Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #032

[Walter confetti]

TekBase by Rhys - Gzdoom, Doom 2, 2015, played with GZDoom 4.1.7

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This is a nicely crafted episode for the second segment of Doom 2 sets in a city \ tech base \ factory structure with some spruce in outdoor canyons surrounded by toxic waste, reached MAP17 today and it's a pretty cool mapset so far with lots of detailing and fun gameplay, the only lower point is the fact that doesn't seem to have too much of health around the maps i've played, as well of GZDoom exclusive special effects like decorate, scripting and the such.

 

MAP14: A short introduction map sets in a small warehouse \ water treatment centre of sorts, reminds me of TNT Hanger for some reason. Fun starter.

MAP15: A moderately large canyon surrounded by toxic sludge all over the place, the map is pretty explorative and enjoyable to play, lots of detailing.

MAP16: A bigger section of the base sets in a big brown factory of sorts where the nukage are stocked for... some unknown use. The rest of the base is a semi-linear but still labyrinthic structure surrounded by brown metallic section of the large base and abandoned, overgrown areas with vegetation and dusty rocks., at least the author tried this with the limitations of stock assets. I don't get why you start trapped inside a small silver box but ok, i'm cool with it.

[Clippy]

This happened plus @Dub Bag links in video 

 

Teetb 

 

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Mill 2(2013) by Craig @Six" Farndell (From Doom With Love)

 

A remake of what essentially was TNT's greatest map might be held with sky-high expectations, but truth is that you'll be much happier if you don't expect too much. Despite the trim and several rooms being changed, the structure bears a strong resemblance to the original. I can't say I know the original by the back of my hand by any means, but I'd played it back when I thought doing anything that wasn't continous was stupid. Even so, I think I might have thrown up my hands at the excessive Arch-vile count. This one REALLY packs it in, but I couldn't be bothered to find the hidden teleporters that each take you to a super shotgun and rocket launcher in the corner of the starting room. It would've certainly helped in the lava caverns to the east against the proliferation of Arachnotrons, where I had about a hard time as you might guess. Still, the Arch-viles are the true threat as they are on ledges often some distance away from you and thus can't be easily dispatched with anything not a rocket launcher. Dodging around them is quite tricky and in the west, one only died because of a nearby little crusher in addition to being badly damaged (where the Caco was in one of the screemshots). The laughable BFG secret is activated by pushing a switch several feet above you thanks to the wonders of infinite height. Finally, something happened with the blue key and there is semmingly no way nearby to lower it. I did check out the rest of the map though, and it seems like an attempt was made at replicating one of the biggest "oh shit" moments from TNT by unleashing a large teleport trap than sort of smooshing it together with the end where you face off with a Cyberdemon among other enemies. Only this time it's two Cyberdemons, and it's actualy quite a bit easier when there's plenty of room to move around ans y'all gonna be at the same height no matter what. This was pretty good though, I'll say 8/10

 

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[Walter confetti]

TekBase by Rhys - Gzdoom, Doom 2, 2015, played with GZDoom 4.1.7

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Part 2 of the TekBase review, two more maps.

 

MAP17: A levels sets in a town with some small computer lab structure and lots of hellish section all blended togheter in a twisted city place. Fun map, but still no much health around the map.

MAP18: A more "ususal" looking map sets in this old looking place with brown bricks with some green marble small sections as part of the hellish influences on the town, including some vines in the marble walls giving more wild and forgotten parts in the place. Way more easier than the previous maps and also finally a good mixing between health and ammo... for the first half of the map.

[Walter confetti]

TekBase by Rhys - Gzdoom, Doom 2, 2015, played with GZDoom 4.1.7

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Part 3 of the TekBase review.

 

MAP19: A short and not the best looking map, unluckily, sets in this wooden structure \ library, not the greatest but a fun map. The hot start is pretty challenging, as well as having a lot of arch-viles. Layout is circular and have many opening sector at your passage.

MAP20: This map made me think about a Master Levels map due to texture usage, as well as The Crusher as gameplay imo. It's a medium sized fun map sets in this decayed nukage treatment factory, layout is well interconnected but gameplay feels like slightly easier than the previous map.

Edited May 11, 2022 by Walter confetti

[Sena]

Day 7: Tech Tower of Ladyboys https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/p-r/ruba_rmx

 

While it's seemingly mandatory for any textfile to include "other people may/may not use this file as a base to create their own levels", I have never actually seen someone do that, outside of plagiarism at least but that doesn't really count. And to be honest, of all the maps that I would choose to create my own, I think one by Ruba (because let's be honest they all play the same) would probably be my very last pick, but that's what Walter's done here. You get to play through the same level twice, first Walter's interpretation, and then Ruba's. I can identify a few changes, Walter's version has much better texture variety, actually looking like a pleasant techbase, even if a very white one, and it has enemy variety, which is a foreign concept to Ruba who seems to have never played Doom past E1M2 because his maps all seem to point to him being entirely unaware that the game has enemies other than the zombieman and imp. But still, without the reminder of what Ruba did afterwards, a 20-enemy map is one that is simply too short to really leave much of a lasting impression, I guess this is useful in showcasing how simply knowing how to put levels together properly is only meaningful if it's accompanied by equally proper enemy placement, but it's playable. 6/10.

