Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #036

[ICID]

^{(logo by @4MaTC)}

 

ICID, what the hell is this now?

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures is a small project of exploration, interaction, entertainment and reviews where we meet once every two weeks to select random WADs in search of hidden treasures, lost promises, or our worst nightmares! We use the /idgames archive’s special feature that lets us search for random files. Of course, sometimes the results are resources or unplayable stuff, so we focus on looking for WADs.

 

So, what do we do here?

1. Play at least one random WAD in a two-week period of time. WADs are selected using the Random File feature on /idgames or from the list below.
2. Post a review of whatever you play. There’s no required pacing, but most of us post a review once every 1-2 days.
3. Always provide the name of the WAD, the name of the author, and a link to the file.
4. Play however you want, on any skill level, and with any source port, as long as you play the WAD as intended/in working shape.
5. Be respectful. Good rule of thumb: making fun of a map is okay, making fun of the mapper is not.

 

What kind of WADs are we looking for?

Any file on /idgames is fair game, but most of us choose to stick to singleplayer Doom or Heretic WADs that work in our sourceport(s) of choice. I also pull at least 5 random WADs for the event and add them here. Feel free to play them with me if you wish, or look for your own! The point of the event is to encourage you to explore this vast, random world. 

 

Recommendations for reviewing:

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1. Please take screenshots or video of your adventures.
2. Commenting the source port and skill-level is not required, but provides helpful context to your review.
3. Try to stick to no more than 1 WAD per day to avoid burnout, but this part’s all up to you, champ!
4. As mentioned above, screenshots or videos are awesome. 
5. Reviews of all formats are valid. Both longform and shortform are good as long as you write with integrity. 

 

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures of this event:

1. Planet Altair1 Base

2. Map set #1

3. The Unseen Death

4. 1024-4: Directors Cut Version 2

5. The Apocalypse Project

 

 

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The Top 10 (out of 44):

 

1. @Roofi | 4230
2.  @Sena | 2025
3.  @LadyMistDragon | 1215
4.  @Walter confetti | 1110
5.  @ICID | 605
6.  @Endless | 485
7.  @smeghammer | 335
8.  @LUISDooM | 235
9.  @Biodegradable | 220
10.  @Clippy | 210

 

 

Join the Doom Master Wadazine community for more events like this! » https://discord.gg/Q2RKn4J

[Biodegradable]

I was just about to post this in thread #35, so your timing is impeccable @ICID lmfao.

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Deep Pit of the Damned (2004)

 

So for the first map of the day, I stumbled across a dusty old one from @TwinBeast that has a simple, but rather intriguing premise that involves a fuck-ton of Archies. The skinny pyromaniacs are everywhere in this map with a veritable army of Zombiemen at their disposal. At first glance, I wouldn't blame a player for thinking TB was taking the piss, but don't be mistaken, there's a lot of thought put behind the design and progression. It's rather tricky, but any Doomer whose really familiarised themselves with the Archie's attack will be able to stand toe-to-toe with the opposition. It certainly took me a couple of tries and there's more than meets the eye here, I assure you. It's very simple but very cheeky.

 

 

Depths of Hell (1998)

 

I'm happy to report that I've found another 90s map that's actually really well made. It's a tad clautraphobic, but the design is really nice. The detailing is impeccable for its age and is really good fun. The progression is a little wonky, but nothing too confusing as the map is rather small so you won't feel lost for very long if you explore all its nooks and crannies. It's a little dull visually in the texture department, but more than makes up for it with its curious layout and really neat lighting. Not much else to say, really. It's just a cute little map and a standout from a lot of 90s trash I've endured in this series. 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2022 by Biodegradable

[Walter confetti]

Funny that both maps you found have "Deep" in the title!

[LadyMistDragon]

Corpse Worm (2003) by Mouse

 

Tested in ZDoom but playing in it doesn't seem to help matters. The chances of actually seeing a worm burst from a demon's corpse is actually quite minimal.

 

 

 

Enhanced Ultimate Gore v 1.3 (1996) by Aidan McGinley (Eternity)

 

Basically adds a cool death animation to the former humans, Imps, and demons that has them splitting into pieces. Also adds a flamethrower which replaces the rocket launcher that's kind of fun but fires the same which is a little strange to say the least.

 

 

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mymaps.wad (1997) by unknown

 

So someone uploaded this set of maps but provided no text file, just a description that you know he probably despised writing, although that raises the question of why he'd make so many maps in the first place. It's pretty safe to assume he gave up about 5 minutes into mapping for Quake, given how many voids show uo when you don't know what you're doing in the latter case.

 

Anyway, these maps are universally awful. Unlike textures stuffed together, sky textures used and abused throughout, and a  complete and utter lack of combat flow. E2 is somewhat better, apart from all the shitty, shitty mazes. On the plus side, it lacks the utterly hideous HOMs present in many of E1 maps. It's quite a surprise then when E2M8 and E2M9 are actually pretty good, despite combat still sucking. E3 was unfinished by the author's own admission, but surprisingly, E3M6 is the most realized, despite being unfinished. A city with a number of different buildings, this has a very good base. But yes, it sucks and I spent far too much time with this wad as it is (ok, just over 20 minutes) and I refuse to grade it because of how awful it is.

 

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[Roofi]

Month 10 Day 25

 

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

 

[1] Gothic DeathMatches by Anthony Czerwonka (1997)

 

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32 Extremely detailed maps, made for DeathMatch play ONLY! Several artists reached within their hearts to make this a reality. DOOM2 just NEVER looked this good...

