The DWmegawad Club plays: Super Mayhem 17

[Spectre01]

MAP12 - “Cool Cool Shotgun” by A.Gamma

They see me slidin'...

So this map is generally fun, aside from that one time I got blown off the map by the blue key 17 minutes in. Can't complain since I'm choosing to play without saves here. The ice mechanics are not that bad, and I never found myself forced to do any precise dodging while on it. It was usually possible to either pull monsters out of an ice area, or find a non-slippery surface somewhere. That Megasphere behind the red bars is a very strong secret, and from my limited experience, probably required to have a good time here. Quite a few Vile ambushes around, but rockets and cells are plentiful. The sniping Chaingunners were the least of my problems, as there is plenty of cover to use.

Edit: Got a visual glitch before the exit.

[Paul977]

10 hours ago, Demon of the Well said:

Map 11 -- Aztec Ruin - 104% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA, 1 death and a save.

 

Only one death here, impressive^

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP17: All the Monster's Teeth are Perfect

 

This one is bright, colourful, and, with its almost painfully cheerful music, seems to have decided that its mission statement is to demonstrate that straightforward need not at all imply easy.  There's nothing here that's going to stump anyone in terms of progression, but the fights are punchy, fast-paced, and fun, especially with a liberal supply of rockets almost straight from the get-go.  The invulnerability power-up is something that can be used to support more than one approach, though the most obvious use for it seems to be to grab it and thin the emerging crowd as far as possible before it runs out, hopefully leaving no more than a few stragglers (and a Cyberdemon) to mop up out of what is otherwise one of the map's more ferocious encounters.

[cannonball]

MAP16 - “Skyward Vivarium” by Pinchy

 

A pretty simple map design wise, it feels daunting but it didn't take me too long to get the hang of it. Ammo is pretty well balanced and the traps towards the end were pretty nasty but nothing over the top. A pretty decent map, especially for a speedmap.

 

MAP17 - “All the Monster’s Teeth are Perfect” by Angry Saint

 

This map felt very arcadey in terms of its execution, that said this plays pretty fast and is quite fun for the most part. Nothing difficult in terms of progression but I died quite a few times during the ore frenetic sections of this map. I guess there are some questionable design decisions in terms of monster placement and usage but to be honest it was fun to abuse the invulnerability and rocket myself past all the monsters and stir up a hornets nest in the red key room. 

 

 

 

[Demon of the Well]

Map 12 -- Cool Cool Shotgun - 106% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA

Hmm, well....let me start by saying that I admire the commitment to the main concept here (i.e. "ice is slippery and difficult to move around on"), if nothing else, it's a rare thing. Often times unusual/nonstandard elements like this appear in maps in mainly shallow or superficial ways, the possibilities for level design which they engender never sincerely explored in any meaningful way, perhaps because the risk so often seems too great. "Cool Cool Shotgun" says "to hell with the risk" and doubles down on its icy gimmick, making it the level's main adversarial force and including it in some capacity in almost all of the core action. In this sense, it's certainly ambitious, and also interesting/educative as far as a point of reference for someone who might want to make a map based around this effect in future.

 

That being said, I found it absolutely awful to play, and will never willingly load it up again. There is not a great deal of nuanced analysis to be done as to why this is the case; I simply felt that at all stages and in all of its different implementations, the ever-present ice was far more conducive to aggravation, inconvenience, and limitation than it ever was to "fun." In the majority of cases, it's used as a modifier to what are otherwise very ordinary fights, and while it certainly does make them trickier and more dangerous than they would otherwise be, the kludgy, syrupy feel to basic movements that this element imparts robs these of much of the simple joy of Doom's core gamefeel that such fights are so reliant on for their entertainment value, turning what ought to be engagements of a few seconds into much longer, slower affairs where movement is occasionally a necessary evil rather than something fun/enjoyable in its own right.