[LadyMistDragon]

PsykikTV(1995) by ice_cube (Eternity)

 

I don't know who this poser using the name of the once-coolest rapper in town is playing at with this mediocre....no scratch that, it's not really too bad. Another sqaure layout, but with a nice sense of color, Doom 1 tech-base with the surrounding twisting side passages filled with slime, though it doesn't hurt you, thank god. Honestly, it seems alright and has a decent weapon balance. 6/10

 

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Cheogsh (2007) by Shadowman and KoLoBoK (GZDoom)

 

I'm not sure why I keep getting Shadowman wads. There's no doubt he had a certain unique artistic flair and was creative but I've never got a Pcorf map for instance. Not like I'm complaining.

 

Anyways, this is a single large map, starting you out in a generic hellscape. Scant with resources, you're quite likely to die several times as you search every single corner of this area for ammo. Eventually, though, you enter into a gothic fortress that's not exactly lacking in Quake textures.(this is where Remilia got that from, don't think that was original;p) It's very much dungeon-like gameplay though. Ammo becomes somewhat more available but it still isn't exactly handed out. Much of the progression will require you spend much of your time in small rooms, shotgunning Barons and such, hoping you'll find a switch that'll somehow open something critical (and perhaps opening a shed with a Supercharge). This can be somewhat annoying when you don't find Super shotgun until you are well into the map. While you get a rocket launcher at the entrance, it's easy to see how that would get annoying. Among other areas you travel, you enter a dungeon town (with a Doomcute bedcot!..of flesh), a tower, a beautiful lava cavern and most of all, a big scary room with a pentagram that can kill you instantly when active. One of my favorite fight was probably in an unholy chapel where Cacodemons will pour out of a large stained glass decoration while Satyrs, Soul Devourers and those lion-shield guys fire on. You get a plasma rifle here, which is even better!

 

It's a little hard to put this at the very top of wads played, as exploring every little room can in some cases become quite tedious, as many said rooms can be empty. But as a rule, it's not bad at all and is incredibly atmospheric, with Realm667 enemies used to greatly complement the dark gothic Lovecraftian thematics of the environment. The showdown in the holy chapel is certainly a fair challenge as well. Overall, this is cool and definitely something to check out if you like Doom with emphasized dungeon play. 8.5/10

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

Light Demo (1999) by Reviver (Eternity)

 

Largely consisting of a long rectangular gray hallway, this mainly exists to demonstrate contrasting light effects. Unfortunately, it's not so playable since you get hardly any ammo to deal with the enemies in the opening hallway. The following areas are dull on the whole, and while the outside area with hell knights on platforms is at least different from the rest, there's not ammo, and that hallway is just too long to wait for infighting to reduce your challenges. Awful 1/10

 

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Mud (don't ask me why. i just felt like calling it mud, ok) 1997 by Vince Lupo (Eternity)

 

Replaces Map 23 so you'd better be ok with hearing 'Bye Bye American Pie' for a bit. A series of square buildings of varying kinds but all falling within a sort of city/hell theme, there's a certain surreal quality of strong display here. Lots of rockets, because you face off against a grand total of 2 Cyberdemons, revealed by pushing some somewhat obscure switches. But that's not the only area. There's a Spider Mastermind facing away from you in a Player 1 start, and other area with a Cyberdemon similar to where you started. The map isn't too bad for what it is, but this doesn't take too much time (especially if you find the hidden BFG) and is otherwise reptitive. I can't really find fun in it 4/10

 

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Around the Skyport (1996) by Daniel Huff (Eternity)

 

So maybe the author'll be familiar to you....ah, who cares about that? A fairly standard sort of indoor deathmatch map at first, methinks with square rooms everywhere, at least until you get outside and be greeted by the wonder of circular coliseum walls on the edges of an impossibly dusty field. Indoors, there's a fairly well-detailed helipad, and also an observation deck. Seems like there are bits that could be ok, but this relies far more on clumsy spectacle than anything fun. 3/10

 

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[Walter confetti]

Thanks for the review!

[Sena]

Day 8: Simpathy https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/simpathy

 

A map from last year by @E.M., with some interesting choices. The music comes from Monogatari, (don't ask me what one, I'm not going to learn their awful nomenclature) and one of the first things you see is a bunch of VTubers plastered over the walls, and it might as well be the Tokugawa cabinet for all the difference it makes. It's not a visual theme or motif, it's just something that's there because, well I guess EM likes these people, but it doesn't really have any standing on the WAD as a whole, not in the same way as something like Community Has Fallen where you need to know who these people are to enjoy it. And that's pretty convenient, because it's not a difficult WAD to enjoy, with it characterising a pretty clear level of creativity throughout. In particular, their usage of a crusher to actually crush enemies who are giving you a hard time is probably one of the better uses of crushers I've seen, or maybe I just think that because I only like it when I'm not the one getting crushed. Around the halfway point, it does become clear-cut slaughter, which is usually something I complain about, maybe I didn't have an issue with it here because they mentioned it in the textfile so I knew it was coming, or more likely, because I actually felt like I had room to maneuver and actually strategise, especially when accounting for the fact this is part of a very small subset of slaughtermaps that actually waits before giving you the BFG, which does make things a lot more interesting than I am used to them being. There was one specific room which did arguably contradict this, as you jump down into an area in which you have to use the plasma rifle on enemies that are simply too numerous and too close for anything else to be even close to usable, but as you start to clear it out, more options open up, which is probably indicative of the fact that this is a consistently good level, it's got plenty of variety in how it decides to put enemies in your way. I usually complain about pop-up enemies whenever a map decides to include them, especially if it's a vaguely recent slaughtermap, but these ones are used sparingly and thoughtfully, so they should probably get a Medal of Merit for that alone.

