The DWmegawad Club plays: Doom 2 the Way id Did

[Memfis]

Alfonzo said:

and it seemed unconvincing that id would code the tags in for such a "backstage" reason when any number of other map-specific actions could have been used or otherwise coded in in its place

yet id including a dehacked patch seemed convincing enough I guess xd

[Alfonzo]

Memfis said:

yet id including a dehacked patch seemed convincing enough I guess xd

With DTWiD, we justified simple things like dummy sectors and other functions under the principle that "if romero/sandy would have wanted something, they'd have just asked Carmack to code it in." The dehacked patch in this project mostly accounts for the secret level material, although if we had gone through with something like the spiderdemon death special in MAP07 it would have fallen under the same rule.

For both projects, there was a lot of leniency for ideas based on what would or would not seem out of character for an author. It helps get around some of the issues that comes first with surprise flaws and inconsistencies and second in expanding the realm of possibility when creating maps.

[esselfortium]

Memfis said:

yet id including a dehacked patch seemed convincing enough I guess xd

It's their engine, so they used their ability to add functionality to it based on what they specifically needed for their levels. Without the stock MAP07, MAP31, and MAP32 in existence, the engine behaviors coded in solely for those levels could believably change just like anything else. An engine patch modifying some of that added functionality based on alternate possibilities emulates that ability in the only way that a vanilla PWAD can.

More to the point, what is this needlessly snotty quip even being made in response to?

[mouldy]

Map10 - “Reservoirs” by Tarnsman

This was a very nice map, reminded me of a mixture of map10 and map19 from the original, the meandering way the various routes snake randomly through the map so that you always have a choice of where to go next and never seem to encounter a dead end. Really fun to explore, and while the monsters weren't quite up to the challenge of killing me I was certainly kept on my toes by not having the SSG (or any armour for most of it). I did die once from falling off the slow triangular lift, but that was my own silly fault. Managed to find all the secrets too, good stuff.

[Steve D]

Salt-Man Z said:

Like SteveD, most of my deaths came during mop-up time, from some random chaingunner that I had missed wandering around

Glad I'm not the only one. Misery loves company. ;)

[cannonball]

Map10 - “Reservoirs” by Tarnsman
Any complaint about this map was caused by poor "blind" decision choices which made me play a large percentage of the map with just the boomstick and chaingun (I did find he rocket launcher early on but very few rockets). Yep I found the big guns by the time that most of the monsters were dead.
This map is quite forgiving in terms of health, the layout is well thought out and definitely has a good replay-ability value. All in all a good fun, non-linear romp which is about the right size to prevent it becoming a drag.

[Jaws In Space]

Doom 2 The Way ID Did- MAP 10: HMP, Continuous, Keyboard Only

This was another pretty good level, & I didn't really notice any direct influences from the IWAD maps either, other than the computer panel that reveals a secret similar to the ones from The Chasm. I guess the best way to describe this one is a Refueling Base styled map without the Tom Hall influence. I did almost have a disaster when I nearly missed that yellow key card, but other than that I have no real issues with the map.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP10: Reservoirs
88% kills, 2/3 secrets

Nice map, lots of area to roam, and I enjoy the looping design that lets the player decide which way to go at the start. I admit the influences weren't immediately apparent here, though I think Jaws' guess of "Refueling Base without Hall" is probably my inclination. Lots of health (esp. soulspheres) and I almost missed the yellow key as well.

Tarnsman said:

Oh oops. So apparently between the latest version and the original version of Map 09 the angle of the wall that triangle was on changed so that you clip it most of the times trying to run across making it a lot harder to accomplish it. Also it's still possible and pretty easy to do with an SR40 but originally it was like a "get it every time first try" deal. I don't know why the angle changed.

Ok good, that makes me feel better, I wondered why I kept getting knocked off the triangle halfway across it.

