The DWmegawad Club plays: Demonfear & 1000 Lines 2

[leodoom85]

2 hours ago, tmorrow said:

I enjoyed the last fight the most, with 2 uncooperative, overzealous and overworked archviles resurrecting all your kills!

That's what you get for making fun of the name.

[Endless]

MAP19: The Crystalline Vault by Scotty

LZDoom

UV

 

 

The brown of the bricks, the deep blue of the water and the white purity of the snow combine perfectly in this sadistic map that laughs at our luck. The deliberate use of a trio of Cyberdemons in early positions creates a rather tense atmosphere. If that wasn't enough, this map throws us a good deal of Cacodemons and Spiderdemons that can throw us into some pretty fierce battles. The exit, curiously, can be found relatively easily if we decide to ignore at least 30% of the optional demons, since once we face the one that keeps the elevator switch to the Exit, then there ends our painful and cold adventure. A bit unfair at times, but decent.

 

MAP20: The Pale Helm by RonnieJamesDiner

 

 

A map that we can divide into 3 main areas interconnected through fairly direct paths but under a system of challenging and evolving progression. We have the initial area with a multitude of low-tier demons and a Spidermastermind doing guarding, then we have the ice cannon with amazing visuals and a direct path that will connect us to the exit, working as an intermediate, until finally we have the final zone which is a kind of pure combat room. Emphasis on the latter; this map starts with a fairly traditional fight with a little bit of chilli, but as soon as we reach the end everything evolves into a complete slaughtermap. Many who read me will probably know that I am not a big fan of this genre, however I appreciate the excellent linear design of the map and the fact that it has a clear progressive difficulty curve. RJD really shows his love and compassion towards us by throwing us pure bloodfest in our faces. I also love a lot the name of the map, Pale Helm, sounds metal and dark fantasy af.

[loveless]

prboom+, no saves, uv pistol starts  
 
map 19
deaths 2
this map did a great job of highlighting a few things for me:  not as good at this game as i believe i am, my ammo management is piss poor, and the right setup with a few lucky shots can make me feel like a complete badass.  holy run on sentence, batman!

Spoiler

still need to finish 20 and catch up.  so far i've made 3 attempts, 2 of them dying at the bfg fight.

1klinescp2-19.7z

[Biodegradable]

1K Lines 2: MAP21 - The Gardeners of Eden and MAP22 - Tuama

HMP | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Final Doomer

 

Two of my favourite mappers back-to-back? Oh my, you shouldn't have! :^)

 

Now that we've left the doomed frozen tundra, AD has built us a lovely sunny ancient temple with overgrowth... and demons. I shall water these gardens with their blood! Some really spiffy progression and terrific texture work, DoomCute tree trunks, challenging combat scenarios teetering upon interesting height variation setpieces and a charming jungle-esque music track to help the setting. Layout and progression is fun and intricate and I was saddened to leave the place as, despite all the demon murder, it was a rather relaxing place. Impeccable atmosphere hehe. 

 

But uh-oh, I think I've taken a wrong turn. The next map... this is no jungle or forest. I have been pulled into a dimensional rift courtesy of Arlene. Now I'm in some kind of cramped and creepy cave-like structure with symbols of the occult adorning the walls and there's imps everywhere! I really enjoyed this one. The eerie atmosphere, the emphasis on shotgun-orientated combat, some light ambush encounters and a plethora of Archviles in curious positions one should be careful of underestimating. Much like her map for the first 1K Lines, Arlene has set out to build a compact map that's brimming with personality and challenge. The map's layout and texture work are sublime and the combat is tenacious.

 

 

 

[Bauul]

On behalf of everyone on the 1K2 Lines team, I want to sincerely thank everyone playing through the mapset.  We love reading your thoughts and comments and the whole 1K Lines Discord is buzzing whenever anyone posts a review, so please keep it up! 

 

We are very aware that playing 64 maps in a single month is a big commitment (maybe too big for most?), so absolute kudos to everyone still plugging through the levels and posting your thoughts.

[kalaeth]

MAP 21 : we reached the garden of eden. I'm guessing Adam and Eve left the gates open when they left because there's a lot of zombimen and imps and shotguners walking around. And even a spider! Typical God : does something and then forgets about it. So, the opposition grows really fast, from low tier to mid-tier, and we already have a rev shooting at our back by the time we find a red key just forgotten there on the floor. And as soon as we are ready to leave the outside, a HK is there to say hi to our newly found SSG. And then, when I tried to get a hold of the plasma gun, a rev kills me...  Second run is going better. Really low on ammo but at least I have health! And even some armor. Uh, rocket launcher! Better save this few rockets for something that deserves them. Oh, a bit of hell in your eden! And a firefucker. HE deserves the rockets. And then to mop up the guys in ledges I get out of ammo.. Nearly. And yeah, I'm fucked. Ok, slow and methodical did the trick and I've reached the end. Now, there's one secret and I bet it's that soulsphere, so.. Let's try and find it. Ok, I was correct. Found the secret.

19m47 seconds, 100% K/S/I

 

MAP22 : Hum. "tu ama" is (bad) portuguese for "you love". Not feeling a lot of love though..  I did find a red key. And there's lot's of health, even a blue armor! And then a quick but not so easy fight (not a fan of SSGing pain elementals..) and I have the yellow key. Back to the staring room and that's one ugly eye that finishes the level.. Went back a save to try and find the missing monsters.. And again, they don't show up to the party. IDDTx2 shows me it's 2 mancs. 4 HKs and 5 revs.. So that's 6min 81% kills. Strangely small level, and apparently I played it with half the byte it should have had..

