CapnClever Posted April 3, 2017 (edited) Check the YouTube playlist here! Doom has an incredibly rich history when it comes to mapping. Over the course of many years, various styles and themes have been invented, discarded, improved upon, played with, and everything else in between. One might even say that there's been enough time to notice certain trends that follow an evolutionary process, from the IWADs to the modern-day megawad. With that in mind I introduce Evolution of the WAD, a Doom show discussing and showcasing the history, content, and legacy of Doom mapping through its uncountable iterations. While all that sounds impressive, the gist of the show is that I play some Doom maps for at least a couple hours and a bunch of people more knowledgeable than me talk about those maps and where they fit as a representative of Doom mapping. I'm hoping it will provide some degree of enlightenment to those who watch, even if the opinions on the show aren't necessarily reflective of all community perspectives. As for what we'll talk about, just about everything is game! We may focus on episode on a particular mapper, or a particular mapset, or a particular trend seen throughout various maps, or a particular limitation or source port that is epitomized in various maps. We'll try to keep it fresh so it's always something worth tuning in to. In addition to the YouTube videos, episodes will also be broadcast live on my Twitch channel here, where you can ask questions during the show and we'll do our best to answer them. We're still working on the format as a whole, and suggestions are welcome. Edited April 16, 2017 by CapnClever 44 Share this post Link to post
Benjogami Posted April 3, 2017 Really enjoyed what I caught of the first episode. I'm hoping that it's a long-lived series! There's certainly a lot of raw material out there. :D 1 Share this post Link to post
Linguica Posted April 5, 2017 I listened to a good chunk of it, pretty insane that people can not only talk about Doom maps for almost 4 hours, but one particular Doom mapper and make it interesting and insightful (well, relatively speaking). 2 Share this post Link to post
Deleted_Account Posted April 5, 2017 This was very insightful, thanks for sharing! 0 Share this post Link to post
scifista42 Posted April 5, 2017 (edited) Nitpick: "Current mapset: The Ultimate Doom" is still displayed while playing Doom 2 and D2TWID. EDIT: Just noticed it in the video's description. Anyway, nice. Just, the video will always be 100% gameplay footage, or will there occasionally be (brief views of) map editor / pictures / videos related to the discussed topic? Edited April 5, 2017 by scifista42 0 Share this post Link to post
ShoDemo Posted April 5, 2017 CapnClever, I like the concept of your show and I will be watching it. Probably I will get to know more about my favourite game, which is always good. And I think there are tons of ways you could branch out in your episodes, so you will not be running out of content anytime soon. That said, I wish everything goes as you plan it to for the series. 1 Share this post Link to post
joepallai Posted April 5, 2017 This was really good overall. I like the suggestion above of showing brief views of the map in question in an editor (or switch to an in-game map if that's not possible). Looking forward to the next one. 1 Share this post Link to post
DMPhobos Posted April 5, 2017 I've been hearing the episode for a while, it's quite fascinating, im really looking forward for the next episode. Good stuff, i really dig it 0 Share this post Link to post
CapnClever Posted April 5, 2017 10 hours ago, scifista42 said: ...the video will always be 100% gameplay footage, or will there occasionally be (brief views of) map editor / pictures / videos related to the discussed topic? Just about all cases will be gameplay footage, as most of the interactions with commentators will come from watching and reacting to said gameplay. (If they have something they want to mention, I can easily go to that part of the map and show it.) Other items will be included when deemed necessary: for example, if we had a topic on "maps that are good to speedrun", I'd spend time playing back demos after showing off each map. I'm not sure what a map editor would help to show that IDCLIP'd gameplay, freelook, and an IDDT'd automap can't, but I'll ask around. I will also try to display textures on the sidebar when names are brought up. Not everyone knows what METAL2 and ZIMMER4 refer to, after all. Glad to see so many of you enjoy it! Unlike this very first attempt, my goal is to hover around two hours per episode (which I believe to be an appropriate amount time for this format). Don't expect a new episode every week: rather, the goal is to get one out every month, though it could be more than that at times. I'll post roughly a day before a new episode will air on my Twitch channel, then edit that post with the YouTube upload when it's up. Eventually I'll get a playlist going for easy navigation in the first post. 0 Share this post Link to post
Ed Posted April 6, 2017 Listened to some today and it was very entertaining. I would love to see an episode about the Gothic map style, which hammered in a myriad of editing tricks and cliches years after they were released. 1 Share this post Link to post
ella guro Posted April 7, 2017 thanks for doing this! this video was enjoyable. i look forward to future episodes! 0 Share this post Link to post
40oz Posted April 7, 2017 (edited) Cool video Taking the time to look at and discuss the IWAD levels really helps shine a light on how influential Sandy is to Doom. Especially because he was so innovative with everything, he's probably more responsible than anyone else for pioneering the huge wave of community made PWADs after it. He demonstrated through silly experimentation how dynamic everything is which most likely what fueled everyone's creativity to use Doom's stuff for things other than what they were probably designed for. Theres probably no map like barrels of fun in Duke Nukem 3D even though it has explosives in it and the engine is perfectly capable of making it. Doom just kinda shows there's really no reason something cant exist reasonably in the game because Sandy already pushed the limits of suspended disbelief in the game and its still cool and fun. 0 Share this post Link to post
