The DWmegawad Club plays: 25 Years on Earth

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP30: Final Test

prBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4, continuous with saves, no complevel specified

 

Great finale. 

I didn't recognize the song when I heard a few bars of it yesterday, but I could hear Rob Halford screaming the chorus when it came up. Great song choice.

I was wondering how this map was going to be good with the BFG without making it too hard on pistol starters. The balance of combat in this map is really great.

The epic structure of this final tower I'm a fan of as well.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Snikle]

MAP30: Final Test

Well, I did it again. I did the entire DWMC WAD. Feels good. Feels even better that this was a good note to end on. Feels better still that this was actually a fun WAD all the way through, unlike a certain Hell Revealed sequel from a few months ago.

 

This map was fun as hell. I’m glad I decided to start this one continuous, because there was no BFG (that I found at least). The rising floors were awesome and must have been a bitch to make correctly. One bug I noticed is that some of the arachnotrons got stuck in a few places (GZDoom 4.3.3) but that wasn’t too big a deal. I was worried that I’d have to do an Icon fight, and was pleasantly surprised to be mistaken. This still felt like a sufficient boss map even without the icon belching monsters at me. We still got to see our large wall-face friend, and we still got to watch him explode, but the final fight itself was just two spider mastermind turrets. I kinda wish there were some other monsters in this part, but it was still a nice tense battle. Loved the Painkiller MIDI too.

 

The WAD as a whole was very fun, and had some pretty maps to boot. Many of the levels were on the shorter side, which made it a pretty good WAD to pick up for an hour or so, play a load of maps, and write all the writeups for. Here’s the top and bottom 5, in no particular order other than where it is noted. None of the bottom maps have any actual hatred behind them like the ones in, say, HR2, they were just the ones that didn’t grab me too much.

 

Top 5:

1. MAP18 – Fun Sandy Petersen-style chaos map. Favorite in the WAD

2. MAP06 – Probably the coolest looking map visually. Fun to play and had some interesting puzzley bits too.

3. MAP11 – Fun blood fountain map that looked cool and played cooler.

4. MAP22 – The only map of true packed-room slaughter, other than 27, although that one doesn’t really count because of the crushing.

5. MAP32 – Another of the harder and faster ones in the set, with a Going Down vibe and a fun title.

 

Bottom 5:

1. MAP07 – After MAP06, this one just felt boring. Very linear, orthogonal, and cramped.

2. MAP19 – Similar deal to the above. A short, filler-ish map that felt even more filler-ish than it otherwise would have by virtue of coming right after one of the best.

3. MAP10 – Another one that felt pretty “meh.” I don’t think it was actually much shorter than some of the other short ones in this set, but it had almost nothing that stood out to me, so it felt shorter.

4. MAP26 – This one just felt kinda boring and annoying to get through with all the single-use switches. I only played it a few days ago and I remember almost nothing.

5. MAP23 – The visuals in this one were pretty good, but having to walk through the whole map twice to open the exit wasn’t the best progression. And the flashing room hurt my eyes.

Edited June 30, 2020 by Snikle

[FrancisT218]

I still gotta finish the wad proper...but 25 Years on Earth has been a ton of fun to blast through. Well done @Phobus and hope there's still more in your mapping pipeline! :) Map07 has been my least favorite while Map18 has been my favorite (great level even if it were a standalone release!). Music wise...Map16, both secrets (yes that actually makes three consecutive levels in the playing sequence!), and Map27 are favorites.

[dobu gabu maru]

New thread is up: Akeldama

[head_cannon]

-Crispy Doom, UV Continuous

 

Spoiler

MAP28 - Broundry 3

 

I loved the lighting, and the general concept of the level. It reminded me of Plutonia's MAP21 in the way that it's build around one central hub which is re-used for multiple waves of monsters as more of the map is unlocked. After having the monsters confined to either the near or far side, that one wave of fliers was a nice change-up in tactics. I thought that the Arch-Vile at the midpoint and the one at the ending were tastefully used. Nothing too vicious, but it keeps you on your toes.

