The DWmegawad Club plays: MAYhem 2020

[Horus]

So having struggled mightily on map 43 (Sleeping Giants) on HNTR whilst the mapset was in beta, I tried yesterday to beat this map on UV...and I found it 10 times easier than my HNTR playthrough. Not because this map is actually easier on UV than HNTR (it isn't!), but because I finally understood the strategy - @tmorrow's tips certainly helped in that regard. This time I was able to play stealthily all the way up until picking up the invuln sphere (except the annoying switch in the cramped area by the two cybers at the start, and the soundproofed indoor sections), at which point I had the BFG to thin out the horde. I still died a few times (and I don't intend on trying it saveless) but not a whole lot. I'm still not a huge fan of the level, but I sure liked it a lot more than in beta stage when I didn't really understand the map.

[tmorrow]

3 minutes ago, Horus said:

I tried yesterday to beat this map on UV...and I found it 10 times easier than my HNTR playthrough.

 

Congratulations Horus! I'm so glad you've managed to beat this amazing map AND on UV too!

[BoxY]

Was too lazy to play and came 2 hours late to post map13 :\

 

MAP13: Hole in the Net

UV, pistol start, prboom+

 

Following hot on the heels of map12 to deliver part 2 of the "gimmicky maps with thematically appropriate joke names" section of the wad. Ammo placement and consumption is the flavour of the day, with unwise usage of your critical resources guaranteed to softlock your map progression. Playing blind is an unnerving experience as you don't know which parts of the map you need to carve your way into, or what ammo you can afford to spend at which point. Fortunately after the opening breakout, things get pretty forgiving with a decent amount of plasma to keep you moving through the soup of imps forming writhing blockades across all paths. The final fight is a fairly relaxed one with two cybers in the now larger playing field. I had a hairy moment where I just barely managed to grind them down with what ammo I had left, then had a look around the map afterwards and found the BFG and a heap of supplies in the far corners -__-.  Although I had one reset at the start this map never technically killed me and I never had to save, so I wanted to have a nice clean 100% exit, but after several minutes of trying I still couldn't figure out the berserk secret (same as everyone else it seems) and left empty handed.

 

MAP14: Dens at Night

 

A broad panorama of squat, bland buildings greets you as you spawn into this one, laying flat and brown like turds smeared across the horizon. And turds they are. The angular, mono-textured look is strongly reminiscent of certain 90s wads, and also in common with early wads implements an "open" progression scheme, so open indeed that all the progression tends to fall out and get lost forever. "But how", I plead vainly with the map "am I even supposed to get started on this hot brown mess? Do I get even a hint?" -"figure it out yourself, genius" sneers the map with contempt, and is silent. So the search begins, in and through and around the buildings again and again. Some of these buildings have supplies, some of them have random caged enemies to waste your time, and some of them have critical progression items that will do their best to elude you. To make getting in the buildings more fun and convenient, a cyber stalks you through the wastes to camp your precious entrances. At first I thought this guy was fairly harmless because the space is so massive, until I was finally just about to get ahold of my first key (over 10 minutes into the map) and the fucker shoots me in the back, out of hearing range. Reset time. I plod blankly through more dense key hunting stuff and get to the YK/exit area. At this point I'm mentally done with the map so I do a bit of save scumming to deal with the new cyber and distant chaingunner sniper nest and whatever other random crap is drifting around, and I'm free. Adios MAP14, I shall not see your likes again any time soon.

[Horus]

4 hours ago, Capellan said:

MAP13

Hard no.

 

Seeing this post and seeing as you also play continuous, did you pick up the BFG and cells behind the other set of six-key bars before exiting map 12? :P

[Capellan]

43 minutes ago, Horus said:

Seeing this post and seeing as you also play continuous, did you pick up the BFG and cells behind the other set of six-key bars before exiting map 12? :P

 

Nope.  That would not have changed my opinion, though.

[golbeeze]

Map 14 seemed somewhat drab, although the combat was entertaining. I ended up killing everything and forgetting the pathfinding to the exit so noclipped my way over. It seems otherwise forgettable in my mind, unfortunately. I wouldn't say it was a bad level, it just seemed a bit more generic than some of the other levels so far in this set. Coming so close after map 12 is probably a factor, too.

 

I will also mention that using Colorful Hell has created quite the situation on my map 15 that I have yet to figure out how to handle. I'm guessing I can run away from the colorful opponent, but I generally refuse to back down from a colorfully-induced challenge.

