Your favorite modern mappers

Post your favorite today mappers found in the community. Add a reason if possible.

EDIT: I meant Doom Editing... Please move.

Krispy is pretty awesome. Maybe not for his mapping, but you know, outside the community.

I heard Krispy is well-endowed in the groinal area.

Difficult question to answer IMO, as a lot of the ones that most impress me most (esselfortium, Vader, Mechadon) don't make releases often enough to really feel like my favourites. Skillsaw and valkiriforce are definitely worth mentioning, although vf's old-school style doesn't always hit the mark for me.

EDIT: How the hell did I forget Eternal?!

- Joshy and Darkwave because of their provocative gameplay and eye-candy yet simple level design.

- Erik Alm who has pretty much defined what I think as modern Doom level design.

- Huy Pham, because Deus Vult II.

- Eternal because of his numerous experiments with ports-specific advanced features.

- Skillsaw because the few wads of him that I have played impressed me.

Sadly in my list, Joshy has quit and Erik Alm doesn't give signs of life here about Scythe X.

My favorite modern mapper is Darkreaver

then in no particular order:
Kristus
Snakes
Valkiriforce
Skillsaw
Jan Van der Veken
Joshy
Darkwave
Vader
Esselfortium

Essel, Dutch Devil, and I gotta give props to Darkwave.

From what I've played, Valkiriforce, Snakes, Skillsaw, Joshy, Lorenzo, and Mista T are really good.

Mechadon, essel, Valkiriforce, kristus, Snakes, Vader, Erik Alm, Eternal.

Darkwave's map from PRCP was pretty awesome and alone is reason enough for him to make my list.

In addition to all the usual suspects listed above...


gggmork.

I collect his maps, like religiously. Coz you know there is always gonna be something different and unique and waaaay out there about anything he touches.

Dutch Devil.

You just know a Dutch Devil map anywhere. Has really carved out such a unique style.

40oz.

Even though he won mapper of the year, his mapping is still underrated I think.

NaturalTvventy.

Unique, epic, top tier work in everything I have seen.

Xaser.

Well, just because awesome is a fruit. Also map 15 of PRCP. And that weird, wonderful arcade thing.

K!R4

Again, underrated. Also, finish Spirademo, dammit !!

Hmm, my favorite mappers who are highly active these days are Xaser, iori, and Kyka. Lutz is there too 'cause he's still making stuff, but not at nearly the rate of old I don't think.

I actually have played really few maps but for now... Thomas van der Velden. Especially earth maps.

Trying to keep the list short (so some will be missed):

DeathevokatioN (very unique style that I admire very much)
Death-Destiny (probably my all time favorite)
darkwave0000 (I love the surreal, weird habitats of his)

and...well, the usual list: Alm, iori, Johnsen (at least somewhat "modern"), skillsaw, Joshy, Eternal...

Skillsaw. Also, Sgt. Mark IV for creating the coolest mod, Brutal Doom. Respect to you, dude.

Mandy & Randy. They will always have a special spot in my heart.

KiiiYiiiKiiiA said:

K!R4

Again, underrated. Also, finish Spirademo, dammit !!

Wow, I knew people liked my demo but not at the point of nominating me as a great mapper :0. Thanks for the kind words.

I'll work back on this stuff, but not before I have finished my other top secret project which is much, much more ambitious.

Me.

This thread needs more love for Khorus and Iori.

Probably my two favorite mappers are Joshy and Skillsaw, mostly because I think all three of us have similar styles, though there are some basic differences (namely in how we detail).

DeathevokatioN has made some really neat maps that tend to use quite a large vertical scale. His Heretic map (and ButtSeX map) are both really competently-made examples of him at his best.

In terms of a unique, imaginative style, Xaser. Even his 32in24 map had more originality to it than my entire body of work.

Gusta... don't know if he counts as a "modern" mapper, but I'd argue his limit-pushing PL2 maps to fit the bill.

Then there's Kristus, Essel, Mek, blah blah blah....

I don't have a particular favorite one, but I do like

Kristus, Darkreaver, Valkiriforce and Darkwave

My favorite would have to be Esselfortium, Skillsaw and Vader.

Khorus would be if he spent a little more time dealing with secrets\items.

I've been in my own world playing 1994 wads for the last month so it's hard to say. A lot of maps that have been sitting well in my memory for a while were by Valkiriforce, Phobosdeimos1, Snakes, Krispavera, gggmork, Joshy, and ArmouredBlood

NaturalTvventy, Kristus, and Xaser have also been very inspirational to me.

