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yakfak

If you had to turn DOOM2 into a nine-level episode

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If you've always found the 32-levels-in-a-row feel of Doom 2 to be a little exhaustive, like me, you might have found yourself imagining the game as a nine level episode. If so, which would you choose?

Here's how I'd lay it out:
Map 1: UNDERHALLS
Map 2: THE INMOST DENS
Map 3: DEAD SIMPLE
Map 4: CIRCLE OF DEATH
Map 5: TENEMENTS
Map 6: REFUELING BASE
Map 7: THE ABANDONED MINES
Map 8: THE LIVING END
secret map: BARRELS O' FUN

All my favourite levels with a far more sane progression in difficulty.

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Hmmm an interesting concept. I'd be surprised if nobody has tried to make a wad out of this idea alone. Anyways:

MAP1: Entryway.
MAP2: The Waste Tunnels.
MAP3: The Pit.
MAP4: The Factory.
MAP5: Suburbs.
MAP6: Abandoned Mines.
MAP7: Monster Condo.
MAP8: The Living End.
MAP9: Icon of Sin. (SECRET LEVEL)

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Map01: Underhalls
Map02: The Focus
Map03: The Crusher
Map04: The Pit
Map05: Downtown
Map06: The Courtyard (but the yellow key transfered somewhere in the actual map)
Map07: The Chasm
Map08: The Living End (ending modified to include bars around the exit so you have to kill the cyberdemon)
Map09: Wolfenstein (Secret level)

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Suitepee said:

I'd be surprised if nobody has tried to make a wad out of this idea alone.


Sure, not like it's modifying/distributing IWAD content or anything.

MAP01: Underhalls
MAP02: The Waste Tunnels
MAP03: Refuelling Base
MAP04: 'O' of Destruction
MAP05: The Inmost Dens
MAP06: The Citadel
MAP07: The Abandoned Mines
MAP08: The Living End

MAP??: Tricks and Traps

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Eris Falling said:

Sure, not like it's modifying/distributing IWAD content or anything.

For personal use, I don't see the harm in creating a personalised IWAD. No doubt it's technically illegal, but I doubt Id or Zenimax are perusing the contents of your hard drive.

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Wouldn't it be fairly easy to write a frontend programme (or append the function to an already existing frontend or port) that only played the select levels?

I mean, it's nothing that IDCLEV or scripting can't already do, but I can see it being somewhat popular as a curio. 32 maps is a Hell of a lot of maps. Especially for player made megawads. It would be neat if megawads came with 'tl;dp' instructions - pointing players to only the absolute 'must-play' maps. I certainly would play more megawads to 'completion' this way.

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M1: Gantlet
M2: Crusher
M3: Inmost Dens
M4: Circle Of Death
M5: Tenements
M6: Industrial Zone (secret exit)
M7: Abandoned Mines
M8: Living End
M9: Tricks and Traps

Use the city sky. Maybe there should be a new area in the Living End for the boss fight, which could include both cyber and spiderdemon that couldn't harm/infight each other. Or maybe the last level would be Dead Simple that opens up more after the Mancubuses and Baby Spiderdemons. Or maybe a larger version of Dead Simple with Cyberdemons and then Spiderdemons.

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Well, you'd have to add secret exits to maps other than MAP15 and MAP31 if you wanted that to work, so there's that?

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MAPINFO, dude. Changing a 30+2-level progression into an 8+1 one requires that.

Either that or you do that thing where e.g. MAP01 is actually MAP12 so that "MAP04" is in the MAP15 slot. People who want to play NRFTL in PrBoom use that trick.

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No, I mean there's no linedefs of type 51/124 to mark a given exit as secret. Even with MAPINFO, that means every map other than MAP15 or MAP31 can't go to secret levels without modifying the stages directly, or making these "secret" stages mandatory (and therefore not secret). The actual slot doesn't matter, since you can define a secret exit for any; that the map actually has a secret exit is what I'm getting at.