The level does conclude with an appropriately explosive and gargantuan finale, I did catch a spot or two of lag, but it wasn't a real problem for me, and neither was dying as I was playing on HMP which meant they went easy on their deployment of archviles in this huge room with sparse cover, although you'll find that the hundred of so enemies do make for adequate cover. It's a linear slaughtermap, it's challenging but not unfairly so, and it's probably going to be the best WAD I'll find on the archive for at least another 2 months. 8/10.

[E.M.]

@Sena I'm glad you liked my map. I'll go ahead and provide developer commentary on it.

 

I originally created Simpathy for last year's Doom Maximum Project. I knew it would be a while before it would get compiled and released - it's the middle of May and it's still not out yet - so I decided to just upload it to idgames. I wanted my map to stand out among the pack, so I included vtubers. Doom and anime girls are a somewhat rare combination and Hololive English was pretty new at the time, so I knew it would grab people's attention. The title is a combination of the words sympathy and simp. The level started off so simple, but then I was afflicted by magnum opus syndrome. My main goal was to create a slaughter map that was fun as opposed to being a frustration factory. However, I do admit that I included some asshole level design. The Calli room is the most obvious example. Another interesting tidbit is that the level was made almost entirely with default textures. The vtuber portrait are the only custom assets I included.

 

As I said before, I'm glad you liked it. It's the best map I've made so far and it will probably be a while before I'm able to top it.

[brick]

TekBase by Rhys - GZDoom

I was a bit on the fence about this one initially but Walter's writeups convinced me to give it a shot.

 

MAP14

A small opener set in a warehouse/factory, with storage areas. There's a bit of quite good doomcute there, my favourite being the conveyor belt. Fun map.

 

MAP15

Very different theme, we're now in a canyon with toxic streams and dark caverns, leading into a volcanic area... and then a base beyond it? Combat is more lively and interesting here with several surprises, and I admit I even liked the one with the revenants! It also seems to be quite well balanced for pistol start. The floor that takes a long time to lower to reveal the exit is something that always annoys me, I understand why mappers make things this way but having to wait with nothing to do if you've cleared out all the enemies is tedious. The secret exit is very clever, it took me a while to make the connection but once I did it made perfect sense.

 

MAP31

A strange hellish city block (at least that's what the exit led me to believe). This is quite a jump up in difficulty, with a hot start, a room full of barons and not much weaponry if you're pistol-starting. The blue key ambush was fun to clear out, and of course I only noticed the invulnerability secret after killing everything. There's a "Gotcha!" homage not long after. Great use of fireblu to simulate a portal, and for the very sudden shift in texturing to make sense. Lots of secrets, most would be impossible to find if they weren't just marker on the automap. Good fun overall.

 

MAP32

A small and cramped map, though mostly against lower-tier enemies (humans and imps). I think some of the unofficial secrets are required for progression, though everything appears on the automap anyway so it's not a big deal. I didn't like it as much as the others but it's ok.

 

MAP16

Quite a large number of enemies packed in a small map. Most of the combat is quite manageable, though the fight for the SSG is a little too tight. This map veers a bit more into Doom II style abstract compared to the previous ones. The final room has a recurring bit of doomcute with the 2-lane road curving away from the building facade, this appears elsewhere in the wad too. There's not a lot of detailing but the map doesn't look bad all things considered. The blue key is right next to where you need it, but if you backtrack there's another blue door that has lost souls, and a bunch of energy cells... that are just too far in and too high to be accessible. Not that it matters since the map has no BFG and no plasma rifle. This little bit of trolling aside it's a reasonably fun map.

 

MAP17

I think this is the largest level so far. I quite like the use of stock textures here, combined with good use of lifts and stairs it makes the space feel quite real. There's quite a bit of variability within the map too, from computer rooms to storage areas to canals and city streets, with a brief jaunt through a volcano. There's also nice bits of foreshadowing (like the slightly ajar door with the corpses on the other side), and the occasional surreal moment when you open a door and the otherwise techbase look briefly gives way to walls of flesh and a pool of blood. I was not hugely fond of some of the red herrings, including a door that seems important but actually isn't even a door, though the decorated passage disappearing into darkness in the yellow key cavern looks quite good. I really liked this one overall.

[Roofi]

Month 9 Day 31

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] MACVILEWHORE'S SUPER DUPER YAY sound wad by @MACVILE_WHORE (2001)

 

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n:This wad, which is SW33t ch3rri0s, gives almost every single thing in the game its own sound. Almost all sounds replaced or updated, the ones that are NOT new I made louder, or I modyfied them a bit.

 

A gzdoom-compatible sound wad which replaces a lot of sounds by Doom 64's sfx. The author added sounds from other games as well, like the sound when you get an armor in Serious Sam for instance.

 

Indeed, thanks to the gzdoom compatibility, the author was able to add custom sounds for specific items. However, it doesn't help making the file more worth downloading. The audio quality is unpleasant. It's like he placed a microphone against a speaker to capture the sounds.

