The DWmegawad Club plays: Japanese Community Project

What is the DWmegawad Club?
This is a place where we settle down, have a cup of tea (or drink of your choice) and take a month to play through a megawad on our own, together! Any keen observations, criticisms, or frustrated ranting about it goes here in the discussion. As long as you want to say something about what you've played, feel free to speak your mind.

Can I join?
Sure. The only rule is that you have to play at least some of the levels in our monthly megawad to contribute, but you're generally encouraged to finish the whole thing, even if you've played it before.

What levels am I allowed to post about?
Whatever day of the month it is, is the upper limit for the map you can post on. So if it's the 6th, you may discuss up to MAP06.

Do I have to post an entry every day?
Nope, not at all. This is only for our more enthusiastic members. As long as you play through it with us you’re part of the club.

When do we vote on the next month’s megawad?
Voting begins on the 25th of the current month.

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>>>DOWNLOAD JAPANESE COMMUNITY PROJECT (v.1.1) HERE<<<

On the distant horizon dawns the Japanese Community Project, a limit removing megawad made by our Japanese brethren. Though we’ve come to know what to (generally) expect from Western and Russian authors, who knows what wonders await us on this exciting voyage East? Let’s find out together! And just a reminder that the Japanese Community Project is still in beta, so please note any bugs or compatibility issues you may experience.

Author & maplist for JCP:

Quote

MAP01 - “First Assault” by Tatsurd-Cacocaco
MAP02 - “Rural Mini-Base” by Tatsurd-Cacocaco
MAP03 - “The Sign of Armageddon” by Masayan & SkullDemon
MAP04 - “Thaumasia” by burabojunior
MAP05 - “Woodexial” by Toooooasty
MAP06 - “Riminshi Valley” by burabojunior
MAP07 - “Confused Arena” by Tatsurd-Cacocaco
MAP08 - “54-pit” by Toooooasty
MAP09 - “The Three World” by Tyousen121
MAP10 - “The Odd Encampment” by Yullie
MAP11 - “My fav” by Nanka Kurashiki
MAP12 - “Magnetic force apparatus” by burabojunior
MAP13 - “Bad Morning” by Namsan
MAP14 - “G_T_Factory” by toMass
MAP15 - “Nandeyanen” by Nanka Kurashiki

MAP31 - “Manufacturing Plant” by Masayan
MAP32 - “Blood Fund Gang” by Toooooasty

MAP16 - “Forlorn Defense Line” by Tatsurd-Cacocaco
MAP17 - “UAC energy plant” by burabojunior
MAP18 - “Space Port Panik” by doom68k
MAP19 - “Remind” by Nanka Kurashiki
MAP20 - “Escape from UAC space base” by burabojunior
MAP21 - “Search and Destroy” by burabojunior
MAP22 - “A den of vice” by burabojunior
MAP23 - “Thermal disposal place” by Guna
MAP24 - “Probably Maybe Certainly” by Tyousen121
MAP25 - “Cakravartin’s miscalculation” by Nanka Kurashiki
MAP26 - “Embodiment of Maliciousness” by Yullie
MAP27 - “A resplendent emerald green” by burabojunior
MAP28 - “HeLLport” by Masa
MAP29 - “hazmat hazama” by Toooooasty
MAP30 - “Every beginning has an end” by burabojunior

BONUS CONTENT
Suitepee plays: 1 2 3 4
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OLD THREADS
2012

• BF_THUD!
• Community Chest 4
• Jenesis
• MAYhem 2012

2013

• Memento Mori
• Interception
• 2002: A Doom Odyssey
• Hadephobia
• Coffee Break & Fava Beans & Double Impact
• HYMN
• Stardate 20X6 & Monochrome Mapping Project
• Realm of Chaos
• Back to Saturn X E1 & Favillesco E1
• Kama Sutra
• Unholy Realms & Zone 300
• Vile Flesh
• Ultimate Doom

