The DWmegawad Club plays: Disjunction & Scythe X & Counterattack

dobu gabu maru · August 1, 2018

What is the DWmegawad Club?

This is a place where we settle down, have a cup of tea (or drink of your choice) and take a month to play through a megawad on our own, together! Any keen observations, criticisms, or frustrated ranting about it goes here in the discussion. As long as you want to say something about what you've played, feel free to speak your mind.

Can I join?

Sure. The only rule is that you have to play at least some of the levels in our monthly megawad to contribute, but you're generally encouraged to finish the whole thing, even if you've played it before.

What levels am I allowed to post about?

Whatever day of the month it is, is the upper limit for the map you can post on. So if it’s the 6th, you may discuss up to MAP06.

Do I have to post an entry every day?

Nope, not at all. This is only for our more enthusiastic members. As long as you play through it with us you’re part of the club.

When do we vote on the next month’s megawad?

Voting begins on the 25th of the current month. Remember to add one “+++” before your vote to make it easier to count. For example:

+++ Ultimate Doom

Note that you can only nominate up to three separate wads for a single month, and the wads must contain at least three maps each. These are hard limits instituted for my own sanity.

----------

>>>DOWNLOAD COUNTERATTACK HERE<<<

>>>DOWNLOAD DISJUNCTION HERE<<<

>>>DOWNLOAD SCYTHE X HERE<<<

Ready for some big maps? Ready for some small maps? Ready for some really big maps? We’re going to be playing quite a radical set of maps this time: floatRand’s Disjunction, Erik Alm’s Scythe X, and Mechadon’s Counterattack! Remember to prepare yourself accordingly for these amazing episodes!

Disjunction starts on the 1st, Scythe X starts on the 12th, and Counterattack starts on the 23rd.

Maplist for Disjunction:

MAP01 - "Leaden Skies"

MAP02 - "Lambda Base"

MAP03 - "Neural Nest"

MAP04 - "Aqua Regia"

MAP05 - "Felt"

MAP06 - "Serpent Temple"

MAP07 - "Gamma Sector"

MAP08 - "Foundry"

MAP09 - "Electron"

MAP10 - "Malebolgian Crimson"

MAP11 - "Judecca"

Maplist for Scythe X:

MAP01 - "Service Entrance"

MAP02 - "Garbage Disposal"

MAP03 - "Training Center"

MAP04 - "Air Cleansing"

MAP05 - "Long-Range Teleport"

MAP06 - "New Arrivals"

MAP07 - "Hydroponic Research"

MAP08 - "Solar Power"

MAP09 - "Holding Area"

MAP10 - "The Encounter"

Maplist for Counterattack:

MAP01 - "Aggilus"

MAP02 - "Phlogiston"

MAP03 - "Aegritudo"

MAP04 - "Maeror"

MAP05 - "Dolor"

MAP06 - "End"

MAP31 - "Desiderium"

MAP32 - "Microland"

BONUS CONTENT

Doomwiki: Scythe X | Counterattack

DSDA: Disjunction | Scythe X | Counterattack

Suitepee plays: Disjunction: 1 2 | Counterattack: 1 2 3

--------

OLD THREADS

Spoiler

The DWmegawad Club Metathread

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Spoiler

Edited May 9, 2023 by dobu gabu maru

antares031 · August 1, 2018

Happy 6th anniversary of Doomworld Megawad Club! :)

Scotty · August 1, 2018

I guess i should kick things off seeing as i instigated this party... Disjunction and Scythe X have been on my to play list for some time, and Counterattack was instantly one of my favourite wads when i played it (and rounds off the month nicely). So some wads are blind, some not.

As usual, everything played with Boom on UV. Going forward i'll probably review maps in chunks, but for now...

Disjunction map01 - Leaden Skies

A small hangar installation based atop a giant canyon, somewhere very high up in the mountains. I adore maps like this, which provide a great sense of place and scale as well as being a small part of a much larger world - this is something that i feel Sunder (one of my favourite wads) did amazingly well and a feeling that is not easy to create. The screenshot below captures the spirit of the setting nicely, imo. I really appreciate the choice of sky and music here too, which add a lot to the atmosphere. Combat is nice and fast paced with plenty of opportunity to mow down gunners with the chaingun - barrels are always good fun with the explosive element and are a welcome inclusion in the map.

