Memfis

Hm, not sure which part of Misri Halek. Is this supposed to be a pyramid?

No, not another wave of noobs on Doomworld! (but actually I got back into the game because of the first movie so I appreciate it in that aspect)

Nice little competition in Memphis. I have a few more suggestions if people are looking for something to record on. Hope this helps! https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/j-l/jailbait https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/p-r/rh21a https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/m-o/orpheus (e1m1 has some demos but not the other two) https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/p-r/raygun (almost a slaughtermap!) https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/p-r/pumpkin https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/d-f/dm2ent https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/d-f/dmlost https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/g-i/hhh-22 https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/p-r/rip-off2 (pure insanity!) edit: also this awesome level is apparently a viable option as the DSDA max misses a killable monster.

http://doomedsda.us/wad1228.html Is this really "Misses one monster"? Is it possible to kill that stuck spectre?

I think Russian and Japanese are about equally interesting, beautiful, and expressive, while English is significantly more boring and lifeless. Like, it's good for clearly communicating exact ideas, but if you want to do something fun and poetic... Better pick another one. I don't know much about other languages. Perhaps I'll go for Spanish in a couple of years, although I'm not sure if I can find enough motivation. Also I've been thinking about constructed languages and I think I realized what I don't like about them. They seem to be too stuck in the present. I think the best language would be one that's very good at adapting to the changes that are happening in the world. It should be very easy to invent new words and modify the meanings of the old ones when necessary. In other words, constructed languages should strive to be as customizable as possible. But I haven't heard much about the work done in this field.

Pick me, pick me!

Very good lighting on these pictures, nice contrasts!

Everyone lines up for the soulsphere jump:

Picking map names is hard work!

Well, there are countless boring examples that are simple coincidences. Here is something interesting however:

Search for "zip" in the filename. That should give you all files.

Just for fun, this is how Nathan Lineback chose textures for his E1M1 conversion in Marswar:

Are his streams interesting? Does he play and comment well?

What is a hit marker?

Watch out, your SSG broke in half!

I have a problem with competitive games. They are only fun when I win. If I lose, I start acting in a very childish manner: I take it very personally, like if the opponent is now a better person than me, and I feel pissed and humiliated. Perhaps this is related to my low self-esteem. Maybe I lack confidence so much that I need to "prove myself" by winning in some game, which seems stupid. But even though I realize that it's stupid the problem still exists and it prevents me from simply playing and having a good time. The only exception is playing with people I really like. Recently I lost in deathmatch to Evolution but I didn't have a problem with that, in fact the game was highly satisfying. I respect the guy, I'm not going to start swearing at him. But when the other player is a stranger... Cover your ears kids! Uh, so... Anything I can do?

That knight mate was very educational! It's true that I was short on time, but more importantly I'm just so used to the king having a lot of space in the endgame that I didn't even entertain the possibility of getting completely surrounded. Actually, such endgames are perhaps some of the trickiest for me because knights move in a strange manner that I find hard to visualize, they always threaten forks, and the way they travel between distant squares can be confusing (the knight's tour problem is a testament to all this). I found this diagram which shows a clear pattern, so I wonder if that's what good players rely on, maybe unconsciously. I'm always impressed by good tactical awareness. There are many videos of grandmasters playing and commenting their games, and often they'll do a couple of powerful looking moves and then say "okay, there should be a mate/win somewhere", even though they haven't calculated much yet. And indeed, soon enough it materializes. It seems so satisfying, like they are in complete control because they have such a deep understanding of common patterns. Makes the game look really logical and enjoyable. It would be great to get closer to their level one day. I think it's true that I should learn to fight some of these "scary" openings instead of completely discarding a big portion of my possible repertoire. I'll definitely look into these suggested lines, thanks. :) Wow, that is surprising indeed. I always assumed that it was mostly about the calculation speed. But this certainly explains why chess engine ratings can differ so much.

I think I've improved quite a bit since I started this thread, partially thanks to these nice responses of course. Today I reached my highest rating ever on lichess (1843 rapid) after playing 8 games and somehow losing only 1 (and drawing 1). Though I feel like usually I win because my opponent does some mistake and I manage to exploit well enough, not because I myself come up with something particularly clever. Maybe that's okay for now, but clearly eventually I'll have to study theory in more detail. I often see people doing theoretically bad stuff like moving the same piece too much but I'm rarely confident that I know how to punish them for that. And I don't really have any games I can proudly show because computer analysis always finds some pretty poor decisions. Well, maybe this one was kind of cool, if anything just because of the sexy final position: black is completely backed into a corner while all of my pieces are coordinated, leaving the king with nowhere to run. It was fun to play so aggressively, something I do kinda rarely. Btw I'm terribly afraid of King's Gambit and Fried Liver Attack. :D So you'll rarely see me playing open games as black.

After experiencing a meltdown a few days ago (see my previous post) I began reading "The Mental Game of Poker", recommended by a friend. I don't know anything about poker, however that's not important as the book is about game psychology in general. And it seems quite good so far. The author is very honest in that he doesn't promise you'll become a wise sage who is free from any emotions. Instead he talks about boosting confidence by working on your weaknesses, learning to analyze your self-destructive behavior caused by losing, and things like that. It has some annoying marketing bullshit like inserts from happy customers right in the middle of the text, but overall I feel like it's helping me.

I feel bad when people are having major difficulties with my maps, like if I'm personally responsible for their suffering. I don't want to cause suffering.

Any examples? Was it a huge problem (totally unplayable levels) or something relatively minor?

Titlepic: Memento Mori 2. It has very dramatic lighting and a clever idea with showing the cyberdemon's shadow instead of the monster itself.

I agree.

Ok, I can't do this anymore. Too frustrating. Playing against another human doesn't feel like playing, it feels like being tested by someone who really wants to find all your flaws and exploit them. It's a psychological torture. I'm too weak for chess.

A Truckers Nightmare!