 

[Worm318]

Thanks everyone for your comments and feedback on my map. MAP13 was kinda speedmapped with a built time of <12h for the main concept (considering the month long deadline :P) and a few hours detailing and tweaking stuff like the archvile trap. I'm kinda pleased with the result as most people seems to had fun with it... huh, I think.

My only dissapointment is the Berserk secret. I think I have seen only two players get it, one I'm certain was by accident but the other playtester got it just right so I thought "it's okay". Now in hindsight, I realize the hint is really ephemeral and hard to pick up amidst the initial chaos, and after that it's just silly and cryptic. In early iterations the trigger line was on the mandatory path, but the player didn't have line of sight to the berserk when crossing it, so no early playtesters got it. Maybe I should have gone with the easiest version, making it so the player couldn't avoid the trigger line AND had line of sight on activation, but I thought that was gonna be too obvious. Probably wasn't gonna be anyways or, for a mere berserk, could have been fine for it to be :/

I also have mixed feelings about the BFG. Perhaps it should be more easy to spot it from the starting area to reward player memory more than exploration. But it's a BFG+ammo, so I feel okay just not handing it easily to everyone.

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[Biodegradable]

MAP14 - Dens at Night

UV | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

This map feels familiar, like there's an Doom 1 or Doom 2 map on the tip of my tongue but I just can't think of which one. Or perhaps I'm just nuts and there isn't a map from either IWADs similar to this map. Visually, this map's a little bit sparse save for the handful of brown-brick buildings scattered about. Traversing the map is a little confusing due to a lot of it looking the same, but thankfully, it's not enough to have you running around for hours trying to figure out how to progress. Progression itself is fairly straightforward. I feel like this map's strongest aspect is its combat. Despite it feeling bit more breezy after the intensity of the last two, it still has a little over 250 demons surrounding you from all directions, pouring out of the little brick buildings. Regardless of the odds though, you've got plenty of room to make tactical retreats, though falling off these tiny ledges and having to re-route back to the other side of the map to hit a teleporter to get back to where you were was a tad annoying at times. Still, I had fun with it. It's one of those decent maps that does its job well but is a bit unassuming and doesn't leave much of a lasting impression.

 

  

[kalaeth]

HMP, no mods, continuous play, trying not to save during levels, 

 

MAP 12 : Another map I remember from the beta, And I'm guessing I'll add a lot of deaths to the total deaths count in here.. Random cyberrocket to the face number 1. And number 2. Ok, got to the red key and then I was gunned down by a sarge. SSG is too slow of a weapon for this.. Blue key and then a rocket to the face while I thought I was hidden.. Again the blue key room kills me.. And again. And again. And maybe a different approach is required. Yellow key! but they were on the other side of that grate.. Ok, that's a no on BFG-ing them before leaving the room. I survived a bit more this time, but then I took a turn into a rocket to the face. This is not my idea of fun.. Although I really like the idea of the level, it's not for my skill set at all, so I've gone to save-scummming. I've gotten most non-cyber enemies dead but still only have two keys.. The red ones, for those who care. Blue skull added. Blue keycard added as well. Yellow skull found but I had both cybers within sight.. Yellow keycard added. One left. And all other enemies are dead, but there's a cyber roaming next to the skull... Ok, got it! Went for a bit of plasma refuel and then jumped straight into the end, let the bulls roam the level alone forever, ah! 97% kills, and a time of 5 minutes (that took me about half an hour)

 

death count : 39

total deaths : 138

 

MAP 13 : Uh, pretty, and a RL for free! And that's a LOT of imps.101 imps dead and there are still more?! 184 dead imps. Damn. 227 dead imps, look a blue key! and arch-sploshed I am. 91 dead imps and a freeze! The first one since I switched to the newest GZDoom.. This time I did it the "correct" way : open a path and then tun to the plasma and use that to clear the corridors of those pesky little imps,  open up the archies, kill them. 260 dead imps in the floor, shoot a rocket, kill some more! 263 dead imps on the floor! And after getting fireballed by a pair of revs, it freezes again... Luckily for me I had just made a mid level save before the teleport, because the game had already frozen once. And now I have the pleasure of another cow. I'm considering saying "fuck it" and just run to the exit. 95% kills, no secrets. Fun map, but was the cyber really necessary at the end? A couple mancs or so would do the trick.

