album WADs

[JPL]

I'm still quite smitten with Doom and looking to start a new project. I have several planned out, but most are various shades of "too ambitious" and more than anything right now, I want to commit to something I know I can do well, release and feel good about.

So.

I've been kicking around the idea of an "album wad": a wad that takes some appropriate album, and does a level based on each track on that album, such that a player could play along with the CD in their drive (not that people do that much anymore!) and have a Doom experience perfectly tailored to that soundtrack, and vice-versa.

Each level could interpret each track as literally or loosely/figuratively as the author wished; they could range from very carefully planned linear progressions that act almost as a 3D spatial audiovisualization, to big atmospheric spaces whose lighting and texturing are meant to evoke the tone of a track. I think leaving it this open to the individual author would produce more interesting results than not.

The hardest thing for me so far has been finding the perfect album for this. My musical taste is reasonably eclectic, but a good chunk of what I would consider my favorite albums aren't an even remotely appropriate soundtrack for blasting demons. So I think it probably needs to be something with an "aggro" enough sound throughout that it can fit with Doom's violent action, but not be totally one-note. (or, it should be so incongruous as to make for a very striking juxtaposition, eg a Rachmaninoff concerto)

It's also tough finding albums that have few enough "filler" tracks that you can sustain the player's interest (or at least get the level over with expediently) through the less interesting parts of the music itself.

So.

Got any suggestions for albums? I have some ideas of what I'd like to try, but I'm going to keep them to myself for a while until I decide.

If anyone thinks this idea is worth doing a WAD for, feel free to jump in!

[kildeth]

I think this is an awesome idea (I came up with a similar one myself not long ago) and if this project goes ahead I may be willing to help.

For the album, I suggest Nightwish's Oceanborn because it is my favourite and has a lot of upbeat, energetic tracks. Not sure if many have heard of it though...

[phi108]

It definitely sounds interesting. I haven't ever done any mapping, but I have thought out action scenarios in my mind that would go with certain music (not stuff you'd see in the Doom plot/theme).

Choosing the album might be difficult if there are many mappers, and I expect most potential players wouldn't have it. Maybe each mapper could pick their own free music track to put in the wad, or even point players to a youtube video of a track to play in the background while playing their map.

Or is it a solo work? If you do most of it yourself, you can choose whatever. Maybe it'd be worth me getting to play the wad. I'd be interested in seeing what results, good luck!

[Devalaous]

Dark Side of Phobos and Delta-Q-Delta.

[esselfortium]

Interesting idea. It's exciting to hear you're interested in tackling another Doom project!

To throw my idea into the pile, maybe try Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet? It's only six tracks (plus a couple outtakes available on the Nil Recurring EP), so there's no filler, and it's dynamic enough that it should allow for a wide variety in gameplay styles and thematic settigns.

Then again, some of the songs might be too lengthy and amorphous in and of themselves to suit your needs. "Anesthetize" especially, as awesome as it is..

[purist]

I loosely used this idea for the maps in Hellbent (in sig), except instead of an album I just used song titles that inspired me (Atrocity Exhibition / Bone Machine / Brain Damage etc) and built maps based on the title rather than the lyrics or music.

[Phobus]

I too rather like this idea. Might even try making a level based on a song myself at some point - perhaps for Phobus Doom E1, given how I've already tried 1 monster and 1024 mapping there.

The main issue I see with this idea is having the music actually in-game for the level. Not many full albums are transcribed into acceptable MIDIs, I'd imagine.

Given the musical tastes of the IWADs, I reckon Metallica's Master of Puppets would work, and may even be entirely present in MIDI form on the archives already.

[Lüt]

It seems like you could do this a number of ways.

