THATCHER'S TECHBASE - a 4-map Boom wad by 3D: Doom Daddy Digital, out now!

[Cammy]

DOWNLOAD THATCHER'S TECHBASE HERE

 

Full disclosure in that I have nothing to do with this project - I just saw buzz of it online, noticed there isn't a DW thread for it, and decided I might as well pop in and post about it on the forum. The actual dev is @letshugbro, all credit to him and his team!

 

 

LINK TO THE OFFICIAL GITHUB SITE

 

Thatcher's Techbase is a Boom-compatible wad in development by 3D: Doom Daddy Digital under the direction of Jim Purvis. Former British Prime Sinister Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has escaped from the underworld, and it's your job to explore the Tenth Circle of Hell (better known as the United Kingdom), locate the resurrected CyberThatcher MK.1, and send her back to hell.

 

Features include:

- All difficulty levels implemented

- Co-op and deathmatch support

- Four maps, about 1-2 hours of total playtime

- Several custom textures, monsters, and weapons

- A soundtrack by Barry "Epoch" Topping - arranged in both MIDI and non-MIDI format

- Voice acting

- The best premise for a wad of all time

Edited September 27, 2021 by Cammy : it's out!

[TJG1289]

I was very surprised to see a Doom WAD at the top of r/Games earlier. Not very often that happens. Also not very often I hear of a Doom WAD for the first time outside of this website. Looks intriguing. 

[FreazyWarr]

 The political nature of the wad lends itself to both a wider audience and news outlets. I can see why it has gotten traction compared to most of the wads you see here.

 

I hope this doesn't come off as me disparaging the mod, because I am excited to play it, but the most technically and visually impressive mods probably struggle to reach beyond this community because those who do not play a wide range of wads don't necessarily appreciate the difficulty of making them. It is the theme of Thatcher's Techbase that allows more people to be interested.

 

Honk if Thatcher's dead.

[Sena]

All you need to know about Thatcher is she's done a lot of good for the country, but you wouldn't wanna frag her.

 

[Astronomical]

I wish that Americans were just as willing to make fun of Regan as the British are to Thatcher.  The AIDS crisis alone should give Regan 5 doom wads where you send him to hell, let alone everything else he did to destroy the country and most likely the planet as he reversed all of Carters plans to address climate change.

[FreazyWarr]

Just now, Plank_Guy_89 said:

I wish that Americans were just as willing to make fun of Regan as the British are to Thatcher.

 

be the change you want to see in the world <3

[Bauul]

3 hours ago, FreazyWarr said:

The political nature of the wad lends itself to both a wider audience and news outlets. I can see why it has gotten traction compared to most of the wads you see here.

 

I hope this doesn't come off as me disparaging the mod, because I am excited to play it, but the most technically and visually impressive mods probably struggle to reach beyond this community because those who do not play a wide range of wads don't necessarily appreciate the difficulty of making them. It is the theme of Thatcher's Techbase that allows more people to be interested.

 

This was my reaction when I saw the news article on Eurogamer too. We have one of the best years ever for new Doom content, but of course it's the meme release that gets the mainstream gaming press attention.

 

Not to take anything away from this mod, but it's a shame no other release is getting the same attention (though perfectly understandable given the headline generating content).

[Biodegradable]

9 minutes ago, Bauul said:

Not to take anything away from this mod, but it's a shame no other release is getting the same attention (though perfectly understandable given the headline generating content

 

That's the problem with the state of journalism in general. They had to make it a for-profit business, so all news outlets are much more concerned over what will get people to click on the article rather than actually showing any passion and writing about anything actually worth a damn. After you've clicked the headline, you've helped the journo earn their paycheck and the outlet itself couldn't care less if anyone actually read any of it.

 

I was surprised when Danlex's Lullaby was somewhat featured on PC Gamer earlier this year. Unfortunately, it's not much of an article and more substantial things have been written about it right here on the forum, which is kind of lame but you take what you can get I 'spose and it probably at least made Danlex's day.

[FreazyWarr]

6 minutes ago, Bauul said:

This was my reaction when I saw the news article on Eurogamer too. We have one of the best years ever for new Doom content, but of course it's the meme release that gets the mainstream gaming press attention.

 

Not to take anything away from this mod, but it's a shame no other release is getting the same attention (though perfectly understandable given the headline generating content).

 

Perhaps we, as a community, could create headline-generating content ourselves which could, in turn, allow us to platform this community? I'm quite keen on developing wads myself with political satire similar to Darren Cullen of spellingmistakescostlives.

[Morpheus666]

This seems like something you'd trudge up on ID's Wad Archives from the 90's lol, Regardless i don't feel like much traction will happen with this wad, considering it's so politically motivated.

 

Which Imo, Politics and Doom don't work, and the politically motivated wads i have played fail to be anything more then elaborate shitposts.

