PasokonDeacon

1 hour ago, kdoom said:

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've had some real life issues to deal with lately. My parents are both passed away now, and it's been tough to find motivation. Despite that, I'm still working on this monster, and I will finish it soon. 

I'm sorry for your loss. None of us can personally know what you've been going through; I can only hope life carries on and you feel better sooner than later. I should really check this map out (and your legacy works I've yet to play!), so the bump is appreciated.

Be rootin', be tootin', and by Hell be shootin', but remember, always be speedmappin'.

I'm also still less than 24 hours out (progression mostly final, thing placement not so much), though I finally got to make the lion's share of mapping progress this weekend.

Maybe I bit off a lot to chew in the span of a few days, but I wanted to do the MAP26 slot justice. Let me know if you need a beta soon for RC1; I've already selected a MIDI and placed co-op/DM starts.

Coming in clutch with a relatively straightforward map!

Name: Skull Pointer Overflow
Author: Pasokon Deacon
Music: "Choirs From Hell" by Paul Corfiatis (pcorf)
Restrictions: 100 lines, non-orthogonal, sector special 10
Notes:

2024-PasokonDeacon-32in24_15v2-Skull Pointer Overflow.zip

Among the IWADs, it's Plutonia, no question. Beating the harder levels (Onslaught, Death Domain, Go 2 It) introduced me to pressure-cooker combat design and made me (relatively) comfortable. I used to save-scum through those maps and now I can do single-segment demos with enough prep. Even before that, however, I got exposed to a lot of community-era mapping tropes via Back to Saturn X E1, far from the hardest set out there. It still has some ball-busting moments peppered throughout, of course; MAP05's final battle is a real test of managing threats from all sides, to use an early example.

WRT releases I've been playing lately for exercise and inspiration, shout-outs to Kama Sutra on UV! I bounced off Hell Revealed quite hard (save the standout maps like Post Mortem, Resistance is Futile, and Afterlife), so it's awesome to play a later set that greatly improves that style of congestion and slaughter. Maps like Cow Face feel like a breeze now that my crowd herding skills have improved. Eventually I'll move on to HMP/UV for Combat Shock, Stardate xxxx, etc.

As an on-and-off Backloggd wonk (see my Doomsday of UAC review), I noticed and liked your Cacowards list about a week or so ago while going through WADs I need to log. I should also get some more WADs added to IGDB. There's going to be a lot more entries on those BL lists if we take the effort, and IGDB's pretty lenient on what data they'll take for new submissions (ex. copying from Doom Wiki).

Afterglow's site hosted here on Doomworld has a great selection of tex packs old and new. Some of them are his work (scratch, conversion), while others like 32-in-24-15 are links/mirrors for essential updates to classics like CC4-tex (itself a "best of" collection for many legacy resources like GothicDM textures). CC4-tex has generally lost the "overused mappers' pack" status to OTEX in recent times, but it's still distinctive enough to matter now, and arguably easier to work with if you need something smaller yet varied.

I'm personally a big fan of alternate IWAD resources for doom2.wad projects, ex. Ultimate Doom graphics and fixed-up Plutonia assets. Combining the best bits of the official IWADs can do a lot to expand your palette early on without getting overwhelming, and it's been a common practice to mix these textures together since the turn of the 2000s. Zoon-tex is much larger than 32-in-24-15, meanwhile, and has found some usage in WADs already; all the IWAD+ recolors/franken-textures and new additions here make it quite versatile.

WRT whether or not new mappers should stick with IWAD-only textures, all I can say with confidence is that texture packs usually share enough characteristics to make transitioning between them easier than you might think. My first map used just doom2.wad patches + tex, but my following public releases relied on a mix of non-idSoft packs (ex. 32-in-24-15 for most of Modest Mapping Challenge 2's resource WAD, whatever Obsidian/TMD chose for ASS sessions back in the day, etc.) while my private speedmaps stuck to Doom II & Plutonia. Now that I'm getting back into mapping, I'm keen to start making my own composite textures from the IWAD sources, plus any fan packs whose licenses allow for that approach to their textures.