 

MAP 23 : Next map opens up with a bunch of zombies just begging to be SSGed and I aim to please. (pun totally intended) More demons asking for SSG shots and I'm just wandering into them, shooting, moving, shooting, moving.. Oh look, a backpack! Rooms, demons, rooms, demons.. A switch lowers the blue key and wander I do a bit more. Stair revenant is evil, by the way. As is chaingunners and a manc next to a door. The courtyard gives us plenty of rockets so now it's time to move onwards and use them. Another evil thing? Baron waiting to shoot at you after a door. Things that are nice : a secret! With a soulsphere! And a plasma gun! And ammo for it too! And ten, Done! 15m42s, 100% K/S/I.

 

MAP 24 : Ah, marblelous. I like the pun. On the one hand, a red door. On the other, a normal door. Lots of already dead monsters in this level. Found secrets one and two and a blue door. So teleport it is. And, oh look, mancs. And more monsters and.. ok, I admit, I pressed "submit" before ending the level and then forgot to take note of time. But I did kill all and find all secrets. Nice marble temple there.

 

 

Edited October 27, 2020 by kalaeth

[Pirx]

MAP21 - “The Gardeners of Eden” by AD_79

 

the garden of eden has been infested by hell. parks surrounding temple-like mansions have strange fleshy growth, which is also creeping over said mansions. ugly, unfriendly creatures roam the parks and attack visitors. pace is rather exploratory, punctuated by appearances of archviles. infighting saved me a lot of ammo and build up a stack of rockets i used for smacking mancs and arachs in places where their fire can be harder to dodge. beautiful map with a soft, melancholic music.

 

 

 

MAP22 - “Tuama” by Major Arlene

 

a compact marble temple of hell where otex really shines. the marble textures, the demon faces, everything looks sharp and 3d (that is: not flat). every section has his archvile in a small guardhouse while other monsters intend to push the player out of cover and into the vile's field of view. played with berserk and ssg. there's tons of shells however. the finale with the pain elementals can be played safe from the revenant closet. 

 

 

 

MAP23 - “Oratory” by Walter

 

another marble palace, this time of light colored stone, surrounded by a golden sea in the sun. beautiful sight of black pillars with golden elvish (i guess) writing on them. gameplay is mostly clearing rooms, then taking a tour around the palace before entering it again and kicking those goats out that occupied it. the map has remarkable visuals, also nice music.

 

 

 

MAP24 - “Marblelous” by Leo

 

dark green and black marble again, with bloody writings on them, mostly rectangular architecture, fights that can be solved quickly by circle-strafing a group, creating infights, and shooting the rest. well, until the last one. that one works actually similarly, but it's complicated by flames of 2 archviles plus the plasma gun blocking the sight, so i kept firing without seeing much until the first one was down. managed to use the pillars for cover. the exit opens then.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2020 by Pirx

[Scotty]

Map19 playthrough and some author notes from me.

 

 

For this map i wanted to create a simple arcadey layout where you could really attack the map if you wanted to and drag many phases of enemies back into a central area; rampant Alm and Casali influence in that respect. To feed into this i wanted to have an easily accessible BFG that you can get early in the map - i have this thing where i think not enough mappers include BFGs in incidental combat maps, or at best they have hidden it in a secret or withheld until the last fight or whatever, usually to the detriment of the map. Also secret keys are cool so i wanted to include one here.

 

I figured i could not waste too many lines on fiddly microdetailing so went down the route of bold, contrasting colours and angular geometry to try and build in an interesting look in that way instead. Ice themes are quite hard to map for (at least for me) because i think you are quite limited in terms of colours and stuff you can use if you want to try to capture a cold atmosphere - initially i thought this map was to be for the final marble episode and had a really nice blood, wood and marble theme going that really plays to the strengths of OTEX however it wasn't to be.

 

I am pleased with how this map turned out overall especially given that it was completed in only two mapping sessions. I value replayability and so was pleased that did not get sick of playing through it when creating it, and equally revisiting it here i enjoyed picking it up and just blasting through again. Not every map works out like that.

 

I am really super disillusioned with the mapping scene at the moment so i appreciate some of the kind comments people have made about this map.

Edited October 27, 2020 by Scotty

[tmorrow]

map25

The unfoldable mansion. Almost every room has a switch that opens up and reveals a new area. The set pieces at the keys are challenging and fun. Ammo is quite tight for the pistol starter and you have to be careful not to pick up too much by accident.

map26

This marble fortress brings the pain right away. The initial scrap is a hard one where you are chased out of the starting room by revenants and into a pit of blood for some circle strafing good times.

The following encounters are a little less hectic on the way to the red key and then the yellow. The final battle is hectic as well but at least there is the escape teleporter that you can take for a breather before taking a deep breath and teleporting back in for another round in the battle for the exit.

[Endless]

MAP21: The Gardeners of Eden by Brayden Hart (AD_79)

LZDoom

UV

 

 

Let's say goodbye to the snow and welcome a rather interesting topic that I personally like. We now have a sort of jungle/forest theme with limestone structures plus some hellishly corrupted beads. You could say it's Plutonia if Plutonia had better textures. This is a slightly long map, rather medium, but with a great variety of paths and a linear development more than anything else but with a good sense of progression thanks to a good use of variety and good combats that can be as entertaining as challenging, especially because we enter with pistol-start and this map has somewhat limited ammunition. In itself, it's pretty good, and I love the visuals on the theme.