 

A world that is often unpleasant to move around in is further hampered by a somewhat disarming degree of what, if I have his terminology down, rdwpa refers to as "prickliness", which if anything is even more pronounced in the non-ice areas (i.e. the starting snow hills with many high/distant chaingunners and only the powerful-but-slow RL as primary weapon), limiting these segments' capacity for serving as palate-cleansers or breaks between the more inherently teeth-gritting, brow-furrowing flavor of the icy bits. The final segment unites all of the level's characteristic adversarial elements in one focused stretch--a ridiculous vacuum-wind/crusher run leading to an elevated exit pipe requiring a slippery flash-run over an icy slow lift(!!) which is watched over by a vile and other snipers which must be carefully pecked to death from an awkward angle--and while this is certainly a reasonable arc to take conceptually, to me it felt like absurdly belaboring the point. The end result is a map that reads like it's more concerned with being obnoxious (or perhaps "cheeky" or even "meme-y" might be better words) for the sake of it than with being enjoyable , and while I've not been the hugest fan of every level in the set there are no others among them I would level that charge at.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 13 -- Koopa Anomaly - 106% Kills / 66% Secrets - FDA

I must confess I retained almost no memory of this map from when I actually played it some several days ago and now, writing this. Most comments come from watching the FDA above. From that rather lackadaisical recording (and my clearer memories of m14, also played in that same session), I can tell that I was probably still pouting after map 12, as suggested by my furtive movements, excessive caution, and generally crappy, non-participatory attitude anywhere the floor is blue..... :/

 

A very Doom-y level set in an big, abstract, vaguely temple-y sort of place in the hills (I assume the room with the golden triangle-dais is a Legend of Zelda reference?), with what appears to be a pretty relaxed, casual or "classic" gameplay approach, light incidental fare with one trap of any note (in the shadowy spiral-staircase room) and a mainly-for-emphasis showdown against a pair of cyberdemons at the end. Much like 'rf's earlier map, it loops smartly and does a good job of subtly foreshadowing future areas, but it does seem to lack a certain bite for this point in the game, though I can certainly see it being reasonably argued that it's important as a pacer/spacer between the much more highly conceptual maps 12 and 14. Biggest "objective" complaint would probably be the rather slow/dysfunctional single-point monster teleporter next to the star secret, intended to be involved in the twin cybies fight; even as relatively sparse as this group is, they still funnel out through this ethereal rift in a very slow/inefficient way, which hamstrings what potential for pressure/distraction (giving the viles time to spawn farther back, etc.) they might've had, and makes the greatest risk precisely what happened to me in the FDA, rocketing myself on a very late arrival.

 

Aesthetically, for a nice change, I did find the level genuinely pleasant to look at. It's still pretty bright and 'upbeat' in tone--doesn't look like a particularly evil or even uninviting temple or anything, I think it's fair to say--but I found the powder-blue-with-snow-and-poundcake-earth theme quite easy on the eyes, the color scheme somehow putting me in mind more than anything of the cleaner sci-fi side of Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold. The architecture also appeals, with a lot of tall, airy spaces with more compressed sideways, and lighting is paid due respect. Watching the FDA, I did find the BGM noticeably boring (if you'll pardon the oxymoron), but that's a very minor/subjective complaint regarding an otherwise well-presented piece.

[rehelekretep]

trust DotW to sum up my feelings on map12 so well: what he said!

[Magnusblitz]

MAP32: Return to the Birabuto Kingdom

100% kills, 4/4 secrets

 

My thoughts are a mix of Dobu's and cannonball's, aside from clearing out the start room it's pretty much rote clearing work, and I discovered most of the secrets after already wiping everything out. Didn't realize it was going for the GameBoy aesthetic either until Dobu mentioned it in his review either, just looks mostly dull.

[tmorrow]

map18: this plumber wants cake, by Walter Confetti
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

So "this plumber wants cake" ... but gets a butt load of hot lead shoved down his throat instead. You start on an open map of stone with a lot of fortifications. Some parts are sectioned from other areas by small gaps you can run over. Several telepipes connect different parts of the map and can be used strategically during fights or for shortcuts. Some pipes are used for progression.

There are several question mark blocks hovering strangely and effortlessly in midair. These blocks hold the closest to cake that this plumber is going to get on this map. Unlike SMB where mario has to jump up and punch the blocks to retrieve goodies, our marine just needs to stand underneath the blocks to receive their wondrous goods. Track down and collect all of them if you can.

