He's baaaack

[Kor]

Hello, in the 90s I was heavily involved in the Doom community.  I was somewhat known, with megawads like Invasion, Invasion 2 and Vengeance.  Truth is I never stopped working on Doom 2 levels.  I slowed down with it quite a bit as I explored other interests, but have been working on Doom content over the past 21 years, ever since my website, Moe's Cool Doom Page, went down with doomnation.com.  I had started the project Ultimate Invasion, working with, among others NiGHTMARE, Skillsaw (as he's now called), Roger Ritenour.  I was part of TeamTNT and did Rage (the Boom demo level), and two levels for Reclamation.

 

In 2000 I started a project where the aim was to create a megawad of simple levels, going back to the basics of the original Doom 2 engine.  However, me being me, the levels got more and more detailed and soon I started getting those pesky visplane overflows.  So I switched to Boom, and eventually ZDoom, and then GZDoom.  I came up with a title, Vengeance 2.  Then in 2005, I pulled in some of the Ultimate Invasion levels (just from the first two episodes) and decided to call it Vengeance 2: Invasion.  Levels from other projects I was working on, like Phlegethon for Doom 2, using The Return's resource wad (basically, Eternal DOOM's textures) were also pulled in.  Back in 2013 I had a major health scare, which I never made a full recovery from, and, for a time, killed any desire to do creative stuff.  But, over the past few years I've had little spurts of creativity and would work on V2I, from time to time, for a couple hours a day.  At any rate, I'd like to finish V2I, and the good news is that the levels, for the most part, just need some polishing.  I will post screenshots at some point.

 

Truth is I never fully left the community, as over the past 20 years I've kept myself somewhat up to date on the wads that have been released, which means spying on the WADs and Mods forum  :).  Some of my favorite are Hellbound, Bloodstain and Jenesis. 

 

While I was really into the idea of making TCs as a teenager, now I'm somewhat of a Doom conservative.  While I like the new features GZDoom has, and use some of them in my levels, I tend not to get into anything that radically changes the game play of Doom.  I'm impressed people are doing it, I'm just not that into it.  I usually don't mind new enemies though, so long as they are similar to Doom's (V2I has plenty of new enemies which I got from community resources).

[Catpho]

Whoa, Paul Fleschute! Glad to see a known name from back in the day posting again, even better that you seem to have kept up with the community! Hope to see that wad of yours someday :)

Edited March 28, 2021 by Catpho

[Omniarch]

Well, this is a surprise! Of your (apparently extensive) body of work, I am mainly familiar with Vengeance, which is visually stunning compared to it's peers and attractive even by today's standards. I'm very interested in playing V2I when you finally get around to releasing it! Such Mordeth Award-worthy material should be interesting indeed.

[Biodegradable]

An old veteran emerges from his cave to see his people once again. Nice to see you :^)

[Kurogachii]

Hello D00D

[Kor]

7 hours ago, Catpho said:

Whoa, Paul Fleschute! Glad to see a known name from the back in the day posting again, even better that you seem to have kept up with the community! Hope to see that wad of yours someday :)

 

It's nice to know I'm remembered from some of the work I did.  I feel excited about working on this project, so it may just get finished and released.

[Kor]

6 hours ago, Omniarch said:

Well, this is a surprise! Of your (apparently extensive) body of work, I am mainly familiar with Vengeance, which is visually stunning compared to it's peers and attractive even by today's standards. I'm very interested in playing V2I when you finally get around to releasing it! Such Mordeth Award-worthy material should be interesting indeed.

 

Thanks.  I consider Vengeance to be the best looking project I made, but I played my old projects about a year ago, starting with Invasion and finishing with Vengeance.  Invasion is better playwise, I think.  And Invasion 2 was never finished, and I do have some thoughts on that. 

[NuMetalManiak]

Nice to see you here. Invasion's maps are documented on the Doomwiki, and Vengeance got a page too. What alias do you prefer since we can modify your Doomwiki page to fit whichever alias you currently have?

[omx32x]

hey i have heard about you its always nice to see a doomer back

[Kor]

5 minutes ago, NuMetalManiak said:

Nice to see you here. Invasion's maps are documented on the Doomwiki, and Vengeance got a page too. What alias do you prefer since we can modify your Doomwiki page to fit whichever alias you currently have?

