thought we had made something cool (which, no lie, we did) - but I never thought that a two-person collaboration project we spent a year on would manifest more of those for me. MAP08 was a burnout map, made in a desperate attempt to finish the project and have more than one Dunn map in the second episode.

So I guess I need a change in gears. A change in style. But with me having developed this love of challenge from games in the past, I don't know if I can. We'll see. 

For now, I just have to get through the attention and bugfinding that Violetshift will be having very soon.

Thank you for reading this. I hope you understand.