 

Well, I stumbled upon one of the most legendary wads among the multiplayer scenery. I always heared about GothicDM but never had the curiosity to play it, mainly because it's only playable for Deathmatch and I exclusively play in singleplayer mode.

 

Adelusion, the leader of the project which isn't the only mapper, didn't lie. The level of detailing and architecture is just astounding for its time. The authors and especially Anthony put a lot of care to create multi-layered architecture, trims and borders, light gradations, texture alignment and even some cool special effects, like the torches hung against the walls and double doors locked by a wooden plank. If you're alone , I recommand you to download this wad just to admire it. It may heavily inspire you in the case you want to create a castle/gothic-themed level.

 

Of course, in order to reach 32 maps , a lot of them act as filler since some of them look not as elaborated. For instance, map 23 consists to a fancy box. A lot of maps have symetrical layouts. 

 

Another thing I loved in this wad : the sounds. I already the door sound because it was used in Tangerine Nightmare. The new sounds definitely contribute to make the wad feel more rustic. Opening a door produces a chain sound for instance. Lowering walls now produces the sound of a stone. Little mention for the new Plamagun' firing sound which I oddly enjoyed because it felt like an arcade game.

 

About the textures, for some reasons, I'm not really fond of them when they are used in wads requiring a port like Slaughterfest 2012. I have the impression that a lot of mappers don't manage to use them efficiently. I saw those textures a lot of times in modern wads released after 2010. However, once I saw the original maps from GothicDM, I told to myself : "Wah those textures rock on vanilla !"

 

Overall, it was a really great wad to visit even if it's a shame there's no interest for singleplayer.

 

[2] Scout Hut  by Daniel Thomas Chard (2012)

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Based on the Scouts building off Norreys Avenue, Wokingham, England.

 

Scout Hut stands as a synonym of "Myhouse.wad". Enter in the strangely to not to say badly textured hut and what do you see? Toilets ! Sinks ! Brown doors drawn with Paint ! You can see also white boards covered of flashy colorful words and symbols. drawn with paint too. A black and white portrait of someone is visible which I undoubtly think is the author of this masterpiece.

 

To be honest, I liked this map. Just for your information, here is a real pic of the Scouts building. If it doesn't look the same, it may be because the wad was created in the late 1990s according to the text file.

 

 

[3] Peek-A-Boo by Lou Garcia (1995)

 

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PEEK-A-BOO is a DOOM I deathmatch only level without any monsters except your friend-become-prey. It's stricktly move fast and kick ass from begining to end. The level consists of a few rooms connected to each other so the action will always be constant. There are a few false walls that make for good ambush sites. The players start in one of four hallways adjacent to a couple of rooms. They will each find the same weapons depending on the Skill level chosen (The higher the Skill level, the nastier the weapons and greater the Health bonuses. There's also Invisibility Spheres and ammo for the weapons scattered throughout. There are TWO Teleporters in the big room (East) that will transport you to the North or South corners of the hidden hallway above the big room. The northern Teleport takes you to the northern corner facing South and the southern Teleport takes you to the southern corner facing North. This level is great in DEATHMATCH 2.0 as well as regular Deathmatch. There is plenty of opportunity for ambush.

 

A bleak grey fortress conceived for Ultimate Doom and for Deathmatch. In case you don't find the level detailed enough , the author added some stray blurspheres. The most unusual thing is that Lou has created small clusters of weapons, blue armour and soulspheres throughout the level to give players the means to fight. You will find nothing beside that , except the few blurspheres I mentioned above.

 

I stop here for today.

[Biodegradable]

Planet Altair1 Base (1995)

 

My luck continues to withstand with 90s maps at the moment. This one isn't exactly what I'd call amazing, but it's a charming little map. A little claustraphobic and a bit reliant on monster closets, but it's a fun one to chill out with. It's piss-easy, but who says demon-slaying has to always be arduous chore, eh? Sometimes it's just nice to lean back and unwind as you feed Mr Imp his shotgun-pellet sandwich.

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

DEFCON 13 (1996) by James 'Jay' Cook

 

Here we have a map of mixed visual quality, some amazing structures for 96 like the experimentation device at the beginning or the oh-so-official marble table where the blue key's located. Combat seems to aim for a sort of grinding difficulty, and ends up in the stratosphere of difficult tedium as a result, particularly the process of discovering the plasma rifle and Super shotgun show. In the latter case, you have to drop down into a pit filled with oodles of demons and 3 Barons of Hell! But you probably won't have the weaponry at this point, so go some places, maybe go lots of places, and then come back. Outside area at the end's all right, but there's just a touch bit more of empty space then anyone will like. The Spider Mastermind at the end brings up one of the main problems that I somehow didn't mention before: there is a serious paucity of ammo and also health. If you don't know exactly what you're doing, you won't have enough ammo to kill everything. The chainsaw will definitely be a relief though since Jay likes to use lots of Demons. Combat actually works really well when you're decently equipped, other than the underwhelming fight for the last key. But mapping craft is very solid and there's not as much 90s-itis as you might think. One last thing, this guy likes to put on walls of unusable switches, kind of a half-baked attempt to simulate a computer bank. 7/10 I forgot about the environmental storytelling of the mounds of corpses outside, but it does prove disappointing

 

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[Sena]

Day 1: Sharp Things https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/v-z/xa-sharp

 

This level seemed like it was pretty good, from what I played. Great visuals, and plenty of ammo and monsters to keep you busy, although I did have difficulty keeping track of where I'd already been, or what areas I was required to go to, and keeping a Slough of Despair style area to act as a bridge between major points was not something I was a fan of, having to jump back and forth between places is one thing, but once I've done it, would be nice to be able to just run quickly and directly through them. The level is huge, a feeling spurred on by the grandiose architecture, and that's probably half the reason why it managed to confuse me and I couldn't beat it, but if you do not have brain damage as I do, you'll probably have a consistently enjoyable experience.