The first half of the map is a nonlinear affair in a large square area full of hitscanners. There are several viable ways to handle these murderous scum, most involving an early pickup of the nearby invulnerability for protection from the initial hail of incoming lead heading your way. By the time the invulnerability wears off you should have cleared most of the offending culprits, leaving the inevitable post fight cleanup operation. This section ends with a small puzzle to get through the high ledges to find and hit an off switch for progression.

The second half of the map is more linear and you pick up better weapons to counter the tougher mid tier enemies you meet along the way. The final area is a one to one, inescapable battle to the death with an irate cybie on a bridge over lava. If you fall into the lava it's lights out. Don't forget to pickup the megasphere from the nearby question mark block before you try to shake hands with cybie.

 

The best parts of this map for me was the beginning and end. At the start you can vary the way you handle the first frantic minute of the fight and it turns out differently each time thanks to doom's rng. The ending setup makes the plasma rifle vs cybie more threatening than usual.

Edited April 18, 2018 by tmorrow : grammar

[dobu gabu maru]

3 hours ago, Magnusblitz said:

Didn't realize it was going for the GameBoy aesthetic either until Dobu mentioned it in his review either, just looks mostly dull.

 

The GB palette by itself is super limiting which means you have to be pretty crafty to make it "pop", especially in a 3D environment. Considering the time constraints of the project, it's neat for what it is, but I think aiming for a diorama-style map (with objects silhouetted against the "blank" background) could've helped the visuals go a long way. It's hard too because the Doom palette choices for it are definitely more gray as well.

[Spectre01]

MAP13 - “Koopa Anomaly” by rf’

Overall solid map. The 2 Cybers at the end weren't very threatening, however, considering the monster block line keeping them away. Found the Invul secret after everything else was already dead.

[Spectre01]

MAP14 - “Absolute Zero” by Obsidian

Yeah, not really a fan of this one here. Some of the gimmicks are nice, buts it's less enjoyable than map12 to actually play. That stupid waterfall leading up to the lift can go smoke a crack pipe.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP18: This Plumber Wants Cake

 

a.k.a C'mon Peach, you've got what you want, now give this plumber cake!

 

This one is a more open level than many that the WAD has offered so for or is typical of Doom, feeling a bit like a jungle gym in its invocation of Super Mario pits and platforms as far as can be realised in this particular 3D space.  I'm inclined to agree with @tmorrow that the opening and closing moments of the map are the most memorable, with a hitscan horde made uniquely threatening by the local geography in the first instance and a Cyberdemon standing in for Bowser on his bridge in the second; the former in particular is an entertainingly fast-paced engagement in which the player's priorities shift from moment to moment between the thinning-out of crowds of shotgun guys and heavy weapon dudes and the snatching of medikits to buffer the inevitably incoming damage and avoid an ignominious death by a thousand cuts.  The middle of the map offers a snaking but ultimately somewhat linear crawl across the level's platforms in which most of the threat comes from dead ahead, the exception being the segment in which a various monsters arise to rain down fire from elevated positions to the left and right of the player's path like angry crowds along a racecourse.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP17 All the Monster's Teeth are Perfect

 

Yep, these monster counts are getting bigger, and these ambushes are getting hairier. Getting one right out of the start proved troublesome, but this level was done at a reasonable pace, although to be honest, it's quite a garish level design-wise. It hits its stride later on, with a huge group of enemies attacking at a point where an invulnerability was, and then there's the next group that came after the red key. Pretty fun. Doesn't look great though. And the music got on my nerves.

