The DWmegawad Club plays: Sunder & Countdown to Extinction

[NuMetalManiak]

Obsidian and DeathevokatioN: weren't the two of you Forum Staples at some point? (*curiosity* D:)

MAP25 Terramorph

Well, I never would think that that middle bar that prevents me from heading out to the field was shootable. That really isn't something I like. But the level is really good if you play your cards right. Letting out everything at once is more fun than picking off the imps that hold the center platform. Of course, wresting the keys from enemies was my hardest challenge, but even that was easy. And it lets the other enemies infight well for me. Good map.

MAP26 Tread Lightly

The empty atmosphere, the music, and the sense of loneliness abides most of this map. Until you get the key that is, then monsters enter from the graves and attempt to attack me but hit each other instead. A lotta shells for the later monsters, in which I think the title really comes into place for the map. For the pain elementals I lured them to my small corridor where I deviously smashed them dead. Pressing the red door reveals three more archviles, so I had to kill the one already there first. Another pretty fun affair this one was, probably one of the best maps in the set. I just wish it was a puzzle map due to its title.

[Obsidian]

Getsu Fune said:

Obsidian and DeathevokatioN: weren't the two of you Forum Staples at some point? (*curiosity* D:)

I wondered that too.

[dobu gabu maru]

plums said:

I do hope Psyren gets some attention sometime, though.

We'll get around to it no doubt. If you keep championing it eventually everyone else ends up backing it as well since it usually becomes the name everyone remembers. Regarding next month's choice, there's about 3/4 votes for D2twiD and many other nominees stay around 2 (tabs, Psyren), so we're probably going with the "majority".

----

MAP15: Alright I think the megawad has finally hit a difficulty stride I really enjoy. There’s a bunch of challenging think-on-your-feet chaos combined with some continuously clever uses of triggers (like the walls bursting open). Really good stuff.

MAP31: Cute intermission text. This one has a tricky start but I forgot much else besides that… the cyb fight can be nasty if you forget about the SG lift.

MAP32: Really neat concept here. The mastermind fight was quite pleasant, structured like something I’d design. Luckily I nabbed the megasphere so I could eat a couple rockets trying to get the arachnid asshole to infight.

MAP16: Didn’t quite enjoy this one. I thought the scenery was well done but there was some strange monster placement that served only to draw out time spent in the map (manc, AV, PE). The final fight is pretty sadistic as well, since I didn’t have enough ammo to kill the mastermind and had to rely on it being busy with the pinkies in order to slip by.

MAP17: Map was quicker than I wanted it to be. There’s some cool ideas in here but I feel like the crusher stuff barely gets utilized before it’s all over.

MAP18: Map felt less creative than the others so far. The AV jump was an interesting implementation but meant the map was unfinishable for me since I punched him into piss stew. Oh well.

MAP19: Blew myself up again at that damnable contraption. This is an alright one, I found the rev/imp battle to be surprisingly rough in that small space and died quite a bit to it.

MAP20: A nice, constrained, bloody BFG battle.

MAP21: Neat little single enemy map—those are always tough to do. Obsidian’s always loved making the AVs out to be more vicious and cunning than they usually are, and I commend him for that.

[Magnusblitz]

Obsidian said:

Actually it was because the Romero Head was nudged below the player's firing range and you could only hit it with splash damage, but I digress.

True, but even if it's right in front of me, I have trouble hitting it with hitscan weapons. Not sure if that's a ZDoomism (or mouselook throwing me off) but I think the sprite is off of the actual hitbox, or it has a weird hitbox, or something.

MAP25: Terramorph
100% kills | 2:48

Name of the game here is changing the map as the player proceeds, but unfortunately, I didn't really get that much out of it. The first fight with the imps is a bore, since they all sit on the flesh island and don't move. The hell knights/PE are pretty easy too. The revs/AV gave me trouble, more due to me being impatient and just wanting to kill the AV as fast as possible and hoping to not get homing missiles fired at me. Lack of armor makes the enemies dangerous.

One of those concepts that I think would really benefit from having more than one hour to work on.