Aquila Chrysaetos · August 1, 2018

Disjunction, a wad by floatRand.

I haven't played any of these wads, so I've no idea what to expect.

MAP01

Disjunction-01-AC

PRBoom+ 2.5.1.5, complevel 17 (should be 9, but whatever), UV-casual, pistol start

A very brown and beige setting greets us in floatRand's wad, and quickly barrels become the primary source of damage.

This complex is populated by many crunchy zombies and imps just asking to be obliterated by the barrels strewn about so carelessly.

Visuals are grand, as to be expected from floatRand, but maintain a nice simplicity to them.

Early on, the barrels are your best friends against the monsters until the SSG comes into play, then it's the standard search and destroy.

The exit is locked away behind a red switch, solidifying our objective, and so we much venture into the grand canyon to get it.

Resistance is rather light, but nearly everything is a hitscanner, so one can expect to suffer some damage.

One thing easy to notice early on is the new palette, particularly noticeable on anything blue, which is brighter and a little more vibrant.

A good thing to be said for floatRand is that he doesn't force you to backtrack without some sort of resistance, and everyone's favorite monster awaits us behind the great exit door.

Unfortunately, there's a small missing texture near the secret soulsphere, but that's the only problem of note.

TL;DR: A grand start to a new month.

DavitW · August 1, 2018

This will be my first time playing through Disjunction, Using PRBoom-plus with pistol starts on ultra violence.

MAP01: Leaden Skies

This is a pretty nice aesthetic here with presumably some sort of military aircraft base built in the side of a cliff, Not something done too often either. There's barrels all over the place here to help you deal with the monsters. Makes you wonder who the hell put all these barrels in the middle of the path and why the monsters decided to all congregate around them. The gameplay and design here flowed pretty well, We're supplied with the proper armaments at the right time to deal with the enemies ahead and there's not much in the way of excessive or boring backtracking here with a few monsters repopulating the area when we need to. There may not be too many fancy tricks on display here but it still created a great atmosphere and was entertaining enough to make for a good opening map.

Suitepee · August 1, 2018

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/216740154 = part 1 of Counterattack. (played earlier this year)

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/217630039 = part 2.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/218243498 = part 3.

As for Disjunction, that was requested by the wad author himself for my ongoing wad request list, so I'll strive to play that at some point this month. I might also consider going through Scythe X as well.

Man it's been a while since I've contributed to the DWMC.....

Edited August 1, 2018 by Suitepee

floatRand · August 1, 2018

You FOOLS.

Also make sure that you play the provided versiom in thread, idgames version is older and crappier.

rehelekretep · August 1, 2018

ahem, why dont you update the idgames version then? o.O

Catpho · August 1, 2018

Heyo! Glad to be here for the 6th (fitting with this demon killing game) anniversary of the DWMC :)

Quote

Disjunction

Quote

Definition: a lack of correspondence or consistency.

Quote

A small mapset containing 11 thematically and visually diverse maps.

Uh huh.

MAP01 - "Leaden Skies"

A laid back trek through a canyon base under dull gray colore- i mean laden skies. Pleasant visual theme, with great resource choices (notably the aforementioned sky pick), some nice smooth outdoor lighting and a grandiose environment. Gameplay ain't all that flashy, however. A straightforward and relatively painless romp, opting for small walkways (a contrast to all the surrounding scale heh) stuffed with low hp monsters and barrels (which you guessed it: explosions!), with the occasional mid-tier thrown in to spice things up (woo arch-vile!). Relaxing music, gives the level a nice atmosphere.

It's cute, and eases the player in quite well.

Some screenies:

GarrettChan · August 1, 2018

5 hours ago, floatRand said:

You FOOLS.

Also make sure that you play the provided versiom in thread, idgames version is older and crappier.

At least they can have a taste of the original Judecca ;P

Dragonsbrethren · August 1, 2018

Have you ever had a level trigger a feeling of nostalgia even though you've never played it before? That's what MAP01 of Disjunction did to me. The start area is so similar to the very first Doom map I made that it instantly put me back in my seat ~15 years ago struggling to figure out how to make an outdoor area in DeepSea!

