The DWmegawad Club plays: Struggle

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP10: Cerulean Ophidians

 

So the setting has changed indeed, the familiar techbase elements completely absent from this level to be replaced by twisting caverns, sinister shrines, and a climactic battle in a grandiose temple carved and polished from azure stone.  Again there's something of a hub at play here, not a sewer but a partially flooded chasm/cavern area right in the middle of the map, home to perched snipers, agile cacodemons, and a throng of lesser rabble sloshing their way through the murky and ankle-deep waters of the cavern floor, with waves of reinforcements appearing in that central space to punctuate the player's progress from one wing of the map to the next.  For all that the hub is a rather large space, it's cluttered and almost claustrophobic, and the tunnels that sprawl off from it in all directions are definitely on the tight side, denying the player much room to manoeuvre and enhancing the threat posed by the faster-moving, faster-firing monster variations to be found within.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP10 Cerulean Ophidians

 

Unpopular opinion, but these level names are ruining whatever surprises there were in store. Well, no techbases at least, and a lot more motion to get out of, but with all these landscapes being high up being on ground floor means it's quite cramped. Prioritizing targets is a must here. And despite the name, you don't have to worry too much about the ophidians really, as they usually come up expectedly, usually in pretty easy-to-find traps and all.

[antares031]

MAP09 – Spectre Strikes

PrBoom+, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 105/100/100

 

This level started with a simple concept; placing lots of spectrocacos in the techbase, with darker atmosphere than other levels. I believe that this already gives a character to the level, unlike MAP08. Compare to the original spectres, they can move around the level more freely, thanks to their levitating ability. Not to mention that it’s more difficult to notice their firing state, unlike the original cacodemons. So using dual-wield mode would be the best idea to deal with them in the dark rooms, by allowing you to light up the area with rapid gunfires, and letting them scream with unstoppable pain.

 

The architecture with those custom textures is getting a shape level by level, and I think this level did a pretty good job with those concrete, brick textures to form the environment of this dark, grey-ish fortress. Combat is getting more difficult, with the first setpiece with lots of monsters and a few arch-viles with them together. Afriest is also making an appearance, just to remind you that it’s a thing in this wad. The exit area shows something different than a techbase, showing a hint of the concept of the next level with three cerulean ophidians.

[Forli]

Perhaps I sounded more negative than I intended last time, I want to make it clear that I think all the maps so far were quite good. I'm bad at writing about stuff and since a lot of these levels have been similar visually and in gameplay, so I can't think of many things to say other than some small complains I get along the way.

 

 

MAP09 : Spectre Strikes

 

Another techbase, but this time a bit darker and more dangerous, I enjoyed the more difficult fight that comes a bit after the blue key, it was quite tense since I was at 6% health for quite a while with a lot of the monsters still around, but somehow managed to survive.

 

What did kill me a few times were the numerous spectral cacos that come out near the end, I didn't even notice them until they were right next to me, and they finished me off quickly. Even after I tried again knowing they were there, I still dieda few more times when they approached from behind when I thought they were all dead, or when many were attacking me at the same time and I couldn't keep track of all of them. I'm certainly glad I save often even when playing mostly easy maps, you never know when you are going to get into something like this :S.

 

MAP10: Cerulean Ophidians

 

At last something different! I really like the look of these textures, the brown and green create a very natural looking caverns, the temples are also well made and visually appealing, and the blue temple area looks really nice and otherworldly, makes me want to see more like that in the future. While the monster placement and traps are similar to what we have seen until now, the more irregular shapes of this map makes them play a bit different, which is a nice change of pace.

 

As the name suggest there are a lot of ophidians in this map, specially considering that their health makes you spend more time dealing with each of them, however they are almost always on a spot were you can shoot them while hidding on a corner or on traps that are easy to see coming and run away from so you can shoot them while hidding on a corner, so they don't pose much of a threat.

