baja blast rd.

idgames and DW Files have been desynced since around 2018, so use this thread to review wads that are not available to review that way. Basic Rules 1) Start any post with a simple header containing at least the name of the wad, an embedded idgames link to it, and the year, for example: Atmospheric Extinction (2021) If a wad does not have an idgames link, or some other "final" hosting place if it's not on idgames, it would make more sense to post your review/feedback in the W&M thread or somewhere else. 2) This is not a forum replica of the review section: - Put at least minimal effort into anything you post here. Spamming, trolling, or postcount +1'ing will be removed. - Even in very negative reviews, follow the decorum you would for actual forum posting, since after all everything is still a forum post. Don't drop slurs just because some old anoymous idgames review did it. - Whatever scoring system you use, if any at all, is up to you.

Just a little experiment. I'm sometimes refreshingly surprised by the screenshots people choose for my maps, in a "I never looked at it that way" way. I think it has to do with the fact that different aspects stand out to different people, and players might not have the same fixation on what we considered a visual centerpiece in our own maps. Want to try this for maybe a dozen wads. My settings will be 4x3 and I'll probably not download enormous files. edit: No (G)ZDoom because that stopped working for me in the past week for reasons I don't want to debug today. update:

Okay that's probably it for now (I might do a few more, but won't be able to keep up with everything posted), but this was fun. Definitely will play a few maps I noticed here. :)

A full megawad with bigger maps is hard to even clip through and make sure I get most areas, but the eye-catching scenes tended to be smaller-scale ones with some sort of Doomcute-like design... ...and big architecturally imposing outdoor scenes, because the wad seems to really riff on the original TNT's big spaces and blow them up even more (even if there's no mountain in map27 lol, where'd it go??). Especially liked this one, with the directionally lit tower. Not quite eye-catching but I loved this view (which has lighting effects that screenshots don't capture), and it felt fresh partly because "looking down at things" is a lot less common than looking up.

(edit: also @Lizardcommando) Would love to but as the OP says GZ isn't working for me right now. What the fuck I didn't expect this concept to result in so many good-looking maps, but treating alphabets as a constraint really leads to some non-standard architecture that just works. Maybe should just be a standard mapping technique lmao. This one map felt like cheating. I even took an early shot from an inaccessible view (the architectural overlap and the slightly different door indentations are really pretty) and realized I didn't need to because I wanted to screenshot every major area. This one doesn't have an in-game credit yet but whoever did this good job. If I couldn't use that map, I'd also want to use these: But I'd also try to use some of the prettier "simple" shots too because this wad has plenty of those. This last one looks much better in-game than in a tiny screenshot, but I liked it.

I don't have any particular thing for directionally lit hallways, this is just a coincidence. But this area gives me Nihility('s take on Doom e2) vibes. Love this area. Very "TNT sequel"-like asset combination. Very comfy.

Too many choices actually. I don't know if I'm imagining this but I recognized a few iwad map01s in this layout. This minimalist shot is not very representative of the map's look but I loved it mirrors the repaletted sky, purple-gray rocks in the foreground, the mountains in the background that look like they're vaguely the same thing. Pretty open area that mixes radial architecture with a dock that reminds me of Heretic e1m1. Key in a crate, backpack on a crate, rockets. Nice 'small-scale' scene, teasing a big fight of some kind. For screenshot purposes at least, I wish this area had more lighting because the sword and the blood trickling to that corpse are a good self-contained mini-story in itself, and the map does good lighting contrast elsewhere. But this area might be my favorite anyway, the mix of stately architecture, lighting, and that table and set of chairs in the background. It just feels really lonely to be in, like I can feel cold air wafting in as I'm down there.

There are some more obvious Speed-of-Doom-like shots with light pouring through ornate ceiling architecture and lit-up slimefalls at the back of dark caverns, this sort of area, but these less 'pretty' shots grabbed me the most maybe because they look more distinct: Left feels like a view that would be in Alien Vendetta, kinda blocky marble architecture that is distinctly early '00s. Right because I'm a sucker for corpse props used well, low-ceilinged areas that come out of nowhere, and this cement/ickwall/blue reminds me of themes Espi would work with.

Maybe surprisingly not the pentagram room. Has to be a toss-up between these two (without the door frame on the right of the first one, oops). I love how this one conveys 'interesting progression' all by itself. And in this shot, we have the blue key teased in the murky darkness, but more importantly, that red switch in the background in a completely different building. I like enigmatic screenshots like that, hinting at gameplay/progression possibilities.

