The DWmegawad Club plays: 1000 Lines Community Project

[AD_79]

Very interesting to see just how polarizing this map is, heh. I found the concept to be interesting, and certainly helped the map to stick out amidst the rest of the set. Whether this is a positive or negative thing is very much a subjective matter. Additionally, I think a lot of people are a bit too scared of damaging floors and feel like they need radsuits whenever one is present, so I think challenging that mindset is important :P Still quite pleased with the map that resulted, but I can entirely understand people not enjoying it.

 

54 minutes ago, DJVCardMaster said:

This map was bad but for sad reasons, as this had great potential, two radsuits at the start would have totally fixed this level.

 

Had I done this, a not-insignificant chunk of the map's progression would have been broken. Radsuits function essentially as a temporary key in this map, so for the most part you're stuck with not having them.

[tmorrow]

1 hour ago, Aquila Chrysaetos said:

So, about map 31 (and 33), those two maps are easily the worst ones I've made, and I'd rather they'd have been cut instead of shipped with the wad to stain it.

 

I enjoyed the challenge of map31 and was glad to be able to uvmax it. I preferred it over map32. The plasma rifle secret was quite cruel and easy to fall into the void. The normal exit room is quite nasty, I had to practice it several times to come up with a viable strategy for my modest doom skills. I also found the close encounter with cybie at the secret exit to be a "butt clenching" moment as well. I have to admit to being fortunate to pull off a successful completion, rng was on my side for the run.

 

Map33 wasn't all the memorable for me. I do recall the yellow key trap being a bit nasty.

[tmorrow]

Map16 is an excellent and challenging toxic waste map that I had a lot of fun learning to beat. It's a polarizing map and I appreciate that it's not a map everyone will enjoy since it a map that requires planning and winging it is not really viable for many players.

Damaging sectors are everywhere. If it's not the toxic waste then it's the hot lava burning up the souls of our marines shoes or the constant hit scanners chipping away at your health. This is the kind of hostile map where hindsight and analysis are pretty much required in order to survive the map.

Managing the toxic waste damage is paramount. Plenty of health is strewn around but picking it up efficiently under the harassment of enemy fire is no mean feat. The placement of the rad suits is diabolical. There are 4 rad suits in UV on the map and 2 are perched high up on ledges over the drop down to the lava and I was never able to find out how to reach them. Probably an @AD_79 tease. The 2 reachable rad suits on the other hand are not available or easy to get to until after picking up the yellow key.

Picking a route is easy enough after analyzing the map, by my heart felt sympathy goes out to any poor chump playing this map blind.

The first tough section for me is the archvile trap in the north that leads to the yellow key, the room where you have to throw some switches to lower a lift of archviles to reveal a teleporter. I wasn't able to beat it regularly until I discovered that the strip of toxic waste at the base of the archvile platform is non damaging and that the archviles can't blast your marine from there. I'm pretty sure the non damaging floor there is by design and not an accident.

I use the first rad suit to dive into the hot lava area for the first time and use its protection to clear as many enemies as possible before teleporting to the closed in set piece on the east side of the map. The only use I've found for the second rad suit is much later on to pick up loose ammo and health in the toxic waste.

The second challenging section for me is in the lava area when 2 archviles appear behind a small wall of revenants, guarding a switch that raises a platform so you can get back out of the lava area. I found the megasphere secret area to help for the obvious health/armor but also to break up the action when clearing out the lava area.

Speaking of secrets, there are 2 secrets and you desperately want what they contain, namely a megaarmor and a megasphere.

Edited August 16, 2020 by tmorrow
grammar

[Endless]

MAP15: The Nest

LZDoom + UV

 

Made by Pcorf, one of the most prolific active mappers and one that has demonstrated numerous times a quality as definitive as it is different. The Nest is a map that takes a somewhat more simplistic path compared to previous maps. Quite short, with an average demon population, it's a bit more relaxing than the previous ones, but it's not extremely easy either, although it was touching the side of ''Hey, this is much easier''. Personally, I like having maps like that when it comes to megawads. Small and fast maps that allow us to move forward and relax a bit without having to water down our brains. It's an attractively modest map, with a simple design and a fairly short duration, but despite that, it's a fun one that manages to take its place. Decent map.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Endless

[VanaheimRanger]

@Aquila Chrysaetos My only issue with 31 was that the secret exit switch appears to be locked into the first half of the map which is inaccessible once you've gone to the second part.  I personally like getting to the real exit and then backtracking to find the secret exit when playing blind.  I ended up noclipping back to the switch once I realized the issue.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP10: Type A

100% kills, 1/4 secrets

 

I liked this one a lot, the combat is nice and punchy - lots of medium-tier enemies, but in small enough encounters that you can build up a good pace until reaching the climatic swarm at the end (which is pretty well sign-posted by all the goodies held up on the flesh walls). Areas are re-used, but usually in an interesting way - you'll revisit areas on a different height tier than before, or walls will shift around to reveal new hallways, etc. The grey staircase near the start should probably be raised/dropped so the player can't retreat to the start to cheese the final fight. Only found one secret, the (useless) computer map. I think there might be a node builder bug near the plasma gun, as I shot the arch-vile from far away and he didn't react until I walked over the little raised frame near him.

