The DWmegawad Club plays: Community Chest

[Silhouette 03]

It's been a while since I participated in the club so I'll throw my hat in the ring. I know basically nothing about Community chest except that some see it as a mixed bag of maps from various authors. I've always wanted to try it so let's get to it.

 

Map01: Pistol Panic- The Ultimate DOOMer- Pistol start

An interesting start.

 

As the name implies, the central gimmick of this map is that you'll only have the pistol for the majority of the map. You do come across a chainsaw later ( as well as a shotgun taken from a shotgunner corpse), but only near the end of the map. The central gimmick of the map is arguably the map's biggest flaw. The idea sounds good on paper but in practice.. not so much. The combat feels repetitive and boring, the limited arsenal forcing you to whittle away at  enemies' health. I couldn't really engage with this map the way I wanted to, or appreciate the gimmick all that much. It's the execution that's lacking, really. Maybe if you added more crushers that the player could use against enemies but I don't know how big a difference that would make

 

There's also a softlock in the room with the sludge and armor. I'm not sure how no one noticed that, though. I have a question, is the map supposed to have IWAD music or did I miss something? I almost forgot about the voodoo dolls. Why are they everywhere?   

 

On to the positives, I really like the hub design of the central area. I don't know why, but I really like interconnected level design. Visually speaking the map looks really good considering the map is 19 years old.

 

I was forced to use and the pistol and I was in a constant state of panic, so at least there wasn't false advertising.

 Kills: 73%

Secrets: 20%

 

Map02: Nullian Precinct- Thomas van der Velden

A police station packed to the brim with Doomcute. What's not to love?

 

I have nothing but good things to say about this map. The combat feels and plays a lot better than the preceding map as it is without that gimmick. There's very little actual resistance so the map is a bit easy, though. The layout is simple yet a lot of fun. It's not aiming for impressive architecture( as do a lot of 90's maps) but rather a simple, fun map. My only real complaint is that some areas are a bit too dark. Other than that, great map.

 

The Doomcute in this map is insanely cool. In the first area alone there's a police station sign, dumpster, sector toilet and a lampost. There's a dressing table, an overturned desk, a bed, just to name a few.

 

There's something undeniably charming about Doomcute. Seeing something ordinary in an otherwise abstract game is always welcome. 

Kills: 100%

Secrets: 33%

 

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by Silent Wolf

[RHhe82]

41 minutes ago, Silent Wolf said:

There's also a softlock in the room with the sludge and armor. I'm not sure how no one noticed that, though.

 

If you mean that there's an inescapable pit, I did notice that, just didn't remember to mention it, because fixing that issue wouldn't have rescued the map. (Unless you mean there's some other way to softlock oneself? I approached the room from the wrong direction and thought I had to do a running jump across the gap to get the armor, which didn't help matters, but it turned out there's a better door to enter the room).

[Book Lord]

1 hour ago, Silent Wolf said:

There's also a softlock in the room with the sludge and armor. I'm not sure how no one noticed that, though.

The Club has just played Doom the way id did. When it's inescapable and has a POISON/RADIATION sign to show that, it's something that even id games did in some maps. We got a bit desensitized to contemporary mapping commonplaces.

[Silhouette 03]

15 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

 

If you mean that there's an inescapable pit, I did notice that, just didn't remember to mention it, because fixing that issue wouldn't have rescued the map. (Unless you mean there's some other way to softlock oneself? I approached the room from the wrong direction and thought I had to do a running jump across the gap to get the armor, which didn't help matters, but it turned out there's a better door to enter the room).

No, I was referring to the original mappers ( or mapper) involved CC, not the club members ( Sorry if that came off as rude). As far as I know, there's only one way to softlock yourself and that's by falling in the slime pit when the bridge is lowered or falling on either side of the bridge when the bridge is raised.

3 minutes ago, Book Lord said:

The Club has just played Doom the way id did. When it's inescapable and has a POISON/RADIATION sign to show that, it's something that even id games did in some maps. We got a bit desensitized to classic issues that contemporary mappers typically avoid.

Ah, I see. Refer to my first sentence about "no one noticed it though". I had no idea that there were inescapable pits in DTWID. It's been a long time since I played through it. Perhaps it was a homage to questionable design choices in the original IWAD?  

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Map02: Nullth Precinct 

played continous on PrBoom+/UMAPINFO on Ultra Violence. 

 

What's left to say that others haven't? This map is excellent! The layout flows extremely well, despite being rather linear, I never play the same way twice. Thomas Van Der Velden knocked it out of the park, this is one of my favorite maps in the wad. The stock Doom 2 track, D_STALKS, fits the casual map well. It is a little easy, but it's a fun, cute, relaxing level. Sidenote: this map is an amazing showcase of creative use of Doom 2 textures. The secrets are also very satisfying.

