What are you playing now?

atmp_backgroundalpha 0.7
atmp_enablemap true
atmp_mapalpha 1
atmp_mapbackground false
atmp_mapscale 0.1
atmp_mapsize 315
atmp_mapx 1275
atmp_mapy 10

alias map.rotate.0 "am_rotate 0; atmp_maprotates 0"
alias map.rotate.1 "am_rotate 1; atmp_maprotates 1"
alias map.rotate.test "test = $am_rotate 1 map.rotate.0 map.rotate.1"
bind kp0 map.rotate.test

alias map.recolor.0 "am_cdwallcolor $am_ovcdwallcolor; am_efwallcolor $am_ovefwallcolor; am_fdwallcolor $am_ovfdwallcolor; am_interlevelcolor $am_ovinterlevelcolor; am_interlevelcolor $am_ovtelecolor; am_intralevelcolor $am_ovtelecolor; am_lockedcolor $am_ovlockedcolor; am_ovunseencolor $am_notseencolor; am_portalcolor $am_ovportalcolor; am_secretsectorcolor $am_ovsecretsectorcolor; am_secretwallcolor $am_ovsecretwallcolor; am_specialwallcolor $am_ovspecialwallcolor; am_thingcolor $am_ovthingcolor; am_thingcolor_citem $am_ovthingcolor_citem; am_thingcolor_friend $am_ovthingcolor_friend; am_thingcolor_item $am_ovthingcolor_item; am_thingcolor_monster $am_ovthingcolor_monster; am_thingcolor_ncmonster $am_ovthingcolor_ncmonster; am_unexploredsecretcolor $am_ovunexploredsecretcolor; am_wallcolor $am_ovwallcolor; am_yourcolor $am_ovyourcolor; rebind map.recolor.1"
alias map.recolor.1 "am_restorecolors; am_ovunseencolor $am_notseencolor; rebind map.recolor.0"
bind , map.recolor.0
map.recolor.0

set map.mini.zoomrate 1.2
set map.mini.scale.max 1.0
set map.mini.scale.min 0.01
alias +map.mini.zoomin "eval * $atmp_mapscale $map.mini.zoomrate atmp_mapscale"
alias +map.mini.zoomin.test.2 "test < $atmp_mapscale $map.mini.scale.max +map.mini.zoomin"
alias +map.mini.zoomin.test.1 "test = $atmp_enablemap true +map.mini.zoomin.test.2
alias +map.zoomin "+map.mini.zoomin.test.1; +am_zoomin"
alias -map.zoomin "-am_zoomin"
bind pgup +map.zoomin

alias +map.mini.zoomout "eval / $atmp_mapscale $map.mini.zoomrate atmp_mapscale"
alias +map.mini.zoomout.test.2 "test > $atmp_mapscale $map.mini.scale.min +map.mini.zoomout"
alias +map.mini.zoomout.test.1 "test = $atmp_enablemap true +map.mini.zoomout.test.2
alias +map.zoomout "+map.mini.zoomout.test.1; +am_zoomout"
alias -map.zoomout "-am_zoomout"
bind pgdn +map.zoomout

01. Oh the ol' secret behind the start. Quick thing. Imps and zombiemen, best dealt with a zerk. Cute hidden stimpack.

 

02. Shotgun introduction, not before some pistol whipping (skippable though). Very bright, or maybe it's the opengl renderer. Getting Demofear energy so far...

 

03. Similar sort of deal at the start, until a chaingun falls from its owner. Saved the blur sphere for that in particular, though not really necessary. I saw boom timers getting their first appearance at the end.

 

04. The long grassy courtyard kind of reminded me of a HR map. There's a little bit more action here and a possibly much necessary zerk reboot. Dunno why there was a demon in a pit in front of the exit but I ignored it.

 

05. I know this midi! And the level has antique energy structurally and combat wise. The imps are the highlight I believe. The SSG closure made me wonder if it was more of a gift to carry to the next maps than for the little fight itself. Secret rockets went towards one of the HKs.