1) Follow the lyrical content of the songs
2) Do a general interpretation of the song titles
3) Focus strictly on matching the music while disregarding lyrics (if any)

If you go for #3, there's a lot of good movie soundtracks that can easily guide and inspire an episode or megawad. Personally, I listen to Jerry Goldsmith's Leviathan album whenever I play Espi's Suspended In Dusk maps (skipping track 6 & 11), and similarly, I listen to Hans Zimmer's Da Vinci Code album whenever I play his ED-IV Map27 (starting on track 2 and skipping 7). It's one of those musical categories that remains continually exciting because there's as much compositional variety as there are movie styles, and you can find atmospheres ranging from horror to action and instrumentation ranging from classical to electronic. Even though I'm not much of a fan of some of the newer guys like Brian Tyler or Steve Jablonsky, albums like Watchmen and Transformers would probably lend themselves to videogame settings quite nicely and give you a good variety of musical settings to work with.

[Jimmy]

Immersion! :D

[DarkRev_666]

Awesome idea.

A project such as this naturally begs for heavy metal though.

If you made a whole megawad based of of a slayer album it would be insane.


Bands that might go well would be stuff like slayer, Exodus, Sodom, Warbringer, and thrash stuff like that. Thats just me being a metal head though so i could be wrong.

I would definitely download this if you made it.

On the other hand....if you made one for a linkin park album i would have to kill myself before i even thought of downloading it lmao.

[Use]

Hehe, Doom is more fun than Bioshock.
Seriously though, the only issue I see here is finding music that would appeal to most anyone. Doomers seem to have fairly extreme musical tastes though, so if enough people can agree maybe something can get started. I've tossed this idea around, but always get stuck on presenting the music to the player in a way that preserves my vision. So in the end I just name most of my maps after songs or song lyrics and call it a day.

[Xeros612]

Something simple that could go with a hellish feel: Slayer - Reign in Blood.

As for something not so blatantly obvious, any Amon Amarth album could translate into an interesting norse mythology-style "album wad".
Dark Tranquillity's "Trail of Life Decayed" album could also work for something aiming for a bit more "strange"/dark theme.

[printz]

I don't see what is groundbreaking about this idea. Doom episodes already have flows similar to rock albums. The intro track may fit the title screen chime. Then follows a speedy simple melody that's all right for Level 1. Change of moods and tempos will happen throughout the album, as they'll do throughout the levels. Eventually near the middle you'll get to the hit of the album, which will correspond to the largest level of the episode (like E1M6 in Doom 1). Then will come a calmer melody, probably instrumental, fitting an unusual level (like E3M7). Afterwards, near the end, a song with a stronger message but less structure may appear fitting for the boss battle. Finally, the bonus track of the album would work for the secret level. In the end you'd just create a pretty cool episode that was meant to be played along with a chosen band album.

[Solarn]

Ragnor said:

Dark Side of Phobos and Delta-Q-Delta.

We already have WADs for those. They're called Doom and Doom 2. :P

printz said:

I don't see what is groundbreaking about this idea. Doom episodes already have flows similar to rock albums. The intro track may fit the title screen chime. Then follows a speedy simple melody that's all right for Level 1. Change of moods and tempos will happen throughout the album, as they'll do throughout the levels. Eventually near the middle you'll get to the hit of the album, which will correspond to the largest level of the episode (like E1M6 in Doom 1). Then will come a calmer melody, probably instrumental, fitting an unusual level (like E3M7). Afterwards, near the end, a song with a stronger message but less structure may appear fitting for the boss battle. Finally, the bonus track of the album would work for the secret level. In the end you'd just create a pretty cool episode that was meant to be played along with a chosen band album.

Eh... I'm not quite sure I understand what you're saying here, but I think you're missing the point. The point of this project wouldn't be to simply create an episode or megawad with a rock album-like progression (which is in itself a bit of a generalization, as not all rock albums, not even all the good ones, follow that model) but to create maps based on specific songs from one album.

And on that note, I find the idea interesting. Of course, we'd probably achieve very different results based on the album chosen. An album by Frank Klepacki, full of heavy industrial music, would produce very different levels than a symphonic metal album by, for example, Rhapsody of Fire.