Anyway, this is obviously much better than my first map. The gameplay here is a blast! I played once on HMP and once on UV after I learned the map. I actually had more trouble with the HMP playthrough--UV doesn't really step it up all that much. I did feel like the return to the red door was a weak part of the gameplay--the areas were repopulated, but I felt like I was just going through the motions on return, nothing was really engaging. Only got 1/3 secrets, apparently.

Aesthetically, I found the outside canyon areas a bit bland and repetitive to look at, yet they provide a sense of scale I rarely get in Doom maps. I love those girders spanning the canyon. I usually don't dig realism in Doom maps, but that landing strip was cool, and I like how the lifts were designed to look like actual mechanical devices and not simple moving sectors. The hangar itself was let down by realism, though--it's not very interesting at all.

Edited August 1, 2018 by Dragonsbrethren

rehelekretep · August 1, 2018

struggled with Struggle (heh) last month so hoping for something i like more in August

playing on glboom+, recording FDAs/pistol starting, using saves when i want to preserve my time and/or sanity

map01 fda

beautiful outdoor canyon/industrial level - the girders across the voids and the sky really create an image of a rusty and abandoned base in the sunset - lovely!

the combat is less interesting - it falls into the m01 trap of zombies/imps/shotgunners + some mid/high tiers scattered about, and i do mean scattered about, this map feels very empty at times. of course this helps with the 'feel' of the windy sandy abandoned structures but i felt that the combat couldve enhanced this - perhaps viles dotted about or appearing in places, or more zombies but inside the buildings not sort of chilling out all along the cliffs as if doomguy has stumbled across a work experience day hiking or something

it can only get better from here!

Edited August 1, 2018 by rehelekretep

floatRand · August 1, 2018

Alright, some history of wad I guess. It started as just a random project after DUMP 3, as I kept making a map, and figured I might as well compile them into a wad of about 12 maps or so. So I already made map05, map02 and map09 (in order). In the spring I also ran into some anxiety-issues, and mapping helped me relax and take my mind off things. My biggest inspirations were perhaps Deus Vult 2, Sunder, Sunlust and Scythe 2 - and you can kinda see this from time to time. I wanted to make lot of different maps with different themes, since I didn't think at that point I could carry episodes or whatever with single 'theme'. It was more fun to come up with concepts for maps, locales, etc. I started getting hang of visual aspect pretty quickly (I think my dabbling in art and whatever might have helped) - but since these ARE my first wads outside of shitty single map I didn't release, the gameplay is rough. Really rough. I guess I was aping things I saw and started to feel around, and I think now I am more comfortable with gameplay than before.

Maps were made in following order: 05->02->09->04->01->03->08->06->10->11->07 (from top of my head).

I did alter game palette to make blue bit more pleasant to look at - I also dug out all of the skies from Mek's Box of Skies.

Map01 "Leaden Skies" UV - 100% kills, 3/3 secrets

So, first map of Disjunction, fifth map in chronological order. The name comes from a shmup called "Battle Garegga" and refers to music track of the first stage "Fly to the Leaden Skies". If I had a midi of that track, I probably would have used it, but settled in for another great track from Jazz Jackrabbit 2.

The map actually alludes to visual of that map as well - both involve a canyon and aeroplanes. It is rather brown map and frankly, I think I should have probably improved the colouring a little, add little variation to texturing of the canyon and to the bases perhaps. The brown/rusty suits them a bit, but it gets bit monotonous - plus hurts gameplay a little as switch you use to activate one elevator blends into the background. Ack!

The gameplay is kinda uhhh, but it was kinda intentionally easy to sorta settle player in. Maybe too easy. The map itself takes bit after Deus Vult 2's first map which also featured barrels heavily that you can abuse to take care of enemies quicker and had a part where you slaughtered bunch of former humans en-masse.

...Yeah, it really borders plagiarism, doesn't it?

There's also bit with bit of backtracking and revealing some additional enemies. Nothing much, but I think if you are going to backtrack a linear path, there is nothing stopping you from altering it a bit - surprising player a little is good. Nothing too interesting here, though, really.

Oh yeah, and secrets.