 

I only wish a secret was hidden by shootng the targets in the range. That would've been great.

 

 

11 hours ago, RHhe82 said:

D_RUNNIN isn't enough

 

11 hours ago, RHhe82 said:

(I think all textures are stock Doom 2 textures, right?)

The whole point of the project was actually to go back to basics. Cadman didn't want any new textures, graphics or music. Somehow, like six midis, one flat, one sky texture, and a titlepic, M_DOOM, and I think Bossback (can't remember if it has one or not, CC2 does though) snuck through. So don't expect much custom content at all. I enjoy this wad for what it is, but it actually could've used some custom textures because not every team member handles Doom 2 textures as well as Van Der Velden does. It really, really could've used custom music. Of the six(?) that were added, one is the title music and one is the intermission music lol. You can find the original post that started the project here

 

8 hours ago, Capellan said:

Also, much though it pains me, you probably should turn infinitely tall things OFF.  The mapset was clearly not playtested with them on.

Yeah some of the later maps are brutal about this. Cadman said to target Boom or MBF, but this problem and the MAPINFO lump in the wad tells me most people tested on ZDoom heh. Same story for CC2 (which, strangely enough, doesn't have a MAPINFO), most of the maps B.P.R.D made never ran well in old Boom ports. Thanks goodness for PrBoom+ and DSDA-Doom. 

1 hour ago, Astronomical said:

That's really weird, I swore it was listed as limit removing, the weird thing is that I checked the doomwiki page and saw it's listed as boom compatible.  Well anyway,

That's a product of the time. More modern limit removing ports like Crispy or Sprinkled or Russian Doom didn't exist. Removed limits (in the popular Doom discourse in 2003) meant Boom, MBF, or ZDoom. Boom doesn't just make higher limits though, it also fixes bugs. Some weirdness happens in a few of these maps if it's not in Boom compatibility.

[LadyMistDragon]

(I changed my class to TNT. I hope things won't end up too broken)

 

Map 02: Nulith Precinct by Thomas van der Velden

 

Music: 'En El Salon' by Alfonzo from Mid: The Way Id Did

 

Thomas van der Velden is probably the best mapper in at least the first ten maps. It would still be a few years before he'd strike gold in New Doom Community Project with his Map 27 (only second to Map 29, imo) but as a mapper in the age of detail, he very much stood above the crowd.

 

This map here is very much short and simple, despite the presence of Mancubi and Cacodemons in somewhat short quarters. The TNT weapons alleviated the moderate tediousness one might feel here otherwise, but that had the side effect of making it feel substanceless.

 

The fact remains that this is a premiere Doomcute specimen though. Starting in an alley from which you can access an apartment room to grab a melee weapon, You make your way through a police station with some signs of serious damage, all the while passing coffee machines, security computers and cells, an obvious check-station, storage rooms and a sort of security station you'll need to press a thingy for to lower the laser blocking what you think is the exit. Because you'll find yourself in a halls of of the damned moment where the ground plunges down and you're forced to confrotn two imps and a Cacodemon in some rather close quarters caverns before facing down a Mancubi at the actual exit in front of some other building.

 

I guess it may be a little insubstantial, but no matter.

 

[Worriedidiot]

I've never done something like this but here I go, I guess.

Played in DSDA-Doom with pistol starts.

MAP01 "Pistol Panic" by The Ultimate DooMer

 

Well, I wasn't expecting the opener to be something like... this.

It's surprisingly quirky with it's use of bridges (that seem to break very, very easily), voodoo dolls and the overall weapon shortage though none of these enhance the experience.

 

I've never really seen voodoo dolls get used in-game like this and now I understand why that is. I have no idea why somebody would just randomly put a bunch of voodoo dolls in their map considering they make the gameplay more annoying and don't fit at all. Mostly, the same also goes for the bridges. They server almost no practical purpose and are very inconsistent. Sometimes they work, but most times they don't. It feels like The Ultimate DooMer cared more about showing off random quirky Doom tricks rather than making a proper and enjoyable map.

 

The blue key room is just ugh... It's big, kind of confusing and I feel like it mocks me for not having a shotgun. Thank God there's at least a chainsaw to use on the cacodemon.

 

There was one thing that I did quite enjoy and it was the arachnotron crusher room. It was a sudden rush of action that wasn't really present in the rest of the map.

Visually the map looks fine... enough. To me it very much resembled Doom 2 MAP02 but I'm hoping that was just a coincidence and not plagiarism.

