The DWmegawad Club plays: MAYhem 2020

[Obsidian]

12 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

[Incomprehensibly mad, stress-induced gibbering detected. System unable to translate]

 

Another soul has been claimed.

 

Now seems like a good time to do a post-mortem write-up of my contributions, so without any further ado...

 

MAP18: Spire in the Cascade of Glimmers

 

As has been pointed out, the name is indeed a reference to the name of BtSX E2: initially it was just a placeholder name, but nothing more suitable occurred to me and the name stuck. The map itself was mainly an excuse to play with the (quite frankly excellent) pipe midtextures in LostRes.wad, with the map design process beginning with the central tower and gradually spreading outwards into the other structures. It was fun to play with verticality for this and my usual "stream of consciousness" style of mapping was given a somewhat new playground in regards to building the structures present.

 

For some reason I ended up limiting myself to 10 sectors as a (somewhat unknowing) homage to the inspiration for this project: it took a fair bit of elbow grease and it meant that I had to skimp out of secrets, but it was ultimately rather gratifying to know that I could pack this much action and visual flair into such a restriction. If I were to make changes I'd like to have the gameplay focus be a little less land-bound, with a bit more jumping between buildings and exploring the vertical space, but all told I'm quite chuffed with the overall map.

 

MAP44: =D

 

Oh cripes, this thing. This map was one of the more difficult to get out the door (to the point where I took a breather from it and made a completely different submission in the meantime) and even now there's things that I'm not happy about in regards to it. The ending in particular is a sticking point for me in that it peters off after the second wave of Archies, but at the time I was running low on inspiration and was trying to get the map over and done with.

 

Not that I regret the map overall or anything, mind: the various midtextures that I utilized were quite fun to play around with and getting a chance to wreak havoc with conveyer belts was a rather delightful experience, the barrel "puzzle" in particular being quite fun to jury-rig. It was just a case of running out of steam and being a little sick of looking at the map by the end of it, especially considering the various technical hiccups and bugs that accompanied it. I'm much more fond of the next map.

 

MAP48: Subterfuge

 

This map idea was pitched by someone on Discord who sadly wasn't able to participate: they envisioned a map with a sparse amount of monsters that disappear as the map itself disintegrates around you and in lieu of them being able to contribute I decided to take a stab at it on a whim. Thanks to @Doomkid for the music BTW: I was browsing DW looking for suggestions for eerie MIDIs and I came across a rather excellent suggestion. :D

 

A lot of this map is basically atmospheric setup with a little bit of platforming to keep you on your toes: any monster that you see will either die instantly or vanish. I honestly wish I could make more maps like these, ones that play with your preconceived notions of gameplay and can still (hopefully) deliver an interesting experience. As bite-sized and high-concept as this map is, it's still somehow one of my favourites.

 

As for the Icon: at the time of making Subterfuge there weren't any clear candidates for the final map of the main set and I wanted to make sure that we could have some sort of way to round things out. The concept is pretty simple: run to the end before you either get telefragged or your way gets blocked by the spawned monsters. It was a concept that could work even outside of MAP30, considering that the monsters were only meant to be ways to bar your passage and them being stuck didn't really matter all that much. As it turns out it wasn't all that needed (forty-nine submissions, still blows my mind) and so I put it at the end of the bonus maps to round them out instead.

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP18: Spire in the Cascade of Glimmers

glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4 then 1 then 1 with a bex patch that makes monsters infight their own kind, pistol starts with saves, no complevel specified

 

I just want to start out by saying this level looks amazing. The sky transfer line action is one of my favorite things about Boom and it's used really well here, I felt like I was in an absolutely gigantic machine.

 

As stated above, I started on skill 4, the lack of ammo got me and I was unable to get onto that imp walkway without getting killed.

I tried for a while to see if i could glide past the yellow key bars and get some ammo. I was unsuccessful.

I restarted the map and got further, playing pacifist until it was time to go onto the imp walkway. I got decently far until the whole "the floor is lava! and here's a crap ton of spectres!" part.

I said screw it and went to skill 1. 

Even on skill 1 I got super frustrated so opened WhackEd and made a quick .bex to make monsters infight their own kind.

With this I was finally able to get through most of the level. I had no idea where to go after hitting the red key switch and that arrow on the ground didn't seem to mean anything.