 

MAP11: Arch Enemy

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

I agree with @Capellan and @Phobus that enemies popping up out of a solid floor is a bad first impression; but thankfully the rest of the map is pretty good. A series of set pieces that rise in difficulty nicely and aren't too tough, but still get the blood going (I agree again with @Phobus here that none of the fights are that challenging until the cyber room). Very square, but the texture usage and use of darkness does a good job hiding this, and making the map look visually nice. I'm not sure if the death exit bugged out on me because I went into with the invuln or not, but I was able to survive it. Not that it matters since I'm pistol starting anyways, but it sounds like its a known bug.

 

MAP12: Ambrosia

100% kills, no map secrets

 

Not much to say about this one, really, as it's pretty straightforward; light fare after the (intended) death exit. It's basically all SSG work with an overreliance on boring barons, with the hitscanners at the start being the most dangerous aspect. The main room looks nice, but aside from that detailing is pretty meh except for a lot of quirky shapes and curves in the east. No secrets is always a demerit for me; I'm not sure how close this map is bumping up to the linedef limit but I think you could hide something in one of the blood columns in the main room (which you can jump to from the bookshelves) and make it a secret without adding any more lines.

 

MAP13: Gotcha Now!

99% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

Thought this one was gonna be a Gotcha! homage, then halfway through I concluded it wasn't, only to then find the Gotcha! fight near the end. :) Lots of plasma gun usage here, as no SSG and no RL means pretty much the only thing you have to use for all the bigger monsters is plasma, unless you want to grind with the smaller weapons. There's some interesting setups here, but also a lot of barons/mancs that just feel like ammo taxes. The worst is probably the barrier in front of the yellow key - I didn't bother pressing the switch to lower it until I had killed everything else, so finding out it was a long lock-in barrier was disappointing, and the two baron pairs that very slowly teleported in did little to alleviate the tedium. I left the blue key cyberdemon alive, no reason to fight him if you've opened the door and cleared that path out first. I really do like the design of the layout though, lots of nice octagon-shaped rooms which does a great job of avoiding the squareness of many maps.

 

MAP14: Fortress of Catamarca

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

And here's an example of a very square map. Gotta admit that between the square rooms and generally monochromatic texturing scheme (three flavors of marble, red green and grey) it aesthetically isn't much. Gameplay is alright though, with a bit of a setpiece feel. A little tame for the most part but that's fine. The imps that teleport in for the red key switch trickle in a bit too slowly. I decided not to take out the arachnatrons right away and enjoyed being able to use them to handle the teleporting cacos for me.

 

 

[Krenium]

MAP32 - Rocket For My Valentine by Kaito

PrBoom+ / HMP / Continuous

 

Screenshot:

Spoiler

 

This map looks really cool. I really like how in some sections, you can see the stars and some glowing pillars beyond a short crack in the walls. Gameplaywise, it's a gauntlet. I used saves and if I hadn't, I probably would have given up on this map. Almost every ambush is deadly. And seriously, fuck that section where all the revenants, hell knights, and mancubi are bunched up behind a partial wall, and you barely have enough room to fire a rocket without killing yourself (partially kidding here).

 

As a continuous player, I was able to easy grind down the central cyberdemon with rockets, but if you play from a pistol start I imagine the pressure it produces is tremendous. I never expected to play a map where I would run into infinite height issues with cyberdemons, and yet here we are. It took me a few tries before I could drop down into the last section without getting stomped.

 

Great aesthetics, challenging gameplay (even if it's not really my thing) -- pretty decent as a secret map!

 

Map ranking (favorite -> least)

9 10 3 15 8 5 13 4 1 32 14 11 2 6 12 7 31

 

============================================================================

 

MAP16 - Virulent Well by AD_79

PrBoom+ / HMP / Continuous

 

Screenshot (the most beautiful view in this map):

Spoiler

 

I'm going to be a voice of dissent and say I sort of enjoyed this map a little. Was the monster density a bit high? Yeah, probably. Was the damaging-floors-without-radsuits thing a bit overwrought? Yeah, probably.

 

And yet, no matter how many times I died, this map kept beckoning me. Each new piece of non-toxic terrain conquered felt like a major victory. Each new medikit and stimpack felt like mana from heaven. And the map is gorgeous, though you don't have enough time to admire every section. The double-archvile-on-a-lowering-pillar battle was an especially interesting encounter, where you not only have to deal with the archviles, but time pressure from the damaging floor and a pincer attack of enemies. There was enough health scattered around to buy you enough time to kill the 'viles and then rocket your way through a horde of monsters onto dry land.

 

It was bold of AD_79 to go for such a thing and I commend them that they did. It ended up working for me.

 

The layout of this map is phenomenal. The way it loops back around on itself from multiple directions gives you the feeling of "Oh cool, I'm here" multiple times. Now were there radsuit secrets that could have altered how the map plays entirely? Quite possible. I only found the blue armor secret. Like DJV said, it's a bit of a shame how heavy-handed this map is, because with a little less pressure, I think it could've been a fan favorite.

