Adam blathers about wads (now playing: Mapgame)

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Capellan
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The megawad club has kind of got me in the habit of mentally composing short comments about the levels I play. I need somewhere to put those comments. Thus: this thread.

These are not proper "reviews". I'll leave that sort of thing to more conscientious folk like kmxexii. They're also just my opinions, so it's totally fine if you have a different opinion (and there will be times you do; I don't like Shaman's Device, after all). Feel free to post your own views, especially if they are different to mine. I find that sort of conversation interesting.

All wads will be played HMP, with continuous play if a multi-level wad, and frequent use of save and reload.

There will be spoilers, should that matter to you.

Something else I should mention, so people don't wonder why I never talk about it, is that I play with music off.

List of wads
Community Chest (starts in this very post)
Scythe (starts: here)
Mapgame (starts: here)

Community Chest
I figured I'd give this a go since (1) the only CC I've played was the latest, and (2) anything that spawned three sequels ought to be worth a look, right?

Map01: Pistol Panic
... and this is really not what I expected out of the first level. It's a lot larger than a typical map01, uses all three keys, is festooned with voodoo dolls for some inexplicable reason, and has a somewhat experimental feel to its gameplay.

Full disclosure: I'm not generally a fan of experimental gameplay in Doom levels. I play Doom to shoot monsters, not to solve puzzles, engage in first person platforming, etc. So this level starts out with a black mark from me. And gets another one for the voodoo dolls, come to think of it. I don't like gimmicks.

It's also a worrying choice for a first level, IMO. I think map01 ought to showcase what your Doom project is going to be about. Admittedly, that can be a hard thing to do with a community pack, but if you have a megawad that's full of slaughter maps, for instance, then I recommend you make your map01 also a slaughter map (an easier than average one, yes, but a slaughter map nonetheless). So either this experimental feel is a common theme to the levels of the set (in which case I will be less than thrilled about a lot of them), or it's not a good choice as map01 because it doesn't give a proper feel for the style of wad you've made.

Anyway, enough tangential WAD theory. On with the level, which is at least honestly named. Because this level is all about the pistol. For room after room after room. Pistol whipping imps. Pistol whipping troopers. Pistol whipping an arachnotron and a mancubus. Oy vey.

It's not like the manc or 'tron are tough fights, you understand. They're easy fights, thanks to plenty of cover and the monsters being restricted in movement. They're also really dull fights, because plinking away with the pistol is time-consuming and tedious. With the 'tron, you might be able to use a crusher to kill it, but I was playing blind and didn't know said crusher was an option. I did use the crusher on the imp ambush that followed. It was almost like a moment of fun!

The other fun part of the level was chainsawing a caco. Which is damning with faint praise if ever I saw it. I used the saw because it would be quicker than using the pistol and - thanks to the caco's high pain chance - relatively safe to do.

Anyway, I plinketty-plinked my way through the monsters on the map, found all the secrets, finally got a shotgun, and headed to the exit.

There's nothing very interesting in this, gameplay wise, nor is the architecture especially memorable. There's a secret which feels like a bit of a nod to the iwad map01, and several elements that recall the original map02. Those are nice touches, but they don't save the level from the tedium that is actually playing it. The pistol focus forces the enemies to either be weak, or nerfed in some way, and that makes for dull fights. Put more interesting weapons in this, and tune up the resistance, and it might have been fun.

Last edited by Capellan on 04-26-13 at 23:04

03-04-13 21:32 #

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kmxexii
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Hey, cool to see you take off on your own! Should be interesting reading.

03-04-13 23:21 #

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Demon of the Well
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Hmm, 'Pistol Panic', I guess there's not really much to say other than that I agree with you....it's an awkwardly-paced and clunky affair with a lot of theoretically interesting ideas that don't pan out very clearly, like the thing with the voodoo dolls....I assume they're there in a sort of 'innocent bystander' capacity, to underline the discrepancy between the pistol's perfect accuracy when fired as a semi-auto and its rather spotty mid-distance accuracy when you just hold the trigger down....but it's hard to say just what The Ultimate DooMer's thought process was, there.

It may be worth mentioning that I personally have no qualms (at least on a fundamental level) with maps that force you to make due with just a pistol for a time, and I'm open to the possibility of a fun/interesting pistol-only map. It would have to be stylistically quite different from this one, though. This one is basically some straightforward light/easy combat that turns into a sort of quasi-puzzle map. For a pistolmap to be more engaging, I can sort of dimly surmise that it might need to be small and fairly cramped, and sparse on ammo, armor and health-aids, to the point where relatively small numbers of low-tier monsters could be some kind of legitimate threat....imagine a scenario where a group of four or five imps seem dangerous or a couple of demons seem almost like a miniboss, I don't know.

