Jan

Awesome :) I've never been completely out of it, every 1 or 2 years, the itch to start mapping seems to come back. Actually finishing my levels is still the problem though ... I have about 7 levels lying around in various stages of completion. Things I'm "working on": a Darkening E2 mission pack, some more classic maps, and recently a remake of an early dodead level which is actually nearing completion!

For what it's worth, I have a uploaded a copy of the resource.wad we used while developing DE2. It may contain a few extra textures over the released project, but I'm not sure if we actually bothered to remove unused textures. Also note that despite the name, it only contains textures and not the midis. Anyway, here's the link: http://www.weirdchill.org/static/darkening/resource.wad Feel free to mirror it somewhere more permanent, as that link may go down at some unspecificied time in the future. Perhaps I should upload it to /idgames or something. Edit: I just uploaded it to the idgames archive, hope it doesn't get rejected.

Traversd as in Travers Dunne?

Welll ... I'm still using good ol' WinDEU 5.24. It's possible that Doombuilder is better, but I can still make anything I want to make in WinDEU. After 15 years (!) of using it I know the program inside out, bugs and quirks included, so for these rare occasions that I still work on Doom maps, I prefer to stay inside my comfort zone instead of learning a new tool.

Hey the music is Rusty Cage by Soundgarden right? Ripping off 90's grunge/metal bands is indeed "Doom the way id did" :D

E1M2, go through red key door, go right to the nukage room. Tadaa! There could be other places too, but that's the first one that came to mind.

Hey all, After "Classic E2: Singularity Complex" I took a break from Doom editing but recently I started mapping again. Being a bit bored with the "Classic" theme, I started to work on some maps with the Darkening E2 texture set. I've always felt I had "underutilized" Ola's excellent textures in the single player levels I made for E2 (mostly because I made them before most of the textures were done, heh) This gave me the idea of making a sort of add-on "mission pack" for The Darkening E2: a bunch of levels that belong together thematically and can be played in order, but not necessarily a full blown episode of 11 full sized levels (more like 6-8 levels). So why am I posting this here? Put simply, I'd like a helping hand because I'm not going to make a reasonably sized mission pack on my own. So if you're a talented mapper who liked The Darkening E2 and you'd like to build some levels for it ... drop me a line! Also, someone who's good with graphics would be welcome for doing things such as: title and intermission screens, custom textures based on existing ones, maintenance of the resource wad etc. Thanks - Jan

For those who have been bugging me about it ;) I've put up some screenshots here: site removed

Oh it's definitely slow & moody, even ambient and atonal. You can check it out here: http://www.doom2.net/~doomdepot/music.html

check your pm

That is an open debate, but as I am not a musician, my options are rather limited. I don't think the DE2 MIDIs go well with the new levels, so I'm thinking of leaving them out altogether. As an alternative I was thinking of offering a separate optional music wad with mp3 lumps of Doom64/PSX Doom music, which is what I've been listening to while mapping and which does go well with the levels. Opinions?

Work on my maps is steadily progressing. Anoher mapper (Pablo Dictter) has joined and has shown me some promising work. No news from Richard Wiles :( No screens yet, so be patient :)

Good news! Richard Wiles got back to me and said he'd try to do a map for the project :D

heh ... we've heard that one before ;)

Heh .. I have to claim responsibility for that one ;) Back then, I was only just discovering Doom editing, and wanted to try all the cool tricks, like the pointless deep water effect in E1M2 of DODEAD. The deathtrap seemed like a cool idea at the time (it was supposed to be a malfunctioning teleport pad), but in hindsight from a gameplay perspective it sucked and even though I put warning textures around the teleporter it was just a lame "haha you're dead!" trap ;)

Thanks, but I have already e-mailed him a few days ago :) I'm still waiting for his reply. Btw, the current status is that I have 2 levels done, and I'm working on a 3rd. In the worst case (if nobody joins the project, and I get stuck), I can always release my stuff as standalone levels, like I did with classic in the beginning.

Because it's not, for several reasons: 1. It is an add-on to E2, using a similar theme and the same texture set. 2. E3 was always supposed to have a hellish theme. 3. I don't want to commit to doing a full episode on the same scale as Darkening E2 (12 SP and DM maps, entirely new texture set) 4. It won't be made by the original Darkening crew (except for me) Darkening Episode 2.5 would be a better description, but I prefer mission pack for now. I've also thought about using a title such as Darkening Reprise, or Darkening: Fear of the Dark but I think it doesn't really matter what it's called as long as it plays well. I mean, one of my all time favorite wads is called fava beans :p

Heh ... I used the alien.mid that's on that site for E1M2 of my Dawn of the Dead wad :)

And here I thought I thought I was the only one who did that :) It does help with inspiration though.

All these years? I released classic e2 at the end of 2005, that's less than 2 years ago ;) Funny you should say that, I had to go download them from the idgames archives just the other day when I wanted to look at them for inspiration. And then I couldn't remember how to get to some secrets in my own levels! Thanks for the compliment, but the textures were mostly Ola's excellent work, can't take credit for that. Though the rest of us did inspire him I suppose :) Ah too bad. Hopefully other people will join.

Well the idea is to be independent of a specific source port, like the original Darkening E2. The only concession I want to make is that it should be a limit removing port. Hardly anyone uses vanilla doom exclusively these days.

It is not possible to make a scary, ambient, atonal soundtrack like in Doom64 and PSX Doom with midi or mus files. The format is just too limited for that. Your best bet would be to head over to the Doom Depot and use some of the mp3's there in your wad. Most source ports know how to play mp3 lumps these days. It's gonna make your wad huge though, so you may consider making a separate music wad.

Episode 1: all of it really, but if I have to pick favorites it's E1M5 and E1M7. Episode 2: E2M7's atmosphere is cool, but the actual implementation is flawed. I tried to recreate the atmosphere in my Classic1 map. Episode 3: E3M3 is passable Episode 4: E4M9 because BROWN1 rocks!! ;) Doom2: no favorites, most maps are average and uninspired to awful.

I have good news and bad news. The bad news is I have cancelled the plans for a 3-level "Classic Trilogy" mini episode. The good news is that I'm working on Classic Episode 2 "The Singularity Complex" and it is nearing completion. More info can be found here: http://www.jvanderveken.easynet.be/classic2/ Jan

Well, sort of. I gave it to Anthony Soto when it was about 75% done with permission for him to finish and use the material, as I didn't really have inspiration at that time to do anything with it. His version ended up in Endgame. Later, I picked up my original version of the map, finished it and released it as classic11. The biggest difference between our two versions is the entire south part, where I axed everything I had already done and started from scratch. Anyway, it's better to have two versions than no versions, isn't it? Thanks :-) Jan