 

Map ranking (favorite -> least)

9 10 3 15 8 5 13 4 1 16 32 14 11 2 6 12 7 31

[Biodegradable]

MAP16 - Virulent Well

HMP | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

Going in, the veritable ocean of nukage was a pain at first, but since it was a recurring theme and well-balanced with the plethora of health pick-ups, I soon got used to it and have come to appreciate how AD_79 has built the map around the idea. This is a challenging map, but it's also fair in its cruelty and gives you plenty of wiggle room to take on the large swaths of enemies. It's the kind of challenge I can personally appreciate as it complements the map's overall design and it doesn't feel like the mapper's being an asshole when it comes to the placement of the demons or putting in way too many of the bastards in an enclosed space. All the traps and ambushes are well-timed and varied with plenty of exciting, dynamic situation that kept me movin' and groovin' as I mowed down motherfuckers with a hellfire of bullets, rockets and plasma. I even found myself getting a little reckless at times because of how much fun I was having, which is the mark of a great map in my humble opinion. In almost feels like a spiritual successor to MAP14 as I've gone from wrecking up the demon's nukage spa resort, to fucking up their shit in the community nukage aquatic centre lmao it's just awesome when I think about it that way. 

 

Gameplay:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by Biodegradable

[Liberation]

Ah ha! Map16 time.

 

When originally submitted I did think, "Oh dear, AD you bloody shit lord" which he will remember well :-). But after playing the map a fair few times I did realise how to beat it and it is generally pretty clever. It's not the sort of map you can complete blind, certainly not and saveless you have even less chance, but a few practise runs, a bit of planning and you can conquer it like any other Doom map, as Horus has demonstrated. 

Regarding the secret maps, the authors had pretty much free rein to do as they pleased, the same principle was applied to 1k2 as well.

[DuckReconMajor]

11 hours ago, tmorrow said:

I enjoyed the challenge of map31 and was glad to be able to uvmax it. I preferred it over map32

 

Same here but I just liked how it looked and the atmosphere of the map, MAP32 was great as well but I'll certainly remember MAP31 a lot longer (in a good way)

 

MAP16 - Virulent Well

glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4, pistol starts with saves, no complevel specified

 

Reading earlier comments I figured this was a map only I could love. I'm glad to see it get more love later on.

I agree with @AD_79 that alternative forms of difficulty aren't explored enough. Sometimes you gotta just step in the nukage.

It also makes this level feel more like an arcade game. "Get here before the time runs out or you're DONE"

which plays into my usual playstyle of trying to red-rover my way through enemies to learn the map before firing anyway

I do think being able to save during the demo were key in me enjoying this map, but I think even pistol start on skill 1 I would've had a lot of fun eventually too.

At one point I did try to skip around with 1 health, but couldn't manage it in the end. Still, it was a fun challenge to try.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[DFF]

I'll keep these 2 short as they are optional maps, but I liked the WAD enough to play them.

Map 33 by Aquila

Honestly, not bad, a somewhat odd but fun map, moving through outposts on an asteroid or rocky beach. Some nice base set pieces, its overall kinda forgettable, but honestly I enjoyed it more than map31.

Map 34 by Liberation

I rather liked this map a lot, a very cool little base that I feel would be very at home in Episode 1, with the recurring water based earth buildings. The combat was pretty decent, and the detailing was very nice. another pretty and short map. Generally i've rather liked Liberation's map style in this WAD. Im guessing this map was made but set aside in case of a dropout or sorts, seeing as it was made by one of the project leads (I think, I apologize if im wrong). Chose to IDMUS to MAP02's track from the plutonia midi, fit decently well.

 

MAP16: Virulent Well by AD_79 (96% kills/91% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 6 to fights, 15-20 for exploration

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|ProjectBrutality3.0

 

I can see why this may be a very polarizing map. 

 

For starters, detailing and design is quite good. This map made me think of some of the later levels in powerslave honestly, since there was one map that was a similar designed mountain/valley with hazardous floors and caves to move about. Its overall a cool map with some good detailing and designs. I didn't realize this until later that the rad suits well out of player vision for the red rock area was a key indicator that you needed a radsuit for it. I learned by trial and error, but only realized this after looking in doombuilder. Personally I think these are too high up, and could easily be brought down to player eye level while still remain easily out of reach.

 

Gameplay: This is where the crux of the map lies. I think the idea of using damaging floors as a pseudo-key and progression is really cool, however as others have said, finding the correct path in this map at first is very difficult, slightly tricky for a pistol start, and very hard for no-saves. While this gimmick is cool and I respect it, I think in this map it could have been executed a little bit better. There's lots of various sniper monsters (chaingunners, revs, ect) that will pick apart your health if you are not fast or patient enough to whittle them down. I got lost after a good amount of the map, and had to use doombuilder to figure out where to go next.  Some have suggested rad suits in the beginning which I agree would break progression if a player goes the correct direction. I think what i'd so in this case is put some more yellow textures/key signage to indicate the correct path. Its not a perfect solution and kinda tricky with this style of large hub but linear design, but I feel the map can be seen as negative when the point is to explore, but the map punishes you from taking too long to do so.

