The DWmegawad Club plays: Akeldama

[Doomkid]

The comments about Map32, both positive and negative, and especially loveless finally conquering the beast, put a big stupid smile on my dial. Just figured I'd let you all know.

[loveless]

thank you for mapping!

[Phobus]

MAP22: Dark Sacrifices

I liked this one - it's a smooth start and you get plenty of time to assess each fight as it kicks off. The Arch-Viles hit me a couple of times early on, and my BFG technique failed me against both Cyberdemons, so there were deaths, but they felt "fair". It was down to my skills or poor reactions, rather than me being instantly overwhelmed.

 

Visually this did well, with the large open spaces, details and lighting. I've never played a map by this mapper before, but I suspect there's some experience at play here and this was probably not the most extreme they could make it. The music felt like it was themed for something other than this medieval castle, though, so that can be my one "note". Otherwise it's a decent map, and definitely well-suited to a megaWAD. It's even a gentle-enough start that, on continuous with only 32 health at start up, I was all good until the Arch-Viles and Cyberdemons!

[loveless]

@Phobus get a six pack and play Black Room or Disciples of Darkness.  wild rides beginning to end!

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP22 - "Dark Sacrifices" - Paolo "Paul977" M. (100%K/I/S):

Quite possibly, the simplest map in Akeldama, you take one route, get the key, take the other one, get another key, exit. Also, fight some big chunks of creeps in the middle. A map that is simple yet it has a really good execution, maybe my only struggle was that it's low on ammo, making you SSG all the enemies in your way constantly, if you are not a continuous player. I really love the castle setting here, totally different from anything we have seen before. I kinda liked the ending where you get teased into going into the dark, and then, suddenly a big arena reveals with enemies weirldly looking at the walls, but you know you have to kill them to procede. I liked having to check all the area and make my plans before I start shooting, Who do I kill first? Where do I go next? Which weapon to use? Where to hide? Weird type of combat, in the end, all enemies are going to be awake and shooting you from every angle.
It's slaughtery, yes, but not the bad type of slaughter, this map resembles a lot to some Eviternity maps in terms of gameplay aswell as aesthetics. I like when maps don't take that long just because they are on a pretty high up mapslot, so this map is appreciated.


Deaths: 75 (HMP Playthrough - Chocolate Doom)

Order of preference:

Spoiler

 

MAP17

MAP14
MAP15
MAP10
MAP11
MAP05
MAP06
MAP04
MAP22
MAP21
MAP09
MAP08
MAP19
MAP16
MAP18
MAP07
MAP03
MAP02
MAP31
MAP13
MAP01

MAP20
MAP12
MAP32

 

MAP offtopic: I corrected a mistake, forgot to mention that wolfmcbeard also worked on map18, so I edited the title to add both mappers involved, my mistake.

Edited July 22, 2020 by DJVCardMaster

[Andromeda]

MAP22: Dark Sacrifices (Akeldama)

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HNTR-PS, no saves, 100% everything

 

I remember really liking Paul's levels back when the club covered NOVA III and I sure wasn't disappointed here. It's a small and gorgeous castle level with a decent amount of enemies, although most of these are imps. The trickiest battles lie near the blue key and the finale. The former deploys a significant amount of imps, demons and a few revenants and hell knights in an attempt to box you in, but as long as you keep moving you shouldn't have trouble. The latter has monsters strategically placed to prevent camping, although it only works until you carve a safe spot that allows you to take it slow if you so please (which I shamefully did after having lost all my armor due to stupid mistakes earlier :P). It's not a difficult level but it's pretty fun and I loved the supercharge secret where you telefrag a hapless Cyberdemon :) Probably my favourite level so far.

[tmorrow]

7 hours ago, Doomkid said:

The comments about Map32, both positive and negative, and especially loveless finally conquering the beast, put a big stupid smile on my dial. Just figured I'd let you all know.

 

This is one of my favorite maps in the mapset! With 2 secret invulnerability spheres to choose from, both readily reachable from the start and oodles of ammo/health spread throughout, it's a friendly slaughter map that wants you to have a blasting good time!

