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Title : CITYFRAG.WAD
Yet Another Office Building of the Damned
Date Finished : February 2000
Engine : MBF - gotta love the dogs!
(will also work with any BOOM-derived engine)
Author : Dan Patanella
Email Address : cu412@freenet.carleton.ca
Misc. Author Info : Co-creator of Lovinger Outpost and Gatchaman Doom
Maintainer of the Fragadelic Doom Page
http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/fragadelic
Description : You're in an Office Building, surrounded by some
*very* nasty people with shotguns. They want to
kill you. This must mean that:
A)The non-union workers want a raise.
B)It wasn't such a good idea to French Kiss
the boss' daughter at the Christmas Party.
C)Everyone has just discovered that Windows
2000 is buggier than a Bigfoot with Head Lice.
D)Those evil hellspawn are at it again.
If you chose A, B, or C you are probably
still at work and shouldn't be playing video
games. If you chose choice D, you love to play
Doom2 and probably frighten your family and
friends.
Additional Credits to : Rez and Len playtested. The DEH patch included
with this WAD allows you to use the "classic"
version of the plasma rifle; credit for this
patch goes to Len Pitre, who based his work on
Lee Killough's MBF DoomBeta emulation patch.
Marc Bolan wrote "Get it On (Bang a Gong)."
Some graphics were borrowed from Shamus Young's
excellent Phobos- Relive the Nightmare. Id
Software created Doom and Doom2. 3-D Realms
created Duke Nukem 3-D. Raven Software created
Hexen and Heretic. If you look closely enough,
you'll see some sprites and graphics were
adapted from these games.
A certain special "someone" got me in a horrible
enough mood to convert the original PCDOOM level
to Doom2 specs. So she deserves thanks as well.
Special thanks also goes to the DoomWorld
editing tutorial webpages. They're a valuable
resource, and don't get enough praise.
No Imps or Demons were harmed during the making
of this WAD . . .it's all special effects, folks!
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* Play Information *
Map # : Map 01
Single Player : Yes
Cooperative 2-4 Player : Yes, untested but should be fun
Deathmatch 2-4 Player : Yes, by popular demand
Difficulty Settings : Yes
New Sounds : No
New Music : Yes, if you consider T.Rex and Bach new.
New Graphics : Many, mostly nicked from Duke Nukem, Hexen,
and the prerelease version of Doom
Demos Replaced : None.
* Construction *
Base : PCDOOM.WAD, downloaded from zdnet.com
Build Time : Super Sunday; Not-so-super Monday; Ruby Tuesday
Doom Utilities used : DCK 3.0; STAT; DM2CONV; WINTEX; DMGRAPH; NWT;
ENDOOMER; MUSPUT; CLED; TCOUNT; and lastly,
DETH 3.6 -the WAD editor of champions!
Other software : Picture Publisher 4; Voyetra MIDI Sequencer
Adobe PhotoDeluxe 1.1; Paint Shop Pro
Known Bugs : The Giant Crab Monsters that lurk on beaches in
1950s B-movies.
* Notes and Spoilers *
Don't read this section unless you want to know how I converted an old
Doom level to a new MBF one. :D
The original PCDOOM level was created as an injoke for a magazine. It
didn't come with a text file, so I have no idea who built it or when or
with what editor. It looked (and played) like a lot of early 1994 WADs
. . . no texture alignment, no difficulty settings, no useful linedefs
like "blocks sound," and no "ambush" tags on critters. It was also buggy
- "columns" had 2 sidedefs which slowed down play a lot, for example.
TCOUNT, STAT, and DCK 3.0's consistency checker verified this. And even
though it was a Doom (and not a Doom2) level, the monsters were limited
to the Shareware cast. I guess that the WAD was created with an early
version of DEU. It was never uploaded to cdrom.com, and I found out
about it from Len Pitre, who pointed me to the zdnet webpage.
Here's how the WAD was described on the zdnet webpage by Stephen Baldwin:
"The headquarters of PC Magazine in New York is the setting of
this intense WAD file for DOOM. The big highlight in this scenario
is the replica of the Ziff-Davis Labs, complete with smoked-glass
walls and rows of computers. Type \doom -file pcdoom.wad\ at the
DOS prompt in your DOOM directory. This replaces the first level
of \Knee-Deep in the Dead\ and is compatible with versions 1.2 and
1.666 of the registered version of DOOM. "
No, folks, that is a pre-BOOM WAD, so there were no smoked-glass walls
anywhere, no matter what Mr. Baldwin says.
Still, there was something *fun* about the level - and I wanted more
experience with the various BOOM editing utilities. So, I rolled up my
sleeves and went to work. I changed very little of the basic architecture
of the level, but *totally* changed its look by switching to a variation
of Doom2's city motif. I'm no mindreader, but I like to think that the
creator(s) of the original level would approve. I'm proud enough of this
WAD to release it to the general gaming community.
I made the cityscape outside more realistic, added a few secrets, tossed
in a few of my design tricks and made the player's goals better defined
than in the original. I hate stumbling across door keys, so I made the
blue key far more visible from a distance. With the original level, there
was a danger of killing off all the bad guys by the time you found the
second key. I've eliminated that risk with this version. If you play this
level a few times, you'll notice that I like to randomly teleport monsters;
I think this adds to the replay value of the level.
You *can* get outside. This is a secret, however, and if you can do it,
you'll earn a Megasphere, 100% Kills, and a few random laughs at the
grafitti.
This is the closest I've ever come to a Possessed City-style level. I always
wanted to do a city-style level but it never fit in with any TCs I worked
on. The few Duke Nukem graphics used here fit in pretty well with the office
motif - a clock, a calendar, a potted plant. I'm not a big fan of Duke Nukem
but I think the shareware levels did a good job at simulating an invaded
city, which is why I borrowed some graphics. I was also pretty influenced by
*Batman Doom* when furnishing the empty offices, although I'm not sure if
that influence shows. All these new graphics (for Doom2 anyway) help immerse
the player into the level, which holds up well to repeated playing and is a
totally different beast under co-op or deathmatch conditions.
* Copyright / Permissions *
Authors MAY use this wad as a base to build additional levels.
Knock yourself out, my friend. E-mail me if you whip up something
tasty.
You MAY distribute this WAD, provided you include this file, with
no modifications. You may distribute this file in any electronic
format (BBS, Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file
intact. It'd be nice if you let me know about this and maybe give
the playtesters and myself a free copy of this compilation.
* Where to get this WAD *
ftp://www.cdrom.com
http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/fragadelic