Less impressed with the Spider Mastermind though. My assumption is that someone trying to go fast has to squeeze past the boss. But for me, it was just an HP Door to tediously chop down, making that outdoor area of the map kind of a non-event. I suspect that it's a more significant barrier in the Pistol Start playthrough, requiring a side-quest to acquire better ordnance before proceeding. In any case, the Pain Elemental trap kicking off the next round of battle is a damn good punchline after all that buildup.

I feel like I dodged a bullet here: there was a prominently-displayed Plasma Gun on the outer ring and a passage to the Rocket Launcher room in the inner ring, but I suspected that there was a price to be paid for each of them and left well enough alone.

 

Spoiler

MAP29 - The Armoury

 

The hallway that lowers down into an ooze vat channels some of the mischievous whimsy of the IWADs, and the way that a soft barrier is put up to discourage backtracking makes it a relief when the red key provides unrestricted access to the whole space (with the exception of that treasure room in the center, of course). This level requires a lot of investigation to unlock its exit, but you're already motivated to check everything because of the prize displayed early on. While the Computer Area Map helpfully pointed me towards the switch down in the sewers below the exit, I never figured out how to get into the titular armory behind the yellow door, or into the area hidden behind the entrance. I decided to try my luck with an incomplete arsenal rather than commit to scouring this level to root out its secrets.

The dark maze was the highlight of the map for me. There's something to say boo around every corner, and it never feels monotonous. In fact, the sense of timing in these kind of corridor-crawling interludes has been consistently good across the entire megawad. The old "zombie, zombie, zombie, Revenant!" gag never gets old. While I did fully investigate one side of the maze (to find one of the two exit switches), I didn't trust the locked-up Light Amplification Visor, and just left that other wing alone. I know that I should have been checking everything in order to try to get to that BFG, but I was impatient and wanted to attempt the finale without that buff.

 

Spoiler

MAP30 - Final Test

 

The ammo balance has been very tightly controlled during this campaign in order to keep the Continuous player from hoarding ammo as they travel across maps. So it was cool to see this grand finale throw caution to the wind and give out a Backpack right off the bat. The way that the arena physically transformed for each wave was awesome. Every stage of this boss battle is brutal, but it's totally worth it to push through just to see what's next.

Its second half didn't wow me as much, but it was good-looking and well-crafted. I have to give thanks for keeping the outdoor winding staircases large enough that there was no risk of splash damage from rocketing a higher step. The Revenant wave was engaging enough, especially when I got hasty and aggro'd too many at once, making things get a little out of hand. But the double Cyberdemons and the double Masterminds are all pinned in place, and are far less scary than the frail-but-mobile Revenants were. I gotta say, they make a particularly ornate and aesthetically-pleasing "Door with HP" to chop down, but it was still a bit of simple, repetitive work. Still, I'm glad that the gameplay outside of the central arena takes it down a notch after the initial boss battle has gone through all of its stages. That is the climax of not just the map but the whole damn mapset, and not trying to top it was the right choice I think.

After I had paid that massive ammo tax and could look around, I was stumped for a few moments. It was clear enough though that something on that final platform must be activateable, and it didn't take long to figure out the way to reach the switch and win the game. Like I said, that multistage setpiece arena doesn't need to be topped, and it seems fair to just have the Icon for aesthetic purposes, using it for the demolition sequence as a bit of fireworks to celebrate victory.

 

Spoiler

Final Thoughts

 

Since I took the normal exit out of the Starport, the reveal of the midi (along with the backing image) for the cast roll was a hilarious surprise.

 

25 Years On Earth is a fantastic classic-style megawad. It makes masterful use of the stock textures, and a lot of care has been put into the monster placement and resource balance. The maps are pretty fast-paced and concise, with two longer, exploration-driven pieces thrown in for variety's sake.

 

Whenever I encounter people who have finished Doom 1 & 2 and want to take the next step to see what's out there, I have a set of go-to recommendations (like Plutonia and D2TWID). And now they have a new member that's joined their ranks. This megawad pushes things a little farther difficulty-wise, but is never discouraging. Even the most antagonistic levels have a brevity (and a charisma) to them that helps negate any frustration.