 

death count : 4

total deaths : 142

 

MAP 14 : pretty view.. Oh, another cow.. yey. And a room full of imps. Death 1. And death 2 to the mancs. I like the layout, what I've seen so far at least. Oh another cyber rocket to the face.. And another.... I think I'll leave this map for another day, like tomorrow.

 

death count : 3

total deaths : 145

[tmorrow]

map15

An excellent fight through the dilapidated streets of some ruined city. Monsters are constantly taking shots at doomguy as he explores the streets that have been consumed by lava. Hell has taken over yet again. You will want to get your hands on the rocket launcher and ammo stash in the central building as soon as possible.

There are separate paths to the blue and red keys that can be taken in either order. The blue key path is the easier of the 2 pickups and has a revenant setpiece ideal for a rocketfest. The red key path is straightforward until you run up against the welcoming committee at the base of the lift up to the red key. Let me give you a hint. He stands tall as a house, clomps around, roars and fires rockets every which way. Who can he be?

Using the blue and red switches unlocks the normal exit and the secret exit but it also sends out invitations to the archviles to join the party.

map44

An extremely difficult puzzle map with archvile gameplay. Fiendishly designed and very clever. Monster and item placement are well thought out. The game play is niche and it is definitely not for everyone. Personally I feel that the map would be difficult enough without many of the pain sectors. I was only able to complete it with saves. I'd love to see someone uvmax the map.

I enjoyed the puzzle aspect of the map the most, working out how to progress to the end was fun. You want to minimise retracing steps since pain sectors are everywhere and can whittle your health away to nothing quite quickly.

I've got mixed views on the game play. Ammunition is extremely tight and only super shotgun and rocket launcher later are provided. You have to make every shot count and that means close up and personal super shotgun blasts on the archviles. I'm ok with this aspect. However, using rockets on the crazy teleporting archviles seems more miss than hit, I'm not sure if there is a trick to when or where to fire to have the best chance of hitting them.

The secrets appear to be mandatory for success and provide exactly what you need when collected at earliest opportunity - a megaarmor and soulsphere.

One irritating aspect of the map for me is the bumping square (once its in bump mode) that is supposed to put you over a toxic waste gap. How does it work? It seems to be completely unreliable and much of the time just drops you into the slime pit instead which ends up chipping more health away before you can take the lift back up to try again.

[Horus]

@tmorrow I daren't try map 44 saveless, but the following helped me in that map

 

Spoiler

- You can get the yellow key early via an archvile jump. That gives you early access to the rocket launcher which makes the rest of the map much easier

- As for the teleporting archviles, I just let them start their attack animation on me first, then attack and hide before they can complete their attack

 

[Endless]

MAP13: Hole in the Net by Worm318

LZDoom

HMP

 

 

Another gimmick map, although, this time around is one more leveled and quite enjoyable if you like to blow hundreds of low-tier demons to the sky. A very simple map that is absolutely filled with Imps, because if in doubt, use more Imps. This time around we only need the blue key, but for that we are going to fight our way through a brown sea. After that, the last area has another cyberdemon making company to the already massive number of Imps. Overall, is fun and quite easy in comparison to the latest maps, thanks to the fact that we have both an BFG and lots of ammo.

 

MAP14: Dens at Night by Zergeant

 

 

More Cyberdemons tailing our back. This time around, we are in a very open level with lots of brown builidings. Visually, this is, uh, dull. I really liked the blue mountains, looks quite nice alongside the black sky, but after that that's it. The gameplay felt kind of bland without much to do apart from running away from the Cyber or facing him, both options are plausible. After that, is just a regular key hunt, but since the nature of the level is quite an opened, it does get a little bit lost sometimes.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Endless

[RottingZombie]

I really enjoyed map14. I groaned when I saw another Cyberdemon, but it turned out to be easy to fight him and his buddy later on. Cool mountains and good contrast with all the brown stone. The vanilla music track fit well, and was well suited to a long map (long for me anyway) as I don't tire of this track as quickly as most of the upbeat faster paced ones.

 

 

[Biodegradable]

MAP15 - Urban War

UV | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

I haven't played a great deal of urban/city-themed maps from the community, so I don't personally how well this one compares to others, but I was very impressed with this one. Ronnie does an excellent job making the place feel like a city centre, and with mostly Doom stock textures no less, which is commendable. I really enjoyed the use of height variation when exploring the buildings and loved the attention to detail regarding the roads, cracked and filled with lava and also the use of smashed-out windows filled with Imps to snipe at you as well as Revenants and even more Imps on higher ledges. There's a lot of zombies at the beginning, which I personally didn't mind as I love a good firefight and the combat overall flowed nicely and was really fun, especially with some of the more intense encounters towards the end that kept me on my toes. I felt like the heat was turned up a notch from the previous one which I welcomed and just had a good time with the straightforward layout and progression despite the sprawling city design. A solid, fun time.