 

Well, MACVILE was 14 years old and according to the text file, he had "voracious sex with a hot 16 year-old asian girl, newbie trasher, hardcore skid, and THE BEST DAMN COFFEE MAKER IN THE WORLD." Exciting.

 

[2] Hell Gauntlet. by John Cartwright (2014)

 

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This is an update to a previously released map of mine, I just added a new room and cleaned up the map. I hope you like this.

 

Thanks to Hell Gauntlet, Boom-compatible Plutonia slauhtermaps became a thing. It replaces Plutonia map 03 and feature a little more than 1300 monsters. Don't use Doom2 or you'll see nasty missing textures.

 

The beginning was weird and frustrating. You start in a room where few monsters guard 4 megaspheres and a lot ammo but where are the weapons? I spent 10 minutes before figuring the out where the most important weapons knowing, the SSG, RL and BFG were. So I took my time creating infights betweens cacodemons and imps.

 

Once you found all the weapons you need, which were just "hidden" in a dark corner located near the spawn, the real fun begin. Most of the amusement simply come from the fact you've way more ammo and health than needed and how the biggest fights can easily be cheesed. Indeed, you camp behind bars, small windows or oddly placed "block monsters" linedef which prevent enemies from reaching you. Expect to meet a shitton of uneffective barons.

 

Also, the layout doesn't present a lot of consistency, It looks more like random shapes which had been merged together so don't expect elaborated traps or closed-arenas which might force  at least to find a strategy in order to win. Most modern slaughtermappers and even regular mappers will find this level badly built. I think they would be right and wrong at the same time. Sometimes there is nothing better than killing lots of enemies effortlessly. Those who want to speedrun can speed up the process on their own and increase the risk to get killed.

Aesthetically, despite the custom tree sprites and the grandeur of the scenery, the level has nothing eye-appealing. It evens look rudimentary because the textures often don't match together, especially those coming from Plutonia.

 

Anyway, I love this map even though the beginning annoyed me.

 

Grade : A

 

[3] Dead Outpost by StupidBunny (keegancovey@gmail.com) @Stupid Bunny (2010)

 

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A large techbase map that I made a while ago but for some reason haven't been bothered to put the finishing touches on and upload until just now. Starts out pretty easy, becomes difficult later on. Most of the level is spent looking for the main switch which will gain you access to the front gate control on the compound wall (don't worry, you'll know the main switch when you see it) and then the final battle takes you from the main switch back to the front gate. I'm looking at this level now and wishing I'd made the architecture a little less square-ey, but as it is it's a decent map and I put a lot of effor into it so it should work well. 

 

It's a large level indeed, I took 35 minutes to kill the 500 monsters and escape the outpost. It replaces Doom 2's map 28, so it explain the use of the sky from Inferno episode.

 

I greatly enjoyed that one. The simplistic music , which notably uses bagpipes, bring a heroic ambiance thanks to the military tone. Enemies hordes increases as long you progress in the map. Most of the encounters remain straightforward thanks to the possibility to camp and create infights. However, I want to warn players about one thing : ammo is tight and you may get screwed if you waste them too much. Due to the linear progression and base interior's narrowness, it's sometimes impossible to bypass some mid-tiers monsters. For instance, there is a corridor filled with arachnotrons you must kill in order to progress.

 

Fortunately, ammo tend to be plentier once you obtain the yellow key but I advice you play slowly and create infight as much as possible. Also, the blue armor secret saved me against a vicious ambush involving chaingunners.

 

The map features an elaborated architecture at some places. I like the red cavern filled with lava and guarded by some mancubus which perforated a big wall of the techbase. The light textures contrasts with the ambiant darkness in an elegant manner, especially in the gigantic dark room where the megasphere is. Beside that , Dead Outpost consists to an ordinary tech base, slightly more detailed than a vanilla map.

 

Thanks to the music, the hordes of monsters and the ominous red sky, Dead outpost represents a quite memorable epic adventure. A tad more ammo would be a plus.

 

Grade : A-

 

[4] DEADCAGE.WAD (for DOOM2) by Shawn Smith (with a large amount of help from Peter Tomlinson) (1996)

 

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A Medium sized wad in which you can comfortably kill your friends whilst surrounded by nice scenery and listening to great music.

Intended for deathmatch.

Please E-mail your reviews of this WAD. I'd like to know how I did!

 

DEADCAGE is nothing more than a circular caged arena but it didn't prevent Shawn Smith from adding new cheesy sounds, a music and even a new sky which represents realistic snowy mountains. All those elements make the level look a lot less bland.

 

The arena consists to an upper and lower area. You can find a hidden plasma gun hidden in the bloodfall located at its centre.

 

[5] WOODEN.WAD by Andrei Romanov (1996)

 

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a wooden wad

 

The title doesn't lie, Andrei Romanov cut down a whole forest to build his big cabin. Apart from the omnipresent wooden textures, I like how he emphasizes on the small stairs, sometimes they look more like ramps.

 

 

[6] 30 Doomed Keens by Mohammed Firas "Hitboi" @Hitboi (2021)

 

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30 Doomed Keens is a 1-level Boom compatible wad.

 

While seeing the first room with all those hanged commander keens and the barrels to blow them, I expected to play a silly gimmicky joke map. However, the gameplay became a lot more traditionnal just after and it turned to be a pleasant small straightforward map instead !