 

My congratulations to Phobus for finishing this one-person project, and my thanks to the club members who played and wrote their way through this month. Let's celebrate good times, come on.

 

Top 5 Maps:

MAP18 - Meat Grinder
MAP09 - Skulking Death
MAP11 - Bloody Denial
MAP20 - Reclamation
MAP30 - Final Test

[DuckReconMajor]

A few quick notes I missed on MAP30:
I agree with Demon of the Well and others in that having the final switches be hitscan can put someone in a precarious position that has already used all of their hitscan ammo. I wonder if maybe there were a platform you can run up on it and punch them once the spiders are dead? that may exist already I may have missed it.
Someone may have mentioned but thanks to the limited Doom palette our hero seems to have gotten major sunburn in that hottub, as you can see in Endless's screenshot. Knowing it's a palette issue I can rest easy knowing our hero is able to relax without skin pain here.

I didn't even know there were two cyberdemons! The punching I heard must have been the skeletons punching the other cyb to death. This is the incidental combat I crave.

 

I know comparisons to other wads don't do this justice but in my mind this has felt like Going Down mixed with Scythe, with a dash of Sunder at times even, without the ridiculous difficulty. These are among my favorite wads, and this one has been added to them.

 

I'm with others in not being the biggest fan of MAP29, other than that there were a few maps that I didn't like much at all starting out that opened up to be some of my favorites (MAP11 comes to mind).

But those moments were far from dealbreakers in an otherwise very high quality megawad, and the usage of all the weird linedef actions was a great lesson on the strange crap vanilla Doom can do. 
I enjoyed this a ton and I can definitely see myself coming back to this wad in the future.

 

 

[Pirx]

so, to sum it up:

 

i went back to map29 in my search for that elusive bfg, because i knew i'd drop it anyway for pistol starting map30, lol. the maze is somewhat plain. it took a bit of work and turning off the music so i could hear doors opening better. iirc that music had been used in some commercial wad before anyway. 

 

but upon grabbing that bfg... even if i leave it here, it has amused me greatly.

 

 

map30 is a slaughter lite type. well, not sunder, but markedly more meat than before, and they often get in each other's way, especially the mancubi and the arachnotrons in the beginning. the archvile wave could need a bfg, but retreating and shooting plasma or rockets also works. the tale of two cows... i made short work of one, the other hit the wall behind me, because i was impatient... and so much about passing the test.

 

the spiders in the end are not really needed, i think, it's enough to stand on the stairs and dump rockets into them.

 

 

overall a very entertaining one man megawad. going for smaller maps was a good choice. i liked especially 6, 11, 18, 21, 28. map07 was underwhelming after the good 06, map15 needs bypassing that locked room after it has done its job, 27 ok not my thing with those crushers. in fact, i just replayed a few maps from scratch now as i was looking for my top 5 of the wad. which is a very good sign, i guess.

[Phobus]

@DuckReconMajor Yeah, the colour conversion from PNG to Doom palette in SLADE makes some choices I wouldn't if I had the patience to do it all manually - particularly around blues, but that red seems way too deep in this instance. Still, I had to expend a fair bit of effort to get the helmet the right size and in behind the can!

 

MAP30: Final Test

It all comes down to this. A tower with an inactive Icon of Sin up top and some heavy defence from the demons between you and it. I was inspired by a Cyberdreams level I vaguely remember, and the requirement to use the 512 height floor raising line action, normally seen in MAP30 of Doom II. This was the first map made for the project, so I glossed over a lot of the flaws I couldn't explain or work out how to fix in favour of making more maps. I did come back and make it actually work in complevel 2 eventually, but never got on top of the Arachnotrons and Mancubi getting stuck on the way up. I'll have a look at that before I archive this, though!