[Poncho]

Map17: All the Monster's Teeth are Perfect

Ooo, over 200 monsters! The beginning is hectic, to say the least, featuring numerous Chaingunners, Revenants, Imps, Hell Knights, and even a few Arch-Viles and Mancubi, but it never feels totally overwhelming. It encourages speed, and rewards the player for it. And besides, there's a lot of health. The short platforming part is quite dangerous too, if only because of the Revenants, but still manageable. Beyond the Blue door are a few Speed-of-Doom-esque pop-up traps, which took me by surprise, but I lived, so it doesn't really matter. The Invulnerability part is equally as fun; ripping Arch-Viles and the like to pieces when they can't do shit is something I'll never got bored by. The final Cyberdemon is in a bit of an awkward position, if I'm honest, though, but at least it's not a super tiny battle area (yeah, I'm looking at you, SOD Map24). There's also a fuckload of rockets in this map, and I really like maps that give you an overabundance of them. Very fun. The aesthetic design leaves a lot to be desired, though. Regardless, I'd say this is my third favourite of the WAD so far, behind 07 and 10. Also also, I cannot take the music seriously.

 

Map18: C'mon Peach, You've Got What You Want, Now Give This Plumber Cake!

That's one long name for a map. Anyway, this map probably plays more like a Doom-Mario level than any map before. I remember the Bowser castles from the first NES games having a few "maze" sections (you repeat the section if you take the wrong path, if I recall), and that gimmick is used here once. It's actually not too bad, and taking the wrong turn towards the end of the section only puts you halfway back, as opposed to all the way back. This makes it less annoying. In terms of gameplay, the beginning, like the last map, is kind of brutal; lots of hitscanners in a no-cover zone. Luckily, the bulk of the Chaingunners are a fair distance away, so it's not too unforgiving. The entire level doesn't go overboard in terms of difficulty; the Mancubi aren't too bad, the Hell Knight/Revenant pillar trap isn't too much of a hassle (just use the RL and keep moving), and the Cyberdemon isn't too bad if you keep him under constant fire. I actually died to the Cyberdemon on my first playthrough (I hadn't died or saved, so I was a bit gutted, but oh well, it's not a long map). This is quite fun, too. Just wish the map wasn't a near constant grey. I know Bowser's castles in the original games are grey, but come on, this is Doom.

[gaspe]

MAP15: This one was cool. It looked intricate at first but it turned out to be something rather simple to solve. Maybe the gimmick of the limited weapons and monsters wears off after a while but it was done well and it didn't feel too repetitive.

 

MAP31: Another gimmick map where the gameplay is just there to make you shoot at something while the focus is put on solving the puzzles to make a step further into the map and reach the exit. I loved the SMB2 look. Overall it fits nicely for a secret level.

 

MAP32: After a little search I found that this Birabuto was featured in Super Mario Land which I didn't play it. I guess that this particular visuals were made to follow the style of the game. The map is linear and kinda basic in the combats but with some variety and it's a nice break from the last couple of maps.

 

MAP16: Filler map indeed. Lots of symmetry and while the rows of zombies in the outer ring were funny the map isn't interesting.

[Catpho]

I just finished map31... with the regular exit. Im so tired right now, not sure will bother with the secret one :P

[tmorrow]

3 minutes ago, Catpho said:

I just finished map31... with the regular exit. Im so tired right now, not sure will bother with the secret one :P

 

Just sit back and watch the in built demo for map31 to come on, it'll show you how!

[cannonball]

MAP18 - “C’mon Peach, You’ve Got What I Want, Now Give This Plumber Cake!” by Walter Confetti

 

Onwards we trek and now we are that typical theme of the Bowser castle. Plenty of action from start to finish with some gimmicks taken from the source material. Overall this was a rather fun adventure, the hardest part is dealing with the intial flocks of hitscanners.

[tmorrow]

map19: your princess is in another fort..., by TMD
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

What? The princess is in another fortress?! This is the problem with chasing damsels in distress, you can't keep up. Maybe Bowser could email me his itinerary. "Day1, kidnap the Princess, tie her up, do naughty things to her. Day2, repeat day1 in castle 2, ...". Grumble, grumble, 20 maps and still no princess!

 

The map is a fortress, roughly circular with a raised outer ledge or rampart that is divided up loosely into two halves. A switch downstairs enables you to reach and take a lift up to the upper ledge. Another switch in some lava allows you to visit the rest of the outer walkway. Even more lava sectors emerge later as you hit more switches. The way the map unfolds is quite clever. Some paths are even shut down for a while, only to be reopened later on.