[tmorrow]

map11: The Indomitable Mastermind, by antares031
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

You start in small blue temple with a teleporter to the outside. Outside, a huge battle awaits in an enormous courtyard surrounded by lava and rock. There's a lot of pain in the courtyard, with 100+ enemies trying to shred you into itty bitty pieces. Hit scanners are everywhere and the worst of them are the 2 spider masterminds guarding the northern exit area.

It took me a while to work out what was going on with the spider masterminds since they kept getting, mysteriously resurrected. It turns out that in an act of pure evil, antares031 has hidden stealthed archviles in the 2 pillars that flank the 2 spider masterminds. The upshot being that there's no point killing the spider masterminds until you can dispense with the 2 archviles. This is essentially what this map is all about. You basically have to put up with those hitscanning sob's for quite a while while you work out how to get rid of the archviles.

There are a number of switches you need to enable to progress the map and reach the keys. Of course the switches and keys are distributed all over both sides of the courtyard and require some tricky platforming to reach. Every key picked up and switch actioned also results in more enemies being spawned in the courtyard. The yellow key pickup is a bit of platforming nightmare as you run the gauntlet to avoid being shredded by the spider masterminds.

There are also 2 switches behind bars that bring units 1 and 2 back online. You need to work out how to raise the bars to those switches, one of them involves dealing with cybie. After both switches have been enabled you can reach the resurrector control. Approaching it will result in the 2 archviles in the pillars being unceremoniously crushed, allowing you to take out both the spider masterminds at last. Finally you can make your way to the exit.

The 3 secrets are very useful with a megasphere, soulsphere and rad suit to be found.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP09: Spectre Strikes

100% kills, 3/4 secrets

 

Something I'd noticed but hadn't commented on was the placement of the cacospectres so far; I think they've been used well, usually placed in darker areas and/or with other enemies that distract from them, allowing them to make use of their stealth. As antares notes, this level is somewhat designed around it (though there's plenty of other monsters as well) and I do agree that them being able to float really does make them a lot more effective than the regular demon-spectre. Of the new enemies so far I think it's my favorite.

 

This level is probably the most linear so far, and ironically this is the first map that I got a bit lost in, as I hit the 'Unit 1' switch but then immediately grabbed the blue key and started clearing out the rest of the level up to the red key, at which point I became extremely confused as to where to go. While the signpost is there, I can't help but feel the two could've been combined... just replace the Unit 1 doors with another blue door and you'd have basically the same effect (and one I'd be able to navigate easier using ZDoom's color minimap door... no it's not cheating!) 

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP11 Indomitable Mastermind

 

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of "Is it speedrun-friendly?"

 

It's not.

 

Also I really hate how it's blue on the onset and then when you teleport to the main area it's now no longer really awesome and blue. Anyways yeah, antares takes some cues from Valiant and puts snipers just about fucking everywhere in this map. Yet they're the easy monsters, barring the obvious spiderdemons in the far reaches of the map. The textfile of course states that these things actually can be resurrected, which seemed to be the case, but actual arch-viles aren't resurrecting them. There's a hidden spectre arch-vile that doesn't count towards the kills that's actually reviving them, the premise is to find two unit switches and hit them, take out the ophidian guarding it, and then those things can be crushed allowing me to kill the masterminds without resurrection. A real course of distractions here, which I am 1000% not a fan of and never ever will be!

 

But I did manage to get both masterminds killed without them resurrected. SOMEHOW. I got one myself, I think the other one ended up infighting due to his hitscan attack hitting a caco or something and then he just sort of died there. So what makes this one annoying to move around? Well, open field, a trio of secrets, a bit of nonlinearity, but your sense of direction is easily glued and it's hard to unstick it. When you're actually making progress, in come the next wave of enemies, only since they are on ground, they will likely get themselves tangled up in the level layout. Yep, the ground monsters are actually harder to find rather than to kill. Not to mention the cacos who will likely be moving backwards very often.

[FrancisT218]

Level 9

 

We get a somewhat darker and more 'underground' flooded aesthetic here than before - which fits the level's name-implied gimmick, the heavy use of Spectrocacos, well. It's at least as good looking as its predecessors and the higher use of Spectrocacos varies the gameplay up more. They can be quite dangerous in larger numbers! You still meet the other monsters here too though. All in all it's another fun map; some of these levels don't have a huge number of things to say about them, but that doesn't mean they get boring. The end tells you you'll be in a different place next time...

