The DWmegawad Club plays: Eternal Slumber Party

hey cool thread :)
map11 music should be Kingdom Hearts 2 - Magical Mystery, and map31 music should be Mega Man Legends - Tron In Love. I haven't played any of these games, I just found the songs on vgmusic.com.

For degrassi, iirc it wasn't so much rejected from cc4 as it was me withdrawing the submission. The "sr50sux" room was added for cc4 and how I didn't use any cc4 textures was an issue, but what was too much for me was that there'd have to be gameplay changes and I didn't want to water down my map just to be in cc4.

26 minutes ago, TimeOfDeath666 said:

hey cool thread :)
map11 music should be Kingdom Hearts 2 - Magical Mystery, and map31 music should be Mega Man Legends - Tron In Love. I haven't played any of these games, I just found the songs on vgmusic.com.

For degrassi, iirc it wasn't so much rejected from cc4 as it was me withdrawing the submission. The "sr50sux" room was added for cc4 and how I didn't use any cc4 textures was an issue, but what was too much for me was that there'd have to be gameplay changes and I didn't want to water down my map just to be in cc4.

U happy now TOD? ;)

11 hours ago, Catpho said:

Not sure i can post a review for map03 today, considering it took me three days to finish degrassi(ive played it before), and looks like this one is even longer(judging from demo time) D:

Plus, im quite busy today :P

Well that's the problem I have with ESP too, 1) little time 2) huge maps and 3) hard maps, plus 4) i'll probably be afk for some time anyway this month.  Most of us would need perhaps 2 months for this one.

Now I'm not necessarily a slaughter fan, but coming from this background makes one casually brush aside a normal opposition, so these maps definitely help one improve the skills, especially against the odds. 

Tbh I didn't find enough time to hack my way through this degrassi,  since just plating my lazy ass in front of the screen when I'm tired does not get me much fun. I'll see if the next maps even surpass this monstrosity. ..

However, I had much fun with castle of the damned, even more than  I anticipated.  That's because ToD's passion for 2-shotting has embraced me too, and the cybs gave me less of a headache than the flood of rabble afterwards, perhaps because I tend to catch too much blast damage. Now that's something else I have to work on.

phew - finally i can play some doom this weekend :D

as usual:

glboom+ / uv / pistol starts / saves when needed

map01 fda 2:08:36 lol

what to say about this - insane. i loved all the combat scenarios in this map, the only things that annoyed mere were the platforming (what's new) and sometimes youd get smacked round the head by revs or enemies a long way above you. i guess thats unavoidable when you have the sheer sense of scale and verticality in a level like this! i was lulled into a false sense of security by rdwpa and NIH - this is bastard hard. i take my hat off to Roofi for having the balls to play this through without saving, i was dying constantly despite having 20 billion saves lol.

I didn't manage to finish the third level today , I will retry tomorrow. I already played the fourth level , a review will come soon.

Concerning the music of the map 04 :

Escaping the Spiral Labyrinth... I did indeed, but this one was a heck of a murderfest.

What starts on a rather small scale quickly escalates into freewheeling madness, caco clouds, rows of mancubi to burn through and eventually scales back down for a bit in a very abstract manner. The BFG-whore in me loves this map a lot for being rather generous with cells for the most part, and it's the first time I played it as well. It sure left an impression.

When compared to degrassi, this map here features vastly more viles, not just for the ending sequence of the map, but also as "support units" for other flock such as imps or revenants. You can really hold down the trigger on the BFG here for considerable amounts of time before -eventually- you end up on one of these abstract graveyards for some cybie 2 shot action, but until then there is a lot to cut loose on. A personal highlight for me was the fight on the staircase relatively early on with the imps on the stairs and viles as support, extremely satisfying to plow through, and certainly viscerally exciting as well. I love how the map eventually scales back down to more medium sized fights when you "take a dive", only to get back to more viles later on. There are a few small grinds in this map, but nothing that I would deem "too lengthy". A short grind here and there as a "consistency check" or "breather fight" are fair game in my opinion, and I suppose at this point it's fair to say that this trope is one that is going to resurface one way or another in the maps to come, which I am perfectly fine with.