2014

• Whitemare & Sacrament
• Scythe
• Epic 2
• Whitemare 2
• Sunder & Countdown to Extinction
• Doom 2 the Way id Did
• MAYhem2048
• Stomper
• Back to Saturn X E2
• Going Down
• Rylayeh & Crimson Canyon & Azagthoth
• Serenity & Eternity & Infinity

2015

• Resurgence
• Requiem
• ConC.E.R.N.ed & Draft Excluder
• Doom 2 Reloaded
• Valiant
• Scythe 2
• NOVA II
• STRAIN
• Icarus: Alien Vanguard
• Sunlust
• Plutonia 2
• Revolution!

2016

• 50 Shades of Graytall & Erkattäññe
• Hell Revealed
• Vanguard, Hell Ground, Bloody Steel
• Eternal Doom

Oh yes.
This is gonna be good.

I stumbled upon this project quite a while ago. I don't remember why but I felt like visiting Tatsurd's webpage and there I saw it: a new section called JPCP. At that time it only had 5 or 6 levels in the beta stage, so even though I generally liked what I've played, I was more skeptical than excited about the whole thing. It just didn't seem likely to me that they'll actually manage a full megawad, especially remembering our silly megawad attempts at the Russian forum (speedmap compilations don't count, I don't take them very seriously). Then it kind of got out of my mind. When I came back to the page a few months later I was very pleased to see active discussions, new promising levels in the works and overall very steady progress. And now, when it's almost done, all I can say is: congratulations on completing this enormous task! Well, and I can comment on the levels I guess...

01 - This was the very first map that I downloaded back when I discovered this project. It's a cute little starter. I like the dark outdoors, tasteful use of variously colored bricks and that certain Map01 feel. Nice Japanese status bar btw, I'll be using it. :)

For the curious... Here are some other Japanese wads\mappers that I know:
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?search=1&field=author&word=mazuq&sort=time&order=asc&page=1
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/d-f/elegy
http://doom667shogun.cyber-ninja.jp/wadstand.html
http://srod.nobody.jp/mywads/mywads.html
http://doomedsda.us/wad2096.html
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?search=1&field=author&word=yukio+ide&sort=time&order=asc&page=1 :P

After a trip to past favorites with Eternal Doom, back to brand new stuff made by japanese Doom enthusiasts! :)

Saves if needed, freelook, GZDoom 2.0.5, UV and so on.


MAP01 - “First Assault” by Tatsurd-Cacocaco - UVMax on first try

Fine opening map, played smoothly enough, lots of optionnal, disjointed rooms to explore because why not. The berserk secret was clever, liked it. The opposition escalated quite quickly as we already get our hands on a chaingun fighting a couple cacos. And obviously, coming from Eternal Doom I did attempt to hit the "switches symbols" in the first left room, huh.

I won't take part this month I already played this wad recently. It's a cool wad but anyway, you will see it :)
Is still not really finished but there weren't broken stuff and many people already reported the bugs they found, so I guess you don't have to worry so much about that.

kuchitsu said:

remembering our silly megawad attempts at the Russian forum (speedmap compilations don't count, I don't take them very seriously

Is there something released (even though not completed)? Or are they just buried in old pages of the Russian forum and weren't done at all?

Great, another remarkable megawad from this year. I hope the opinions and suggestions from this month's DWMC session will help this wad to become even better one. So here we go. Every level will be played on ZDoom UV-PS. By the way, isn't the title screen really cool?

MAP01 - First Assault
ZDoom, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/100/100

This is a mild, compact opening level with low-tier monsters and some cacodemons. With simple layout and combat, it won't take more than 5 minutes to beat this level(or you can even find every secrets if you're good at finding them). My only suggestion for this level is that the combat could be more interesting if I got a secret berserk powerup earlier, like before I got a yellow key or even a red key, so I can punch out those zombies and imps more often. Still, it's a nice, modest opener with simple architectural design and combat. Just make sure to be careful with chaingunners, and everything is going to be fine.

gaspe said:

Is there something released (even though not completed)? Or are they just buried in old pages of the Russian forum and weren't done at all?