 

Overall, it's a mediocre opener but at least it's short.

 

P.S. I was expecting these flashing sectors to deal damage as a nod to Doom 1 but I guess I was wrong

Spoiler

 

[Yumheart]

Thought I'd give this a shot as well, though I can't tell whether or not I'll stick till the end of the month atm.

 

Map01 "Pistol Panic" by The Ultimate Doomer
 

Not the best opener. It‘s symmetrical layout makes it pretty annoying to navigate and the fights are incredibly tame. The map really doesn't take advantage of the fact that you only have the pistol for most of it's runtime, to the point where it seems like an afterthought. It's really just a gimmick to make the map slightly more memorable, but it has the side effect of making it quite the slog to play. The secrets are kinda reminiscent of Entryway, in that they're quite obvious, but also not very useful.
 

Some positives:
The aesthetics are at the very least clean. Making you shoot explosive barrels to kill enemies faster is a pretty interesting risk-reward mechanic, considering how claustrophobic the map is. The part where you got to crush a lot of imps was fun, if not very challenging. More fights like this could've made this map a lot better.
 

I think the concept of pistol-only maps has a lot of potential. A map with little direct confrontation, that keeps you on the move and has you solving puzzles or using environmental traps to clear out tougher baddies sounds really cool imo, like something you'd see in Magnolia.
It's just a shame that Pistol Panic doesn't really do anything with it's premise.

 

Map02 "Nullth Precinct" by Thomas van der Valden
 

An appreciated palette cleanser with pretty sweet visuals. I can't write a lot about this one, the combat is kinda whatever, but it's more about the doomcute anyways. I really like it. This room is worth a highlight for me, because it was the first time in this wad where I actively stopped and admired the visuals:

Spoiler

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Yumheart : C- writing

[DJVCardMaster]

cchest.wad - Community Chest - Various authors:

The one that starts it all, a classic series of community made maps packed together in random ways, emulating the old days of buying a CD in a magazine that contained tons of random maps made by who knows. The compilation does not follow some strict rules, being most of the maps vanilla compatible, but few levels will use some Boom trickery to work its way around, so sadly, this is not a vanilla/limit-removing wad. Compilations like this feel just like the Master Levels did, no restrictions, little care for details/gameplay, and a rollercoaster of mapping qualities given by each mapper, which, they may be unexperienced (More often) or not. There is no straight line to follow, and you will find long-ass maps, or just maps that you can finish in two minutes. Quality here, as said, is not found, and the pleasure of playing Community Chest, will be to find some hidden gems (maps) inside our chest. Important thing to mention, is that this mapset uses vanilla textures, music and nothing apart from the geometry and some graphics is new. So it will be quite a neutral experience for some. Come and join this journey with us.


MAP01 - Pistol Panic -  Stephen "The Ultimate Doomer" Clark (98%K/100%I/100%S):

It's what the name implies, a tyson map, and a pretty painful one. The map looks like an homage to Underhalls and also parts of Entryway, the layout itself, circles around a facility, with a nice entrance. The map itself is an interesting idea, but pretty long for a MAP01, not only that, but the level itself feels pretty cramped, and is filled with voodoo dolls that represent UAC workers, so you don't feel that alone. The UAC facility is full of low-tier enemies until the end, were you'll see some mancubi. Forcing a tyson start is an interesting idea, again, but the level has its flaws, its 3D bridges are annoying, as you can get infinitely-talled by enemies, they usually won't work properly, and the small space you have to move around, can be your worst enemy, specially at the part where you have to quickly squash the arachnotron.
Nice setpieces, but I see why people can ragequit just by playing the first level.
The map aesthetically, seems quite well designed, its views are pretty good, and some areas or design choices make me remember Tim Willits with his contributions to the Master Levels.
Not a bad map at all, but it's easy to see it's not everyone's cup of tea.

MAP02 - Nulith Precinct -  Thomas van der Velden (100%K/I/S):

One of van der Velden's earliest works, just two years after his megawad Revolution! was submited. It still feels like our already professional mapper, was still young at it. A map that may feel underwhelming by its looks and heavy use of Doomcute here, but at the inner sections of the level, in this case, a police station, map feels better made, resembling quite a lot to the Doomcute found in Going Down. It's a pretty fun map, actually, its layout may be its best attribute, I think, always keeping you engaged, also making some connections between previously visited areas as you progress. The infiltration part is quite interesting aswell. 
Again, this level gives me some Going Down vibes here and there, because of the heavy use of Doomcute with vanilla textures.
You can already see van der Velden is quite an experienced mapper already, and trust me, you'll miss him as time passes and you keep playing this megawad, as one of the best maps here is as early as the second slot, even though, this map is not as great as you would like.