The key to making all this gel is using editor filters to keep everything organized by theme or use category. Let's say I need horizontally tiled walls to take my mind off texture alignment, let alone making non-orthogonal/off-angle geometry. Maybe this next map(set) calls for strict limits on what tex/flats I'm allowed to use at all! I can make a filter config just for those textures within Ultimate Doom Builder, then export the configs to all the map formats I've enabled in case I want to load them for a project. This can also help reveal which common texture name prefixes exist across resources, in case you're browsing an unfamiliar pack and want to quickly identify types of graphics.

A potential advantage of newer art add-ons, beyond just visual stylings, is they help discourage potential pitfalls like over-detailing and rigid on-grid construction. IWAD textures had zero novelty by around a decade ago (or more!), so tricks and flourishes with sector/linedef detailing became one way to forestall using a fresher resource pack for whatever reason. Packs like Zoon-tex, OTEX, etc. are much better about baking in details normally absent in the IWAD-era patches, meaning it's easier to make a "detailed" map with less worries about geometry quantity and placement (new color palettes help as well). Many lauded vanilla-limited WADs have taken advantage of this since Back to Saturn X showed how effective it is (not to forget The Darkening Episode 2).

While I love getting as much as I can out of the IWAD assets to make spaces with certain themes or moods in mind, I think it's overly restrictive to only use base-game textures up until some certain threshold of mapping experience. It's more than possible to fall into the aforementioned detailing/repetition traps using newer resources. Alternating between sets for different kinds of projects keeps mapping fresh for me without disguising any missed potential and fundamentals I should work on.

Gave this a whirl, admittedly not on -cl 2 when I should have: Just_Another_Wednesday-FDA-UV-cl9-PasokonDeacon.zip

Fun little map! It satisfies my TeamTNT itch without getting lost in the weeds of too much exploration or puzzling...very akin to Shipping/Respawning and a treat to poke around. I think the secrets were a little too easy for this forum's demographic (judging by how you've tested this previously with friends (co-workers?)), but it's hardly an issue. Main things to work on for next time are texture alignment (ex. STONE wall discrepancies, the weirdly shaped bookcase sectors) and thing placement. The caco trap certainly gave me guys to shoot at, and there's a decent head count for the map size, yet I only felt threatened by the low-ish amount of health pickups around halfway through the progression. At least I had some time to admire the monitor sectoring and strange carpet (mosaic?) outside the meeting room. Lots of cool "that looks like a watercooler" moments for sure; DoomCute is maybe a bit too easy to impress me with, lol.

Cat: 2
Difficulty: UV

Time (survived): 81:40

Kills: 467/482 [37/47 secrets]

Port: DSDA-Doom [-cl 3]

DWIL - Castle of Evil - FDA - UV - cl3_DSDA-Doom_castevil.zip

Been a long time since I played this (back in 2019 after seeing an odd recommendation or two), so I wanted to see if I could recall as many secrets as possible. Excellent adventure for its period, and a marvel of architecture and evolving layout. I had some close calls, particularly the baron pit since I didn't have a plasma gun yet, but managed to get myself out of trouble with quick thinking. Shout-outs to the turret lift that takes so damn long to complete its cycle.

Doom Launcher is my main, with ZDL as the alt for testing. Occasionally I'll use command line/batch file for a very niche use case or two (ex. Master Levels), but even then most of my direct tinkering with DSDA-Doom cmd options happens in ZDL first.

I used to just drag and drop, back when I didn't know what -complevel meant and when I figured ZDoom would suffice for just about everything. Doom Launcher helps me keep my enormous downloads library organized and searchable via tags, in addition to including cmd line and demo naming fields. It's excellent for casual plays and testing, and the size bloat's pretty minimal compared to having redundant copies of file folders with less management. I'd feel a bit different if I played more multiplayer mods (Doomseeker automates that just fine for me), but for single-player, there's not much more I think Doom Launcher needs to add or perfect.

ZDL, on the other hand, works perfectly when I just want to record FDAs for something I've found in WAD Releases which I don't feel like adding to Doom Launcher yet. The lack of extra features makes it much better for these lightweight tasks.