 

MAP22: Tuama by Shannon O'Neill (Major Arlene)

 

 

Combat in small environments; this is a dynamic operation through a small map but with a good detail, great attention to atmosphere and a simple layout where we place a multitude of enemies without the need to drown in bodies. The variation of encounters and the small details when placing the Arch-Viles make this map one, that in spite of being quite short, is welcome in the great scheme of things.

 

MAP23: Oratory by Walter Confalonieri (daimon)

 

 

Reminiscent of Islamic architecture, this map explores a unique style thanks to the good general design of its structure such as the use of limestone textures. With a simple design in terms of presentation but more than enough about the necessary look, this is a medium sized map that delivers a nice refreshing quality and a comprehensible layout of constant progress. Perhaps, a little annoying, is having to face so many Revenants in points where it is not possible to successfully avoid the missiles (especially in open spaces) but after that, I forgive everything to this nice map.

 

MAP24: Marblelous by leodoom85

 

 

Ah, yes, green marble, my favourite Doom classic texture and my favourite texture re-interpreted in any way, I always smile when I see themed maps around this. This map feels like a deep cave with a multitude of paths, beautiful secrets and varied traps designed to stop us in our tracks. A good map that deepens the difficulty somewhat by presenting a nasty ending that I found somewhat difficult to complete. Leaving the end, the rest of the difficulty is balanced a bit better and has a good flow that entertains during every minute we spend in here. Besides, I love those marble textures with OTEX.

 

PS: By this point, 1K Lines 2 has been quite decent and relaxed (Still a bit challenging tho) in the difficulty area; I was mostly worried for the very first maps since those were really kickers. Pegleg map still is the hardest one imo.

[loveless]

prboom+, no saves, uv pistol starts  
 
map 20
deaths 6
only a few attempts didn't make it to the bfg room.  the first death was getting trapped by the pinkie flood, the second was to the first cyber after grabbing plasma/ysk, and i forget where the third was.  dying to the finale was mostly from holding corners for too long or being indecisive with movement.  holding the outer corners, spamming bfg, and keeping that soulsphere/mega armor before going in were essential.  maybe not essential but they did let the two megaspheres stretch out a bit

Spoiler

 

map 21
deaths 0
a good breather coming off of the previous map.  ammo wasn't too tight, enemies weren't too overwhelming, but being complacent could've gotten me killed.  i was really digging that black marble texture, especially the one with the face.  

Spoiler

 

map 22
deaths 1
trying to push a corner too early on the opening isn't a good idea.  the floor littered with pain sectors means running too low can result in taking a hit, a step, then immediate death.  if you're looking for ssg-based combat, this is your map.  

Spoiler

 

map 23

deaths 0

complacency nearly took me here.  the outer ledge with the revenants, arachnotrons, and pinkies was fun to get a little infighting going.  same goes for saving ammo and punching down hell knights when i could.  early berzerk, ammo balancing solved. 

Spoiler

 

1k lines 2 cp demos 20-23.7z

[kalaeth]

MAP 25 : oh, it's a very switchy map again? Even the name points to that. Press switch, open something and imps come out. Press another, more imps and a HK. Another switch, more imps and another HK, grab a key and more imps and a couple shotgunners. And now, go back and open the door to be met by.. More imps, shotguners and revs! And then another switch! And I got shot to death. Let's restart and try not to play so badly this time.

 Ok, going fine so far. And the level goes up a difficulty notch after the yellow door, still surviving.. Another door, another rev ball to the face. Oh, and look, cacos. And another switch, opening up a chaingunner.. And a new path into a bloody room, where we allow the baron to get rid of the imps while we deal with the revs and then use some rockets in the baron to clear things up. And then, back to the red door. And imps, and a baron and a rev after.. Another switch! And, uh, pretty room. Switch and.. a shitload of enemies. I actually got all the big ones on the first try. But then a lost soul showed up to fuck me up. And room cleared. Now. to go to the exit... And just what I wanted for christmas.. More revenants! More cacos! More barons! And me with so little rockets.. Ended up mopping the barons with the SSG and now, to find the secret. And oh fuck, godammit, really? Got chaingunned to death while looking at the automap and I forgot to save at the exit before searching for the secrets as I normally do. Back to the big fight. Found the secret this time, last fight done. And.. fuck the chaingunner. didn't feel like back tracking just to find him. 16m32s, 98%K 100%S/I

 

MAP 26 : Holy hell that's an evil start. So evil I'l play later.

 Back to it, managed to get a foothold and get rid of the revs first and then methodically clean everything. Ready for the door now. A bit fo resupply, cacos, shotgunners and imps and now for the lift. And another surge of teleporting monsters, clear those, a switch opens a wall, kill the HKs and another switch lowers the rd key and.. no traps? Good. Open the red door and we are back at the starting ledge and facing another red door. And an empty room. With lava down bellow. And of course there was a trap. Managed to outrun it, and then a arch shows up.. Arch dealt with, and the door takes us to the start. Back tracing a bit for health... Done. Manc and rev killed, let us open that blue door then. Oh, love this fake wall secrets. And the megasphere is welcome too. A BFG! This 'port is gonna kill me, is it not? It did indeed. I survived, as soon as I found the invun, but I can't do it without suffering an instant 150 damage as soon as I enter the room, so I'm gonna call it fair and leave eith 8m25s, 100% K/S/I. 

This was an evil map.