SleepyVelvet Posted April 10, 2017 (edited) I look forward to more of these. Also, are these gonna be done semi-regularly, or just whenever the time shows up for it? 0 Share this post Link to post
Doomkid Posted April 11, 2017 Love the concept. There's loads of material for you to cover here. If there's any interest in deathmatch mapping and how that's changed over the years, I can definitely provide some information/example mapsets. Will be keeping an eye on this one! 1 Share this post Link to post
CapnClever Posted April 11, 2017 On 4/10/2017 at 11:23 AM, NoisyVelvet said: Also, are these gonna be done semi-regularly, or just whenever the time shows up for it? On 4/5/2017 at 4:01 PM, CapnClever said: Don't expect a new episode every week: rather, the goal is to get one out every month, though it could be more than that at times. I'll post roughly a day before a new episode will air on my Twitch channel, then edit that post with the YouTube upload when it's up. That said, I didn't specify an approximate time. Usually (though I'm expecting exceptions) the live episode will occur on Saturday nights, relative to GMT-4, as that's generally the most convenient scheduling point. The YouTube upload should happen within a day of airing. 20 hours ago, Doomkid said: If there's any interest in deathmatch mapping and how that's changed over the years, I can definitely provide some information/example mapsets. We will be asking for additional/guest commentators as specialty topics come up. If your expertise is in demand, I'll send a PM at least 1 week, hopefully more like 2-3, in advance. In particular, some topics will be entirely about a mapper from the community, in which case I'd be excited to have said mapper be a part of commentary. 4 Share this post Link to post
ella guro Posted April 11, 2017 2 hours ago, CapnClever said: In particular, some topics will be entirely about a mapper from the community, in which case I'd be excited to have said mapper be a part of commentary. this - in depth breakdown of pwad authors' maps - is the thing i'm most excited for. the original id mappers' styles have been analyzed so thoroughly by this point, so i'm really looking forward to seeing who gets picked out and discussed for this. 0 Share this post Link to post
Ed Posted April 12, 2017 (edited) You can probably turn 90% of pwad mapping characteristics into 6 degrees of Nick Baker, given the amount of touchstone releases he's been a part of. Really makes you think, though. Some maps or map-sets are released and they make a huge splash at the time, but may not necessarily translate to generating a whole lot of influence. Identifying mainstays of common map attributes and tracing them back to their source can almost qualify as an anthropology expedition, given the amount of wads that are out there. 3 Share this post Link to post
CapnClever Posted April 15, 2017 (edited) Next episode's set! Catch the live recording on Saturday, April 15, starting 9PM EDT (UTC-4) over at https://www.twitch.tv/capnclever. The YouTube upload will be available by April 17. The topic: Dead Simple clones. We'll be discussing ubiquitous MAP07 idiosyncrasies started by Doom II and present in so very many mapsets after. Does the concept stand the test of time? We'll find out! EDIT: YouTube video is up! Check it out here. Original post has also been updated with a YouTube playlist for easy navigation. Edited April 16, 2017 by CapnClever : VIDEO IS UP Y'ALL 6 Share this post Link to post
Jimmy Posted April 15, 2017 Okay Cap, how much did Tarnsman pay you to dedicate an episode entirely to this subject :P 3 Share this post Link to post
Gifty Posted April 15, 2017 Watched the whole first episode the other day, really dug it! Can't wait to see more. 1 Share this post Link to post
joepallai Posted April 16, 2017 just watched the new show on YouTube, another outstanding episode. The tighter focus really works. 0 Share this post Link to post
Deleted_Account Posted April 16, 2017 Gave the newest video a thumbs up and added to my favorites. Great series! 0 Share this post Link to post
Rhymes w/ Lux Posted April 16, 2017 I always remember loving Evolution of the Wad whenever Dime would get around to doing episodes, even though some of them got derailed massively. It's nice to see this rebooted. 1 Share this post Link to post
SleepyVelvet Posted April 16, 2017 32 minutes ago, Rhymes w/ Lux said: some of them got derailed massively. It's nice to see this rebooted. i prefer minimal werehog cum, and more pedantic doom talk. in all seriousness though, first two episodes were great. keep it up. 1 Share this post Link to post
Dime Posted April 16, 2017 18 minutes ago, NoisyVelvet said: i prefer minimal werehog cum, and more pedantic doom talk. in all seriousness though, first two episodes were great. keep it up. Was inviting naegleria my worst or best idea for Evo of the Wad, I can't decide to this day. 2 Share this post Link to post
Tarnsman Posted April 17, 2017 4 hours ago, Rhymes w/ Lux said: I always remember loving Evolution of the Wad whenever Dime would get around to doing episodes, even though some of them got derailed massively. It's nice to see this rebooted. If Capn would get lost more we could delve into the wonderful world of eugenics proper. 1 Share this post Link to post
7hm Posted April 17, 2017 (edited) Haven't watched the whole thing, but from what I've seen, this is great. I could listen to people dissect Doom maps for hours... while I enjoy the doom radio intermission stuff, this is definitely filling a void that Tarnsman / Alfonzo doom radio episodes from several years ago filled, and which has been largely lacking otherwise. 0 Share this post Link to post