Maybe perhaps possibly. I'm probably not supposed to share anything. (xd)

I'll have to get to playing this when I have a chance.

I think I'm gonna play this one.

Alright, it's not Bloodstain but this gives me an excuse to play a Community Chest type project. Playing UV, continuous as there's no pistol start disclaimer in the text file.

Map 01

Pretty standard modern map 01 opener. I liked how dark and moody the outdoor areas were, at least on Zandro. Good choice of music too. What I don't like is how you have to speedrun through the whole, admittedly very small, main section to grab the shotgun and start properly killing shit. This is why I don't pistol start blind runs of wads that don't specify that maps are strictly balanced around it. Anyways, both secrets were quite easy to find and there weren't any ball-busting "shitgunners from behind" and surprise Archvile Plutonia-esque shenanigans.

You know what, I usually play along with the Club but don't post, so I'm going to finally attempt to uh, do just that for once. I'll be surprised if I finish though.
Playing on GZDoom, hardware mode, with Smooth Doom.

Map 01: Solid opener, a bit easy for my taste, but hey it's only map 01. Contrary to most people, I don't mind maps that make use of the pistol for awhile, and this one does a solid job of making me pew-pew some zombies. Liked the music, too. The way the recolored(?) bricks in the crate rooms were cut off irked me, but that's just my texture OCD kicking in I think.

HMP, continuous, frequent saves, no music. PrBoom+ 2.5.1.3.
I should have time to play this month, though maybe not every day. I can always do bulk catch-ups when I need to though.


Map01
Pretty nice brick-base opener. I thought the berserk was a bit too obvious to merit being a secret, but it was a fun bit of parkour. I liked the yellow key trap - that there was going to be a trap was obvious, but lost souls was a nice change up from what I was expecting.

I think the use of two keyed doors was overkill. Put a switch to open the bars where the red key was and make the red key door a normal door with an optional room in it. Maybe set it so that door opens (if you didn't open it already) when you raise the bars, so that the critters in there can come wandering out into the main part of the level.

map01

This one reminds me a lot of ways of a typical starter from a mapset circa 200x -- the small scale and fodder-class opposition are general map01 hallmarks, but we also the cramped, awkward dimensions, with bits of detailing intruding on the gameplay, albeit with more variety in texturing than we might expect from this type of map. As I mentioned in the release thread, the berserk pack would be better off made available sooner, moved to the somewhat useless "bonus item" secret, because punching stuff is fun. As is, you have to endure a lot of potential annoyance to get it early, and doing so is not quite worth it.

I didn't enjoy playing this map -- "typical map01s" aren't my cup of tea in the absence of a readily available berserk, or a rocket launcher, or other opportunities for gratuitous violence -- but I can find a number of things to praise. I quite like the variety of small optional rooms. Too many "optional areas" in mapsets follow the pattern "1. Decide on a resource you want to make available but not mandatory (often a plasma rifle or a blue armor); 2. Think up an optional sidequest, with a fight or two, and stash it away." It does a lot of good for immersion, in my opinion, when some of a map's optional areas feel casual in presentation, not as if they exist in some sort of grand scheme for the level's strategic approach. Of course, all the optional areas are stocked with a bit of supply kit -- and shotgunners are essentially walking ammo reserves -- but in this map, it feels like the rooms were conceived first, as part of the map's aesthetic structure, and the resources were placed afterwards. We could write all of this off as a matter of the map's natural scale -- it's really too small for there to be much in the way of a Grand Optional Item -- but either way, I like it. The strongest encounter is the little sneak trap with shotgunners and chaingunners. Traps are so associated with warp-ins and monster closets and one-way drops into the unseen, and so on, that you can occasionally forget how static architecture can be used to cloak a set of baddies, right out in the open, until the player stumbles into them herself.