 

The acid library was the way to go to get your first key, however it at first seems like an area that cannot be progressed without a rad suit, as the damaging floors combined with a very brutal fight seemed impossible without one, even with the health. Eventually I was able to get a good run with BFG usage since i'm continuous. I blame my mod for this fight's difficulty more than anything. I replayed this section in PRboom and can confirm it is easier and possible, but I also learned that the nukage near the teleport (sector 143) is actually non-damaging nukage. I think this helps that arena a lot by having a good safe spot from the nukage, but this should be a different texture if intentional, as its very inconsistent with the rest of the map.

 

Also a minor nitpick, but I've never personally liked the Plutonia vines texture, and it used often in this map. I think its just a nasty texture that looks like melted plastic, and it doesn't "loop" very well (to put it in the best term I can think of) since if the texture is used on a wall longer than 128 units, you see very bold lines that are supposed to be ground shadows I believe, but makes the texture look even weirder, almost tiled. Its hard to explain, its not a big point, and its not really terribly used, I just dislike the texture.

 

Overall, a very interesting map and fun when you figure out what the hell you are supposed to do. I think tuning the library section a bit with some signage or re-texturing that nukage would do this map a lot of good for very little effort. Im a sucker for unique vanilla/boom gimmicks and this is definitely a more unique one.

Rankings:

Spoiler

MAP03: Town Square

MAP10: Type A

MAP32: Rocket for my Valentine

MAP13: Gotcha Now!

MAP16: Virulent Well

MAP07: Ground Beneath

MAP15: The Nest

MAP09: Steep Drain

MAP11: Arch-Enemy

MAP33: Bad Treatement

MAP14: Fortress of Catamarca

MAP04: Stormdrain

MAP08: Gateway

MAP12: Ambrosia

MAP01: Ebb

MAP33: Untitled

MAP31: Among the Stars

MAP06: On the Block

MAP05: Demolition Zone
MAP02: Flow

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by DFF

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[Veinen]

Map13: Gotcha Now!

 

A fine map. Marble and blood work well as a texture combination and this has a kind of classic low-key yet tasteful detailing. I like how the outdoor area is introduced and reuses the starting room, and it also nicely contrasts the visual theme of the rest of the map. Combat starts off hot with the opening ambush, after that it's pretty set piece oriented. A little surprisingly the plasma rifle is your weapon of choice throughout the map as cells are abundant and you're not given any other big weapons. Personally I like this design choice as PG rarely gets the spotlight as the main weapon and it makes for very fast-paced gameplay. That said, my first playthrough was way too careful and cute so I left with a lot of cells to spare and didn't really get the "proper" gameplay experience. Difficulty is pretty low throughout despite the boss monsters. A lot of room to move in the first Cyber room and the Gotcha! trap is easily dealt with. Perhaps Revs would have worked better instead of hell nobles in the Gotcha! room as they are a little more mobile and their attack is more annoying (in a good way). Good map, definitely liked this one.

 

Map14: Fortress of Catamarca

 

A proper fortress of hell made of marble bricks of all available colours. Detailing is kept to a minimum so especially the very bright outdoor areas look pretty ugly unfortunately. Inverted cross decorations in the RSK room are pretty classic though, you can never go wrong with those in a hell map. Another thing that bugged me about the outdoor area were the impassable edges that aren't really very tall and you should definitely be able to jump over. It's a bit of pet peeve of mine and I'd rather see a curious player get punished with say a swift death in lava than cage the walkway like this. Walked pretty much face first into trouble at the beginning but breezed through the rest of the map with relative ease. The RSK room withe the caged HK's was definitely my favorite one here with a nice ambush of Cacos from the sides and Pinkies in the mix. Seemed to me like finding the PG secret is a big time help and makes the rest of the map quite a bit easier, maybe even too much? I thought the MIDI choice was really good, very ominous and atmospheric.

 

Map15: The Nest

 

Not surprised to see that this was made by pcorf as this is a very concise effort that really feels like the work of a more experienced mapper and looking back it does have typical modern pcorf aesthetics and shapes. It's a short map in the end but at the same time surprisingly lengthy as there are three distinct areas to visit; the initial cavelike area, the wood-beamed interiors and the green brick outdoors area. Each area look nice enough, I especially like the initial cave with it's nice colour choices and flickering torches. Gameplay starts off pretty interesting as there is some pressure due to clever weapon and ammo placement and monster choices. The BSK area is made less threatening by the Soulsphere of the previous area so you don't have to worry much about health. There's also the early BFG which would help if you get into trouble but I didn't really find myself in such a situation and didn't get to use the weapon. Spent some time looking for the way to raise the platform to reach the secret exit but couldn't figure it out in the end. Good map overall.

 

FDA_1kCP_13-15.zip

[Magnusblitz]

MAP15: The Nest

100% kills, 4/4 secrets

 

Very solid map here, which unfortunately doesn't leave me much to say about it - I have no real quibbles. I echo @Capellan this one does a good job of adding some visual flair without needing to cut down on the gameplay - just adding a nice indent with some skulls in it goes a long way.