For all the shock it gives newer players, then and now, Plutonia's style of combat and resource management still lags behind the aptitude and variety of strategies demanded by most newer mapsets. All it asks is that you get used to fighting the heavies and unusually threatening monster combos more often. Fast but precise movement to keep yourself safe, all while herding monsters for infighting or to catch them on corners, becomes more important starting from Plutonia onward, and I think that megawad's great for teaching these skills. Still, from what little I've played of Going Down (once on HMP, later on UV), it's one of the more manageable "frightening" sets I've seen get a lot of attention. I've just cleared Congestion 1024 this month and am even more comfortable with nasty traps in tight spaces, so (Boom trickery aside) I'm ready for the likes of GD and similar releases.

6 hours ago, DoctorNuriel said:

Hi, I'm afraid I'm stepping out of the project - life priorities at the moment have changed.

Good luck to all!

Don't mind if I sub in for MAP26, then? I've got some ideas for Library Hell.

Demo for the initial version: Apprehension_MAP01-FDA-UV-cl9-PasokonDeacon.zip

With your pedigree and this map's quality, I don't think there's too much to worry about. It's a fun, well-paced opener that makes the most of its curvaceous techbase setting. I like the balance between a symmetric inner arena and the outer wings which engage in different variations on cramped combat. Resource proportions feel just right, too, though I imagine they'll take a bit of work (alongside encounters) when balancing for skill levels. Lighting and geometry also work very well for this style of map. Though the demo makes it look like I'm playing some '90s labyrinth (been doing a lot of that lately!), I can't remember getting confused or worked up about any signposting problems. If anything, my thoroughness made it a cinch to find the plasma gun secret. That doesn't explain how I could miss the SSG room, however—weird behavior on my part. All I'd suggest for that is brightening up the door overhang sectors and giving them a flicker effect to highlight the path leading in there.

RFHellTX is an inspired choice, mixing vanilla and classic PWAD texturing together without feeling too much like a throwback. This feels like it could have made waves back in the late-2000s, between the speedy pace of play and fancy but sensible level of detail not often seen in big projects at that time. The standout moment for me was the CG/HK ambush early on, raising my heartrate and keeping me away from door camping by supplying enough ammo for the weaker weapons without getting tedious. If it were me, I'd also add a couple spectres to the starting room (on UV) in case someone wants to try cheesing the fight, but it's unnecessary given the amount of health/armor slack in the big room. Lower wing with skellies and a chaingunner behind went the way that feels appropriate: quick, not too biting, and early enough that a death won't sting. The upper wing needs a bit of reworking IMO—moving one or two chain gunners to guard the switch exit, rather than get sniped in their cubby holes, could make that more interesting. But basically all the encounters are solid already.

Technically speaking, all I noticed was this weirdness in the upper wing by the manc:

Not sure what happened here, but maybe it's already fixed in the update. Keep up the awesome work! I'm keen on playing the next map.

There's something to be said for trying multiple control schemes in general, at least for media you're already investing a lot of time and focus into. I used to play KB-only, then transitioned to KB+mouse (sans freelook except for some GZDoom-based works), and I could go back to KB-only without much headache if I feel like it. For me, the higher skill and reaction demands of WADs today makes the KB+M model more viable; I want to start something and not immediately feel like my own controls are holding back my enjoyment. Since I've only got so much time to play games, I tend towards the most flexible controls I can get unless I need an unconventional setup to get what I perceive as the authentic experience.

Death of the author is a thing, too. Most of us aren't using KB+M controls a la what Romero designed for Doom in 1993. That early form of mouselook/spring/strafe seems downright alien to most modern players, albeit in large part because it just didn't have the level of adoption as increasingly homogenized gamepad layouts. Fans of genres like survival horror can tell you how much debate still happens over "tank controls", as if there's anything inherently better or worse about earlier Resident Evil-/Silent Hill-type games' controls. Anyone pursuing a hybrid approach is more than valid, even if most genres make it hard or just unsatisfying to find that compromise. I avoid freelook for the most part because I find the horizontal FOV constraints amenable to more focused play, for example. Easily seeing flyers that can block my routes, or fireballs coming from above or below where I feel safe, would detract from my perceived need to keep moving and recalculate my positioning during combat. But I still use mouse aiming to rotate fast in a way that matches how quickly Doomguy can speed through areas—KB-only rotation struggles to keep up!