Visually this one here looks even more striking than degrassi I believe, but maybe it's just my personal taste speaking here. Even though one may argue the graveyard section isn't particulary "rich" in terms of detail as far as sector geometry is considered, I was amazed. Things like that make me look twice and walk around for a bit to just "soak in the scenery". Overall the use of colours here, coupled with the scale of some of the geometry, give this map a superbly abstract feel that really sort of tricked my perception of scale at times.

The MIDI, even though being sort of like "elevator music", is a very welcome addition to this map. I could not have played it if there was some metal banging all the time, in fact when walking around in some of the already mostly cleared parts of this map at some point, I was really glad it was there to give me a bit of a relaxing "vibe" that worked really well with this map's aesthetics.

Quite a large map once more, not necessarily easy to "digest" either, but a great experience overall. I will certainly go back to this map eventually to fall in love with it a little bit more.

Map 2 HMP: Completed 100% with no saves or cheats

  It's Quake E1M2.  There's also another remake of that map on the IDgames archives (castleof.wad for Doom 2) and that one even has Quake sound effects imported in so is there enough room in Doomland for two remakes?

  I'm not going to answer that question, instead focusing on this one in isolation.  Castleof.wad was still relevant to me as I had never really found the secrets in Quake E1 but did find them in the remake and that carries over.  All the armor is hiding in secrets so it helps to find them.  Also, "gasp" medikits, and stimpacks.  Actual effort into not UV.  I believe this is the exception rather than the rule for this collection so it's a glorious sight in context.

  Opposition consists of revenants, chaingunners, and cacodemons with a few guest appearances by other monsters.  The inescapable lava is more of a danger and it's something that will show up again and again in these maps, much to the frustration of many.  With only small numbers of enemies at once, it's all the more surprising when violence does erupt and three archviles rush in simultaneously to burn the player.

I believe the intended progression behind the blue door is to activate the switch, then ride a candle up to the height of the skull switches.  However, because this is the doom engine, the shoot switches are infinite height and can be activated at ground level.  Hitting one with a stray shot while fighting off something else is quite possible as well.

Very easygoing map.  However, it's UV where the map gets its reputation.  I did give it a try without god mode just to see how long I'd last.  I did stumble into the hidden ammo cache but gave up upon facing down a cyber with just SSG and RL.  Took the god mode tour to see what the talk was all about; so that where the high monster count comes from.

Guess ill post map04 first, then map03 some time later this month :P

MAP04 - “Rosewater Park”

This is quite a unique remake of Silent Hill. TOD continues to show his mastery of stock assets, recreating the game perfectly and creatively from a visual standpoint.

The gameplay is more along the line of a arcade like slaughter level however. Especially with the music playing, which gives somewhat of a comedic feel. The encounters were very fun tho, and i like the fact that you can climb around the walls and ledges of the park, the void around it, and the secrets :)

To repeat myself, a unique level, I like it how its short and easy too after 3 hard and grueling maps :D

Sidenote: there are more TOD Silent Hill remakes in Tom19, but they have a different feel from this map, just as cool tho.

Some screenies:

Eighty-minutes Squandered Pointlessly:  Map04 - "Rosewater Park"

Playtime: 3 hrs (prb+; cl9; uv-nosave; DNF)

Huh, I remember playing this one too, similarly to Map02 i've seen it before.  Is all of tom19.wad in esp.wad? Is tom19 a redundant file then?