So, all in all, too small to be impressive, could be better in many ways, but succeeds at a number of things that many more ambitious maps have abandoned. In some ways this mapset reminds me a lot of the Community Chests. But as a testament to how far developed casual mapping has come along, I think it sports a much higher batting average than the first two CCs, despite the JPCP roster's lack of experience, at least from what I've played so far. Some of the CC1/CC2 maps are flat-out WOO-tier, but there is very little that rough in this set.

Octavarium said:

You know what, I usually play along with the Club but don't post, so I'm going to finally attempt to uh, do just that for once. I'll be surprised if I finish though.

Don't worry if you're unable to—I think playing beside us is plenty fine.

Alright, here I go. Zdoom, pistol start, UV, saves galore. I'm also playing with the altered hub just for funsies (time to learn some numbers!)

MAP01: A pleasing start, as most MAP01's are. This one has all the classic MAP01 staples too, like a small-sized techbase, nice trimming, pistol-based gameplay, and a little bit of flavor right before the end. Really enjoyed the YK area, as it forces the player down there to tango with the imps & cacodemon. Fun, inoffensive stuff—looks like Tatsurd knows his Doom.

Excited for my first playthrough with the DWmegawad Club.

First impressions out of the way: I really like the feel of the HUD here. I fired up just the HUD in Doom 2 to test it out and was disappointed because it looked cool but had Japanese numbers. Luckily a very similar HUD exists in the wad standard. The classic Japanese art inspired title card is similarly amazing.

I plan to play Hurt Me Plenty, continuous, mid level saves on an as needed basis, zDoom with a "mostly vanilla" set of options.

Map 01: A good soft introduction to Doom 2 comparable in length to Map01 from the IWAD except with a few extra surprises. Also much like the original many of the rooms are there for exploration for health packs more than necessity to complete the level. I played most of the level thinking, “Oh, I should replay this on UV before I get too far in,” with the caco at the end saying, “No, you probably shouldn’t.” (That’s what the hiss translates to from Cacophony to English.)

(Pistol starts, UV, ZDoom 2.7.1)

MAP01: First Assault

Wha... Japanese numerals? Oh this is going to be educational. OK so they're apparently optional, but I'm going to play with the Japanese HUD just for kicks.

There isn't much to MAP01. It's very much an unambitious opener, with nothing about it that stands out. The outdoor areas (and the large green central hub) don't look too shabby -- although the huge stairs in said hub look silly -- but there aren't any truly impressive bits of architecture or any difficult fights, and the entire experience is very bite-sized. Then again, the first few maps in most megawads are usually a slog compared to the later (bigger and meaner) ones, so the JCP isn't different in that regard.

Alright. I fixed my OS bug and have a new (and fantastic) mouse, so here we go. As usual, GlBoom+ with -complevel 2, pistol starts on Ultra-Violence, no saves, no cheats, and no gamma correction.

The first thing I have to do is praise the top section of the .txt file. See that? THAT is how you make it clear which format your maps are actually in. The backstory behind this whole endeavor is also pretty endearing, and I know tatsurd has had issues with how unpopular Doom is in Japan for quite a while now. So let's see if the work he and his team came up with has the necessary chops to remedy that.

Upon launching the game, we're greeted with an amazing splash screen, like antares031 and KBlaney said. Seriously, I don't know who drew that, but it's great. Also, wait, the HUD is in Japanese too? That's actually awesome. Well, except maybe for the tally screen. I suppose I should look up how Japanese digits work in order to figure out my scores, but right now I can't be bothered. Truth be told, I used to know a little bit about that, but I've forgotten all of it. That's what happens when you go hiking in the woods instead of attending class, so don't do it.

Oh, that's what the extra file does, thanks Dobu. That probably should have been specified in the .txt. If it is, I missed it. But honestly, I think I'm going to keep this on. It just gives the whole thing a little extra flavor, you know?