39 minutes ago, plums said:

Tangentially it's interesting to see how many people prefer to play Doom with a gamepad these days. I'm a kb+m user but I would rather play keyboard only than with a gamepad, but for someone who's been playing analog-stick based games for their whole gaming lives I'm sure it feels natural.

 

I wonder if there are any speedrunners or just very skilled players using a pad?

Beyond how gamepads have been the paradigm for player controls on stationary/portable consoles since forever, some studies (of varying sample size and methodology quality) point to the difficulty of using keyboards and mice, let alone in tandem, for younger players today. It's becoming a problem mainly due to the dominance of touch/haptic controls for smartphones, a device category that's supplanted much of the laptop and desktop userbase in recent years. So while I doubt the research on this comes close to definitive, I'm also not surprised that many folks my age or younger might do much better via gamepad since, by and large, console manufacturers still abide by established control layouts and ergonomics dating back to the turn of the millennium.

On 3/7/2024 at 6:24 PM, Gothic said:

Map 07

Name: The Broken Cannale

 

I also plan to reduce the size of my previous map, I noticed that a normal run can last over 10 minutes.

Having just played through all of the released maps so far, this one definitely took me the longest. Without secret hunting, I ended at a nominal 30 min playthrough (though I'm usually a slow player), not counting reloads. There's definitely ways to speed this one up while retaining the pacing and general challenge level, though I recommend adding one or two more green armors for UV, at least for the YK lock-in.

If there's no one queued for it, I'll volunteer to fill the MAP24 slot. I've got some free time this week to crank out something small, even with all the options this res pack offers.

Why not just add the DL link to your OP, and spruce up the topic title (complevel/port, map theme, etc.)? Did a sloppy FDA, DSDA-Doom as usual: Brownian_Movement-FDA-UV-cl9-PasokonDeacon.zip

Identifying Brown: Yup, It's Brown!™ And it's also a fun series of easy-breezy canyon base encounters. I think UV monster placement could use a tune-up in some spots—the penultimate lock-in with the barons and pinkies didn't pressure me much at all thanks to cover (revs or archies, though...). Maybe swap out the barons for pairs of imps on HNTR, two barons on HMP, and additional revs for UV. Consider keeping two of the lost souls in the RK caco closet on HMP/UV, also, to close off the room escape a bit more. I appreciate your restraint in having just one key trap, with the YK and BK encounters already populated to exert pressure from across room sections. I don't know what your difficulty goals are here, but it feels like an accessible early map for an episode or megawad.

On the whole, it looks nice thanks to a decent amount of detail and lighting compensating for the texture restrictions. I've skimmed through your previous releases and am already seeing a good uptick in complexity here, though more spikes and dead trees on the cliffsides couldn't hurt. Corridor and door widths all felt accommodating for this level of action and running, and my instinct would tell me to use more open-stay actions so that enemies and projectiles might flow more freely as you enter and exit areas. The occasional repopulation during backtracking also helped signpost a couple things I'd stupidly missed, mainly the door to the BK room. My favorite part overall is the stretch from the BK door through to the first lock-in trap: some atmospheric bends outside the base with more threats than before, culminating in a chance to some low-tiers and flyers against a big 'ol manc. Maybe add an optional path, bending around from after the baron lock-in back to the YK room in case players missed anything.

I took a peek in the editor and found out why the baron fight room had weird rendering bleeds during play (also with incorrect light levels). Make sure to close your sectors unless these are the results you were hoping for! The second secret managed to elude me while recording, yet I would have had it if I'd noticed the conspicuous button sector embedded in that COMPWALL strip (very cool palette choice by the way).
 

Good stuff. I hope you keep working on anything you've planned. For better or worse, this feels like a very polished speedmap layout that's got just enough to warrant a replay.

15 hours ago, Devalaous said:

I'm more curious what happened to Milo, he seems to have vanished off the face of the earth in comparison.

He's got a LinkedIn, just not with any recent activity. Like his brother, I imagine just dealing with Old People Things and life outside game dev has kept him busy.