 

The Masterminds are more thematic - they're "masterminding" the building effort, and also the last, weak, line of defence. On low difficulties an invulnerability or megasphere will enable you to go toe-to-toe with them, whilst on UV it's riskier (I gave them three shots each with the the BFG from roughly where the soulsphere was, which was sufficient and let me get out unscathed thanks to some reluctance to shoot). The Cyberdemons are very good at keeping you out of their space, but not much good at following you down the stairs, so they do become vulnerable as the Revenants and Cacos are thinned out.

 

The goal here, really, was to have a rising challenge where the demons and the player are at their most powerful, hence only a token cluster of imps on a raised platform. I think I might experiment with zombies to keep the Arachnotrons walled in and stop them crossing lines that they're going to struggle with early on, though. Also, I picked the Painkiller MIDI because it's awesome. The SGM soundfont I've started using recently doubles down on that!

 

 

Final Thoughts

This month has been incredible for me. It's had some low points, where maps have broken and I've felt bad about it, but overall I couldn't be happier. I've finally had a map set reach a confirmed wide audience and gotten a load of feedback! A big thank you to everybody who has participated here, even if you didn't make it to the end or didn't have much to say, it's still great to have this level of reach. I genuinely thought we'd have played Akeldama for June and moved on to the next big thing in July, so even this month starting was a pleasant surprise, much less getting over 570 replies (even if a fair few of those are me!)

 

So thank you all. This project was a big undertaking for me and I kept slipping from my schedule and building bigger than originally intended - there's still stuff to fix, but I'm happy to get back to it now that I've had this time of reduced mapping and plenty of wind in my sails!

 

I did say I'd ruminate on "where next?" for me. Honestly, I could retire from mapping happy now, as this feels like a good high point, but I've also had plenty of ideas and ambitions percolating since finishing this map set. I think ambition needs to be key to my next solo effort. Taking on a new format, or going for another megaWAD without the crutch of gimmicks, or even trying my hand at a megamap for the first time in 13 years. Maybe I'll even see if I can get a single cl2 map with every non-exit line and sector action in it, based on my experiences here. Whatever the case, I'll definitely be playing Akeldama this month. In fact, next stop...

[kalaeth]

time for the catch up again.

MAP25 : we are in middle management now.. Exit straight ahead but something tells me I won't reach it.. Was actually expecting another fall but instead the walls open up and I'm surrounded by chaingun fodder :D

Another room, more chaingun fodder.. And found the blusphere secret switch :D And then, we exit. After unloading more lead into the couple of revs.

 

MAP26 : higher management time! Didn't even notice it was the exit until after the door closes.. Now, I don't know who designs this buildings but I'm pretty sure those crushing ceilings should not be there. I mean, people work here! Reached the end, skipped over the secret (I saw it open once but didn't find (or try that hard to find) how to open it).

 

MAP27 : oh we left the managing workplaces behind. Good. He says before getting shred to little bits by a shit ton of hellknights.. Second attempt. Third attempt. Forth attempt : i finally realize that you can lock the doors. Fifth attempt : I wanna have a word with the crusher obsessed architect. sixth attempt : got way farther. Still died to a swarm of cacos. I'll stop counting now. Another victory for crushers. 
this time I saved after the crushers, so now I'm just dying to the unholy number of hellknights.. And finally, I understood how it is supposed to be done. All dead, mostly crushed :D And then it's just a look at the automap to find the path to the megasphere and.. done!

 

MAP28 : so, I'm walking round and round and trying to understand why it is that I feel that I won't like this map.. But meanwhile I've killed more than half of the monsters and have no idea why I had a feeling I wouldn't enjoy it. Spiders dead and another bluesphere in hand. And done! not an active dislike for it but not one of my favorites, for reasons unsure.

 

MAP29 : I've wandered around with a BFG killing everything in sight and now I'm wandering around with a plasma gun killing everything in sight.. And then I cheated out 'cause I wasn't feeling it. (idcliped the door into the switch that raises the platform for the exit)

 

MAP30 : Let's see what this final test brings us, shall we? Uh, cool elevator. And again. And again. And now there's a invun here.. *switches back to bfg* two cyberdemons later I have both keys. Two SMMs dead and now.. oh, shoot at the wall of faces. Press the switch and off it goes! Nice final map, was kinda scared that the IoS was gonna start shooting after I pressed the switch but this way was nice :D

 

Total time : 4h36 minutes. And that's it for my first DWMegawadClub play through. Despite being somewhat critical of some levels overall I enjoyed the megawad, and the byte-sized levels are great for this kind of project.