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M1 - Underhalls
M2 - The Focus
M3 - Circle of Death
M4 - The Suburbs
M5 - Inmost Dens
M6 - Gotcha!
M7 - Abandoned Mines
M8 - The Living End
M9 - Dead Simple (secret map)

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Why the hell choose Living End as the boss map? Icon of Sin makes far more sense as such. It's normal for ExM8 maps to be short like that.

Anyway, from what I gather:

D2M1: Underhalls (let's start it quicker, no Entryway wankery needed)
D2M2: The Crusher (challenging second stage)
D2M3: Circle of Death (excellent third-level design)
D2M4: Inmost Dens (fits with the previous three, American McGee)
D2M5: Industrial Zone (leads to secret level)
D2M6: Gotcha (this is a must, and a fitting tough 6th level)
D2M7: The Spirit World (huge map with huge numbers, hellish too)
D2M8: Icon of Sin (obvious)
D2M9: Wolfenstein (fun surprise level)

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The living end seems better as a final level than Icon of Sin. I wouldn't mind the lack of boss if it meant a longer level.

Just so you know: Romero designed Circle of Death, not McGee.

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D2M1: The Gauntlet
D2M2: The Crusher
D2M3: Refueling Base
D2M4: The Pit (I pick this one because it's a nice ease into the increased difficulty on UV, and the music is catchy.)
D2M5: The Courtyard (Secret Exit, and this is a nice quick/easy level.)
D2M6: Gotcha! (I agree here, it's a decent 6th level.)
D2M7: The Spirit World (The Spirit World is a nice lead into The Living End.)
D2M8: The Living End

D2M9: The Chasm (I hate this level. It feels out of place, and worse than The Citadel. Who the heck has a castle in the middle of a city anyhow? Let alone a Chasm?)

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MAP1: Underhalls
MAP2: The Gantlet
MAP3: The Focus
MAP4: The Waste Tunnels
MAP5: Dead Simple
MAP6: Suburbs
MAP7: The Spirit World
MAP8: The Living End.
MAP9: The Pit (SECRET LEVEL)

MAP5 would exit to the secret level just like in The Shores of Hell. I've always liked the way things progressed from Underhalls to The Waste Tunnels very much, but always hated The Crusher -- surprised it's so liked.

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Preliatus said:

Who the heck has a castle in the middle of a city anyhow? Let alone a Chasm?)


Firstly, The Chasm is in Hell, not the city.

In answer to the first question:
one two three

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I'd edit The Living End so that the Cyberdemon were replaced with the Icon. And no exit either.

D2M1 - The Gantlet
D2M2 - The Crusher
D2M3 - Circle of Destruction
D2M4 - The Inmost Dens
D2M5 - The Suburbs
D2M6 - Abandoned Mines
D2M7 - The Spirit World
D2M8 - The Living End
D2M9 - The Courtyard

Probably a secret level exit in The Inmost Dens somewhere, or steal the PlayStation one from The Suburbs; speaking of which, I'd probably stick a Cyberdemon in there somewhere for no reason other than there ain't one elsewhere.

Maybe replace the Mancubus in The Courtyard with one. I don't know.

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MAP01: Entryway
MAP02: Underhalls
MAP03: The Gantlet
MAP04: The Focus
MAP05: The Waste Tunnels
MAP06: The Crusher
MAP07: Dead Simple
MAP08: Tricks and Traps
MAP09: The Pit

This is how I play Doom2 most of the time: Playing on UV, no saving and 100% everything. Then quitting at MAP10 because I get tired.
These 9 maps have replay value, just like E1 in Doom1.