(HMP Playthrough - PrBoom+)

Order of preference: 
 

Spoiler

MAP02
MAP01

 

[TJG1289]

When it comes to the Community Chest series, I know I've never played this first one. I think I played the 2nd, cause The Mucus Flow looked really familiar. Those chaingunner turrets are very memorable. Idk if I played the third. I KNOW I played the 4th, as there's some great maps in that one, especially the duo of maps 20 and 21. I, like a lot of others, have seen the Dean of Doom ep on this WAD, so I know it will be of uneven quality. I'm dreading map 29, though I did see a UV-Max run of it, so I have an idea on what to do, but I'm dreading the time sink. I'm kind of dreading the time sink of a lot of these maps over the maps that might be small and boring. We'll see.

 

No modifiers this month. Can't imagine trying to beat map 29 with CC effects.

 

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 01: Pistol Panic - Stephen "The Ultimate Doomer" Clark

100% kills and secrets

Time: 13:43

 

First of all, I know I've been trying to get Fragport to be played on here for the last couple of months. For those who played this map and didn't care for it and may be leery about doing 32 maps by Stephen, let me say this map's 3D floors and random voodoo dolls don't show up in that WAD. Also, I don't recall any maps that rely on the pistol like this. Trust me, it will be more up your alley. 

 

THAT BEING SAID, I liked this map! Maybe it's cause his maps were the first custom maps I played like 16 years ago, but I have no issues with any of things that may turn people off. The voodoo dolls are kinda weird, but who cares. The 3D floors were fine for me. No jankiness on my end, which may be thanks to GZDoom. It all worked perfectly. Honestly, as long as they work, I like 3D floors. I think people have gotten them to work a lot better now as opposed to 20 years ago, so we'll see how the rest of the WAD goes. As for the actual gameplay, it's fine. Palmtree Pistol Panic lives up to its name, though you do get a chainsaw, berserk, and 2 shotguns via shotgunners. For the most part, you're dealing with hitscan and imps, though a few pinkies are around too. Nothing that you really need anything more than a pistol to deal with. I did like the red key trap. You can tell from the bloody floor, that there's a crusher above the arachnotron. You'll probably still need to pistol it first, but when you hit the switch behind it, it activates, and a cubby opens with a bunch of imps. You can attempt to pistol them, but it's better to lure them into the crusher. It's not a big space, but it's doable. I like it. The overall design of the map looks nice. Detailing is good. I like the Underhalls look to it, with the added Entryway bonus. It's like an enhanced looking version of it. Taking out the mancubus in the red door area with a pistol isn't a big deal since it's stationary. No threat really. Secrets aren't really much, but a few of them are hidden pretty well. Overall, I may be in the minority here, but I really liked this map. Maybe it's a fondness for Stephen's maps, but I enjoyed it!

[PeceMan]

Pistol Panic:

It was fun. Plenty of references to Map02.
 

It was fun to be limited to the pistol, but I wouldn't want to play more than one level with that gimmick.

 

 

 

Nullth Precinct:

Great. Absolutely great. The ammount of effort that went into making it feel like a realistic place is outstanding. The attention to detail is imposible to dislike.

 

The gameplay wasn't anything new, but the aesthetics by themselves are more than enough to get me to love this level.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 02: nullth precinct - Thomas van der Velden

100% kills and secrets

Time: 7:53

 

This map has some of the finest Doomcute this side of 2003. The opening shot has a police sign on top of the building, a broken prison window, and a toilet. Nice. In order to beat this level, you need to break into the precinct and then break out. Doing this is honestly pretty easy, but there's a lot more cacos and mancubi here than the last map. The amount of mancubi here was honestly surprising. It wasn't more than 10 or anything, but I still didn't expect that many. You get a lot of shells now, plus the chaingun, so you're all set to take everything out. You can grab 3 backpacks between 2 secrets too! Another secret has the CC logo, plus a soul sphere and a blur sphere. This map is pretty small, but it has a very nice atmosphere to it. Pretty fun! I think I played Revolution! back in the day, but idr. This makes me want to check more of TVDR's stuff.

[dei_eldren]

MAP03 Ground Floor (HMP, continuous, blind): K 100%, I 100%, S 100%, D 0, T 12:23

Grade: B / Difficulty: B

 

Spoiler

To me the map gives rather the impression of being an floor of a techbase with its dark claustrophobic maze, inhabited by zombies, Imps, Demons, Spectres, and a couple of Hell Knights, playing somewhat like a funhouse ride.  It's extremely short but has few memorable moments, the first being a Hell Knight rising out of the floor (a cool effect that is rarely used these days).  The Chaingun was on display in some sort of an iron construct, but grabbing it only opened up a closet with two Sergeants.