The designer made sure that this fortress is well guarded on all levela from all angles, I can just imagine TMD lovingly placing each chaingunner and pain elemental thinking "this will get 'em". Making the most out of his layout, TMD reuses the fortress for multiple fights.

So the map starts, they're playing tag and you're "it". Everybody wants a piece of action, i.e. they want you shredded into itty bitty "pieces" and you're the "action" they want. The only enemies that aren't drooling after your flesh are the archviles and cybie, they're freshening up in their dressing room and will be out later. Based on my first dozen fails on the map it would appear that the pain elementals and chaingunners are having the most fun of all.

Ammo and weaponry are in extremely short supply to start, but gets a little better once you survive the first wave. The scales tip in your favor after that for finishing the map provided you are aware of the traps yet to come.

The secret hunt is worthwhile and interesting. The soul sphere secret can be collected prior to releasing cybie with good straferunning execution but is easier to collect later if you can wait that long. One of the other secrets is remotely enabled meaning you'll have to fight through more enemies before you can get your grubby mitts onto the goodies.

 

I like how the action keeps coming with very few breathers in between, keeping the player on the move looking for brief locations of temporary cover and urgently swapping weapons to remove the largest threats at each moment.

Edited April 19, 2018 by tmorrow

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP14: Absolute Zero

25:53 | 100% Kills | 99% Items | 66% Secrets

This one was pretty fun. I like the way that one transformed a few different times. (It took me few confused moments staring at the automap to realize that had all been the same room.) I missed a secret; probably half of that 25 minutes is me poking every corner looking futilely for it. (The waterfall secret was very cool.) Not a big fan of having to run the loop of the level over and over (especially when secret hunting) though at least it wasn't a lot of mileage. But ascending that waterfall staircase was torture every time. And the silver bars threw me off for the longest while, thinking I needed to find a silver key (maybe that was the last secret?) though of course such a key was never necessary. Still a fun map.

 

MAP15: Ziegenhaus

39:26 | 100% Kills | 88% Items | 75% Secrets

I laughed at the signs reading "Goat House", thinking it was a play on ghost house, and then I just now discovered (thanks, Google) that that's precisely what "Ziegenhaus" means. This is one of those levels, man. I look back on it, and what comes to mind is just how exciting, how clever, how cool this map was. The secrets were aces (though I never did figure out the blue armor, or whether that invincible star was attainable, and the computer map was pretty useless for all the excitement I felt upon finding it.) The pitched battle to start things off. The incredible checkboard castle interior with the glowing lava and water details (made all the more gorgeous with GZDoom's "bloom" effect.) The red coins! The crazy secret exit area. And then I think a little longer and remember I did not have a lot of fun while playing it. Every trap seemed loaded with insta-death revvies and viles. (That one vile hidden behind a wall in the main building killed me like three times and just pissed me off in general.) That opening battle had me feeling overmatched so I just ran and immediately got lost in the labyrinthine layout of the Goat House. I spent so long looking for the final secret(s) that I didn't even know I had found all the red coins until I went back to the exit and noticed the secret portal had opened. I can't really stay mad at this level for very long, though, it was just that well-done. Props.

 

MAP31: Sinkysand Switchland

1:22:24 | 100% Kills | 98% Items | 100% Secrets

I feel similarly about this map. Clever and well-made and pissed me off for an hour and a half. I swear 2/3 of that time was me getting stuck in the warp jug puzzle. Gah. I still don't know what the solution to the final (first?) green star legitimately was. (I'm sure I'll look back at previous posts shortly and find it, of course.) I had figured out that the invisible walkway followed the path given on the ceiling, but then it approached the lift, turned away...and stopped. I guess it was a diagonal move from there, but the ceiling didn't indicate it, and I only found it by jumping around up and down in the sand until I found it. (I'm curious why jump/crouch weren't disabled for this project, but I'm kinda thankful they weren't.) The two lego-brick lift puzzles were pieces of proverbial cake, for which I was grateful. Also neat how the same exit was used for both the normal and secret exits, with which you got depending on your inventory of green stars. How was that accomplished, I wonder?