03-05-13 03:51 #

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dobugabumaru
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I'm interested in seeing your thoughts on the rest of CC1. It's pretty polarizing and there are a host of levels that are exceptionally unforgiving, but at least the gameplay is mostly varied.

03-05-13 06:21 #

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Capellan
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Demon of the Well said:
I'm open to the possibility of a fun/interesting pistol-only map.

You could probably make it work for a short map; especially if barrels were used more as possible weapons and less as obstructions and inconveniences (which they tended to be in this). You'd probably want to keep it fairly short, though.

Map02: Nullth Precint
Now this is more like it. But then, it's a Thomas van der Velden level.

I liked the opening, where you clamber onto the various items strewn about, get onto the roof of the station, and enter from there. Nice bit of unusual progression, without being too gimmicky: the climb is pretty obvious, and set up so that its easy to make. No twitch-perfect pole-running or any such nonsense here.

Once inside the base, the level progresses smoothly. You mostly deal with lower echelon riff raff (surprising few imps, though). There are a trio of Mancs in the level, but - with one exception - they're in locations where you have a strong tactical advantage. This makes them more speed bumps than anything else, though since I have the chaingun now, they're much less tiresome than the one in map01.

There are also a few cacos, which I don't thinkare that well used. They'd have been better in a space where their flying abilities actually had an impact. HKs might have been a better call.

Favourite fight was the HK and demons in the north-eastern section. Though I have to admit, I think two HKs would have been even more fun.

The SSG was maybe overkill in this level (or should perhaps have been a secret). It made most of the encounters pretty trivial after I got it.

Architecture was good; the furniture was pretty well done, in particular. It's easy for such stuff to look silly or be annoyingly obstructive. TV did a good job of avoiding both pitfalls. I also liked the way he set up glimpses into future parts of the map. Solid stuff.

I wish that hitting the targets in the shooting gallery had opened a secret, though. That would have been a nice touch.

03-05-13 07:13 #

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Processingcontrol
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I actually like Map01, but it's still pretty interesting reading your thoughts. While there are a handful of crap maps, most cc's levels are pretty fun. Highlights to me are Map01, Map02, Map12, Map13, Map20, Map21, Map23, Map26, & Map29. Map21's my favorite of the bunch, but knowing your design preferences, I wouldn't be surprised it you hate it. :)

I'm eagerly waiting to see if you'll manage to get through the horrors of Map06... ;)

Last edited by Processingcontrol on 03-05-13 at 23:32

03-05-13 23:23 #

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Capellan
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I definitely expect people to have different opinions than me. I have pretty specific likes and dislikes in Doom :)

Map03: Ground Floor
This is a solid little startan and metal base level. I suspect it would be a bit crowded in co-op, due to the many narrow sections, but it looks good and is pretty fun to play in solo mode. If it wasn't for the fact that Pistol Panic had to be map01, to ensure you only had the pistol, this would be my pick to start the set ... at least based on the three maps so far. It definitely should have come before map02, as it uses fewer weapons and has lower powered enemies overall.

Its current location has one major impact on continuous play vs pistol start. There is no SSG on this map, whereas there was one on map02. Without the SSG, I imagine this is a bit more challenging than it was for me. I think I took damage once in the whole level.

This map felt pretty short. I honestly don't think it needed two key doors, given its length. You could just have the yellow key where the red key is, remove the red door, and have functionally the same level. Or you could leave the red key as it, but actually put a decent amount of content behind the red door. This would have the added benefit of extending the level ... I know I would have liked a few more minutes of play from it.

Last edited by Capellan on 04-23-13 at 22:45

03-06-13 07:51 #

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Capellan
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Map04: The Outer Base
I liked the start of this, with not one but two rooms where it seems like monster closets are likely to burst open, but nothing happens. It created a nice little tension.

Then I headed outside and immediately scowled at the use of a texture that doesn't vertically tile very well for walls of more than 128 height. Poor choice, that.

It's a very minor complaint, however, and in all honesty the main complaint I could really level at the map is its texture use: specifically, its unremiiting brownness. It creates a cohesive look, it's true, but also a rather drab one.

Other than that, things are almost all good. The fights are quite enjoyable, from the very low key beginnings of a couple of troopers at a time, to the three way (obviously flagged) ambush at the green armor, to the horde of monsters that pour out when you grab the red key.

