slugger

I'll never beat the iwads in one sitting. I think I've beaten most of the levels individually, but not all of them, especially not the late game ones. Like I don't think I've ever gotten past the first couple rooms of Spirit World. I'm really awful at remembering where doors are, what switches open what, etc. I like it this way -- I like some classics to be too big for me to approach. If I were good enough at Doom to casually beat it, it would feel less imposing and mysterious. I am a little jealous of the people who can pick up a map and immediately find their way through and remember where everything is, though.

DoomRL

- TEKWALL2 is boss for all kinds of little columns and details - ZZFACE1-9 is a goldmine, the red tubes go well with blood textures - Long stretches of SP_ROCK look repetitive. To prevent this, you can split them up and drag the offsets around. It's such a chaotic texture that it can match up several ways without glaring seams - If you're cheeky you can sneak the Wolfenstein wood in with the regular wood

The "everything else" section of Doomworld? What did you expect?

I'm new to recording demos. Is there a way to restart the recording without exiting the program?

Great screenshots!

They're called strings. Here's the list. https://zdoom.org/wiki/Strings Asking for a technical name can be quicker than deducing the name on your own.

tl;dr: Put in marked and unmarked secrets. Best of both worlds. Decino has a few videos where he runs around after everything's dead, grumbling and failing to find the tucked away secret. That's not your problem. It's the video producer's job to make their video entertaining. My secrets percentage is usually 0%. I like it that way. It's fun knowing there's more to explore. Here's my concern about going all-unmarked. If we disable the counter, it doesn't make getting 0% more fun; it just makes it inconvenient to see my own progress. I'll go looking for one secret; I won't bother looking for an unknown number of unmarked secrets. Hiding how many secrets you have left will discourage exploration and/or drive explorers insane. Dropping tag 9 makes your progression more ambiguous -- if you find a strange secluded door that skips you past a big part of the level, is that a secret, or just the main path presented in a confusing way? -- and flattens the variety and richness of the secrets themselves. If you get 3/3 marked secrets and 10 years later you find an unmarked secret, it's mind blowing. If you have 3 unmarked secrets and you find a 4th, it's just like, "okay how many more are there". Regular Doom has two grades of secret, one common, one rare and precious. All-unmarked maps have one grade of secret. That's a step down no matter how you slice it. To compromise between making a good map and a good video, give each map 1 well-telegraphed marked secret and an indeterminate number of subtle secrets unmarked and bereft of major items. Then youtubers can say they got their 100% without stumbling around tapping on every nook and cranny, and there's still enough unpredictability to surprise and delight. Plus the youtubers could get an extra video for each map where they show you the REAL secrets!

0-255. Those light goggles are looking pretty good now, aren't they?

I would just tell people I build tiny furniture for dollhouses. It's not really a lie.

That's @Jacek Bourne.

FWATER1

Area maps and visors can make stuff easier, but they can make things harder, too: - map in first room impresses/intimidates player by quickly revealing enormous floorplan - map misrepresents the level and tricks you into an ambush - map is crucial to finding a route or secret; it's unsafe to go looking on your own - map subtly leads you to otherwise unmarked secret by strategically leaving it out - map includes cosmetic text and symbols that are crucial for success or safety - map playfully disappoints you by not including the part you really need - glasses punish you by removing information only communicated by brightness - glasses are crucial to surviving a pitch-black area choked with enemies (within 2 min. time limit) - glasses illuminate an otherwise invisible secret (e.g. switch tucked away in shadow) - glasses put player on edge and make them expect lightswitch shenanigans - glasses or map as joke reward, torturing a player who wants something more helpful - glasses or map as cosmetic only, emphasizing the environment's intentional design

You can use dehacked to disable the blur sphere's "affects item%". Then they're optional, just like shells or medikits.

Last year I made a micro-map called "What Do You Do With a Drunken Cyberdemon?" which starts the player on a blur sphere in front of a cyb, forcing you into a duel that's scarier than usual because the old three-step waltz isn't guaranteed to keep you safe. I didn't finish it because you could just fall back and wait for the sphere to go away (and it wasn't that fun anyway). I think it was a funny concept that could work with a different approach. The midi is, you know, "Drunken Sailor".