[Steve D]

Map09 – The Gambit by Tarnsman – Kills – 95, Items – 58, Secrets – 20. Time – 28:42. End Health – 124, Armor 83. Death Count – 1

This map was pretty easy on continuous, but would give me major problems on a pistol start. I thought this was a very good variation on the theme of Tricks And Traps. The easiest trap was the Zerk/PE room, which I encountered second, after the nifty rocket launcher clusterfuck. If I'd gone there first on pistol, I probably would've been dusted.

The big room with multiple levels of Imp was remarkably Sandyesque, I thought, and beautifully frustrating in that Doom 2 way. Having read about a strange rising triangular sector, I thought this room was it, and when I navigated it fairly easily, I wondered what all the fuss was about.

And then I found the room everyone was talking about, but Sector 94 didn't give me much trouble. It took me about 6 tries to succeed at the Sector 94 puzzle, and after watching mouldy's demo, I can tell you I did it an entirely different way. My first 4 attempts helped me puzzle out the basic mechanics. My last 2 tries, instead of pointing at the switch, pressing it, and going straight back, I positioned myself sideways to the switch, started moving as I hit it the 3rd time, and did a wall-slide until I turned onto the rising sector, and ran up to the platform. One caveat: I'm playing on Risen3D, and if you know that port, you know it's fast. Fast means many things on Risen3D, including butter-smooth movement, but if you have Always Run enabled, it also means you can run straight ahead and make jumps that require strafe-running in other ports. I'm not saying you're at SR50 or even SR40 in Risen3D's Always Run mode, but you are definitely able to make the easier strafe-jumps by simply running, and that may have helped me here. If I get time, I'll try it in GLBoom and see what happens.

So as it turns out, I had way more trouble with Sector 88! I'm dense about puzzles, so this was a real head-scratcher for me.

The upper level saw my first use of the BFG to thin out the HKs. Funny, I did a similar trap in an E4 map a couple months ago. ;D I only took out one HK with the BFG. The rest fell more honorably to the SSG.

My one death came at the end, when I fell into the nukage while dodging a PE, and got cornered by a Spectre while trying to switch from RL to SSG. Not quite fast enough, I'm afraid, so Tarnsman snags another SteveD pelt.

All in all a very fun map.

[7hm]

Slot: 10
Map: Reservoirs
Author: Richard Frei
Notes:
Another adventure style map. This one took me a couple tries - I died at that stupid triangle because I messed up a jump while it was going up instead of down, and I had a couple other dumb deaths too. I ended up clearing the map but except for the Mancubus / Pinky teleport trap, and then wandering around a bunch wondering where the red key was. Once I figured it out I had already collected the BFG and SSG, so the trap was quickly handled. On that note, I spent like the entire map just using an SG. That sucked, but it's my own fault. I really liked how non-linear this map was. The whole thing is basically open to you from the start, so there's lots of different options. When one route wasn't working for me, I just tried another one on the next run. I enjoyed this quite a bit.

[Alfonzo]

Developer's Notes:

...
MAP08: Quarantine, aka Starstruct, Inc.
This map came about fairly late into development. Purist submitted it as a wholly Sandy affair, and Tarnsman (not looking throw in the towel after eating up tons of the project's mapslots already) sought to eliminate the flaws in the map's authenticity by way of Tom Hall. It was already textured and laid out in an appropriate way for "E1.5" - that slew of Sandy masterworks that focuses even more intently on the placeless and the abstract - and so the going was more or less a simple one, albeit in the reverse of Refuelling Base. I'm not personally fond of this map in the same way that I am of some of the other Sandy ventures, be they by Tarnsman or whoever, but it fits the bill niceley and the front-loaded difficulty and explorative nature is befitting gameplay for this area of the mapset.

TRIVIA: (1) Do you hate or love the flashing, skied up brownhug maze? Good. It was my idea and I apologize for nothing. (2) Not realising the genuine error that befell MAP04, this was where we intended to copy the dual-title setup of Circle of Death. The name "Starstruct, Inc." is taken from the Doom Bible by Tom Hall, and it was the name that Xaser and I intended to use for a MAP08 collaboration that we never got 'round to. Happily, the map features very little actual STAR* texturing and this is a big bonus!