[Biodegradable]

OMGPUMP 2 (2006)

 

When you're slapped in the face with great attention to detail in the first room, you know you're in for a good time. Despite its reliance on symmetry to an almost offensive degree, I had a lot of fun with this one. The progression is pretty straightforward, combat is good and I really liked how well detailed it is. I wish I could say more, but I'm just not there yet. It's good, okay!

 

 

Esselmap: Testing Facility (2006)

 

Stumbled across this old map by the one and only @esselfortium. Outside of BTSX, I haven't really had the pleasure of playing much of her work so this was a fun new experience. Her fingerprints are all over it with somewhat spicy combat, beautiful texturing and ornate detailing in the architecture that really proves that Essel has always had great mapping prowess. It's really fun to explore the more humble beginnings of some of our modern-day community legends.

[Endless]

14 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

Planet Altair1 Base (1995)

 

My luck continues to withstand with 90s maps at the moment. This one isn't exactly what I'd call amazing, but it's a charming little map. A little claustraphobic and a bit reliant on monster closets, but it's a fun one to chill out with. It's piss-easy, but who says demon-slaying has to always be arduous chore, eh? Sometimes it's just nice to lean back and unwind as you feed Mr Imp his shotgun-pellet sandwich.

 

 

Fun fact: Altair IV is the name of the planet in the 1956 film: Forbidden Planet. So the author was probably a classic sci-fi fan, and so, I must play this WAD. It is the law.

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Megalab and megawatt.wad (1994) by Casey Miller (Eternity)

 

Well, it's better than some of the early Doug Ryerson stinkers I guess. These two maps replace E1M1 and E1M2 respectively. Apart from the monotexturing and somewhat strange progression, this isn't too bad. I do like the implementation of abstract structures that you know would likely be either Doomcute or hint in that direction in the hands of a more confident mapper. Too bad there had to be a wall at one point for absolutely no reason, it ended with me cheating to proceed. Casey does have good command of scale as the helipad where you press a button to lower an exit teleporter in a marble chamber in E1M2. Placing a chainsaw next a room filled with spectres that contains absolutely no light variation was cheeky, I have to admit. And looking back, the combat is actually a touch better than I gave it credit for, though the odd placement of shotgunners and the tendency for Cacodemons to show up out of nowhere did irk me a little. Not so much the Lost Souls though, their occasional groupings kind of gave me Hellbound vibes though in the latter case, they were a little more arab;e/ 7/10, just short of a recommendation, but this is just a touch too spare for my visual tastes. I did like the computer bank in one of the last pics, along with the red key over slime, but this mostly isn't quite fitting my mood.

 

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[Sena]

Day 2: neg_!ke's 1024 Map for Doom II https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/0-9/1024_neg

I have to admit off the bat that I never really cared for Congestion 1024 or any of its derivatives, I like to have open maps (or at the very least, ones with a mixture of wide and tight areas), so no matter how hard they try, I'm only somewhat capable of enjoying a map with the 1024x1024 limitation. But in spite of all that, this one was decent, even accounting for the space limitation, they seemed to have made it very restrictive, by making the individual rooms generally difficult to move through because there was so much stuff in the way, and I would have preferred if they used more visible textures to indicate the keyed doors. It goes without saying that the size limitation means it's not a very long map, but that's probably for the best when the rooms are this small, I certainly wouldn't be able to go for 200 enemies locked into rooms this small, but this level has an above average level of detail, and that's enough to keep you interested for its duration. 6/10.

[Roofi]

Month 10 Day 26

 

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

 

[1] LEDGE FOR DOOM I by Craig Webb (1996)

 

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DeathMatch level for DOOM I, designed for DEATHMATCH 2.0 rules.

If this wad looks familiar it's because, although the level was created from scratch, much of the ideas and level design was shamelessly stolen from my favourite DM level, ledges2i.wad, created by Mark Gresbach.

The heavy duty weapons are quite tricky to get a hold of. Have fun trying to get the plasma gun (just remember my motto - No Pain, No Gain :)

 

A deathmatch map I already discovered during Month 4 day 22. Ledge looks like a popular DM map from the 90' since I saw variants of this.

 

[2] Wanna Boogy? by Lou Garcia & Gil Morales (1995)

 

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Wanna Boogy? is a DOOM I deathmatch only level without any monsters except your friend-become-prey. It's stricktly move fast and kick ass from begining to end. The level consists of another arena (12 sided) surrounded by hallways. Four Teleporters in the central arena take you to Weapons, Ammo and Goodies depending on the Skill level chosen at start (The higher the Skill level, the nastier the Weapons. However, when you return from your trip, your friend might just be waiting in front of the Teleporter ready to blow your head off. The return Teleporters will beam you to one of the Hallways surrounding the arena. Each Teleporter takes you to a specific destination, so it is possible to determine a final destination and wait for your buddie to appear. There are windows in the hallways looking out over the arena, and they make for good ambush sites. The players start in one of the four connected hallways adjacent to the arena. They will each find a Shotgun and Chaingun to start them out. This level is great in DEATHMATCH 2.0 as well as regular Deathmatch. There is plenty of opportunity for ambush.