 

Edited October 28, 2020 by kalaeth

[Biodegradable]

1K Lines: MAP23 - Oratory

HMP | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Final Doomer

 

Welcome to Walter's Swanky Golden Palace of Pain! Well, not that much pain actually. It's actually a bit more of a breezy map, even for me! Managed to make my way through it with nary a scratch and no saves, so that's a first for me. Oh and it's good fun too! The white and marble cream colour palette Walt put together and complimented with the hot melted gold pools and ornate pillars dotted with gold squiggles. It's delightfully consistent, I love this aesthetic. It's what I imagine that dork Trump would do if he made a Doom map. Just slather it in gold! It'll look great, I guarantee it. Yuge improvement! Hehehe :P Anyhoo that's all I got, really. It's a chill breather map with solid visuals. Lovely, dovely.

 

MAP24 - Marblelous

A dark marble fortress packed to the brim with nasty traps. Some strong Thy Flesh Consumed vibes going on here, kids. Not as intense or cruel though, but you'd likely find your entrails all over the floor if you underestimate it. The monster closets are signposted a bit thanks to the sheer abundence of health pickups, but the combat is solid and dynamic. The big trap at the end, strangely enough, was my favourite combat scenario out of the whole map. 

 

MAP25 - Metamorphism

Another dark marble fortress that really complements MAP24, feeling like the older brother essentially. It's a bit tougher with meaner traps and more tense progression that repopulates previously conquered areas. I like maps that do that sort of thing, opening up more as you progress and bringing in new demons to avenge their fallen comrades. The combat subte

 

MAP26 - Heavenly Gantlet

Definitely the most straight-up slaughtermap in a fairly long time with indeed tons of heated battles jam-packed with demons spilling from the map's orifices and teleporting in and popping out of walls at every given opportunity. I'm actually pretty proud of my performance in this one. I didn't die nearly as frequently as I did and managed to strategise pretty well. I think this is the first map of this style I can genuinely say I enjoyed. Design, layout and progression aren't nearly as impressive as the other 3, but it more than makes up for it with its combat. Pleasantly challenging. This map made me feel more confident in my Dooming skills. :^) Mind you, I'm very much waiting for that confidence to be utterly shattered once I reach BridgeBurner's MAP28 lmao.

 

 

[RonnieJamesDiner]

It's pretty clear that the end of MAP20 was a bit of an unexpected slap in the face for most players. For that, I apologize.

 

The intention was a fun, challenging episodic finale. I went with slaughter because I'd already used a Cybie and SMM earlier in the map (not to mention, I've been gradually turning into a fan of the genre). But, in retrospect there's absolutely no build-up to it and the lower difficulty settings were managed even less prudently. There are some fantastic "heavier" maps in this set, like Bridgeburner's and Bauul's later on who introduce the player to the tone of their maps more effectively, which is something I could've learned from.

 

I don't consider "slaughter" to be as niche, or undeserving of space in conventional mapsets as some people might claim. That said, it definitely needs to be handled with experience and care -- more than most other things, I'd wager. And that's a learning lesson I've certainly taken away from this.

 

Just glad to see that most of the club has powered on through to episode 3, it's full of good stuff.   

[VanaheimRanger]

 

+++Mayhem 1500

[tmorrow]

map27

One of my favorite map in the wad. The marble and red aesthetic is lovely. Both indoor and outdoor areas are playable and the layout of the map is interesting and progression surprising as connections are made and walls are lowered. At no point do you feel safe moving into new territory.

The encounters are excellent and threatening without really mean gotcha traps but the map will still kill your veteran marine if things go wrong or if you don't know what to expect. I like that the staged fights provide enough room to try out alternate strategies. The map has all the quality I've come to expect from an_mutt. Great stuff!

map28

Bridgeburner puts your marine in the extremely large and epic looking Halls of Reckoning. I reckon there are a lot of mean traps and enemies on this map and I reckon most players will go down for the count many times. I reached the final room 3 times before I finally got my first uvmax after several attempts.

Progression is reasonably direct but there are a few alternative paths you might take. The path that finally worked for me is to run through the first main room and go north down the stairs toward the super shotgun (but not past it). Then double back and head for the bfg area. I've found lots of ways to die in the bfg room so I like to get it out of the way early. Dispense with the 3 archviles and head for the megasphere and the switch that allows access to the bfg. Grab the bfg and start firing and hope to win.

Returning to the main room for cleanup is usually not that bad unless you are unlucky. Next I formally trigger open the area with the plasma rifle. I like to kill the 4 archviles behind the big lift using the super shotgun and then kill the cybie up on the ledge with the blue key from the main room before using the next switch to lower the walls to the enemies below the red key. The red key area is fairly easy to clear out with all the cells and rockets provided. This nets you both the blue and red keys.

The final room is a lock in setpiece. There is ample ammo and 3 megaspheres, so you would think there is no excuse for dying there. Somehow I managed to find ways to choke. There are 2 waves of enemy. My final strategy for the first wave involved taking out the cacoswarm on one side and edging around the back of the southern structure and then taking out the cacoswarm on the other side. At this point hellknights and revenants are getting dangerously close so drop into the blood and take the teleporter. Blast down to the west side and then back to the east side, picking up a megasphere and cells whenever required.

The final wave consists of 2 cybies and several archviles spawning in and on the southern structure. Depending on when and where the cybies spawn, this can be quite nasty. I tend to prefer if one or both cybies appear on top of the lift where their movement is curtailed so you can freely take out the archviles first without much risk of a rocket to the face and then take your time polishing off the cybies. Sadly to relate, rng doesn't give a toss about what I prefer ...