I saw the final inaccessible building and wondered if i'd be able to SR50 to it. I was finally able to and just left. Not caring whether that was the correct way or not.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[DFF]

MAP43: Sleeping Giants by Argent Agent (NA kills/NA items/NA secrets)   Deaths: 6

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

An odd map with loads of big baddies around a central pit, and some linear hideaways both lower and around the ring.  I was wondering why this map was giving me terrible frames... then i found the barrel maze. IDDQD and blew those up as the limit was making GZdoom chug. The rest of the map was odd slaughter, the map didn't really grab my attention long enough to want to complete it. Not bad but not interesting for me.

 

MAP44: :D by Obsidian (100% kills/100% items/50%secrets)   Deaths: 4

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

A very odd puzzle map, and a very "unique" take on an archvile maze map. Not much to say, but visuals while odd are definitely on point. The barrel puzzle was cool (didn't work without infinitely tall actors tho), and overall, a quirky but enjoyable little map.

 

MAP45: Circus Charlie by 4matic (0% kills/60% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 10

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

When I first loaded in I wondered how I was gonna kill all the monsters, then it dawned on me and I realized how stupid and gimmicky this map was gonna be... and I loved it. Its not puzzle per say but the doom themed platforming mixed with the goofy carnival music, and will all the demons watching this sick torture game for the doom player, was a lot of fun. I will say the 3rd test with the arch vile can be skipped once you arch-jump to the higher ledge. Overall thought it was a fun hoot.

 

Also dwelled on it more, I may just have not been in the right mood to play doom idk, but I've moved Three Towers higher up on my list. The combat present isn't as bad as I made it out to be, but I do wish it was a lot more lively.

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

MAP12: Running of the Bulls

MAP09: Get up; Don't Stop

MAP10: Daybreak Station

MAP05: Wastewater Plant

MAP16: Silent Starlight

MAP19: The Three Towers

MAP15: Urban Run

MAP01: Wet My Appetite

MAP37: Cokey-Nutz

MAP41: Current Issues

MAP45: Circus Charlie

MAP14: Dens at Night

MAP17: Lab Rat

MAP04: Deep Focus

MAP44: :D

MAP06: Return to Pain Manor

MAP08: Edge of Twilight

MAP40: Tei Tenga's Core

MAP18: Spire in the Cascade of Glimmers

MAP07: Heavy Lifting

MAP35: Mystery Mayham

MAP42: Re-Refueling Base

MAP02: Nukaged-Powered Claustrocomputer

MAP34: Mild Terror at Vacation Station

MAP32: Cemetery Lapdance

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

 

[RottingZombie]

Had some catching up to do. As you can see I got lost for a while in map19 :). The music got on my nerves in that map, but it was fun.

 

Map17 - the caco fight smashed me a few times before I prevailed. Cool map.

 

Map18 - This one had a unique style with the sky making me feel like I was in a computer. It was very interesting in it's design but I became annoyed with all the up and down and looking for the exit. Enjoyed the Cyber fight though! It was a good map, just not for me overall. And the music was probably my least favorite track so far in the wad, but it kinda fit the strange atmosphere of the level.

 

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[Biodegradable]

MAP20 - Stealth Mode

UV | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

The Cyberdemon clan have come back for revenge, along with the connected doors/platforms trick we've encountered more than a few times at this stage in this grey-textured techbase cage of pain. Thankfully, there is a generous supply of health, ammo and power-ups abound at your disposal... once you figure out what on Earth you're supposed to be doing hehehe :^P This map is an interesting mix of sprawling, yet tightly knit together layout with some good use of height variation and its progression is curious with how you find the keys and what specific areas they open at which particular points during said progression. Some of the linedef events confused me a little, like this one platform with a Soulsphere on it would lower, but I couldn't figure out what I was doing which triggered it, though I was fortunate to not really need it, plus there were others lying around not much further up the track. The challenge definitely comes from the tight layout combined with all the cybers, but it's not in an unfair way. Unlike Bauul's map where you're discouraged from fighting them in his tight corridors, this one allows you to do some door fighting, which I appreciated. Texture work is all neat and tidy and complements the same colour schemes of MAP01, MAP07 and MAP17 which is a fun recurring theme with some of the techbase maps.

 

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Biodegradable

[Soulless]

Map 19 -  The Three Towers

 

Gigantic map, perfect for exploration, although it wasnt really to much to see visually and only 1 secret (quite good). The progression was good, but since everything is so big, I got a bit lost
a couple of times. Final area was great, movement and infight is the key to survive and theres plenty of cell ammo too if you wanna kill em yourself.