 

My play-time was roughly doubled by search for the only secret, i guess the switch to open the teleport was always accessible but i just missed it at first, which turned out to be only a chainsaw continuous players already should have :D  i liked the Imps seen behind the gratings in the exit room along the way, and also the little design detail of placing the exit on an elevated floor.  A good little map, well laid out and designed with some fun moments and good atmosphere, but almost felt more like an area in a larger map than a map in itself.

 

'Unfortunately' something went wrong with the audio in my video, and my commentary is missing... :D

 

 

Who's Who

Spoiler

MAP02 - Nullth Precinct - A- / B-

MAP01 - Pistol Panic - B+ / B-

MAP03 - Ground Floor - B / B

 

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP02: "Nullth Precinct" by Thomas van der Velden

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/3 secrets

 

I haven't played it in a while, but I have a big soft spot for van der Velden's Revolution! megawad, it was one of the first megawads I played after getting back into Doom after over a decade of not having played it and I had a lot of fun with it. One thing I remember is liking its visuals a lot and I recall there being some Doomcute in there, which I mention because this map loves its Doomcute. The map takes place at a police station, and contains little quirks like vents with the grate busted off, desks with papers scattered about, desks flipped over entirely, some debris from walls that were blown up, and more. It's a fun level just to look at.

 

The combat is very relaxed. You have some more guns to work with in this map, including a chaingun and SSG, but the threats are on the low side and there isn't much trouble to be had, with only a couple mancubi being capable of doing too much damage. It's by no means boring though, even if the most fun is in the visual department, and as an early map in the set it does its job well.

 

A nice and charming little map, this one is quite good.

[Book Lord]

MAP 03 – Ground Floor by Alex Parsons

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

What to say? Ground Floor was over in five minutes and with little or no content worthy of discussion. It was a short series of narrow corridors with low ceiling, with some effort put to create realistic lighting. A hole in the floor with an emerging Hell Knight was the only thrill during the exploration, catching me by surprise because I could not believe the author devised an insta-pop pit and still placed a texture on its sidedefs, thus jeopardising the trick. Nothing was bad or offensive here, just eminently unremarkable, including the name of the level. On to the next map!

 

Spoiler

 

[NiGHTS108]

MAP03: Ground Floor

By Alex Parsons

Kills: 100%

Items: 71%

Secrets: 100%

Time: 2:24

 

Easily the most irrelevant map in the megawad, Ground Floor is resemblant of a light gust of wind, short and meaningless, you'll be hacking Imps, zombies and Pinkies with standard issue weaponry through a dim dungeon and if you can't stand shotgunning a Baron and a Hell Knight in a tight area, this map should have no possible harm attached, if you want to find that damn last kill, by the exit lays an Imp in an invisible pit, don't ask why, Ground Floor actually happens to really fit D_COUNTD more than Mr. Freeze's "Shot Down"

 

Grade: D

Difficulty: E

 

 

26 days left.

[brick]

I have a bit more free time this month, I won't be able to post detailed essays but I'll try to play alongside everyone else and post my short impressions.

I'll be using GZDoom in software, Boom strict compatibility (but with infinitely tall actors off), HNTR and trying for 100% when possible.

 

MAP01 Pistol Panic

The pistol-only gimmick might be an interesting idea but I wasn't overly fond of the map. TUD likes using voodoo dolls as gotchas to make you pay more attention to where you're aiming but I don't care much for them, though to be fair they are a LOT less ubiquitous and obnoxious here than in Shadowcaster. I didn't find the berserk until quite late so had to resort to chainsaw and pistol until I got the shotgun, which makes short work of the Mancubus and Hell Knight. I liked how the 3D bridges make them map feel larger than it is, and how they're used in relation to the secret-hunting.

[Gibbon]

RZDoom, BOOM2.02 compat, no saves, HMP

 

Ground Floor - MAP03

Well, it definitely lives up to its name, a patchwork of maintenance tunnels and mazes that would make any maintenance worker scared of their own shadow.  Some nice lighting coupled with hitscanners behind every corner and imps make for an interesting and fun experience that doesn't really get boring.  There is always something to do or something to find here.

 

The hellknight that appears is a nice touch, close combat dodging is the name of the game.  The red key leading to the exit is a little underwhelming and I think an extra 1 minute segment here would have been great, but being able to see it from a grate inside the level was a nice touch that really makes it feel how it is trying to portray itself.