Spoiler

1. First box in the map hides a chaingun. Use UAC logo. Again, plagiarizing Deus Vult 2 like no end tomorrow.

2. After activating switch to get to RK area, you can lower wall where the chaingunner was to reveal a soul sphere.

3. After grabbing red key and heading back, take the previous route you took - a wall has lowered and reveals some additional ammo.

Edited August 1, 2018 by floatRand

rehelekretep · August 2, 2018

map02 fda
wow - big contrast from map01 here, a dark and foreboding fortress/evil lair/scientific outpost. the combat is a bit more engaging but also quite annoying near the start of the map, around the cliffs. the revs and the lone vile stand out: trying to navigate the rocky cliffs while not being blown apart is a bit fiddly for want of a better word. the action does become more standard as you enter the base itself. i particularly liked the vile ambush near the end; i had seen on the map that the wall was an actionable line-def so was somewhat prepared but i always like a vile fight where you have to dance around other enemies plus some semi-cover at the same time.

btw: i also really dont think the midi fits here - the atmosphere of the map would suggest a more dark/menacing midi but thats a nitpick. the combat does more match the midi once you get inside i guess.

Edited August 2, 2018 by rehelekretep

Aquila Chrysaetos · August 2, 2018

Disjunction-02-AC

The first thing you'll notice is this doesn't look like a blind run because it's not, technically. I recorded a near-victory earlier where I died at the end because a rezzed rev decided to shoot a max damage missile right as I passed it. I was quite upset.

PRBoom+ 2.5.1.5, complevel 17, UV-casual/100K, pistol start

Darkness falls(TM) in this map, going from the bright brown and beige to a dark brown with yellow trim.

Revenants dominate the field with their homing rockets to snipe you from across the map like they so love to do, so the rocket launcher is your best friend.

All your non-secret weapons are available quickly, and even the SSG, which is squirreled away, can be gotten with a little know-how and awareness of the water teleporters.

About those, I think inescapable death pits are good for this very reason, since I used that same water teleporter to escape fights twice.

The most useful secret for me was the plasma rifle, which I made sure to get relatively early, but it was also the only secret I got.

I cheesed the vile in the tower, but that's only because autoaim doesn't know how to shoot rockets up into his hole.

Once you get inside, the color brightens considerably and you're immediately met by a swarm of zombies, which can be thoroughly mulched with the launcher.

Inside, you'll also face another two viles, more fatsos, and revenants, but this is the easy part of the map after the early map hell dominated by revenants is dealt with.

TL;DR: A good map with an irritating start courtesy of the revenants and their rockets that gets easier over time.

Catpho · August 2, 2018

MAP02 - "Lambda Base"

Disjunction it is! From a dusty canyon base, we now get brooding dark metal with sickly yellow highlights, a color combination trick that never fails in delivering the eye candy! Ominous darkness works well with the ocean: seemingly unending, gives oppressive vibes (or ya know, the borders of the map are really dark, and they end abruptly too, so maybe this is just some sewer system).

That's just the architecture and detaling though, as floatRand monster/weapon placement and actual playing area brings in a ton of action packed gunplay. The low hp trash monster now become deadly distractions so the big boys like revs, mancs and arachnotron do the killing. The outdoor enviroment is also rather bumpy, making fights a bit more unpredictable . Set-pieces get more intricate too, starting with perched revs surrounding the yellow key cage, with you inside of course, and the indoor fights, while having more flat terrain, is no less claustrophobic.

floatRand is pulling new tricks out of his bag. I await more of it, with both eagerness and fear.

Some screenies:

Cynical · August 2, 2018

17 hours ago, floatRand said:

So, first map of Disjunction, fifth map in chronological order. The name comes from a shmup called "Battle Garegga" and refers to music track of the first stage "Fly to the Leaden Skies". If I had a midi of that track, I probably would have used it, but settled in for another great track from Jazz Jackrabbit 2.

"Stab and Stomp!" would be a great name for a level, and "Black Heart" would be a great name for a custom monster IMO. Maybe "Glow Squid", too.

GarrettChan · August 2, 2018

17 hours ago, floatRand said:

The gameplay is kinda uhhh, but it was kinda intentionally easy to sorta settle player in.