...
MAP09: The Gambit
First iterations of this map were spectacularly harsh. It gained the developer's title of "Esselbane" on IRC after the man in question attempted and failed repeatedly to complete the map, calling it horrendously imbalanced and one of the worst maps to be submitted. He had a point! Tarnsman was forced to water down the bullshit to allow for a brand of play that was still Sandy at his most mischeivous but not completely alienating, and the end results (again after multiple reworks) were better for everyone concerned. It remains among my favourite Sandy maps in the set.

Try it from pistol start, if you haven't! That pain elemental room goes from being a non-event on continuous to one of the mapset's deadliest detours.

[mouldy]

Map11 - “The Garrison” by Pavera

Great opening scenery with the cavernous and complex central area. Pistol start isn't as harsh as it looks despite the exposed space with distant monsters hassling you from all angles. The layout is utter confusion at first, with areas up high and down low and behind bars and doors and lifts. Amazingly I didn't die once, though it was long enough to make me save a couple of times. After the crossfire of the start, the enemies are mostly given to you, and a methodical clearing of the map follows. I found the computer map quite early on, so it was all about exploring and uncovering secrets with enemies occasionally providing some inconvenience along the way. Its a great map to explore, very intricate and chaotic. If it hadn't given up all its secrets so easily it would be one of those eternally mysterious maps, where you always feel like there's a party going on behind a wall somewhere.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP09: The Gambit
Arg, this map. Actually, the map's fine, but that triangle lift is just so bad it all but ruins the level for me. (It took me another two-dozen-plus tries again this time.) Otherwise, it's a fairly fun/tricky level with a good amount of tricky-but-not-too-hard puzzles. I got 100% everything yet again (pretty sure I'm 100% for the whole WAD, minus that last secret in MAP01 that I still haven't figured out) and only died once, when I accidentally rocketed a spectre from point-blank range in the revenant room. By sheer luck (or because it's the only white teleporter when the rest are all red?) I took the one teleporter that immediately got me the red key and let my bypass no less than half the level; but of course, I went back and did everything. Nothing wrong with optional areas, but I dislike it when (short of a super-secret shortcut) a map lets you skip such a large chunk of it.

MAP10: Reservoirs
Ah, I had forgotten that this map was part of D2TWID; it's a good one, a nice long looping/branching base crawl. I somehow remembered having to run through more toxic slime than I did, but no, it's just a handful of chambers: one you can dash across optionally, and another where you can drop directly onto a rad suit. Lots of zombies and imps and mancs everywhere, a fun combination.

[cannonball]

Map11 - “The Garrison” by Pavera
Just the one death here, right near the start as I fell victim to a very well placed arachnotron. This underground base does seem daunting at first, but in the end the map isn't overly hard to beat. Again I made matters worse for myself by failing to pick up the ssg at the first opportunity, still I managed to get through this alright.
I really like the exploratory feel to this map (very much in line with the Abandoned mines in that respect), couple this with some very solid visuals and you have a great map.

Overall the first episode has been a joy to playthrough. The maps range from good to excellent. Favourites were Maps05,10 and 11. My least favourite was map06.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP11: The Garrison

Did id ever stack item boxes, such as the box of ammo and bot of shells at the start? Hmm...

Another Romero-style map, with lots of windows allowing the player to see other sections, but somewhat linear in terms of the actual path he can take. Pretty dang easy overall, if I must say, as most of the enemies are imps or zombies, and anything harder is usually placed right in front of the player and easy to kill. Finding the computer map early makes finding the secrets a breeze. Visually, it's pretty dang good, with lots of nice details like the SUPPORT3 columns and use of metal bars on the windows.

I also like that you can strafejump across the slime and bypass half the level, nice old-school speedrunning shortcut.

[Jaws In Space]

Doom 2 The Way ID Did- MAP 11: HMP, Continuous, Keyboard Only

Here's another map I have mixed feelings about, in comparison to the last Romero map it's better in that it feels shorter & fits better into the map slot. On the other hand the previous Romero map took inspiration form multiple Romero maps, while this one feels like inspiration was taken only from Tenements, which is a map I completely hate with a passion. Nothing really stood out to me as noteworthy in this map & is kind of forgettable in my opinion as I'm have trouble writing anything here at all & I literally just got done playing it.