 

Map 20 - Stealth Mode

 

Excellent map! I cant believe how much fun I had trying to beat this, I even made a video (continuous play, but no deaths/saves) after some tries. So damn menacing to walk around, I tried to not shoot too early,
but those well connected doors can make a Cyber have a glimpse of you without noticing. Last Cyberdemon was a pain in the ass, great spot for an uncomfortable shooting.
Loved the concept and the action, one of my favourites so far!

 

 

[bltzkrg22]

MAP19

A remarkably large map in comparison to the  previous levels. Definitely on the easy side – I can’t think of any particularly nasty trap. There is a very generous amount of health pickups, so if you don’t rush things too much and don’t leave too many monsters behind, you can pretty much always fall back and regroup.

 

The projectile spam in the central area is potentially fatal, but in reality it’s only dangerous if you run around like a headless chicken. I guess you can always fall down into a lava pit there if you’re careless.

 

The final showdown is also very easy. Four megaspheres, lots of ammo. A very spacious arena to dodge Cyberdemons missiles, and even teleporters back to the starting area that allow you to restock. Even without the secret BFG it still should be manageable.

 

Overall, this was a pleasant map. I liked the progression; it was long, but I didn’t die often enough too feel exhaustion.

 

MAP20

MAP20 looks very similar on paper to MAP12 – four Cyberdemons near the starting area, that will stalk you throughout tight corridors. But it plays completely different, and was easy after I got a hang of it.

 

I found that it is enough to collect one key, either blue or red, to get to the “armory” – with a Plasma Rifle and enough ammo to kill the starting four Cyberdemons. With the armory unlocked, I then cleaned whole starting area before moving on.

 

I cheesed the next two Cyberdemons by killing them with shells and bullets through the bars. I also got lucky that the last Cyberdemon got attention off three Archviles, so I could pick them off one by one, unexpectedly making the final room a piece of cake.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[golbeeze]

Lots of catch up here: Maps 16-21

Map 16 was short and sweet. There was a lot of enemies all out in the open so it didn't take long to wipe the place clean. There wasn't any searching for hidden-in-plain-sight paths, so I enjoyed it.

Map 17 was a great and challenging map. That caco fight though... I officially hate cacodemons with Colorful Hell. The abyssal caco wrecked me. Take 2! I didn't hold back and took 'em all out.

Map 18 was not fun. I didn't like the stretched out textures in the background that reminded me of that one vertical level from SMB3. I didn't care for the seizure-inducing elevators either. I skipped this one.

Map 19 was huge but I didn't actually end up finding myself stuck. I thought I was after hitting a bunch of switches without knowing what they did. Then I teleported to the final area. I am glad I saw the comments above and charged to the exit. I saw at least two cybers and a SMM so I booked it.

Map 20 promptly wiped me as I opened the doors and let all the cybers in. Second attempt was successful even if I missed a key in the crate maze. I found the secret straight away and was trolled by the death exit AGAIN.

Map 21 was sorta funny because I lived through the death exit and kept all my stuff, but I had 17 health and no armor. A brown demon ate me. Then I somehow survived Take 2 despite an abyssal zombieman or something along with all the other enemies. The BFG replacer saved my 17 HP butt.

[tmorrow]

map21

 

A small techbase with several low tier enemies perched on crates. It's a tyson map so let the smackdown begin. The dangerous parts are when the revenants are released and when the two archviles are lowered. You can drag the revenants and hellknights guarding the exit out one at a time so you don't get overwhelmed.
 

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[Biodegradable]

MAP21 - Enter the Fist

UV | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

I'll let my footage speak for itself.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Biodegradable

[Soulless]

MAP 21 - Enter the fist

Damn, I never thought I would try a Tyson run on UV, but it was really fun. Great design for this melee purpose, aswell as the enemies chosen.
Great start for this episode.

[Horus]

@Biodegradable Ouch, looks like Zagemod made things a lot harder for you there given that it adds a powerful melee attack to the pain elemental!

[Biodegradable]

Yeah, that's what I get for using a mod that makes the demons a tad more aggressive with some extra moves in their arsenal hehe :^P I'm honestly surprised they didn't give the fat turd a melee bite attack like the Cacodemon in Vanilla.

[kalaeth]

HMP, no mods, continuous play

 

MAP19 : probably the biggest map in the wad, it's very pretty and somewhat hard at start and end although you do have more than enough ammo to take care of the bad guys. Finished with 93% kills, 34 minutes playtime and I have no idea how many deaths but I'd wager around 30.

 

(I'll catch up the remaining levels another day, probably with a bit more care and descriptiveness)

 

death count : +\-30

total deaths : 301 (aprox)

[BoxY]

I'm going to try catching up with the backlog from day 15, sorry about the obnoxious text wall. I'm trying to make these shorter, but I never can manage it.