It's funny that someone got into Disjunction due to your first level (maybe solely music), and he raged a lot in the later levels. ;P

Hmm, I can totally see the inspiration from Sunder, so I usually say Disjunction is a smaller size of Sunder, without slaughter. All those details and designs are just really great. It's interesting to know 08-06-10-11 are clogged at the final part and you decided to crank up the difficulty to a maximum level. (I actually read this, but I didn't have a thought back then.) Still, after seeing Disjunction so many times, I am still very difficult to believe this is your first released WAD.

Funny thing is that I love Map08, with the "correct feeling" of music in my opinion. I usually don't like level with a lot of browns, but this level somehow caught me. That's why I ran this map before everything else. Also, the difficulty level is at the edge of my skill, so I really need to push my skill to finish a UV Max run of a level back then. Particularly, Map08 is the starting point of me getting into running maps, which is a bottomless hole. ;P

Edited August 2, 2018 by GarrettChan

GarrettChan · August 2, 2018

Map11 - Judecca (original, the one on idgames)

I think I don't have time to playthrough the whole thing, but I think it's a good opportunity for me to really go through the original Judecca and feel it. Since this is out of order for stuff, please skip it if you don't like that.

Spoiler

First of all, I really like the design of architecture of this map. When I am going to show someone what old engines can do, this is the map which will usually impress people. This map is a open tundra and a metal structure in the middle, with sun shaped decorations on the sky. Also, there are some towers in the edge of the map. To be honest, even new games don't have this type of gorgeous view. Using the automap, we can see the lines across the whole map, and you don't see (or may be can't easily find) a duplicate portion of it. Therefore, I assume floatRand made these lines one by one. Furthermore, the music choice is also very fitting for a final map and a large area of greatness.

Gameplay wise, the original one doesn't change things at the beginning part, so it's pretty much the same thing. Some Cyberdemon fights can be really scary because you're next to a cliff or at the edge a platform, so you don't have place to maneuver, or you need to fight them in an awkward place. Then, due to the openness of the map, you need to deal with enemies in a wide range, and you need to pay attention to many things at the moment. For example, Chaingunners can hit you in an angle probably you couldn't see, or you can get shot by a Revenant missile somewhere.

Then the final part is the thing. The Cacodemons are spawned in the corner, not in the hole. I remember floatRand saying you need to trigger infights in order to deal with this part. Even though I had this idea when I was playing, it's very weird to do this because the platform where the Cyberdemons standing is clearly not a choice. You can be surrounded quickly by the Cacodemons and can't even move properly. Therefore, I used this as my method to make infights (shown in the picture below), but I guess it's not very good. Later I found that probably going back to the starting part is a good way to do that, but it's too late. There are block lines around the place I took the screenshot, so I can make good use of them in order to group up the enemies and fight them.

Spoiler

disjunct11.jpg.725837df957a7db32746dedd86c73b94.jpg

I guess later even floatRand thought this is not a very fun experience, so this was cut down to just a few Cacodemons. I think this is a brave move and a good move, which made the map less a chore. The reason saying this a brave move is the solution is not very elegant and goes against the original design. I guess being a designer doesn't like this since this feels like it defies your own stuff. There is another thing particularly in Boom, which is the player can knock the Cyberdemon down below. This can really screw your plan...

Lastly, I'll talk about resources in the map. Ammo is very enough in the final version because you don't need to deal with the Cacodemon horde at the end as long as you don't waste them. The original one is kind of tight, but if I deal with the infight correctly, it could be better, I think. I would say a little bit more shells would be better since there are cramped fights where you don't want to use your Rocket Launcher, but the map doesn't give you a lot of shells (probably less than 200). Health and armor are very limited in my opinion. There are only some Stimpacks at the final part rather than having real healthy supplies. For Armor, you only get 1 Armor and 3 Megaspheres, so you probably don't have enough if you're playing casually.

Playing casually won't stress me out due to misses. Overall, it's a rather fun experience to revisit this map in its original form, and this offers me an extra chance to appreciate this map and floatRand's effort.

floatRand · August 2, 2018

Map02 "Lambda Base" UV - 100% kills, 3/3 secrets

Second map I made for DUMP 3. Now, the base concept for map kinda sprung from feedback I received for map05. So I wanted to make an open map where you can just dash around with rocket launcher. So it was bit of foray making somewhat non-linear map, although it is linear progression-wise certainly. As for theme, I had some jaunty music and idea, so based it around sort of ominous, intimidating facility at an isolated, barren island. Yellow color scheming - you can obviously detect hint of Sunlust in the map visually. However, once you get inside, the facility has rather pale walls and pretty different to the theme outside. I think the juxtaposition of the sort of intimidating black and yellow with the pale and sorta plasticy interior makes it work.