MAP26: Tread Lightly
100% kills | 1/1 secret | 3:03

This one is just straight-up combat, featuring a fair amount of high-danger enemies in relatively small areas. That said, there was nothing too tough - the graveyard guys were happy to infight, there's plenty of obstacles to take cover from the PEs, and there are enough hallways to handle the AVs (even if three! is a lot for the end-level ambush, there's nothing for them to resurrect).

[plums]

Magnusblitz said:

True, but even if it's right in front of me, I have trouble hitting it with hitscan weapons. Not sure if that's a ZDoomism (or mouselook throwing me off) but I think the sprite is off of the actual hitbox, or it has a weird hitbox, or something.

The hitbox on Romero's head is actually only 16 units high, which appears to be the default height for things. Presumably because in normal doom2.wad you only shoot it with infinite-height splash damage

[Demon of the Well]

Regarding the BTSX E2 thing: Heh, well, 'nothing ventured nothing gained', right?

Map 25 -- Terramorph
Hmm, my first thought on how to get out of the opening cave was to shoot everything BUT the thing which needed to be shot. Can't really fault Obsidian for my propensity for overthinking things, though.

I would agree with Magnusblitz that the idea here seemed like it needed more than an hour of work in order to be able to really pan out (though of course, that's the way I feel about a lot of maps in the set). The morphing in the terrain is pretty superficial; for the most part it's an understated visual effect that makes a minimal impact on how the player is able to move around the battle space, and thus on how the battle itself actually plays out--basically it adds a little extra cover from the vile around the periphery, and you might not even really need it since he's likely to get distracted. Hitting all of the switches and turning everything loose at once is pretty much the way to go here; the spider mastermind isn't very well-used, as the imp/key island shields you from it pretty effectively while its bullets strike everything else that moves (not that you can't just easily melt everything with plasma if you'd rather not futz about).

Map 26 -- Tread Lightly
I did like this one well enough, it and 27 are probably the high point of this episode. I feel that juxtaposing something simple and highly predictable (the graveyard ambush) with something equally simple yet unexpected (there being four arch-viles involved at the end instead of the one by his lonesome that's telegraphed) is a pretty good tack to take for tiny little maps like this, since as we've seen it's kind of tough to manage to flesh out a more unusual or involved concept in just an hour's worth of mapmaking time. None of the battles here are very dangerous, mind you--even the final fight can be effectively defused if you don't back down and keep the viles trapped in their chamber, like I do in the demo--but they are timed well and thus give the map a feeling of beginning/middle/end stages, which again is very hard to do in something this small.

[Obsidian]

MAP25: All hail Ty Halderman! This map is kind of a homage to MAP32 of Icarus, which I loved simply for the cleverness of the whole thing. I'm agreeing with Magnus and DotW when they say this map could have benefited from being fleshed out some more, and I dearly wish I could have done more with it, but yeah, 1 hour. :(

Also about that starting bit: I did have a switch texture there at one point, but it got kind of loud when the Spider Mastermind started shooting. :P

MAP26: I like this map for 2 reasons:

1. It looks snazzy. I like good looking maps, sue me. :P
2. The trap with the Arch-Viles at the end. It's called a Jimmy, and if you've played his speedmaps you'll know why. Granted my one is more forgiving than his usually are...

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP27 Danse Macabre

That's an appropriate song to use. There's an interesting glitch, when I'm standing in the pit with the blue key, and shoot the revenant, the lost souls aren't alerted. But when I shoot when on solid ground, they awaken. Interesting. Other stuff, hmm. The demon trap was pretty devious, but I regain my chainsaw back. The archie ambush wasn't bad. but that last fight was unfairly cramped and uncomfortable. I had to let loose with cells all over.

MAP28 Hellfire Compound

Well, we have this WAD's "Hunted". Rockets are the game, but continuous players should know it's more fun to SSG the archies, especially since ya don't hurt yourself in the process. The ending has several fiery freaks rising and descending from the lava while waiting for a bar to lower.

[Salt-Man Z]

Almost done...

MAP21: Immolate
Pretty. The first AV encounter kept giving me trouble, until I figured out the best way to handle him was to just dodge him and not worry about killing him. As magnus stated earlier, it's possible to get the red key stuck by hitting the switches too quickly; I ran into that problem at least 3-4 times. Was there a point to the northern section of the map?