UV, pistol start, PrBoom+

 

MAP15: Urban War

I've always detested big open city levels so this map was at a handicap from the start, but it earns its place in the wad, and is a pretty mindblowing use of 20 sectors. The layout isn't torturously obscure, and there are multiple weapon pickups for each type so no matter what direction you choose to wander, you're never underequipped - this is good design folks. I still dislike its stereotypical city level style of fighting outdoors, which is heaps of projectile enemies on pillars and balconies raining shit down on your head like pigeons and baiting your auto aim, and hitscanners sniping you across wide open courtyards and long mostly coverless streets, slowing you to a crawl. Once you get inside, things become more interesting and varied. There's still a slightly annoying amount of random hitscan, but nothing too bad. The end fight with the 5 viles or whatever (I lost count) dropping on you out of nowhere was a surprising and fun change of pace for the end. Do I like city levels now? No, but this was very playable, nice work.

 

MAP31: Kukui (dropped to HMP to get an exit)

Basically the slaughtermap people are imagining in their heads when they bash slaughtermaps for being brainless and unbalanced :). Plenty of potential, but resource placement and balance is so annoying in the opening that getting established on the map requires crossing a giant jagged mountain range of RNG, likely leading most to roll their eyes and smash idclev before seeing past the first 30 seconds of gameplay. First problem: you can't actually see your vital cell packs at all in the ocean of sweaty trash surrounding you. The only way to grab them consistently is to align yourself using the automap or force your way through to them with muscle memory after enough attempts. Second problem: using two little nodes of medikits instead of soul spheres or megas for the main health source in the critical opening seconds is a screw-you to the player, since having 100 hp in such a brutal monster mash is equivalent to having 1 hp, even if you feel confident that those 10 rev balls inevitably hitting you in the back are all gonna deal min rolls (they aren't). The vile and chaingunner trap is very easy to accidentally trigger, so you better make sure you have eyes on the invincibility, but on HMP it's not too bad to clean up. The redeeming part of this map is the nice final fight, with a more interesting arena, better health and ammo placement and smarter monster usage. Too bad most people probably never got to see it.

 

MAP32: Cemetery Lapdanse

Club Doom for the 21st century. Is this the most tightly designed, cutting-edge, and carefully balanced map ever made? No, but it's extremely fun and cute, with numerous great details, and that's what counts. Truly inspired work that bought honour to the highest traditions of silly MAP32s everywhere.

 

MAP16: Silent Starlight

A map whose health and armour balance in most areas on UV (without secrets) is very constricted. Something as minor as getting tagged by a 24 damage imp fireball, usually an inconvenience, becomes an almost reset-worthy tragedy as it consumes one of your few and incredibly precious medikits that you need for everything else bearing down on your ass. And if you get a rev rocket or manc fireball (there are plenty flying around), don't even bother playing on, just accept defeat and smash that reset key. The buggy midtex borders in the central area, while cool looking, will reliably catch your hitbox like flypaper, adding to the fun. I'm guessing this map is more forgiving on HMP, and I should have checked it out, but by the time I was half way through I was already committed to a (slightly save scummy) exit. Monster placement was very good, but I would have enjoyed the fights a bit more if I wasn't basically playing reality for half of them. Wish I knew about the soul sphere beforehand, but still a fun map.

[DFF]

MAP20: Stealth Mode by steve88 (100% kills/83% items/50% secrets)   Deaths: 6

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

Another slightly quirky map named after the song from the Plutonia MIDI pack, and said gimmick is stated in the map name. Because I was doing continuous I just killed everything, but i can see going in pistol start, you'd have to think about when would be the right time to engage the monsters as waking them up too early proves tricky.

Overall, combat was decently spicy with a good monster mix. Lots of cybies and arch viles. The cyberdemons behind the red + blue bars were very helpful as they killed everything on the other side before I even lowered the bars so nice, i guess?
Detailing is fine, nothing amazing but pleasant and complements the bi-linear map structure. Also maybe not a nock at this map, but i'm starting to see an aggrivating problem with having multiple lifts be connected to save sector space, is that when one lift gets stuck because of a monster, they are all stuck, and often I have to hunt down the bastard in order to progress as it can soft lock the player until killed.

 

Overall, a fine and fun little map. Also i'm starting to see a trend of episodic death exits, I kinda like these and idk if this is just a new fad or what, but it does make playing Trailblazer sad because I lose all my upgrade and scrap metal progress.