 

 

[DFF]

Been busy with my work but thankfully have some time for some late night dooming.

MAP13: Hole in the Net by worm318 (100% kills/80% items/0%secrets)   Deaths: 3

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

judging from other feedback I was expecting something not too pleasant, but I was proved wrong in that regard. while the metric ton of imps is kinda eh, the scenery is alright, the structure is pretty decent, and the combat was somewhat challenging but still fun. It was a fine map, not my favorite but nothing terrible. idk if i'd say gimmicky but hallways literally packed with imps is not usual. EDIT: since i'm playing continuous, i think the ammo efficiency gimmick was lost on me, interesting but I think having played as intended i'd find the map boring as hell, since i don't generally like having monsters in-fight a bunch as a way to reserve ammo. it can be fun sometimes and useful, but i play DOOM to kill demons, not to watch demons kill demons.

 

MAP14: Dens at Night by Z sergeant (100% kills/85% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 4

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

A very interesting map, a large sleepy town of sorts, very IWAD inspired (map14 I believe) take with lots of cool buildings to explore and generally well paced and longer gameplay. while this feels very similar to Cokey-Nuts, with a city setting, and dodging a cyberdemon between buildings, this offers a larger experience than just that gimmick, and offers more to do, however I will say I still liked that one a bit more. 

 

This map also features more "non secrets" to scrounge more sectors. personally I do like that there are still secrets that are just not labelled, but i do kinda prefer that they are distinctly secrets. Bonus points for effort though, some were decently hidden, but not very engaging other than platforming.

Gameplay was fun, design was inspired but drab and very repetitive, however the areas to explore were cool. I think this map would have benefited from an overall darker lighting choice, felt very odd at full brightness with the bark blue sky, and the almost sleepy atmosphere of the brick town. Not bad at all.

 

MAP15: Urban Run by RJD (95% kills/100% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 3

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

After playing his RRudy 2 maps, i've grown to like RJDs maps, they have some cool details going for them and this map is no different. a fun battle in the war-torn streets, lots of building action, vertical fire-play, teleporter traps, and other goodies here. Combat was fun, detail and setting was very pleasing and well detailed, overall a very strong map.
Also it might be a controversial opinion, but I don't think Doom2's city maps are all that bad. some can get a bit try and confusing, but I do like the exploration and the varied building environments, so the last 2 maps were both fine in that regard for me.

 

I'll play secrets and bonuses tomorrow, too late for me.

Rankings:

Spoiler

MAP12: Running of the Bulls

MAP09: Get up; Don't Stop

MAP10: Daybreak Station

MAP05: Wastewater Plant

MAP15: Urban Run

MAP01: Wet My Appetite

MAP37: Cokey-Nutz

MAP14: Dens at Night

MAP04: Deep Focus

MAP06: Return to Pain Manor

MAP08: Edge of Twilight

MAP07: Heavy Lifting

MAP35: Mystery Mayham

MAP02: Nukaged-Powered Claustrocomputer

MAP34: Mild Terror at Vacation Station

MAP13: Hole in the Net

MAP38: Panopticon

MAP36: Field Trip

MAP11: Toxic Waltz

MAP33: The Desert Base

MAP03: Bubble Home Bunker

 

[Soulless]

MAP14 - Dens at Night

A Slaughterish map with an old school "castle" aesthetic, but not so much detail. You can play a lot with infighting, or run and gun around.
Its an ok map, but It could have been more populated with all the space given, a better spawn point for the ambushes or ambush locations will improve the action.
At the same time has enough combat to keep you moving, so not a real complaint.

 

MAP15 - Urban War

Excellent map/layout and cool progression. Such a joy to play, it just lacked a secret, which could have been that "soulsphere" dead end.
The last wave got me out of guard (died a few times there), frantic moments with hordes of dangerous revenants mixed with evil archies, just perfect!

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[tmorrow]

map31

A very difficult map. A terrifying map and yes, it's a slaughter map. The rng is through the roof as you bfg your way through wall to wall enemies.

It took me over 200 attempts over 4 hours to uvmax this map, most of the runs failing within a minute. The rng is insane, a megasphere can get you as far as to the spider mastermind or not even to the first corner.