[Snikle]

MAP22: Dark Sacrifices

This one was pretty short, but focused on large spaces with lots of monsters. The sub-200 (HMP) monster count is pretty deceiving since every fight has a lot going on, there just aren’t very many of them. Right out of the gate are a horde of imps, which I always love. I went left in this beginning hallway, leading me to the blue key arena. That was a fun fight, lots of monsters in that room with an archie thrown in for good measure. The soulsphere and abundant supplies made the room manageable but still fun. On the other side of the level, to get the red key, there was a cyber fight. This was the one part of the level that didn’t throw a horde in my face, just the cyber and some revs in inopportune places. After getting both keys you go to the final arena, where there was just a lot of everything firing on you at once. Fun, fun shit. Whole level felt like something from early-game Sunlust, right down to the length.

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP22: Dark Sacrifices

prBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4, continuous with saves, no complevel specified

 

oh man that was great!

I couldn't put my finger on what this high-ceilinged outdoor scene reminded me of, nonetheless it was awesome. The lighting was really good too.

The combat was just the right intensity for me for a level of this size.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Endless]

MAP22: Dark Sacrifices

UV, LZDoom and Brutal Doom mod.

 

By far the most simplistic map and at the same time one of the most effective in its making. Small but designed to involve a system of corridors connected to long rooms. A much simpler presentation than the previous maps, probably one of the most ''vanilla'' in that sense, but full of effort in terms of its progression and simple advance. An excellent map both in its simple quality and in its level of difficulty.

[TheNoob_Gamer]

Dropping in the final stretch because that's the part I found Akeldama most interesting.

UV, 1-2 saves

Map23: Chimera

 

What a reckless one. Despite its size, I found myself mowing through half the population in 15 mins. And wandering around aimlessly in the remaining 45 mins.
Nowhere is safe during the first row. I constantly have to escape from place to place and die under the hands of zombies, or revenants. I'm surprised that being a late-game map, the amount of sergeants and chaingunners are way too big.
The pickups are also scattered around in a rather questionable manner. This might be one of the only tradtional-styled (gameplay-wise) maps in which that I have to face bullet starvation often, until later when I decided to explore ~25% unexplored places, which have many 9mm boxes placed in safe. Same with health. Places that are most populated usually have no pickups or only stimpacks placed further away available.

That being said, I never get lost. Some weapon pickups are nicely placed - I'm glad I found the plasma rifle at the right moment when I was just getting bored of SSG and ran out of bullets, and the automap PDA was easy to find, making traversing through things less of a hassle.
The gameplay is fine for the most part, I, ironically enough, barely found killing things tedious.
Also gotta give props for the 3-key block at the beginning, looks really cool. Same with architecture in general, really medieval to me.
7/10, less zombies please

 

[loveless]

prboom+, no saves, uv pistol starts  
map 23  

 

thank fucking god this only took two attempts. 

magnum

opus

syndrome

akeldama-23-loveless.7z

[Biodegradable]

MAP23 - Chimera

HMP | Continous Play with Saves | GZDoom + Hellrider

 

Hitscanners and Revenants in high places, oh my! This map's layout was probably one of the more annoying ones I've experienced, but I'm going to be fair to Valk and blame most of that on my own bumbling ineptitude and lack of direction more than his mapping. There were lots of cool traps and set pieces that I enjoyed. Combat was a steady flow of carnage and I liked how I was essentially punished for my curiosity at times with Valk being able to channel his inner Romero/McGee cruelty and whip me to death with my own intestines. I found the level progression a little difficult to gauge as I found so many switches but was unable to deduce exactly what it is they did, especially the few shootable switches I found in particular. But again, I can be pretty unobservant at times and feel like I seem to play with tunnel-vision, which is something I'm going to have to train myself to get better at. Most of the design was intricate with lots of rooms/areas having a unique look about them which is of course always appreciated. I can tell Valk put a lot of work into this particularly chunky map. Definitely one of the more memorable maps for me.

 

Gameplay footage:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited July 23, 2020 by Biodegradable

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP23 - "Chimera" - Michael Jan "Valkiriforce" Krizik (99%K/68%I/75%S):

I had great expectations towards this map, as I played some of it when Akeldama was in alpha. These expectations were fulfilled with this level.
By this point, you have already played enough of this wad to recognize the author of this very map. This is another one of Valkiriforce's giant playgrounds where you can goeverywhere, another keyhunt here, and a massive one. This is basically MAP07 done right. They are pretty similar maps in both style and maybe layout, both are giant playgrounds as I said, but this one for some reason is far more enjoyable, and specially, fair. Yes, it's still pretty hungry on ammo and health, but not as bad MAP07, you can be safe at places, there are less "nowhere to run" situations here, as you can pretty much run everywhere.
Pretty spacious, with tons of snipers, those of which, they are your main concern. I felt like cleaning most of the map before getting the keys, because, to be honest with you, I had no clue where to go, sometimes I felt myself not completing "routes" and then moving to another. Luckly, as said previously, you won't get that lost here, as most of the areas are pretty recognizable.
There are some Doom II Romero vibes here, with that "Abandoned Mines" setting at the start.