 

MAP21: Enter the Fist by A2Rob (100% kills/100% items/100% secrets)   Deaths: 0

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

On the plus side of death exits, the player is treated to a very rare fun gimmick map that only really works when the player is not allowed to user higher tier weapons. Enter the Fist is a very fun bit-sized map that encourages the player to go a bit berserk. The player may be able to use guns but I stuck with the gimmick and punched everything to death. The detailing was enough to be pleasant, and the open arena design works well with the melee combat. Difficulty was good. I think it would be warder in vanilla than with mods so i won't knock it for being slightly easier, as arch viles and pain elementals are no joke with only your fist. Overall very enjoyable.

 

MAP46: Complexe Militaro-Industriel by Roofi (100% kills/65% items/100% secrets)   Deaths: 8

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

This map looks simple at first, and by the rest of the WADs standars it is kinda, but the main base actually has some good design to it. This is for all intents and purposes a slaughtermap, however unlike map31 this is more of a slaughtermap I can do. Still hard but doable. With the main fighting being a 3-way assault from 3 major doors, there isn't much room to move, especially with arch viles camping the 2 side rooms. I was able to make a dent and punch through by hiding behind the pillar near the entrance of the base, then sprinting through the hole to the top area where i has a solid wall against my back and a (large but manageable) hole to shoot demons through. I will say having the 6 key door is unesseary and could be a 3 key door seeing as the 3 sections have the 3 colored keys, with the keykard and the skull being literally next to eachother, but small nitpick. Fun and enjoyable.

 

MAP47: Coffee Break Torture Porn by NiH (100% kills/21% items/100% secrets)   Deaths: 2

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

Wasn't originally gonna play this one yet but since it was a hot start I did anyways.

Well... this was a map. that is for sure. A very esoteric one. It starts out with a slightly slaughter arena fight, then enters a wacky scrolling floor crusher and platforming segment (idk if you can pass through the crushers without taking damage), ending is a very strange damage + health guitar hero sort game with the player stuck on a damaging, movoing platform of health and armor. At first I thought the gimmick was a lame waitout timer where the player had to survive for like 5-10 minutes rationing the health and armor, until after like 4-5 I said "screw it" and IDCLIPPED to find what I thought would be an excruciatingly slow voodoo doll chugging toward an exit line, until I learned that the mini-game was a damaging exit, and the point was to avoid the health so you could literally kill yourself and end the map.
Not my favorite, as i'm not one to get off on my own misery, but definitely unique.

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

MAP12: Running of the Bulls

MAP09: Get up; Don't Stop

MAP10: Daybreak Station

MAP05: Wastewater Plant

MAP16: Silent Starlight

MAP19: The Three Towers

MAP15: Urban Run

MAP01: Wet My Appetite

MAP21: Enter the Fist

MAP37: Cokey-Nutz

MAP41: Current Issues

MAP45: Circus Charlie

MAP20: Stealth Mode

MAP14: Dens at Night

MAP46: Complexe Militaro-Industriel

MAP17: Lab Rat

MAP04: Deep Focus

MAP44: :D

MAP06: Return to Pain Manor

MAP08: Edge of Twilight

MAP40: Tei Tenga's Core

MAP18: Spire in the Cascade of Glimmers

MAP47: Coffee Break Torture Porn

MAP07: Heavy Lifting

MAP35: Mystery Mayham

MAP42: Re-Refueling Base

MAP02: Nukaged-Powered Claustrocomputer

MAP34: Mild Terror at Vacation Station

MAP32: Cemetery Lapdance

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

 

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[tmorrow]

map22

 

I think there is a bug with 2 demons not leaving their offmap closet - https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/116560-the-dwmegawad-club-plays-mayhem-2020/?do=findComment&comment=2189199

The map consists of walkways over damaging lava. Fortunately there are several rad suits to use if you fall into the lava or wish to explore it. I only found a partial invisibility out there and a few vantage points where you can snipe away at the enemy. I used a couple of rad suits before using the floating skull teleporters to return to the walkways above, where I spent most of my time.

The start of the map is a little frantic, but after clearing the initial batch of enemies, the map settles down. The 2 cybies that appear near the end can both be be telefragged, but I suggest taking out the other enemy spawns first, especially the archvile. All 3 keys need to be found and used to progress to the end of the map.

[RottingZombie]

Map20... I almost quit out of frustration, but I cheesed the cyberdemons as much as I could (no regrets!) and the rest of the map was fun. Archvile fights seemed fair, no complaints.