 

Moe is fine.  I just chose Kor because Moe was already taken on here, and I like Star Trek :)

[Mr.Rocket]

Welcome back! ;)

[kmxexii]

I played Rage as part of a Jive compilation and loved it, tho I never got around to a proper review. Your catalogue has been one of my classic-era white whales, especially since you were collaborating with folks like Rick Lipsey. I’m intrigued of course by your Ultimate Invasion / V2I materials (and any dusty relics you might have laying around!)

[skillsaw]

Heya! I remember chatting on AOL waaay back when. Welcome back :)

[Dynamo]

Welcome back! I used to be a very big fan of your megawad The Invasion, I even recently wrote an entry for it on the doomwiki, and well, even today it stands up to me as one of the most memorable projects ever done for the ultimate doom. I remember thinking recently what a shame it was that Invasion 2 was never completed... Hope to see more projects from you! :)

[Viridovix]

Nice, welcome back. Can't wait to see your new wads!

[Kor]

16 minutes ago, skillsaw said:

Heya! I remember chatting on AOL waaay back when. Welcome back :)

Thanks.  I've played some of your stuff in recent years.  Pretty good.   I think it's cool how us veterans have stuck with this game.

[Kor]

19 minutes ago, Dynamo said:

Welcome back! I used to be a very big fan of your megawad The Invasion, I even recently wrote an entry for it on the doomwiki, and well, even today it stands up to me as one of the most memorable projects ever done for the ultimate doom. I remember thinking recently what a shame it was that Invasion 2 was never completed... Hope to see more projects from you! :)

Glad you enjoyed Invasion.  I have some ideas of what to do with Invasion 2.  I'm thinking of updating the levels (and using the ones I continued working on after the project was initially released) and using OTEX.  I was thinking of using OTEX for Vengeance 2, but I have put too much time into making/modifying/compiling a nice texture wad for V2 to simply abandon it.

[Dynamo]

I really enjoy quirky 90s wads, and as much as I like OTEX, I was really hoping Invasion 2 would follow in similar steps as the first one (charming if amateurish sprite replacements, cool custom textures and skies, brand new replacement for all the graphics such as intermission screens etc), but I realize we now live in 2021 and not 1997 :P Best of luck with it at any rate

[Kor]

1 minute ago, Dynamo said:

I really enjoy quirky 90s wads, and as much as I like OTEX, I was really hoping Invasion 2 would follow in similar steps as the first one (charming if amateurish sprite replacements, cool custom textures and skies, brand new replacement for all the graphics such as intermission screens etc), but I realize we now live in 2021 and not 1997 :P Best of luck with it at any rate

Well nothing is set yet, I'm just having ideas for now.  To be honest I don't even know if I'll do this. 

[Redead-ITA]

Well i mean at least with modern tools you can cram more detail, also i have to say playing Vengeance and this is the most coolest door i have ever seen in the doom format.

playing this with crispy doom btw.

[666shooter]

I just played through most of The Invasion recently (I wasn't able to finish E4M6 with the Cybers cornering me repeatedly), and was really impressed by the interesting sprite replacements and vibrant texture work. I loved the color contrasts and some of the temple architecture in Episode 3 especially. I do think the first episode has aged the best of the package, however, and ran into a lot of balance and navigational issues in the later half of the set, particularly in the first four maps of the third episode, where the ammo was completely insufficient to deal with the opposition. This may have been an issue with pistol starting on UV, but I couldn't help feel that a re-balancing of some of the rougher edges would've improved these levels immeasurably, allowing their better elements to really shine through in terms of the bizarre and otherworldly atmosphere you took such care in creating throughout the Wad.

Given the recent re-creations of classic Megawads within the past few years, such as Doom Core Delta and the upcoming VileCore remastering, would you consider a re-release of the first Invasion once the second has been completed? I'd love to revisit the Megawad with some of the issues of navigation in E2 and ammo placement in E3 and 4 reconsidered, and I can only imagine what years of experience and modern builders could afford to the architecture and atmosphere of the Wad.

[Final Verdict]

Welcome back, always great to see a fellow vet return to the arena.