MAP22: Writemare
Loved this map. When I saw the barons, I made a dash for safety and hit the exit without even trying.

MAP23: Mortal Processing
Another level where I started with only around ~30 health. The PEs gave me fits until I realized that the second and third only come out when you grab the red key. The medkits buried in the floor (and very hard to pick up on the run, accordingly) are something I would like to never have to deal with again ever. Grabbing the blue key, opening the blue door, and hitting the exit switch while trying to avoid cyber rockets was a serious pain.

MAP24: Rabishu
This one was...weird? Loved the beginning, but then I just adore mowing through hordes of zombies. The key trap is easily avoided by running in and back and out (which I did on my second attempt.) I had no trouble killing the boss-creature-thing with my SSG; I just parked myself up against the thing's teeth and let 'im have it. The revvie rockets seemed pretty few and far between.

MAP25: Terramorph
Another fun arena map. It did take me a while to figure out how to open the initial gate. Agreed that the changing landscape seemed fairly pointless, though it provided much-needed cover for the revvie/AV wave, and ultimately the mastermind.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP27: Danse Macabre
88% | 2:39

Dance of the Sugarplum Lunatic, eh? I suppose it fits, though it always makes me laugh a bit to hear it. Also, hub map alert! The demon fight was pretty good (though I felt dumb for not getting the chainsaw until after it was over), the AV was a bit wasted (nothing to resurrect, so the teleport isn't that scary). Didn't really like the last battle - insta-pop enemies, and there's no room to get around the columns on the side. I ended up just running past everything to the exit.

MAP28: Hellfire Compound
50% kills | 2:04

Hmm. Interesting idea, and it looks nice, but the gameplay is full of oddities here. By far the most dangerous portion of the map is accidentally killing yourself with rocket splash damage on the first Vile. I thought the rad suit was going to be for an actual lava section after the red key, but apparently it's there for the small time you spend going up the lava stairs (I didn't take any damage, even without it). The end section is just befuddling, as the player can easily trigger the exit column (and probably will, since they need to grab all the rockets) and then wait for it to lower safely, and run to the end when the elevators lower the AVs out of sight. Kinda strange to let the player just easily ignore the last half of the enemies like that.

[dobu gabu maru]

Demon of the Well said:

Regarding the BTSX E2 thing: Heh, well, 'nothing ventured nothing gained', right?

If essel or the like are reading this, I'd gladly make room in July for the club to do a beta testing of E2.

MAP22: Not quite as good as the other library maps I feel. The flow of gameplay was stunted looking for how to get out of that starting room, and the reward for finally finding the eye is 4 chaingunners and a rev in a tight space :/

MAP23: Pretty quick map. The visuals at the central chamber are quite pleasant.

MAP24: I enjoyed this one mostly—the close quarters megasphere fight and AV-zombie army were entertaining. Ran out of shells to push through the revs to kill Romero so I had to just skip the map, which was a bummer. Good nonetheless.

MAP25: One of the two maps I’ve played prior to this compilation. It’s a lot of good, frantic fun, and I like the conceit of the arena changing around you as you fight. Probably my favorite of the E3 set.

MAP26: I was expecting a bloodbath in the graveyard but with circle strafing I didn’t take a scratch. Luckily the AV trick exit got me and I had to do my best to keep the three of them under my watch.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP26: Tread Lightly
Wasn't sure what to make of the title: are the monsters asleep, and I need to be quiet? The shoot-to-open door in the graveyard had me on edge thinking that might be the case. But no. The graveyard battle was perfunctory: hide in the key room and pick off anyone who ventures in. The multi-vile ambush at the end was a nice surprise, if still easy due to the ample cover.

MAP27: Danse Macabre
Excellent music choice! Otherwise, another pretty easy but enjoyable map. Probably pistol start is more difficult, though I had entirely forgotten my BFG, and instead took on the (more-or-less optional) cyber at the end with just my plasma gun. Is there anything more annoying than trying to kill a cyber with a plasma gun? ("Isn't he dead yet?")