 

MAP31: Among the Stars

99% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

The MIDI goes a long way here towards giving the level a nice somewhat dreamy feel, being some caverns and temple areas suspended in a starry void. Combat wasn't really my cup of tea, lots of fights where you're shoved in a rather small space with the enemies, which sometimes made things feel too RNG, especially if you're reliant on the rocket launcher and not splattering yourself to death (the mancs that slowly trickle in the blue key area are a particularly bad offender here). I agree that hiding the switch that unlocks the exit to MAP32 in the first half of the map is a big design mistake, and the phone booth fight with the cyberdemon (again, forcing use of the RL) turned me off.

 

MAP32: Rocket For My Valentine

80% kills, no map secrets

 

Another map free-floating in a starry void, though this one has more hellish red rock. It seems to be centrally designed around using the cyberdemon as a turret to help you clear out some of the monsters, before finally giving you the goodies at the end to let loose (on more cyberdemons). I was really low on supplies and ended up running from most of the enemies at the blue door onward. It was nicer looking than MAP31 though a bit too visually busy in some spots, and overall the difficulty was a bit higher than I'd like - more supplies probably would've helped a lot. Still, decent map.

 

 

[Endless]

MAP16: Virulent Well

LZDoom + UV

Fucking damaging floors ffs. Yes, yes, I admit that I am not a fan of these types of gymmicks that tend to establish a specific style of playing instead of giving freedom of other options, however I can see the charm that it brings with it... which I do not appreciate. That aside, that's the only trule (subjective) negative point I have on this map. After that I think it's an entertaining map with a bigger size than the previous ones and that presents an interesting advance through the whole collection. Of course, the damaging soil is a bit annoying, but that doesn't mean it can't be overcome, since part of the dynamics consists of collecting the HP before you die. It's trial-and-error style, because if you don't know the way, you're finished. After that, it's a decent map but I'm afraid it's one I don't enjoy as much. Plus, that trap with archies was a bitch.

[Pirx]

MAP11 - “Arch Enemy” by Bridgeburner

 

map author is clear right from the start, in his ominous stle, dark rooms with glowing accents. given the limitations of the wads, this map is rather simple in shape with its 3 square rooms in a linear progression, one encounter per room. difficulty is markedly higher than of all maps so far, although most is perhaps the level of plutonia and i'd call only the final room is a slaughter. where i had my first death after all went buttery smooth, because i left the barons standing so they could infight with whatever else came, but then a cow spawned next to me and the barons were in the way... didn't bother with searching further and saw you guys talking about an invulnerability... "that would have been very nice to have", indeed. as for this scripted room-by-room fighting style, some like it, some don't. i might like it in some cases, but generally i'm more for a free flowing combat rather than getting locked and having to do a certain dance until i get out. anyway, this map is memorable and shows his progress as a mapper. 

 

 

MAP12 - “Ambrosia” by Major Arlene

 

you're not in kansas any more... you're in a visually very appealing hell, with plenty of torches and other hellish artifacts, and gore everywhere. actually is looks more like a hell-textured techbase. combat was ok in places, forgettable in others: the pile of shotgunners in the beginning is what i can call a more difficult start since you have to get a shotgun from one without eating lead from the others, then there are several cacos incoming. the rest however features too many goats for my taste, who are mostly skippable. wondered how to get the yellow key, but there's later a simple solution to it. 

 

 

MAP13 - “Gotcha Now!” by Liberation

 

first off: damn zombies at the start, how much health they can chip away when you have no armor. a remake of the classic gotcha fight, with plenty of meat to chew through up to that point. a bit too much meat in fact, with all those barons, even if there's enough plasma to hose them with, and barons being slow are skippable, but then they follow one and clump together in the way, like when i tried coming back from the cow encounter and found them all blocking the lift. said cow encounter was in a space tight enough to be entertaining, and a bit later, the titular gotcha fight is easily triggered. these are imo the best parts of the map. unfortunately i didn't find repeatedly grinding down barons as exciting.

 

 

MAP14 - “Fortress of Catamarca” by DJV

 

this map's name and the comments here made me look up catamarca and read about it and other related topics, so one can play doom and learn a thing or two about the world. so it's argentina's boondocks, and if those smartass demons were to build a hard to reach fortress, they found the right place. that place features mostly stone walls in rectangular shapes. the start needs a bit of work due to limited weaponry, until the rocket launcher is found (behind the tower to the right). the spiders are no threat and the rest is done quickly. overall it left me mostly with the same impressions as @DFF aptly described. 

 

 

 

MAP15 - “The nest” by Pcorf

 

underground map with atmosphere and engaging gameplay. a berserk pack is also present, which i used a lot after ending up with only a few shells left from the opening encounter (in  gzdoom you can punch mancubi without too much risk). hence i wondered like many people here why there was a bfg here, and assumed there's heavier resistance. fell into the blood pool at the pillar hopping after the blue key, only to find some supplies. exited a bit quick, having found only the normal exit, and returned to look for the secret one. which involves pressing those lion head switches until the bridge to the secret exit has risen completely.

 

 

 

MAP31 - “Among the Stars” by Aquila Chrysaetos

 

another underground temple, dark ruins hidden in a cave consisting of tight corridors which lead to larger caverns. here, imps  are butchered quickly, only to give way to more  monsters warping in each time. interestingly, i found the large room with the spiderboss and a horde of various creatures relatively simple - blast one of the closets at the side and continue firing from there while the mob takes down the spider. on the other hand, i underestimated how many knights there are in that little square room with the red key. at least, you can escape here through the teleporter. the keys are only needed for map32, as the normal exit is available after the mastermind battle.