Deaths: 78 (HMP Playthrough - Chocolate Doom)

Order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP17

MAP14
MAP15
MAP23
MAP10
MAP11
MAP05
MAP06
MAP04
MAP22
MAP21
MAP09
MAP08
MAP19
MAP16
MAP18
MAP07
MAP03
MAP02
MAP31
MAP13
MAP01

MAP20
MAP12
MAP32

My map is tomorrow, but before you play it, I tell you not to expect much from this one.

[Arbys550]

Map22: Dark Sacrifices

I liked this one. Nice, short, but every fight was fun.

 

Map23: Chimera

I liked this one too for the most part. Only gripe for me was the excessive use of hitscanners and sniper enemies.

 

Ranking:

Spoiler

Map08: Arctic Compound

 

Map20: The Devil's Triangle

Map06: Insurrection

Map14: Darkness Beneath

Map22: Dark Sacrifices

Map17: Blood Covenant

Map07: Carnage Facility

Map02: Knights of Ilasac

Map11: The Glacier Base

Map23: Chimera

Map10: Hangar Facility

Map32: Operation Pump and Dump

Map03: Renegades

Map19: Death March

map18: Mortar

Map04: Chillwell

Map15: Breaching the Source

 

Map12: Urban Strike

Map13: Toxic Disgust

Map09: Winter Stronghold

Map01: The Generator

Map21: Disaster County

Map05: Bunker Hill

Map16: Aqueduct Fortress

 

Map31: Make Believe

 

[Andromeda]

MAP23: Chimera (Akeldama)

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HNTR-PS, no saves, 100% everything

 

A large, sprawling level with almost 300 enemies on HNTR! Reminded me of MAP16, but about twice as big and not as dangerous thankfully. The extremely interconnected layout (you can go from one extreme of the level to the other without having to go through a door) is quite confusing at first, but finding the computer area map really helps. What this level does well is arming the player adequately at the start and let them decide what to do next, there's endless possibilities considering whichever route you take will lead to better weapons, supplies or keys.

 

I also liked the generous amounts of well placed hitscanners, particularly chaingunners which were quite effective at depleting your health slowly but surely. Not as fond of the projectile based monsters also serving as snipers, because they proved absolutely non threatening and a bit boring to kill. A mention to the neat rocket launcher room in the centre of the map, the cool path leading to the yellow key and the interesting secrets. The invulnerability placement baffled me at first since there's not really any dangerous encounters, but I can see how it can be quite fun to plot a route around them and clear half the level effortlessly in under five minutes. Long story short, good level with plenty of stuff to see and kill.

[DuckReconMajor]

Map23: Chimera

prBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4, continuous with saves, no complevel specified

 

I did sense the Abandoned Mines and also even some Barrels o Fun. Despite the faint scent of Doom2 I actually enjoyed this a lot! 

This map was big, but in a way that gave you room to breathe throughout.

I did start peeking into DoomBuilder about 2/3 in. I'm glad I did because I never would have found that yellow key! like holy crap.

The part where you have to skip across those platforms above the pinkies will surely be used in an argument against 'infinite' height collision.

But you can just fire rockets at the wall! Checkmate, atheists!

 

The liberal use of surprise and hidden chaingunners was certainly annoying, but being able to just re-load kept me from getting angry at it. If i wasn't doing continuous/saves I'd probably be much more upset.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[TheNoob_Gamer]

Map24: Alexandria's Library

 

I tasted DJV's mapping style in another WIP Quake-styled CP, can expect good stuff here.

 

A set of library-ish. Full of bookshelves to keep up with the map name. And they all look clean, so I guess the hellspawn does have some kind of moral or manner. Unfortunately, not with you.

The arena right after the first set of bookshelves strangely reminded me of map11's starting area, especially the inner parts.

Gotta like how you demolished these bookshelves later for no reason. Might be another part of why Hell just like keeping an eye on you.