The gameplay starts you at bridge that leads to the base, with guards having bit of issue with their gate - you, player, using this opportunity to break in, swindle some equipment and storm the place. I am particularly happy with the way the map starts.

The rest of encounters are bit uh. The archvile is particular pain, and was probably bad placement in retrospect. You get clear line with rockets from where a mancubus is perched at, but it is still fiddly, and if you don't do that you gotta do very annoying peekaboo-game. The YK encounter is not much to sing about either, it can be bit annoying with the geometry, at least with some source ports. Originally the revenants were cacos, but they were such a pain since they tended to float away.

There is also the water - which admittedly has prompted some criticism about it being hurtful. It is mostly just dissuade player from camping in water and constraining the player so they won't just go for a walk to other side of the map. I could have lined the island with fences, but I don't think it would have looked very good...

And yes, the interior is easy and starts with some relaxed slaughter - although the former humans mostly serve as distractions for the arachnotron spawning behind.

Rest of the map is kinda forgettable outside of the final ambush perhaps - running face-first to mancubus' flabs is kinda funny.

The music actually was changed from the Sparkster track (Submarine theme?) in DUMP 3 music to a Megaman Zero 3 track in Disjunction, I think.

also, the secrets:

Spoiler

1. Behind one of the platforms that bring revs in YK encounter, there is red telepad instead of yellow. It teleports you to the area right from the start.

2. Near the helipad, you can use a railing to jump over a wall to NE part of the island. You can find a plasma gun and some ammo here.

3. Coming to the hallway in facility, use the panel to the left. It will open a passage at end of the hallway. Note that the panel won't play sound. At the point I didn't know I could get it to play the sound if I had placed switch-texture as lower or upper texture. Oh well.

Edited August 2, 2018 by floatRand

Magnusblitz · August 3, 2018

MAP01: Leaden Skies

100% kills, 1/3 secrets

Not sure when I played this before, but I definitely remember this first level (and already had the .zip file on my hard drive). It's got a good atmosphere and sense of place, and the gameplay is pretty fun thanks to all the barrels everywhere. Fun to carve through that horde of zombiemen too. The encounters on the way back from the red key didn't do much for me (being discrete monster closets that don't play very dynamically) but that's a minor complaint. Really good sky selection too.

MAP02: Lambda Base

100% kills, 0/3 secrets

For being supposedly disjoined this follows pretty closely after MAP01 in theme. Didn't like this one as much to be honest, it just felt a bit rougher around the edges, more awkwardly constructed? It is one of the earlier maps though. Some little bits here and there like using an off-centered door texture as a lift, a lift with a wall texture right behind a door, no resources for the last few fights, stuff like that. The fight that actually gave me the most trouble was the yellow key ambushers, just had a tough time figuring out where to stand to take out all the revenant snipers. Thankfully there's another big group of zombiemen to mercilessly slaughter after that.

Grain of Salt · August 3, 2018

On 8/2/2018 at 12:08 AM, floatRand said:

The name comes from a shmup called "Battle Garegga" and refers to music track of the first stage "Fly to the Leaden Skies".

Good shmup, great song, eyy.

Aquila Chrysaetos · August 3, 2018

Disjunction03-AC

Note there's not a hyphen between Disjunction and 03 in this one.

PRBoom+ 2.5.1.5, complevel 17, UV, pistol start

Same color scheme, but the difficulty drops here, though there are fights which are possible and quite easy to break.

Remarkably, this one only took a second attempt to successfully record.

I did quite a bit of wandering after the blue card to find the red card and eventually stumbled across the proper switch.

Something of note, there's a small slime trail at around 4:30.

The combat focuses somewhat on large groups or semi-high tier monsters, and nonlinearity reigns supreme here, so there are many ways to tackle various encounters given the weapons you may or may not have.

A secret soulsphere near the blue card greatly trivialized the ending fight by allowing me to initially bypass the megasphere and collect it later.