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP11: The Indomitable Mastermind

 

...Oh that is the opposite of a name that bodes well.

 

The vivid blues certainly represent the invading monstrous reality, a counterpart to the Hell-themed textures, areas, and levels of vanilla Doom, but so far it's less of a battleground and more of an interstitial space, a subsection theme that appears at the end of one level or the start of the next but where these isn't a whole lot of gameplay to be found.  Here, the blue chambers offer the player a quick breather and a chance to secure weapons, ammunition, and health before proceeding to a crater-like environment in which the last remnants of a sundered techbase smoulder, the ruins dominated by a pair of Spider Masterminds hooked up to a resurrection device that must be deactivated before its protected charges can be defeated and the player can penetrate this final layer of the laboratory's defences.

 

Honestly I'm not so much a fan of this very cluttered style of environment, where it's easy to get tangled up on small ground/wall details that get lost and go unnoticed in the too-busy visual style; the perception of depth suffers through a combination of texture similarity and the generally high (and even) light level.  Especially when facing down the repeated waves of reinforcements, there's a temptation to find a safe spot and hunker down not because the enemy forces are overwhelming but simply to avoid the annoyance of getting snagged on a step, ledge, or fragment of broken wall was wasn't evident enough to be readily avoided.  The ruined base itself isn't so appealing an environment that it's fun to face wave after wave of monsters as they flood in after every step you take toward progress; there was a point at which I was no longer engaged and instead just wanted things to be over.

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

MAP10

Crispy Doom 5.2, UV, continuous, saves

A nature-based map, a very welcome change from the many tech bases we've seen so far.

The serpents are annoyingly common here, so the launcher and rifle will quickly become your best friends against them.

Traps are abundant, which is good, but almost all of them involve the aforementioned serpents and can be avoided by stepping into the room and running back out.

With only 224 monsters on the map, this one was actually rather easy, especially after just coming from Stardate 20X7.

Aesthetically, it looks very natural, with ruins scattered about. There isn't much more for me to say.

 

MAP11

Back to the blue, we are, right off.

Upon entering the teleporter and seeing the map firsthand, my framerate dropped to a crawl. I suspect Crispy choked on the immense load, though it could just be my machine, so I'll be switching engines mid-campaign, something I did not want to do, to PRBoom.

Somewhat hectic (I did just play SD 20X7 MAP08, so it's not that hectic, comparatively), this map throws you straight into the thick of it with no time to think about what to do next.

There are a lot of large fights in the central combat area, which combined with my poor performance (both from my machine and myself) to make me restart several times, even after I'd won some of the fights and hadn't saved yet.

Overall, it was a good map, but the fact that my framerate slowed to a near crawl half the time somewhat soured my opinion.

 

Next map will be from pistol start on PRBoom+.

Oh, yeah, I ran MAP11 through PRBoom and it ran like a dream with only a few minor slowdowns, so I'll be jumping to it next map.

[FrancisT218]

Level 10

 

This level treats you to a refreshing thematic diversion, as the techbase textures give way to a swampy outdoor forest with orange being the pick for the interior rooms. It's all been done at the same standard of the past couple levels. You also meet the Antaresia (or Ophidian) much more frequently than in the previous four levels, though usually have cover to dodge its deadly bolts. Still, it felt slightly longer and tougher than prior maps. The brown swamp area has been used for at least two full distinct fights as well. There's another brief Antaresian preview at the end...

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

It's not technically July 12 where I am, but it is in Europe.

 

MAP12

PRBoom+ 2.5.1.5, UV, Pistol start --> continuous, saves

Struggle-12-AC FDA, complevel 2, skill 4, RC2

 

The first map after jumping over to PRBoom is another techbase, but this one has the air of a real structure in its architecture.