 

06. Even more Demonfear energy. Once outside it hit with a difficulty spike, soft but immediately notable if you choose to ignore the mancubus like I did (which cost me half my health to burst shots). Not sure what was going on with the revs, they were moving in tight circles for whatever reason, which confused me. Thought there were MBL around them, but no, just troll movement. Nice finale, though maybe the imps came out too late imo.

 

07. Okay, I'm noticing an author change here. Things stay brief, slightly softer and with SG/CG focus. Not a fan of the lift triggers and doors so close to each other, back up a bit and you fall because the lift is down. Inoffensive, but an observation. Digging these skirmishes so far. I kinda liked that last secret, for continuous players.

 

08. Ooh a Mark Klem song, me likes. First view is quite open, something of a neighborhood theme (heh :p), possibly the biggest map so far. Things quickly evolved into  zombiemen spam silliness in the open, nice. "Big" ambushes were fun, rockets and chaingun frenzy. Almost missed the lift-based secret, except the trigger worked from the side. Been a while since I've seen a casual scrolling COMPTALL wall detail.

 

09. Now a David Shaw song, yes!. Cute boat at the beginning. Something of that initial view, with the lake and trees on tan rocky relief, that classic old-school topography, plus the key on a pedestal, reminded me of the 3hda trilogy. Maybe a wild comparison, the inner parts also took me there... Anyways, fine stuff.  Somewhat of a tense crossfire inside. The first arachnotron really took its time to team up with me. Not sure the final ambush was all that effective, rev fireballs couldn't get me.

 

10. So, what the grownups would call, a sand(y)box, I believe. Without the characteristic non-linearity, but still exploratory in presentation, similar to a Scythe E2 map, except brighter. Looked nice, played nice, would probably feel underpopulated for some people but I was fine with the small infight going on. Loved that secret tp placement. Scored my first death at the start, dropped unarmed in the pit with spectres, yet it was a homing rocket what destroyed me, of course.  Funniest part, pushed a chaingunner off a ledge, then snagged his gun. Oh boom format you're so quirky!!

 

11. Aha, the step up in difficulty I read about. From exploration on nukage, to congested groups in relatively tight spaces. Make no mistake, health exist in a few stimpacks, a medikit or two, an early secret zerk I wish I left for later, and that's it, similar to map 04. Some early events went hilariously bad --first rocket on a spectre followed by a shot from that douchebag, then later failing to activate the metal lifts out of the trap, which confused me for a minute and soaked too much poison in exchange of said confusion-- thus I played the rest with below 20% health.  Survived somehow though, the cyb/revs cluster  was a little hairy, but the final hitscanners had me begging for mercy. All good, I had fun. Additional thoughts: loved the backpack secret and architecture in general, it's got Memfis vibes.

 

12. Small hub-based map, with elements similar to the mapper's previous maps. The HKs/pinkies plus a PE later is a callback to the imp trap in map05. The 4-way centre too. Eastern cave was cute, that archvile brought back the manc I was stepping on (from my POV, it probably was his poop and not his whole body). I kinda liked that homage to "the focus" at the end, even if the PR was superfluous.

 

13. Nice looking cave system. The setup with pairs of teleporting ambushes on the sides is becoming an identity thing from the mappers, or the mapset itself. East wing (YK) had a little more flesh and an archvile that managed to be quite a nuisance resurrecting blockers in tic-perfect bad timing. I was low on ammo for the other wing (RK) but it went fine. I don't know what the switch in the "XD" secret was linked to. Not sure about the Blood midi here but no big deal.

 

14. More hubs!. Those hateful neighbors could only do so much behind doors, but the one archvile in the little courtyard almost claimed victory after not dying to like 5 SSG shots. There was a weird arrow pointing to a wall in a bunker at the BK wing. There were also some suspicious walls in the other bunker, but  shooting that first wall did absolutely nothing that I could see. Heh. Nearly electrocuted to death by hyper-active arachnotrons at the end. The cute boat is back.