 

This DM looks familiar to me , I played it under a different name (which I forgot of course). The grey texture looks really cozy in this level thanks to the light play. The wideness of the arena also helps making this map looking great. However, the BFG, soul spheres and megaarmors are stored in a room accessible via the teleporters from the centre. I don't think it's a great design because I suppose malicious players can easily camp in it.

 

I ran out of ammo and spectres ate me at the end of STIGMATA

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

Up In Smoke (1995) by Hu Marini

 

A sound effect replacement for Doom. It is sort of cool how the pistol's firing is replaced with a glock sound as well as the plasma rifle also receiving a replaent of its own. The lift sound is kind of interesting - a little silly and only seems to work on the quicker lifts for some reason. Certainly isn't too bad 5/10

 

 

Descent Into the Absolute (2010) by CarpetolA (GZDoom)

 

A six-map set of deathmatch maps, each with a clean and efficient layout suitable for fragging though there are lots of square rooms. First few maps are standard tech layouts, then transitions into something a lot more frightening, mainly due to the purple skybox used. Though you do visit a hell temple at one point, (complete with broken ground and some sort of darkened baron statue in the background. there's also a city level that seems to have been overrun, along with an outpost in the middle of an ocean. I really like the little lighting touches in certain rooms, although they probably don't serve the purpose of the map. Do you know that there is a lava tunnel in Map 05 that will kill you instantly and transport you to a field of lava? Sure brings the chills. But don't put PSX Doom music in your frag map, that's not appropriate in any sense hardly 7/10

 

 

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[Roofi]

Month 10 Day 27

 

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

 

[1] Return on Deimos Shityard  by Walter "daimon" Confalonieri @Walter confetti (2008)

 

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A total WTF (failed) Speedmapping Map-Pack in e2 style, much better than that first speedmapping crap i did long time ago. This one contains some cool features like new titlepic, a "b4rnd gnu m0nts3r" and new music. It contains also a map i did in the classic 100 minutes style, the only thing i waste time is in found a title.

Hell yeah, i am a moron. And i like it.

OMG I FAIL IT! Since some serious bugfixing, the speed map as extended of... bah, 4 hour i guess. I added two little maps and a help, a credit and a intermission screen, and music for them all.

 

Return on Deimois Shityard is a  minisode composed of three short and easy maps. Despite being inspired by the second episode of Ultimate Doom, this wad runs with Doom 2 and use its monsters.

 

The first thing I want to say, this wad has a weird atmosphere. The cheery music from old arcade games contrasts with the gloomy underlit tech-bases. Also, you can perfectly see outside whereas Walter used a night sky. Anyway, I enjoyed the cheerful ambience because in the end the joyful music outweighed everything else.

 

The friendly aspect also reflects in its low difficulty and absence of complexity. As I said, all maps are short so that you can beat the whole whad in less than 10 minutes. Unless you're blind, you can't get lost. The meanest fight you will encounter is the group of mancubus supported by an arch-vile. However, Walter grants you a RL, rockets and a megasphere in order to prevent you from dying. The boss map concluding the wad is even easier than the original E2M8. Grab your BFG and the megasphere, shoot the cyber until it dies , grab the red key and leave.

 

About the aesthetics, the interiors look bland mainly because of the darkness. However, I really dig the canyon scenery which reminds me the map from the Master Levels where you meet 4 Icon of Sins.

 

At the end, Return on Deimos Shityard is a nice wad for a coffeebreak. I would have liked to have seen a few more maps. This is a bit too short.

 

Grade : B

 

[2] Hexen SLAP YOUR ENEMY Wad by Paul Rice (Handle Master) (1995)

 

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HUGE Big Open Polygon Arena..MANY WEAPONS, EarthQuake SOunz in Hidden spots, So if you Like Many Heart Racing Fragz THIS WADS FOR YOU!!

 

Slap your enemy is nothing more than a huge but empty room for Hexen Deathmatch. If you're alone like me, you may have little fun killing the 6 enemies prisoned in it. Anyway, it's a totally pointless wad.

 

[3] Wicked.wad (The Best Gore Wad of All!) by Greg and Jeff Lee (1996)

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The wad improves the deaths of most of the enemies in Doom2. The new deaths are much more inventive and gory than the originals. Just take the chainsaw to the guys in the first room of level1 to see a good example of what I'm talking about. Not like most of the cheap fakey gore patches out there.

 

Wicked.wad figures among the attempts to make the original Doom gorier , way before the arrival of Brutal Doom. To be honest, it's not bad at all even if it has its flaws.

 

A lot of monsters now have more detailed death animation. For instance, pinkies get cut in half when they die, so you can see their bones. However, the sprites are a bit buggy. It looks like they are floating. I think the dead mancubus's sprite was the most blatant case of "floating" corpse.

 

Some weapons like your chainsaw are now decorated with blood and your statbar even bleed in "ARMS" section ! Please call a doctor ! I also learnt that Doomguy love eating at KFC. Chicken drumsticks are now your way to gain health.

 

[4] The Rooster by Bryan Flores (1995)

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Deathmatch designed for 2 or more Players.....Not too big, not too small But just right......heh heh heh!! Date completed :around the beginning of August, 1995

 

I forgot to take screns about that one. It's just a subterrean map with a lot of brown bricks. Keep in mind that the plasmagun is guarded by a bitchy surprise crusher whereas getting BFG only need to succeed at an easy sequence of platforming.

 

I fell in a lava pit in BLAZING FURY - The Last Stand Against Hell

 

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[Walter confetti]

Thanks for the review! I remember " Deimos Shityard", it's a nice little experimenting with speed mapping gimmicks, overall pretty enjoyable and wacky.

