Whispers of Satan RELEASED!

The latest megawad in progress by me and Nebula_Kristian.

UPDATE: 25 Sep 09: A brand new MAP06 is under progress.

UPDATE: 15 Sep 09: Whispers of Satan has been released. 32 of the biggest and baddest levels for Doom 2. Go download it and enjoy!

http://www.zshare.net/download/65588157e1ed05f7/ (10.87 mb)

EARTHBASE THEME
MAP01-"Sintlabs"
MAP02-"The Sink"
MAP03-"Poison Sewers"
MAP04-"Lost Beacon"
MAP05-"Pumping Station 083A"
MAP06-"Covert Operations Facility"
-----------------------------
MAP07-"Death Alley"
MAP08-"Basement Jazz"
MAP09-"The School"

BRICKS & PLUTONIA-LIKE THEME
MAP10-"Playgrounds of Caesar"
MAP11-"Cyberfunk"
-----------------------------
MAP12-"Blood Station"
MAP13-"Traps of Torment"
MAP14-"The Wasted Dens"
MAP15-"Temple of Water"

BRICKS & PLUTONIA MIXED W MEDIEVAL HEXEN LIKE THEME
MAP16-"The Undervilla"
MAP17-"Mines of Despair"
MAP18-"Elements"
MAP19-"CryoSleep"

HELLISH THEME
MAP20-"Inexorable Opposition"
-----------------------------
MAP21-"2048 BC"
MAP22-"Soul Disruption"
MAP23-"Pathway to Elysion"
MAP24-"Ultimate Hatred"
MAP25-"Vulcana"
MAP26-"Hellhole"
MAP27-"Halls of Cocytus"
MAP28-"Sacrificial Grounds"
MAP29-"Heated Trauma"
MAP30-"The Verge of Revelation"
-----------------------------
SECRET
All complete

Here are the screenshots from the two most recently completed levels in WOS.

MAP22: Soul Disruption


MAP23: Pathway to Elysion


For more info and screenshots. Please check out the website: http://www.geocities.com/whispersofsatan/ - recently updated.

Looking good, although I thought you already uploaded many of those screens to the sight :P. Anyway, keep it up.

Those are some nice looking screenshots :D

Great! I like the skyboxes and the last screenshot of the hell map especially.

lupinx-Kassman said:

Looking good, although I thought you already uploaded many of those screens to the sight :P. Anyway, keep it up.

I have uploaded many to the WOS site but I've put a few of them here for people who haven't checked out the website. I have a point to prove.

But here are the MAP17 screenshots.

They look great! The new textures seem to fit well.

I'm working on new maps when my UNI prep course is over for Helsinki University Biology department-studying is taking all my time for the next 6 weeks after which I have the exam. I hope I'll get in :D 5 years without any studies should be enough. Time to study something again.

So, in the beginning of June my work on my part of the project starts again! :)

iori said:

They look great! The new textures seem to fit well.

Yeah, well Maps 16 to 20 are going to be a mix of Plutonia and Hexen theme.

Map01-11 Earthbase
Map12-15 Plutonia Like
Map16-20 Hexen Plutonia mix
Map21-24 Hell, Castle, etc
Map25-30 Hell, Fire
Map31-32 ???

These look great I see alot of sweet looking designs looking forward to it.

Looks great. A few shots remind of me Scythe 2 :)

Looks awesome. The MAP17 shots look stunning. Definitely going to play this when it's released.

dutch devil said:

These look great I see alot of sweet looking designs looking forward to it.

Thanks Dutch. I really love playing your maps and certianly got some inspiration from some of them.

Once this project is done and dusted, so will I. I'll be quitting WAD designing for good.

pcorf said:

Once this project is done and dusted, so will I. I'll be quitting WAD designing for good.

So tell us, Mr. Corfiatis, why are you quitting WAD design after WOS is completed?