 

15. Fun stuff. Intensity took a similar turn like in map 11, presumably because of the slot. Not about cramped scenarios, but a generally hectic start with height pressure, pain elementals in the mix and ammo in the wrong hands, well, paws. The RL was deeper inside, and by that time I decided to clear the cave for the next rounds, which were naturally less pressuring but cathartic in a glorious way. The cave looked nice and gloomy, barring a couple iffy texture transitions here and there. There was also a keen hunt, not too hard considering the scale of the map. It took me a minute to see the other exit, and I must say I was tempted to follow the warnings, but my gut told me to continue... hmmm....

 

31. Oh. Well, I never played the original incarnations, though I'm fairly sure the infamous "fps destroyer arena" was a lot more, umm, anti-fps than this. Quite possibly a first time mapping scrap left hanging in the hard disk, or not, who knows!

 

32. The song!!! I knew the map from MrZzul streams, but I couldn't not hold my laughter as if I heard it for the first time again. Perseverance is the key to win, and not taking it any serious helps. The last bit was the dirtiest by far, although I wondered where those 77 monsters were hiding. Turns out they were part of a secret annex previously hinted as "the better map", only accessible from the beginning. I have to disagree with the mapper there, this secret gift may have its Romero-like quirky geometry and stuff, but the former signature chasm beats the crap out of it. Ironic, but I guess there's something for everyone here. Better or not, perhaps I would have chunked a second optional exit for those who choose or prefer the combat map only,  so that the chasm isn't mandatory after that.

 

16.  Chamelenoel likes their hubs apparently. And the BK usually the last key acquired is a pattern. It had a twist though. Went east first. The archvile needed to be herd out of the RL cache, because of little hitscan ammo (forgot I had zerk). Heh, the surprise trap caught me off guard, but thanks to RNGesus the archvile suffered major damage through lucky infight. A rocket killed it. The other wing held all the keys so maybe east first was intended. It followed less dangerous traps, yet health was tight so I still had to be mindful. I kinda liked that silly switch puzzle, an old wad classic setup just because why not.

 

17. Cool shit. One of my fav STRAIN midis used decently. Anonimvio makes nice visuals and lighting contrast. It's unfortunate that none of glboom's opengl render shadows like in software, but whatever. The interiors reminded me of Resurgence a little, blood and bricks. Heh, that first trap packed the harshness that I liked in Joshy's wad. Wanted to use one preemptive BFG shot on the gunners, then take a defensive role because of the openness and more gunners. The second trap was okay, at least after I could see where the archvile came from (fucking opengl shaders). He goes first, then the mancubi for that needed space, and cleanup later. Not my favorite kind of closets trap + floor archvile, but no big deal. In the end I had just enough to kill the cacos. Two monsters never spawned due to what I assumed wrong skill flags. The secrets though, no hints, or maybe I didn't pay enough attention. Always in favor of  secret boosts for continuous.

 

18. Good AV music choice for a dungeon start. There was a secret SG that might have been intended to snag for the first chaingunner, but I killed him with pistol - lucky pain chance. Next section, a quad tp setup with timers, the usual from the wad. Outside I kinda tried to get the stuck monsters hit by splash, not that it was any effective. The latter watery section was nice. I'd assume one part of the plan is to release the archviles while the rest is alive, but that's speedrun territory. In the end I felt lucky the cyb pacifisted while I couldn't move during the teleport fuzz effect. Secret zerk counted as two. 

 

19. More cool shit. The RL centrism was appreciated for a change. Nothing too punishing, the first large trap had that crowd control and infight management with assorted groups. Lots of lost souls and pinkies in the mix. Latter areas had that similar fighting mechanism. Visually I was reminded of Resurgence map 31, the silent dimension. Apparently archviles loved to just run in zigzag without ever changing their strats this time. The last secret was weird, a shoot button that could perfectly be push type, for two stimpacks lol. The other secret had a message I didn't get, and some minor skybox clipping issues.