The first lesson I learned is that when you bfg into the pack, you want to push through forcefully but not breakneck with each blast so you gain enough ground without being mauled a lot. You definitely don't want to be timid with the push, that is certain death. Trying to finesse with strafe tends to get you mauled a lot too.

The second lesson I learned is that you need your path take you through the ammo and health pickup spots along the way or you will be quickly succumb to the massive incoming damage due to running out of either health or cells. With repeated attempts you will learn where these caches are and can reliably aim for them as you blaze your way through the pack of enemies.

Falling into the lava pit is not necessarily fatal, that depends on on how fast you can get to one of the teleporters and whether you are surrounded at your destination and if you can get back on your route again.

The first part of my strategy is to avoid the northwest side of the map which triggers a vicious second wave of enemies until clearing the initial wave of enemies. This means going anticlockwise around to the spider mastermind, then turning around and going back the other way, up to before the cyberdemons. It takes good rng and about 3 back and forths before you can clear out all the enemies, including the arachnotrons in the middle area. At that point, I clear out the 3 cyberdemons guarding the west side switch.

The second step is to take care of the second enemy wave which involves archviles spawning on 3 sides of the map and a heap of hitscanners (mostly sergeants) spawning all around the perimeter. My approach is to head from the dead cyberdemons to the trigger point and bfg blast into the U shaped damaging floor to take out all archviles on that side. Then, making sure you have access to a megasphere nearby, tackle one of the other two sides that have emerged archviles. This part is really rng. The partial invisibility can help from hitscan damage but of course does nothing against archvile blasts. I find the second wave to be harder than the first.

Use the 4 corner switches to lower the teleporter that takes you to the final fight. Unabashed and without shame, I cheese the final fight, I doubt I could do it otherwise.

 

Spoiler

Take the teleporter into the middle and run for the secret opening in the fence (right past 3 cybies) that will take you to the secret exit later (but the teleporter hasn't lowered yet) and drop into the lava below and teleport back to the perimeter. Kill everything you can from the perimeter. Take out the cybies and spider masterminds first as they are the most dangerous threats and then work on the pain elementals and barons. Use up all of the ammo strewn all over from the first 2 waves, mainly unused cells, chainguns and shotguns. Do as much damage as possible before teleporting back in. Be careful about timing the central crusher which can be seen from the perimeter before teleporting back in. Grab more cells and mop us everything still moving.

 

Finally you can take the secret teleporter to the boss, the most ferocious enemy of all, a zombieman, facing away, an impregnable barrier between you and the secret exit to map32. Good luck!

map32

A wolfenstein map with a small number of nazi's and several other enemies. It appears to be the enemy recreational facility as there is seating with cards on the tables and even a bar you can leap into to score a rocket launcher. The enemy are living it up! This must be stopped. There are a few archviles that try to stop you but they are no match for doomguy armed with the provided rocket launcher and plasma rifle. Sorry guys, the bar is closed for renovations!

[kalaeth]

HMP, I gave up on the "no saving during levels" thing.

 

MAP 14, second attempt. The map isn't ugly, despite a bit.. same-y but it is kinda... boring looking? In the sense that I look at it and don't really feel like playing it again and again until I win. I'm still gonna do it. Second run : I hate flaming skulls. Next run: I hate cyberdemons. Next run : I love plasma guns! And I have a red key! But I still hate the cow. Next run : not a flameboy fan either, but now I have a chainsaw? 2nd arch-burn...  And this time I went for health first and managed to roast the roaster. with plasma. to his face. And then I got a rocket to the face, again! And again! And now a caco, well, at least it's a different death?

 This time I went straight for the room with the blue bars, rocketed the mancs and cacos, went through the 'porter and killed the second cybe. And then I got snipped by the first one. Twice in a row. And then a third time when I decided I was going to go the other way first.. At least now I know where the yellow skull is. Next try I fell back int the other part of the level and ended up rocketing myself against a wall trying to kill the still standing roaming cybercow.. And on the next try I SSG a caco to death just be hit by a cyberrocket that the caco was hiding from my sight.. And a successful retrieval of the YK, and now.. To open those bars... And then to die, again, to the goddamned cow.  And again! Again.... I didn't even see the rocket this time! Oh, a revenant's fireball! AH! I killed the cow! And then got hit by a rev fireball from behind.. There, cybercow dead. And the rev that killed me twice as well. Went for the bluesphere and now all I need to do is find my way back, kill a few pinkies aaaand I'm done! 100% kills! 19minutes something time.