[LadyMistDragon]

Trecias (1998) by Donatas Tamonis (Eternity)

 

A (probably) vanilla map from the late 90s, this definitely isn't your-run-of-the-mill map from this time. There are probably some odd design decisions and monster placements not really fitting so well, but this otherwise a map which has aged shockingly well.

 

Though the opening is a little silly. You open a corner door to exit your cell then shoot at some former humans with your pistol, but overall, this is a slightly open layout that still manages to press you forward. It's not exactly Jagermorder 1 or perhaps even something like meat2.wad from the very next year, but it does a great job for what it does.

 

Just take a look at the first courtyard with slime river running through the middle. There are Imps and Sergeants just below both of the openings that lead here, but beware, there are chaingunners that are hiding to the sides of each entrance. The yellow key trap you find here is just a touch awkward since you have to touch the pedestal its sitting on, but the following ambush is pretty cool.

 

The next indoor area might be just a little bit weaker though for two reasons. One, the dirt cave has enemies shooting at you from the sides with little room to move so it's just annoying to fend off hitscanners from the windows. Still not too difficult. The next room has you killing some Pinkies and a Revenant and you get a chainsaw to help you out. But hit a critical switch here and you find yourself facing off against some Hell Knights where your chaingun is the best weapon. This is the only section where I just groaned because of the fact that chaingunning Hell Knights isn't, nor ever will be, fun. There's only 4 of them though so at least it's not too bad.

 

But let's talk about the room itself. There's a woodengazebo portal-like structure and computer banks that each conceal the hell knights. From this point, you basically have to walk through the wood to raise some blockage that's in front of some switches that basically exist to lower sections of the floor that allow you to access the stairs here. Each of these stairs will eventually lead you to different isolated rooms that basically contain switches which will open the way to the best part of the map. Though the rooms do stand fairly well by themselves mostly. I really liked the ambush revealed by pressing the switch on the cross-shaped bookcase in the middle from whence you can also spot a hidden Supercharge.

 

Anyways, you'll eventually open a pair of stairs that lead you to some stone structures. The one in the middle lowers to finally give you a Super Shotgun as well as 2 Arachnotrons into the bargain that annoyingly will escape you for a bit since the platforms they're on will go up/down continously quite slowly. At least it's not some chaingunning Cacos bullshit from the Factory in Doom II though. Also, the switches their rooms will open the way to a huge outdoor area. There's a warehouse, a barn, a rocky structure that tells Central Park to eat it's heart out and quite a few other buildings you'll probably enter in a more or less linear fashion in order to  lower some stuff that that allows you to press a switch that opens the barn and a face-off with some wicked spider ladies.

 

Two more things: there's 13 secrets that all actually feel like secrets as opposed to some leap to an easily accessible platform nonsense. And the arch-vile placement is shockingly on-point if perhaps not to the same amount of cleverness as Doom_Dude's maps or something. I didn't want to break down all that in the level description as you might guess.

 

Still, it's a map that probably rivals whatever Kurt Kesler was doing at the same time, despite some annoying issues and stupid puzzles (like pressing against some lift textures to raise a platform in someone's basement for instance. Some cool texture usage and the combat especially grows good in the latter half. Like the 20 Cacos you face in the plasma rifle's location. 8.5/10

 

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[Sena]

Day 3: Dreadful Change Upon us.... https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/Ports/d-f/dreadful

 

This level has a great .midi and not much else, and when I say that, it's not so much because it's bad but just because it's so short. It's 20 enemies, which is basically nothing, if you want a point of comparison, MAP03 is nearly triple that. The level does look nice, and at least they do force you to be smart by the limited ammo supply, but all things considered, 20 enemies, of which the majority are imps and Doom 1 hitscanners, is just not really enough to leave much of an impression. There is a good amount of visual detail, but on an ideological level, I just have a hard time recommending a level that is this short, even if it's not that bad. 6/10.

[Roofi]

Month 10 Day 28

 

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

 

[1] BHOUSE by @EANB (2007)

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A single level

 

A rather long single map which requires a separate resource wad (Doom 1 to Doom 2 textures). You explore several locations during your journey : a brown base, green-marbled fortress, red hellish caverns and mountainous landscapes at the end. EANB added some details so that you need a port to run this map but the level still looks classic. I have a favourite for the moutain where the small platforming sequences make me feel a bit like a hero. The red cavern reminds me wads like Scythe but this section was a bit too flat and you can easily cheese the BFG's trap by getting out the cavern before the pinkies and arch-viles appear.

 

BHOUSE doesn't represent the easiest wad ever made, you fight a lot of mid-tiers monsters and especially hell nobles (Barons and HK) among the 200 monsters populating this map. The level starts with meaty encounters, where you fight group of mid and low-tiers in cramped areas and then progressively switching to slaughter-lite gameplay until you end up in a building, surrounded by lots of monsters, including a cyber. BHOUSE seems hard from what I said but it's actually not. EANB gave a ton of supplies , a lot more than needed and as I stated before concerning the BFG's trap, a lot of combats can easily be cheesed.

 

I really liked this level for that reason, you have a ton of baddies to chew up but the mapper over-equipped you in counterparts so it's still a walk in a park except at some places. Also, the fact you explore many places thanks to teleporters help keeping a good level of dopamine.

 

Grade : A-

 

[2] Uplink by Zoltan Schmidt "Katamori" @Katamori (2016)

 

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Three maps taking place in a virtual reality infected by Hell.

Made in January-February of 2015, these were inspired by various cyberpunk, vaporwave, and other, similar sci-fi music and artworks - in fact, it was intended to be the part of a bigger mapset that couldn't happen eventually.