It's a tough nut to crack from pistol start, but not as difficult as some of the previous maps were, so I imagine continuous would've been a breeze.

A new monster is introduced here, and he is incredibly annoying because he shoots the same bolts the serpents do, except in bursts of four to six at a time.

Easily the most difficult room is the square room you're teleported into from the fatso room near the exit because you're immediately surrounded and if you didn't do enough exploring and clearing, this room will quite likely be your grave.

Traps are somewhat common, but generally easy enough to deal with.

The layout isn't very confusing if you can get your bearings and you realize that Antares never dumps you somewhere without good reason (a theme I noticed in about MAP08), which makes these maps, which would otherwise be very difficult to navigate, quite easy to figure out.

An Allmap is available fairly early, and one of the secrets nets you an extremely useful blue armor.

I am beginning to hate the new zombiemen, though. They're becoming worse than the shotgunners.

[tmorrow]

map12: Into the danger, by antares031
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

We begin in a foyer of a techbase facility, with some lovely trees. The mood is spoiled by a welcoming committee of hit scanners. While most of the map takes place indoors, there are some nice views to the outside from time to time and there is an outside area with crates where some fighting takes place. The automap reveals a map layout that as it unfolds looks fairly regular and box like but your path through the facility is not so obvious. The map alters along the way through triggers and switches and there is a short but engaging switch hunt to find out how to progress from time to time.

Early on you have the pleasure or otherwise of being introduced to the chaingun elite. The little bugger fires 4 super fast energy bolts, so watch out.

For the most part the map plays fairly comfortably, most players won't have any trouble. There are 2 particularly nasty traps though. I agree with @Aquila Chrysaetos that the teleporter trap is the worst though, quite vicious. You arrive in the middle of a new room with tough enemies all around. It's easy to get out of if you've played before, but is a killer the first time. The second trap to beware of the yellow key pickup, but at least there the enemies appear at one end and there are pillars to use for cover.

A soulsphere, megaarmor, berserk pack and drill can be found in the secret areas.

[antares031]

I bought a new mainborad + CPU, and now it's good to go. Time to back on track.

 

 

MAP10 – Cerulean Ophidians

PrBoom+, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

Obviously I was tired of making tech-base levels. :D I believe that this new theme has given a fresh feeling to everyone, after 9 levels in brick and concrete structures. Anyway, this level started as an another test level to demonstrate the custom textures, but with more natural elements. I also tried to make some “horizontal border” textures to make it look better. This kind of textures will be appeared more in the later level with different natural environments.

 

Like the title suggests, this level features lots of Antaresias all around the level; 28 in total on UV, and 2 more for cooperative. I thought those snake monsters fit pretty good with natural environment, and this egyptian-themed soundtrack, for some reason. Other than that, the difficulty is pretty much the same with the previous level, except the lack of spectrocacos. The ending part shows the teaser of the last episode, as something like an illusion. I hope you like blue textures. :)

 

 

MAP11 – The Indomitable Mastermind

PrBoom+, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

A level that designed as a closer of the first episode. And what would be a good option for the finale of the episode? Well, it’s a boss fight, obviously. This time, we have two spider masterminds, that were guarded by the resurrector machine. Yes, I realized that you can actually make the boss monsters revive from the death, by simply adding the raise sequence. The problem was that vanilla sourceports, like PrBoom+, didn’t let them to be resurrected, while the modern sourceport had not that problem. The solution was simply aligning the mastermind to 128-grid line in the level editor. So yeah, thanks again @Fonze for the helpful answer. :)

 

Unlike the tech-base levels, this one is widely-opened, allowing those turret monsters to spray the projectiles around you. So you need to run around these ruined structures on the lava, picking up some goodies for you. Thankfully, the ammo and health supplies are sprinkled all around the level, including the edge of lava pool, once you find a radiation suit. Once you turned off the resurrector machine, you may kill those masterminds from below the platform, and proceed to the techbase, but with slightly different texture scheme.