LEVEL 1: First Assault by tasurdcacocaco

As most of us know, tatsurd is one of the very best Classic Doom players in existence, so one should expect this to be a fairly competently designed affair. Which it is. Very good architecture, with clever use of height differentiation (not to mention restrained), a non-linear structure that doesn't make navigation obnoxious and actually gives the level something of a puzzle-map flavor, good lighting, and spot-on monster placement for the most part. The only thing I don't like is that most of the Imp snipers are pretty ineffective. My favourite part has to be the yellow key courtyard, which holds the most intense skirmish in this level I think.

So far, this is extremely promising. The demo upload is taking ages, so I'm going to edit it in after processing is over.

EDIT: Never mind, problem solved. I don't know how encoding my raw video in MP4 instead of AVI turned 700 minutes into 7 minutes while maintaining 480p rendering, but I'll take it. If anyone else has trouble with Avidemux, I strongly recommend WinX instead, even though it nags you about acquiring the full version A LOT.

Anyway, here's the demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhjqfPgR83Y

As is my wont, I'm going to be doing this on Hurt Me Plenty, continuous play, ZDoom 2.8pre-1701.

MAP01: First Assault

A compact and efficient initial offering from this WAD, taking the form of a fairly 'stock' brick techbase and attendant outdoor areas. I can't say this one is likely to sear itself into my memory but as a MAP01 it can be considered something of a warm-up to the rest of the WAD's offering, a role which it fills rather nicely. I wasn't bored or disappointed at any point.

I've alread......oh, dobu has linked my playthrough. Cheers!

For anyone who hasn't played this yet: you're going to love toooooasty's maps. He's basically the Japanese dobu gabu maru, and you'll soon see why. Maps 08 and 29 are the best in the megawad.

Gotta do this in style:



Not promising a thorough participation as I am busy and mostly use this as a "coffee break". But I'll try.

MAP01 UV - No save - FDA here

A short and easy affair. I liked the thing with one of the pillars and the YK area was fun. Also, some of the cramped miscellaneous rooms gave me a Requiem vibe. Perhaps because of the texturing?

I should try again and find all secrets as I didn't put a lot of effort at this.

i will try and actually keep up with this as Eternal Doom lost me completely (i dont play Doom to THINK! :D )

i like this opener a lot. enjoyable music. the textures are very nice. two 'good secrets (i dont like really obtuse secrets, perhaps others will think theyre too easy to find).

this would be quite nice to UV-max, as there are multiple choices of rooms to go into to get 100% kills while you are collecting the keys. im not going to max as the project isnt finished yet, but im sure i'll come back to it when its final.

not actually an FDA, but a quick run-through of the level with some dicey boxing moments!

http://www.mediafire.com/download/p513dxmqm9e21r8/jpcp01notanfda.zip

MAP02 - Rural Mini-Base
ZDoom, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/100/100

Another some kind of opening level with nice techbase environment, but with stronger monsters and a rocket launcher(if you find it). Thanks to the low-ceiling corridors and the soundtrack by Lee Jackson, the first impression was like playing Rise of the Triad themed level. Most of combats take place in the narrow corridors, and they aren't hard to deal with. But it could be a little bit tricky if you grabbed the red keycard first, before you cleared the outside, since you need to deal with both original and ambushing monsters in that area. The layout was fine, just enough for this compact size. Overall, it's another modest opener for the megawad with 32 levels.

Kira said:

MAP01 UV - No save - FDA here

Gave it a second try and now that I found all secrets my FDA is comedy gold (the part where I push things at random).

Playing my usual software ZDoom with mouselook, saving as I like, etc.

MAP01: First Assault
100% kills, 2/2 secrets

Classic MAP01-style design, with small rooms and a small monster count. Theme seems to be grimy Doom 2 brick-base, though there's a few hellish bas-reliefs here and there. I will say that while it is pretty much green/brown and hangs together well, there is a subtle "every room has a different texture" bit going on. Gameplay is pretty rote, though I did like the design of the berserk secret (both acquiring it and that it immediately gives you some demons to use it on).