There are many more Doom-cute things presented in the map, not to mention it's way shorter than 23.

That being said, the map does have issues.

Ammo starvation might be real problem if you are pistol starting and barely know what to do. The first arena with the imp ambush is a decent example, if you don't get the RL fast then you'll get fucked by infinite height.

The MIDI, while rocks, sounds rather anticlimatic as a whole, especially for a library map where you are usually supposed to shut up. Yes, there are quite a few moments where things get quite hectic, but I mostly play the map slow.

Speaking of shut up, in the last "library", I also failed to see how going out and killing everything myself or just sit and watch a bunch of bones fighting back a RL on legs make any difference. The amount of revenants are just reckless, and there are barely any covers.
The sign telling "Keep silence", while another part of Doomcute things about the map, is kinda bait and unrelated.

Overall, thematically nice map, very suitable for the slot. 8/10

Edited July 25, 2020 by TheNoob_Gamer

[Phobus]

Playing two maps today...

 

MAP23: Chimera

On the one hand, this map is a bit too big (certainly for a megaWAD) and the starting position, surrounded by Revenant snipers, is bullshit. Going straight forward towards the rocket launcher lands you in a shit trap, too, where there's chaingunners from between two and six angles, depending on how unlucky you get with the ones around the outside of the big room.

 

On the other hand, this is a big, open layout that mostly blends corridors, open spaces and rooms of varying size into a reasonably enjoyable adventure. Lighting isn't too bad and you get some remarkably lengthy views in places. There's multiple routes to go, and teasing out some of the more hidden ones (particularly the yellow skull key) can take some time, as a lot of the rooms have many exits, which makes it very easy to miss a switch in an alcove. However, as you've got three objectives hidden throughout the space and a fair amount of ammo, exploration is the name of the game and you'll have a lot to kill on your travels. Coming in continuous on UV, I really wanted more bullets and rockets, but the amount of plasma and shells at least made it plausible to kill everything, although I got to the end missing one enemy, even having found all four secrets.

 

I was prepared to not like this map, particularly with my experience at the start (taking a very painful Revenant rocket early on didn't set me up well). Fortunately I eventually found a route I was happy to push out on and worked out the secret megasphere pretty quickly, which left me in good shape to clear the bulk of the enemies. I reckon there's a few elements of bullshit I'd want to see gone, but a lot of this was the kind of experience I don't mind.

 

MAP24: Alexandria's Library

One would assume a reference to the Library of Alexandria would have an Egyptian theme mixed in with the usual book shelves. Alas...

 

Anyway, this map is alright. The music is action packed and enjoyable, game play is mostly simplistic (constrained by the broadly orthogonal architecture and layout) but not without threat. On continuous, I certainly wasn't short of ammo, but I was aware of a lack of cells and rockets until the weapon was nearby, so I suspect a shotgun/SSG grind would be your pistol starting experience.

 

One problem I did have, which is purely a mapping technique thing, is that there's a lot of "false positives" for secrets. The monster closets are all close to the main body map, and linked with sound tunnels (very old-school), which aren't flagged to show as one-sided on the automap. As a result, I'm pressing on your monster closets hoping to open them. Still, I found two out of the three secrets.

 

The "Keep Silence" sign threw me off a bit, as I was expecting an Obsidian-style stealth section, only to then stumble on a Cyberdemon immediately afterwards.

 

Not a bad map, but visibly made by somebody with a bit to learn yet.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Phobus

[Pirx]

MAP21 - “Disaster County” by valkiriforce

 

starts with a staple of doom maps, a lovely graveyard, where running in circles is all you have to do if you want to have fun. from here you enter a kind of underground demonic temple in ep.3 style, built into volcanic rock it seems - that's the part with the lava flow when you find the plasma gun and ammo. sure there are plenty of chaingunners, given its author, but those are largely bunched up in a secret and dispatched easily. the heart of the temple with the red key is the second episode of "run circles until they die". from here there's direct the way out to the exit (an impressive hall in glowing red and black, something i associate with slaughterish maps), but no blue key is required, which makes me think the blue door was either cut from the release, or left here deliberately to troll the player. or both.

