I'm truly fond of Doom, since its original release a number of years ago to this date (03/98), despite the brand new, all bells- and-whistles 3D games like Duke Nukem, Quake, Quake II, Heretic, Hexen, Hexen II, Rise of The Triad, Dark Forces, Tomb Raider, Exhumed, Shadow Warrior, Blood, etc, etc, etc.
After playing hundreds (literally) of the very best Doom/Doom II levels, I decided to try my hand at writing my own, and here you have it: this original Doom (not Doom II) level is the result. Main features:
- VERY large level, guaranteed to be one of the largest Doom levels you'll ever find. More than 400k for a single level, WITHOUT using any gimmick extras.
- intended to be fun, not extremely difficult. This is no "Plutonia Experiment" only suitable for some Doom Gods. Try and find the correct skill level for you, there's one for sure.
- optimized for speed: it includes a built-in REJECT resource with a 94% efficiency, for the fastest possible gameplay.
- absolutely NO bugs: no HOM's, Medusa effects, tutti-frutti, tall walls, nothing. It's been thoroughly tested and it's bug-free. Besides, despite its size, you CAN save the game at any moment, it will not overflow the savegame buffer, as it happens with other large levels.
- truly non-linear geometrically: there are many distinct, interconnected paths through the level.
- truly non-linear strategically: there are several different ways to kill most of the big bosses.
- extreme attention paid to detail: all textures aligned, lighting, illumination effects, aesthetically pleasing architecture and color combinations, etc
- single player, cooperative (4 starts) and deathmatch (4 starts), plus all difficulty levels implemented: from a difficulty ratio of 0.605 at "I'm too young to die" (skill 1) to 1.476 at "Ultra-violence" (skill 4)
- hundreds of enemies (more than 220) of all types for you to defeat, without being a continuous, brainless massacre: you'll have to stop and think a little from time to time.
- all weapons included, all items, all power-ups, all keys are used and necessary to exit.
- no dead-ends, all secret doors marked somehow, no obscure puzzles to ruin the fun, but expect pits, traps and some *very* nasty ambushes.
- a complete test of your Doom abilities: you'll need speed, accuracy, reflexes, smarts, and at some places, a lot of balance, patience, and luck.
- it *doesn't* include anything not found in the original Doom: new sounds, textures, dehack patches, special effects, etc. It tries to excel by its architecture, aesthetics, theme, and playability alone, using just original Doom elements, like >id< did in the first place.
- and finally, it's a theme level. The theme is as follows:
"At my early stages of Doom-playing, the most feared enemy was the Cyberdemon. I always found it very difficult to deal with it, and it took me quite a lot of time to defeat the first one.
Then I began to think in how many possible ways could a Cyberdemon be killed. Of course, you could always kill it by brute force, in the open (say with a BFG-9000 or so), but after chewing it a while, I discovered several other interesting ways ..."
That's the theme of this level. You'll enter the Cyberdemon's Realm. It's a huge, magnificent fortress, heavily guarded by hundreds of lesser monsters, where the Cyberdemon Kings rule. Your mission is to exterminate every one of them, and exit the fortress alive.
You'll have to decide your strategy individually for each of the Cyberdemon Kings. Some you could try to kill using a powerful weapon. Some you could lead to a devious trap. Some you could turn their subdit monsters against them. Some you could fire at from a suitable shelter ...
As you'll see, there is *more than one way* to kill them. It's up to you to decide how, and make the necessary arrangements. And be careful with your ammo. At the higher difficulty levels, you will have to think before shooting, or else risk being defenceless in the Realm ... "
Credits:
Base:
New level from scratch
Build time:
Editor(s) used:
DoomCAD 4.2 for designing the level BSP 12x for building the node tree RMB 3.0 for building the REJECT resource WADWHAT 1.1 for the level's info (see ALBILLO.NFO)
Bugs:
none at all, if run with Ultimate Doom 1.9 or Doom 1.9. Earlier versions may have trouble with the number of visplanes at some complex rooms.