 

MAP32: Return to the Birabuto Kingdom

19:08 | 100% Everything

Had to laugh when I immediately recognized this as the Game Boy scheme. Really very cool how it turned out; some nice things done simply using the black-and-beige/grey contrast. Gameplay wasn't particularly interesting, and having to run all the way back through everything everytime I leapt off the upper level to collect anything was obnoxious, but otherwise this one was really cool.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 14 -- Absolute Zero - 93% Kills / 0% Secrets - FDA

Okay. So, I feel I should apologize for my behavior in the FDA (what I mean becomes evident just a few seconds in). Thus: Sorry, Sid.

 

Let me walk you through my thought process: I come into m14 at the end of the session that had "Cool Cool Shotgun" in it, thoroughly fed up with the ice floors at that point. The first thing I see (after breaking free at the start) is a block of ice in a pool, which I interpret as a sign of things to come (it's not, not really--slippery floors are only a minor element in this map). This is an Obsidian map, I know, and so to be utterly frank, I am expecting gimmickry, and lots of it. Ice....more ice...and gimmickry. Trepidation. I walk a few steps, and am accosted by an arch-vile. Not surprising in the least (see: "This is an Obsidian map"). I have a pistol and 50 rounds for it. Exasperation. It's clear he wants to push me around. More often than not, I'm game, but in my current frame of mind, I'm certain he wants to push me around in some obnoxious ice-based setup. Totally not down for that, bro. So, long story short, I did what I felt I had to do. Kind of wish I hadn't, in hindsight.

 

I'm not sorry for pistol-whipping that one revenant, though. That's just the way Sid balances his maps. :)

 

All the above notwithstanding, I wasn't wrong about most of it: this is an Obsidian map through and through, a sort of malign dollhouse where every individual room or segment is its own micro-concept, and your participation as Ken and/or Barbie is enforced by a limited arsenal and very restrictive, carefully-parceled ammo balance. In the throes of my grumpiness re: m12 I refused to be a good boy and participate in the opening chase sequence, and so I'm not sure how deep the ramifications of that for the later parts of the map might've been (what happens to those two viles if you run away from them? Doesn't seem like they fit in logically to the 'middle' stages of progression), but the end result was that the rest of the map was for me a fairly workmanlike affair, one room at a time, one kill at a time, only regathering some momentum with the incursion of PEs at the end. Viles or no viles, it's not what I'd call a particularly combat-focused map (again, often the case for the author's style); the focus is on the setting, the very tight/compact layout and the clever way it fits together. Progression is quite elaborate for taking place in such a small space, and there is an impressive efficiency in repeatedly reusing the same few spaces for different stages of play (particularly the northwestern chamber), but for my part I felt that the action needed more room to breathe and develop (in a conceptual sense, if not a spatial one) for any of it to truly stand out. Well...maybe if I hadn't done that?

[baja blast rd.]

19 minutes ago, Demon of the Well said:

(what happens to those two viles if you run away from them? Doesn't seem like they fit in logically to the 'middle' stages of progression)

 

This happens. 

 

Spoiler

 

I suppose it's intended as a one-off 'scare'. I think the viles should at least be able to follow the player back there. 

 

[Crusader No Regret]

Map 10: DNF

 

     This map ended up memorable for it's tight ammo in the early going.  I deliberately provoked lots of infights and my first thought upon seeing a middleweight was what could I bait into softening it up or distracting it.  Still found myself with one shell and 56 bullets when I crept to the SSG.  Can imagine how dry people ran on UV.  Found two secrets simply by trying to jump into everything I felt I could reach.  Really should have lived through the red key fight but somehow flubbed it hanging around after the lockin bars opened.  It's been a busy month so haven't given it another attempt yet.