MAP28: Hellfire Compound
For a mapset that loves archviles so much—especially used in quite devious ways—this map was a piece of cake. Plenty of cover plus mostly-stationary AVs made for a lot of shoot-and-duck gameplay. The final six AVs weren't even worth the trouble: just duck out into the hallway and wait for the exit to open. Good-looking map, and still enjoyable, but the easiness is almost bewildering. (Again, probably a little more difficult from pistol start, since the only weapon handed out is the RL.)

[Obsidian]

MAP27: I was fairly pleased with how this map went myself: it's not too plain and the gameplay is fairly decent. I suppose the last room is kind of awkward though: I was chatting to a friend on Skype and he reckons I make my maps too narrow, which is unfortunately mostly true.

MAP28: I was feeling slightly evil when I made this. Heh. I think this map is the third one I've made with the Arch-Vile being the only monster used, and I have a feeling that number may increase. :P I suppose it isn't too hard on continuous play though, and a suicide exit on MAP27 would be pushing it a bit too far.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP29 Run Like Hell!

Another slightly deceptive title. It's not like MAP28 of Scythe though, as there's no voodoo tricks. You will run across lava though, so watch the health. The title plays a part in how the invulnerability close to the end is maintained. It's in the cyberdemon lava pit. If you don't get it quickly, it'll sink into the lava and there is no chance of survival, even if you do kill the cyber. There's barrels that you teleport in after the lava pit, and only with the invulnerability can you safely get through to the lone exit switch that precedes MAP30. On the other hand, if you go too fast, the invulnerability would still be lowering, and there's no escaping the damaging floor as you dance around the cyber. Budgeting time seems to be the main game for this very deceptive map.

MAP30 The Architect

It's got a typical MAP30 buildup of weapons in front of the player, then about nine archies in extreme confines. Not exactly titular though. There's a new boss, and some "henchmen" that support him. He replaces the SS, and fires spread of mancubi and cyber rockets. Could this be the so called Architect? Regardless, the boss has too lethal firepower, and it's easy to get telefragged if you stay on the outside. The monsters teleporting cube is somehow nonexistant, and only on the four FLAT5_6 squares will monsters spawn, but it's quite hard to predict. At least the Architect's "henchmen" can be used against him, but watch out when he teleports somewhere else.

Final Thoughts

Countdown to Extinction: maps within one hour and filled with good combat and weird gimmicks in many levels. owing to the median small size of levels, the mapset is obviously a bite-sized quickie to go through, but Obsidian keeps us on our toes with enough monsters, especially archies. that last boss monster is overpowered but quite cool to look at and fight. I enjoy it overall, although there are plenty of gimmicks like the "time bombs" and the "barrels in dummy sectors" in it. the one level that requires the archie jump (MAP18) should make sure the jump is obvious, that's probably the lowest point of CtE by far. but most of the levels are fun.

regarding D2TWID, I played it, and I got rather bored with many of the maps, so you're probably not going to see me play it with the club for June. also, I really wish there was a separate music pack for that wad too.

[Salt-Man Z]

I should also say I approved highly of the Heretic music in MAP28. :)

MAP29: Run Like Hell
Ah yes, finally a "race" map. Maybe? I don't know how this thing worked, mechanically. I beat it three times without really figuring out what happened. The first time I literally had no idea what was going on: I'm fighting a cyber, suddenly I'm somewhere else with a switch in front of me, I take a huge hit, but I'm still (barely) alive, so I hit the switch and exit. What? It took a couple more attempts to even find the teleporter out of the cyber arena, but then every time I teleported I would immediately be killed by an explosion. Maybe I need to get there ASAP? (That would explain the title.) Nope. Maybe killing the cyber makes the exit safe? No, that's not it, either. I still have no clue.

MAP30: The Architect
So the initial section is a neat twist on the standard "here's all your powerups before the boss" section, with the 9 (?) viles running around. More surprising than challenging, all things considered, but still neat. And then the boss... I grinned when I saw the Architect: very cool. But man, I personally think Icon of Sin maps are the worst thing to ever happen to Doom. "Yeah, here's your limited supply of ammo, a boss to kill (if you can figure out how) and an infinite stream of mid- to high-level demons that could surround you in or telefrag you in a split second. Enjoy." Usually when I get to the Icon at the end of a megawad, I say "Good enough" and sign off. I had to give the Architect a go, because it's a new boss monster, but man is he tough. I think I emptied a couple of BFGs into him before finally killing him. Died probably 50 times in the process. The cramped arena was a pain, and I could never use my RL, because as soon as I'd pull it out, naturally a swarm of demons would telport right in front of my face. Gah. Anyway, it's a very cool variation on your standard IOS map, even if that kind of thing isn't my bag, baby.