That horde of monsters does have its problems, though. Its a fun fight, with a good selection of enemies, but it's entirely too easy to avoid. Even without any prior warning (just my tingling doom senses), I could easily have exited the area without suffering any damage, slipped through the red door, and been safe from any further attack from the horde.

I stayed and killed them, because it was fun, but the teleports should have been set up to be quicker, and the monsters placed in a way to better block an escape run. I would suggest at least two more teleporters, each near the exit, and make sure a manc comes out there for extra-wide barrier. Perhaps compensate for the faster monster arrivals and generally more frantic tone that would set by having an area open up with some ammo and health.

Once the red key horde is done, its a pretty easy run to the exit, with nothing much likely to challenge. I did like the final room, though, with the cacos rising up on each side.

03-07-13 07:44 #

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Capellan
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Map05: Forgotten Prison

The map starts with some excitement, as imps and demons pour at you. Alas, this is pretty much the last blood-pumping moment the map has to offer you.

The problem here is that the level's gameplay is pretty much "enter room or walk around corner, kill monsters". The enemies are almost always there, right in front of you, and in most cases on the same basic plane as you. You're never really pressed by cross-fires, or subject to wandering critters suddenly stumbling upon you. Instead, the hellspawn line up neatly to be shotgunned or chaingunned to death.

Even the one time teleport trap brings the monsters through in a small area directly in front of you, and offers you plenty of cover and ammo to engage them.

Other than the tepid action, there's nothing too serious to complain about, with the level. I wasn't a fan of the double nukage switch, but there was lots of health to make that not matter much. It's also a bit bright, and too uniformly lit, and the texture choice is a bit too homogenous for my tastes, but again these are fairly minor issues. Pump up the action a few notches, and I doubt I would have noticed them.

03-08-13 07:46 #

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Capellan
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Processingcontrol said:
I'm eagerly waiting to see if you'll manage to get through the horrors of Map06... ;)

I IDCLIP'd to get the yellow key. Because screw that nonsense. Other than that, I played it legitimately. Every awful, awful moment of it.

I see from the Doom wiki that the author is dead. Which is sad, but I'm not going to sugarcoat it: this map sucks.

Map06: Goin' Down
The title presumably refers to the quality of level design, because this is dreadful. 1994 bullshit levels of dreadful, just with technical knowledge of Doom editing attached.

So we start with four doors, each behind a liquid of some kind. Even the "water" sector is damaging. Yay. Off to a good start.

Beyond the doors we find dark corridors filled with monsters you can barely see. Said corridors are all flat and featureless. We also get introduced to the author's favorite thing: lines that briefly open a door somewhere else. At this stage, they're not too bad, because there's only a T-junction to work with, so the door that opened must be down the other side. They're going to get worse as we move on, however.

Eventually, all this blandness leads to getting the red key. And it's about now that the level goes from bad to "shout abuse at the screen".

First, we have the steep staircase with the mass of imps at the bottom. Imps you can'r actually see properly, if you're not using mouselook. FUN~! Beyond them, we have a room full of sergeants on one side and revs on the other. There's some cover and some health, so you can slowly wear 'em down, but it's not what you'd call a fun encounter. Both groups of enemies are stuck on landings, so you can pop out, shoot 'em a bit, and go back in cover.

Once they're dead, and you've worked out that the only features in the room are either (1) inert or (2) open short-term doors you can sprint to, to get the RL and rockets, you realise that there's no obvious way forward. Fortunately, if you hump every featureless wall in the room, you'll eventually find a teleporter that lets you proceed. That's just crap design. Frankly, this level should never have been allowed into the wad with that there ... and things aren't going to get better.

You see, there is the tiniest of automap hints there might be something to open in that wall. Of course, there's a similar hint for another part of the room where you can't open a door from this side, so ...

Anyway. Onwards and downwards!

The teleport takes you up onto the revenant balcony and OMFG it's another unmarked goddamn door. Several of them, in fact, because anything that's FUN~! is worth repeating, right? There's also the blue key, tucked in what is not marked as a secret (but then none of the unmarked doors are either), but is a silver door in a silver wall - only the fact that the texture isn't pegged gives a sign that this (pretty vital) item is present.

You now spill into a big underground cave, with a walkway over it and the yellow door on the other side. The yellow key is on a raised platform, and the only way to get to it - barring maaaaaaybe some strafe-running trick - is letting the AV in the room throw you there. So you're a bit out of luck if - like me - your initial response to the AV is to, oh, kill it.