 

 

 

MAP22 - “Dark Sacrifices” by Paul977

 

what an enjoyable, quick map. a castle with a large-scale architecture without the overdetailing that often gets one stuck on nooks and decorations. starts with an imp slaughter, a bit of running around and stirring infights, getting a rocket launcher, and a soulsphere in an often found type of secret - that sphere helps a lot in the coming fight with the 2 archviles and a horde of fodder that gets in the way. even crucial if you ask me, i found it to be the hardest fight in the whole map, because there are 2 archies and the damn fodder blocking every movement. once that's done, it's more a matter of shooting everything until it dies, although even that has to be done in a calculated manner. great straightforward map, focusing on gameplay above everything else.

 

 

 

MAP23 - “Chimera” by valkiriforce

 

i have to agree with the "magnum opus" syndrome. and with what @TheNoob_Gamer said: it's very fun to kill various things. layout, fights, everything is obviously the work of an experienced mapper. perhaps it's just me having trouble with the length of some maps. this seems to be again one of these maps where room after room was added, forming a sprawling, heavily interconnected structure. there's always a passage somewhere and you wonder where it might lead. tbh i don't even remember many details because of the length of the map. the brown amphitheatre acts as a hub for several areas so i didn't get completely lost. the start needs some running, but one has a sizable arsenal soon. again so many chaingunners. sniped  a lot at revenants far away who kept bothering me with their rockets. had to return to the start after the whole adventure for the 3 key exit.

 

 

 

MAP24 - “Alexandria’s Library” by Diego ‘DJV’ Villarroel

 

doomcute library. these demons must be sophisticated gentlemen, given how they defend these books (and how i don't give a shit about burning all down). pretty much orthogonal architecture everywhere, as evident from the first room with the bookshelves and imps. i used the 5 rockets or so i had on imp clusters in the courtyard, only to have the cacos bunched up behind the grates in the next room and nothing than sg + cg to take them down. luckily, things speed up after you get the ssg and more rockets. the cave sections have the better fights, while in the corridor / bookshelf parts the encounters are largely frontal. i liked the chapel with its shadow dimension, a trope that seems to been started by tnt's "wormhole". same as the courtyard with its circular corridor like in tnt's map03, perhaps not something intentional, but just saying as there's also a discussion about tnt's virtues... lol @ keep silence as i'd raise hell in this very place, first fighting the cow of culture, then some angry skeletons, while opening the exit, controlled by one switch in the chapel, and one in the other dimension. nice map. although i have to agree that a slower, "mystical" tune would fit it better than this arcade music, and yeah, there are egyptian textures, or rather something greek (are there any?) if you want to use add-on textures. as it is, the map put iwad resources to good use.

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Pirx

[DJVCardMaster]

It's clearly noticeable by looking at this and then at MAP08's layout and deduce which was the first one made.

 

Two different worlds, luckly MAP08 type of layouts are more common for my maps now.

[ironicmoustache]

MAP23

A big, sprawling key hunt with a fun, unrelenting start and a lot of tower/ledge revenants. Maybe I didn't approach it with the right mindset—been bothered by some real life stuff—but I had no idea what I was doing for most of the blue key hunt; I felt like I was just randomly pushing forward or exploring branching paths etc until I somehow ended up in the blue key area. It also took me 30 seconds to realise where to use it. Only then did I realise that the map was a hub-based key hunt. I don't think it's anything really to do with the map, likely has more to do with me just being in a bit of a weird state. The map does flirt with being a bit too long, and I did feel a wee eye twitch of frustration/exasperation—Herbert Lom style—when I realised I had to figure out where the yellow key was. That said, combat is mostly very enjoyable, with what felt like relatively few traps and a lot of plasma rifle action. As with a lot of the maps, I do feel it could have lost a few rooms/areas without unduly harming the experience, but on balance, I enjoyed most of it.

 

MAP24

Didn’t expect to be visiting a library, although beyond the bookshelf maze and textures there isn’t really that much library-like about it. To my mind, most notable thing about this map isn't the titular library, but the hellish cave areas and the chapel with its shadow/alternate dimension. I somehow managed to miss the plasma rifle so the ammo economy felt a bit off, but I got through it fine, albeit with some close shaves in the middle blue key section. The “keep silence” just before the Cyberdemon was I guess tongue-in-cheek, although I did try to stealth it—or, well, whatever passes for such a thing in Doom, mind you—only to get rocketed by a cyberdemon. I enjoyed getting the revenants to do most of the work for me. Decent map, and I liked the MIDI too (even if I’m not entirely sure if it fit the map).