 

I definitely wouldn't want to work down there.

[kalaeth]

new month, new WAD. Yesterday I was busy finishing last month and I did start but didn't have time to finish up the first level. 

 

I'm one of those who has ever played CChest before, so let's see what happens.

As usual, ITYTD, saves, keyboard only.

 

MAP01 - Pistol Panic :

 Ammo for the pistol and a door, leading to another door. And another door. And the first imp! Two zombies and a pinkie, dead to the barrel blast. And then I keep moving and shooting and moving and shooting and moving and shooting and I think I killed everything in this corridors now? In the center there's a building with the yellow key, a door right at the entry with a switch that does something I can't figure what yet, another door with another switch, a green armor and a bridge. A couple lost souls, and next to the yellow door, another secret. Next to the red door, another door with a switch and another secret wall that leads to the rest of the underground water corridor. And then yellow door and I die trying to chainsaw a spider. Not my smartest moment. 

 Second run. This time I hit the secrets first, and reach the yellow door with the key and all health and then I save : tomorrow I'll pick it back up.

 Next day, from the yellow door.. Ok, so there's a switch for a squishing of the spider (spider squishing switch is my new band name!). Spider squished (I do like to say squish why?), red key grabbed, next door. Oh, a shotgunner on the other end of the room! A locked door, two zombies and a manc.. Ok, I can enter the door with the lif before he shoots at me, going up. Two locked doors and a switch to bring me back down... Another door.. Oh, a caco. Yey.. Chainsaw the caco! Button open the outside door, pick up health, chainsaw the pinkie, switch. Back inside now I can climb some stairs, grab a much desired shotgun and now.. With 10 shots only can I kill a manc? *saves* yes I can! But I should maybe try not to get hit by him so that on the next try I don't die at the same time he does.

 Third life, he's dead and I live! Another shotgun, another switch, back to the lift, green armor, blue key. This clears this room. Blue door now. Exit! Noble. shotgun him to death and now.. 1 secret to go. The outside area at the start.. Hum.. Wall humping solves my problem, but the reward is less than satisfying. 

 

K/I/S : 100% / 100% / 100%

time : 17:08 / 17:08

deaths : 2 / 2

 

MAP02 - Nullth Precinct :

This is one of those rare cases where playing continuous is worse for me than pistol starting... Although this 30 shotgun shells might be useful. 

 Having a soft spot for doom cute I can't help but enjoy the view from outside the nullth precinct police station, complete with a chainsaw in a cell that is the obvious first order of business. After that it's the classical "climb the roof, enter by the air conduits". This precinct has seen better days, the interrogation room no longer has a mirror.. nor a complete wall.. Oh, no, the one-way mirror is there. On the office next to it, the chaingun! Up some stairs, switch, open up the shooting range. A manc, this would be harder to miss than to hit. Enter a warehouse, SSG! Blue Key! Blue Armor! Now.. One blue door for the outside and then the bars and the lift. Corridor caco, one and two. Doors for the outside facing cells 1 and 2, switch. Cell doors open. One of them has a entry for a secret : backpack! and more health! Nothing else of interest in the cells, so outside it is, open the door, secret blue armor! Now.. A room with three computers that locks itself upon entry... Button, opens walls, pinkies and a noble, button, opens bars. Outside, enter the exit building and it collapses! And now the exit door is the actual exit switch, but I'm missing a couple secrets.. Oh! One brings me back up, and now.. Oh, near invisible switch! Secret three found, stock up on ammo and... Exit!

 

K/I/S : 100% / 100% / 100%

time : 13:34 / 30:43

deaths : 0 / 2

 

MAP03 - Ground Floor :

Ok, this a labyrinthine confusing level. After exploring it as much as possible it seems that there is only one actual switch I can push, and it opens doors, including one to the red key. Another switch, teleport, secret! Now.. Red door.. Oh, yellow key. Boy am I glad I found the SSG on the police station, this cramped up quarters are ideal for her. Yellow door, lift, exit. All dead, the only secret found.. And that's that? I'm glad I was playing the last two levels also, this was a really really small map.

 

K/I/S : 100% / 100% / 100%

time : 5:53 / 36:37

deaths 0 / 2

 

So far so good, although today's map was really small. I hope not many are as small and uninteresting as this one.

[Silhouette 03]

Map03: Ground floor-Alex Parsons

Claustrophobia. There, I summed up my opinion on this map in one word.

 

Yeah, this map has extremely narrow hallways. That's pretty much the only remarkable thing about this map. Unlike the proceeding map, this one doesn't feel very good to play. It's mostly low tier enemies with the odd hell knight or baron thrown in. The only things I like about this map is that it is strangely short and that as you progress shortcuts open up. There's not much else I can say, really.