There are a lot of mappers here who haven't made many big releases and would like to see them make more stuff. I see a lot of hope in people such as Memfis, Walter Confalioneri, and Katamori.

Got a lot of favorite mappers, but as far as modern go... Dutch Devil, Valkiriforce, Joshy, Memfis, the list goes on.

Also, the guy who made DooM II Reloaded, Andy Stewart, wish he'd make more maps.

delete

Esselfortium, Skillsaw, 40oz and Khorus are some personal favorites of mine over the past few years.

One name that hasn't been mentioned is RottKing. That's probably because of the lack of heavy multiplayer influence on Doomworld but the dude is just a monster when it comes to tailoring a map for gameplay and making it visually pleasing. Plus, he pulled a ton of weight with Double Impact and he's a boss. RottKing is my favorite mapper!

ToD, gggmork, ArmouredBlood, Gazebo, Jodwin.
No particular order.

Here's a rundown of my top 10 favourite modern mappers

#10: The Ultimate Doomer - Fragport and Operation: Lighting may have been yawns, but I felt he improved the gameplay with 007: Licence to Spell Doom. Despite some of its annoyances and flaws, I think the ingeniuty and scripting there was done just right. I might even try to find a good source port so I can check out his Super Sonic Doom megawad.

#9: Pcorf - Mapping back in the late 90s, and still maps to this day. Coming from an Aussie forumgoer, I must say Pcorf came a long way since then, from the plain-looking maps of the Twilight Zone, to the detail-rich maps of Death Tormention 3 and Whispers of Satan, and thus he became the best Aussie Doom mapper. I also like the maps that emulate the mapping of Dr. Sleep.

#8: Gusta - This guy is a madman, in a good way of course. Kama Sutra really made me admire his mapping style, and it got better with his contributions to Plutonia 2. I can only wonder what surprises and challenges are in store for Kama Sutra 2, if it ever comes out.

#7: Fredrik - His Vrack trilogy was by far the best set of wads I've played. Space station maps are one of my favourite themes when it comes to Doom. The three wads were jam-packed with so much action and switch-hunting puzzles. There's also HR-esque fights here and there, especially in Vrack 2 and 3, so fans of Plutonia and HR would enjoy killing the hordes of monsters in the Vrack trilogy.

#6: Joshy - Playing PRCP, I ended up liking his design style. Somehow, his mapping style reminds me of Erik Alm's, so that's a good sign there. Now to get a faster machine so I can try out his Speed of Doom megawad without the fear of choppiness. Oh, and Darkwave's another fine mapper now that I mentioned Speed of Doom, so there's my honourable mention to him as well.

#5: Xaser - His two contributions to PRCP were just beautiful to look at. I especially liked Map25: Wicked Garden where everything just seems to pop out, it's just so colourful and vivid. I really like that. Not to mention Map15 which was a bigger and difficult version of the original Plutonia's Map18, and in turn, Doom 2's Map14. Getting to the secret exit does involve some backtracking and exploring, otherwise, it's an awesome map.

#4: Rex Claussen - His reinventions of the first two episodes of Doom were enjoyable to me. Phobos: Revisited and Deimos: Slight Return are a blast to play through, in my opinion, and they make me think of what Rex will offer with the reinventions of Episode 3 and 4, and if he'll even merge them together to make a full four-episode megawad.

#3: T.V. - I love his architecture and aesthetics, and seeing how his mapping style, looking at his contributions to Plutonia 2 and PRCP, has evolved since his TV1998 and Revolution! megawads, T.V. is another awesome mapper. His artworks are top-notch quality too.

#2: Kristian Aro - Being a friend of Pcorf, he does contribute to several projects with him like Death Tormentation 2 and 3, 2002:ADO, and Whispers of Satan, and boy, does he make eye-catching wads with interesting fights. They are that good. Speaking of Whispers of Satan, that's another megawad I'll keep in mind to try.

#1: Erik Alm - More like Epik Alm. His two Scythe megawads are just excellent and fun to play through, and the monster and item placement was well thought out and orchestrated flawlessly. Erik Alm, in my opinion, is the greatest modern Doom mapper. I hope he'll complete his next Scythe installment.

Honourable mentions:
Chris Hansen (Retro Episode 1 and Rip It, Tear It, Smash It!)
K!r4 (Plutonia 2 and Plutonia Revisited)
William Huber (Plutonia Revisited)
Espi (Suspended in Dusk and Back to Basics)

Giulio Galassi aka Glassyman

the man needs no introduction