[Mr. Freeze]

Is there some kind of advertising campaign going on? It's a decent techbase with a funny political theme and that means it's on every gaming news site? 

[letshugbro]

Hi everyone - letshugbro/Dr. Doom Daddy/Jim here. I’m the creator of this wad! Nice to meet you all!

 

I was going to post about the wad here once it was out in the wild, but no objections to this thread existing! I’ll share the files and info in here next week.

 

Just to be clear - this is something of a memey/shitposty wad that has gotten entirely out of hand. My friends have helped elevate it into something special with their art/music/video talents, but at its core it’s basically just a “my first wad” based on that tweet about scouring Hell for Thatcher to get revenge. 4 maps, and it takes about an hour or two to beat.

 

Thatcher’s Techbase is nowhere near the quality of other 2021 wad releases I have played to date, but I did take care to make the levels nice to look at and fun to play. The wad is primarily focused on exploring Margaret Thatcher’s cultural legacy and allowing people a means to vent 40 years of long-held frustration with her and other politicians of the era.

 

50 minutes ago, Mr. Freeze said:

Is there some kind of advertising campaign going on? It's a decent techbase with a funny political theme and that means it's on every gaming news site? 

 

I promise there’s been no dark hand of marketing/PR working in the shadows. As people above have correctly guessed, it’s more just that wad is proving to be a good way to drive clicks to websites because it’s politically/culturally meaningful to people. Most sites are just turning my tweets into an article format, but NME kindly interviewed me about why I made the wad. Hopefully it should shed some light on where I’m coming from on this project:

 

https://t.co/PcuJJbz8YN

Edited September 16, 2021 by letshugbro

[Rudolph]

@letshugbro A good alternative title would have been "The Fletcher Memorial Doom". :P

[FreazyWarr]

@letshugbro it's nice to see you here. I've been following the progress of your wad on Twitter for a while now.

 

Do you think, due to how much media attention your wad is getting, we might see political wads by other people be made and how would you feel about this?

[dew]

1 hour ago, letshugbro said:

The wad is primarily focused on exploring Margaret Thatcher’s cultural legacy and allowing people a means to vent 40 years of long-held frustration with her and other politicians of the era.

I hope the final map is situated in the heart of hell, Grantham.

[Cammy]

@letshugbro Good to see you here, thanks for clearing the air on some of the details! Welcome to Doomworld. I've updated the OP a little to reflect what you've confirmed for us. It's impressive to see how far this project has reached across the web, and I think that's largely the result of your own skill in advertising your work, not just its theme. It makes me wonder where Doom wads in general could be if more of us broadcasted our work with as much poise, and in as many places, as you have.

[yakfak]

fuck maggie thatcher <3

[El Juancho]

I dont get why Thatcher is/was so much hated

[Albertoni]

44 minutes ago, El juancho said:

I dont get why Thatcher is/was so much hated

 

It's a long story, but the main point as far as I know was that her (admittedly successful) attempts at controlling inflation led to interest rates going through the roof, which destroyed Britain's industry, caused mass unemployment, and led to many lower-class people losing their homes to the banks.

 

She was also very conservative in social regards, fighting divorce laws, trying to suppress LGBT rights, etc. I did not check the numbers, but a few years back I've heard that she lowered the education budget so much that even after, what, four decades, it is still lower than before she was elected.

[PetalousPanoply]

Looks fun! I definitely won't pass up an opportunity to shoot Thatcher in the face.

[letshugbro]

5 hours ago, Rudolph said:

@letshugbro A good alternative title would have been "The Fletcher Memorial Doom". :P

 

Haha! There are a fair few references to music produced in that era - Doom has always had rock/metal influence, so I thought it tied in with the wad's central theme nicely to pay homage to British bands of the era who wrote songs about Thatcher and her ilk. Fans of Iron Maiden album covers may spot a few bits of grafitti they recognise.

 

5 hours ago, FreazyWarr said:

@letshugbro it's nice to see you here. I've been following the progress of your wad on Twitter for a while now.

 

Do you think, due to how much media attention your wad is getting, we might see political wads by other people be made and how would you feel about this?

 

Involving real-life people in Doom WADs is a thorny subject - understandably so. Personally, I have no problem with it if it's punching straight upward at people who you could reasonably call a demon - the past couple of days have seen people suggest Reagan and Pinochet wads, among other infamous folks who you can probably imagine. Would love to see people make them a reality and will do anything I can to help those people, but it's not my place to go doing that myself, I think!

 

(P.S., https://twitter.com/dandouglas/ is currently making a Duke Nukem 3D mapset that takes place in modern-day Britain. It features a ton of present-day politicians. I like it.)

 

4 hours ago, dew said:

I hope the final map is situated in the heart of hell, Grantham.

 

You're one step ahead of me here! Keep your eyes peeled for a special custom sprite in the wad.