Edited July 24, 2020 by ironicmoustache

[Andromeda]

MAP24: Alexandria’s Library (Akeldama)

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HNTR-PS, no saves, 100% everything

 

Interesting level. Has a mixture of half-baked sections (for example the super shotgun room near the start or the whole area behind the blue key) and others that are great (the "Wormhole" inspired sequence or the rocket launcher hub area). In the end, that coupled with the rather out of place MIDI (it's a good tune mind, much like all the others so far, but I feel a brooding composition would work better here) makes the level not fully live up to its potential, as it has a great sense of place, good looks, fun RL based gameplay and cool secrets otherwise. I especially liked how the bookshelves magically disappear after you unlock the yellow key area, had me confused for a bit. Still, it's a good level and I was not at all disappointed, despite having liked MAP08 better.

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP24: Alexandria's Library

prBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4, continuous with saves, no complevel specified

 

Glad I forgot DJV's self-deprecating map remarks while playing, because on its own merits this was a great map!

Tough (to me at least) fights that weren't frustrating. Courtyard and library fights which I enjoy.

Despite some wandering for a while in search of Red and Yellow key, this map was one of the first in a while that didn't have me saying "I like this but, ugh, more?" near the end.

 

I did run into the issue Phobus did where many walls looked like secret doors and I pressed way too many of them, but also like Phobus it did lead to me finding most of the secrets that were there.

 

As noted, this would have been great with some more custom textures, but as it is it's one that if it was dropped into Doom 2 would have enriched said game.

I guess it did have that jump into the hell-cave surrounded by the snowy cavern entrance which I really liked.

I took the 'silence' sign seriously, thinking 1000000 arch-viles were listening and did that part without firing a single shot. Reading other comments it seems this was for naught. Still, I liked doing it that way.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Biodegradable]

MAP24 - Alexandria’s Library

HMP | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Hellrider

 

Not sure who Alexandria is, but her satanic church/library is pretty freakin' sweet! Another fun, run and gun map with a cool theme idea that resonates with me similar to MAP21. The two stand-out set pieces with the church area full of barons and a surprise ArchVile and the close-quarters Cyberdemon fight were really neat. The map's layout was nice and simple with an easy-going progression that just helps add to this nice change of pace we've been enjoying on this last stretch of the megaWAD to help us wind down after those bigger, chunkier maps we experienced in the second half. Honestly, this one's just another solid experience for me and is definitely a favourite. Good stuff, DJ!

 

Gameplay footage:

Spoiler

 

 

[Endless]

MAP 23: Chimera

UV, LZDoom and Brutal Doom Mod.

 

Oh boy. By this point I can already say that Valkiriforce makes them big. A huge map that's full of enemies and dozens of paths to take. A bit lost at first but at least it's usually a bit intuitive as to which way to go. I'm not a big fan of maps that make use of the ''key hub'' style where you have to go back to several routes several times to finally find the keys, however, the quality of this map itself is indisputable, especially for the fact that although I'm not a big fan of the ''huge and lost'' style of maps, this one was quite entertaining and a bit more difficult than the previous ones.

 

MAP 24: Alexandria's Library

UV, LZDoom and Brutal Doom mod.

Silence... we are in a historical place, a mythical monument to knowledge and wisdom, a memory of ashes drowned in the blood of 200 demons.

A themed design in a place I've never seen before in Doom, the library is probably one of the most creative and well designed maps in all of Akeldama, one of my favorites so far. Not only does it make use of following a guideline within a "library" map, but it also combines the architecture within the combat offering a progression that is as dynamic as it is entertaining, as well as challenging. Without being too big or too small, the map is in the mid-range but with enough variety to make it look bigger than we think. The secrets help a lot in this map and especially the final gift. A great map, as fun as it is pretty to look at.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP24 - "Alexandria's Library" - Diego José "DJV" Villarroel (100%K/93%I/100%S):

Author comment: This map was started for a mapping tournament back in 2014, and I eventually stopped working on it, I had made only to the central courtyard part and nothing else. When I saw Akeldama, I really wanted to participate on making a map, but, as I had taken a 4-year hiatus on mapping, I totally forgot how to do it. So there are many "newbie" mapper mistakes in here, luckly, it ended better than expected. 
Being honest with you, I did not like the end result of this map, back in the day I only made caves or tech-bases, this was my first attempt at something different. I wanted to make something straight up from Memento Mori. 
The reason behind the little amount of plasma ammo here is that I heard Valkiriforce really liked the Plasma Gun, so this was some kind of in-joke at making the only plasma gun at this map hidden, as I felt kinda insulted by MAP07's difficulty when playtesting. Jokes on you.
I feel I could make something better than this, and yes, I can totally, as for now.