 

20. Interesting. A self-contained arena that starts humble and isn't afraid to transform itself. This showed an evolution from the mapper, with willingness to spice it up with voodoo doll magic for a sense of atmosphere. The only 'dull' areas were the symmetrical zombiemen hordes, which also guaranteed safe/cheese spots, but I didn't mind them much since the finale actually required aggressive moves, provided the two archviles behaved during their ceremonial release and not attack together in UV fast mode. The rush for the BFG must be immediate, lest a pinky or a spectre tries to ruin everything.  Defensive went bad, of course an archvile had to pain chance and elude tracers.

 

21. Zerk tyson hell map, classic move. It had that Scythe energy with ambiance though until the PR introduction at the end it was strictly devoted to punching with pistol/infight support. Little recovery from mistakes, or chip scan shots. Invul setup was strict in timers. It helped to immediately lock one archvile on its tp pad for a better start. Their own splash is your secondary weapon here. I got to telefrag a mancubus afterwards. Finale reminded me of something similar I made once, of course the big thing had to spam and pay the consequences. That one secret stimpack though...

 

22. Oh yes, castle themed hell, classic. Another two-wings hub map. Left side involved hopping on libraries and killing gasbags, which reminded me of  SoD map 25. The other side was more brutal. Its hitscan hell exposure begged for a skip asap, so I did that. A suspicious tp took me to the face of two archviles, which killed me. Wasn't sure what was the right strategy at first, but it clicked after a quick inspection (on iddqd). Dickish, as that skip I mentioned was actually the right way. The archviles were behind block lines, so cover was granted. They ought to die so the gunners on top are no longer immortal. The ending room hosted some near pitch black ambushes, nothing the RL couldn't handle. All good I think. Just don't be dumb like me and grab the weapons at the start before going anywhere.

 

23. Great map... in theory. A mix of (old) Sunder aesthetics with Sunlust energetic combat, and a PRCP midi most people should recognize. Health was at a premium, even by the set standards. I got reduced to a miserable state early on, after a couple deaths. I wasn't a fan of the "floor archviles" in the C-shaped YK setup, as MrZzul would call them. They really forced me to camp somewhere out of their LoS if they didn't get caught on infight or spawned pacifically, preferably  in the imps/chainers room. The cover in the main area wasn't all that useful either. Wished it let me orchestrate the infight more up close, but whatever.

 

The next fleshy area was cool, more incidental, with two useful secrets, though followed by yet more floor archviles in the mix (plenty of cover, except the RNG behaved annoyingly here so there was frustration out of something not even hard). Past the mini hub I went north(?), red area with gray bricks. Munched by invisible spectres, argh. Cool stuff, I liked the fliers set piece (was waiting for floor enemies but nothing spawned). I switched to software mode a couple maps ago so I could appreciate visuals better. Lighting was very "vanilla beautiful". Crusher + barons was slightly tense, again due to strict health. At this point I'm thinking of dividing this into more paragraphs...

 

Anyways, the other wing held the BK. A series of incidental setups playing with exposure to plasma streams and body blockers, then a classic cannonball-esque metal  room with some cleanup duty prior to the actual traps. These last archviles behaved very nicely. I had more health to spare also, collecting stimpacks every 10 inches of playground. Some of the secret backpacks in this map were a bit superfluous I'd say. I liked the sequence to the exit. Must once again praise the setting, very attractive.

 

Surely someone would think the secret BFG may trivialize some of the fights, but I don't mind that. Sometimes well placed BFG shots are satisfying regardless of other necessities.

 

24. Oh, this appeared earlier than I expected. No idea what babbling this new icon spit. Things went pretty fast, something DotW wouldn't be quite keen on, I believe. Them having a little extra speed teleporting from conveyors was amusing to watch. Only minor problem was occasional infinite tallness from cacodemons high up out of FOV, but nothing really bothersome. No timed lift!!