[Dragonfly]

 

 

This session had me reach the end of MAP13. Hooooo boy things are picking up in both difficulty and scale. The maps are taking 20 - 30 mins a piece, with well over 200-300 enemies too. The maps themselves don't feel tedious, but I'm becoming conscious of how unlikely it is I'll see the end of this megawad by the end of the month.

 

Regardless, my comments of "this is a masterpiece" still stands. Antares has really captured a strong, "rough around the edges" feel that almost comes across as punky/trashy. The homemade sprites, the loud-as-fuck explosions, the new enemies, the bright strobing when you go murder-mad with your uzi... it all contributes to creating a very different experience to your traditional Doom, but still feels like Doom at it's core.

 

I hope to find time at the weekend to press on with this bad boy. 

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP12 Into The Danger

 

We already have enough people who instantiate a brand new meme involving a Simpsons character, and not a single one of those memes is funny anyways. With about 220 or so monsters, the difficulty ramps up, there's an interesting opening trap and all, plus yet another new enemy has shown face, a chaingunner that doesn't shoot a chaingun but rather that super-fast plasma the ophidians and spiderdemon shoot. It's a lot more cramped than the previous map, which means the open space doesn't have me missing monsters all that much. Once again, the revenants and cacos prove to be the worst monsters.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP12: Into the Danger

 

There's a subtle shift in atmosphere, away from ruination and urban grunge to a much more grey-white and "clean" type of techbase, less brick and more metal; and there's also a not-so-subtle shift upward in monster numbers and density, a sense that the episode transition has brought with it a deliberate stepping-up of the opposition the player is expected to overcome.  In particular, we're introduced to a new type of trooper here, wearing a snazzy blue uniform and toting around a plasma gun, though the fact that its appearance is based on the heavy weapons trooper means that most players will mark it as a priority right from the start, before getting any kind of sense of the damage it can deal or the genuine threat it can pose.

 

The relatively small footprint of this map contributes to its crowded nature and tendency toward slow gameplay, with monsters cramming themselves into small spaces and choking the hallways with their bodies, to be dispatched by the player in a relatively static fashion.  I wouldn't describe its progression as obtuse, but there was certainly a point where I was struggling to figure out where to go next, having failed to realise that the switch that opened a set of panels in the western room opened a matching set of shutters in the east.  Is the big teleporter that drops you into the middle of the room with the black shutters even necessary, then, or is that whole scrambling encounter an optional one?  Something for me to investigate on a later playthrough.

[rehelekretep]

map05 fda

oh the ignominy; killed by a lone cyberdemon at the end of the map. unfortunately, the map wasnt that fun for me to replay. i dont like damage floors, and when theyre quite commonplace, but theres tons of suits (essence of guardian i guess?) it just becomes another resource to manage and worry about, instead of an actual gameplay mechanic. the nastiest part of this map is definitely the dark trap just before the blue key. the vile just when you think its over is the cherry on the cake.

[rehelekretep]

map06 fda

much smaller map and a smaller enemy count. viles couldve been used better here - you can pretty much just stand in a window/doorway and spam them with no issues. the start is pretty brutal unless im missing an obvious armour pickup?

the afriest is ok i guess - what is much better than ok is the cave setting for the last fight! whew boy its beautiful. can we have a whole map like this pls antares? ty.

[rehelekretep]

map07 fda

another hot start - this map actually gets easier towards then end. the snake things by themselves on the teleporters are weird - i was expecting viles or revs. these are curiously pointless. the poor mastermind never stood a chance but i guess its a good way to introduce the enemy without making it flay the player alive immediately.

the outdoor area is cool as heck, although i think a bit too much decoration for its own good; tends to confuse the eyes/sight-lines.

[antares031]

6 hours ago, TheOrganGrinder said:

Is the big teleporter that drops you into the middle of the room with the black shutters even necessary, then, or is that whole scrambling encounter an optional one?

 

While it connects the areas around the center, once it's opened, it is possible to beat the level without entering the giant teleporter. So it's not required to visit the center.

