unbirthday

I'm really not into the heavy action maps anymore. I'm playing Hellbound, but I just can't get into it, and I've given up. It was only recently that I played the Master Levels, and I actually quite enjoyed the puzzles in some of the better maps. I'm looking for that sort of flow between a bit of vanilla action (not gazillions of enemies) and puzzles. More like a half-life sort of rhythm of action + puzzle + reward. What would be perfect for me, is vanilla-like maps (doesn't have to be vanilla, but I don't like excessive detail) similiar to Doom episode 1 and episode 4, but with more puzzles. There are soooooooo many wads to look through, and I seem to find ones I like initially, but then they just turn out to be action-only maps. I've played cyberdreams, arch-vile jump, and I really enjoyed Doom the way Id Did. I really liked the playstation TC, especially the hidden/secret maps. But moar vanilla+puzzles. I've only found single maps that are like I describe, as opposed to an entire wad. Could you lads/ladies please help me find ones I'd like? Reviews ======= Countdown to Extinction: ticktock.wad Short maps each with a unique mechanism is a brilliant idea. The vanilla abstract design, with newer design rules is what I was looking for. However, the way some mechanisms are totally unforgiving is a huge nuisance. There's something annoying about making the player become obsessed about quicksaving just in case his next move kills him. There wasn't near enough puzzles to consider it a puzzle wad - it was too action heavy, requiring the player to do some incredibly mad things such as running past a cyberdemon at the risk of instant death. I played through without cheating, however when it got to the part where you're teleported into a lava pit with a cyberdemon, I couldn't understand why I died whenever I fell in the pit. It took many many attempts, and even after killing the cyberdemon, I still died when going into the pit. The last boss battle was insanity and I cheated there too. The first half of the wad was ok, but as I got nearer the end, it became more of a action slog. Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but I just prefer brains over instinct in my gaming these days. The map where you are running away from an archvile whilst trying to press buttons - that was impressive. barrel2.wad OK, that was fun. Right at the beginning there's a really good puzzle, and it's endless fun from then on. There's a few times where I wasn't sure what to do, and it's so much better if the designer doesn't kill the player in teaching them something. There was a moment where I had to fire at a barrel to get out of a trap - but I didn't realise until after a quickload. It's best that the designer makes it clear what the player should do (Put the barrel closer, and with a texture behind it, highlighting it to the player). The architecture was very plain even for vanilla, but the puzzles made it seem redundant anyway. Jolly good!

When I wrote about pushing a switch and not knowing what it did, I wasn't talking about your stuff btw. It's fine to not show the player what happened, as long as he finds out soon enough ha ha. In fact traps like that are good - surprises are fun. But also, I don't think surprises should always be negative. I think many in the community need to learn that. For instance, it would be nice to walk down a corridor and a trap open, with weapons and goodies, but for it just to be that alone, without consequences. There's a few parts in your wad where that happens. It was in Hellbound (I think lvl 18) where I pulled a switch and I hadn't a clue what it opened. I spent about 45mins just looking through this huge map. It was not fun. It made me stop playing it. Hellbound has fantastic architecture, but there's just tooooo much action. Too many people think that you make things challenging by throwing in more monsters. NO! I'd rather play a 20 minute wad that was really fun, with good pace (Similiar to doom.wad/doom2.wad) and a few puzzles, than play a monstrously huge set of maps for 20hours that are a slog to get through, have no puzzles and use masses upon masses of monsters.

Nice! Didn't know about this. I love the pile of death.