After looking for a switch all over the room, I checked Doombuilder to confirm there was no way to lower the key or teleport to it, so I IDCLIP'd up there to grab the key, and headed through the yellow door.

And beyond it I found more dull, largely featureless corridors, dark rooms where you could barely see (including rhe inevitable spectre ambush in one of them), more necessary but goddamn unmarked doors, and lots of chances to flick a switch and sprint for another door. The only good thing I can say about any of it is that there was a nice big swarm of cacos to kill at one point, and having the blue key made that a lot easier.

But eventually I blasted my way to the exit, hit the switch, saved the game, and came here to vent. Because this was dire.

Edit: Doom wiki says you can reach the northern end of the yellow key balcony by normal running, after "quite a bit of practice". Because doing the same jump over and over is FUN~!

Last edited by Capellan on 03-09-13 at 03:18

03-09-13 00:20 #

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Capellan
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Map07: Boardwalk
This is a fun map. It's not especially great in terms of its looks - it does the job, but nothing more - and the progression is very much that of a game level, rather than feeling like a real place in any way, but it has a good mix of easy slaughter and challenging crossfires to deal with.

Unusually for a map07, this map features neither mancubi nor arachnotrons. I'm personally quite OK with that break from tradition. I like mancs quite a lot as monsters, but it can be nice to have a level not meet your expectations.

The eponymous boardwalk section is definitely the highlight of the map, with monsters on every side, engaging you from different heights and angles. It's also to be honest the only real challenge of the level (at least on HMP continuous) as most of the rest of the opposition is easy SSG fodder. It does, alas, feature long range chaingunners, which can flay you pretty badly if you are unlucky with the RNG. Still, they didn't prove too annoying here.

One odd choice was the placement of a PE in an inescapable cage. It ended up surrounded by lost souls, but none of them could get out. Oh well, I plasma'd them for the heck of it :)

03-09-13 06:51 #

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SFoZ911
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It's intersting to read your thoughts on maps, you have some good points here and there.

I really look forward to see what you're going to say about kaiser's maps, Especially map 26 which is my personal favourite.

Oh and let't not forget map29...

03-09-13 09:24 #

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Capellan
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Map08: The Battery
For the second time in this mapset, we get a nice METAL-themed base level. And for the second time in this mapset, it finishes before I was ready to end. I literally blinked in surprise when the level ended, as I had no idea I'd reached the exit switch. I just expected it to open a door. Mark your exits, people! :-P

Anyway, this is a pretty fun romp. Fairly easy on continuous play, but fun. I liked the way the revenant ambush played out, for instance. The architecture seemed well suited for the fight, offering some cover to lead their rockets onto, but not enough that you could just camp safely and pop in and out.

Design-wise, things are pretty linear. There's generally only one way forward, and sometimes no way back - a couple of sections close a door behind you to stop you simply sprinting away from the fight.

I would have liked this level to be longer, and would have appreciated a few more open areas. The corridor-heavy structure of the map limits the number of enemies you're dealing with at any one time, and it would have been nice to have some big fights with lots of monsters, rather than the piecemeal battles found here.

On the whole, however, an enjoyable level.

03-09-13 23:19 #

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Capellan
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After being diverted with E2 of 2002:ADO for a few days, I managed to squeeze in a level of cchest tonight.

Map09: Flow
This is a competently made map, which means I have to stop and think about why I didn't especially like it. I think it comes down to two factors: the first is the extensive use of dark, earthen tunnels of ~96 width. where I frequently had to check the automap to avoid losing my bearings. The second is the linear, 'gated' nature of the map, with only one route really open at any one time, and new areas being opened by keys as you go.

I mean sure, finding keys to get to new areas is a core Doom gameplay element, but there are a lot of these really linear 'find first key find next key find last key' levels in 2002:ADO, and running into another was probably not the best thing when I am a little over the formula. It likely didn't help that there was a reasonable amount of backtracking in the level.

I'm also glad I played this continuously, as ammo seemed very sparse, even before you factor in the archvile who is pretty much guaranteed to rez two mancubi. Add in that the level only has the SSG and a (secret) RL for weapons, and that's another problem. There are sergeant and chaingunners for their weapons, but in a co-op game the lack of 'proper' weapon drops could well be an issue.

The level does feature a berserk pack, and quite a few spectres you can use it on, so clearly you're expected to make a lot more use of that than I did.

I did qiute like the yellow key room, which I thought was a nicely executed bit of Doom-gymnastics.

