Big Ol Billy

Still holding out hope for a Cyberdreams MIDI pack project, which I would totally contribute to!

Very cool! This was such an ingenious execution of the “keep running or else!” concept. It has a special place in my heart as the DBP09 secret map, of course, but there are few DBP maps more deserving of a standalone release. I’m really interested to see it with the (I assume) original VR-style texturing now too!

What an amazing year. Congrats to all the winners, runner-ups, and mentionees! In awe of the Cacowards team, and frankly anyone else who was able to comb through the mountain of quality content and come out with a relatively firm opinion on how to rank it all. Of course, very happy to see a DBK01 shoutout and even one for The Long Trek Back Home, which is my jam in a major way at the mo'. Now to add some more stuff to my "must play" folder, right next to... uh... some of the stuff I'm still trying to get to from last year...

Very interesting! I need to try this with some of the recent ZDoom2.8.1-targeting stuff I’ve been involved with.

The “time warp”-based stuff in Going Down MAP05 is pretty cool, if that counts as a teleport puzzle. (I’m a Limbo defender so what do I know though :P )

FWIW, this is pretty much the kind of feel that the DBK series is trying to go for. We actually target ZDoom 2.8.1 (while checking for compatibility with current GZ) to keep things in a different lane than the cutting-edge GZ projects—which look pretty great but barely run on my potato computers tbh. Speaking of such, despite the hype I've found that that moving from Boom/limit-removing to UDMF has trade-offs of its own, at least if you want to keep performance generally good for people with humbler setups. It's actually somewhat closer to vanilla mapping, process-wise, for me. I.e., you start making your initial idea however you want it, then check it and dial it back to the important pieces for performance reasons, which is honestly a pretty good way to work. So (depending on your goals and target audience) going to UDMF might actually not necessarily mean unlimited freedom, but rather a different set of restrictions and considerations to work with.

Feel-good thread of the year!

+1 on this, TLTBH is kinda slept-on so far, but it's the best experience with a new project I've had all year (although there's *a lot* that I haven't played). I'm about at the halfway point now, but I've got a feeling it's going to end strong. The visual and thematic dialogue between the new "destroyed" versions of the IWAD maps and the original versions is really cool and clever, and the set keeps introducing new twists on this basic hook. It's also honestly reshaped my attitude toward the D2 IWAD maps. Generally, I've tended to see D2 as a great mapping toolkit with some maps of varying styles and quality kinda thrown in as a bonus—many pretty good, some kinda bad, but almost all feeling kind of like vaguely-conceived first drafts. Here, though, @hervoheebo's maps really help you to see each IWAD map as a place with its own (abstract) atmosphere and logic. Great stuff! There's obviously a long tradition of tributes, spiritual sequels, and otherwise referential projects in the Doom community, but few others have shifted my perspective on their inspiration material so strongly.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Seriously, very cool to see all the reactions, positive and negative, here, but especially neat to see some of the more imaginative interpretations of the map. WCGW?, seen from a couple of year’s distance is a nice little example of the mature phase of my early style, if that makes sense. I was getting a handle on Boom and doing a lot of community projects to try to figure out how to level up my skills and connections, but I had mapped enough that I had some core mapping goals, which are on display here: elaborate secrets, high-concept ideas, and dramatic moments. Like many of my CP maps from that time (I’m thinking especially my JOM4 and Nova III maps, not to mention Doomguy Gets a Puppy), this map had a some pretty involved headcanon—indeed, my memory is a little vague and I can’t quite remember some of the backstory I first sketched out during my brainstorming and layout doodling. But iirc the basic idea is that Doomguy needs the red key to exit this particular hellish realm, but in the course of chasing it down across several dimensional rifts he (potentially) ends up releasing the demonic forces that created the realm in the first place. I like that it’s a map full of ideas and dramatic moments, though I’ll certainly admit it’s a little hit or miss as far as conveying those ideas and moments effectively. The figure-8 lava section seems to be the big point of contention, which is fair enough, and kind of the ultimate case in point: the turret enemies are really oppressive and best dealt with via the secret telefrag chain, but if the player doesn’t think to take a different tack it can be an annoying and frustrating experience (and because the turrets are p much annoying and frustrating from the get-go, you’re not exactly in the most creative mindset approaching that area as a first-time player). The trade-off was to at least make it optional, with a higher risk-area offering the path to a unique secret. But unless you really wrap your head around that somewhat cryptic setup it’s understandable that it would leave a sour taste, and even if it does click I’m not sure it gives you enough of an “aha!” moment to justify itself. I think it makes sense, in a way, that I transitioned from this style into a long, intensive period of almost exclusively focusing on limit-removing maps (most centrally, the DBP series, which from a creative standpoint really spoke to me). I think having that extra level of restriction compared to boom helped me focus and get more disciplined about communicating to the player and presenting thematic and gameplay ideas in a clearer way. That said, I2 was a great experience. Kudos to the leadership for helping to make the map as strong as it is and for providing some inspiring resources to work with!

