What's in a Name?

[Maribo]

A map or WAD's title is a very important aspect of the work: it's often what you see first, sometimes accompanied by still images, or maybe a clip of gameplay, and they can range from being very literal or (seemingly) unrelated to the work at all. The IWADs themselves play around with what kind of titles they used -- we're all very familar with Central Processing, I'm sure -- from the very literal idea of naming them after a physical space, to the more abstract concept behind the level (Trick & Traps anyone? Or perhaps Hunted?), to making direct references to the Bible. The community has followed all of these avenues and even added some of their own: referencing other Doom WADs. Scythe begets Glaive and Machete, Okuplok seems doomed to eternally wander in search of his Revenge (or maybe his Refuse), Alfonzo has gotten into more zany situations than anyone can count, and -onia WADs are a family tree in and of themselves. I love titles and I love the relationship that they can have with the rest of the work.

 

Here is a small handful of some of my favorite titles and why:

 

- She Ain't Dreamin Blue Skies No More (GOODWAD)

Spoiler

She's dead and she's never coming back.

 

- The Carpet House (The Settlements)

Spoiler

Walking up the walls in a display of collapsing sanity, wild home space that only exists within the confines of the mind. Will never be real, which is a true loss.

 

- Gutter Grave (3 heures d'agonie 2)

Spoiler

Lying dead in the world's largest nukeage gutter. Most violence.

 

- The Room Taking Shape (Back to Saturn X E1)

Spoiler

A confident display of what it's all about, where everything comes together and understands how it works in conjunction. Old Dreams Waiting To Be Realized.

 

- Sunlust & Chasing Suns

Spoiler

Warm, orange sky. Chasing suns, a lust for the sun itself, it to be in search of something bigger and more important than you will ever be. It might even kill you if you get too close. But that's a risk I'm willing to take, as many times as I have to.

 

Tell me about some of your favorite titles for Doom stuff, I'd love to hear why.

[Li'l devil]

I feel like at least half of the maps I've played have names that don't make any sense or have any relation to the map itself, unless it's something very unobvious. Like why is Evilution map 06 named Open Season? That's just one example. And every time I looked at map names in speedmap compilations, it feels like people come up with completely random word salads, heh.

Although random names doesn't mean they're bad. There's one map name that always made me smile: The Crucified Factory (map 14 of 1 Monster). This name was randomly generated apparently, and I think it's hilarious.

[DeafPixel]

"Open Season" is actually a pretty good map title in my opinion - the implication in my eyes is that its open season and you're the prey. It contributes to the overall tense and horrific vibe the level tries to go for with the music and dark corridors.

"No Chance" (by Death-Destiny) and "Go Fuck Yourself" (sunlust 29) are a lot less poetic, but very succinctly describe the levels they are attached to. In this case, I don't think the title would be so effective without the level matching its arrogance, yet at the same time the level wouldn't be quite as memorable without such an upfront title.

I'm very partial to Ribbiks' titles in general. "Swim with the Whales" (swtw 03) and "Mechanical Embrace" (fcff map07) are so evocative and perfectly fit the mood of the levels theyre attached to.
"Swim with the Whales" - beauty, elegance, becoming one with nature, but also being crushed by the depth of the water around you
"Mechanical Embrace" - being touched by something beyond you that you don't understand, beguiling, intimate yet at the same time cold and calculated. You Have Become a Ghost.

In Sunder, meanwhile, im drawn to its titles that are extremely mundane and uninteresting. "The Cage" "The Furnace" "Grinder" "Pale Monument". On their own, they don't intrigue me, but as a way to describe the levels, I find it fascinating. The simplistic descriptions match the uncaring, brutalist architecture of the levels themselves, but more importantly, it makes me ask: How is this considered a furnace? It imbues the strange, abstract environments with a sense of purpose, of design, that only makes them more strange and alien from trying to comprehend the meaning.

[Obsidian]

Gotta shout out Odyssey of Noises, it's a name that refuses to explain itself and just sounds compelling. I'm always a fan of names that suggest their intentions rather than directly stating them.

[Kinetic]

Sunset from Alien Vendetta Map01:

The map and its title play it straight and simple with no woven meanings or ambiguity in its title or a complex relation of the map design to the map title. It's an otherwise plain map but aesthetically the moody lighting and shadows bring the map alive, and I think it draws the map's title into better focus with the map design. The shadows and lighting remind of the shadows and dimmer lighting created at an actual sunset. The sky is orange of course, also fitting the sunset theme. For some reason, I more strongly associate the map as being more in-line with a summer sunset than a winter sunset, and part of that may be the original midi, it evokes feelings and reminders of the doldrums of summers and some sort of boredom and apathy from when the sun first begins to set in the summer for me. The gameplay of the map fits this too in my opinion, plain enemy placement and nothing too interesting going on in the action department. But really I think the map is quite beautiful and intoxicating in its atmosphere, because it evokes that distinct feeling more strongly than any other map I've played.