Seems like I should keep working on my Wayback Machine skillz if I can miss these so easily. I didn't know about the earlier version of GO-ICHI's homepage (hadn't seen the URL in the weekend.wad textfile), so it's good to see these got mirrored all the way back in 1999.

2 hours ago, stylo said:

Running it through Wayback Machine, latest backup gets you the site:

https://web.archive.org/web/20180104045206/http://www1.plala.or.jp/yuiyui/doom/doomwads.htm

 

but the text is still garbled.

I'm reading the text just fine (must be different Shift-JIS encoding params on my browser):

The Doom II wads page is very incomplete vs. his /idgames submissions, but there's plenty of details about Yukio's multiplayer exploits throughout these pages. The "Tech" page deals mainly with deathmatch techniques, while AIUHLP3 and ISDN list general info/troubleshooting for modem set-up and online play. Most other pages deal with playing Doom online via specific source ports, plus one detailing match results and another listing MP maps (no links that I can see).

His links page turned up a couple interesting tangents, even if it seems Quake II had become the FPS de jour among his friends group by 2000/2001. One of the linked homepages has an extensive set of articles covering Boom, though the Wayback capture's garbled even for me. Another example is GO-ICHI's QUAKE Original Map Page, which seemingly hosted some single-player Doom II maps and scraps by the author (which sadly weren't archived). I'm sure there's plenty more hops to go along these links/webrings before the well of '90s/turn-of-the-2000s Japanese Doom fandom runs dry.

1 minute ago, houston said:

BBS =/= telnet shell through direct dialup.

What the term more often means, especially in the Japanese netsphere, is any form of web forum. More often than not it means one hosted on what I'd call a "forum farm", a site like Fandom or Geocities, but hosting a bunch of web BBSes instead. Because of their often confusing (for a web scraper) layout and sometimes hostile robots.txt files, finding any archive might still be a complete crapshoot.

One of Yukio's text files mentioned a NIFTY-Serve BBS he could have accessed via a pre-HTML terminal browser over dial-up. That service was essentially a license partnership between CompuServe (the corporation and their well-known BBS server/end-user infrastructure) and Nifty, a company formed from a partnership between Fujitsu and Nissho Iwai (Sojitz today). GODDESS-NET's maintainers paid for server space and network/timeshare cycles, of course. The BBS on Yukio's own website was entirely web-hosted, but we only know about that one via a later Wayback archive. Given the timing of when DOS/V and PC-98 owners would have jumped ship to Windows 95 (and HTML-compliant browsers/networking in turn), plus the fact that NIFTY-Serve only added Internet-to-BBS logins much later in 1997, I think Yukio wasn't yet referring to a web database BBS/forum.

Speaking of web BBSes, here's a decently captured one I've found while looking through Yukio's links.

AUMW? AUM World, as written in the text file? Sounds like some kind of Aum Shinrikyo reference, which is maybe a bit tasteless but definitely morbid enough for a Doom WAD of this vintage. (Since they're giving it an elaborate English title vs. a transliterated JP-to-ENG one, I'm assuming there's some kind of in-joke or pun happening here.) The map itself seems like a rough hunk of fun, with plenty of congestion to handle and mean traps abundant.

You'd have to ask Tatsuya Ito and others if they were aware of Ide's creations, whether during the '90s or after.

Otaku and Doom, a match made in...well, 1990s Japan. That's not surprising at all, given how many PC hobbyists would also have been big TV/manga fans. The majority of Western Doom modders were high schoolers, college students, etc. who geeked out over D&D, heavy metal, and edgy comics/cartoons. And the early batch of DOS-based editing tools (also available to Windows9x adopters) were usable enough to create a bunch of maps, resources, DeHackEd patches, and so forth. We could just laugh and guffaw at these, but it's still cool to see what a sliver of the larger community was working on.

Most of these files look too slight to dig any deeper, but this part of the GODDESS NET BBS DOOM textfile intrigues me:

Quote

* What is Goddess Net *

Goddess Net BBS in Osaka Japan. Goddess Net on-line Japan.
Goddess Net BBS, Fri-Sun 10:00 PM-2:00 AM Japanese Time, (0722)61-5413.
Along with many other D2/Heretic/Descent Levels and Editors.