So for episode 1 as a whole I've just been overall pretty unimpressed, maybe I'm just too nostalgic for Doom 2, but I am really not enjoying this wad very much.

favorite maps so far are map 2, 7, 8, & 4.
least favorite is a tie between map 9 & this one.

[Tarnsman]

The maps do not take inspiration from SPECIFIC MAPS but the overall style of the author. For example if Sandy was to make a gimmick map based around disconnected concepts, he would use a hub. He did it in Tricks and Traps, he did it again in Nirvana, and Sandy was often fond of boiling things down to their most basic elements and disconnecting areas that did not fit the rest of the map from the rest of the map. (see courtyard's BK area and Chasm's blue and silver area). Even in his most connected gimmick map, Barrel's of Fun, you still go through the gimmicks in distinctly separate areas.

So for example, The Gambit did not take inspiration from Tricks and Traps, it asked the question "if Sandy made a map based around teleporter gimmicks how would he do it?" and that's how he would do it.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 10 -- Reservoirs - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Heh, that yellow keycard. Just casually sitting there.

I think Jaws' observation that this feels somewhat akin to 'Refueling Base' without the sedimentary layer of Hallisms was very on-the-nose; that is to say, it's a highly nonlinear Sandy romp with no particular unifying theme or gimmick, just a straight-up exploration map (although there is a goodly amount of killing to be done along the way). There's a lot of ground to cover and both of the keys are needed to exit, but this doesn't mean the map is designed to necessarily be a marathon, as a great deal of the content is entirely optional, including the large slime tanks from which the map presumably takes its name. In general it's less purely abstract in construction and more polished visually than The Gambit was; while I think that a lot of people tend to think of colorblindness and almost comically tacky texture combos when they think of Sandy's aesthetics, the truth is that he made a lot of stuff in both Doom and Doom II that looks quite reasonable--even vaguely represenationalist at times--and that is reflected here in the reservoirs themselves, the fairly sharp-looking records room (e.g. library), an obligatory crate/storage space, and so on. Texture usage is still somewhat capricious but skews much more heavily towards the Doom II resources than 'Quarantine' did (again suggesting that this was a later map made during Doom II's development rather than a leftover Hall piece from the original game dusted off and repurposed), and the combos within discrete areas are generally much more down to earth than some of what was seen in The Gambit.

From a gameplay standpoint the map lives and dies by its non-linearity, to which it fully commits. The majority of the map flows and interconnects quite smoothly, with the titular reservoirs acting as a central junction point (albeit one that can be ignored entirely if you're willing to take the long way around, as aforesaid) that allows easy access to the different 'wings' of the facility within a short jaunt at any point. In keeping with what Tarnsman said above, the only truly separate/disconnected area is the comical mancubus/demon trap setpiece, which is reached and exited solely via teleporter. On that note, strong/specific battle concepts are somewhat rare here, with most of the combat being incidental in nature. Incidental, but (fortunately) not particularly light--there's quite a lot of blood to be shed, especially if you decide to explore the entire map rather than just make for the exit ASAP. As I mentioned when rambling on about The Gambit earlier, the player's particular route through a nonlinear Sandy map is liable to heavily impact his combat experience; this time around I myself happened to choose a highly inoptimal route (basically I picked the 'wrong' option at nearly every fork in the road), and so fought through the lion's share of the map with just a shotgun and the pistol, collecting a huge arsenal (which does make the map quite worth exploring, especially for continuous players--there's even a BFG!) in short order while tying up various loose ends before exiting. Not that I'm complaining; again, rolling the dice and sometimes having them just come up all wrong is part of the charm of the Sandy experience.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 11 -- The Garrison - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Another Romero map, which leaves much the same impression as map 06 (which would fit with the precept that Romero constantly rips himself off, it must be said). Again, all of the general calling cards are there--barred windows, overlooks, lots of combat with monsters that are spatially separated from you in some way, and of course the understated but ever-present threat of pernicious liquids roiling and stagnating in the complex's underbelly. As was the case with Pavera's McGee-style effort from map 05, I think he has succeeded in creating an environment that is clearly reminiscent of those Romero created for Doom II without ever really reminding one of any specific map from the IWAD, which is an admirable achievement to say the least, and not something that all of the other maps thus far can so lightly claim to have succeeded in doing. Because the Romero style is usually so specific, I reckon it's the little things that really make the difference in this regard--that the Garrison appears to actually be an entirely subterranean installation, for example, gives the setting a different mood that one more commonly associates with E3 Romero maps, here at the tail end of E1.