 

I didn't play TNT 2 devilution yet but I can say the black, brown and red textures match well but aesthetics are more than secondary in this level. What I enjoyed the most in this map were the secrets. All of them are so easy to find and rewardful , it's very satisfying. You can obtain at least a rocket launcher and a soulsphere thanks to them.

 

Grade : B+

 

[7] Ninja Duel by Nick Anderson, aka  @Electronic Samurai (2006)

 

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A deathmatch level with new weapons.

 

A gzdoom-compatible DM map that has the particularity to take place in a DOJO made of stock textures (You can  build everything with IWAD textures!).  As a ninja, you now have a whole dedicated arsenal. You have smoke grenades, shurikens, bows , pole hammers and even a dragon launcher which seems acting like the original RL but the explosion generate beautiful confettis.

 

Honestly, I wonder it's playable. It looks more like a test room than an actual DM map.

 

[8] I See You by Doug Carrigan (1995)

 

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Run and shoot with shotguns, or go for the big guns (no bfg). Problem is, everywhere you find a big gun there is a secret "one-way" wall. They can see you going for the gun, but you can't see them. You better be fast.

 

"I see you" unfolds in kind of greenish sewers. One thing I can affirm : I can't see much in "I see you" because of the darkness and the monotexturing.

 

 

A lost soul managed to hit me among giant outdoors in Whare15.wad

 

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[Sena]

Day 9: D-Day invasion https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/dday

 

I didn't like Enjay's interpretation of D-Day, but at least they tried, I might not have liked the specific gameplay changes it introduced, but the iconography of D-Day was there. Comparatively, this WAD consists of two maps, the first has a giant boat with floating textures, and more floating textures behind it, and an elevator that is the exact same texture as the singular texture used for the ship's walls. The textfile tells me the second map is meant to be on a battleship, but I think the board game Battleship would have convinced me better, also the second level has no exit, and essentially doesn't work. So, basically, one level that looks shit and plays like shit, and another level that looks shit, plays like shit, and doesn't work. 0/10, the most interesting part of this WAD is that it was released on 08/08/08, and all things considered I'd be willing to bet there were at least 8 WADs released on that day that were better than this one.

[Walter confetti]

TekBase by Rhys - Gzdoom, Doom 2, 2015, played with GZDoom 4.1.7

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Final part of the TekBase review, also congratulations to me for mistakenly deleting all the in-map reviews i did, hooray! I'll see to rewrite them here:

 

MAP21: A destroyed outskirt of the city you just visited sets in this sewers-like place, quite some usage of nice detailing here and there and the hellish influence is much more prevalent here than the previous maps, with lots of meaty monstrosities and hellish canyons all around the place. The levels make me remember somehow of Habitat, especially for CEMENT9 and texturing usage. Cool map.

MAP22: A epic hellish map sets in a frightening fortress whit some nods to Perfect Hatred sets in a canyon surrounded by blood falls and oceans of blood... well, more a lake of blood, but still neat stuff, strongly interconnected layout and a pretty fun battle against monster first defense from hell. A very great map, best of the mapset imo.

MAP23: Final icon of sin map with some very interesting gimmicks like rocket launcher centric gameplay at the map beginning and some puzzle gameplay parts using bosses in a clever way. Icon of Sin fight is not as good as the first half, but is still cool. Nice final map.

MAP31: A arena-like map sets in this big brown techbase that have a pretty primitive design from the main maps, the gameplay is fun and is pretty semi-slaughterish, i liked the boss monsters usage here and their gimmicks. Overall a fun map, but i don't get why it's a secret map.

MAP32: A short and pretty easy map that is crafted under the limitations of having only "cubic" textures (expect MODWALL2  and COMPWERD for some reason) and to been crafted under the 64 map unit grid limitations, apparently. Fun gimmick map.

 

Overall, a pretty good episode forgotten by the sands of time, it was a pretty fun ride with a pair of exceptions. Fun stuff.

 

And a second small bonus map this evening!

Suburban Town with Pier by Hurricyclone - Boom compatible, Doom 2, 2013, played with Eternity engine 4.0.2

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A small open little village map that is the first time map by... a name that i'm pretty sure to have already seen around some time ago for some important projects, Mayhem 2048 and a pair of other community projects, including Five rooms of Doom and 32 in 24 13. This map have a great atmospheric start with you starting in a dark house and the frightening, omnious music taken from... Darknight Citadel? Hexen 2? Anyway sounds pretty Raven-ish to me, but never heard this in Hexen, as well as having some really lovely doomcute and detailing like electrical wires, but for the rest is... a pretty lame map, sorry. Fells that is comes out from some shovelware CD collection wad from 1995/96 with some liitle good detailing in it, but nothing expectional for me, sorry.