 

[RottingZombie]

Map21.. Holy crap. Punched my way through most of this one. Pretty quickly I used up all the medikits and was stuck at 4% the rest of the map. Believe it or not, playing Doom since the beginning and this is the first time I've punched out an arch-vile. After knocking out the two hell-knights at the end I felt like a fucking hero. Don't know what I'm going to do in this next map at 4% with no guns! Such is Doomguy's life.

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by RottingZombie

[golbeeze]

I didn't care for map 22. I found one key and faffed about for several minutes not finding any progression. Eventually I gave up and went on to the next level. I'm sure there was something very obvious that I missed, but it seemed like I was locked into a relatively small area without switches or anywhere new to go. Giving myself an automap didn't even help. I'll probably have to try again at some point to see if I find whatever obvious thing I missed the first time.

[loveless]

oh man, i've been gone for a while.  i'll keep my writeups short, just a few sentences of what comes to mind.

 

prboom+, no saves, uv pistol starts  
map 14
deaths 0
i got super lost looking for the blue key tele to exit. the "cyber on patrol" idea is fun but it dies too quickly, even without ssg/plasma.
 

Spoiler

 

map 15
deaths 1
one of the best looking maps thus far.  highlight was watching two chaingunners annihilate a hell knight at the upper rocket launcher.  the finale was fun and pressured, too.  

Spoiler

 

map 16
deaths 9
most challenging map so far.  killing that single caco in the opening became tedious.  otherwise, great fun for a map with only hitscan weapons.  

Spoiler

 
map 17
deaths 4
not necessarily as challenging as map 16 but definitely coming close.  every inescapable pit was there to remind me the cost of loose movement.  
 

Spoiler

map 18  
deaths 2
skipped, wasn't fun and the midi reminded me of Going Down.  
 

map 19  
deaths  2
noticing i missed the bfg was frustrating.  it would've been nice to speed things up quite a bit, this one dragged on far too long.  

Spoiler

 

map 20
deaths 1
one attempt was enough.  
 

map 21
deaths 1
tyson isn't my thing, either.

 

 

map 31
deaths 6
i thought i'd enjoy this one but circle strafes are clean up, not a cornerstone of gameplay design.  
 

mayhem 2020 demos 14-19.7z

[Biodegradable]

MAP22 - A Touch of Evil

UV | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

Scorpius brings us a devious spiritual remake of Romero's classic torture chamber, Perfect Hatred and it's just as cruel (with a hint of kindess here and there) that kicks major ass taking Romero's original and sprinkling in lots of extra meat that all flows well together. It's mean as fuck and I thought I wouldn't enjoy it too much since I have mixed feelings over Perfect Hatred itself, but the cruelty here is balanced out wonderfully with Scorpious leaving generous treasure piles as a reward you if you keep your eyes peeled and remain determined. I managed to find quite a few goodies, even one bit that made me feel good about my strafe-running ability, and found myself having a lot more fun by the end of it. Can't think of much else to say about it other than it's really good. Great even. Well done, Scorpius mate. Been a while since I've had another map in this WAD really stand out to me. Evil indeed, but also really well made and fun on a bun. :^)

 

 

 

[Soulless]

MAP 22 - A touch of Evil

Probably the most scary map of the set, add the eerie music and the result is terrific. Solid atmosphere, and great enemy placement.

The hellish/bizarre enviroment is simple but I wouldnt change anything.
I enjoyed every bit of the map but sadly there were 2 pinkies that didnt want to spawn, its a minor thing for a great map.

 

MAP 23 - Solitude Denied

Since Im playing Continuos play with saves, I had to start this one low on health, so I trained this one before-hand to find secrets etc.

Thankfully, my buddy @Horus placed a Berserker around.
The balance for ammo & health is really good and the combat had me switching weapons a lot, which is great.

Layout is simple but effective, no time to get bored or lost, even though I would have changed a bit the toxic slime path with some caves,

but since this is up to 20 sectors, its fine.

 

Heres the video:

 

[klaymeb]

I'm really far behind, so short summary of the maps until now...

All maps: UV / Pistol start / GZDoom

MAP13 - “Hole in the Net” by Worm318

Once I figured out the gimmick, the maps was not too bad. The Arch-vile trap did get me a few times, but the Cyberdemons at the end didn't pose a real challenge. How do you get that Berserk pack?!

 

MAP14 - “Dens at Night” by Zergeant

A brownish cityscape that I got lost in far too often. There's enough room so the first Cyberdemon doesn't apply as much pressure as I feel like was intended. The final part was nice - good combat, even if the arena was just more brown.