[Endless]

MAP25: Metamorphism by elend

LZDoom

UV

 

 

 

A green marble fortress infested with demons. With a simple design but a pretty rich advance to enjoy, this map takes us through a dark adventure against a few demons in good locations. With surprises and a few monster-closets, things get hot as we fight for victory. With a remarkable scale of difficulty, we start with just a couple to end up taking on big groups in big rooms. In a way, it feels like a direct continuation of the previous map but in a style that gives it its own name.

 

MAP26: Heavenly Gantlet by LowGcifer

 

 

With a more abstract design and a simplistic layout but accompanied by a huge crowd of monsters, this map gave me certain airs of vanilla but with a more modernist touch thanks to the use of the advanced textures of OTEX. Things get pretty heated here when we face a lot of enemies in closed spaces; that includes Arch-viles snipers and a few Hitscanners that can ruin the party. The challenge is tough and it may take us a few attempts to finish it, but we are finally rewarded with a beautiful BFG. This is a short map that feels long thanks to its difficulty, which despite being a bit annoying for points, is supported by the simple design of the map which gives it a good positive factor.

[plums]

+++REoL Tough Compilation Megawad

 

I had the idea that it might be fun to play through George "King REoL" Fiffy's maps in the DWMC, so I've put together a compilation megawad for that purpose. Most people on this board these days probably don't know much if anything about Fiffy; at one time he was probably the Doom community's most "infamous" character, due to his egotism and antisocial posting habits, among other things. But I think he made some good maps too, and kind of feel like it's a shame that they don't get talked about much.

 

I don't know if anyone else would be on board with this idea, but I don't see any votes for anything I'm especially interested in for next month, so I thought I might as well bring it up now. Also if we play it I promise to actually participate :p

 

On that note, I played through all of Demonfear in a few hours, but found it hard to write a lot about it because the maps were so short and I was more inclined to keep playing the next map instead of writing a lot. I jotted down a few notes with the idea of expanding them later, but it's almost the end of the month, so I guess I'm just going to post them as is. (I posted maps 1&2 already but might as well include them here.)

 

 

 

Playing UV pistol starts, with Chocolate Doom, especially after Capellan's comments that things look better at 320x200 :) Using P41R47's MIDI pack but with OPL music for a classic sound.

 

MAP01: I'm a fast reader and a slow player, so this map took longer than reading dobu's post, but it was still pretty short. Nice intro level though. The dual-texture walls are simple but nice-looking.

 

MAP02: A nice notreallymyhouse.wad map. Very dark, and despite the small size, takes a bit of time to orient yourself and figure out where to go. The cramped layout that's full of doors meant monsters got stuck everywhere; on my first playthrough, I died when the hell knight got caught on the first room inside, and I ran out of ammo killing things outside so I couldn't get past him.

 

I feel like modern Doom (that is, modern classic Doom) gameplay, and players, are too afraid of cramped design. It's not really something you see much at all, and I think it has its place.

 

MAP03: A lot more going on here, despite the same small size as the last one. The lighting is moodier, still dim but not as hard to see, with revenants shooting you under the cover of darkness. The AV does a really good job of harassing the player from pistol start. I think I picked up the rocket launcher at the same time as I got a dropped chaingun, so I didn't notice I had it at first, which meant a lot of trying to kill the AV as he was continuously resurrecting meatshields in front of him. Another house building, complete with classic 90s "teleporter to the second floor, because what else are you going to do?", and some good detailing to sell the transition, like that window. (The fact that another poster didn't see the point of the teleporter is a testament to both its effectiveness, and to how modern Doom techniques/port options are used try to avoid such things.) Great map.

 

MAP04: More doors aplenty; it makes quite the cacaphony from monsters opening them all the time as they wander around. Some actually hard to find secrets this time, not that you really need them. Lots of wandering around until you find the keys you need, with lots to shoot at but nothing terribly hard. Some interesting "new" door textures here, looks like all the new textures are made from existing patches which isn't a trick you see much of these days when a 100 MB wad is no big deal.

 

MAP05: A small playground of sorts, run around collecting keys and supplies while monsters teleport in as they feel like it. The small size works well for that style of gameplay, though I imagine maxing this run would be frustrating as you wait for that last meandering imp. The barons are more ammo-sinks than anything, but from pistol start they sort force you to explore and find some heavier firepower instead of just leisurely clearing things out. There's a complete absence of choreography to this map, as was the case for a few previous ones, but that suits the small scale non-linear designs fairly well.

 

MAP06: An enclosed layout this time, but still very nonlinear and bite-sized. The completely optional red key holding the rocket launcher is an interesting idea, but there's plenty of ammo even from pistol start, and nothing too challenging so you really don't need it -- perhaps for a player of average skill 20+ years ago, it would have been more essential.

These small layouts make the RL a dangerous choice in many circumstances.

 

MAP15: Ooh, a Cyberdemon arena! Tricky at the start, but if you can kill the Barons and Revs so you can fight the Cyber mano-a-moo-o, it's not so bad. And there are lots of easy places to camp. Simple visuals do the job. Looks like you always go to the secret exit?

 

MAP31/32: Cool concept, easy first map that then gets harder when you play it a second time on 32.

 

MAP19: Great map, the lava could be punishing if you don't know where to go, but with the tiny map size that's no big deal. Works quite well. Love the sunken city theme, with doors and walls half-deep in lava.