 

Not that I map or anything, I mean a oldschool Doom vet. Hopefully you stick around, I remember having a lot of fun with Vengeance.

[Kor]

50 minutes ago, 666shooter said:

I just played through most of The Invasion recently (I wasn't able to finish E4M6 with the Cybers cornering me repeatedly), and was really impressed by the interesting sprite replacements and vibrant texture work. I loved the color contrasts and some of the temple architecture in Episode 3 especially. I do think the first episode has aged the best of the package, however, and ran into a lot of balance and navigational issues in the later half of the set, particularly in the first four maps of the third episode, where the ammo was completely insufficient to deal with the opposition. This may have been an issue with pistol starting on UV, but I couldn't help feel that a re-balancing of some of the rougher edges would've improved these levels immeasurably, allowing their better elements to really shine through in terms of the bizarre and otherworldly atmosphere you took such care in creating throughout the Wad.

Given the recent re-creations of classic Megawads within the past few years, such as Doom Core Delta and the upcoming VileCore remastering, would you consider a re-release of the first Invasion once the second has been completed? I'd love to revisit the Megawad with some of the issues of navigation in E2 and ammo placement in E3 and 4 reconsidered, and I can only imagine what years of experience and modern builders could afford to the architecture and atmosphere of the Wad.

 

Invasion 1 has gone through 3 releases.  The first one was in '96, when I was still pretty new at Doom editing.  It really wasn't that great.  Then there was a second release, which I did in '97.  I vastly improved it, relying on the experience I had gained while working on Invasion 2.  That one was the version that got Invasion noticed.  Then a few months later I touched up on that.  Then there is the fourth improvement which was done for Ultimate Invasion.  Those levels were never released, as Ultimate Invasion was just too big to handle, even with a team.  So I wouldn't be opposed to updating Invasion yet again.  But it would probably be a revamping, as I can't help but do a good amount of detailing in the work I've been doing over the past 15 years or so.  And I might even cut out the new enemies, maybe get some help doing some better quality ones. 

[P41R47]

YEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!

Its christmas in March!!!

Paul Fleschute, one of my favourite mappers, come back to the game!!!

 

The Invasion is my all time favourite Ultimate Doom megawad.

I really love your style of mapping, and I would love to see an-out-of-beta version of Invasion 2.

 

It would be awesome to see a community project of the veterans that were part of Team TNT and still are around here (Skillsaw, Soundblock, NIGHTMARE, Jeremy Doyle, Dia) and maybe some come make a little comback too, like Tom Mustaine and the Casali Bros (maybe i'm dreaming a little :P).

 

Will be looking forward for your upcoming work, @Kor ;)

[Kor]

21 minutes ago, Final Verdict said:

Welcome back, always great to see a fellow vet return to the arena.

 

Not that I map or anything, I mean a oldschool Doom vet. Hopefully you stick around, I remember having a lot of fun with Vengeance.

Thanks.  I had a lot of fun doing Vengeance.  Invasion is all sci-fi, there is no hell themes in it.  It was nice to take a break from that and do the corrupted base/hell theme again.

[Final Verdict]

5 minutes ago, Kor said:

Thanks.  I had a lot of fun doing Vengeance.  Invasion is all sci-fi, there is no hell themes in it.  It was nice to take a break from that and do the corrupted base/hell theme again.

 

Sounds great, looking forward to playing the sequel.

[The_SloVinator]

Welcome back!

 

So you were part of the Team TNT? I'd like to say that I love TNT Evilution quite a bit. :)

Haven't played much of your stuff but if I do have time, I'll definitely check it out.

[Kor]

16 minutes ago, The_SloVinator said:

Welcome back!

Thanks.

16 minutes ago, The_SloVinator said:

So you were part of the Team TNT? I'd like to say that I love TNT Evilution quite a bit. :)

Haven't played much of your stuff but if I do have time, I'll definitely check it out.

I joined them a few years after Evilution was released, but I did think it was pretty awesome.

[Arrowhead]

This is great news. Its always awesome when a veteran returns, especially w/ your track record! Can't wait to see any future projects!

[Doomkid]

(The stack of evidence for my theory that no one ever truly escapes Doom’s gravitational pull grows ever larger..!)