[dobu gabu maru]

MA31 (for reals): Similar to my 50 Shades of Graytall submission, I purposely went with something unconventional because the texture set was so baffling to me that a normal map would not suffice. Ya see, traditional 8-bit Mario has a difficult time transitioning into 3D properly. I don’t think it’s too difficult to tie a Super Mario 64-style level to Doom’s open gameplay, but since the textures primarily reference the NES games, how the hell was I supposed to accurately translate Mario’s 2D design and philosophy to Doom’s gameplay? The project being Boom-compat meant that jumping wasn't even allowed—how do you make a Mario-style map with no jumping?!!

 

Captain Toad to the rescue! For those not in the know, Captain Toad is a Wii U title that has diorama-styled floating cube levels and is a game I enjoyed immensely for its look and feel—and since the little fellow can't jump, his style of gameplay naturally lends itself to the Doom-space. I decided to try my hand at it, and stick as close to its principles as possible. Namely: 1) A floating, cube-like design, 2) A focus on puzzles over foes, and 3) 3 Green Stars and hidden mushroom.

 

A lot of the puzzles came quite naturally—I myself am quite fond of the 3 colored lego blocks and the sinkysand pyramid (which helped me engineer the main mechanic in a future map hehehe). The hardest part about the design (besides making sure the mechanics worked properly) was trying to piece everything together. The layout required a lot of thinkin', since I had to first decide what the level flow was going to be (namely, lower cave sand -> P-switch -> Tele puzzle -> pyramid), and then to find clever ways to force the player traverse the environment multiple times. I don't think I kept the notes that I jotted down unfortunately, and I haven't retained any particulars about the design process. There's only two parts that I want to talk about, since I'm quite happy with the rest of the map and will gladly let it speak for itself.

 

The first is that the warp pipe maze is... probably still too taxing? When I initially designed it, there were like... 3 more islands? They were mainly just A->B teleports, but it added an unnecessary layer of confusion to the section when it was already quite maze-like and repetitive. I cut down the unnecessary filler but the maze still requires a lot of memorization in order to realize that you have to make like, 4 loops around the central waterfall platform. Plus this definitely shows my thought process when approaching problems; I always start with "what is the goal I'm trying to accomplish here" and as I mess around I slowly check off what clearly doesn't work. So for instance, the entire "left half" of the puzzle section (where you enter via the red blocks) only serves the purpose of lowering the blue blocks—so hey, you never need to go there again! But watching FDAs, there were a lot of people that would leave the "main" puzzle play area and go back to the start and take the left half section again, only to get confused and feel as though they've made no progress... which was true, because they started the whole puzzle over again! I don't mean this to come across as a condescending "wow people sure are dumb!" remark, but that the sequence is perhaps too specifically catered for my style of play, whereas everything else on the map is more lenient and works much better.

 

Well, except the second green star. You see, this is one of those purposely anti-fun decisions; it was actually a last minute addition to add some pattern to the ceiling as a act of mercy on my part. The way you're supposed to get through it is by literally bumping up against the entire path and trying to memorize via touch. I added this stupid section because a lot of the NES era had some really obscure and annoying designs (walk-through walls in Zelda anyone?), and I wanted to channel that philosophy even at the loss of enjoyment. But the more I think about it, the more I think the "counter-culture" decision is... just bad, really. It's kinda funny whenever I read about people defending artistic intent even when said intent is belligerent/rude/alien etc., because I feel like people don't understand how... pliable? design work is. Had I got a lot more pushback on this idea I think I would've scrapped it for something else, and though I'm too far past it now to wring my hands anxiously over how it'll be received, it's definitely a case where I can point to an idea and go "yeah, my bad". So, sorry about that.

 

Um, not much else. I'm suuuuper happy with the 3rd green star puzzle, since it was a nightmare trying to figure out how the hell to add a second solution to a pyramid I had already designed (and didn't really have room to add more stuff onto). I would've loved to work on an even harder version of the 3-colored lego blocks, as it can be quite easy to luck your way into the solution, similar to the eastern shrine in The Given. Lastly, the island to the top right is called "Marcaek Island" because he added it to block the unaligned scrolling sky texture, and I both love him for adding the "floating in the clouds" theme to the map (initially the map had a sky as its bottom, a la Captain Toad), but I also hate him for it because THE REST OF THE MAP IS SQUARE EXCEPT FOR THAT GODDAMN ISLAND