[DavitW]

MAP10: Cerulean Ophidians

So the name of this map is Blue Ophidians. Alright, I'll give it to you. We finally have a change of scenery here with  a cavern style in a map I'd best describe as vaguely circular, with various paths going off to the sides. The claustrophobic cave areas with all the twisty turns and corners can make it easy for an enemy to get the drop on you, and the Revenants and Ophidians can be particularly dangerous in these tight areas without much room to dodge. We end the map with a big double layer ambush, First a big group of enemies and then a small group of the Ophidians to take out. Best save some AR ammo for that part.

 

MAP11: The Indomitable Mastermind

A map that starts off as a big clusterfuck taking place in a destroyed techbase surrounded by lava. There's monsters all over the place and with the Rockets, Fireballs and Lost souls flying from most every direction there's no safe place to hide. Once you finally get some breathing room the goal is to clear a path to the 3 keys scattered around the level so you shut off whatever the hell's resurrecting the Spider Masterminds. They're not the only boss as there's also a Cyberdemon to take out as well. The Architecture felt a bit messy here which makes sense given the context but it was still a pain in the ass getting stuck on random walls and having enemies wander off around corners.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP10: Cerulean Ophidians

100% kills, 3/4 secrets

 

Nice to see a new theme, always helps to freshen up things. I admit I was a bit confused by the way the one part wrapped around to the beginning since it didn't have any great signposts, but the rest of the map was pretty well-designed in that regard. Maybe an exception for climbing from the yellow door across the columns, didn't feel like I was actually progressing at first, thought I was just exploring/finding secrets until I realized it led to the blue switch and the exit. As the title implies, more Antaresias in this map, which didn't make a big impact on me since I don't find them exceptionally interesting to fight - they're basically similar to the new revenant except a bit beefier and a bit easier to dodge since the fast projectile doesn't come as quick as the revenant rockets. What did get my attention was sticking the Afriests right behind doors, as they have a very quick trigger and they'll blast you in the face if you're not ready for it.

[rehelekretep]

map08 fda

map09 fda

[Magnusblitz]

MAP11: The Indomitable Mastermind

100% kills, 0/3 secrets

 

With two of them on every skill level, shouldn't it be Masterminds, plural?

 

Back to the start of techbase land, though this one is still thematically different, taking place in an outdoor base in a crater/valley that's largely been destroyed, on the outskirts of the research base proper. Nice lighting effects with the glow from the lava dissipating up the walls of the crater. And I really dig the look of the temple outcropping to the west.

 

Gameplay-wise this is also a big shift, to a chaotic wide-open start with plenty of enemies blasting away at you. I don't tend to like these sorts of maps, not because they're bad or flawed, just because they make me uncomfortable... which is probably a good thing every now and then. There aren't a ton of hitscanners and since the rev missiles don't track, it's really not too hard to stay out of harm's way as long as you avoid the SMMs. Apparently they resurrect, I didn't even bother trying to shoot them until I hit all the switches and such. I do agree that getting stuck on a piece of architecture can be rather annoying, I tried to keep my combat to the helipad in the middle and just circle-strafe it as needed. Can't really run around the rest of the map without getting caught during an active firefight. A good episode ender, all told, though it probably would've worked better if MAP10 hadn't been such a shift.

[tmorrow]

map13: Military base, by antares031
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

We have arrived at another military base. Needless to say the base is packed full of enemies. The trip to the armory is not that hard but things start to hot up once you reach the center and start tackling the northwest areas where the progression gets more tricky and the fight more difficult.

To save some frustration, you'll want to head to the northeast after the armory to hunt down the blue key before tackling the northwest. In my run I went to the northwest first and ended up going round and round in circles trying to reach the red and yellow keys that couldn't be reached. I found out later that the sequence of key pickups is necessarily blue, then red, then yellow.

I enjoyed most of the fights on this map. None of the battles were ugly gotcha traps and you have a fighting chance during each encounter.