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Here we are on the burned Library of Alexandria, and here we are on a pretty straight forward map, with books, brown things, and corridor/room-by-room based combat. That's my main issue here, way to many corridors, way to many rooms, something you tend to make when you start making Doom maps at first. If you played other of my maps before, don't expect something like that, this is totally different experience, a less polished one.
The map style itself is something totally different from other Akeldama maps, the setup here changed drastically into a library map. Also, this is one of the "mandatory" brown maps in megaWADs, as far as I can tell. What I really like about this map is the "alternative dimension" thing at the church, that's what I enjoyed the most, but only aesthetically, as in terms of combat, this could have be the hub of something even bigger. But no, only a few barons and a sudden Arch-Vile that you can take down easily. Combat here looks like there are some areas in where you can have something really big, but the map teases you into that, and then throw you some mid-tier enemies with little variety.
There are "timed" sequences in two sections, the lowering bars at the end, and the lowering walls at the BK grab, the idea is to force you to fight a little bit before you can exit, something I feel is not that overused at least in Vanilla maps, so that is nice. 
The map can feel really ammo starving on pistol start, yet it is so easy and plentyful if you are a continuous player, that feels really strange.


Deaths: 79 (HMP Playthrough - Chocolate Doom)

Order of preference:

 

Spoiler

 

MAP17

MAP14
MAP15
MAP23
MAP10
MAP11
MAP05
MAP06
MAP04
MAP22
MAP21
MAP09
MAP08
MAP19
MAP16
MAP18
MAP07
MAP03
MAP02
MAP24
MAP31
MAP13
MAP01

MAP20
MAP12
MAP32

 

Totally broke my English not noticing at the moment that the way to call it was The Library of Alexandria, just as in German you would use the "des" instead of the "s" at the final indicating the possesive thing, for place names or similar (we don't appreciate that difference in Spanish).  It was to late to change it. But hey you can say Alexandria is some kind of devil created by the death of Alexander the Great, so let's put it that way.

[Varis Alpha]

i'll have to agree that my track for map24 isn't the best fit, and that the composition isn't as good as it could be. the track itself was finished before the map was, and i recall there being uncertainty as to if it would fit the map that would be on the slot. if this wad gets an update in the future, alongside fixing some errors in the map14 and map21 tracks, i'll make something new that's more befitting for the map, and have the current one replaced.

[Summer Deep]

6 hours ago, DJVCardMaster said:

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

MAP17

MAP14
MAP15
MAP23
MAP10
MAP11
MAP05
MAP06
MAP04
MAP22
MAP21
MAP09
MAP08
MAP19
MAP16
MAP18
MAP07
MAP03
MAP02
MAP24
MAP31
MAP13
MAP01

MAP20
MAP12
MAP32

 

Totally broke my English not noticing at the moment that the way to call it was The Library of Alexandria, just as in German you would use the "des" instead of the "s" at the final indicating the possesive thing, for place names or similar (we don't appreciate that difference in Spanish).  It was to late to change it. But hey you can say Alexandria is some kind of devil created by the death of Alexander the Great, so let's put it that way.

 

'Alexandria's Library' is actually perfectly acceptable English in dealing with a place name in this sort of context, and is just as good as 'The Library of Alexandria' in my view. 'Alexandria Library' would probably be the best option in modern English. In Manchester, where I live, the Central Reference Library is generally known as 'Manchester Library', rather than 'Manchester's Library' or 'The Library of Manchester' (which sounds too grandiose, like 'The Bank of England' or something).

 

Here endeth the lesson.....

 

:)

[DJVCardMaster]

2 minutes ago, Summer Deep said:

 

'Alexandria's Library' is actually perfectly acceptable English in dealing with a place name in this sort of context, and is just as good as 'The Library of Alexandria' in my view. 'Alexandria Library' would probably be the best option in modern English. In Manchester, where I live, the Central Reference Library is generally known as 'Manchester Library', rather than 'Manchester's Library' or 'The Library of Manchester' (which sounds too grandiose, like 'The Bank of England' or something).

 

Here endeth the lesson.....

 

:)

I thank thy for the helpeth