Death-Destiny said:

So tell us, Mr. Corfiatis, why are you quitting WAD design after WOS is completed?

Because it will be time for me to move on and concentrate on my own life, concentrate on my book, on my music and much more. And because there is just so much negativity these days, its depressing, bring back 2000. Though I am working on one last Boom compatible singleplayer level as well (currently untitled) but its a long way off from completion.

thats too bad, i like your levels. well, do what you must, i guess.

12 years of designing is a good career. Life is full of change, sometimes it's time to move on. I don't know what I'll do when it comes to DOOM after WOS. Time will tell :)

I wish you a good luck ! Still I'll play this wad for sure.

pcorf said:

I'll be quitting WAD designing for good.

No youre not mapping is like an drug its addictive.

I'm not quitting yet though, once I (or we) get this project out of the way I think I'll be mostly done (finished) though could possibly contribute maps to possible community projects. We still have 12 maps to make, thats another 6 to 8 months plus an extra few weeks of playtesting. I will never quit playing Doom, just from making wads mainly because I have been running out of ideas and because of some stupid, experimental jokewads I have released in recent years, and less stupid ones like "Foghorn" and "The New Adventure". While I'm long past this Jokewad phase I think I've gotten myself some sort of a bad reputation and I feel hurt because of all the rubbish thats been tossed at me, especially from the newcomers of recent years and during my glory days when I was in my teens, some of them were just little kids. And with WOS, Thats why I decided that we were going to make something to our best capabilities. I'm not sure if it will meet the quality of AV or Scythe/Scythe 2 but with WOS the scythe is hopefully the limit. I've tried my absolute best in architecture, gameplay, all of my maps in WOS have undergone hours of playtesting and I'm a pretty skilled player of Doom myself. We'll probably get a playtesting team together once all maps are complete.

pcorf said:

Because it will be time for me to move on and concentrate on my own life, concentrate on my book, on my music and much more. And because there is just so much negativity these days, its depressing, bring back 2000. Though I am working on one last Boom compatible singleplayer level as well (currently untitled) but its a long way off from completion.

I understand. I had a feeling WAD design was taking more time from your life than it was worth. I agree 100% about the dominantly negative environment these days. Outside of my contributions to community projects, I don't upload anything to the archive because that's just asking to be insulted, dissed, and broken down regardless of the quality of your work. Things aren't like they used to be when the fun came from sharing your work and joy of mapping with others. Now, the community is dominated by perfectionists whose fun only comes from playing maps with dozens of unnecessary details, fantastic architecture, and mind-bogglingly amazing gameplay and people are so eager to break each other down. =( I miss the old days.
I've learned to ignore the negative comments that others give and to not care too much about their opinions, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. =(

Anyway, Mr. Corfiatis, even if your work hasn't been as good as AV or something to win the praise of the modern community, I do want to let you know you've nonetheless been one of my most influential authors, and after you shut down your WAD editors for good, I wish you well in your other endeavors. =)

Death-Destiny said:

I understand. I had a feeling WAD design was taking more time from your life than it was worth. I agree 100% about the dominantly negative environment these days. Outside of my contributions to community projects, I don't upload anything to the archive because that's just asking to be insulted, dissed, and broken down regardless of the quality of your work. Things aren't like they used to be when the fun came from sharing your work and joy of mapping with others. Now, the community is dominated by perfectionists whose fun only comes from playing maps with dozens of unnecessary details, fantastic architecture, and mind-bogglingly amazing gameplay and people are so eager to break each other down. =( I miss the old days.
I've learned to ignore the negative comments that others give and to not care too much about their opinions, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. =(

Anyway, Mr. Corfiatis, even if your work hasn't been as good as AV or something to win the praise of the modern community, I do want to let you know you've nonetheless been one of my most influential authors, and after you shut down your WAD editors for good, I wish you well in your other endeavors. =)