[Doom_Dude]

Also playing catch-up for this splendid megawad.

 

Map12: Emerald Fluid

Nice map with a bit of a different look and design for a nukage level. It was a bit of back and forth but not tedious or anything. I missed one secret somewhere. I died a couple times, once dickin around trying to get revenants and pinkies infighting and I took a rocket upside the head. Later a vile got me, when I miscaculated and didn't have enough room to side strafe to a safe spot and his attack blasted me into the nukage with 14 health and I keeled.

 

Map13: Caldera

You know things are gonna go to hell when you start a level and there's a rocket launcher, rockets, health and nobody in sight. I really enjoyed this map. I like how it kept you on your toes and it was a bit dark yet not in an annoying way. Died a couple times in the crossfire. The secret was easy to figure out this time and I got the hell out of there.

 

Map14: Water Treatment

You know it's not a good sign when Phobus places a couple boxes of rockets in a room. I nearly got ganked by a bunch of pinky wall dwellers. That encounter I survived but later on a pile of Pain Elementals, skull slammed me till I died in a heap. On reload, I got revenge on those gaseous creeps and totally missed the little side hall to get they blue key. Not that I didn't se the key on the way through, so I had to retrace my way through, get the key and then I opened the blue key door. I'm glad I kept some rockets on hand! I didn't figure out the soulsphere secret until the end and it's not a hard secret to get to.

 

Map15: Spaceport

Advanced spaceports always have wooden panels. :D I like the warehouse area with all the snipers. I like that kind of fight where you have to pick off enemies to advance. I found all the secrets somehow. The normal exit I didn't really clue in that you drop into a pit so I went through the blue door and then realized this is the secret exit. Maybe if I didn't have the blue key I would've looked around more...

 

Map16: Unruly Cargo

Ok, you know it's not good when you see a heap of dead space marines that look like a demon's green carpet, then somebody leaves a megasphere just sitting there in the first room. I was expecting a major trap with the megasphere... /phew. This one has some interesting lookin computer rooms and such. I wasn't expecting a vile when that one came around the corner. Then I was drinking some 'potions de toilette' Phobus bought in France. Then I opened a blue door and ended up running around with 2 health but survived and made it to the exit. Fun map, had a good time playing it.

 

Map17: Entrance Made

The start of this map looks like somebody was making some demonic chili when the pot exploded. I ran across that lava pit at the start and I find a room with a rocket launcher and boxes of rockets and I just know shit is going to hit the fan and it did. I died a few times. Hard map but I made it through and it wasn't too long, so that was good. I was glad an exit was made.

 

Map18: Meat Grinder

Can I have some more potions de toilette, I think I'm going to need them... is what I was thinking at the start. I like the base infested with fleshy hell parts and I never get tired of that.. I refrained from killin the cyb. It was frantic business running by him and I really like how he can spot you from different openings, espcially when the map opens up. That damned tricky lift. That made me scratch my head in some confuzzlement. I did clue in to how it worked shortly after spazzing around. Ended up with the bigspiderguy killing the cyb, so I was glad of that. Very, very cool and hard map. I found this more to my liking than the previous level.

 

Map19: Fester

Not my favorite sewer themed map. I would've liked it better if there was a way to go back through after jumping down near the end since I was really low on health and I missed the 2 secrets. That mancubus at the exit was nasty. Took 4 attempts to get through there...

 

Map20: Reclamation

Oh this was a tricky map, but short. This map reminds me of Doom 2's The Crusher. I like the use of switches here to raise the floor to get high enough to proceed. Fun battle at the end there. Good stuff..

 

Map 21: Security Station

The security was heavy on this one. I took out about 28 enemies before I dropped the wall at the start by shooting between the walls at the sides. It was all fun and games until the viles showed up. I had to run like hell and jump in a building. Pretty intense action for sure. Eventually got the viles picked off and barely lived to tell the tale.