Well anyways, I remember this one being pretty managable and short - but I didn't remember any particular details.  The map was not trivial, but still short enough to be worthy of save-less.  After dozens of deaths, I killed cleared all monsters active on the field.  It took about 1.5 hrs but was a fun experience.  What happened to the other half of the three-hour playtime? Well, I jumped around on things and wall-humped because "there must be something I missed".  There was the Icon that seemed to be shielded from bullets by engine-datastructure-quackery; maybe a rocket's splash could hit it, but i had used all the rockets on the map already.  I didn't give up because I saw the secret switch that "could've been the actual means of exit".  In pursuit of the switch, I climbed on the hedges and fences, but couldn't reach the switch pit from anywhere.  I heard "hurr urr hurgh" from behind a wall, which indicated some unreleased archviles that perhaps could be used for closing the jump distance to the pit; so, i just went around humping and shooting everything.  It was those sequence of teases, the switch and the archvile noises, that kept me floundering about like an idiot for quite a while before giving up and checking doombuilder.  Whelp, that's a bummer.

On a good note tho, i otherwise liked the map.  Like the previous map, Map04 let's you explore things using the z-dimension, which is something I wish more maps allowed and rewarded for (or even forced players into).  By playing this mapset, I feel myself going back to my doom roots and remembering what originally resonated with me with Doom; maps like Inmost Dens, Industrial Zone, and Downtown.

Map 04 : "Rosewater Park"

Size : Small

DEMO

An another level recreated from an another game. As previously said , it's one of Tod maps inspired of Silent Hill games. More exactly , "Rosewater Park" comes from Silent Hill 2.  The first game on PS1 was my favourite for my side although SH2 was a pure masterpiece with its creepy and melancholic atmosphere. I found on TOD's Ftp some screens which compare the likeness between the map and the original game :

I agree with Catpho on the fact that the music completly contrasts with the melancholy provided by the real Rosewater Park. I don't reproach it because it fits very well with the dynamic gameplay instead. The level is in a fact a little slaughterfest accompanied with a lot eccenctricity.

First of all , this map can be very hard if you don't know some tricks to grab the BFG earlier for instance. I never finished this level normally to be honest , I always did the AVJ near the rocket launcher to reach the TP which lead to the BFG. However , I think it's widely possible to finish it without tricks because ammo and health are plentyful (but also monsters !) and secrets are useful and , fortunaly not mandatory.

Also , an other interesting thing in this level was that you can climb a lot of low walls and tiny ledges to reach the secrets or just walking around. Moreover , you must stay on a very tiny sector in order to be at the same height of the romero head. (You can't shoot at him from below). In call cases , I like when mappers make the environment climbable.

It doesnt look like it , but the layout was almost completely made of square sectors . In fact , only the wooden structure with the rocket launcher proves to not be square (And the Romero's head sector but you can't see it in game...). The stock textures make Rosewater Park a lot more colorful that it should be. However , I think that you can add a fog on zdoom but it doesn't matter because this level is supposed to have more comptability. I liked the black "sky" which was constantly used in Time of Maps , it gives the same  feeling of loneliness iof Silent Hill.

A very cool map but my  favourite is "Brookhaven Hospital" (MAP 12

Here is a quick uv-max I just did on Map 04. ToD did a really good time on it (4:XX).

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/341887866705674241/419835562049011712/Roofi_ESP_04_813.lmp

Alright, time to start making some attempts, even though it is a bad month for me. I didn't realize some of these maps were so frigging long unfortunately. Skipping MAP01 for now at least.

MAP02: Castle of the Damned

12% kills, 2/3 secrets

Huh, this one also has difficulty settings... chaingunners/one rev at HMP or lower, revs/one cyber at UV. How many of these levels actually do have difficulty settings?

So, right off the bat, it's easy to notice that item-wise there's some obtuse progression here which I'm not a fan of. After trying to run past everything 'normally' a couple times I decided to try the secret passage instead, so, already requires a very strong eye or remembering the second level of a game from 20 years ago. Then even when you find the megasphere you need to take a dip into the water to actually pick up all the weapons. BFG requires pushing a torch. I know that replaying a map multiple times to learn it so you can beat it is sort of part and parcel for these styles of maps, but needing to play a few times just to learn the progression before even thinking about strategy and such for the encounters feels unnecessary to me.