 

MAP15 - “Urban War” by RonnieJamesDiner

I really liked this one. The exterior gave me some dead.air vibes, and the buildings were well done. The combat was indeed of the urban variety: lots of hitscanners, low-level demons and the occasional bigger monster to fill up the ranks. Very tense moments! Especially at the blue key. The final trap with the Arch-viles and the throng of Revenants was brutal! I loved it.

MAP16 - “Silent Starlight” by Dac

Back to the tech-base. The main room requires a mad scramble to get under control. Tense and fun. Getting locked in by the two junior bruiser brothers at the blue key was mean... There's almost not enough resources, providing some additional challenge. Again, the final fight is an Arch-vile; this one with another two Hell Knights as body guards. They block just enough to let the Arch-vile out to resurrect the demons you killed the first time around. Nicely tense map.

 

MAP17 - “Lab Rat” by Wydoomer

Not the best looking map, but it plays well. I'm not a huge fan of using inescapable pits everywhere. The Cacoswarm at the red key is great! That got me a few times. Using the portals and raising/lowering platforms to loop the level feels nice to play.

 

MAP18 - “Spire in the Cascade of Glimmers” by Obsidian

In hindsight I really liked playing this map. During my playthrough, I got super pissed off at the elevators, until I pulled my head out and thought about it for more than a second. The lift puzzles are nice, and there's a lot of little pressure points all over. When the floor becomes lava, and the big'uns show up, then it's suddenly a mad dash up the tower and into the exit. Cool gameplay. I just wish that everything wasn't the same four shades of brown, because it looks a lot worse than it plays.

 

MAP19 - “The Three Towers” by * Mary *

I didn't enjoy this one. I appreciate the extremely expansive map design, the open-ish progression and the potential for exploration. But it was sooooo dull! It takes far too long and nothing really happens. It felt like 50% of the monsters were Mancubi, all in big groups at long range. Then come the Arachnotrons, also in big groups, and also at long range. The final arena was interesting, but I'd lost all sense of excitement by then. I accidentally stepped into a teleporter after having woken everything up, and it took me back to the start! Once I'd traversed the whole map to get back, only the Barons and Cybers were alive after the infighting slaughter...

 

Also, did anyone notice the Mancubi infighting?! What is that about?

 

MAP20 - “Stealth Mode” by Steve88

Another map with a lot of Cyberdemons stalking you. The gimmick about not waking up monsters is cool, and works well. The conveyor section is neat, but they just teleported down into a cage where the Cyberdemons gibbed them for me... pretty anti-climactic. On pistol start, getting the big drop of weapons and ammo gave a good feeling of being able to bring the pain! I liked this one, but I'd hate to play it single-segment, since the Cyberdemons' pathfinding is so wonky; not unlike MAP12.

  

MAP21 - “Enter the First” by A2Rob

Nice gimmick map after the death exit. I ran to the exit because I really didn't feel like punching the two Arch-viles, all the demons that they raised, and the ones at the exit. Cute little map.

 

MAP22 - “A Touch of Evil” by Scorpius

Great atmosphere, and some cool fights in tight rooms. The tentacle elevator room got me a few too many times, because Chaingunners. The Arch-viles are mostly harmless, ditto the Cyberdemons at the end. I liked this one! The MIDI set a great tone for the map. It looks cool, and reminded me of that one Sigil map (that I can't remember the name of).

Edited September 22, 2020 by klaymeb

[klaymeb]

MAP31 - “Kukui” by Galileo31dos01

UV / Pistol start* / GZDoom

I do like me some slaughter. This one was intense! I did use some mid-fight safety saves, which I feel is appropriate in this one! I finally worked out a strat that worked well, and got to the first two switches pretty neatly. The third one by the Spiderdemons wasn't terrible after I got that side under control. First time, I went straight over, woke up the Arch-vile/shotgunner wave, and got burned to a crisp. Next time around, I managed to take down the Cybers, and then trigger the Arch-viles¹.

 

After cleaning up that particular mess, I took the teleporter to the final fight. That one took another slew of deaths to learn, but once I had it down, it worked out pretty well. The crushers are a nice detail, and they help out a bit, and provide some set dressing as well. Taking the wrong teleporter is hilarious, and serves me right for not reading the EXIT sign the first time.

 

(Almost) Infinitely spawning cell packs are a great idea, and it gives you some static pick-up points around the arena to plan your strategy around.

 

The secret exit is hidden in a real hard to reach spot, and the guards wont let you in without a fight. 