OVERALL
I liked it. Don't think I loved it, but much of that probably has to do with it being a set of speedmaps, lacking just that last bit of polish. But in general I enjoy megawads of short, bite-sized maps: even if I hated a level or it was entirely forgettable, it's still only a couple minutes wasted. So anyway, good job Obsidian. :)

[Magnusblitz]

MAP29: Run Like Hell
0% kills | :30

A race map that's far, far easier and less frustrating than the one in Scythe. :) There are a couple of tricky parts though - I kept missing the soulsphere in the drop (ran right over it usually) which made surviving the Cyberdemon room impossible, just not enough health to outlast the lava while I waited for the invuln to fall. Even with the soulsphere, running too fast can be dangerous. Kinda weird how the cyberdemon can basically be ignored, just fall into the (hard to see) lava hole, and as long as you still have the invulnerability on, you'll live and be able to hit the switch.

MAP30: The Architect
72% kills | 1:32

The start area is pretty cool, and I like how it rises up to the final battleground. The boss is... interesting, the "cyber torso on top of mech spider legs" isn't cool looking to me, but at least it isn't horribly out of place, either. First time I killed it, he wandered quite far off his platform (looking like he was floating) and died when I had my back turned, heh. Getting telefragged by the monsters was probably the most frustrating part, but easily avoidable once you realize that's gonna happen.

[Magnusblitz]

Final Thoughts

Well, as a collection of one-hour speedmaps, they're gonna be short and somewhat constrained. Taking that into consideration though, it's a pretty nice-looking and solid set of maps - there's no real clunkers in here (though that's to be expected from someone of Obsidian's mapping skill/experience). I really appreciated that most maps had a clear 'gameplay concept' or style they were going for - something that I personally like having in Doom maps (though I realize a lot of people disagree and prefer the old school "just make rooms and shit" design). There are a few things I didn't like -- the forced AV jump on 18, insta-pop monsters here and there, any of the 3d bridges, and some maps that just didn't quite execute, like 28's final battle -- but these are relatively minor complaints and just personal pet peeves in some cases.

Favorite Maps: 03 (The Database), 11 (The Vortex), 14 (Black Books), 21 (Immolate), 26 (Tread Lightly)

Least Favorite: 05 (3d bridge kinda ruins it), 06 (didn't like the untelegraphed switch puzzle), 16 (just didn't really work), 18 (forced AV jump), 22 (just bland), 24 (really awkward Romero head use), 28 (poor final battle)

[Demon of the Well]

Map 27 -- Danse Macabre
Hmm, that BGM track always seems to put me in a whimsical mood. Playing like a fruitcake probably had a lot to do with my enjoying the map as much as I did, but hey, whatever works, right? This is a (very) vaguely Tricks 'n Trapsy hubspoke map with a different discrete encounter built into each spoke (although the second technically plays out in the hub itself). I actually died in the pinkie-pit like a damned rube on the first attempt, guess it really did catch me somewhat off-guard--just goes to show you can be caught out even by something you've seen a million times before if you don't keep on your toes. Regarding the notion that the arch-vile's not likely to get to use his resurrection powers, au contraire! I ended up with a ghost zombie following me around until nearly the end, pecking at me with his popgun from pointblank range (he still managed to miss a few times...), trollfacing all the while. It was kind of like trying to take a multiple choice test with someone gently flicking you in the ear periodically, something like that. Suffice to say I was most appreciative when the cyberdemon finally turned him into a meat-flavored cloud of ethereal mist for me, an appreciation which I promptly expressed by 'allowing' him to blast me into the exit--I get to leave, he gets to avoid having Satan cancel the cable service in his apartment for another few days. Incidentally, I'll go out on a limb and say that the little scuffle with the cyberdemon down in that cramped, pillared hall is probably the WAD's single best encounter. On the downside, the map's kind of tacky-looking (again, lighting choices), but it's fun and doesn't last long, so no harm done.