 

I don't even have claustrophobia and this map made me uncomfortable

 

Kills: 97%

Secret: 100%

 

 

 

[finnks13]

MAP03 - Ground Floor by Alex Parsons:
Wow, that was certainly a map - it was so short and so bland I have barely anything to say about it. I'd be surprised if a map like this was ever submitted to a contemporary Community Chest-esque wad because it would seem so bizarrely out of place. This map itself is very cramped and dark and lasts about 3 minutes. For being so short, I did get quite annoyed about how there's always a pillar or something in my way, I'm never able to get around easily, it's so cramped. To be honest though, the only thing I actually didn't like about the level was the baron next to the yellow key - it's an ammo sink and not a very interesting one at that. Apart from that, this map is staggeringly OK.

 

RANKINGS:

Spoiler

Really Liked: MAP02
Liked:
The Boring Zone: MAP01, MAP03
Didn't Like: 
Really Didn't Like: 

 

[RHhe82]

MAP03: Ground Floor. DSDA v0.24, HMP-PS. 100% kills & secrets. Completion time 5:34.

 

Okay, okay, here's another one map that's decent by the standards set by MAP01, or by the 90s standards. It's nothing special, but there's nothing obnoxious about Ground Floor either. It's a bit cramped, but on the other hand it's not too long, and the enemy variety fits the tight corridors. At least on Hurt Me Plenty the biggest ones are a couple of Hell Knights you take on with a shotgun, the rest are zombiemen, imps and demons.

 

There was one Hell Knight that rose from a clearly visible hole in the ground. It feels a bit funny nowadays, I think the hole would be invisible and the enemy would just "appear";  I found it refreshing you could see something odd on the floor instead enemies appearing from the thin air.

[DavitW]

MAP03: Ground Floor

A very short map that feels like a square with a couple of lines thrown in. Being so short is one of its strengths as if it was 30 seconds longer I'd probably be bitching about how dark and cramped everything was. As it is it didn't last enough to leave a particularly strong impression whether good or bad.

cc3.zip

[Yumheart]

Map03 "Ground Floor" by Alex Parsons

This map isn't bad, but pretty boring. Once again, the combat is entirely incidental, though the cramped layout can make for some tense situations.
Shotgunning a Baron isn't much fun, kind of an annoying "fight" to close the map.

The visuals are sharp, though, especially the high-contrast lighting - but also quite samy, which made it easy to get lost. Making some of the wall panels in one half FIREMAG, for example, to represent ovens of some sort, would've really helped with distinguishing the different areas, and also play nicely into the general basement-esque theme.

[LadyMistDragon]

(I'm actually gonna pistol-start until Map 06, since these feel rather insubstantial),

 

Map 03: Ground Control by Alex Parsons

Music: "Triangular Currents" by Paul Corfiatis from TNT Midi Pack

Pistol starting with Plutonia class from Final Doomer mod

 

Looks like a map someone made, huh? Assuming a sort of loose story progression, this is the gray-walled and maz-y basement of some building close to the police station with the only thing to distunguish it being the clever use of writing. "Triangular Currents'" moodiness is a surprisingly effective complement here. Effective enough, you might not care that this is less dangerous than Map 01 on the whole, in addition to being hardly more than tiny. Setting the red door at a location so far from the red key was a very strange decision and an incredibly arbitrary attempt at progression. And did I mention the one secret is among the laziest that could possibly exist?

 

[Jaccident]

I haven't done one of these before but community chest seems like a memorable way to start, so why not. Playing on gzdoom with nashgore.

 

Map 01: Pistol Panic

I don’t think I hate this map as much as other people who have played it, but I wouldn’t necessarily say I like it. I certainly like what it is trying to do, but generally the execution is a bit off, especially at the start of the level. I got to the point where I was relieved to find the berserk pack, and was even thinking to myself that the false 3D floors are actually quite cool, when a pinky broke the one just before the berserk and subsequently mauled me to death. The voodoo dolls are annoying, too, there have been a few occasions where I’ve dodged a projectile only for it to hit a voodoo doll instead. I also keep hitting my head on the stairs going up, which is rather annoying. Weirdly enough, I’ve actually quite enjoyed playing this as a Tyson map, especially using a small gap to sneak up on the arachnotron with my chainsaw, and tricking the mancubus into infighting with a shotgunner, giving me enough time to punch the mancubus to death. I wonder if I should try more Tyson style maps, as this probably isn’t the best Tyson combat going.