So, arsenal in hand, I went about clearing the rest of the main level. I never really have bothered two-shotting cybers before, but it's pretty much necessary here, and it does make for some good practice. The one thing that throws me off is that old quirk about the invisible BFG damage coming from the direction you're facing when you pull the trigger, so if you make a quick 90 degree turn around a corner to blast the cyber you'll waste most of the damage, for example. Anyways, after 2-shotting all the cybers I ran out of BFG juice on the one immediately behind the blue key door (couldn't figure out how to reach the cells near the teleporter), only to be greeted by 3 more cybers and some AVs, so, at that point just ran to the end and took the lava bath exit.

glboom+ / uv / pistol starts / saves

map02 fda (part 1, so far...)

this was a fun little breather. i only played the demo version of Quake but this is definitely reminiscent. unfortunately i wasn't able to trigger the 'secret' that would lead to the other ~700 enemies - i cant work out what triggers the caches to open at the end - if anyone can let me know? :( ive watched ToD's demo and cant see what ive missed out...

3 minutes ago, Magnusblitz said:

Alright, time to start making some attempts, even though it is a bad month for me. I didn't realize some of these maps were so frigging long unfortunately. Skipping MAP01 for now at least.

 

MAP02: Castle of the Damned

12% kills, 2/3 secrets

 

Huh, this one also has difficulty settings... chaingunners/one rev at HMP or lower, revs/one cyber at UV. How many of these levels actually do have difficulty settings?

 

So, right off the bat, notice some things. There's some obtuse progression here which I'm not a fan of. After trying to run past everything 'normally' a couple times I decided to try the secret passage instead, so, already requires a very strong eye or remembering the second level of a game from 20 years ago. Then even when you find the megasphere you need to take a dip into the water to actually pick up all the weapons. BFG requires pushing a torch. I know that replaying a map multiple times to learn it so you can beat it is sort of part and parcel for these styles of maps, but needing to play a few times just to learn the progression before even thinking about strategy and such for the encounters feels unnecessary to me.

theyre pretty much all like that from what i can tell so it might be worth watching ToD's max demos before playing, or do what im doing which is if i find im running around without finding anything i watch up till that point and then jump back in to playing.

MAP03

What the fuck is this? It's a huge god mode spam fest even on ITYTD.

39 minutes ago, Snikle said:

MAP03

 

What the fuck is this? It's a huge god mode spam fest even on ITYTD.

Oh dude , did you check map 05? :D

Rosewater park is quite a lovely map that feels gimmicky, but in a way that is rather easy to wrap one's head around.

After trying to play it blind and running out of rockets at a very inopportune time I decided to watch the demo TOD made for this map and saw how he sequence broke it with an AVJ to get an early BFG here. Still not "that" easy of a map when you play it after seeing the demo only once, but otherwise a nice little breather that is very welcome at this point. Good practice map too if you wanna get more comfortable with dodging ordinance from several cybies at once. Just get in the corridor, start from a safe disctance and get close as you can to see how long you last. That was good fun.

The viles are still present pretty much everywhere in this map, however they are mostly support units this time around -even fodder at times- and rarely if ever will get a lock on you that is gonna be actually dangerous. In fact it is possible to cheese the vile near the secret switch and chaingun tap it to death, if one so desires. Not that it is particularly difficult to take out from close up with the SSG, but getting some "free" damage in on it while the corridor is getting cleared by the cybies doesn't hurt either. Megaspheres are placed somewhat liberally here early on, which should be in favour of both people looking to max this map quickly or those looking to play it more safely. Unless you do an AVJ for an early BFG the pack of imps can demand some respect, since you don't want to get chipped too hard there before getting to the actual meat of the map. The small stairs that lead into the actual "park" can prove to be somewhat treacherous, especially if you want to hold off on the MS there for when most of the imps are dead so you can get the most out of it once you tackle the park itself.

Aesthetically a different deal than the previous maps that still manages to convey a sense of location. I was particularly fond of the small "garden area" with the single vile in it, I thought it looked quite cute actually.