I don't envy our chances of digging up any BBS archives from a non-Tokyo otaku BBS dating to 1996/1997 (and I'm generally more keen on finding the earlier Japanese PC-focused examples), but here's something worth a casual search. One would have to convert that title into JP characters (alphabetical or kanji) to get useful results, I suspect. This likely would have been similar to other PC game-centric Usenet groups like rec.games.computer.doom, just on a regional BBS system instead.

I'll also note that the Suzuka mod references a famous Japanese racing circuit, which makes it the outlier here, though, again, not unlikely for anime otaku to also enjoy motorsports. If the author was indeed from the Osaka area, then Suzuka would be local by Kansai standards.

Interesting attempt at a Tyson-style map a la Hell Revealed. The opening scrum was engaging, what with a hot start to route the imps and pinkies around the turrets. The sequence after that? A predictable slog: bait heavily congested lumps of low-tiers into attacking, then slowly but surely knock them down while remaining patient. I was initially pleased to see the big finale, but the odd group placement of demons and nobles, with no incentive to rush in for a chaingun or even some armor, told me to play the funnel game again. Berserk fisting barons in tight spaces sure sounds like someone's idea of fun, but I like having options. Clean-up in the arena went smoothly, if uneventful. Then I charged through the hall-of-mirrors fake wall (?!) to find a rather abrupt walkover exit.

Since you're well into working on community maps, I'm not sure how many of my points are still relevant, but I agree that this map feels like a leftover. The idea works, and I'd love to see you revisit this later on, either for a CP or your own mapset. Maybe expand on the opening room, spiraling the player into an evolving countryside full of revenant fire and low-tiers waiting to get bamboozled with some crowd shaping. The visuals aren't terrible, either, though the lighting and texturing felt way too flat for my liking. Craggy canyons aren't easy to do, and I hope you've been experimenting with freehand line drawing and finding good angles for sky rendering (something I still need to work on). Cool to see we have very similar tastes in music, though I would have chosen a more aggressive T-Square rendition if available. One day we need to make the Japanese PC game-themed mapset...

Demo: TRUTH-FDA-UV-cl9-PasokonDeacon.zip

My own quick tweaks to the map, in case you're interested: TRUTH-v1.1.zip

I've been tutoring a friend through the IWADs lately, and he also had fun with TNT despite noting a bunch of clunkers in the mix. We skipped the secret maps, but will likely return to them, especially MAP32 here and in Plutonia.

On 2/28/2024 at 3:52 AM, stylo said:

Special shout to Storage Facility for living up to its name. Critics are saying 'wow, that certainly was a crate maze.' 

 

I'm on episode two now, and I wanted to mention both Crater and Nukage Processing, two back-to-back levels that I found conjured up a certain sense of real atmosphere. 

Perhaps it was my mood that night, perhaps the music or perhaps it was the wind, but I found those two, the latter in particular, genuinely a little bit unnerving. 

After all the Everything All the Time maps, these I felt had a solid grasp of tension and release, an unease running through them. 

 

Crater had me wandering around that huge canyon, single-textured as it may be, looking at the stars, the moons, paying more attention to the backdrop than I had previously.

 

The last few levels I finished were more of a mixed bag. I don't have much to say about Dead Zone. Processing Area was alright; by the end I appreciated the weirdness. 

 

Deepest Reaches, on the other hand, is my least favourite so far. Just, ugh, c'mon, no. 

So MAP11 was a favorite of his, maybe because it took E2M2's crate maze and added a lot of needed verticality and adversity. It's one of the more humble maps in the whole set, trading out the high concepts for iteration on a well-trodden idea that deserved more finesse. He didn't notice the archvile jump secret, however...

We didn't spend a whole lot of time poking around Crater, meanwhile. The nighttime atmosphere felt more apparent in Nukage Processing, which remains one of my favorite parts of Evilution thanks to well-designed fights and progression (plus the iconic Wormhole MIDI). Opening the blinds and seeing those high-tier monsters come out to play really spooked him, as did the funky warp routes around the cliffside.