As was the case with map 06, I must confess that I found a lot of the combat here less memorable/engaging than that of the recent spate of Sandymaps, or indeed, than that of the earlier McGee maps--interesting contrast, as while I typically think of McGee's maps as being my least favorite parts of the IWAD (apart from The Inmost Dens, perhaps, I do rather like that one), so far in D2TWiD it has been the Romero efforts that have had the hardest time grabbing my attention, purely because the action in them has been so casual. Not that I remember anything particularly irritating or ill-conceived here, mind you....it's just that I really don't remember much of the action per se, apart from the cacodemons gradually trickling into the opening area from places unknown after I woke them up somehow, and also the decidedly satisfying sensation of telefragging a commando when I beamed over to the blue keycard. No, my main recollection of the map concerns exploring it for secrets (which is again very rewarding for continuous players, with another secret BFG at the end), which is always decently entertaining in a map of this style, although made easier in this case by the computer area map that Magnus mentioned.

It's an interesting layout--especially over on the half of the map with the yellow-locked door and the teleporter to the exit area-- and one that certainly has that Romero flavor to its construction and theming, but a little too much of a non-event in the combat department for my tastes. This might just be another one of those odd conflicts of authenticity with my personal preferences (it certainly didn't feel too easy or underpopulated to be an id map or anything), I suppose, but seeing as how the handful of maps preceding this tended to strike me as being a little more violent and dangerous than what was in the IWAD at a comparable point in the game progression (which is something I personally welcome), it does leave me wanting more...I want to see a Romero-style map show me some teeth. Ah, well, still plenty of chances for that before we're done, I suppose.

[Steve D]

Map10 – Reservoirs by Tarnsman – Kills – 95, Items – 93, Secrets – 33. Time – 26:38. End Health – 140, Armor 128. Death Count – 2

Okay, I'll be the jagoff who says that, while this is mostly a brilliant map, you have to find a secret red key to escape it, and I didn't like that. There is really no reason to walk into the nukage in the library room except for a flashing light, along with wondering, “Why is there a nukage triangle in here?” But since there's a column in front of the wall, you're basically being told that nothing is behind this wall, so why should I walk into nukage?

Then again, I suppose I do feel retroactively vindicated for forcing players to find a secret door in Map09 of Realm of Chaos. The justification I always had for it was, well, we on The Macintosh Team had just recently finished Doom 2, and all that horrifying, obtuse jagoffery therein was still fresh on our minds, so why not emulate it? And all these years later, Tarnsman does the same damn thing. Thanks, Tarns! ;D

With that out of the way, this is probably the most action-packed map yet. Really nasty use of PEs, Mancs around every corner, a sprawling nonlinear layout with excellent sniper action, hitscanner horror, nice height variation, really ugly texturing in the Sandy style that I know is a feature, not a bug, an overall atmosphere of real Doom 2ishness, right down to the utterly bizarre yellow key placement, and so on and so forth.

This map presents unique challenges to continuers, because the only way to see the red key is to go onto a damaging floor to get a chainsaw you don't need, and then turn around and actually bother looking up at a platform. Also, the BFG trap caught me with just a shotgun in my hand that I'd used to plink Imps to death, so instead of auto-switching to the BFG, I got killed. ;D For certain, my Doom trap instinct seems a bit rusty these days . . .