Map 28 -- Hellfire Compound
Can't say I was really into this. Apart from some very suspicious doortrack usage it looks pretty decent, but the play is pretty lifeless. I would contest the observation that it's reminiscent of 'Hunted' from Plutonia; sure, there's nothing here but arch-viles, but the issue is that 11 of the 12 of them are essentially no threat at all, simply because they can't approach you and you're never short on safe places to stand. The real danger to the player in this map is simply his/her own laziness and impatience, e.g. trying to fire rockets in unsafe conditions in the interest of hurrying briskly through (I almost seriously injured myself this way, I admit)....and that's really not very exciting, frankly.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 29 -- Run Like Hell
Well, as soon as I saw that "Run!" decal on the wall at the start I pretty much leaped to the conclusion that this was going to be an homage to Scythe's map 28, meaning it was time to ignore everything and run flat-out down the path provided. In practical terms this turned out to be a good assumption, as this is essentially what you need to do in order to win, although the nature of the mechanism here is quite different (and significantly less strict) than what that map used. It hadn't occurred me until it was brought up here that someone might actually be able to reach the final area so quickly that they might die in the lava before the V-sphere even becomes accessible, an interesting twist. That being said, what's actually going on is probably not at all clear unless you happen to reach the final area within a very specific time window, so it's the sort of thing that could possibly end up looking like a broken dead-end to slower (or very fast) players. Still not a worse offender in that regard than the vile-jump from 18, though!

Map 30 -- The Architect
Egad, more terrible BFG usage from me, I really shouldn't have needed to use the SSG as much as I did against the group of viles. No actual scratches on either attempt, but it's a good way to kickstart the action. The Architect himself wasn't as ostentatious as I might've imagined (cyberdemons are a lot of things, but intellectual-looking isn't one of them), although the melding of the sprites was done pretty smoothly. Wary of being telefragged, I tried cautiously feeling the boss out at first, which didn't go so well--he initially only used his triple fireball attack, and then caught me off-guard and killed me when he decided to spit out some rockets. On the second attempt I stopped taking him lightly and just steamrolled him with the BFG, which went down without a hitch. Arguably slightly anticlimactic, but this is probably the way to go if you just want to win--despite my first/only death, I still reckon that it's the regular monsters and the risk of being telefragged by them that are the real threats, and in this scenario the best way to neutralize this is simply to end the fight as quickly as possible. Ah, well, that first death does still count for something, I reckon. As to the arena itself, I liked the sunken four-chamber setup that gives you slight hints of something sinister high up above you early on, although there were some small aesthetic issues in the form of floating/clipping objects, like some of the medikits in the corners (which clip partially off of the walls they rest on), or one of the puddles of gore in the chamber before the one that is stuffed with viles (which clips most of the way off of the flesh pillar that eventually rises beneath it as the arena finishes transforming).

******

Well, as I said at the outset, broadly speaking the mapset wasn't really to my taste; to me it felt like it never really got off the ground. This isn't really a function of Obsidian's particular take on the style so much as it is an issue I tend to have with teensy-tiny maps in general, however. I understand the appeal they hold for lots of folks in that they typically play for novelty by focusing on single, discrete concepts without much preamble or pomp to adulterate or dilute them, but in my view these concepts often fall flat precisely because of the size/length constraints to which they are beholden; it's hard to pack interesting visuals AND engaging action AND a whimsical concept AND a satisfying sense of buildup/progression/climax into such a small space. It CAN be done (I was genuinely surprised that I was as entertained by the 1024 series as I was), but apparently there's a lot that can fail to pan out during the process. Doubly so in a set like this, which is tiny/brief not so much as the result of an active design mandate but as a side-effect of the maps being constructed in an extremely limited amount of time; a lot of the more interesting settings and concepts here just aren't fleshed out very well precisely because there's only so much a guy can realistically do with an editor and sixty minutes, and on a more fundamental level perhaps because it plays a little too safely a little too often (a WAD this short is probably better served in not featuring such a gradual difficulty progression). While the WAD's very briefness prevents it from seeming like too unreasonable a use of one's leisure time, and there are some good moments in there, at the end of the day it's the kind of thing that leaves me wanting more--unfortunately not because it has hooked me and made me crave for more of its particular brand of action, but because it feels like I ordered a steak and got a small side salad instead. That being said, I would quite like to see what Obsidian is capable of when he's not working under such a crippling time constraint, as it's evident that he's full of all sorts of non-standard concept ideas, if nothing else.

