The /newstuff Chronicles #255

Wallo fellow Doomers, here is your latest installment in /newstuff with a generally small haul providing a good few gems to keep you occupied this week. Enjoy! (note from Bloodshedder: /newstuff on Wednesday? Oh well, at least we're finally caught up.)

• For Whom The Bell Tolls - Didy
  Limit Removing - Solo Play - 1632 KB - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  An amazing mapset here to start us off; it’s immediately clear that the author has put huge amounts of effort into this and it has definitely paid off. The result of the work is a set of two intricately detailed maps with clever and original puzzles and enjoyable gameplay throughout. A combination of industrial and outdoor areas, which are equally breathtaking to look at, form these levels and the mind boggling puzzles are worth the time it takes to solve them. Every once in a while, we get a fantastic work of art come along. This is one of them. Play it!
  
  
• Divine malice 2 - Mike Kasten
  GZDoom - n/a - 626 KB
  A set of originally made weapon graphics which are fairly impressive. Take a look.
  
  
• Trancendental Inverse Death - Jack Thompson
  doom2.exe - Solo Play - 3 KB - (img)
  Lovely...
  
  
• Jetflock’s texture context entry - Jetflock
  Limit Removing - Solo Play - 361 KB - (img) (img)
  This is a very effective map with a dark atmosphere and brilliant detail. Gameplay is hard and intense a lot of the time, which serves to keep the player on their toes. Lighting is perhaps the most prominent factor that makes this level great. It certainly adds to the whole feel and texture of the experience. Another fine addition to this week’s newstuff.
  
  
• Never Not Completed Episode - Vasek Havranek
  doom2.exe - Solo Play - 63 KB - (img)
  The author claims to have made these in 1996. If this is so then these are bad on all accounts as they aren’t even up to 96’s standards. Very oldschool, very very plain and most of the time, ugly. I’m wondering why the author even bothered to update these to Doom 2 and release them
  
  
• 11th Hour Stauf Wad - Mitch feldman
  doom2.exe - Solo Play - 59 KB - (img)
  This is a reproduction of the Stauf mansion and does keep religiously to it. However, as a stand alone map, this is nothing special and only offers plain detail and fairly tiresome gameplay.
  
  
• The Ultimate Doom Forever - JetFlock
  Legacy Compatible - Solo Play - 3287 KB - (img) (img)
  A fairly enjoyable set of 6 maps complete with new graphics, music and sounds. While the gameplay at times is tedious, this mapset is certainly decent and is a good effort from the author. Detail is used effectively as is lighting. I would recommend you give it a try and judge for yourself.
  
  

Wow, three in a week. And it's not even my birthday!

EDIT: That Stauf Mansion map isn't new. It looks EXACTLY like the one for UDoom, made pre-1996.
EDIT2: Yes, now I remember. It was actually on the 11th Hour disk.

duncan said:

Trancendental Inverse Death - Jack Thompson
doom2.exe - Solo Play - 3 KB - (img)
Lovely...

ZMFG WOW.WAD STRIKES AGAIN!!! NUUUUU!!!!

Anyway, the wow aside, it looks like we've got a fairly nice haul this week!

Closest I've ever been to a FP. ;-)
Hmm, looks like a /newstuff with some promising WADs, mostly "For Whom The Bell Tolls" seems very promising.

Kristian Ronge said:

promising WADs, mostly "For Whom The Bell Tolls"

I guess I'm not the only one inspired by Metallica when making DOOM maps outside of the old id Software offices.

Or UT maps (4th one down). Very nice maps, certainly. You can even get a spechits overrun in map02.

Grazza said:

Very nice maps, certainly.

Don't forget that custom gfx piece! That gave me a chuckle. You know...this one.

I reviewed some of this shit here.

YAY! T/nC is now byte weeks old :)

-_DLD_- said:

I guess I'm not the only one inspired by Metallica when making DOOM maps outside of the old id Software offices.

I think someone used that line before Metallica. ;)

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."


John Donne
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, no. 17 (Meditation)
Pub 1624

Wow, a Doom map by THE Jack Thompson.

For Whom The Bell Tolls... one word for the author: Cramped

Really hard to move around in some spots. There are a lot of places where the walls catch you, and there is not enough health to offset the effects of this. :\ I'm going to finish the wad through, if for no other reason than I want to see thses puzzles I hear so much about :)

Scuba Steve said:

Wow, a Doom map by THE Jack Thompson.

AAA!

I'm teh maa!

an' thou art teh sock!

beat it in less than 5 secs an' thou ar' tha maa 'oo!

-_DLD_- said:

ZMFG WOW.WAD STRIKES AGAIN!!! NUUUUU!!!!

Toy'rt fun too ;D

can¨t sotp laugingh.. arrrgh! I'm the bast!

For Whom The Bell Tolls is just pure sex :)

Cramped? Nonsense. The few places where it really is tight are not combat intensive and there is more than enough health everywhere.

Making fun of the wow aside...I seriously have to wonder...what the fuck was that idiot thinking when he made the map?! Especially since it looks like he was serious. Especially since he's probably older than I am...even if he's not, I made better maps when I was 9, and this was before I knew how to make a door.

Like, honestly, I really really would like to see the author's exact thought process while he was designing this.

The sheer and utter stupidity just makes me want to throw myself off a cliff.

Jimi's post seems to suggest that he is claiming responsibility. If so, then it is one of a number of junk maps he has released in an attempt to destroy his reputation as a quality mapper. Why, I don't know.

Wow. That is just plain mind-boggling.

I've not been mapping for a while, and I just do some experimentations to keep my mapping skills "up there"... and also thinking ways to make someone laugh :D

Belial said:

For Whom The Bell Tolls is just pure sex :)

Cramped? Nonsense. The few places where it really is tight are not combat intensive and there is more than enough health everywhere.

No, there are a few places where you fight large enemies in very cramped areas. But I did find a lot of health that I didn't notice before... The puzzles are really good. This wad is really good. Major props to the author!

Jimi said:

I've not been mapping for a while, and I just do some experimentations to keep my mapping skills "up there"... and also thinking ways to make someone laugh :D

I'm just learning the ropes right now, so I'm just putting every ounce of creativity and effort into all the maps I make, and they're getting steadily better. I had AgentSpork playtest the first area E1M3 "Metal Militia", and he said it was really good, especially for someone who's been mapping for as short a time as I have.

I guess all you need is a creative spark for each of your levels, and just stick with it.

hmm...if anyone does play UDF, play it with opengl legacy, otherwise its gonna look like poop(lighting, colored sectors,3d floors, etc....).
it CAN work on other ports, but it will just look shitty.
(edit: this is a REMAKE/UPGRADE)

Mmmh.. did anyone manage to finish Trancendental Inverse Death without cheating? How many times you had to try if you succeeded? Did you find the exit without looking it from a map editor?