I do tend to disagree with DoTW that the Sandy-style maps have been more difficult than their Doom 2 counterparts. I'd much rather play The Gambit than The Pit, which has the horrific rocket launcher/2 rockets trap – talk about overpowered! – or Quarantine than Dead Simple. Even this map, I think, would be easier for me on pistol-start than Refueling Base. Although I haven't tried it in years, I've never beaten that map from a UV pistol-start, since I always run out of ammo. Indeed, I often spend time cowering in that little secret room in the opening Tekgren area. You can't advance your cause from there, but at least you're not dying. ;)

Nonetheless, this map compares well with Refueling Base, and for me is more fun to play.

[Steve D]

Map11 – The Garrison by Pavera – Kills – 99, Items – 99, Secrets – 75. Time – 36:31. End Health – 123, Armor 11. Death Count – Zero

Beauty is its own reward, and this map has lots of that. The opening is an absolute knockout, and the layout is, IMO, utterly amazing, the height variation simply fantastic. There was an overall Abandoned Mines feeling to me, though this map is much, much larger.

The action, as DoTW noted, is less intense than previous maps or Pavera's own Map05. From the very beginning, even though I came under hitscanner fire as I moved forward, the hitscanners ended up doing most of my work by infighting each other. The fights weren't boring, but they fell more into the “good workout” than, “this mapper wants to kill you” style.

The focus is therefore on exploration, and this map teases you like crazy, however, the purpose is defeated somewhat by giving away the Computer Map so early. This turns the exploration more into a “figure it out” than “find the secret panel” job. Even so, I clearly missed something. I also thought the map got a little switch-hunty and gimmicky towards the end.

What I'll remember, though, is the exceptional appearance of this map, and its layout. This map is liable to be influential for me. Nice job!

[pavera]

SteveD said:

What I'll remember, though, is the exceptional appearance of this map, and its layout. This map is liable to be influential for me. Nice job!

I'm glad you liked it! I was going for that iconic sense of mystery that I always felt pervaded romero maps. For instance, the eastmost room where there's a large void between two side areas that you teleport between was meant to invoke that feeling of "what's out there??" in the player. It's the kind of feeling I always had playing maps like the abandoned mines, so it was nice to have a chance to recreate that.

Also, one of my favorite scenes in the map is if you enter the south area (with the blue key) from the slime side. There's just something about that visual that really strikes me.

The fact that you can skip about 70% of the map was completely unintended, and it only cropped up by accident right before release when we suddenly had to squeeze a lot of the maps down to size. Tarnsman had that honor, of course. Thankssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss tarnsman.

Admittedly, the map is still probably too large to be entirely authentic, and it's still got some paverian tropes (overly spacious areas that a mack truck could comfortably squeeze through). It was a real struggle to completely iron out all of my personal mapping traits and stay entirely true to the author. Glad tarnsfonzo didn't seem to mind. :P

[mouldy]

Map12 - “The Shipyard” by Esselfortium

This one bears more than a passing resemblance to its corresponding map in the original wad. The thing I loved about the factory was how many options you were given and how evil they all were. If anything this map feels a bit more forgiving, though there are some nasty moments. Unleashing the 3 pain elementals when you have hardly any ammo is a recipe for disaster, and that trap with the pinkies and the mancs takes some quick thinking to survive. I enjoyed the lowering lava puzzle, and the weird lift fight with the cacos straight after (i discovered using a rocket launcher on a rising lift is not a good idea). Lots of quirky design and traps, definitely wouldn't seem out of place in doom 2.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP11: The Garrison
Like DotW said, this gives off a bit of an E3 vibe, to the point that I was surprised to see it this early in the WAD. Another fun map. I got all the secrets, but I'm not sure I even used the computer map to find any of them. Scratch that, there's that shootable-wall secret that I needed the map to verify: I thought I remembered a secret there, but the "use" button didn't work, so I left; then I thought to check the map for it and ended up backtracking to it.