 

death count : 15

total deaths : 160

 

MAP 15 : Oh, yes I do remember this one as well... Really cool urban landscape, hard. Gave a short run around the map and ended up fireballed by a rev in a lift. Off to lunch and I'll back to it after. Back from lunch, let's do this. I got a bit far but not enough to actually save, so it's back to the start after another rev killed me.. Also, I have to say that I love the water tower. Next run : a pinkie got in the way of a rocket meant for a rev and I killed myself in the blast.. At least he died to!  the "run into them SSG in hand" strategy is maybe not the best. Ok, got to the blue key building, now I just have to figure out how to kill all those revs and mancs and specters and not dying myself. The barrage of rockets approach is good for the manks but the lost souls kinda make it hard to use it as a viable solution for the entire cave.. Oh, and the specters. Ah success on the killing them all AND getting the blue key. IT was rockets and SSG that did it. aand then I got stuck in a spider.. And another spider..

Nice progression now, cleared the two-switches room with only 1 death! And I've gotten to the lava pool bit with good health. And then the game froze just after my first glimpse of the cow. I sometimes wonder if mappers know that they are not required to place a cow in their levels? This isn't one of the hardest ones but still, damn. Cowicide has been committed, let's move on with the level. and I'm down to rockets and bullets.. So a quick trip around the map for refueling (and killing some lucky monsters that were still roaming) and I'm ready for that red switch. *narrators voice* "he wasn't". Ok, how many archs are there? 'Cause I'm pretty sure I killed two and still got killed by one... Ok, one down, retreat to a safe place, save. And then die to a fireball. Oh, look, even imps kill me -_- yup, at least 3 archfuckers. And I finally killed them all by snipping at them from the building next door. Take that firefuckers! So I finished at 100% kills and about 20 minutes in-game time. Aaand I forgot it was map 15. Luckily I had saved just before the end level switch. Secret exit found.

 

death count : 23

total deaths: 183

 

MAP 31 : oh fuck, I remember this one. won't complete it without cheating, I don't slaughtermap, sorry. Also, it's even harder than when I first played! With invuns I might even actually try, but like this? Nah. God-mode and I'm just gonna spew cells all around until everything is dead. 

Done, now to find the secret exit... And done! And so it doesn't seem I can only say bad things, I really like the neverending cell dispensers, and the final secret room.

 

death count : 0 (cheater!) 

total deaths : 183

 

(I'll leave map 32 for tomorrow) 

[DFF]

MAP39: The most Sadistic by SergeiRocks100 (100% kills/100% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 2

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

this map definitely qualifies as "babby's first doom map". There is nothing wrong with this and it is encouraged, but the map definitely lacks some finer details. Texture choice is decent, but kinda messy around the edges (could use some good alignment and relief textures to blend better), combat and item placement feels aloof (baron traps that just open in front of you, creating hallway grind is less preferable to other trap tricks). Also the mega baron room was definitely a chore, and I totally realized there was a crusher switch that killed them all before spending the time to personally kill them all myself, saving valuable ammo and time, I definitely did do that...

Overall, as far as novice maps go, its pretty decent, the design and some of the fights are amateurish. but there is some good combat balance here. Hopefully this mapper can learn a lot from this WAD and others and go on to make some greater and grander designs.

 

MAP40: Tei Tenga's Core by Geardo194 (99% kills/95% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 5

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

This was a cool and fun map, a set of two circular fortresses surrounded in a lake of lava, the set pieces are interesting and the texturing is odd but well done. combat felt pretty good with challenges coming from inner courtyard traps, hallways demons, exterior closet traps, and a few big boys (and girl?) scattered throughout the map.

 

Overall I enjoyed this map, not much to talk about with this one, its was decent and I enjoyed it. I'd almost rank it as a "filler map" as nothing exactly stood out as amazing or memorable, but the map itself was fun and if i ever played this WAD again in the future, upon seeing this map i'd probably say "oh, i think this was a good one".

 

MAP31: KuKui by Galileo31Dos01 (0% kills/0% items/0%secrets)   Deaths: 10

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

I like Galileo's maps, and I gave this one an honest try, but couldn't beat it. Im not really a slaughtermap guy, I can do light - medium slaughtermap, something like most of sunlust or plutonia 2's map32 (or Akeldama's map 32 for recent memory). However a large square bowl filled with monsters and almost 0 air room between them, i tried many different strats to carve any safety net, and didn't work. I'll pass on this one, and thus won't rank it.