I haven't much more to say on this map. I'll let the FDA speak for itself.

TL;DR: An easy map with some minor issues.

mun · August 3, 2018

Map 01 - Leaden Skies

It's like DVII's MAP01, but easier. Actually way easier, because the trash monsters pose no threat with the weapons you have and the bigger ones are easily neutralized by barrels. Kinda funny if you think about it. Otherwise there's some very nice lighting and I really like the grandiose feeling.

Also a kinda minor issue but this switch sorta blends in with the rocks:

doom00.png.f682ae615bed9461d0f4bdf74c9f7f24.png

Edited August 3, 2018 by mun

FrancisT218 · August 3, 2018

I'll likely at times be writing just brief thoughts on here but as I will be recording myself as I run each of these wads blind (or Scythe X I played so long ago I don't remember it), I'll also be posting my videos here. All videos are Ultra-Violence, pistol start, blind runs (with savegames/reloading allowed whenever needed).

Level 1 of Disjunction starts you with a short to medium level in a valley/mountain facility. It's quite easy as I had no deaths even blind, but it's a fun level with good outdoor scenery. The indoor parts, OTOH, could have used better lighting.

Level 2 ups the ante from Level 1 across the board: aesthetics, length, and difficulty. Once again it's a level with an exterior (but not outdoors this time) and interior section. The interior is pretty much a techbase, but the exterior aesthetic reminded me of parts of Sunlust a bit. The name Lambda Base somehow has (had) me thinking there's some kind of Half-Life nod here to its Lambda Core chapter, but it may be incidental. The traps in this level are a lot harder & more punishing; that shows unfortunately in the blind run with a fair share of deaths, which I suppose will probably be the norm going forward.

Edited August 3, 2018 by FrancisT18

rehelekretep · August 3, 2018

map03 fda

wow - so i enjoyed the combat in this a lot more than 01 & 02 but i basically didnt know what i was doing for 90% of this map >.<

the factory opens up nicely as you progress but there are a lot of switches in random alcoves and you dont really know or are given any indication as to which switch operates what. there was some fun lift and moving sector stuff (which bugged out on me when a rev got stuck but it looked cool). any complaint on the combat was the BK 'ambush' was tame as hell - i was expecting so much more!

rehelekretep · August 4, 2018

map04 fda

so i had a complaint about m02's midi not matching with the atmosphere of the map; this map the atmosphere and midi match perfectly. some lovely spelunking through a cave/temple complex (that reminds me of sonic 2's underwater levels a little bit). i do love a cave map and this does it quite well with enough waterfalls and bigger cave/chasms to make it feel not too claustrophobic and to provide some variety. the combat here is mostly entertaining. i do think the finale falls flat as i noticed pretty quickly that descending a rocket pillar = vile, so didnt press them all at once which made for some pretty slow going. i guess you could press them all for a more entertaining finish. one thing i didnt like was that if you fall off the central structure good luck getting back on without basically cheesing everything up top; teleporters might have worked better?

still a fun map!

Edited August 4, 2018 by rehelekretep

floatRand · August 4, 2018

Map03 "Neural Nest" UV - 100% kills, 4/4 secrets

The base structure is a ring that can be traversed in two directions, and the weapons are scattered around it, leaving the player with just shotgun initially. That was initial concept of map. Theme was "secret laboratory/base underwater, with player in the end accessing a neural nest: a biological AI", although the underwater part is kinda not obvious. Maybe with more texturing and dehacking it would have been more apparent, but eh. There is some interconnectivity in the map, where you can access the alcoves in the BK section from RK section.

The issue I think is that lot of the interconnecting sectors are kinda plain and featureless. And the southernmost room is full of empty! What the hell?

The gameplay itself is more focused on incidental encounters, with only setpiecey-encounters being the finale and the stair-room (which doesn't work that well, especially when monsters get stuck!) There are some ambushes associated with keys, but they are rather mundane. Revs! Nothing should really be too challenging yet, especially with the ammo and weapons given.

The finale ups the ante a bit, but it is rather easy since you can abuse infighting, ammo is plentiful and you are given a megasphere. The exit kinda alludes to next map of the set, which uh... is probably one of the worse, at least it was.