“GET RIGHT RIGHT NOW” is a track from my post-punk/dungeon synth project Manifest Sons, given a glitchy visual by one of my longtime collaborators. The sharp-eyed viewer will recognize some shots from one of my maps from DBP11: Lilywhite Lilith here. Enjoy!

Played the first three levels on my lunch break, and I'm totally sold on this! Great concept and some clever touches to make backtracking through the "destroyed" IWAD levels fresh, fun, and interesting.

Hopefully not! Looking more like the beginning of October, although it’s true it’s been especially hard to predict things lately, even by my standards. But one of the motivations for the DBK series was to have something with a less relentless pace, both for polishing and personal sanity purposes XD

RC2 is up in the OP! If nothing else pops up this bad boy will be off to idgames in the near future. DBK02 starting up soon! XD Changes: Difficulty settings have been refined and tested more extensively Addressed performance issues, especially on MAP02 and MAP03 Fixed a softlock on MAP06 More special touches on a few maps Some refinements on boss and credit maps Text file with info and credits now included Other random texture/alignment/etc fixes along the way

New Paulmap? Color me intrigued!

Congrats! Interesting topic, not many things come to mind. I'll plug my old debut release Doomguy Gets a Puppy, which might fit the bill. Definitely not "romance" themed, but it's about the unshakeable bond between grizzled space marine and cute pet at least. (Also I made it with my then-girlfriend, now-fiancée, so there's some behind-the-scenes romance at least!) Jimmy's Project: Kate is a sweet tribute to friendship with some nice purple tones and sector hearts, although it's probably a bit somber for a pre-wedding Doom marathon. And again not about specifically romantic love. Still, that's the other thing that immediately comes to mind.

Had to stop everything and donate to this, Laz has an amazing story and is one of the true outsider artists in our community. His Astrostein projects were a huge inspiration for Occult Secrets of the Third Reich on Mars, too!

Black metal tends to be the most interesting and appealing stuff for me, although you never know where you're going to find a cool artist or album. Been listening to a lot of Voivod lately, which has made me interested in learning more about 80's thrash. Lamp of Murmuur and Grim Tormentor are two current black metal projects that have caught my ear, fwiw

Thanks @Vile, glad you enjoyed it! Good catch on that softlock, it'll be fixed in RC2 along with some other improvements. Still have some more playthroughs to watch first...

Thanks for this, will do! This is my first time leading a G/Z type project so I’m still getting up to speed on best practices re: compatibility, performance, etc. for the format. Tips like this are appreciated!

Thanks Phob. And yeah, the credits map goes on 4 lyfe! ;) My apologies to Bear for introducing RC1's GZ bug in a last-minute tweak, that's on me!

Important update! RC1.1 (now linked in the OP) fixes a GZDoom-only showstopper in MAP02 :)

Not exactly a sidequest, although the Fall of Society “sidequest” project did lay some groundwork for this. Several of us had been talking for a while about projects that wouldn’t necessarily fit the DBP format (although DBP37 shows there’s still plenty of life in that classic format!). Particularly the ZDoom format and a longer and slightly looser development period were attractions to me. I’ve made something like 55 DBP maps (or I think ~80 if you count credit maps and such) so it was about time to switch things up! :)

Yeah +1 for Bury My Heart Knee Deep, it’s fantastic in its own right and (to my knowledge) the purest translation of the Metroidvania structure/approach to Doom.

Very cool to get a lil shoutout from the Dean himself! Early on in my mapping career, I consciously made "generous/cool secrets" one of my general mapping goals (sometimes going a bit too far with it) since that was something I always enjoyed in maps. Secrets are often a good place to inject some extra personality into your mapping, and that often holds especially true for secret maps. I generally think of them as a place to give the player something they haven't seen before, and to let your creativity run a little wilder than you might usually do. In lower formats the two extra text screens are a cool affordance, too, which give the mapper a chance to introduce a little extra narrative (as Going Down does to an amusing effect) or break the forth wall (as in Plutonia). A little bit about "Solar Powered," which might be relevant to the general discussion here: the map actually came from just building out from a unique affordance that the Nova III leaders gave the MAP31 slot--namely, that the secret maps could use unique skies. I wanted to figure out a cool way to make having a unique sky something more than just a visual change, which is what gave me the idea to make a map centered around manipulating things to get the sun in the sky texture to shine on a series of solar panels, so that the sky was (in a sense) involved in the actual progression of the map. (Admittedly, you can sorta just hit switches and not really pick up on this, but still it gave me a way to structure things as a mapper.) Everything else grew from that, really--the mesoamerican/tech hybrid theme, for example, quickly emerged as an easy way to sell the basic progression hook. There are some things I would change about the map from my POV as a mapper today, but I'm still pretty proud of it overall.

Love it, how do people even do these 3rd-person replay type animations? Really adds a lot and makes the explanations crystal clear.