[Devalaous]

Solarn said:

We already have WADs for those. They're called Doom and Doom 2. :P

Im sure you know I meant the actual tracks on them. Vast array of styles, and a lot of great names too. Ghosts of Mars for example, very atmospheric creepy tune, could make a great level based on this project idea.

It just gets bonus points for being an album of Doom remixes :D

[Solarn]

Ragnor said:

Im sure you know I meant the actual tracks on them. Vast array of styles, and a lot of great names too. Ghosts of Mars for example, very atmospheric creepy tune, could make a great level based on this project idea.

It just gets bonus points for being an album of Doom remixes :D

I know. I was just being cheeky.

[Devalaous]

Solarn said:

I know. I was just being cheeky.

Now youve set my brain in motion damn you!

The Dark Side of Phobos Disc 1 (Episode 1)
Welcome to Hell - classic starter map, possibly rising in difficulty to suit the word Hell to set the stage for whats to come

Hangarmageddon - Straight up homage map to E1M1 (Unless you want to be a smartass and do Evilutions's Hangar..or homage BOTH) with intense gameplay, ie the armageddon part.

The Red Moon - This one has hundreds of possible concepts, a literal level on a red moon for example. Would certainly look interesting

Industrial Strength - Good old industrial factory level, nuff said

Mystery Meat - Meat factory or something, with an overabundance of gore and gibs. Must feature a lot of crushers to further make more meat :D

The Leaning Tower of Babel - Not sure about this aside from being a literal tower map. Should end in a cyber battle as a nod.

Reprocessed - VERY computery track, so this would be a giant computer station. As for what the computer is re-processing, well..

Ghosts of Mars - As said above, the tune's theme lends to a n atmospheric creepy map. Player should be kept on their toes, and be jumping at shadows

The Chemical Imps - A lot of nukage, a lot of imps. Possibly a custom monster or two exclusive to this?

Demon Con Gusto - Only one I cant imagine, because I have no idea what it means.

This Cant Be Good - When the map starts, the player must immeditaly think "Oh SHIT!"

Jade Spawn - Vague, but could be a green marble deomn spawner or something, or a Icon of Sin level in a marble setting? Very vague. Would end the "first episode"

Cutting my intended post because it was getting too huge, I'll post the ep2 and 3 ideas later :p

[Death Egg]

I suggest any Iron Maiden CD, although especially Powerslave, since I'd love to see someone do a level in the spirit of Aces High and Two Minutes to Midnight.

Another alternative, I'd like to see a wad based on a Daft Punk album. Certainly get some interesting stuff out of that.

[pavera]

Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini

Progressive black metal that strikes a near perfect balance between thick atmosphere, psychedelic/progressive passages, and pure evil riffage. Perfect for doom's eerie parts as well as its action packed battles.

[NaturalTvventy]

Kill 'em All!

[Joshy]

This is a nifty idea! Good luck with it.

If I was going to do an album, it'd be U2's No Line on the Horizon. I'd map with my interpretation of the song lyrics as well as the title as well as (or) how the song makes me feel. For example, the feeling of 'magnificent' could be replicated by how you feel with the level itself; basically a wondrous and magnificent landscape map to be explored. Something like that, but that's just me. :-)

[darkreaver]

Bloodcum - Death By A Clothes Hanger

yay

[Joshy]

Hey, I saw what you wrote Darkreaver, that was an insult and no way am I gonna map again!!!!11!1 :P :P

[DarkRev_666]

Reign in Blood by slayer. The whole cd is good for doom....the fast paced parts anyway.


I also found that a lot of tracks off of Venoms cd Metal Black go great with doom as well.

[printz]

TrueDude said:

I suggest any Iron Maiden CD, although especially Powerslave, since I'd love to see someone do a level in the spirit of Aces High and Two Minutes to Midnight.

There's an Iron Maiden MIDI pwad lying in /idgames/music. I had thought about having a megawad designed with that music in mind, in that order.