Edited May 13, 2022 by Walter confetti

[LadyMistDragon]

The Descent Into Hell's Cauldron (2009) by Issac Rodriguez @IRod54 (From Doom With Love)

 

Since this was a slaughter map from the description that pays tribute to the Hell Revealed map "Hell's Cauldron" and a couple of others, I tried to avoid GZDoom, and that may have been a mistake. HOM effects are literally everywhere in Boom-compatible ports and probably Eternity to at least some extent. But beyond that, this is a fun, though fairly easy outside of maybe 1 or two fights, slaughter map. Part of that may be because of how overloaded you are with ammo, but to be honest, that's not exactly so bad on UV when you get a fair amount of room to waste it. There are a fair amount of eye-catching locations, and many of them are various shades of crimson red which I'm so here for. Such as the HOMed to-hell probably void that ends with a massive fight with a serious murder of Revenants and 3 Arch-viles, not to mention the concluding cross-floored multi-level square. No, I don't know the references (I think the elevator with the slime-floor walls of varying colors has to be one) and I don't care because unlike Hell Revealed, this is actually fun. It seems like Issac made all his maps in 2009. Real shame. I would like to see what else he could've done. (Edit: I guess he's currently remastering his half-finished megawad or something, I don't remember, and I don't really have the time to look right now).  7/10

 

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Edited May 16, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[brick]

TekBase by Rhys - part 2

 

MAP18

This is pretty good map! Parts of the progression are a bit obscure, in the sense that I'm not really sure which switch did what, but the various bits are interconnected in such a way that you never have to backtrack far. Enemy count as high but many are easily dispatched, and the tougher ones come in small groups. The finale reminded me a bit of Doom E4M8, it was fun getting everything to infight. There's a certain level of professionalism in the way everything is laid out and constructed that places it quite firmly outside shovelware. I'm really starting to like this set.

 

MAP19

A shorter map with fewer but deadlier enemies. I think I like all of the little idiosyncrasies in Rhys's mapping. Bits of the maps that open up on each other and interconnect everything for minimal backtracking. Keys sometimes open additional optional doors with just extra goodies. Most switches are reusable SR even when it doesn't seem necessary and their effect is meant to be permanent, it does mean it's impossible to accidentally get softlocked. Some secrets are completely inscrutable but appear on the automap anyway. Combat can spring surprises on you but I never feel trolled. Pros will probably find this set boring but I admit I enjoy this level of difficulty.

 

MAP20

Pinch me, someone used GRNROCK as an actual texture! Another quick playing and fun map, I particularly enjoyed the sequence to get the red key, it's pretty straightforward but it's well done.

[Sena]

Day 10: Nihilo https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/m-o/nihilo

 

This one is pretty primitive from a gameplay standpoint, but it's not bad. Clearly the work of someone who's new to mapping and trying to get comfortable with it, almost the entirety of the map takes place in small, blocky rooms, with one or two longer (but not much wider) hallways to mix things up. The real treasure of this map is in its texture variety, which is legitimately impressive, while it does unfortunately confine itself to such small and restrictive combat arenas, they at least look a lot better than what I'm used to, and while it doesn't divert from its Hell theme, there is still plenty of visual variety on offer here, this is possibly the only sub-100 enemy map I've played to feature both FIREBLU and SP_FACE. Predictably, its combat isn't that special, nearly the whole level falls into the formula of push switch, open door, kill 2-3 enemies inside door, and do that another 10 times. It does end with a decent difficulty spike, with a large number of enemies chasing you into a corner, except the revenants who are too tall so they just stand around the outside and do nothing which seems a bit odd, but really, this is actually a decent map. I would be reluctant to say it's anything more than average, just because so much of its runtime is spent in rooms that are so small, but it's probably worth playing just for the visual splendour. 6/10.

[brick]

TekBase by Rhys - final part

 

MAP21
The start room is an nice carryover from the end of the previous map. Interesting use of detailing and texture themes bleeding into each other, there are flesh monstrosities taking over the more human hallways and rooms, and a nice use of flats to simulate a bloodfall corrupting a waterway. I found one setpiece fight to be quite memorable (the revenants on towers, demons and mancubus on the ground, arachnotron, imps and chaingunners on the ledge), though there's plenty of place to hide to make it easier. After failing to find 2 secrets I looked in an editor and they're unfortunately inaccessible. The finale is quite cool, you step through a hellish portal and find an altar cavern with some simple but very nice detailing.

 

MAP22

Lots of blood and marble here. Progression is excellent, just the right amount of switch hunting to make me scratch my head a couple of times but never enough to make me feel stuck. Combat is pretty fun, I jumped a couple of times at revenants suddenly screaming from the side. Like many of the other maps here, almost every enemy type is used and it makes for a lot of variety in what you're killing even if the individual combats are not very challenging. Great map overall.

 

MAP23

The first half of the map is quite fun, with Cyber and Spider fights that are well set up. The second part is an IOS, and not a bad one as far as those go, at least you don't have to time your rockets, it's just a matter of being able to survive long enough to get the teleporter, and that's it.

 

MAP28

A joke map with SS nazis, Hitler portraits everywhere, reams of Megaspheres and Computer Area Maps, lots of Spiderdemons stuck in walls, and a bunch of Romero heads chilling around for no reason. If you go the wrong way you're guaranteed to be slaughtered by a small army of Cyberdemons, but if you know what to do you can finish the map in seconds.

 

Overall I really enjoyed this one! You could view it as unoriginal and just retreading old grounds, but I see it more as taking an established formula and doing something simple but very high quality, and even getting creative within those confines. In this way it reminds me a bit of Enjay's early works or Chris Klie, but the wad has its own mapping peculiarities; it's fun when you start recognizing them, but it's even more so when it then occasionally surprises you by breaking expectations. Looking on the archives it appears to be Rhys's magnum opus; shame, I would've definitely played another megawad if there was one.