MAP04

Quite liked this one. Only required short spats of God Mode and a few "Give health"s rather than being an all-out spam fest. This level looked great, and had a fun gimmick behind it. As usual, getting monsters to infight was a fun experience. The sense of place here was good as well.

Exit Signs Perpetually:  Map05 - "dholes"

Playtime: 3.07 hrs (prb+; cl-1; uv-savescum)

After playing this map, the name makes sense now.  I can tell it's an abbreviation for "Dick-holes".  That's just what I'm calling it now. 

When you first open the gates at the start, you spend some time beating down some meat; but then once you get a firm grip on it, you can start unloading at a steady pace, and shooting through the map.  I'm talking about BFG spamming, of course.

I had some trouble on the red-key fight.

Ahh, finally the exit, guarded by a giant megazord of boss monsters.  That "exit" had me laughing when I stepped through, then confused, then in pain when I got closer to other side.  Well, there's more to go but 'Ahh', all i need is 6 keys to go through the real exit, i see.

Nope.  I see now why the map name is plural: there are multiple dholes, this is because the map is just one dick-hole after another.

Overall, I liked the other two long maps, Map01 and Map03 a bit more than this one.  It also looks like we are through some of the longer ones, but judging by the par times in the .txt, there's a lot of crazy long stuff ahead still.

If this review is dumb, that's be cause i'm dumb, and just played a ToD map*.  I'm already in too deep though by now.  I guess I gotta finish the whole set.

Seriously, im playing map05 and it looks ridiculous, but also epic :P

I wonder what motivates TOD to make such long and hard maps, what kind of twisted dreams inspired him O_o

Sorry double post lol

Heres my progress on map05, before i called it a day:

Map03 is getting on my nerves too, heh

The map 05 is one of the hardest for me and also one of the longest along with Escaping the spiral labyrinth  and Nostril Caverns.

6 minutes ago, Roofi said:

The map 05 is one of the hardest for me and also one of the longest along with Escaping the spiral labyrinth  and Nostril Caverns.

Strangely i have beaten Nostril Caverns, but ill post my thoughts on day we play it :)

dholes is nice, but it annoys me at times... aside of the many rather cool and relatively easy fights (relatively, mmkay?), these pillared viles that make an appearance many times over just stick around for too long to be enjoyable for me personally. I get why they're there, and I can see how using them is such a way to guard important resources is a neat idea, but this is overdoing it, imo. Especially the first sets of viles on these high pillars early on pissed me off to no ends, and it wasn't even because they were that dangerous once you got close enough, they just last for too long and, good lord, eventually I wanna move on with things there. Another serious downer in regards to this map was the drop out of the building that had the three switches in it. First attempt at the map ended there due to getting blocked by a cybie and then getting rockets launched up my arse mid-air for good measure.

Jokes and sodium aside, most of the fights here are relatively manageable if one just keeps moving and doesn't get impatient. Too agressive play will snuff you out quicker than a desert melts ice here more often than not. Knowing what's gonna happen when and where is key to survival at times, especially once the red skull key is obtained. The warp-ins there aren't particularly problematic, also the cybies and the two viles after that aren't much of an issue, but the small horde of viles right after is probably lethal if you don't know how to take the edge off of that. In my opinion there isn't much in this here map that should prove to be too dangerous or particularly difficult aside of the vile horde I mentioned already, and maybe the occasional revenant mob that shows up at times. In the latter cases it's probably mostly a matter of the terrain you're in to begin with.

Visually this is quite an interesting deal yet again. Especially the dark areas coupled with strong colours such as blue, pink or red really stand out for me. In spite of the monster density here, the pace of the map overall isn't really up my alley. A lot of times there is backtracking for ammo going on, or if you're a bit too careless health, for that matter. And that backtracking takes a lot of tempo out of the map from my POV. It's not particularly bad overall, but I like it better when ammo distributed in a way that allows me to push forward for longer periods of time than is the case in this map at times.