 

Map 02: Nullth Precinct

I am loving the doomcute in this map, it has a lot of personality, and I also quite liked the use of the silver textures as air vent passageways, that hadn’t occurred to me before but I like it. Other than that, a decent map, I’d say I enjoyed it but there’s really not all that much to say about it.

 

Map 03: Ground Floor

This map really isn’t great, it has a very confusing layout and is needlessly cramped. The music certainly adds to the annoying feeling, with me hearing the same short tune over and over again while trying to remember how to get to the goddamn red key door. I’m glad it was short, because I already feel like I spent more time playing it than it was worth.

[RHhe82]

1 hour ago, Jaccident said:

I don’t think I hate this map as much as other people who have played it

 

That's a legit stance on this map. I'm somewhat ahead of club schedule, and after having played a certain map, I feel like apologizing to the author of Pistol Panic and acknowledging that it's not that bad of a map after all, quite the contrary.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Map03: Ground Floor

played continously on PrBoom+/UMAPINFO on Ultra Violence

 

What to say about Alex Parson's first contribution to the megawad? It's short, cramped, and a little uninteresting. However, I really can't bring myself to hate it. It actually has a pretty interesting aesthetic. Sure METAL2 and STARTAN has been used a lot, but the low ceilings, blocky room designs and detailed lighting add more than you'd think. Between those and the title of "Ground Floor", it feels industrial, like the bottom of a great facility of some sort. It's cool. The combat is really easy and is a little grindy, but the map is so short it doesn't really matter. Also the secrets feel very old school. I will say, a slower, darker level is actually really good for pacing. The overall style feels like it would fit CC2 more though.

 

So far, these maps run together like orange juice and toothpaste. They're all great, but they don't fit well. Either way, Ground Floor is inoffensive and strangely endearing. I like it. 

Edited March 3, 2022 by Dusty_Rhodes

[Poncho1]

I haven't paid much attention to the Community Chest series. The one I got the furthest into was CC4 (to about Map32). I gave up about a third of the way into this one years ago, but this seems to be a good opportunity to actually try to complete it.

 

Playing on Ultra-Violence, going for 100% kills and secrets, and with as few mid-level saves as possible: my preferred way of playing. Continuous playthrough.

 

Map01: Pistol Panic

Author: Stephen Clark (The Ultimate DooMer)

 

Man, what a shocking opener. For a start, the aesthetics are almost copy-pasted from Underhalls and The Waste Tunnels, which shows a certain lack of originality in design. However, the main meat of the level is its heavy Tyson angle. I admit that I'm really not a fan of Tyson gameplay, and here it becomes strangely infuriating because of the extremely cramped combat. DooMer also places voodoo dolls around that didn't add anything at all. I don't think I even took a stray hit from voodoo doll damage, so why add them? The fake bridges were cool in Requiem, but here they break easily and, again, don't add much. The fact that the map deprives you of the shotgun until the very end is annoying. I know it's called "Pistol Panic", but the gimmick sucks in-and-of itself, so I don't care. To me, it feels like DooMer was simply experimenting with some of the game's mechanics, so instead of making something fun, he made something abstract. When one goes for idea over the actual gameplay, you know you're in trouble. One of the worst opening maps out there.

 

Map02: Nullth Precinct

Author: Thomas van der Velden

 

Ahh, now this is better. The action takes place in a police station, complete with the word "police" spelled out on the roof. The aforementioned Doomcute elements are really cool: the evidence of a breakout, the files on a desk, overturned tables, a shooting range, secret maintenance pipe rooms and an armoury. If van der Velden had only thrown a single Shotgun and a Chaingun at the player, this would've been a slog to play, but thankfully he placed a Super Shotgun by the Blue Key. The secrets are also liberally placed and not annoyingly cryptic. I would say that the map's biggest sin is that it's incredibly easy, even easier than even most of the levels in the original Doom II, but I love the small details and the traps, simple as they are.

 

Map03: Ground Floor

Author: Alex Parsons

 

"Ground floor"? Not "first floor" as is common in the States? See, that line was probably more interesting and better structured than this map. It isn't as boring or annoying as Pistol Panic, but it's entirely forgettable. I think it's supposed to take place in some underground maintenance tunnels with mostly low-tier enemies, and a Baron or something thrown in for good measure. I got through this without taking damage, so it was the matter of getting the Chainsaw secret that somehow became the hardest thing since I didn't notice the blatantly obvious switch that reveals the teleporter to it. I replayed the map simply to get a better game-time, and I still managed to exit unscathed. This level appears, happens, and vanishes into the back of my mind immediately after.

[NiGHTS108]

14 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

and after having played a certain map

=)