I wish I could tell anything else, but that's all: finished maps waiting in silence for almost two years.

I hope you enjoy them after so much pause! Good luck!

cc4-tex.wad fully included, with some textures replaced by own creations.

Music:

"One Must Fall 2097 - Menu v1.1" MIDI Maebashi Station - Chicago Skaven - Walk it off Deus Ex: Nihilum OST - Queens, ambient track

 

I already played this wad few years ago. Uplink is a minisode of 3 maps taking place in a blue surreal dimenson made of computers and other hi-tech technology. It looks like your character became one of the aliens from Eiffel 65's clip. More seriously , he's barely recognizable now. Your statbar became blue as well, because blue is a popular color afterall (I prefer green for my part but whatever).

 

The first and second time I played Uplink, I got hooked by the atmosphere. The ethereal mp3 techno soundtrack, the strange blue sky made of artificial blue and wires or the whole design with the floating scrolling crates for instance transport you to a futuristic dream. I rather feel like I'm imprisoned inside a giant computer hardware.

 

Contrary to the visual settings, the gameplay proves to be a lot more conventional. It's not a bad thing since it just means for me it's easily digestible. Only the last map feature more challenging fights , especially the cyberdemon you have to kill in a crampy little maze.

 

Among the three maps, the second is by far my favourite. The first consists to a little serie of combats and the last features a exhausting and boring switch-hunt in a dark glowing maze. This specific part represents the only mediocre section of this wad. Map 02 "FTP Server" offers exploration and the most elaborated locations.

 

In conclusion, Uplink is one of those little curiosities that are very much worth playing, because of its unique visual theme.

 

Grade : A

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

Andy's Wad (1995) by Andy Hoffman (Eternity)

 

This is a series of 13 maps (possibly 14 but i didn't feel like warping to find out) with some "very silly design decisions" according to the included text file. Well, Graham, guess you've got egg on your face now, eh? There are a few maps that are among the laziest copypasta maps ever conceived, changing things like layout and enemy placement only slightly. The first map contains literally every cliche of pisspoor map design, from the numerous invisible walls to the twisting maze-like design, to the fantastic and not-at-all plastic appearance of the city sky to the presence of the Icon of Sin. This guy sure likes the Icon of Sin for some reason. It appears in at least 4 other maps as well. Two of said maps are the most hideously overscaled maps ever conceived. The second map contains what I believe was the highest room possible under vanilla Doom. While the lift here lowers fairly quickly, it's still much too slow. The Map 06 replacement has 69 enemies and not enough rockets for them all. I guess Map 09 was one of the better ones. Some people think repetition by itself is funny. It most certainly is not! It's lazy trash, probably designed to be annoying but not in a remotely clever way. There are lazy maps that have actual gimmicks and points of interest. This set is just a touch or two below irredemable. 1/10

 

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[Sena]

Day 4: The 10x10 Project https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/0-9/10x10

 

Don't let the title mislead you, these levels are not someone taking the idea of Congestion 1024 way too far and making levels 10x10 units each. This one is probably significant for being the newest WAD I've been able to find off the random file feature, being exactly 10 days old (actually 11 but maybe not in your timezone). And 10's a recurring theme, as this consists of 10 maps, with the limitation of only 10 textures used within each, which starting from MAP02, are displayed at the very beginning as a taste of what's to come.

Maybe this WAD can just be used as an example of the problem of overchoice in giving most mappers every single texture in the game, because the limitation is not really visible. It does not feel like a visually restrictive mapset, by all accounts it is as imaginative and distinctive in its use of textures as any other mapset I've played, and all things considered it's probably on the better end of things, but maybe that's just because I'm used to playing levels from back when people were still on DOS.

Most of them go for a general E2 theme, but there isn't much to piece these levels together, MAP02 had about 40 enemies, while others went from anywhere from 600 to 1200. The gameplay is equally varied, there's some definite slaughter in there, but there's also a couple points of platforming, and a general variety in gameplay styles that call for different strategies. One pitfall of the limited textures seemed to be that switches were often on the smaller side, so it's not quite immune to the age-old Doom problem of having to find one tiny switch in a huge room in order to advance, but it's not a recurring problem. No complaints here, this is just some all-around solid mapping. 9/10.

[LadyMistDragon]

Tvmusic (1996) by Seth Stanton & Nick Hendricks

 

A collection of different TV themes packaged together that replace the music of Doom's original 3 episodes. Granted, most of these are hilariously inappropriate but even though you fucking nerds will get up in arms over that fact, it wasn't just nerds deathmatching over LAN back in the day. The sort of charmiing 90s curio that could never exist anymore. Although I sort of wish the Frasier theme was included. We do get the OJ trial theme, which I amnd pprobably a fair few of you older folks probably don't remember. I think some maps might have a mislabeling or two because the "MST3K" theme isn't exactly something from the title screen at least ("In the not too-distant future...") 5/10 for effort though.