 

 

MAP32 - “Rocket for My Valentine” by Katio

 

lava cave under constant threat by a siege cow acting as turret, while you make your way around, room after room. only to drop into another, lower cave with 3 cows? (i left the first one standing). bfg ammo wasn't enough for all, so i ran circles until the exit lowered, and... a soul wall as exit? weird. but the map was more demanding as i had to fight everyone while watching out for rockets all the time (and ate one as it came through the death frame of a revenant, lol). no idea what to do with the turret, searched for how to telefrag him but didn't find a better solution. probably he has to be killed with rockets and the 3 at the exit are there only to keep one busy until the exit opens?

 

[Biodegradable]

MAP17 - Boiling Blood

HMP | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

After ransacking their nukage day spa and aquatic centre, we arrive at what appears to be the the humble demonic Blood n' Lava Emporium. Probably the most overwhelming hot-start map so far, but manageable... after you've died and got a better sense of what's going on hehehe. An eclectic design of metal, brick, blood and lava with a more straightforward layout and sense of progression, along with combat that makes you feel like you've got to keep on the move pretty much throughout. I thought the use of ArchViles in this one was very sneaky, but a fun surprise to keep you alert. Sometimes, I feel I get a little too comfy in the carnage and need a good reminder of how easily you can have your shit fucked-up if you get careless or become distracted from your surroundings. I also appreciated how unpredictable the map was. When I thought it was going to zig, it zagged on me. Probably won't make my favourites list, but it's a solid map and fun to play.

 

Next up: That absolute villain Aquila is back to make me miserable for a third time. Bring it on, you bastard! ;^)

 

Gameplay:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by Biodegradable

[Horus]

After reading the map 16 comments, one of the things I realized was that none of us (me included) mentioned anything about the music. Quite likely because the gameplay/gimmickry was so intensive as to take all the attention, but it's nonetheless a great high-tempo track by AD that blends well with the map and is a part of what makes it engaging. Anyway, time for the next map:

 

MAP17 - “Boiling Blood” by Worm

 

Well, the start is boiling, with a ton of low-tiers as soon as you press the switch immediately in front of you. Picking up the green armor is crucial here, sprint forward and skip it to your peril. On the lower level is a bunch of hitscanners that do a pretty good job of picking away at your health. Problem is they also provide you with ample ammo to pick off at the low-tiers up above before triggering the raise switch, which cheeses it a bit. The two chaingunners are well placed however, with them not so easy to target thanks to all those imps.

 

Anyway, after that hot start the theme that the name alludes to presents itself, a mix of blood and lava. The blood being harmless, the lava assigned to the classic 20% damage (i.e. don’t drop down!). All this complemented by metal, rock and some marble textures.

 

The combat does seem to scale down a bit after that, mainly incidental with the odd small-scale trap. It features a very cliched berserk trap, I think I prefer any monsters other than demons or spectres to trigger in these situations tbh.

 

However the secrets seem more inspired, or at least the two I found. One of them is a megaarmor found by identifying the entry point for some platforming (though the angles of the rock texture can get in the way a bit here). The other one being the backpack, found simply by exploring a previously unreachable area later revealed in the map, which is pretty neat.

 

After the BK door, things heat up again a bit, thanks to an archvile shielded by spectres in a relatively open area, so if you don’t think quick you can be in a pickle. The arachnotrons are the main pressure point of the final area, with the limited space and other monsters making their plasma harder to dodge.

[Krenium]

MAP17 - Boiling Blood by Worm

PrBoom+ / HMP / Continuous / Saves

 

Screenshot:

Spoiler

 

We've got another winner of a map here! Boiling Blood is a visually distinctive map that feels larger than 1000 lines. After the hot start, the map guides you in a fairly linear fashion by raising bridges out of the lava so you can get to different sections on the periphery. The map has a stockpile of medikits and stimpacks in the center, where you start, which is something that I like for some reason. You'll come back here many times so it never felt like a chore to top off.

 

The combat was really fun for me. The vile in the hall full of pillars was a dud for me but the other two were more menacing. I personally like pinkie berserk traps. Throw as many in there as you want. I will thoroughly enjoy punching them all in the face. ;) One thing that caught my attention was how the SSG is resting on a giant coffin. I was fully expecting a punishing ambush that never came when I picked it up.

 

The secrets in this map are the most creative we've seen in the wad so far, in my opinion. The blue armor is fairly easy to see how to get to, but the soul sphere takes an eye for detail. That one was really well done. And the backpack requires thinking about how the map changes after raising the lava. All in all, I loved this map.