Even after I'm finished. I'll be still around, posting on the DW forums, still playing Doom 1 and 2 and sometimes updating my Doom Page with reviews. Its the most fun PC game to have ever graced our planet and always love to play a good wad (especially a megawad) when its released. I also love to have a laugh with some jokewads (Mock 2 for example). I was 13 when I first played Doom (on the SNES) and it was a fascinating, and exciting experience I'll never forget, much more exciting than sex. I'll never forget the first moment in E3M1 when I opened the door and saw those two Cacodemons valiantly hiss away at me. It was as scary as encountering the Sjasface when I first played Ghoul's Forest 2. I was never a huge fan of Hell Revealed style levels and I aways tended to follow the script of the id levels, etc.

Personally my favourite map out of all the 100 or so maps I have made would have to be E3M7 of 2002ADO. A large techbase like map which I made using the editor I first started mapping in, DoomCAD 6.1. This was a huge level with what I call perfect gameplay and perfect texture usage.

pcorf said:

I will never quit playing Doom, just from making wads mainly because I have been running out of ideas and because of some stupid, experimental jokewads I have released in recent years, and less stupid ones like "Foghorn" and "The New Adventure". While I'm long past this Jokewad phase I think I've gotten myself some sort of a bad reputation and I feel hurt because of all the rubbish thats been tossed at me, especially from the newcomers of recent years and during my glory days when I was in my teens, some of them were just little kids.

We're not all newbies and little kids, though. You've been one of my favorite mappers for a decade and I'm still looking forward to your serious efforts. If you don't have any ideas, then that's unfortunate, but don't let some stupid newbies discourage you from making occasional maps in the future.

LordK said:

We're not all newbies and little kids, though. You've been one of my favorite mappers for a decade and I'm still looking forward to your serious efforts. If you don't have any ideas, then that's unfortunate, but don't let some stupid newbies discourage you from making occasional maps in the future.

I'm not going to try to change your mind, Mr. Corfiatis. You can do whatever you feel is best. However, I agree with LordK. Like I said, I try to ignore the negative stuff I hear about my work. People are full of crap these days. The opinions you should take to heart are people like me, LordK, and everyone who likes your work, not just in WAD design, but in real life too. Surround yourself with positive people. WOS is the WAD I'm looking forward to most right now.

To prove that people these days are full of crap, read this. These are comments on Scythe, Scythe2, and AV, respectively. These WADs are obviously some of the best we have, but that doesn't stop people from hating on them. I don't even take reviews seriously anymore...

Various Losers said:

-Real weapons, anyone? I'm sorry, but I gave up on this one after the first couple of levels, after getting sick of having to kill everything with the pistol.
-But there were lots of maps I didn't like, and only a few that I trully enjoyed. Sorry, short, simple maps with primitive, violent gameplay just aren't to my taste.
-I didn't like this wad, too repetitive 0/5
-levels were ugly and boring. gameplay was yawn inducing. not nearly as epic as everyone says.
-the first 3 levels are great then things slow down. I don't like map most all of the levels after 10 at all. 2/5
-Sorry. Not horrible, but hardly worth the hype...

-It is a shame this wad was not put through either deepseas or Doombuilders error checker. Inexcusable with new wads like this. There are a number of errors present which could be easily fixed.
-Overrated
-levels were ugly and boring. gameplay was yawn inducing. not nearly as epic as everyone says.

-This is not even close to Memento Mori... 3/5
-I know this may sound crazy to all the "this is so good" reviews, but, I actually think 28 out of the 32 levels is absolutely craptacular.
-According to the reviews Alien Vendetta seems to be some kind of a classic. I don't understand what's so good about it. Alien Vendetta has too many complex, large, over-detailed, badly lit, confusing and ugly textured maps, that it makes my doom marine want to suicide.
-BORING!... You can flame and trash talk me all you want but I am just expressing my opinion. The levels are boring to play and repetitive.
-I don't like the gameplay, too much permanently challenging: "It would probably be more frustrating than fun for the common Doomer". I'm a common Doomer, and I had no fun, most of the time.
-Ehh... This is overrated. There are a few decent maps, but then most of the maps are overdetailed and are confusing.
-The brick wall blocking the exit of level 1 never even opened. I got the red keycard, but all it does is look good because there's no door or object to activate with it. 0/5 for bad design.
-Well, just OK... I prefer other megawads, this one seems to be artificial in some way...