 

 

 

jayswad2 (1995) by Jay Gambell (Eternity)

 

You'll be seeing few screens here and that's because screens of this map would be absolutely pointless. Probably among the most generic 90s shiteout there, this wad features an overabundance of brown, other textures thrown in that just create an eyesore, pathways that twist around that are are usually narow but sometimes not, some powerup excess, an obligatory boss monster placement and an unmarked secret behind the start, it's plays exactly how you'd think. A horrific waste of time that only getsd points for being relatively painless but this is such a horrific middle finger to the concept of solid designthat this should be packed up into a spaceship and shot up into the sun regardless 1/10

 

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[Biodegradable]

The Low Road (2010)

A sprawling, but slightly compact E4-inspired looking WAD that starts off fairly low key with some fairly standard combat that suddenly kicks into high gear near the end with a shit-ton of bastards teleporting in along with a double Cyberdemon fight to top it off. Visually, it uses a fair amount of sharp contrasts between a mixture of green, red and black at the beginning before changing directions to a lot of wood and brown bricks. Mind you, it's not like all weird and patchy. The texture work is very competent and nothing looks ugly or slapped together. While it looks like E4, it feels a fair bit more casual for the most part until it pulls the rug out from under you and repopulates your immediate vicinity and several hallways with new baddies. It's a massive shift that's almost tonedeaf, but it's a big jolt of action especially if the player was feeling a little bored up until that point. This WAD is nothing to really write home about, but it's a decent time.

 

 

Paradox 2 (2006)

This one was much more exciting than the previous WAD. This one hits the ground running and never really relents until EVERYONE is dead thanks to its open and fluidly-connected layout allowing the demons to follow you everywhere. Stand anywhere for more than a few seconds and you will be either ambushed by Imps and Hell Knights, toasted by a lumbering Mancubus blocking your path, sniped by Shotgunners and Chaingunners or plonked by a rogue Rev rocket. There's just no where to hide, so your only real course of action is to constantly dart around, grabbing resources and picking demons off as you go. There's a particular part with a three-way teleporter I found clever if not a little annoying. It's the kind of map that pushes you to keep your wits about you and probably great practice for people looking to shake off some rust and feel like a Doom marine again. A spicy and intense little map to get your blood pumping for sure! 

 

 

[Sena]

Day 5: Theatre of Doom https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/s-u/theatre2

 

Clearly, this one took direct inspiration from none other than Shakespeare's Macbeth, invoking the line "all the world's a stage", and more significantly, "it is a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing". It calls itself a theatre, and it's certainly got a stage with seating, and a box office, and that's about it, I would assume that the rest of it seems to represent other realistic areas within a typical theatre, but there isn't really enough detail for me to figure out what it is. This one's short and painless, not fun, but you can breeze through it with very little issue so long as you deal with the chaingunners promptly enough, the gameplay does feel very much like an afterthought, and its attempt at depicting realism isn't that convincing either. Bottom line, just play Otakon Doom instead. 3/10.

[Roofi]

Month 10 Day 29

 

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

 

[1] funsnd.zip by Steve Huskisson (1994)

 

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I have added, what I think, are some Hilarious sound effects. There is some Beattle Juice, Dan Akroyd, old woman, Jurassic Park, etc.

 

A small sound mod I already discovered during Month 4 Day 15. Just don't overload your hard drive with this.

 

[2] THE MONSTER MASH by Bryan Cady (1996)

 

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This wad has a combination of wide open areas and narrow hallways with several traps throughout. I tried to leave plenty of ammo a few gifts here and there. I tried to make it satisfy several tastes and tried to make it fairly difficult.

 

I didn't forgot taking screens but Dosbox didn't work as expect , so it resulted to totally black captures. Anyway, you're once again trapped in a ugly and totally abstract base. As many 90's maps , the author used a lot of different textures in an inconsistent way. Fortunately, aesthetics don't represent the main point of interest of this map.

 

Indeed, this map has a comical amount of monster closets and saying there are "plenty of ammo a few gifts here and there" is more than an understatement. Bryand Cady flooded you with ammo so you can shoot every wall if you desire. In order to kill the cyberdemon, he gave you two invulnerability spheres.

 

I found this level very fun because you can smash a lot of monsters without difficulty. Also, the map features a lot of exploration. Even when it's ugly and bland, I like discovering a wide variety of places. Expect a rather confusing progression though. You have to collect 3 keys and do a lot of backtracking in order to reach the exit.

 

Grade : B-

 

[3] Hey Hey Hangar-Entryway! by @scifista42 (2014)

 

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Dual take on a Hangar-Entryway crossover.

You can launch this wad with Doom as an IWAD, and play Entryway in Hangar style. Or you can launch it with Doom 2 IWAD, and play Hangar in Entryway's style.

Both maps were made from scratch, independently on the original map's geometry.

Both maps were speedmaps, designed for singleplayer, but with attention to deathmatch as well.

I have no ambitions on proposing this wad as a quality one. I don't plan to impress anybody by this portion of unprofessional plagiarism. Tweaked IWAD maps have been done multiple times before, anyway. I made these maps primarily as an exercise for myself, as I've found it interesting and fun.

 

Simple as it is , I totally got hooked by the idea of crossovers by tweaking the designs between 2 maps. Unless if I'm wrong, it became the concept of Switcheroom.

 

Scifista has succeeded in transposing the style of each map in terms of textures. Nevertheless I find the areas a bit too oversized, especially the new version of "Hangar".

 

Grade : A 

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

Epicenter (2002) by Lee "DooMad" Wallis (Eternity)

 

A sort of techmap set in hell with a circular metal layout, overhangs covering much of the central outside area and computer banks/vents scattered liberally about basically everywhere. It also contains rounded corners in order to make things more interesting. Aesthetically pleasing and fun to play. Good job, this seems like it could be  awesome! 8/10

 

 

Gravity Gun (2005) by @Linguica

 

Back when Ling actually had free time, he read lots of posts on the ZDoom forums talking about how cool the gravity gun was and how they wished it was in Doom. So in 6 hours, he whipped this little puppy up! Made for Z Doom, there is no graphical replacement, just a silly sound that plays whenever you press either the key for fire or to grab an object or enemy. I would say it's lazy to not make a gun model, but we're talking someone who's not really known for taking the design process so seriously. It's still quite crappy though and I can't escape the suspicion this was made to mock people wanting a brand new toy.