 

MAP21: The imps were able to take out the manc, eventually. Some funky instant-lift action.

 

MAP22: That is... a lot of lost souls. At first I thought it was one per trooper killed, like the spirit that possessed them was free, but no, it seems like there's just a bunch that swarm in through another imperfect but functional monster closet. The switch to lower all the trooper platforms was interesting, in that you have to keep pressing it until you can actually hit the switch.

 

MAP24: Nasty start! Hectic map overall, lots going on until it's over. The delayed monster closets work well for staggering the enemies out, since I wasn't able to just camp near where they spawned. Call it a feature here!

 

MAP25: Bosses galore! It's OK though because there's a BFG, and just enough ammo to two-shot both of them. And plenty of shells and rockets, in case you can't pull that off.

 

MAP29: Our good friend the cyberdemon makes another appearance again. Free BFG telegraphs that some kind of big monster is coming.

 

MAP30: Start with a chainsaw as the only weapon, lol. Neat IOS concept, fairly easy.

 

All in all, despite some signs of being a newbie mapper project, and a lot of overly-square areas, Demonfear was a lot of fun.

 

 

 

I didn't think I was going to play 1KL2 but reading some of the map reviews here has made me interested, so I'm going to give it a go.

[Biodegradable]

1K Lines: MAP27 - THUNDERBASTARD and MAP28 - The Halls of Reckoning

HMP | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Final Doomer

 

What a title for a map, hah. Right, so, this is one of those maps that had me a fair bit befuddled when it came to its progression and it's strange, close-feeling layout left me feeling lost at times but always in danger and always paranoid of corners, which is great for its combat. Demons pop out of closest and teleport in at an alarming frequency, guaranteed to leave you constantly on edge, so it's an exciting map. Green marble walls adorned with skull patterns and blood red floors, teleporters with little lava pools for added pain and rooms upon rooms that flood in new demons to replace those who were killed earlier, especially with some Archies to resurrect the dead ones. Gritty, slick, challenging and fun. I loved it.

 

And now, the map I had been both excited and dreading at the same time. As usual, Bridge's aesthetic and grand design are on display and so is his intense cruelty. The funny thing though is he'd probably say this was one of his easier maps. As expected, he ripped me a new arsehole... many times. But I remained vigilant. Despite my frustration and cursing and hollering, I made my way through Bridge's unforgiving gauntlet and managed to find some strategies after banging my head against the wall a couple of times. No doubt my trial by fire when it comes to playing maps like this will make me a stronger Doomer in the long run, so I guess I have to thank Bridge for torturing me. A saner person would just throw in the towel, but the man's maps are just too damn pretty to at least not attempt them. I will have to return to this beast one day and conquer it on UV, but not today my friends, not today.

 

 

[kalaeth]

MAP 27 : 4 chaingunners at the start tell us this ain't gonna be easy. In this red carpeted floors we reach a teleport, after meeting with more chaingunners. This takes us to a small room with some ammo and imps behind a fence. Nothing else to see here, as of now, so we teleport back and take a different path. After too any revnants, we reach the other side of the fence and press a switch. Again, teleport, red floor, teleport. You know how seeing a soulsphere is supposed to make you happy? Many years of playing doom taught me instead that seeing a soulsphere just there, up for grabs, means instead "save and pray". And the shitton of barons that showed up prove me right! Second attempt proved successful, thanks to the hoarded cells. Back to the teleport we go.  So, what I said of soulspheres? Goes double for Megaspheres.. Ok, still above the 100 hp and armor so.. not terrible? Not enough for me to survive the elevator on the first try, though. Or the second. Or the third. But the fourth! Dominated. By which I mean I ran away and killed most of it from a distance. And also that I immediately after died to a still roaming rev. After actually clearing all revs, I find my self faced with a question : what kind of <insert improper name here> puts two revs in a secret?! And after stepping on the teleport I get my answer : the same kind of <insert nice name here> who gives a backpack and a megasphere! And then, we press the switch and a swarm of cacos! And not one but two archies. Yey.. Managed to get all that under control on my second run, grab the red key and now wander aimlessly until I find where I should use it. Or just look in the automap. Another arch, more revs, barons, mancs after, I die again.. And then eventually I managed to kill all those who repopulated the map. So.. Remember back when I changed my mind about <improper name>? I want to change it again. Two revs, an arch and chaingunners is a secret? That a <insert very improper name here> move! For 1 soulsphere and 50 armour bonus.. I lost way more than that to reach them! And after that, guess what? More revs! More archs! I'm not a psychiatrist but I'd say this dude has an unhealthy obsession with walking skeletons with should cannons. Sure, this time we were treated to an invun sphere.. And then I press a switch and fuck off. Five tries later I say: fuck it. 4 archvilles is at least 2 over what I consider the limit, specially playing in ITYTD. IDDQD, kill them, back to normal mode. There's still 20 monsters left so I'm guessing it will be like.. 6 revs and 4 archies plus chaingunners. Oh, no it's 2 cacos and revs. Many. Oh and 4 chaingunners. Because of course. Fuck this, I'm out.30m50s, 99% kills, 33% secrets.

Did not enjoy, too many revs, far too many archs, too many changunners. 

 

MAP 28: So. I look out of the window and I can't say I'm pleased by the sight of this halls of reckoning.. Maybe if I sit here and wait they'll kill themselves? yeah, no,  I don't want to play this. Might give it a try tomorrow. Might.

