akolai

fantastic maps. thanks for bringing back the best thread of 2007. wherever imp slayer is, i hope he's not still playing cs

The author not being a massive asshole

alright, let's rock HARDFEST MAP11 ~ MALACHITE FOREST First, an important note: this is the hardest traditional platforming map ever made. The number of people who've seen this through has to be in the single digits. High difficulty can be a blessing and a curse, it can make your map more mysterious and daunting, but at the cost of accessibility - it's taken to the limit here, and the result is an absolutely enchanting piece of work. Giving out the automap straight away is an interesting choice. The layout is immediately striking - it's filled with natural, freeform geometry that's always a pleasure to gaze upon, but more importantly it's HUGE. It is impossible not to admire the talent that went into the layout alone. The longer you spend here though, the more the scale dawns on you, especially once you're past the early softball platforms (that are still likely to take dozens of attempts for people who aren't intimately familiar with this game's mechanics). The abstruse progression doesn't help matters - certain encounters act as barriers to the next point of interest, and require certain weapons to defuse properly. This is where the map really sets itself apart from other platforming maps in its league - you're expected to fall. There are supplies and an essential encounter waiting for you in the abyss. Giving you a free way back seems merciful - so naturally, inferno had to go and ruin that for uv, enforcing a limit of 3 return trips. Beating the map on uv requires you to spend these resets effectively, which all but guarantees failure on your first trip through. Despite all the bullshit the map puts you through, it's worth the trouble. Nothing is free, every jump feels rewarding, finding each screwball progression point further justifies the obsession, and it's all tied together by a midi that doesn't belong to this world - dramatic, hopeful, contemplative, mysterious, magical; 'Encapsulation' sings to my soul like nothing else I've ever encountered. And now, to tie it back around; you will probably never beat this map. The difficulty is so far beyond anything else you're likely to experience, it's almost funny. Trekking through the forest without deep, esoteric knowledge of one of the game's most oft-discarded mechanics is only setting yourself up for failure. But take it from me, learning how to platform is worth the journey if it culminates with Malachite Forest. The fact that it's largely uncharted, its intricacies unknown to most, only makes conquering it that much sweeter. Maybe I'm looking too deep into it. It's just a dumb platforming map after all, only speedrunners care about this shit. more writeups to come? who knows, but this map is criminally underrated thanks to its genre, and i'd like to change that if you're crazy enough to try this and you don't know what sr50 is, learn here hope this is what you signed up for, omni

map11 UV-Speed in 2:19 goodwad11-219.zip i'm sorry laure i had no idea you were doing the same map map01 UV-Speed in 1:05 goodwad01-105.zip

map29 UV-Max in 4:27 goodwad29m427.zip map31 Strollerina in 3.69 goodwad31-369.zip

wormwood4 D2ALL UV-Max in 50:07 w4allm5007.zip video:

strict mode (options -> general -> dsda-doom settings) has to be disabled to allow tas tools to be used in demos.

jumpwad frog and toad zzul bases dotw poogers (hands down the best of the bunch)

stewie's 100% spot on, if you're mapping with the player experience in mind you need to factor in the strange mindset some people have towards secrets. if 50% of your target audience gets bummed out on your map and there's a fairly simple way to fix it, it's at least worth a try. it's absolutely a player issue, but the only way to change that is to condition your players out of it, which is a longshot. besides, poogers map13 is the objectively correct way to handle secrets

@OceanMadman gah, why not curvecity.zip no difficulties, uses a sprite replacement (can easily be integrated using cl21 custom things to not interfere with any other maps), ends (no exit) at the room with the funky floor pattern given the gameplay style this had a 95% of being rejected anyway, play at your own risk

DSDA page idgames: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/hardfest thread: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/131511-now-on-idgames-hardfest-boom-community-project/?tab=comments#comment-2548118 hardfest is a boom compatible wad which hit idgames recently. UV-Max table fills: map01 in 2:53 hf01m253.zip https://youtu.be/KIaskbE6jMk map02 in 6:03 hf02m603.zip https://youtu.be/PIGN_Nm4JaQ map03 in 3:56 hf03m356.zip https://youtu.be/-dcUxg5YWcw map04 in 6:08 hf04m608.zip https://youtu.be/mPxeZU4pp4c map05 in 5:35 hf05m535.zip https://youtu.be/W09_BYmGs3g map06 in 9:45 hf06m945.zip https://youtu.be/nord86tJMGk map07 in 1:51 hf07m151.zip https://youtu.be/eVk0iS6r7Lk map08 in 16:37 hf08m1637.zip https://youtu.be/TOMPKVfMx68 map09 in 25:16 hf09m2516.zip https://youtu.be/e85iYvWakmU

magnolia_uv map03 UV-Max in 58:54 mag03m5854.zip video:

map05 UV-Max in 12:47 dotw05m1247.zip video:

wormwood eu UV-Max + reality: map01 - 1:07: wweu01mr107.zip - https://youtu.be/HeCnyN-sJ-Y map02 - 1:05: wweu02mr105.zip - https://youtu.be/AIge1lIAZrQ map03 - 3:29: wweu03mr329.zip - https://youtu.be/zY4L8_78Ntk map31 - 3:15: wweu31mr315.zip - https://youtu.be/jaUMzy5GF9g