 

In summary, the map title and the map itself pair together well and both play it straight, but they just simply are beautiful when given straight (sunset as a map title and concept is beautiful to me, and the map's lighting is beautiful to me). What it does is simple, but it simply does it very well.

 

I'm Just A Doom Addict from Kama Sutra Map29:

This one sticks in my mind for just reflecting me exactly. The map when I played it is like a city sort of, with doomcute and I don't remember there being anything else special about the map, but I guess the otherwise unremarkable nature of the map (to me) sort of brings more of my attention to the title. For the last 4.75 years of my life, this game has basically been my sole hobby, and I've spent so much time with it that it has been actively detrimental to my well-being on multiple occasions now. Of course it's my own addiction that is the issue, not the game, but honestly and somewhat sadly this map title could sum up a large part of my identity the last 5 years.

 

Fire Walk With Me from Alien Vendetta Map29:

 

This map title is just really cool to me, with regards to how it pairs with map theme and slot placement in the megawad. I used to think it was "Fire Fire Walk With Me" for the longest time.

 

Racist Police Force from Italo Doom Map20:

 

No further explanation needed.

 

God Machine from Sunlust Map30:

 

The title itself conjures an interesting concept and image, that of some sort of machine that generates beings with infinite power and authority. Given how the actual map (especially the first half) resembles a crawl through the inside of some sort of huge mechanical machine, the Aubrey Hodges music track, and the placement in the map30 slot as the final chapter in a wad as significant as sunlust, it is just the perfect map title to a perfect ending for a perfect megawad. Sunlust has a bunch of memorable map titles, so shoutouts to Oneira, The Womb, Blood Geometry, Inverti in Darkness, Maelstrom, and Go Fuck Yourself.

[OpenRift]

What's in a name?

 

A miserable pile of secrets!

 

 

 

No wait, I think I did that wrong...

[Major Arlene]

I really enjoy nonsensical map names (see my title), or ones that are kinda crass (Go Fuck Yourself from Sunlust or take your pick of any of the Team Rocket 2 map names). Even if the map itself is a fairly serious work, silly map names lend even more to the idea (imo) that the author still really enjoys what they do as a creative and fun endeavor.

[Kwisior]

I'm a fan of Stardate map names. There are so many good ones it's hard to pick the best out of them. Vehelits, Magnus, Velvet Blood Mission, Sphinx Rising, Grand Ballroom, Issai Perfect, all very nice. Also shoutouts to Amethyst II - does anyone know what it's a sequel to?

The Back to Saturn X naming system is also interesting, and works especially well if the Guided By Voices song names fit the maps. Bingo Pool Hall of Blood, Underwater Explosions, Shadow Port, Unbaited Vicar of Scorched Earth and Beneath a Festering Moon are my favorites in that regard.

There are too many good names in TNTTHREE and Plutonia 7 to mention lol.

Edited December 4, 2023 by Kwisior

[Grazza]

Of serious map names, I find "Last Look at Eden" (HR map13) rather evocative, while among funnier names, "Lava Pits that Suck" (The Lord, map05) is straightforward, and apt. Hilarious that someone would carefully create a map and then blast it like this in its very name.

 

And then you get the weird/recherché ones like Phragmobasidium (TVR! map26) or Hausterium (TVR! map21) - the latter at least having something vaguely to do with the map design.

[Xyzzу]

I like maps that are named the same as the WAD they're a part of; it's so silly most of the time, but it works when it gives off some sort of utmost importance to me, like if it was the last map of the set. Shoutouts to WADs like Hell Revealed, Ancient Aliens and Down the Drain for having the gall to do this.

I adore repetition if it makes sense, like the eight times you visit the Batcave, or all the times you visit the hubs of "Better Texturing with Startan X" and "Big Towers, Says Xaser". Another approach is sequential map names; without just slapping a number at the end of a title like the Poison Ivy trilogy, I can think of the Angry Arch-Vile duology and Scimitar's charming arachnotron-focused quadrilogy off the top of my head. As I'm sure is the case with most people, names tend to stick the more you hear them. That's something I wanna see more of in WADs.