 

 

The Nuke Processing Plant (1996) by Bruce Box, I mean...Oberleitner (Eternity)

 

A single deathmatch map, replacing map 03. It's a sort of typical techbase and sewage design, the green walls from Command Control surrounding the starting room with green sewer bricks and Doom 1 pipe tech walls running around it. At first, I thought it was another circular layout but the eastern end is more squarish, not to mention featuring a more tech-ish aesthetic. The crusher in the southeast is kind of cool; camping scenarios are flying through my mind right now. 8/10

 

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Edited July 5, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Sena]

Day 6: Hamlet - The Old Text Comes Alive https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/g-i/hamlet

 

Yes, that's Hamlet, with a capital H, didn't set out to play two theatre-themed levels this week, but here we are. Compared to the last one, this one had a lot more effort put into it, it's got curtains that actually rise upon entry, multiple large stages, and an outside area. I'd be hesitant to actually call it a positive gameplay experience, but it's at least passable, there is enemy variety, and the enemies appear at multiple different points (i.e. not just two foot in front of you), meaning that on some level you will have to think about how to deal with them. It's got very little to actually do with Hamlet specifically, Shakespeare shows his mug somewhere in there, but that is all, I'm not really sure how you could implement the story of Hamlet into Doom, but I don't see much of an attempt here, there's not really anything to suggest Hamlet or its iconography, beyond one castle at the very beginning. It's a serviceable level, followed by a second one that isn't really worth talking about because it's just a bunch of rectangular hallways. 5/10.

[Walter confetti]

17 hours ago, Roofi said:

Unless if I'm wrong, it became the concept of Switcheroom.

No, not at all. It was made during the project stream, making this a Switcheroom inspired map more than a inspiration source.

Actually, the real inspiration for the megawad was the E3M1 map from that megawad.

 

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Day 6: Hamlet - The Old Text Comes Alive

That cars looks adorable.

[Roofi]

Month 10 Day 30

 

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

 

[1] Fists of Fury by Scott McNutt (1996)

 

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Fist of Fury takes you, Bruised Knee, to the island fortress of a criminal warlord, Mr.Han. Whose martial arts academy covers up for their illegal activities. Determined to avenge the death of your sister, you infiltrate the enemies stronghold and enter the most brutal tournament of them all. Visit Mr. Hans torture chamber, See the famous hall of mirrors, plus more..... .......its time for you to Enter the Dragon.

 

I didn't understood at the beginning you can lower the pillars in order to obtain the weapons. I thought "Fist of Fury" was going to be a tyson-oriented level at first sight. However, the author put so much ammo you never need using your fists.

 

Also, by reading the map name , I expected to play a map with a fast-paced gameplay but it's absolutely not the case. You visit a HUGE castle which means a lot of wide and empty rooms, courtyards and corridors. Moreover, Scott added a lot of mandatory hidden doors you can fortunately spot with the automap. The low-monster density doesn't help making this level at least a bit challenging.

 

The worst thing in this map is the fact that you need the red key to get the blue key in a HUGE library but you don't need the blue key at all to finish the map. To complete, you must find a ugly room without textures (the "hall of mirrors") and press a random wall.

 

Fist of Fury has a lot of questionable to not say bad design choices. Nonetheless I really loved the midi rendition of "Come Back and Stay" by Paul Young. This music combined with the oversized and empty spaces gives a strange feeling of well-being and nostalgia. That's honestly what convinced me to stay 40 minutes on this map. I love the atmosphere, it's just a shame the progression is so obscure.

 

Grade : B-

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

book.wad (1995) by Bob Dole (Eternity)

 

Unforrtunately, I think this is before Bob Dole declared his presidential candidacy so I can't make a joke about how Bob Dole talked in teh third person about his new Doom map (and thusly the author's name is probably just concidental). A map 01 replacement I had Plutonia Midi Pack's map 01 midi playing in the background. So basically, we'll call this a series of dungeons, some a little hellish, but some just wooden areas and even some tech-areas thrown in every now and then. You eventually find yourself overloaded with resources but it's actually incredibly well-made, largely linear and with a decent amount of moderate but not exactly distinctive detail. Corpse placement is used quite well for one. Marble eventually transitions to that brown concrete techbase texture mostly. You can trap yourself at the beginning and cut yourself off from a secret if you hit the secret right away. Incidentally, I like how you can spot the stairs when you're headed back out of the sludge pit from the opposite direction. The one location I really didn't like was the maze in the east that exists for no reason than for the map to have a maze from what I can tell. The monster placement in the maze is particularly dull. Otherwise, it steps out nicely, although the Arch-vile and Revenant placement in one series of narrow hallways exists just to keep you on your toes. But you get so much health, you're probably fine if you're not killed. The one room with the Arachnotrons in the corner red-flame cages is still a little on the nasty side, but surviving shouldn't be a problem with all the health. The room of dirt mounds which opens these cages is suggestive of...some digging happening I do like the one room of sludge with Revenants in a corner cage because you can jump into the slime and get lots of little stuff in the rooms. But none of them count as secrets.

 

This stops just short of a recommendation, ultimately. Other than the maze, somewhat odd texturing,  and resource masses, there's really little dragging this down. I sort of wished for a more cinematic encounter at the end, and the last series of caged rooms where enemies are teleporting in was frankly meh. There's nothing bad about it though, and I would even go so far as to say it's good 7/10

 

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