Alright, I've finished your wad and did a little review in the OP. I know you've done loads of stuff in the DOOM community, so don't take the criticism too harshly. I really enjoyed the first half, especially the first 4~5 maps. Short and sweet vanilla maps over huge complex maps where you pull a switch and have no idea what it did xD The reason I love the original episode 1, is because of the windows, showing you what you've altered. Alright I'll try Never_Again's suggestions ^^

Thanks for the responses. I've done evileye and cyberdreams. I think I'll try obsidian's wad first. Feel free to fill this thread up with moar MOAR MOOOOOAR :D

Does anyone know any groups, meet ups or societies or even other forums where DOOM players in the UK get together? The thing about the DOOM community is that it's mostly online, and most of my pals aren't interested in DOOM (CoD instead -- *vomit*). I feel alone in my love for this fantastic game. I've tried to organise a lan party, but my mates are just not motivated at all - They aren't even PC gamers either :/ Something I've thought of, is to have a lan party where you both play AND design. E.g. You have 30 minutes to design a map (super speedmapping) and then you exchange maps and play with headphones on. Cycle ad infinitum. Add in a few beers and this would be heaven for me. Am I weird?

No Newcastle Brown? I dislike heavily detailed maps. Trying to do anything more than a table or throne in the DOOM engine might very well be excessive. I also dislike how so many doomers like heavily detailed maps. More detail than the id maps is fine, but too much just looks chunky. I especially hate overuse of skirts and gutters around base-y maps.

Sweet, I know Hull of course. I'm usually in York, but I'm at my parents in Barnsley at-the-moment. Steam is a fantastic community mate, especially if you like creative games and exchanging maps/ideas. If anyone wants to add me, I'm englishEssence. Ha, I like that you do wad reviews on youtube. I've subscribed to you. I've just joined as unbirthday. If anyone else knows good irc channels, let me know. I'm all up for the idea of a British megawad. Not ever been in a project before xD Never even released a map yet haha.

Mate, I'm in Yorkshire too. Small world. Do you use Steam? No. I could offer bars of gold-pressed latinum and they'd still not be bothered. I've given up. I hate console gamers. Also, with the lan party, we were supposed to use laptops, but it never happened. I even have 3 old Athlon XP laptops (DOOM isn't exactly hardware intensive) which I was offering up. The thing is, I've moved back to my parents town recently as I'm skint and now I don't know anyone here anymore. My old schoolmates are just uneducated nutcases. I prefer to do creative stuff such as designing levels or maps for 2D games. I prefer to play Sim City 4 or Toki Tori than Call of Duty. At the moment I'm playing the alpha of Broforce, Age of Wonders 2 and a DOOM wad called Base Ganymede. Newer games are just so crappy that it bewilders me. I'm 30 this year, and I'm not going to waste my time with another DOOM clone. I played Bioshock Infinite and Dishonored. I wasn't impressed. The gaming industry is just like Hollywood now - churns out shitty unoriginal, uninspired rubbish with a liberal slant and a good dollop of special effects to woo those that haven't been around as long. I now find myself aligning in almost perfect sync with the words of gentlemen like Jonathan Blow and Bret Victor. It would be interesting to try to form a group in the north of England. A group dedicated to original gaming, creative gameplaying, game design and sharing of resources. It wouldn't have to be dedicated to one game, but games that are original, require creativity, puzzle-solving or are simply interesting and allow original asset replacement as with DOOM. Or in other words: people who like to play interesting games and like to make content for them.

Discovered Cyber Dreams wad a week back (From 1998! How did I miss it?) and I decided to dive in yesterday. Now I'm stuck on MAP07. There's a cyber in front and 2 mancs. I kill the 2 mancs by doing circles around them, then a wall drops, revealing 3 arachs. Again, I circle the arachs and then a wall rises, but rises too high over a slime pit. The only way to beat it seems to be to jump? But surely not...not in 1998. Does anyone have a solution? Do I somehow wall hug or bounce off a rocket? Also, do tell of other puzzle wads if you know them.

Ahh right. I was using zdoom, and I played with the compatmode settings, but it didn't change anything. This happens a lot with older wads because they use unusual tricks. I presumed that zdoom would emulate them, but clearly it does a poor job.

Ahh yes, it seems obvious now. You are meant to jump on the bridge after the last arach dies, before it raises too high. I knew that health potion was there for some subliminal reason, probably as a clue to stand on it. Doh! Thanks lads. And thanks Springy, but I'm afraid Arch Vile Jump is already on my wad-to-play list xD