As I think I said earlier, my favorite part of CtE is the library/mansion block near the middle, complemented later on by the dovetailing of maps 26 and 27. That being said, my top five for the WAD was exceedingly easy for me to decide on this time:

1. Map 13 - Sanctuary
2. Map 14 - Black Books
3. Map 15 - Blackened Books (much better if one avoids the secret exit)
4. Map 26 - Tread Lightly
5. Map 27 - Danse Macabre

[Suitepee]

Not that I've taken part in this edition of the club (playing Sunder? That would take me a fair while!), but I nominate Mayhem 2048 (aka Mayhem 2014) for the next edition.

[plums]

Suitepee said:

Not that I've taken part in this edition of the club (playing Sunder? That would take me a fair while!), but I nominate Mayhem 2048 (aka Mayhem 2014) for the next edition.

You should play at least the first 4 maps of Sunder sometime, I've seen you beat harder maps on your stream. If you can tolerate the occasional revenant hordes (and you did on Demonologist's map) I think you might even have some fun!

I think that D2TWID has been locked in for June?

[Obsidian]

MAP29: I think this was the second to last map I made for CtE, either that or MAP02. Whatever.

I noticed quite a few comparisons to MAP28 of Scythe when people were playing this map, which is rather ironic as I utterly hate MAP28 for 2 reasons:

1. It's almost impossible for keyboarders like me.
2. There is no room for error whatsoever. I'm a slow player, I hate being rushed too much.

Having said that, I tried to make Run Like Hell! a great deal less demanding than Run From It! in terms of time limit: I'd like to think was relatively generous. Given more mapping time I could have refined it dramatically, but hey, 1 hour folks. :P

MAP30: Ah, the boss fight! Did I mention how much I love boss fights? Because I really do. The Architect has a fairly simple attack pattern: it fires a large spread of Mancubus fireballs(FatAttack1, FatAttack2 and FatAttack3 simultaneously) as it's primary attack and it shoots a barrage of 3 rockets straight after it's pain state. The map itself was buggy as heck when I finished it in the hour I gave myself, so massive thanks to Plums for catching the many bugs my ZDoom-addled self didn't test for.

Countdown to Extinction was pretty intense to make: I made at least one map a day for it for around 3 weeks, with the exception of one day when I was feeling under the weather. It's not nearly the same caliber as something like Khorus's Speedy Shit, but it was pretty fun to make and it's been fun seeing the positive feedback for it. Thanks for playing guys.

One last thing: for those of you that are interested, Larzuk06 did a playthrough of all the maps of CtE: here's the link to the playlist. Thanks dude. :)

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP27: I didn’t like the pinky pit as I felt you had to get the chainsaw ASAP in order to survive, but the other encounters were interesting.

MAP28: The other map I’ve played prior to the compilation. RL only maps are always a welcome challenge, although this one doesn’t have you doing too many tricky tidings. The ending is a bit awkward to fight through (that and you can just stay back in the corridor and wait for the exit to lower), but the visuals make up for the lack of scary encounters.

MAP29: Even in a speed based map, Obsidian finds time to put in a 3d bridge. No other thoughts on this map; it serves its purpose.

MAP30: Oooh, a custom boss. Had to restart this map once I realized that wasting all your BFG meant certain doom as the architect warped around and enemies filled the arena, so I rocketed the AVs and was able to spam fire at the cyber abomination until I got my victory test. Neat fight.

Overall I’m quite pleased. Like Demon of the Well, I enjoyed the middle library set of maps the most, finding the difficulty and AV use there timed to my liking. There's a bit of hit or miss maps in the set but given that it's a speedmapping megawad, that does comes with the turf. I think Obsidian is probably one of the spirited and clever mappers here, and I’d be really interested in seeing what he could do with a significantly large map given his complex designs and linedef trickery.