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

MAP12: Running of the Bulls

MAP09: Get up; Don't Stop

MAP10: Daybreak Station

MAP05: Wastewater Plant

MAP15: Urban Run

MAP01: Wet My Appetite

MAP37: Cokey-Nutz

MAP14: Dens at Night

MAP04: Deep Focus

MAP06: Return to Pain Manor

MAP08: Edge of Twilight

MAP40: Tei Tenga's Core

MAP07: Heavy Lifting

MAP35: Mystery Mayham

MAP02: Nukaged-Powered Claustrocomputer

MAP34: Mild Terror at Vacation Station

MAP13: Hole in the Net

MAP38: Panopticon

MAP36: Field Trip

MAP39: The Most Sadistic

MAP11: Toxic Waltz

MAP33: The Desert Base

MAP03: Bubble Home Bunker

 

[Soulless]

Oh man, I totally skipped the secret levels, Thought I cleared map 15! ....

[galileo31dos01]

11 hours ago, tmorrow said:

[...] and drop into the lava below and teleport back to the perimeter [...]

 

What? I didn't put a teleport in the lava pit o_O

 

EDIT: So, those must have been added afterwards and I never got the memo, the lava pit was supposed to be inescapable and it irks me a bit that it isn't anymore, but whatever, at least nothing else appears to be different. At no point any fight was tested with the option to teleport back of nowhere, because there was no such option, just clarifying this.

Edited September 16, 2020 by galileo31dos01

[tmorrow]

map16

Where is doomguy now? It looks like UAC has another mess for him to clean up and it isn't on earth. Doomguy has to face several revenants, mancubi and arachnotrons on this map. There is only a shotgun, super shotgun and chaingun in the facility and he has to find them first.

The first mean trap is at the blue key pickup with 2 mancubi spawning behind while 2 hellknights block the rooms exit.

The second mean trap is in the yellow key area when you use the switch that spawns revenants in the pit and up on the balcony, so you have little room to work with and rev missiles coming from various directions and heights.

The exit is guarded by an archvile flanked by 2 hellknights but isn't all that threatening since there is plenty of room to move.

map45

Doomguy faces a series of extremely hard trials with the monsters spectating. Apparently, they are sick of getting beat up by doomguy and have concocted their revenge. It appears that you have to solve 4 rooms without using your weapons which will enrage the monster audience and make things worse. The floors are damaging and there are no rad suits or armor. There is a berserk pack going into each new room so you have exactly 100 health to solve each room.

I was only able to execute the 4th room (with saves). The other 3 rooms are way beyond my skill level unless there are some tricks to them I haven't thought of, in which case I've been outsmarted.

At the end, if you ever make it that far, doomguy can wait before using the exit switch and get his sweet revenge as crushers slowly come down and destroy the remaining arena participants and finally the monster audience. Good luck, you are going to need it.

I've added spoiler tags to the following "solutions" to each room. There's a lot of speculation going on since I have only beaten the final room and not the 3 previous rooms.
 

Spoiler

The first room appears to require fast platforming along a roughly figure 8 path from one switch to a temporarily lowered block, avoiding the rocket fire from the 2 cyberdemons in the middle. If you make it, you can use a second switch inside the cage to start up crushers on the cyberdemons. Return the way you came and use the switch to advance to the next room.

The second room contains more platforming with 2 columns blocked by barrels. It seems that you need the baron nearby to destroy the barrels for you. Godlike platforming and timing to move away as the baron fires seems to be required. You might get away with falling into the blood once and causing a baron to fire from there. Remove the blocking barrels and platform your way to the other side to earn the right to enter the next room.

In the third room there is a switch that raises a zigzag walkway. You need to use it twice to raise the walkway to its highest point. Now it protects you from the archvile trying to immolate you. Unfortunately, to get on the raised walkway, you need to archvile jump onto it. You get one chance at this due to health restrictions. Now traverse the walkway using the blood columns as cover from the archvile. Strafe jump onto the ledge with the switch and you are worthy to enter the next room.

The fourth and final room. There are a series of 5 switches that need to be used in a room with 2 cyberdemons separated by a conveyor belt of voodoo dolls, romero's head and barrels. Don't be tempted to shoot at romero's head as tempting as it may be, remember the the audience doesn't like it. Using each switch reveals the next one. You are forced to go back and forth across the room under the hail of cybie rockets. The fifth switch reveals the exit but wait around for satisfaction of seeing and hearing all monsters getting crushed before using the exit switch.