 

Map22: Power Trip

This map lives up to it's name. You have to power your way through a horde of badies in this one. There's so many guys piled up you can't see the floor or the steps or in some cases fireballs coming through the carcasses. lol. I don't know how I managed to get the invulnerability and mow down the masterminds with plasma... then it was more mayhem and I got out of there. Not my style of map but this one was certainly a blast.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP19: Fester

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

Not much to say about this one, while it's a nice spot to have a breather map this one is almost too small (and lots of 64-wide blocky corridors). Not sure how I unlocked the compmap secret fumbling around to try and figure out how to return to the rest of the map. The MIDI track for this one is very oddly soft... which isn't bad by itself, but might be a shock upon reaching the next map's rather loud track.

 

MAP20: Reclamation

98% kills, 1/1 secret

 

Left the cyberdemon alive as it's quite easy to run past him instead of sitting there and playing rocket tag. Nice little puzzle area with the lift, calling to mind the early parts of the WAD, though it's rather simple once you figure it out (hit switch twice, move to next, repeat). I liked having all the monsters facing the middle near the end, I randomly decided to run to the left instead, always nice when you get a free shot at the backs.

 

MAP21: Security Station

100% kills, no map secrets

 

This one definitely stands out with a nice layout and lots of curved buildings everywhere. Texture variety is still a bit more varied than I'd prefer (and something I've noticed more of in the ending maps) but it does help differentiate the different zones. Things are pretty ho-hum monster-wise until the end, I almost started wondering if there was supposed to be a forced-death exit after last map? Fun use of the AVs at the end, and happy to say there were more than I expected. The revenant teleporting in the player's lap is a bit of a dick move though, and the mancs at the end were kinda pointless (maybe they're supposed to be a Meat Wall to stop the player from running away from the AVs like Capellan, but if you leave them they're just an ammo tax).

 

MAP22: Power Trip

100% kills, 1/3 secrets

 

I suppose this one is supposed to be straight-forward combat, here have a plasma gun, go at it... the first few areas are fun with all the zombies, but the red area with the imps was a bit boring (since it's far too easy to just sit back and let them funnel in), and the last couple of encounters seemed undertuned. I didn't even use either of the secret pillars at the end, and was disappointed they were one-use only.

 

MAP23: Corporate Hell

100% kills, 0/2 secrets

 

Not sure what makes this corporate hell... the horrible strobe light or the repetition? I kid, but even with it being small, going through the same path twice feels a bit lame, and that strobe room, uuuuuugh. Didn't want to hunt for secrets, just leave as soon as possible. The blue key trap was nice, though.

 

MAP24: The Front Line

100% kills, 0/1 secret

 

The main area after the teleport is a pretty nicely designed looping layout with plenty of paths for the player to run away from the monsters and the monsters to chase and try to cut off. After clearing it out, I kinda felt like the map might peter out, but this one actually did a good job of keeping the encounters increasing in intensity.

Edited July 2, 2020 by Magnusblitz

[FrancisT218]

26 - Another nice quick short wraparound map where often you can see places slightly before you can get to then, nice touch.

 

27 -  Wraparound again, but that ain't very important here! Avoid letting too much meat out before you can operate the giant meat crusher. And also avoid the machinery crushers earlier on.

 

28 - Was nice to have a full 360 dehree foundry pit this time. With plenty of action on both sides & some cool interior bits. Nice to get one outdoor room too, unlike the first two Broundry maps.

[Phobus]

Very cool that you're all still pushing on even though the month has ended! Good luck with making it to the very end!

[Doom_Dude]

Map23: Corporate Hell

Another fun, intense level. During this map I pulled a bunch of demons into the big crusher in the hall. The area with the flashing lights was hard on the eyes, so I was glad it was short. I've been missing secrets along the way and this map, I don't think I found any.. I hit a switch, the map ended and that was that. Short and sweet with a touch of vile.