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[Capellan]

On 10/1/2020 at 3:16 PM, dobu gabu maru said:

The winning wad must receive at least four votes for a thread to be made. Ties will be decided by RNG.

 

Just a heads up that nothing has 4 votes yet.

 

3 is a Crowd has 3

Modest Mapping and Mayhem 1500 both have 2

Three other things have 1 each

[SiFi270]

+++Three is a Crowd

[tmorrow]

map29

Marble Tombstone is right. It's a lovely looking map and definitely uvmaxable, but quite hard. The map consists of a series of difficult setpieces, positively brutal. I resorted to beating it with saves. My best effort was to survive up to collecting the yellow key and succumbing to archviles once they joined the fray. I really need to practice that section more.

The red key pickup on the island is the first difficult setpiece. It can be made easier with some sneaky teleporter abuse or even a dexterous archvile jump back to safety if you are game.

The yellow key setpiece is the one that caused me grief. As walls are lowered and new enemies appear, you have to stay on the move. Once the archviles come into play, it is harder to stay out of trouble. I think this fight may get easier with practice and experimenting with smarter pathing to avoid the enemy better.

The blue key setpiece consists of a mancubus-hellknight sandwich, I was able to beat this fight quite often during practice with some circle strafing on the lowest step with rocket launcher blazing and then kiting the hellknights to one side and running past them to the blue key and rocketing everything from there

The final fight is easier than the earlier battles. When you open the blue door to the exit, all the doors lock for a shootout with 3 cybies and other enemies. However, the teleporter to the yellow key room is still accessible and you can escape there and then reopen the door and funnel all the enemies through it. A combination of rockets from a distance and some bfg door strafing gets the job done.

map30

A nasty icon of sin but it's an adrenaline pumping ride. The action takes place in a beautiful emerald fortress of walkways through intimidating and high walls and towers all built over the void, where any slip is death. You have to first pick up the 3 keys before you can use the lift to ride up to the icon of sin. The keys can be taken in any order, I chose yellow, blue then red.

The starting room provides all of your weapons and then teleports you to a circular lift with an invulnerability and 2 cybies for a short ride up to a wall of angry revenants. After blasting through them you have some choices.

The yellow key is down on a ledge. Getting there is easy but getting back out is not. To return to the walkways you have to follow a narrow and precarious path, with cybie and friends trying to blast you into the void below.

The blue key is across some large columns you have platform over and is guarded by hellknights in front a cybie.

The red key is in the center of the circular building to the west. Collecting it releases 3 archviles and a lot of demons.

After collecting the keys, you can hightail it to the southeast lift and ride it up and raise the blocking bars. Before you can lob rockets into the icon of sin you have to first dispense with a blocking cybie. Either bfg or plasma will work depending on how timid you want to be. Fortunately there is an arsenal of cells conveniently placed nearby. Now you can swap to rocket and lob a few at the fiery red behind the dead cybies location for the win.

map33

This techbase seems to be in the Ice Planet theme. It starts with a wonderful hitscanner ambush. The ambushes don't stop there. After collecting the blue key and venturing through the blue door and approaching the next switch results in a side room lowering behind you with a whole bunch of badness inside. There's a rocket launcher there too that is a welcome pick up. The path is mostly linear through the facility, heading to an outside cave briefly before return back in to the corridor leading to the exit where an archvile awaits to challenge you.

map34

Welcome to the Horseshoe of Death. This map seems to be in the Subterranean Industrial Planet theme. The main horseshoe is a platform over toxic waste with enemies sniping you from several vantage points. You will run into roaming revenants after opening the way to the southern area where the blue key resides as well as a crotchety archvile. Returning to the main arena and you will see a second archvile guarding the exit. Fortunately you can take him out now so he doesn't become a bother at the end.

The hunt for the red key is not overly threatening as long as you keep an eye peeled out for snipers along the way. After that the enemies blocking your path to the exit are much easier than those you met in the first half of the map, especially if you put your rocket launcher to use.

[Pirx]

2 hours ago, Capellan said:

 

Just a heads up that nothing has 4 votes yet.

 

3 is a Crowd has 3

Modest Mapping and Mayhem 1500 both have 2

Three other things have 1 each

 

 

+++ Mayhem 1500 then to keep it interesting

[Soulless]

That was an epic ending, 1000 lines cp2 has become one of my fav megawads for sure.

 

 

[Endless]

MAP27: THUNDERBASTARD by James Collins (an_mutt)

LZDoom

UV

 

 

We return to what appears to be a large green marble structure, a kind of hellish fortress with a few secret paths, blood/red brick floors and a brown lava exterior, it almost looks like there was some kind of volcanic explosion, almost. This is a somewhat long map but without being too exaggerated, which actually suffers somewhat from a confusing progression and a lot of backtracking, something I have always considered very detrimental to any map if it is not used in a correct or dynamic way. The excessive use of Revenants also seemed to me a bit annoying. Textures that don't seem to follow a cohesive pattern, like for example lava jumping directly from a brown, looks a bit bad in my opinion. Probably the map that I've enjoyed the least, on one hand, the encounters were entertaining/varied and have nice secrets (except for the Revenants) and then ambition counts for something, right? But to be honest, I did not liked this one.