Dead Zone is another one of my highlights from TNT.wad just for its get-up-and-go energy. No time for texture alignment or fancy effects here! This megawad really need a more open-ended blast 'em up after the tightly arranged maps from before (I still love you, Steel Mill!), and it's no surprise that a lot of Doomworld people have appreciated MAP15 more and more over time. I actually feel it's stolen a bit of Lunar Mining Project's thunder; both are well-paced, combative intermission pieces that provide a mental reset between the more epic faire. Yet they both feel like very TeamTNT-era maps despite forgoing the conceits of their peers.

While I agree Deepest Reaches has some problems (ex. backtracking), it was actually a surprise hit with my streaming partner. Maybe he's a sucker for dungeon crawling, or the naturalistic caverns impressed him enough.

On 3/1/2024 at 3:01 PM, stylo said:

THE MILL 

 

Rather underwhelming. You go through a convoluted mess of underwhelming puzzles in order to use convoluted methods to unlock a final, underwhelming finale. Everybody clap.

If it's any consolation, Dario rarely approaches this level of fiddly puzzle-solving and obfuscation in his Plutonia maps. Only his lone contribution to Requiem a year later feels as beguiling, and that's still much more of a combat-first experience than Mill. He took the Evilution team mission to heart, though, and at least Pharaoh delivers in that respect.

9 minutes ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Mill is....fine? I think a lot of the cryptic progression you point to (Dario Casali also has a shootable switch in "Well of souls" from Plutonia but admittedly, it's far harder to lose track in that map:P) is one of those things when I was younger I wasn't too concerned with because it wasn't like Eternal doom levels of obscure switch location or whatever.

I don't think Mill is an especially fun time, but it's still middle-of-the-pack in this WAD thanks to some nice visuals and monster placement. The weird bits can really throw off newer players, though, like my friend who had to ask me more questions than usual (and who plays adventure games on his own time too). Eternal Doom makes any of Evilution's puzzle adventures look tame, to be sure.

Always up for a solid techbase romp, though this one currently has a problem: the fast crusher YK trap disrupts the W1 Door Open Stay sectors adjacent to the crushing sector. This softlocks the map on -complevel 2 since the switch to escape both rooms is tucked behind the imps and pinky which I can't reach. I must have sped past this whole trap on my first demo (back when it was a slow crusher), but it got me the second time.

The layout and encounters themselves are fine! It feels very post-Shores of Hell with a nice amount of non-linearity and light but present opposition to break up the running. All your v1.1 changes have helped to spice up what was previously a mediocre base map; the initial version really had too few monsters relative to real estate. I haven't tested on lower difficulties, but this feels about right for what should be an easy Ultimate Doom throwback, one I could get a newer player to try without hesitation. They might wonder why some parts (ex. the outer cargo yard and penultimate outdoors T-intersection) are so monotextured—I'd add trim textures (16 or 32 map units) to the walls, with some restraint, just to break up the monotony. It may not be what you're going for, but there's copious room for added line/sector detailing in places that players can't reach, all without breaking vanilla limits as I've seen in Chocorenderlimits.

Other suggestions I can think of:

• Switch out the PLAT1 lift textures for something that tiles better, e.g. SUPPORT2/3, and have players step off a reusable lift at the start spot to signal "these are the lifts on this map" (see pics).
• Sneak one or two extra Barons into the setpiece areas (UV only), maybe the aforementioned less detailed rooms which have enough space (and are late enough into the progression) to add a different kind of pressure.
• Secrets here feel either accidental or very well obscured, almost to a fault. I'd reduce the benefits of the walkover door secret found at the western containment area, but add a little candle or something to hint at the adjoining lift secret in that blue armor room to discourage wall-humping. Stuff like the W1 lowering lift at the cargo courtyard doesn't work for me since I'm justifiably distracted by all the baddies I've just aggro'd, too.

A fun lil' E1-meets-E2 jaunt with room to grow. This feels like the kind of map Tom Hall would have made if he'd stuck around longer, in a good way.

v1.0 Demo: DCSF-FDA-UV-cl2-PasokonDeacon.zip

v1.1 De mo: DCSFv1.1-DNF-UV-cl2-PasokonDeacon.zip