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP19: Your Princess Is In Another Fort, Asshole

 

This one provides a lovely contrast to the preceding map, going from a wide-open space, a muted brick palette, a meandering path, and a preponderance of square corners to an enclosed and brightly-coloured arena built around an irregularly rounded central space to which the path of progression again and again returns the player.  The majority of the monsters present are mid-tiers on up, with revenants and mancubi squabbling for the starring role, though a Cyberdemon puts in an appearance as a guest star around... oh, I want to say the two-thirds mark?  It's not a level that's at all shy about quickly supplying the player with ample rockets and a launcher, contributing to a fast pace right from the get-go.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP18 C'mon Peach, You've Got What You Want, Now Give This Plumber Cake!

 

Lots of enemies on onset, action very frantic. Thankfully these pipes make this so much more fun to run around in. The silent teleport maze is a suck trial and error thing, and I didn't even realize where I was going after hitting the switch to on. Pretty linear otherwise, a nice homage to any World X-4 thing with a cyber being Bowser at the end (though an axe in this case doesn't do the trick). Also ? blocks are back, one even has a nice invulnerability I could've used, but even I didn't need it.

[cannonball]

MAP19 - “Your Princess is in Another Fort, Asshole” by TMD

This was also pretty darn good, the map loops around a couple of times with quite a few mid-tier monsters popping up. Nothing overly drastic in terms of difficulty though I left the cyber as I didn't have enough ammo or patience to kill him. You can play this at quite a rate of knots as long as you can keep the rocket launcher loaded.

[Catpho]

MAP15 - “Ziegenhaus” by Xaser

There cant be any "ordinary doom map" from Xaser, only "ordinary Xaser maps", and even those are classy!

Welcome to Goat town, or is it ghost town? Idk whats with all the goats (the title is even "goat house" in German), but this map will chill you to the spine with its slick, charming cartoon design. The haunted mansion mario textures are used very well to craft the map's mood, all very beautifully done in typical Xaser fashion. There are also his unique crazy geometry touches, like the void parts, the secret exit that has Escher vibes, and how the town transforms for each fight! And on the subject of fights, then this map has plenty of opportunities to turn you into a fine corpse. The map's gameplay relies on doom 2 mid to high teirs (minus hell knights), and one puzzle cyberdemon fight. You are only given rocket launchers and plasma rifles to get the job done, and they sure make playing the map memorable. Layout is actually quite straightforward, but there is still room for different fight routes. The hunt for the red coins is genuinely satisfying and Adams family like music seals the deal.

Ill gladly sell my soul to Xaser now. @rdwpa review on this map is worth reading too!

Some screenies:

 

[Magnusblitz]

Gotta catch up before leaving for the weekend...

 

MAP16: Skyward Vivarium

100% kills, 1/1 secret

 

Couldn't help but think of MAP04 with the start here, as both share monsters nearby but facing away from the player, as well as a mad rush to get supplies and find a foothold. Shouldn't be surprised it's the same author I suppose. I ended up going straight for the blue key, then down into the basement for the green armor/SSG, though I suppose you can find both on the outer ring as well, not sure which path plays better. I enjoyed the large ring of zombiemen, but like some others the amount of pointless snipers was tedious and really left me low on ammo... I exited the map with 7 bullets and 4 shells, and that was getting a bit lucky that one of the cacodemons finished off the last AV for me in the kerfluffle of the final room. Which, by the way, is a pain in the ass to navigate with the doodads and tiny columns. But decent for a filler map.

 

MAP17: All the Monster's Teeth are Perfect

100% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

This one wastes no time spelling out how it's gonna kick your ass, happily dumping a bunch of imps and revenants right on top of you at the start to force you out of the cubby-hole. After escaping the initial area it then proceeds to throw insta-pop and teleporting monsters at you. The middle fight is pretty fun thanks to the invulnerability star, and the final fight is a little bit awkward but nothing too tough. Thankfully there's also a lot of ammo for once so I could concentrate on the combat instead of worrying about supplies.