02 - Another map that I've played back when the project was still in its initial stage. It's a nice small base, again very fitting for its slot number. I know nowadays many people say that we should break away from the tradition and stop filling early slots with short levels, but I kinda like it to be honest. What I disapprove of, however, is this:




For my taste it's a little too messy to have panels of all these different colors. Many people will disagree I guess (I don't remember too many complaints about Christmasy lights in "50 Monsters", for instance).

I also found it kind of weird that there is no door behind the spawn point. Where did the doomguy come from again?

And perhaps the outdoor area would look nicer if it was dark, just like in the previous map?

It just occured to me that my username is somewhat appropriate for this mapset, so there’s that. Alright, so this post is ahead of schedule considering my location, but since others have already reviewed this map it doesn’t make much of a difference for the readers, and it’s just practical for me to go on ahead. I hope this isn’t an issue.


MAP02 : Rural Mini-Base

First run log :

A much heavier techbase vibe over here. As a matter of fact, the only thing that’s really rural about it is the red key courtyard. This place is like a carefully constructed maze, although once I had been more or less everywhere I realized that it’s not quite as big as it looks. The red key trap is probably the most involved scenario in this map, though that Revenant certainly caught me off guard. I could use a little more ammo here, because I emptied all of it and still couldn’t finish off the Mancubus. Speaking of that, are this Mancubus and the Cacodemon in the first exit room supposed to act as mini-bosses? If so, that’s pretty neat, but I hope things don’t become too formulaic or predictable as we go.

Nothing else in the map really stands out that much to me, but all of it works fine, and the whole thing is actually somewhat hectic. A strong level.

Demo log :

(Well, I thought it was, but I accidentally put a space between the dash and the word record. This won’t happen again.)

Alright, so it turns out that figuring out how to grab the Invisibility helps a lot with the things I found to be rough on my first run. Not only do all those shotgunners miss you, but they are likely to in-fight a lot, which helps save quite a bit of ammo. Very smart power-up placement right there. I also tried taking on everything in the courtyard all at once instead of first cleaning it up and then coming back for the key, but that didn’t work so well. Even so, I’m sure better players could do it easily.

Oh, and now I know what « 100% » looks like in Japanese, which all that really matters in this context. I couldn’t find all the secrets though.

Actual demo here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mtZNMYHLDE

kuchitsu said:

For my taste it's a little too messy to have panels of all these different colors. Many people will disagree I guess

Personally I quite like it. Also I guess that it's a thing of their style since many maps in this wad tend to be very colorful.

Budoka said:

Oh, and now I know what « 100% » looks like in Japanese, which all that really matters in this context. I couldn’t find all the secrets though.

Actually I never saw it like this. It would be 100%, 百分率, 100分率 or something along those lines. My guess is that it was the only way it would work with the HUD. But I am not absolutely reliable on this matter.

If tatsurd reads this thread he might shed light on the matter.

MAP01: First Assault by Tatsurd-cacocaco

UV
Blind
Pistol-Start
Kills: 100%
Items: 100%
Secrets: 100%
Time: 5:20

Well, this sure was an opener. I liked it. The secrets were pretty easy. I liked the design. Monster placement was fair. A good sub .30 speed demo could be done - after all, Tatsurd is a speedrunner. Overall, a decent opener. I can't wait to go on with this!

FUN FACT: I didn't take any damage until that outdoor area with the chaingunner. That's also the only area I took damage.

From what I understand, 百分率 refers to the whole 0%-100% system and it isn't used to say specifically "100% of something".

I think nowadays you'll see it written as 100% nearly everywhere. You can write 一〇〇% if you want to be fancy. In some contexts it will probably also give a sort of antique feel to what you're writing.　Although if you were to go for an antique feel, you probably wouldn't want to use the % symbol anyway.