 

[RottingZombie]

 

Wow.. one of the best urban environments i've seen in Doom! Best music track so far in this wad!

 

 

[4MaTC]

@tmorrow you are right on every point in your solution. There is no trickery in this map. You need platforming skills and a little bit of luck because of rng.

 

And you grasped backstory of this map just right.

I guess the platforming is quite hard, but after i played this map over and over it seems to me, in this particular case, it is'nt, but i am ready to see some people skipping this challenges.

 

 

Thanks again for playing :)

[Biodegradable]

MAP16 - Silent Starlight

UV | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

A nice stylish and consistent tech-base that interestingly enough complements the aesthetic of MAP01, so that's rather neat heh. Lovely design and layout, cool progression and fun, challenging and varied combat that always felt really well planned out and added to the dynamics of the map. Even had a dash of cruelty with some of the traps too. Simple, elegant, and good fun.

 

 

[kalaeth]

playing HMP:

 

MAP 32 : uh, a map I don't remember! It does look like a lobby for some demonic hotel. Filled with nice little demonic forces. Glad the floor is already red, because I'm about to paint it in demon blood. Oh, that's a lot of nazis watching a manc work a strip pole... Weird fetishes but I judge not. A couple of archies walking around, quickly dispatched via rocket to the face, but I fear I haven't seen the last of the annoying monsters.. Ah, there are the barons, that I plasmaed, followed by a shitton of imps, also cleared with plasma. And then while I was backtracking to fetch more plasma ammo I went face first into the revs who removed the remaining armor and most of the bluesphere from me.. And done! 100% kills and zero deaths, yey.

 

death count : 0! 

total deaths : 183

 

MAP 16 : that's a big red grin of a welcome.. I'm guessing this won't be as easy as the previous level.. And I got cacodemoned while shooting at a rev.. Not much cover in the big "courtyard". Second attempt, different approach : cheesing the fight from behind the elevator.. And as soon as I step into the elevator I got revenanted to the face and I am now a dead man walking, at 1% health.. Ok, cleared the outside area and grabbed some really needed medpacks, 55% will have to do. Oh, no, 80. And a green armor. Ok, I'm brave enough to grab that blue key now... And boy am I glad I had some leftover rockets! Now, to enter that imp-infested corridor... Cleared. So, what does this button do? Pain. I thought as much. Terrible dodging skills kills me again! Green plasma bolt to the face. Which reminds me I have a plasma gun! Fighting fire with fire! What? I still need to dodge?! Dammit. Ok, wave cleared. But I'm at low health again... And oh, there's spiders around now? Dammit... And backtracking into a pinkie is not a good way to survive the fight.. Nor is locking myself in a box with a baron, but I want those sweet healthpacks! Ah, well done me! Near full health and I'm ready to go face those pesky spiders and skeletons outside... Eat rockets suckers! They fed me back some plasma. To the face. My bad, misjudged the number of spiders. Let's go at this again. I did it. Without dying! Now, for that red doors.. And the room has been successfully demancubated... Now for the rest. Oh. First freeze of the day. Ah, damn. Didn't save after the mancs... Let's go at it, again. And second freeze. Damn. Room demancubated. Again. And then I got shot by zombies who I couldn't see or shoot at.. Done, cleared those and the following wave of revs and I am not ashamed to admit I went the BFG way for that. And now I have the key, managed to SSG the pain in the ass elemental. Let's open this door and see who are those remaining three monsters.. An archie, of course. But that means there are 2 live monsters and a secret to find... Bluesphere, yey! And exit. I did a pair of IDDT to check on the missing monsters, a couple of cacos that didn't 'port and remained happily closed in their closet, so 97% kills, 15 minutes, 7 deaths. 

 

death count : 8

total deaths : 191

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[Soulless]

MAP16 - Silent Starlight

Map designed to kill! Punishing at times, you better have an strategy and knowledge of the spawn points/ enemy type etc. Layout might be simple

but everything is well prepared.
My 1st attempt was a total failure, even with that tasty secret at the start point. Ended saving more than I wanted, but that means it was challenging.

 

MAP17 - Lab Rat

I liked the visuals, reminded me of a laboratory indeed, kinda portal style in a way. Difficulty on this one is cruel, those inescapable pits all around were mean.
The layout was really good for the progression, along with the way you find the secret berserker. I died a few times with that suffocating "Caco-Cloud", so satisfaying to
complete that fight.