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M1: Entryway
M2: The Focus
M3: Circle of Destruction
M4: The Inmost Dens
M5: Refueling Base
M6: Industrial Zone
M7: The Abandoned mines
M8: The Living End
Secret M9: Barrels of Fun

I'm not saying these are my most favourite levels, for example I'm also keen on Underhalls and Tenements. But I feel this order I invented makes sense, which you can try. I quickly made an appropriate MAPINFO. Download: http://www.speedyshare.com/UMrQV/d2in9lev.zip
Well I doubt anyone will play it all, but anyway here you go. Play with a ZDoom-compatible port.

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M1: The Pit
M2: The Pit
M3: The Pit
M4: The Chasm
M5: The Pit
M6: The Pit
M7: The Pit
M8: The Pit
M9: Suburbs

No, but seriously.

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esselfortium said:

M1: The Pit
M2: The Pit
M3: The Pit
M4: The Chasm
M5: The Pit
M6: The Pit
M7: The Pit
M8: The Pit
M9: Suburbs

You've got a fine trollwad, there.

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esselfortium said:

No, but seriously.

For some reason I think it would be hilarious to hear IN_CIT play repeatedly. It's like the song is saying, "Here we go again!"

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E1M1: Map 01 to Map 04
E1M2: Map 05 to Map 08
E1M3: Map 09 to Map 12
E1M4: Map 13 to Map 16 (Secret Exit)
E1M5: Map 17 to Map 20
E1M6: Map 21 to Map 24
E1M7: Map 25 to Map 28
E1M8: The Living End
E1M9: Hexsoil

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What the hell is special about Living End? I've always found it underwhelming after Spirit World. You keep suggesting it as a boss map. The boss map should be short and hopefully challenging.

Also, lack of boss? Unless you attempt to count that miserable excuse of a Cyberdemon, after all the Cyberdemons you meet before… Meet Quake, the game with no bosses at the end of non-shareware episodes!

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printz said:

What the hell is special about Living End? I've always found it underwhelming after Spirit World. You keep suggesting it as a boss map. The boss map should be short and hopefully challenging.


Apart from the 'short' part, this is why I'd put the Icon in there at the end; and you'd have to basically beat the map (with the monsters spawning in like that) to get a platform to raise to beat it.

I think I'm some kind of sadist.

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I wouldn't mind DOOM II just having an episode menu, period. It worked so well in the first game, I don't know why they really felt the need to break the formula that thoroughly. There are pretty clear points where you could put in the breaks, although, I believe you'd need to add more chainsaws since about the only one I know of is in MAP01 :P

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I would probably set it in a 2 episode model, 1 for earth absed levels, and the 2nd for Hell based levels (similar to Knee Deep in the Dead being set in Phobos, The Shores of Hell being in Deimos, Inferno being set in Hell and They Flesh Consumed being set on Earth(ish))

So I'd split Doom 2 into the following 2 episodes with no secrets

Episode 1 - Home Bloody Home

E1M1: Entryway
E1M2: The Gauntlet
E1M3: The Crusher
E1M4: Tricks and Traps
E1M5: Refueling Base
E1M6: 'O' of Destruction
E1M7: Downtown
E1M8: Suburbs
E1M9: Gotcha!

Episode 2 - To Hell and Back with a Vengence
E2M1: Nivarnea
E2M2: The Catcombs
E2M3: Barrels O' Fun
E2M4: The Chasm
E2M5: The Abandoned Mines
E2M6: Monster Condo
E3M7: The Spirt World
E3M8: The Living End
E3M9: Icon of Sin

Episode 3: No rest for the Living
Just as the original version

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This is a lot tougher than I thought it'd be. Going with this:

1: Underhalls
2: The Waste Tunnels
3: Refueling Base
4: O of Destruction
5: Suburbs
6: The Abandoned Mine
7: The Living End
8: Icon of Sin
9: Dead Simple

But pretty much everything except Underhalls, O of Destruction, Icon of Sin, and Dead Simple could be swapped for another map. I'd consider those four the best Doom II has to offer (Icon of Sin being the only real boss level outside of Dead Simple, which is too easy for the end of an episode).

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