03-14-13 09:35 #

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Capellan
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Map10: Termination Center

This is a well-made tech base / industrial level, with solid use of textures, variations in height, and architecture to provide interesting engagements with a variety of monsters.

It is not, however, without flaws. Chief amongst these is the overuse of 'flick a switch here, so you can go somewhere else and flick a switch there'. This gets repeated many more times than it is welcome (at least for my tastes), and led to a fair bit of wandering around, looking for what had changed in the level. There are also some gimmicky progression moments: the door/lift combo for the blue key, and the double platform puzzle for the exit, being the two that most made me roll my eyes. At least there were no teleport puzzles. Teleport puzzles suck.

However, while it is focusing on just giving me monsters to kill and interesting places to kill them, this is a solid level.

03-16-13 03:37 #

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Obsidian
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Heh. I kind of stopped playing this when I got to MAP12. MAP30 is groovy though.

03-16-13 04:36 #

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SteveD
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Capellan said:
Map10: Termination Center

At least there were no teleport puzzles. Teleport puzzles suck.

In my usual self-referential way, I'll note that I put a teleport puzzle in my Elfstomp! map, the only such puzzle I ever did. And to solve it, the player has to cross quite a bit of toxic blood several times. Oh, the larks! ;D But I gotta say, I always thought that was the coolest area of the map. The kicker is that of the 3 teleports, only 2 are necessary, and the other gives you some goodies. Of course, the player doesn't know that first time through. Oh, I love being a jagoff! :D

03-16-13 17:07 #

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Capellan
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Teleport puzzle and unavoidable floor damage? You're really doubling-down on the suck, there!

03-16-13 21:38 #

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SteveD
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Capellan said:
Teleport puzzle and unavoidable floor damage? You're really doubling-down on the suck, there!

Thank you! :) Maybe even tripling down. Get your barf bag ready, because you have to run over toxic blood in a twisty route. But I provided 3 or 4 radsuits, so it wasn't really that bad, unless you made two wrong teleports in a row. No one ever complained. ;D Donatis Tamonis recorded a UV-Max run in 28:52 back during the Upper Pleistocene.

03-16-13 22:54 #

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Capellan
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Map11: Mandrel
This is a nice looking brown and metal base. It has good use of windows and height variations, creating interesting places to do battle. The layout is very linear, but it didn't feel all that confining to play. It did seem to run out of inspiration as you reach the red key room, though, and I wasn't surprised to discover that all there was behind the red door was the exit.

There's only one secret, which - since I spotted it immediately - is pretty easy to find. :)

Gameplay-wise, the start of the level is definitely the most fraught, with lots of monsters incoming and several directions for the threats to target you. Once you've cleared that out, however, the only thing dangerous moments are the chaingunners in dark alcoves, which are pretty much impossible to see, forcing you to rely on injury noises to tell when you're hitting them.

I think a couple of the map's areas could have done with being larger; given more space, they would have been good zones for cacos to come out and challenge you. As is, the level's largely imp and hitscanner territory. Even the few "my trap senses are tingling" moments generally led to fairly underwhelming opposition.

The "a whole lot of individual levels combined in a pack" nature of the CC projects is very obvious in this earliest entry. Difficulty levels and styles are fluctuating quite a lot. I'd definitely expect map11 to be more intense than this level.

03-16-13 23:48 #

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Capellan
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Map12: No Tomorrow
This map comes very close to being really good. It has lots of inventive sequences and fights, and never really stints on either ammo or health in the process. I suspect it is very, very tough from a pistol start though, as I came in with good health and armor and plenty of weapons, and exited with lower numbers across the board (well, except shells - still had 100 of those). There doesn't seem to a chainsaw or a berserk on the map, so you'll have to resort to normal fists if you want to conserve ammo. Of course, finding more than one secret would probably have helped on that front.

I thought the fights were really well judged throughout the level. Tough, varied and memorable, but never cheap. No engine gimmickry for instant barons behind you here: just good old fashioned swarms, even pre-placed, teleporting in, or out of monster closets.

The look of the level was also good, with solid use of textures and lighting, and varied architecture. It had enough detail to be interesting and dynamic to look at, without interfering with combat.

So why is it not really good? Simply put, the progression is extremely unintuitive, and frequently finicky. Now, I'm sure my route was less than optimum (I am playing all these levels blind), but I had to do a lot of backtracking. It got very tiresome after a while. Add to this the designer's love of really small details for progression - at least three cases of gun switches where you had to be in a very specific location to activate them - and you could easily have some very frustrated players. I managed to get through almost all of it without too much confusion, but it frequently took me a minute or two to work out how to proceed, and sometimes the missing step was a long way away from the current location. There were several instances of 'must find' switches and routes which I'd normally have expected to open secrets, instead.