I've learned to accept, but still be perplexed by, human subjectivity mostly during the time when I was extremely into computer generated music. In fact, negative reviews by the majority almost became an GOOD sign that I would like something. The creme of the crop (er, in MY opinion) often doesn't get the highest democratic vote.
"What is popular is not always right, what is right is not always popular." People have different wants and skills etc.

Also some negative comments are given ONLY as revenge for a negative comment they received themselves or something, which is irrelevant to a real review.

gggmork said:

I've learned to accept, but still be perplexed by, human subjectivity mostly during the time when I was extremely into computer generated music. In fact, negative reviews by the majority almost became an GOOD sign that I would like something. The creme of the crop (er, in MY opinion) often doesn't get the highest democratic vote.
"What is popular is not always right, what is right is not always popular." People have different wants and skills etc.

Also some negative comments are given ONLY as revenge for a negative comment they received themselves or something, which is irrelevant to a real review.

Another thing I think has ruined this is the idgames review system. People going on there and posting crap, excuse my french. But I think this review system has just ruined everything and it has made certian people upload silly stuff for example the stuff that Guilio "Glassyman" Galassi and some of the stuff that Wills has bought out, nothing is fun anymore. I'm taking the blame on myself for releasing a few jokewads but even though I like humor many people don't and because I know I have a much better reputation. I recently released a music only wad containing some of the rejects from 2002ado and other projects like the Death Tormentions (http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=15277) which was released so level authors could perhaps use the music in their wads, etc. There were some decent songs in this pack. But instead of getting reviews, I get a whole bunch of trash (such as I wonder what this new Whispers of Satan will be like? 6 hour un-skipable cut-scenes?) thrown at me (yes all at me) and thats all over a few jokewads that I've released. I'm now afraid to release anything because I lose inspiration apart from WOS which I'm determined to release to show everyone my capabilities and this negativity only got me more angry into making something better :D. You know I have to just put up with this and I do understand with some of the comments from scyhte, AV, etc and I expect the same for reviews of WOS. Surely, I understand there is more to life than these computer games. Thats about it I don't want to be pushing those boundries again. This will force me to quit designing for good after WOS is complete. It has certianly been a fun 12+ years or so and I do miss the best of times from 1998-2002, etc. By removing this silly review system (keep the star ratings in) from idgames will solve matters and things will get better, we'll see less unwilling jokewads and more better stuff. A huge thanks must go out to all the people in the community, a huge thanks to Andrew "Linguica" Stine, Kristian Aro, Chris Hansen, Dutch Devil, Chief from Team Insanity in my earlier days, Ty Halderman from TeamTNT, John W. Anderson, and even John Romero himself for all giving their advice and for all of their inspiration, and many more people I can not list. These were truly great people who provided my support and help throughout the years gone by. Still I'll be rolling on for at least another 8 months and will accept all the support from these good people. Anyway, I'll post new screenshots of the next WOS level in this thread once progress "progresses" with that map.

Damn dudes, bad comments doesn't matter when you think your work is finished : do it and be proud if it's exactely what you've wanted to do.
And it's the same way for music, writing or painting.

Just ignore the bullshit you can never please everyone.

The main failing of the idgames review system - as I see it - is that it allows cowards to post comments anonymously. That sort of crap would practically disappear overmight if their forum ID's were logged and displayed.

One great musician once said:

"When you're married to music or art of any kind, you'll get critic as your mother-in-law." ;)


Long live Creativity!!!