 

Map24: The Front Line

Short and very enjoyable. The monsters didn't beat me up so much here except the big lock-in battle which I ended up replaying a couple times. I did figure out the secret in this one/ then I moved on.

Map25: Middle Management

Died in the first room and then on restart I made it through to the lava and died there. After that I was good to go and didn't get killed again. Fun, small map but I liked the design of the previous map better. I think the revenants in this map could use some head room. Took me ages to find the tiny switch that gets you the soulsphere. ;) Okay moving on...

 

Map26: Upper Management

I'm liking these short maps. I only died once here when the trap sprung and the chaingunners shredded my ass. I probably forgot what else I was going to say because I went to lunch... :P

 

Map27: Press Gang

Holy crap, that's a lot of barons. Ok, that was a fun use of one big assed crusher. I got flattened a few times trying to get to that seitch for the secret but it was worth it. Favorite crusher map in a long time. Nice one Phobus.

 

Map28: Broundry 3

Crikey, don't cross the broundry mate. Nice circular map that opens up as you progress. Have to watch out for crossfire with all the closets that open. Luring zombies and imps into the path of revenant rockets can be quite enjoyable. Fun map. I missed the secret and where the heck was broundry 1 and 2...

 

Map29: The Armoury

Ok this was pretty nice map. In the maze I was using the SSG and ran out of shells at the point that this cranky vile jumps me and I quickly switch to the rocket launcher and just killed the swine when I blasted myself and was crawling along almost dead when I spot the berserk pack... /phew. The I was almost about to leave via the exit when I remembered I wanted to snag that BFG. I figured it out after much looking around and I'm decent at strafe-running but around geometry and such and changing direction, plus that blasted bigdoor in the way, took me more tries than I care to admit to. ;)

 

Map30: Final Test

Ouch, it's one of those lift ambush arena maps. I was glad it stopped a couple times so I could regroup and save my progress between waves of demons and then continue. I died so many times when the viles came out for snacks. I finally killed the viles and the rest wasn't quite as hard, tho a bit tricky with all those revenants on the steps.  I actually impressed myself with dodging rockets on the steps and sending a barrage of rockets up the steps. The first cyb I got a decent infight between him and cacos and a few revs. The other guy I got to mop up a bunch of revs when I realized they can see you from the lift area. After that it was fairly straight forward.

Map31: Holiday

I was expecting a baron or vile in one of the stalls, in place of a toilet. lol. Completely baffled at how you get to the secret. Spent way too much time trying to get in there... Overall glad this was a short map. Probably my least favorite so far.

 

Map 32: The Waiting Room

I had to idclev to get into this map as the secret switch to get in here eluded me. I left it until I was finsihed and then loaded this one up. Pretty insane arena with loads of walls opening up and guys eventually beaming in. Thankfully I got the BFG secret. I died many times with frantic saves in corners, otherwise id probably still be playing it. lol.

 

 

Over all very fun, varied set of maps and I really liked the majority of it all. It had a good mixture of small to large maps without going to too large IMHO. The difficulty ramped up after awhile with lots of fun battles, some on the challenging side for sure. One thing is for sure, I only got confused where to go maybe a couple times and that's definitely a plus. Nice job Phobus. I'm glad to have played through it all until the end.

 

Favorite maps...

02 Bunker Buster
05 Skyline
08 Constriction
12 Emerald Fluid
18 Meat Grinder
29 The Armoury
27 Press Gang
30 Final Test

[Phobus]

Awesome, @Doom_Dude! The MAP31 secret is a 30-second door close sector special. It's on my to-do list to work out some kind of alternative and maybe a sign or something that clues the player in early!

[Doom_Dude]

That sounds good. :)  I like that you used every line action and sector special available in Doom 2. Did you use every available thing as well?

Edited July 4, 2020 by Doom_Dude

[Phobus]

I didn't, no. I definitely skipped out on the monster spawner, target, WolfSS and Hanging Keen. Might have been one or two other Things that slipped through the net, too. Particularly the Dead Lost Soul, as I've not used DeHackEd for anything other than level names at the moment.