MAP12: The Shipyard
That archivile always makes me jump. The lava lift confounded me the first time I played, I'm not sure why. At the end of this run, I ended up wandering around the map for a number of minutes looking for one last missing item; I eventually stumbled across an armor bonus buried beneath a pinky corpse. I hate it when that happens.

[7hm]

I've had significantly less trouble with the D2TWID Sandy maps than the real ones, at least as far as pistol starting without saves. I find the difficulty curve a lot less spiky than Sandy's maps.

[NuMetalManiak]

Interesting note: I found four multiplayer-only archviles in the slime on MAP12.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP12: The Shipyard
98% kills | 3/3 secrets

One of the good old Sandy-style 'island' maps, ala Mt. Erebus, The Factory or The Citadel. The lava lift took me a little while to figure out at first (I don't think it hit me what I was supposed to do until I was on the middle part rising up) but wasn't too obscure. The hardest fight (manc/demons near the soulsphere) is optional but I can definitely find some of the other fights being hard for players on a pistol start who hadn't grabbed the SSG yet. A bit empty feeling, but some nice traps there and definitely has the "weird but endearing in a quirky way" design of a lot of Sandy's rougher maps.

[Steve D]

Pavera said:

Also, one of my favorite scenes in the map is if you enter the south area (with the blue key) from the slime side. There's just something about that visual that really strikes me.

I really should have mentioned that, because as luck would have it, that's exactly how I entered the room, and I went, "Whoah, fuckin' cool!" One of the things I like about that area, and the map in general, is how effective the simple sector lighting is. I go nutzo with gradient lighting in a lot of my maps, so it's good to see oldschool stark lighting be "just right."

And yeah, you're right about that sense of mystery in Romero maps, at least some of them. You and essel have both succeeded in getting that across.

[cannonball]

Map12 - “The Shipyard” by Esselfortium

This map wasn't too hard to be honest. A few tough fights, the worst being the pinky and mancubus reveal. I was only had the shotgun at that point so my first instinct was to cut a hole through the demons and use them as a meat shield. Surprisingly this worked. The other major problem for me we the pain elementals and my liberal use of rockets, yeah almost got myself killed there.
Not much to add, just a nice Sandy romp. Nice archvile reveal btw.

[Steve D]

Map12 – The Shipyard by esselfortium – Kills – 100, Items – 100, Secrets – 100. Time – 19:05. End Health – 200, Armor 142. Death Count – Zero

Ah, a shipyard bereft of ships! Where's The Unsinkable Fats Domino when she's needed? Is this where the Nazis brought the last, straggling remnants of their navy, to be obliterated by Allied forces? Perhaps the wreck of the old predreadnought battleship Schleswig-Holstein, which fired the first shots of World War 2 when she bombarded the Polish military depot at Westerplatte, in the port of Danzig, lies beneath the now-toxic muck, the souls of her dead sailors waiting to take revenge on all invaders.

For continuous players, the efforts of those dead sailors are weak indeed. I managed to have a jolly good time ripping this map to shreds, though I could plainly see it would be a different story on pistol-start. I simply had too much firepower for the forces arrayed against me, even though I mostly stuck to simple weapons – chaingun, SSG – for a majority of the conflict. I took the opportunity to exercise my mighty and growing arsenal of rockets to dust off high, sniping Imps. High Chaingunners tasted plasma, and the Archie was contemptuously dusted-off with a BFG-slap. I BFGed the whole crowd at the Soulsphere trap, but thought better of it, played the fight again, rocketed the Mancs and then SSGed the Pinkies.

The map has a nifty, Sandyesque layout with interesting moving sectors, little puzzles, and nicely-stashed secrets. This is the first map I've maxed in awhile, which is good for my ego because I was getting a little butthurt about that, and is also the second consecutive zero-death map.

FWIW, the closest I came to death was when I triggered the Pinky/Imp close-quarters trap after having my health previously drained when I unleashed a bunch of Lost Souls. Took me all the way down to 23%. It was getting tense for a second there! ;D

Overall, a very nice map in what is shaping up to be a really enjoyable megwad.