 

Great map! I really got a kick out of it, and felt reeeeal good beating it, even with saves, on UV!

 

¹I went back and replayed the map, and the Arch-vile/shotgunner wave can be completely skipped if you don't go to that side of the arena...

 

MAP32 - “Cemetery Lapdanse” by Impie

UV / Pistol start / GZDoom

Cute map. The decor of the dance club is a little too garish, but it fits the theme and the MIDI really hits it home. The gameplay is what you might expect of MAP32: run and gun, with very few bells and whistles. The three Barons at the stripper poles at the end were harder than they should have been. That's not the fault of the level, that's because I totally spaced on the rocket launcher - I am not in the habit of jumping over the bar.

[BoxY]

Committed to continuing the catch-up saga. I'm feeling tired and not playing amazing, hopefully it doesn't affect the reviews too much.

 

UV, pistol start, prboom+

 

MAP17: Lab Rat

A blandly textured and decorated but dynamic and challenging map, with an abundance of death pits and control of space and resource pickups usually tilted in favour of the monsters - screw those hell knights near the start that camp the two shell boxes particularly. Low tier enemies are mostly out of the picture in favour of properly placed dangerous ones, which I like. The fight where you have to use the silent teleporters to manipulate the caco cloud, while not intuitive at first, was smart and exciting and my favourite of the wad so far. On the whole the map felt a bit frustratingly tight at first, but got much more enjoyable after some work, and I might revisit it.

 

MAP18: Spire in the Cascade of Glimmers (...seriously? that's your title?) skipped

A map I really wanted to like, but which hates me, so I have to return the favour. Aesthetics are fantastic, with abstract, alien wood and metal architecture clad in easily the best applied stock textures so far, though I'm not quite sold on TEKWALL as a skybox, as versatile as it is. I'm also seemingly one of the few people on earth who actually likes mouldy's Going Down midis, so I was all set to have a good time. Then the gameplay happens. Resources have left the chat, instead you get mostly clusters of barrels to hypothetically cull the heap of hell knights stalking you as you circle aimlessly for your first scrap of progression. There are issues with this, namely that 1. the barrels deal nowhere near enough damage to kill HKs reliably and 2. the monsters love to prematurely set off the barrels, ruining your setups. That in itself isn't an insurmountable problem, even if it is insanely boring (and if you catch a stray projectile, prepare to reset and do it all over, because you're never seeing that health again). Eventually you delude yourself into thinking you might be getting somewhere. But then: lifts. Incredibly poorly implemented turbo lifts, smashing your head maliciously into the ceiling flats, causing disorientation and literal nausea that I've never experienced in Doom before - I'm not even motion sensitive. This is jokewad-tier implementation of vertical movement. After some more trying I knew I would regretfully have to give up make this my first skip of the wad - much wasted potential here.

 

MAP19: The Three Towers

Oh boy, a gigantic wide-open urban map with a case of magnum opus syndrome, my favourite. Exceptionally meticulous and clever texturing and detailing is encrusted onto every SHAWNy surface, overwhelming the eyes. Excellent, now let's see how it plays. Uh oh. The map opens with a hitscan party in a large open courtyard, inviting the player to show off their most cowardly corner camping tactics, which I duly did. Having finally crawled my way out of that trench, I was ready for a nice change of pace. And change it did, but to an even more insanely slow and boring grindfest. Mancubi and arachnotrons are placed in many large heaps on various platforms dominating the entire area, spamming walls of projectiles that crush any faint hope you might have of being able to progress across the walkways with any kind of pace. Worse, many are placed so far away that they appear as mere pixels even on a high res monitor. Fights become an endless siege between two fortified positions, and I got tempted to cut my FOV down as low as Boom would allow to turn my weapons into something better for extreme range sniping - not something you ever want to cross your mind in Doom. The mancubi camping the switch in the southeast are the worst by far, forming an absurdly oversized wall of hot fat that eats ridiculous amounts of ammo. I naturally ran out, so I ran all the way back to the other side of the map, desperately scrounged a few stray boxes and shells and some precious rockets, and got back to work, finally grinding them all down after an eternity. A bit later, and at last, the final fight. This one is ridiculously easy, with a few dangerous enemies but such an abundance of space, megas and ammo that you'd have to go afk to actually die. Punch the air a couple of times and circle, then clean up the remainder and exit. In summary, if I ever see such a clusterfuck of arachnotrons or mancubi in an open area again in a wad, it's going in the recycle bin.

[VanaheimRanger]