 

MAP28: The Halls of Reckoning by Bridgeburner56

 

 

When you read the name Bridgeburner, there are two things you can expect: Huge, magnificent visuals and maps full of demons. As you would expect, this map has such features that Bridge is more than expert at performing at its best. Personally, I detest slaughtermaps, however, BB manages to create a key narrative regarding the total set of 1000K Lines 2, by creating a map that combines his styles under the general limit, creating a stable difficulty and a map, that despite being challenging, feels surmountable and is entertaining thanks to a good layout that allows different combat opportunities and the use of strategies that fall on our skills and not simple luck, resulting in a great map.

 

8 hours ago, Capellan said:

 

Just a heads up that nothing has 4 votes yet.

 

3 is a Crowd has 3

Modest Mapping and Mayhem 1500 both have 2

Three other things have 1 each

 

In that case, I'll go with +++ 3 is a Crowd

 

(I can re vote, right?)

Edited October 30, 2020 by Endless

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[Biodegradable]

1K Lines 2: MAP29 - Marble Tombstone and MAP30 - Eldritch

HMP | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Final Doomer

 

The final two and oh boy are the tough, though I handled MAP29 actually pretty well, but MAP30 obliterated me a fair few times. Beginning with the former, what really stood out to me was what Bauul did with the progression and combat setpieces. The second encounter I found especially interesting and it flowed really well, almost like a form of dance, as you're inside this weird reverse elevator where the area slowly widens as the walls come tumbling down revealing more and more demons. Strangely enough, I didn't feel too overwhelmed. I kept calm and found plenty of room to keep moving around and slowly wittle down all resistance. I felt really great once I finished that bit hehe. The third encounter was the more overwhelming bit, but I somehow managed to survive it. Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't get creamed at least once. Visually, the map was very imposing as Bauul's use of height variation made things look rather grandiose. While it's not exploding with personality per se, it is memorable in how it was able to make me feel small and insignificant standing inside these grand rooms with walls that reach up forever. Most importantly, I feel, that it's a slaughtermap I genuinely enjoyed and I think that comes down to Bauul's talent for making his combat especially energetic and surprising. It's hard-hitting, but his cruelty is restrained even in a slaughter scenario which I am grateful and respect him for. 

 

Once again, I find myself having to endure The Hellforge's evil influence it has had on Ronnie, but also I'm glad I could play another map of his since I really fucked up on his last one. It's an IoS fight, but it's put together really well. The layout, design and progression work together swimmingly. It surprisingly did not take me long to figure out the end goal and the strategy on how to reach it. Where I struggled was getting all three of those pesky skull keys, making sure to run, run, RUN and get as much as I possibly could out of that Godsphere, knocking specific enemies out of the way with my BFG and scrambling to that elevator to make the final push. It was tough and the great heights and narrow walkways sure made it a challenge, but I knew it was doable and I kept trying and trying and finally made it. As far as megaWAD endings go, this was definitely one of the better ones I've played.

 

 

Time to note my Favourite Maps of the megaWAD in their chronological order:

• MAP03
• MAP05
• MAP09
• MAP11
• MAP16
• MAP18
• MAP22
• MAP25
• MAP26
• MAP27

Honourable mentions:

• MAP19
• MAP21
• MAP23
• MAP28

Final thoughts:

Liberation and his band of mad merry mappers take everything they learned from 1K Lines 1 and expanded on it a thousand fold. I still don't fully understand the technical jargon, but I can say with earnest that this is one of those sequels that does what the concept suggests and does it right. It's a grand achievement and everyone on the team should be very proud of their work, I know I'm certainly proud of all of you. Not only did you take everything you learned from 1K Lines 1 and pushed the limitation to a greater height, you were able to vastly expand upon the limitation with creative problem solving that rendered 1K Lines 2's maps in a significantly stronger and coherent state thematically with all their designs, layouts, progression, combat and texture work. Not to mention this was a lot more challenging. Evidently a lot of you got inspired and wanted to take things on a more difficult approach and boy did you make mince-meat out of me hehe. 1K Lines 2 is everything one could hope in a sequel and transcends all expectations. Brilliant work, everyone. :^)

 

And just to reiterate my vote for next month's megaWAD: +++CPD 

 

[kalaeth]

map 28 : just iddqd and ran to the end.

 

map 29: We start in a clear room for a few seconds only to be surrounded by imps and shotgunners..  The monster count seems more manageable at least. The door opens and after a few more imps, a manc and a spider..  But, there are rockets. And a plasma gun. A megasphere awaits us just before we step outside.. Plasma in hand and let's get this party started! Square cleared, pick up the red skull and now there's a 'port to jump to. The expanding room killed me once but I survived the second time around, managed to exit with a full megasphere and all. Next, the red and yellow door.. Ad 75 rockets after, all the mancs and hks lie dead on my feet! And I've got me the blue key... And the cyberdemon is dead and.. I think that's it? Found the BFG secret so now it's restock and leave. 12m53s, 100% K/S/I. Not bad.

 

MAP 30 : Instakill the second I step out of the 'port.. Second try I survived the cows and the revs and died to an arch... And yeah. Not in the mood for an icon of sin fairly played, so I'll IDDQD and finish this. It's a pretty IOS and I actually like the "find the three keys to unlock the shooting window" thing and all but I'm more in for stuff I can do without dying 100 times :D 

 

I'll give a look at maps 33 and 34 tomorrow,I guess. Or later today.

 

forgot to vote, again, but I'm actually unsure. 3IAC is great but I did just play it earlier this month, while Modest Mapping and Mayhem 1500 I've never played.. Checking them both, Mayhem seems to be another size limitation wad and so I'll vote for MM:

+++Modest Mapping

Edited October 30, 2020 by kalaeth