Challenge: Run through episode 1 backwards. It's harder than it sounds.

I came up with this idea a little while ago, and the folks of #zdoom suggested I post it here.

There's only one rule, really: you can turn in any direction you need to, but you can't run forwards. (Yes, straferunning counts as forwards.)

I tried it myself and couldn't get past e1m3. I did give up after a few tries though; I'm sure it's doable.

If anyone can manage to play through all of episode 1 running backwards and post a demo of it here, I will give you..uh...a lot of respect. And really, the respect of essel is the best prize there is. :(

Quick someone make a no-running-backwards pacifist demo and then edit it to do a 180-degree turn at the start and reverse all the directional commands! Pressing switches would be a challenge though.

Linguica said:

Quick someone make a no-running-backwards pacifist demo and then edit it to do a 180-degree turn at the start and reverse all the directional commands! Pressing switches would be a challenge though.

haha. and, like i said, you can turn to press switches, shoot things, and open doors; you just can't walk in the direction you're looking. ;p

esselfortium said:

you just can't walk in the direction you're looking. ;p

Heh, what about regular strafing?

Belial said:

Heh, what about regular strafing?

...stop, you're breaking it ;____;

You can strafe, as long as you're...agh. Forget it. You know what I mean. Don't try to figure out workarounds, there are too many already :(

Would you accept a built submission :)? Would be pretty easy to do it like that.

RamboBones said:

Would you accept a built submission :)? Would be pretty easy to do it like that.

that defeats the purpose. :(

EDIT: Okay guys, I get the hint. No one wants to actually try this for real. heh.

Well, some time ago I've seen a demo of some IWAD map done like this. It was a very nice demo, made my jaw drop. But I can't remember neither the map, nor who recorded it. I was sure it was from a compet-n contest, but I looked at contests in web.archive.org (for the page wasn't loading from doom2.net for some reason) and couldn't find one.

I'm pretty sure I remember that being discussed here a while back, and someone posted a link to the demo. However, I can't remember what it was called or what discussion it was in, nor could I think of a forum search that would locate it. But it must (probably) be on my hard disk, and in this forum somewhere.

RamboBones said:

Would you accept a built submission :)? Would be pretty easy to do it like that.

Make one for fun :P

Grazza said:

nor could I think of a forum search that would locate it

OK, I thought of one. Here is the post. The demo is E1M1 Max without forward *or* strafe in 1:11.

esselfortium said:
EDIT: Okay guys, I get the hint. No one wants to actually try this for real. heh.

An episode run sounds like overkill. Maybe some single map demos.

Grazza said:

OK, I thought of one. Here is the post. The demo is E1M1 Max without forward *or* strafe in 1:11.

Oh, gosh. So that demo is sitting in my webspace and I couldn't even remember that :P

I dont use -novert, that means that I am going just a little forward (or backward) when I turn left or right with mouse. That perhaps wouldnt count as a valid "backward" run ???

You can get around the -novert problem by using PrBoom and setting vertical sensitivity to zero.

I gave it a try and managed to complete a Max of E1M7 in 9:10 - e1m7b910.zip . It's done with no forwards, no strafing, and due to a spot of confusion with the control setup no running either - so it's a backwards non-pacifist stroller. It wasn't too hard to do, though getting a respectable time would take a lot of practice.

cack_handed said:
You can get around the -novert problem by using PrBoom and setting vertical sensitivity to zero.

He's just stating that he normally uses vertical sensitivity, and that with his normal setup this type of run would be practically impossible. By the way, Novert does the trick for Doom.

cack_handed said:

You can get around the -novert problem by using PrBoom and setting vertical sensitivity to zero.

I gave it a try and managed to complete a Max of E1M7 in 9:10 - e1m7b910.zip . It's done with no forwards, no strafing, and due to a spot of confusion with the control setup no running either - so it's a backwards non-pacifist stroller. It wasn't too hard to do, though getting a respectable time would take a lot of practice.

I forgot to reply to this until now. Awesome demo, man :)

Donce said:
Well, some time ago I've seen a demo of some IWAD map done like this. It was a very nice demo, made my jaw drop. But I can't remember neither the map, nor who recorded it. I was sure it was from a compet-n contest, but I looked at contests in web.archive.org (for the page wasn't loading from doom2.net for some reason) and couldn't find one.

I think I found out who made that recording. By accident, I stumbled upon it while looking through archive.org's logs of the "new" old DSF (not the one at boardnation, the newer one).
Here is the Hall of Fame page, where it says Espi won a contest entitled "E1M1 Backwards". Requirements: UV max run. Running forwards or strafing not allowed!

It is most likely that this is the demo Donce had on his HDD, and that Espi was the one who recorded it.

Nice detective work (even if accidental). I wonder how much stuff like this has been lost.

Too much. :-/
EDIT: And thanks, BTW. I know a lot of people wanted to know about that demo. I know I did.