Total play time was 2h20min.

[Roofi]

Month 10 Day 01

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] RING OF HAVOC - ENHANCED by Matthias Worch (1996)

 

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an enhanced version of ROH.WAD by Jason Blevins

 

The zip contains 2 files , the original Ring of Havon by Bevins and the enhanced version by Mathias Worch. ROH looks like a blend between Doom 2's map 11 and map 20 because you can create an infight between the cyberdemon and SM located at the centre of the circle-shaped courtyard. Your mission is to explore few sections next to the "Ring of Havoc".

I played the enhanced version before the orginal.

 

Concerning the original version, the absurd number of megaspheres, BFG, invulnerability spheres and ammo make the level totally unchallenging. At least the vile's trap was not frustrating and even fun. Bevins stupidly placed the mandatory yellow key at the corner of a deep damaging nukage pit. I took 3 minutes to find it.

 

About Worch's map, aesthetics improvements were minor. They can be seen especially in the first room since the weapons and ammo now stand in small caches instead of lying on the grounds. Beside that items are a lot more balanced and the level became therefore considerably harder. it actually remains child's play except at the blue key's part which require door camping in order to kill the vile in a secure way. The fight irritated me because of the tight corridor, the resurrected barons and the fast-opening doors which can only be opened manually.

 

 

In the end, I think it's a good little map, nothing very memorable but seeing the SM and the cyberdemon killing each other is always something fun.

 

Grade : B

 

Shotgunners killed me in nasty ambush in BLOOD ON THE WALZ

 

 

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Edited May 15, 2022 by Roofi

[LadyMistDragon]

Doom 2-stein (1997) by Rick Kautz (Eternity)

 

I'm not sure at all how common these straightforward conversions of Wolfenstein maps to Doom II were, but it's hard to keep from thinking, "Why bother?" Same boring layout as the original Wolfenstein maps. Adding in a few Mancubi, Doom enemies and Doom II decorations do nothing to change this impression either. And the wooden wall in one particular location feels very random. "Like the original Wolfenstein...?" Please. If this was like the original Wolfenstein, you'd get killed with 2 or 3 seconds on UV or whatever. Every conversion that tried too hard to mimick the original feel (Wolfendoom, anyone) fell flat on their faces. Avoid 2/10

 

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The Hook (1996) by spam (Eternity)

 

Very simple and short rectangular deathmatch map with one half slightly highter than the other which obviously draws inspiration from Thy Flesh Consumed in both its dusk side and a certain grim aesthetic. Though instead of fucking wood or marble, it's that sort of cracked tan brick that makes one think of middle-eastern buildings which is kind of nice. I have to like how the player 1 is facing a tech-style overhang. Some surprisingly cool use of lighting and a midi version of Pantera's "Cowboys From Hell" cap this little puppy out I really like this, even though the user name is um, childish to say the least 6/10

 

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[Andromeda]

On 5/13/2022 at 11:52 PM, LadyMistDragon said:

The Descent Into Hell's Cauldron (2009) by Issac Rodriguez

 

It seems like Issac made all his maps in 2009. Real shame. I would like to see what else he could've done.

You're in luck, he released this recently:

 

[Sena]

Day 11: Brown https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/brown

 

A pretty recent map, which makes use of a lot of Quake textures, and also the Quake feature of not requiring you to actually activate doors/switches, just walking into them, or at least, it only does that sometimes, not sure what was up with that. Apart from that, it's actually a decent experience, simple enough in its construction that I don't have to spend much time backtracking or figuring out where I went wrong, and it is on the shorter side of things, so it is probably more Doom than Quake in that regard. In its entirety, this is a good level, no real complaints, this came out in 2017, so it's very reliant on revenants, because it has to be, and this really comes to a head in the last section of the map, wherein, you have to kill about 10 of them at once in one room, no big deal, because you've done that multiple times already. What you haven't done multiple times already is have to clear a room of revenants, and then, activate a switch which results in the exact same number of revenants teleporting back in to their previous positions, and having to do that a total of 3 times, and it feels very uninspired, I do not consider it a coincidence that none of the maps I have enjoyed have decided to resort to copy-pasting their own exact combat encounters with zero changes in context. But, on the whole, it's not bad, shitty finale, but most maps do, it might have gone overboard with the revenants, but I still had an alright time with it. 7/10.

[LadyMistDragon]

2 hours ago, Andromeda said:

You're in luck, he released this recently:

 

That name did look familiar...but it's a bit generic so I probably glossed over it. Editing my post now!

[IRod54]

On 5/13/2022 at 6:52 PM, LadyMistDragon said:

The Descent Into Hell's Cauldron (2009) by Issac Rodriguez @IRod54 (From Doom With Love)

 

Since this was a slaughter map from the description that pays tribute to the Hell Revealed map "Hell's Cauldron" and a couple of others, I tried to avoid GZDoom, and that may have been a mistake. HOM effects are literally everywhere in Boom-compatible ports and probably Eternity to at least some extent. But beyond that, this is a fun, though fairly easy outside of maybe 1 or two fights, slaughter map. Part of that may be because of how overloaded you are with ammo, but to be honest, that's not exactly so bad on UV when you get a fair amount of room to waste it. There are a fair amount of eye-catching locations, and many of them are various shades of crimson red which I'm so here for. Such as the HOMed to-hell probably void that ends with a massive fight with a serious murder of Revenants and 3 Arch-viles, not to mention the concluding cross-floored multi-level square. No, I don't know the references (I think the elevator with the slime-floor walls of varying colors has to be one) and I don't care because unlike Hell Revealed, this is actually fun. It seems like Issac made all his maps in 2009. Real shame. I would like to see what else he could've done. (Edit: I guess he's currently remastering his half-finished megawad or something, I don't remember, and I don't really have the time to look right now).  7/10