So, the level is marred by these potential frustrations, which is a shame, because it's otherwise a very good, big, tough epic.

03-18-13 12:59 #

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SFoZ911
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Map12 was not that tough iirc from pistol start, well atleast for me.
I do agree about the map progression, which was imo a bit anoyying.

03-18-13 15:45 #

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Jimi
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Only Arch-Viles can solve teleport puzzles...

03-18-13 16:29 #

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dobugabumaru
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I whined about MAP12 on these forums a while back, as I found it too obtuse and difficult from pistol start, rapidly diminishing my thoughts on it. Which is a shame considering it has a meaty layout and Use3D's contribution to CC2 is absolutely one of my favorites.

IIRC this caused me more grief than "Goin' Down"

03-18-13 19:00 #

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Capellan
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SteveD said:
But I provided 3 or 4 radsuits, so it wasn't really that bad

Ah. If you provide rad suits, then the floor damage is avoidable. "You must cross this lava" is fine if there is a rad suit nearby (even if said rad suit is in a secret, provided it's not a "random wall hump" secret).

SFoZ911 said:
Map12 was not that tough iirc from pistol start, well atleast for me.
I do agree about the map progression, which was imo a bit anoyying.

dobugabumaru seems to disagree on the pistol start thing :)

I guess it would also matter whether you were doing the UV-MAX thing, or just trying to finish the level. If the latter, you can always skip monsters.

I don't do pistol starts myself, unless I'm playtesting a level, so my knowledge of the matter is mostly theoretical.

The map's progression is definitely on the arcane side, and sometimes quite pixel-bitchy. That usually drives me to rant unkindly, but Map12 is so good in its other aspects that I have to give it credit for them.

03-18-13 22:54 #

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Demon of the Well
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Map 12's not terribly hard to conquer from a pistol start, once you've figured out a good way to play the earlier parts of it....it's more of a map that tends to wear you down and kill you via attrition rather than one that's full of specific traps or encounters liable to result in many quick deaths. On the first few attempts, as such, it's easy to end up hurting and fairly light on ammo, especially if you don't find the secrets. I've personally never been of the mindset that a well-designed map (or even a good trap/encounter) is by definition one the player has a good chance of succeeding at on a first/blind attempt, so that this one took a few attempts to figure out the first time I played it wasn't really something I remember being bothered by. Other than that, I agree, it's an interesting layout/structure, and has Use3D's characteristic knack for using the stock textures in interesting ways, which is also true of the next map in the WAD.

I particularly look forward to seeing what you'll make of Sphagne's maps (which are all in the third episode). I haven't really seen CC1 talked about much in a while, but when it was newer these seemed like they were pretty controversial. I found them very interesting/enjoyable myself (especially 21 and 27), but as I said, there were many that found them highly irritating, as well.

And then there's map 29....but that's a ways off.

03-19-13 04:29 #

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Capellan
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Demon of the Well said:
And then there's map 29....but that's a ways off.

Quite a long way off, I expect. I imagine that my rate of progress will slow as I start running into the bigger maps that tend to be more common in the later stages of megawads.

03-19-13 04:48 #

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Capellan
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Map13: Another Dead Hero
Same mapper as the last level; same mapmaking positives and negatives.

This time, however, I found the positives less pronounced - the fights less fun, and less well-structured - and the negatives (possibly due to facing them for two maps in a row) more frustrating and egregious. I did actually have to resort to DB2 at one stage, to discover that the route forward was actually a path I'd considered, but then discounted as too arbitrary and unrelated to the current task.

03-19-13 09:37 #

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SFoZ911
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Capellan said:

dobugabumaru seems to disagree on the pistol start thing :)
.

I consider my skill at pistol starting pretty high as I almost always play wads that way.

03-19-13 10:18 #

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SteveD
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I honestly never considered pistol-starting every map in a mapset. It seems far more natural to play a mapset continuously. However, I've read so many accounts from pistol-starters that I now at least take them into consideration when mapping. For example, after the 5th map in any set, I'll probably put in all the weapons up to the Plasma Gun, so pistol starters have all the tools they need as I ramp up the difficulty.

03-20-13 05:41 #

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Doomworld Forums > Classic Doom > WADs & Mods > Adam blathers about wads (now playing: Mapgame)

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