Definitely feels like a wad where action shots would be very different from glamor shots. The ice one has a lot of personality with all those rockets. The wood-lava area was the shot that jumped out at me, even if I liked the jungle/forest map's visuals more. For some reason GZDoom isn't working for me right now (even though I played this map recently lol). But it would 100% be one of the outdoor MODWALL areas, with plenty of sky in the shot. Even that would take too long to play per map just for this exercise, so I nomo'd through. This hallway definitely jumps out with its crisscrossing lighting and the way those props are used suggesting a Frankenstein prop and the chaingun halfway through it.

I would look up DoomWiki entries (failing that, wad release threads or text files). Those often list map slots and map names. edit: Something I missed though is that rather than "The coldest season" the second one is "it's cold up here."

You will find those maps in the wads linked in the OP.

Should be possible to shave off a CPU cycle.

effortposting only (post explanations, don't just name weapons), and "I can't believe no one has posted this weapon yet" posts will be cleaned up -- posting is not a race :P Starting with one: The railgun, which seems to be most commonly a RL/PR strength weapon, has long been a weapon I thought I didn't love all that much, which might also be down to the tinky sound effect that in the version that I knew from multiplayer Doom. But the implementation Ar Luminae uses, which turns it into a 2000-damage dealing power weapon that uses the same ammo as a BFG shot, showed me how much I can love it. It has a beefy sound effect and slick animation, and nailing multiple cybers with its pass through damage is very satisfying. (Ignore the sprite script error, that's not the cyberdemon the wad uses.) There are also moments in Ar Luminae that you get to pierce through rows of beefy mid-tiers, or quickly position yourself so that the beam hits an archvile you're close to while penetrating another one or a cyber further away. I ended up repeating a particular cramped two-cyb a few unnecessary times just because it was so fun to get a double-kill with two shots. Satisfying stuff. Due to its very different damage profile, this weapon can coexist along with the BFG even though it's more powerful, like it does in Ar Luminae. But toning its damage down to more like 1500 or even 1000 would work too, especially if you want to retain the BFG as the cyber two-shotting weapon (against stock 4000HP cybs).

Powerfully put. Loved this wad. Throwing in my failed FDA for map02 from a week ago. I got unlucky with the cyb not doing enough damage to all those viles.

Here's another one: Don't be selfish or self-centered. Look at things from other users' perspectives. Lots of annoying posting can be nipped in the bud if you do this. People who quote entire super long OPs just to say "thanks" are not thinking about how annoying it is to others when all that useless vertical space is taken up. People who post troubleshooting threads and find the solution on their own, and then simply say "nvm fixed it" without any elaboration, aren't thinking about how that thread is now a useless waste of time for everyone who clicks on it or gets it in search. Tying into plums's post, uselessly vague thread titles like "I need help" (instead of specifying exactly what the issue or subject is in the title) miss that almost everyone who clicks on that thread will feel baited, because they didn't know what they were clicking on and couldn't tell they didn't have any help to offer. Not to mention that people who do have expertise will now be less likely to notice that they can help since the topic is buried in the thread. Or, they're like me and try to avoid helping people who start lazy/impatient threads even when they know the answer, because of being burned by how hard those people always are to help. If you think about how all the fundamental parts of your posts and threads look from other users' perspectives, you'll get dozens of good posting tips from that alone. Every post should create something good or something of value for at least one other user. (Yes "screenshots look nice!" posts do that. :P)

Very first words in the thread answer that: "effortposting only (post explanations, don't just name weapons)" It's not hard to write a paragraph.

Two different tips, the first for newer members, the second for older ones. :) 1) Don't post in this style that looks like one person split a single paragraph into multiple sentences that each are in their own post, sometimes a minute apart from each other. You know the style I mean. Learn to use the edit feature. Learn to use multiquotes. Learn to think before you say anything so that you can capture it all in one post. Whatever you need to do to avoid that, just don't post like that lol. You will get warnings to stop at first, but it will end up in losing posting privileges. Good forum posters use paragraphs rather than lots of individual one-line posts. 2) If bad posting is ruining a thread or a bad poster is ruining a subforum with trolling, spammy posting, constant rudeness, etc., and the usual feedback or mature confrontation hasn't worked, don't just seethe about it or start a petty fight. Make a report with a clear concise description of why/what you're reporting. Handy graphic showing how the report button can be found on the top right corner of posts. Some reporting tips: Never use reports as "dislikes" or just because you disagree with an opinion. If it's multiple posts by a regular user, simply make one report that refers to all the posts. But if it's spambots, just report it all. Not something to be done very lightly of course, but if you're already griping that someone should get banned in a thread or some Discord chat, you're well past the point of when you should be reporting that instead. Threads are habitually days or even weeks late to getting reports that would have sorted out issues a lot sooner. Mods are not sitting around F5'ing all the threads for hours a day lol, so using reports is important.