Three of the four secrets are easy pickups, the last one a bit more tricky. The soulsphere and a backpack are the best of the rewards.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP13: Military Base

 

This is another level in which I feel the player is quite free to explore the greater part of its real estate and confront the lion's share of its monster population before committing to much in the way of progress - certainly if that is measured purely in terms of keys and their corresponding locked doors, there's a lot of ground that the player is given the freedom to cover.  Is this part of a signature Struggle style, this tendency toward large explorable areas and complex interactions of multiple small effects that create a sense that no single switch represents a choke point in the same way that a locked and coloured door might?

 

I don't know that there's anything here that's terrifically new otherwise; I'm not getting bored, but this level one isn't one that stands out exceptionally in my mind.  It's solid but it's unremarkable.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP13 Military Base

 

What is it with these layouts and seeming a lot smaller yet taking just as long as the previous maps? For a military base, you sure are more complex than I thought. Again, big enemy counts, at least a few large areas, well, there's quite a few nasty mancubi around, but other monsters are more liable to steal the shows. The targetting range is sort of neat, although you'll have to really look for a secret by bullseyeing one of those things. The hops across to the yellow key are alright. There's still not a whole lot of incentive really, I wish these maps would move on from techbase stuff now.

[antares031]

MAP12 – Into the Danger

PrBoom+, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

I apologize in advance for an another episode of tech-bases. To be fair, the original plan for the second episode was entering the world of blue textures, as you can see from the early version of MAP12. But this idea was scrapped, and decided to abuse blue textures in the last episode. I could go for the hellish, corpse-filled inferno levels for the second episode. But I decided to make more techbase levels, with more newly-designed textures, since I learned how to design better textures than those from the first episode. And the result was The Kerberos Complex for Doomworld Mega Project 2017, which is basically an improved version of MAP16.

 

The concept of new techbase complex is more “modern” than the previous episode. Although it’s not completely replaced, now we have some more polished concrete tiles, panels and floor tiles that were made out of marble, and so on. And say hello to the new custom monster, Chaingun Elite. The original concept of it was basically a zombie version of the original Arachnotron with a plasma gun. But I change it to shoot 4-rounds-burst, instead of rapid fire. While it’s a good news that the new chaingunner doesn’t have a hitscan attack, those energy bolts are fast enough to catch you, if you’re not paying attention.

[Forli]

MAP11 : The Indomitable Mastermind

 

So this is why the masterminds can be resurrected by archviles in this wad.

 

This is a techbase level but with an entirely different asthetic, most of the map takes place in the open among some ruins. This mapping style of not using ceilings except at the edges of the maps can create some very impresive vistas as all of the map can be seen at once, from some of the pictures I've seen I believe we'll see even more impressive examples of this later.

 

The gameplay consist of an open brawl with snipers everywhere that can get you on most places on the map, since most of them are projectile based they can be dealt with by just never stopping moving, the map gets repopulated at some points by some more mobile monsters, but those are easier to defeat, as for the masterminds, they spend most of the map behind some structures so they are not actually a huge factor, just don't waste ammo before turning their resurrection off.

 

 

MAP12 : Into the Danger

 

So we're back into the techbases... but the visuals actually look even better than before, still all this detail and colors on textures can make it a bit difficult to see important things like switches or even doors.

 

There's a new enemy, a blue chaingunners who fires a barrage of that new plasma-like projectile, seems like a good addition as the default bestiary is lacking on monsters with high threat but low health.

 

I got lost a lot on this map, I know I'm not the best person to judge as I have an awful sense of direction and the longest I stayed lost was because I didn't get into a door I went past a bunch of times, but there were a lot of times when I didn't know what a switch I pressed actually did.

 

 

MAP13 : Military Base

 

The fights keep getting tougher with each map at a nice pace, the spectrocacos continue to be the bane of my existence and they are made worse by having an archvile resurrecting them so I can't even know if they are dead or alive :S.

 

It took me awhile to find the blue door, I had to jump down to a lower ledge to enter a door I didn't notice. I think part of the problem I'm having is that this particular door texture is not distinct enough from all the visual noise which makes it difficult to notice them when they are somewhere I don't expect. Still, don't listen to me too much, I always get lost playing doom, that's why I'm glad I don't record demos or videos.