Possible origin of Doom E2M1: Deimos Anomaly

As many would know, Doom E2M1: Deimos Anomaly originally started as a map by Tom Hall, then was finished by Sandy Petersen. It's a wild mass guessing where that map might have originated from, because it hardly looks like it came from any of the maps that you can explore in the alpha versions. I think I might have figured it out now. Since I'm a huge fan of Tom Hall's mapping sensibilities, I studied the Doom alpha versions thoroughly and noticed that it's possible that the E2M1 might have came from the menu map where the player just turns around clockwise in an octagonal room, specifically in the alpha 0.5 version, because I've noticed that the room has a brown hexagon floor and grey cinder block walls, just like most of E2M1. So, yeah, that one small room you see in the menu of the Doom alpha 0.5 version must have been E2M1 in its infancy.

Care to elaborate your theory with some images?

I unfortunately don't have a way to capture screenshots of the Doom alpha, however, I found this video and for a few seconds you see the player spinning around in the room before the game starts playing.

E1M8's demon circle has the same texturing, so what?

joe-ilya said:

E1M8's demon circle has the same texturing, so what?

Well, E1M8 was based on E1M12 of the Doom Alpha 0.5 version.

It's a pretty farfetched theory. Not impossible, but I have a strong feeling that map was whipped up just to have a place for the player to do his spin. Who knows, maybe they did use that little room to start, but I honestly doubt it.

Here's an old post I made on the subject,

Well, not exactly on the origins of E2M1, but on how the entire E2-E3 sequence didn't really make sense, and that IMO the episodes should have been swapped (which might have been the original intention at some point).

I noticed a certain similarity betwenn both Phobos and Deimos Anomalies - both levels have the same stone texture as a base for most part of levels. I think it was intentional.

I know it's a bit of stretch, but I don't know any other map could Deimos Anomaly have came from. It certainly couldn't have been whipped up, cause 0.5 was the last known version Tom Hall made any contributions to Doom prior to his resignation from id. Besides, E3M7: Limbo only had his starting circle while Sandy Petersen did the rest for the final version.

It's funny how both anomalies have the same texture theme, then again, Tom Hall used that texture selection in some of his maps for the 0.5 version of the alpha.

TBQH, just starting out into an octagonal room doesn't mean much by itself. Now, whether they really decided to use that same closed room as a template for the first one in E2M1...not much time/effort to be saved there, I must say. It would make more sense if the spinner revealed that there was a window or something, but just a closed room?

It's entirely possible that they made maps never compiled into the IWAD, or at least those for their testers.

Maes said:

Well, not exactly on the origins of E2M1, but on how the entire E2-E3 sequence didn't really make sense, and that IMO the episodes should have been swapped (which might have been the original intention at some point).

The press release beta actually did have what would become E3M5 at E2M5 and E2M2 at E3M2 so I don't think this is that far-fetched. seems they were sticking to the order the doom bible gave for episodes (base-hell-subverted base) for a long time before switching it for some reason.

InsanityBringer said:

seems they were sticking to the order the doom bible gave for episodes (base-hell-subverted base) for a long time before switching it for some reason.

Not only that, but the Cyberdemon has more health than the Mastermind.

Granted, neither of them were to be the villains in E2 or E3 in the Doom Bible.

T-Rex said:

Well, E1M8 was based on E1M12 of the Doom Alpha 0.5 version.

It wasn't inspired by it, it was moved.

joe-ilya said:

It wasn't inspired by it, it was moved.

What I mean was that E1M8 was E1M12 in the 0.5 alpha version, then it was moved to E1M8 and tweaked by Sandy Petersen, where he changed the caverns from both sides of the room behind the door into the simplified ammo chambers, and the large cavern up north became the famous giant star that opens up once you kill the bruiser brothers. I never said it was inspired, he basically used the map as base for the final map of episode 1. Funny enough, before it became Phobos Anomaly, it was simply called Anomaly back when the episode was supposed to take place in Tei Tenga.