 

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Im way better now than then when it comes to mapping

[LadyMistDragon]

Abyssal Speedmapping Sessions #45 (2019) by Obsidian and others

 

I normally would just skip this but since there's only 9 maps, I thought it would be ok. And I was right! Not as good as something as Eagle 05 from a few months ago. Time was clearly limited and participants were limited to using monsters that were Cacodemons/Revenants or stronger (with some select exceptions). Visually, it's fairly unimpressive. Most of these maps take an approach of "lite-slaughter-lite" and stuff enemies into tight spaces you're probably supposed to rely on infighting to take out for a bit.

 

Map 01 is by Joe-ilya and it's a stupid gimmick because of course it is. Press the switches, don't shoot the zombieman until you're at the end and don't stop moving unless you want to get squished.

 

After a fairly weak couple of maps, Dragonfly's Map 04 starts to turn in the screws and rely less on cramped spaces (though that's a nasty Pain Elemental rocket trap at the end), Obsidian's Map 05 is short but has a shockingly strong atmosphere and a humorous name9cool Icon of Sin heads, btw, Map 07 raises the enemy count quite a bit and isn't a Dead Simple clone, while Joe-ilya submits his strongest map to date, the ironically-titled "Doomworld, Sorry for all the shit I put you through," lots of crazy trick Arch-viles (like 4) ridiculous pop-up ambushes (a little Caco-cloud at the end) and a general feel of chaos not easy to achieve. The last map wil murder you instantly by Cyberdemon if you don't get through.

 

Overall, it was kind of strange to see that only 2 hours were available to map, because it's clear that mapping quality has improved since even that time. You can tell in some maps that they were straining against the limit and possibly went over in certain cases. I don't think I'd ever call this my favorite Abyssal but this does have some surpsingly cool maps, but mediocrity is also present here 7.5/10

 

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[Roofi]

Month 10 Day 02

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] Slaughter speedmapping by Zoltan Schmidt "@Katamori" (2011)

 

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My first slaughtermap, made in less than 90 minutes.

 

I already played that map during Month 3 Day 04. I played on Dosbox instead of crispydoom and it made the outdoor combat zone funnier because I like when things start to disappear because of vanilla limits.

 

In any case, my opinion remains the same after playing a second time. The abundance of ammo and megaspheres makes this map short and easy and therefore a lot of fun.

 

Grade : A-

 

[2] Excessive Carnage by Edgar Roman (1994)

 

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High intensity, fast-paced deathmatch level! Don't worry about not finding rocket launchers, ammo, health, and armor. The simple floor plan encourages quick deaths and lots of carnage!

 

Yep, this old DM map contains a ton of health, weapons and ammo, your nearly swim in it. I like the pseudo-futuristic theme thanks to the use of blue and grey tech textures, especially the computer ones at the western part of the map. At the centre, you can see two classy tunnels made of light textures. It's maybe the most remarkable detailing in the map.

 

[3] THE AQUADUCT by Adam Stevens (Shrew X) (2014)

 

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Three water-themed levels for Heretic.

 

Aquaduct figures among the old Heretic wads uploaded almost 20 years later by Ettingrinder. The Aquaduct was made in 1996 and indeed, the simple visuals is an obvious proof.

 

The Aquaduct holds its name for the scenery of green bricks and water you will see on each map. Beside that, each map contains few monsters , especially the last one which only  has 5. About the progression, it's accessible since you have to find keys in order to open clearly marked doors in a determined order.

 

However , the second map require a specific use of the fly item. If you forget to collect the green key located at the end of a cramped corridor, you can't beat the level without typing "kitty" (which is the equivalent of noclip). You only have one fly item and if you don't use as intended, you're screwed. I think it's the only idiotic design choice in the tiny mapset.

 

At the end, The Aquaduct possesses simplistic but decent visuals. It's a short and not headscratching adventure.

 

Grade : B-

 

I got killed by a ghost imp in Tantrum 2

 

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[ICID]

Thank you once again to all our lovely reviewers! Here's your new thread:

 

[Stupid Bunny]

On 5/13/2022 at 12:47 PM, Roofi said:

[3] Dead Outpost by StupidBunny (keegancovey@gmail.com) @Stupid Bunny (2010)

 

Wow, amazed to see one of my maps came up given that I've only ever uploaded two to /idgames!  Glad you enjoyed it as much as you did.  For some reason I uploaded both this and the other (older, crappier) map to /idgames without allowing anybody else to see or playtest them first, so it's kind of a miracle this isn't even more unbalanced than it already is--though yeah I was way too stingy with ammo especially in the leadup to the arachnotron bit.  Fun to see what sees the light of day in here.

[CeeJay]

3D First Person Themes suck balls and I apologise to anybody who had to endure it. If it would have cost money, I would have gladly paid it back to any poor schmuck who actually bought it.