Using nearly all hitscanners can work. TNT:R map08 is pretty much just hitcannners and some supporting enemies for contrast/texture.

Outside of speedrunning (which most people don't do), hitscanners are much more interesting and skill-rewarding enemies than the hyper-fast-projectile enemies that some gameplay mods try to turn them into. Naively it seems like a very fast projectile is more skill-based -- you can dodge it after all. But the inability to dodge hitscanners ends up testing many more skills: dipping quickly behind cover, positioning for cover (for example the common "quickly dive into one hitscanner's closet for cover from all the other ones" tactic), using big enemies as opportunistic meatshields against hitscanners, doing things like switching your chaingun fire between tots of different enemies quickly to painstun them, damage tanking in a smart way when you have no choice, exposing yourself to hitscanners to make them infight, reflexively positioning yourself so that a clump of chaingunners lines up to target each other as much as possible ... can keep going. Even shotgunners, which are obnoxious, have tactics associated with them, like the way to deal with no-cover 'take out a shotgunner for a weapon' starts, using cover between SG/SSG reloads, backpedaling when you're going to get hit to make it less likely all the pellets hit you, and more. Or another way of putting it is that hitscanners are less interesting when it comes to the most obvious skill involved, but more interesting in pretty much every other way.

Getting and noticing a heap of complaints about this project being spammy/disruptive. It has two development threads running at the same time, which is very unusual and adds to that impression. Both of these threads read like Discord chats (the main thread, after a bit over a month, is already on the first page of the 'sort by # of posts' list). The need to start two separate threads in the same month to keep everything readable feels very self-imposed. Please use one development thread and adjust your posting style so that you can do that like all the other projects do.

This is silly. Just turn off the alert sounds. This whole thread is a mess. You have 44 posts in the last 5 hours. Honestly it looks like you just need a bit of a cooldown from DW. Have a good weekend.

Night on Doom Mountain (#4) Probably the last one for this map. This secret fight taught me something. The encounter is pretty much a pure infight brawl featuring nightwatch cacos, the heresiarchs (basically a big slow ground-based afrit -- this comparison is not entirely serious :P), and a cyb. You'd think that pure 'dance around and watch infight' battles with no real danger level beyond the opening phases are not a good archetype. But the key is this one features mostly custom enemies (and a cyb). It's very fun to watch just to satisfy my curiosity about who will win! (Turns out to be the nightwatch cacos, which amazing at infighting.) That's a big difference between a low-danger dance with a group of HKs and a cyb in a big open space, and this setup. It's a silly concept to take your wad's heavy-hitting monsters and throw them in an infighting moshpit, but that makes it a good fit for a secret fight.

Night on Doom Mountain (#3) I'm noticing this map has an unusual structure to it where it feels like the main temple part on its own a traditional three-key map, but then there was an intro phase and a long second phase added to it. No complaints, but the three key temple and heresiarch boss fight feels like it would normally mark the end of a map. In the second half, this whole phase is a banger. It's not even just one setpiece -- even if the big imp and cacoswarm with accompany cyb turret and viles might be the best setpiece in the map -- but it's also the way they all play off of each other. I love how you're graciously allowed to leave before taking out everything, which lets me go and grab the BFG and come back to clean up the cyb with it. Leaving isn't free though as this time the cacos wandered into the BFG area and followed me. By triggering the post-BFG fight before dropping down, I ended up with some chokepoint clearing, but even that wasn't bad because they're all easy pickings for the ample rockets and cells we'll have at this point. This map continues to make a case for a lot of the ways setpieces can be separated from each other without using timed lowering bars. Also that cyber-vile trap at the end is mean lol. Totally forgot about that one.

Night on Doom Mountain (#2) This curved rocky stairstep fight is the hardest in the map by a good margin (assuming you're not dragging in lots of resources from elsewhere, possibly). It's to the point that it feels miscalibrated, because you can beat pretty much every other fight in the map straight-up without anything special but this one has lots of 'FDA bait' (like those perched revenants that are replaced with archviles). The key is preventing that big mob of revenants from charging up the stairs. Taking them out first won't work reliably because the cacodemons will crowd into the stairs. So you want to immediately rush up and take the 'high ground', which keeps the revenants clumped up downstairs, which ends up looking like a cheese due to how irrelevant they are for most of the fight when this is done well, but that's one of the reasons there's often little distinction between 'good strategy' and 'cheese'.