I did think of remaking this map for one of those Vinesauce contests, but this time I would have used some Dehackery to make some more tech-orientated monsters and made decorations that would have made it more apparent "it's underwater". Although the format was UDMF, so I could have used water either way.

Nevertheless, this did not end happening.

The track is from Megaman Zero 3 again. I think it fits - actually, I think I came up with theme while listening to this particular midi.

Spoiler

1. Right to the berserker pack there is a wall that can be lowered via Use. Reward is a soul sphere.

2. If you use the panel where you find the chaingun & ammo, you can perhaps hear a door opening. In the server room, a timed door has opened and reveals a blue armor.

3. Near the gate to the finale, you can find a switch behind the pillar. Pressing it opens a timed door on pathway leading to the switch that opens path to red key.

4. In the room with the 3 lift-platforms, you can perform a SR40 jump to an alcove to get a soul sphere.

Edited August 4, 2018 by floatRand

floatRand · August 4, 2018

2x combo!

Map04 "Aqua Regia" UV - 100% kills, 3/3 secrets

Aqua Regia, "King's Water", is a mixture of nitric- and hydrochloric acid, notable able to dissolve gold. This kinda ties in to the theme: "a sinking roman/greek palace" - which I think came from listening to "Sinking Sanctuary" theme from Castlevania: Bloodlines. I really wanted to use water a lot as well, and now that I found out how to do deep water effect, well, it came around quite obviously. I originally used the track from that game, but later replaced it with Cyber Rainforce's track.

But ohhoh, this map. The map I started working after DUMP 3. It is kinda Tysony affair. In the older versions, ammo was much tighter - tighter than in the current version. You see, I still was testing with ZDoom-based port and playtesting really poorly, so I thought, "hey, how about I just make ammo super tight so you have to use berserker pack a lot! A tyson map!"

Probably my mistake was not really getting how I should build a tyson map (ex. enemy type and placement) and convey that to the player. Dew helped me realize this by punching cacos for way too long time, so I did some balancing so there is now bit more ammo - still not much, so punching is a thing player should do from time to time.

Outside of that, it is linear affair, going through a miniature colosseum, cavern and some interior quarters and a tomb to chase after a mischievous teleporting key. The finale is in this vast space with enclosing cacodemons, but take them at your leisure and you should not have trouble. If you hurry, things can get nasty.

I like the concept I had for this final encounter, mind. The exit has 8 pillars around it that need to be lowered to proceed. On top of each pillar there is pile of rockets. But as drawback, each time a pillar is lowered, an archvile is raised at a turret-location and some monsters are teleported in. Thus, in exchange for ammo and progression, you pay it with conflict and cover - pillars being important in avoiding getting blasted by archvile fire.

I like idea of fights where you can control the flow somewhat and I think it could be interesting in speedruns of the map.

And secrets:

Spoiler

1. Right at the entrance, a SR40 jump into a waterfall will lead you to a secret cave with a super shotgun.

2. The hallway to the colosseum: the big ugly mug on the wall is a door hiding a blue armor.

3. In the room with rocket launcher there are four doors, one of the rooms on the left being collapsed. However, you can shoot a switch through a gap, which opens a secret in next room, netting you a soul sphere.

Edited August 4, 2018 by floatRand

Aquila Chrysaetos · August 4, 2018

Disjunction04-AC

PRBoom+ 2.5.1.5, complevel 17, UV, pistol start

I'm still not sure how I survived this one, because there were three points at which I had no right to survive.

What floatRand revealed about the final fight surely helped, though I was under the impression that the viles would be coming up the aisle until I found the first one.

The aesthetic is very classical broken out into caverns.

Water dominates the scene as much as marble, so this map is already my favorite.

Infighting and tysoning dominate combat, so what little ammo is available is extremely valuable against the less punchable monsters.

The final room is grand in scale, but you don't have much time to look at it before you're beset upon by an armada of cacodemons.

I skipped a few enemies early on and missed two secrets of three, but I still managed well enough.

Sign In

The DWmegawad Club plays: Disjunction & Scythe X & Counterattack

Recommended Posts

Share this post

Link to post

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

dobu gabu maru

Demon of the Well

Demon of the Well

Posted Images

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Join the conversation