DarkQuill

Pretty sure I was 6. Thankfully every game demo CD had Shareware Doom on it back then, cause I never ever saw the original in a store until Ultimate Doom the year after its release.

You can't cater to everyone. Make the map you want to make. Would not recommend catering to the "I want to 100% everything on my first run" crowd, because that is an extra layer of challenge they are adding themselves. It's like not including a Berserk in a map and Tyson players getting the shits because they have to play slower. Or a sniper enemy that doesn't get telefragged/crushed and can't infight with anything. It's people ignoring the "extra" part in "extra challenge". People will be quick to blame the map, because the immediate thought of "It's my fault for not being more perceptive" is self-sabotage and just awful in general. Obviously that doesn't excuse immediate opinions/accusations against the maps/makers, but understand it's most usually a form of frustration that is said as a reactionary thing and not as an intentional putdown. IMO, having secrets announced is a good thing because the player knows they've done something correctly that awards their exploration and inquisitiveness. They're told "this BFG on a pillar is the result of you doing something that was out of the way, good job" and not "there's a BFG here cause I want you to have it". Players can totally turn off the item/secret/monster counts and even the Secret Found announcements in (I would guess most) source ports if they want that early 90s Doom "lmao is this one stimpack in a corner tagged a secret or not?" aesthetic. It's also a good clue-in for secrets that are linked to other secrets via some weird method. I think there was a few instances of Sunlust where a single Armor Bonus was in a secret area, and doing multiple of those to get to a larger secret is the payoff. Without that notification, there'd be no clue what makes the larger area open, or that there was any significance to the Armor Bonuses. I left a comment on that Ancient Aliens vid saying that I'd replayed through it about 2 weeks ago and had a much worse experience with Map31 the second time. I've since edited it to be less harsh, because in the end the fault lies with myself. Playing with mods that further reward/incentivize the player for getting all secrets/kills can amplify the satisfaction/frustration of 100% Completing a map, and perhaps subconsciously thinking "I NEED all the secrets" made me enjoy it less. I know for a fact I loved it the first time around. But in the end it's your opinion, your design choice. I can't even make an elevated platform in DoomBuilder so what do I know about making maps. But I really do think the secret announcement is a good change, and a good way to remind the player to be more perceptive and engage in frivolous snoopery.

Playing through regular KDIZD now and can immediately figure out where I'm supposed to be going thanks to KDIKDIZD's tighter map design and less nonsense. That it translates over so well is a testament to the work put into the redone maps. Some of those original ones are no joke in terms of size and architecture, and figuring out how to cut/polish/balance them sounds very daunting. Another well done to all involved~

Finally played through it, it was pretty good, but I don't feel like it captured the core feature of the original that much; there wasn't any pointless meandering around for 2 hours per map. Some of the super-short-range teleports were a bit odd to play around, but obviously that's the small price to pay for the mods extreme amount of backwards compatibility. The altered demons were really good and fit in well, and the remixed tracks are superb (would love to hear the rest of the tracks done this way too!). I adore the workaround for the security camera feeds, very clever :D Played in the latest version of GZDoom in hardware mode, apart from one or two instances where I suspect some of the translucent floor tricks were supposed to be showing (I couldn't get them to show up in software either though so maybe just soureport compat), it worked flawlessly.

Just a quick FYI, the link for KDIKDIZD on "Top Ten - Page Three" currently incorrectly links to Heartland instead. Not sure who to direct that to. Edit: Has been corrected now, thank you~

Played through the first two maps so far, really great stuff. Earth/Jungle levels give a bit of a Turok vibe, and it's really good. The music is nuts, it's the kind of stuff you'd get from later UT2004 maps. Big fan of the ground-level fog effects too. The intro bit when starting a new game could use a skip function, even if its only through the console. Don't need to sit through that every time you start a new game.

But what about playing Doom through Doom Eternal? :p I jest. Good stuff as always~

Ah okay. I ask only because I bought D!Zone Gold in-box off the shelf in Australia back in the 90s, but had never seen any of the others in the D!Zone or H!Zone series.

There are a few gems of maps I got out of D!Zone Gold. But after going through at least a thousand of them to find them unfinished or multiplayer maps labelled incorrectly, it was a sad moment. At least the HTP and PG demos were fun. Article says DZ was released exclusively in the US, was that meant to be for just the first one or others as well?

Exit elevator in map07 has a missing back texture. The bit in map08 where you drop into the dark brown room can get stuck if playing with unlimited actor height, since enemies will crowd and block you from falling down. The current last level has a section where some of the enemies are unreachable. The majority of enemies all wake up on sound instead of a mix of sound and sight, so shooting one zombie through a doorway will wake a pack of Revenants and have them all clump up frequently. There's very little armor available, I think the only bit was the one Megasphere secret in map02 or 03. Shell ammo in general is a bit too aplenty. The maps are a little short, but they fit a lot of the quick and speedy themes of Plutonia, so it's neat. Once the maps are more fleshed out, I can see this being a neat little Plutonia spinoff.

You have a car! Great stuff~

Just a quick sanity check, please don't be offended, but is this supposed to be a joke wad?

Should also mention that it requires Plutonia as the base iwad :p

Maps look nice so far, not a fan of the dumb Cyberdemon corridor in map02. At least it was short. Got to the bit after it, but it devolved into "hold down the BFG button". I'm not playing any further. Infight simulators are another awful trend that I hope dies out, and holding down BFG has never been satisfying. I'm sure the other maps are good, and I can tell effort and thought have been put into these, but for me these two gameplay styles are not just frustrating, but boring. Having them back-to-back was the last straw. Hope everyone else enjoys it.

Just finished the last handful of levels off today. Holy moly that was awesome. Great use of custom textures and sprites, good music selection, a lot of interactivity with the world itself, and super fun overall. The Arcade Machine secret was hilarious. Absolute pleasure to play through.