I wanna see more map names from the perspective of the WAD's protagonist, like The Way Forward? and Wrong Turn. Perhaps also Hello, Cybie! or What Can Go Wrong?... or do the opposite and produce names from the author like the aforementioned Go Fuck Yourself from Sunlust, but also more playful, joking types of fourth wall break like Nevermind, There Was A Backdoor and the classic Mr. Adolf Kill You!

My neurons activate the moment I notice some sort of Duo Trope in a pair of maps. It skyrockets my interest in maps and how they go together more than just sticking the exit of one to the start of the next, like it adds depth to them and the environments they create in my mind somehow. Ebb and Flow as well as Skull and Crossbones are nice examples, but I want to see more robust pairings. More map continuations like The Way to Jadeamir and Jadeamir, please!

 

As dumb and simple as it is, I love how well Secret and Super Secret go together in Scythe 2.

Spoiler

  

^{why does this one go so fucking raw?}

...shit, I effortposted again; bad Xyzzy! 🗞️

Edited December 4, 2023 by Χyzzy

[El Inferno]

Soria Moria (Magnolia 03) is based off a Norwegian fairy tale, strangely fitting name for how oppressive the map is. Excerpt from the wiki article (sorry):

Quote

The search for Soria Moria castle might be thought of as a progression, the symbol for perfect happiness. According to legend, the path to the castle is not clearly marked, and the journey is solitary because all people are different and therefore cannot reach the goal in the same manner.

 

This seems to be reflective of the map with its remarkable non-linearity and the sense of loneliness. But this also suggests that there is some hope at the end.

 

Jack Builds a Techbase, inspired by a nursery rhyme, is a similar example. The map is even more oppressive than the previous one (you spend the whole 1-2 hour duration of the map with 1% health) but the apparently silly title seems to fit very well. It's even taken quite literally in map 1 "Brick by Brick" where, well, the techbase is gradually getting built from thin air.

 

I'll use this opportunity to share some lore on my map, Malachite Forest (Hardfest 11), whose title references Russian fairy tales "The Malachite Casket" and "The Stone Flower" written by Pavel Bazhov. This is mostly in relation to the color scheme and visual features of the map, though the story line of The Stone Flower is linked to it too:

Quote

... An old man tells him the legend that a most beautiful Stone Flower grows in the domain of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, and those who see it start to understand the beauty of stone, but "life loses all its sweetness" for them. They become the Mistress's mountain craftsmen forever. Danilo's fiancée Katyenka asks him to forget it, but Danilo longs to see the Flower. He goes to the copper mine and finds the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. He begs her to show him the Flower. The Mistress reminds him of his fiancée and warns Danilo that he would never want to go back to his people, but he insists. She then shows him the Malachite Flower. Danilo goes back to the village, destroys his stone cup and then disappears.

 

[NiGHTS108]

Down The Drain's names are all just amazing. Love "From: Unknown" and "Someone's Castle". Particularly the second one. There's just a dissociative, mysterious vibe to it that, even though we know exactly who actually made that map, it works one hell of a magic trick and pretty much perfectly replicates the vibe of playing some 90's map you found on IdGames by a mapper who was never seen again. There's something of a curiosity to the feeling, a feeling of wondering where that person is now, what they're doing and if they still even remember Doom, let alone some random map they made for it when they were probably like 15. Like reading the ancient journal of someone long dead.

[june gloom]

13 hours ago, Obsidian said:

Gotta shout out Odyssey of Noises, it's a name that refuses to explain itself and just sounds compelling. I'm always a fan of names that suggest their intentions rather than directly stating them.

Considering what that level is like, and the sheer number of monsters that populate it, it makes sense -- you're on an odyssey and it's a noisy one.

 

Anyway, after getting into Marathon I've really come to enjoy idiosyncratic level names. A personal favorite is "Where are monsters in dreams" from Marathon Infinity. This is also why I love BTSX's level names and honestly BTSX in general has a slightly Marathonesque vibe to it.

[Captain POLAND]

13 hours ago, Major Arlene said:

I really enjoy nonsensical map names (see my title), or ones that are kinda crass (Go Fuck Yourself from Sunlust or take your pick of any of the Team Rocket 2 map names). Even if the map itself is a fairly serious work, silly map names lend even more to the idea (imo) that the author still really enjoys what they do as a creative and fun endeavor.

 

I always thought that "Technicolor Antichrist Box" was a fairly straightforward title.

 

It's colorful (technicolor), it's full of demons (Antichrist), and it's mostly made of square shapes (boxes).