 

Map ranking (favorite -> least)

9 10 17 3 15 8 5 13 4 1 32 14 11 2 6 12 7 31

[tmorrow]

Map17 "Boiling Blood" is a really nice blood and lava map with a brisk start. Entering the building seems to be an easier path than taking the catwalk path to the northeast. A warning, grab the soulsphere secret before throwing the switch on the ledge overlooking the start or you won't be able to get it afterwards due to the raised lava level. Surprisingly, the plasma rifle pickup is a non secret even though it requires some ingenuity to obtain.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP17 - "Boiling Blood" - Worm (100%K/94%I/33%S):

Oh god I remember hating the start of this map on UV playtest.
This is, at its core, a Plutonia map, it feels like made by Dario Casali, totally. The looks, layout, and specially, difficulty. It does not spam you with enemies, but sure Worm places them on really good spots. There is a big abundance of hitscanners and sniper imps that can put you on awkward situations. The layout is great, and I love the part when you raise the lava so you can move around freely (kind of) to get more ammo and stuff before the final fight.
The ending is maybe a little bit lackluster, as you would expect something bigger, but it's fine as it is.
A great map, top 3 as for now, for sure.

Deaths: 54 (HMP Playthrough - Chocolate Doom)

Order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP10
MAP17
MAP11

MAP09
MAP15
MAP13
MAP14
MAP04
MAP08

MAP03
MAP06
MAP32
MAP07
MAP05

MAP01
MAP02
MAP12
MAP16
MAP31

 

2 hours ago, tmorrow said:

A warning, grab the soulsphere secret before throwing the switch on the ledge overlooking the start or you won't be able to get it afterwards due to the raised lava level.

Sad, I should have checked this before

[Biodegradable]

MAP18 - Beyond Life

HMP | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

Is this the place where they conduct the Imp Breeding Program, because goddamn are there a lot of the spikey blighters in here! This map is also rather cramped, but with just enough wiggle room to make you still feel like a dingus when you get overwhelmed. The center of the map is a bit odd and kind of annoyed me in some respects, but it's used reasonably well. Map layout and progression are straightforward and a fair bit less audacious than Aquila's other efforts in this WAD, but still very effective at kicking my arse lol.  While I feel this might've been the easiest of their maps, I 'spose that's not saying too much as Aquila was still able to easily rip my head off and mount it above the mantlepiece at least 3 separate times throughout my playthrough. I was able to cheese the blue skull key area a bit as it seems that demons are unable to come through the doorway, but the red key proved a fair bit more difficult.

 

While I still had a bit of a hard time like your other maps, I appreciate the more measured approach to the cruelty with this one. You're a bastard, Aquila but a merciful one. Time will tell when I cross paths with another map of yours, but I'll truly have a better idea of what I'm up against whenever I see your name. ;^) 

 

Gameplay:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by Biodegradable

[DFF]

MAP17: Boiling Blood by worm (100% kills/100% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 7

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|ProjectBrutality3.0

 

Another fun map, starts off with a very hot, but not immediate start. Good brutal gameplay.

I really like this map, detailing here is very good, and was good enough that I worried the mapper would run out of lines by the end and it would be a repeat of map06, but thankfully I was wrong. This map also manages to do quite a lot with its space, the map did not feel like a short one. Structurally the map is also cool, making use of lots of irregular rock shapes and non 90 degree paths at times.

Secrets here were few, but were pretty well done. Lots of cool tricks that get the mind running a bit. I also liked the double usage of rising liquids here, a feature I do like and was well done here, but may be an issue for co-op (doubt it was kept in mind for this project which is fine, not a negative). I also liked how one secret looked like you would wait for the radsuit to get it, but the rising lava later blocks it off, so the player has to venture there beforehand, a good secret indeed.

 

Combat was fair, the hot start was rough but everything else felt mildly difficult at best. still died a few times, but not the most dangerous of maps.

 

Overall, a very fun one. good combat, very good design, and probably one of the more memorable ones in my book. My only gripe with this map is I kinda think the music choice here was kinda poor. The hot canyons and marble temples don't make me think "The Healer Stalks" necessarily, A track I do like, but not sure it fits this map. 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

MAP03: Town Square

MAP10: Type A

MAP17: Boiling Blood

MAP32: Rocket for my Valentine

MAP13: Gotcha Now!

MAP16: Virulent Well

MAP07: Ground Beneath

MAP15: The Nest

MAP09: Steep Drain

MAP11: Arch-Enemy

MAP33: Bad Treatement

MAP14: Fortress of Catamarca

MAP04: Stormdrain

MAP08: Gateway

MAP12: Ambrosia

MAP01: Ebb

MAP33: Untitled

MAP31: Among the Stars

MAP06: On the Block

MAP05: Demolition Zone
MAP02: Flow

 

[RottingZombie]

Hot damn, I'm glad I stuck with map16 after deciding to try it again today. I save-scummed like the scumbag that I am, and I'd do it again. It was well-worth beating it for the feeling of relief/satisfaction. I had a chaingunner ripping me apart and a revenent rocket up my ass as I hauled ass into the teleporter out of there.

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by RottingZombie

[RottingZombie]

I double posted somehow. I think map16 scrambled my brain.