Most fun fight for me was the building that had the three switches in it. Some rather easy but satisfying small grinds to start with, a more dangerous revenant invasion shortly after, and then the viles that want nothing more than ruining your day made for quite a enjoyable and fast paced area overall, that had some nice nuances to it as well. That being said, I like this map all things considered, a few minor drawbacks aside (which I can easily forgive, because of all the other cool stuff in it) this is a nicely crafted map that isn't the most welcoming one of them all, but it surely is rewarding to play through if you're un the mood for a map of this size, length, and potential lethalty (if you mess it up). I had to play this in two sessions due to its length and typically abstract progression, but it was a good time once I got a bit of a feel for the map.

EDIT: For those looking to play map 06, trying to figure this one out just by playing and seeing what happens is pretty much bound to be an excercise in futility. Either look it all up in the builder, or watch the demo, otherwise this is gonna be a short experience for you.

Exotic Salamander Populations: Map06 - "Smedly"
~1 hr (prb+ cl9 uv-nosaves) ; about 1000 kills on my last life.
~1 hr (prb+ cl-1 uv-saves) ; finished it off with saves
Total Playtime: 2.2 hrs

Oh it's Entryway.  Cool.  Sorta like Go-2-It but thicker and with a few puzzle elements.

4 hours ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

EDIT: For those looking to play map 06, trying to figure this one out just by playing and seeing what happens is pretty much bound to be an excercise in futility. Either look it all up in the builder, or watch the demo, otherwise this is gonna be a short experience for you.

For me it was an exercise in fun-tility¹, because it didn't take too long (by my standards) before I figured things out.  Unlike some of the previous maps that were large, this one is a more confined space, and most of it is based on the familiar Entryway.  Compared to large maps, small maps give the player a chance to find any cryptic progression.

The most fun part of this map was seeing the ways Entryway is abstracted away from, but entwined with new features and bells-and-whistles to interact with.  It mixes nostalgia with unfamiliarity.  If Entryway didn't exist but Smedly still did, I might have enjoyed the map but wouldn't have found it nearly as interesting.

While playing, I found the Blue Key and Yellow Key, but I didn't unlock all the monsters before I killed Romero.  I also never figured out what the number puzzle in that cramped vile hole was too... hmm...  I wonder what I missed.

^{1. kill me :)}

MAP06 - “Smedley”

Amusing name

Its kinda late when i posted this(might be reason for short review???), and because i didnt take time to find the secrets, so the map was a short experienced for me(should have taken note of the warning, gotta come back to a lot of these TOD maps >_<)

Fun Bfg slaughter remake of Entryway/Go2it, the good quake texturing and TOD's trademark gameplay really distinguishes it from other entryway remakes.

Thats all i can really add, map doesnt have a whole lot to talk about(maybe more if i find the secret?).

Side note: love to see more TOD quake textured levels, even tho i think there are some in Tom19(link in map04 review of mine)

Also, map03 and map05 are really the pain in the ass this month huh :P

Best midi ever, adds a strange feeling of melancholy to map. 

Anyway, some screenies:

Secret area(i used idclip):
 

Map 06 : Smedley

Size : Medium

DEMO

I didn't finish neither Map 05 nor map 03 yesterday . However , map 06 is one of the maps that I completed the last year. So here is a demo with a review !

This is the Tod's Map01 remake of Doom2 and I think it's one of his strangest works but also from the whole doom community. Its strangeness makes me love this map. In fact , we have a ridiculously overloaded with monsters quakish remake of the first map of Doom2 and moreover ; a lot of cryptic secrets to find . Yeah !

EVERYTHING proves to be weird in this map. First of all , all the cramped areas were filled to the maximum with monsters , health and ammo. Seriously , "Go 2 it" looks peaceful compared to this ! Just for instance : a lot of revenants guard the first corridors , dozens of cyberdemons and other monsters keep the outdoors , the original green armour secret's room is now a  sanguinary rapefest.... You can find a few invulnerability  spheres but you should use them at the good time , especially for the "green armor room" as mentionned before. However , ammo and health are crazily plentiful and you obtain all weapons (even the bfg) at the very beginning (if you manage to pass the cyber just next to you).