 

25. Ah so that was it, lmao. Well, I sure hope the neighborhood is in peace now!

01. Urban setting is cool. Lots of destroyed cars and terrain, which hints a massive catastrophe occurred recently (well, "end of earth" duh). The cyb patrol may have known, or been partially responsible for. Not like I was so intrigued to ask him anyway. Bit of running around while waking up more things, flying imps and stuff, getting inside a building and later releasing the commander of the explosion (who sent the cyb back home). Found a good BFG in the cargo area to keep her away. The latest portion looked interesting. An actual useful blur sphere prefaced the introduction of hitscan arachnotrons. Fun thing.

 

Enjoyed the sprites too, some goofy ones like tiny mice that chase you, the mannequins, those explosive vases, or in material of sectors, the speakers and all of the random electrical appliances on the ground, particularly the microwave and washing machine sitting just there. I found those floating luminous arrows amusing too -- sectorized arrows might come off as tacky, not here though, as they weren't in plain view or obtrusive. I almost miss the RL if it weren't for an arrow pointing it. Cute thing with the map titles. Noticed the CG had a new safety pin, hmm...

 

02. We arrived at some rich people's residence apparently, complete with a kinda lifeless garden and a large pool - which had no depth at all!. Well, lifeless except for hell invaders. Plenty of flyers and arachnotrons of both types lurking, revs and gunners sniping from distant buildings... was I playing "I Hate My Neighbors" again :P. Hostility reigned inside the building. Classic doom house details, my favourite the toilets you have to flush (lmao) to reveal a switch for the RK. The backyard had lava and the other 200 monsters, mostly zombies. Missed the RL by mistake, though I found it last. Helped killing those neighbors.

 

03. One of the prettiest maps by Walter I've played. It's a party club for adults only where he let loose his creativity here to toy with the setting's own eye candies. Combat was low threat attrition throughout, minor room clearing and such skirmishes. Nicely well tuned so not to lose attention to the details around, which were the stars of the map. Loved in particular the "destroyed" architecture letting me contemplate the full moon. Many things made me giggle: the dancing marine at the bar (secret outside too), the various arcade machines, the lady feeling her oats on a toilet, that poor shotgunner next to a huge water leak (he probably dealt with explosive diarrhea), and even this. The only issue though, lots of textures with wrong offsets, at least I believe the problem is vanilla related. Very cute map though.

 

04. Haha, was waiting for this. I can always count on SuperCupcakeTactics for a lovely bloody mess. Lots of opportunities for turning fodder into thick soup, given the friendly ration of orange vases scattered both strategically and for "scripted" chains. The sped up chainsaw got to shine, as I used it in multiple places, including versus a mancubus and some revs (ironically, despite the faster damage output, they still punched me once or twice). Introduction of turret scanners, used sparingly but nothing particularly worrisome here at least. The stellar fight was the pinky/spectre assault in the, umm, subterranean corridor - mostly cinematic, though a secret might have neutered it entirely had I found it earlier. The eye candies continued to amuse me, the bar with the chaingunner and drunk imps, or the women dancing in a hidden cave, like what, lmao.

 

05. The final map kicked off wild as clusters of zombies lurked and spawned ready to pierce my body, flying imps and other lesser menaces made the first round tricky in the open. The turrets in the dark showed their power and killed me once. Quite an exploratory level, requiring to jump over wrecked areas, holes and cracks in the ground, killing lots of dudes in the way, that kind of doom urban-themed platforming, except in a post apocalyptic time, I believe. At mid point I was reminded of the Jim Flynn maps in Eternal Doom, floating texts and doomcute stuff. The gazebo was one of my favorite bits visually, excellent application of shadows, in line with the full moon illuminating from the western side (automap view).

 

Latter portions were more weighted towards freewheeling monsters, with a couple locked-in traps to break the mold, plus one particular horde of winged imps that chased me all over to the starting point, as I was still insisting on that secret soulsphere. Interesting how the secrets required thinking outside of the box - literally speaking. Both closed traps were good brutal, though the solid rock decorations  in the cave trap did feel intrusive. I guess they were there to troll players. As a final sequence the hitscanners in the dark thankfully weren't too dickish. Ah, I loved the new colors for keycards and how they were displayed in the status bar. The messages on screen could have been updated to match the correct colours though.

 

06. Alright, thank you for the good times!