 

4 hours ago, Cammy said:

@letshugbro Good to see you here, thanks for clearing the air on some of the details! Welcome to Doomworld. I've updated the OP a little to reflect what you've confirmed for us. It's impressive to see how far this project has reached across the web, and I think that's largely the result of your own skill in advertising your work, not just its theme. It makes me wonder where Doom wads in general could be if more of us broadcasted our work with as much poise, and in as many places, as you have.

 

Thank you - way too kind. I had a lot of people helping me put on a veneer of respectability. :D

 

I have played a ton of incredible wads the past couple of years that I had to work quite hard to find - like you say, it's frustrating that wads like say, Sunlust and Ancient Aliens kick the shit outta most modern shooter campaigns, but it's so difficult to get people to realise what they're missing out on. I feel like I kinda struck a lucky vein here with this concept and I'm not sure what's behind it except "people enjoy politics". I am kinda just running on the strength of the trailer rather than the wad here, but I guess that's a sign of where the wider internet is at today.

 

3 hours ago, El juancho said:

I dont get why Thatcher is/was so much hated

 

I don't believe that Thatcher's Techbase is sophisticated enough to tell you why she was hated (that would probably require a 32-map megawad, exclusive to the Eternity Engine or something crazy like that), but it does contain a lot of real 80s and 90s reference material that will hopefully give you an idea of where her problems lay and why many British people held her in such contempt.

 

Anyways,

 

4 hours ago, yakfak said:

fuck maggie thatcher <3

 

[Scuba Steve]

 

 

[kuato]

"We only have to be lucky once."

This rules can't wait to play

[Bridgeburner56]

Sorry but this looks ... not good

Thinly veiled political commentary hidden behind mediocre design? Happy to be proven wrong. From what I've seen the best thing about this projects the title screen

[Steveb1000]

I wouldn't say the political commentary in the wad was thinly veiled...   :)

 

However, to me, looking at the preview, it feels like the emphasis is more on the silly rather than the politics. I.e. like something in Viz or on Spitting Image, not a project designed by the Socialist Modding sub-committee of Momentum.

 

 

Edited September 17, 2021 by Steveb1000

[letshugbro]

3 hours ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

Sorry but this looks ... not good
Thinly veiled political commentary hidden behind mediocre design? Happy to be proven wrong. From what I've seen the best thing about this projects the title screen

 

There’s certainly a lot of room for improvement. Though I must emphasise again that this is my first ever wad, and I was the only person involved who did any of the Doom Builder, Slade, Dehacked, etc. stuff. I built this in spare hours after work here and there over the past year while fighting lockdown boredom, so was never going to hit the professional heights of the wads that Doomworld folks produce on the regular. Give me another ten years!

 

That said, I am proud of what I’ve made here, and I hope people enjoy it. 

 

1 hour ago, Steveb1000 said:

I wouldn't say the political commentary in the wad was thinly veiled...   :)

 

However, to me, looking at the preview, it feels like the emphasis is more on the silly rather than the politics. I.e. like something in Viz or on Spitting Image, not a project designed by the Socialist Modding sub-committee of Momentum.

 

 

 

Yeah. It’s made with real political anger and frustration, but I’ve tried to channel that into stupid satire. I don’t think a Doom game where a space marine shoots Trident missiles at a robot Thatcher could ever call itself serious political commentary of any kind, lol

[Remilia Scarlet]

1 hour ago, letshugbro said:

That said, I am proud of what I’ve made here, and I hope people enjoy it.  

I rarely play wads, but I'm definitely looking forward to playing this and blasting some demons atop a certain gender-neutral bathroom.  For this being your first set of levels, they look pretty nice IMO.  Don't listen too much to the elitist commentary ^_^

The blue part at 0:28 of the trailer, is that a modified MAP32?

[FreazyWarr]

5 hours ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

Sorry but this looks ... not good

 

So long as the player ends up having fun then surely that makes it good? Even if the gameplay isn't the most innovative, the head-on satire has the potential to make it really enjoyable.

 

I recently played TRINITY.wad and SJC.wad, and whilst the gameplay wasn't amazing in either of them being able to explore Trinity College and St John's College, seeing all of the details put in by the map maker, was.

 

I'm fairly new to this community but I've noticed so much focus on just core gameplay and design that wads like TRINITY, SJC, and Thatcher's Techbase feel almost avant-garde.

[letshugbro]

59 minutes ago, Remilia Scarlet said:

The blue part at 0:28 of the trailer, is that a modified MAP32?

 

Yeah! The game riffs on Wolfenstein 3D a few times. Without giving too much away, I wanted to include a little homage to the id Software’s own mechanised politician. 

[Wavy]

This is pretty intriguing. I'll give this a whirl when it releases.

 

And for the sake of the trailer, I'll play this on my 3DS =P