 

[Chookum]

Names can be many things for Doom maps. Literal descriptions of locations, short ideas or quick sentences to set the tone of what'll happen, it's all fine to me.

Some favourites I can recall off the top of my head are as thus:

• A Calm, Yet Frank Discussion of Your Life Choices (ClonedPickle, MAP31 MAYhem 2048)

• Do Not Panic (antares031, MAP02 Ludicrium)

• Engineering Disaster (Skillsaw, MAP06 Valiant)

• Skindustrial Zone (Skillsaw, MAP21 Valiant)

• Clutched Cargo (Doomkid, MAP06 Rowdy Rudy II)

• I Drew a Kitty in Doom Builder (NoisyVelvet, MAP10 Amorphous Euphoria)

Some of my own punny/silly map names are as follows:

• There Are No Chickens Here and I SAID NO CHICKENS! (Chill Vibes from the Party Garage) - @Clippy made these names and I just had to take them.

• The Pizza Guys Are Here! (Baron Door) - When you get a knock on the door, who's there? It's the Pizza Guys!

• Headless Chicken - Because the whole development has made me and thus the Doomguy feel like a headless chicken.

  • Dead Serious - This level is meant entirely to get the Serious Sam out of your system and get the Dead Simple through too.

  • Under the Rose - From an old expression to swear secrecy on a topic/letter, and the name of a short story by famously reclusive American author Thomas Pynchon involving spy games. Elements of the story were repurposed in his novel V. with a museum heist involved.

  • Parklife - After the song by 90s Brit-pop band Blur. For added punmanship, the MIDI for the level uses a Blur song "Girls & Boys".

  • Riverside Sindustry - My own take on Skillsaw's Skindustrial Zone pun.

  • Oh, Heck! - Hopefully the first phrase the player says upon entering the final episode of Headless Chicken, that takes place in Heck.

  • Gutsy - This map is made of huge guts and its a Tyson map for the first half! Rip and tear...!

  • (Kill) The Mall - Simple punmanship for a brutal bonus level. Either the mall will kill you or the MIDI will.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Chookum

[Clippy]

Actually my wife did 😄

[LadyMistDragon]

A lot of Guided by Voices song and album titles are used quite evocatively in BTSX, with names like Big Chief Chinese Restaurant, Bingo Pool Hall of Blood, Tough skin River, Fireking Says No Cheating, and Speedtraps for the Bee Kingdom being some of the best ones (it's safe to say I really don't like all of the titles.

 

Sunlust to me is one of the best things one could name a Doom megawad. Evocative, concise, with a strong promise of something particularly dangerous to come. Are you unsure? Just take a look at the title screen.

 

Liminal Doom has some fairly basic names, but "Last Day at School" feels like a strong declaration of what, to a degree, was a formative part of life, in some most dark ways.

 

Night on Doom Mountain almost seems a little too chill for a map of its difficulty, but really, what is it that Doomguy does? The setpiece which ends it is just all in a day's work!

 

Doom District from Hellbound is practically the perfect description for a downtown urban map that's probably one of the best ones in the wad!

 

Dare to Fly Where Eagles Soar is just such a poetic way to describe the 'gimmick' of the map if I may say so.

 

Eviternity is actually kind of disappointing with names, but "Dehydration" is not only a reflection of the theme, it's how you'll feel after completing it. :P)

 

 

Speedmap names I can largely give a pass to, and sometimes they even go with the absurdity of some of the situations.

 

I really like "Soda Goes Extinct Except in Hell" for some reason, possibly because it commits to the bit hard enough, you even pick up some by the end!

 

 

Or here's the absolute gold mine of a title "Weed's, like, a capitalist conspiracy to keep us down, man *hits blunt*" from Vrack Botanicals.

 

"City of the Unavenged" It's metal as fuck, 'nuff said.

 

 

 

 

[Li'l devil]

Partially related to the thread, but I remember someone once linked a stream  where Tarnsman and someone else were playing a map called Unto Engine Winken and they just couldn't stop laughing at this name. This was memorable. No idea what the hell it's supposed to mean lol

[june gloom]

Sunlust's "Go Fuck Yourself" was one of the most aptly-named levels I've ever played.

[Obsidian]

16 hours ago, Li'l devil said:

Partially related to the thread, but I remember someone once linked a stream  where Tarnsman and someone else were playing a map called Unto Engine Winken and they just couldn't stop laughing at this name. This was memorable. No idea what the hell it's supposed to mean lol

 

This one?

 

See also Annegieren Pritzelary, which incidentally is in the same wad.