Edited August 17, 2020 by RottingZombie

[Veinen]

Map31: Among the Stars

 

So the first secret map is a bit of a cave crawl combined with set pieces battles for key items. The void aesthetics are very different from anything we've seen thus far in the wad, fitting for a secret map. Visually it's very monotone and rather dull to be honest due to pretty using strictly grey textures. The RK room is the only exception and it's brown so no bright colours can be found here... But I do like the temple buried within the caves vibes here with the crumbling walls and such. From a gameplay point of view the aforementioned RK room is by far the most interesting part of the map and it can and will kill you if you play it poorly. The finale was kinda chaotic in my playthrough due to hordes of fat enemies blocking my way but the megasphere really allows you to tank damage so you can go pretty much crazy. Couldn't manage to open the secret exit so I missed whatever fight was in store for me there.

 

Map32: Rocket For My Valentine

 

This is a proper tough map from pistol start. The Cyber is really annoying and it unfortunately slows the gameplay down to a crawl as you really can't afford to get blasted in the back by him. The big swarm of Revs that spawn near the start is weirdly placed in that it's hard to get them to infight with Cyber and if you can't do that, well then they're just a huge ammo sink. Playing casually and without saves the Cyber really needs to die before entering the final teleport leading up to the finale. You just know that the Cyber would always destroy you immediately when you're stuck in the receiving teleporter pad for that brief moment if you gamble and leave him alive. The finale is a pretty fun fight, seems like a really tough one at first but it's not that big of a deal when you know what to expect. Just get the Cybers to infight and take the first one down with the BFG while he's not paying attention and the arena suddenly doesn't feel so confined after all. I did die there on my FDA, and i also died several times before that area in a previous recording session, and in the end I didn't feel like starting over again so I finished the map with saves without recording. Visually it looks properly hellish for such a punishing map, and it's a pretty classic redrock variety of hell in this case. Overall it's not a bad map at all, very gameplay driven and easily the most difficult map thus far in the set, just a bit too slow paced for my tastes.

 

 

FDA_1kCP_31-32.zip

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP17 - Boiling Blood

glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4, pistol starts with saves, no complevel specified

 

Fun and interesting map. The beginning was challenging without being bullcrappy.

I love the dual-levels of lava that make up the base of the map. The carved-out stone lends a cavernous, archaeological aesthetic to most of the level.

There's that hallway too where a little window shows you a bit of a statue face as it throws more enemies at you.

I thought these were hidden switches and tried to shoot them but each time was faced with an exciting fight. 

I had to save-scum through that arch-vile encounter but it was a good one, the arch-vile kept reviving the nearby shotgunner and chaingunner, I was low on both ammo, and had to juggle said weapons.

My big nitpick, which really is just a personal complaint, is this map ends with perched arachnotrons, beaming down green garbage from above. Aaaaaaghhhh.

I used most of my plasma and rockets on them and luckily was able to take out the remaining enemies in the last room with the shells and such that I had.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[Magnusblitz]

MAP16: Virulent Well

95% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

I actually didn't hate this, which I kinda thought I might after reading the comments here and taking a few quick whirls on it, which ended up with me dying horribly in the slime while getting pelted by hitscanners (are the former humans always that accurate?) I do think that having two types of 'unavoidable' damage (hitscanners and floors) can feel unfair, and bad RNG can certainly play a fair part of the latter. That said, when sitting down to play it 'for real' today, didn't have nearly as much trouble... might've taken a fortuitous route (gotta grab that green armor first, really helps you survive the unavoidable damage longer) but once you get the armor and your first few weapons, the map generally guides you on where to go and it's actually not that bad, with a decent amount of ground to stand on, or health to get you through it (such as approaching the AV tower). Speaking of which, the inside of the box directly around the AV tower isn't damaging - intended or oversight?

 

After that, really the only tough part is the lava-rock section and making sure you don't dither too long and waste your suit. The missed enemies were all teleport closets that didn't come in, I assume some might have been tied to the secret I missed but it seems others just had broken teleporters (the second row seems to still be closed in, but the monsters in the first row and bottom row were moving back and forth over the pink teleport lines without teleporting). Overall the architecture is very nice, there's a nice sense of satisfaction when finally getting to reach a ledge or bridge you've seen from afar earlier. Texturing is a bit more wild than I'd like, as I've come to expect from AD_79, but the overall muted colors of the base Doom textures helps it mesh more than brighter textures sometimes do. Even that awful non-tiling white/green VINES1 Plutonia texture sorta fits. Sorta.

 

Overall, happy to say I enjoyed it a lot.

[Endless]

MAP17: Boiling Blood

LZDoom + UV

Like being thrown into a burning oven, the flames are intertwined in a symphony of flesh and bullets. This is a hot start! Boiling Blood lives up to its name by presenting a strong theme in both its construction and gameplay. With many enemies packaged in small places, this is a map that forces us to watch out for every corner and pay attention or we'll blow ourselves up. For a moment I thought it would be another map with damaging floors, but in this case it was just a visual theme that combines quite well with the general gameplay of the map. Frenetic and constant, not leaving a second to spare, always forcing us to stay in constant combat; violent and entertaining, two words that together make me sound like a madman. But you have to be a little crazy if you want to survive on Doom. Boiling Blood is great map that manages to stay entertained throughout its duration, presenting a simple but well done style that focuses on a more abstract design but contributes to a constant flow of entertainment and decent quality. Combat is as fun as you would expect from a map that warns you right away that your blood shall boil.