The weirdest things in this level are perhaps the layout itself but also the fact that at least 1000 ennemies can be killed only by finding some secrets. Secrets represent also one of the main interests of the level. In my demo , I was far to discover them all (I finished with nearly 40% secrets found) because finding the secrets initiates optional fights and the map is enough tough... But some secrets can make the map easier because you can kill monsters in a more unconventionnal way. I think about the secret which is accessible with an AVJ near the spawn.

Although we are not forced to discover the whole  to finish the map , the progression stays very obscure. You must kill the romero heads  hidden in the two pillars at the beginning. It doesn't look like an exit and nothing indicates you that you must use your keys here. You actually need two keys to "open" those pillars : the blue one can be found very quickly but the yellow is situated in a secret area only accessible by shooting a tiny switch behind a little wall.  And as usual , nothing indicates you how to find the yellow key too. So , this level will give you a little Eternal Doom vibe.

A lot of "eye switchs" are scattered in the level. Find them all and you will maybe find some useless zones where you may be killed by XXXX cyberdemons and arch viles. However , a hidden puzzle with a piano must be solved in order to make an uv-max on this map. ToD got a lot of inspiration from Silent Hill again because there was a similar puzzle in the first game (in the school if I'm not wrong).

I like Quake's textures but I acknowledge that this map is not particularly beautiful , it looks rather gross to be honest but whatever , we are here to kill a shitload of ennemies. :D

For those who liked the music , here is the original version :

map02 - the last batch of monsters teleport in after you walk through the exit door, but only if all of the keens or cybers are already dead. You're expected to know the Quake secrets (the bfg secret is the quad damage secret). Quake is a really cool game.

map03 - standing on the rock platforms without them falling into the lava so you can wait for the exit to lower was actually unintentional, that's a pretty huge shortcut that I'm glad exists now. When you go through the key doors in the north, there's a rad suit you use for the exit.

map06 - the original zdoom version of smedley had a better puzzle for the numbers/piano puzzle. In the zdoom version, when you teleport into that big dark room with the piano, the music changes to a piano melody. When you press the piano keys, it plays piano notes. So to solve the puzzle you have to play the piano melody.

About the big maps, they're just something I like to make and play. There's just something super cool about finishing a weird giant map. All of my maps are made and played on my 16-year-old computer, so that level of detail and monster density is pretty much the limit of what I can make and play on this computer (without nodes taking too long to build and fps getting too low).

Valen's Fortress theme is so good, I used it in one of my 2048 Unleashed maps.

Think I'll be skipping the gargantuan maps and sticking with the shorter ones for now...

MAP04: Rosewater Park

97% kills, 3/5 secrets

This one's pretty decent, and much more of the 'line enemies up in a hallway and hold the trigger' variety of slaughter, but not without some tricks. I enjoyed using the cyberdemons behind you at the start first to clear the army of chaingunners, and then to help take out the AV squad that teleports in. After that was a run up to the imp army, which takes a nice bit of dancing if you've only got the RL and didn't take the AV jump shortcut to the BFG. There's also a couple of pain elementals there just to make your life hell by spitting souls in your face so you can Good At Doom yourself. Nice trick with using the arachnatrons as a temporary wall too to hold back the revenants at first. I also liked being able to climb around the various hedges searching for the secrets, though I'm not sure what causes the blue key to eventually lower and it took me quite awhile to get it (killing the cyberdemons on the moving lifts is a bit tedious). Once I finally did, it was off to the BFG and heroically fighting the huge revenant swarm and cyberdemon buddies by hiding in the upper left corner of the map to cause infighting.

Haven't played Silent Hill so the recreation was lost on me, but it does look pretty nice considering the square-ishness of it. Fun map, frustration with the blue key aside.