The DWmegawad Club plays: Three is a Crowd

[Omniarch]

21 minutes ago, Scypek2 said:

The name, along with the names of MAP14 and MAP15, is just a snarky jab at the mundane pseudo-realistic names given to many techbase levels. Nuclear bio waste lab enrichment core... whatever! As if your abstract map was gonna incorporate the theme in any way besides maybe tweaking the quantity of crates and nukage a little.

So very much of this.

[Egg Boy]

Map13: I know its officially called "Outpost Facility" but I prefer the automap name "Area Zone," both pretty blatant riffs on the tropes of Doom map titles. Some areas of this map have a really neat forest base atmosphere, I'm thinking, specifically, of the hub with the yellow and blue doors, something about it feels pretty unique. Can't say the same for the rest of the map. It is, again, your average Doom 1 dungeon crawler. There are a few memorable areas, such as the blue key pit, or the tricks and traps style room with multiple doors, but like this style usually does for me, it blends in with a ton of other wads I've played.

[tmorrow]

map14

Another top notch, nonlinear techbase. This one is a little nastier than the previous map. There is a marvelous puzzle for the megasphere secret involving using unmarked switches to light up a series of arrows on the floor. There is a horribly fatal penalty for pressing the wrong switch, so beware.

To make up for the meaner enemies, a super shotgun is provided but it is hidden behind a secret, but not a difficult one to find. The rocket launcher is also a early pickup if you go the right way first.

[golbeeze]

Map 14

Much at odds with tmorrow's experience, I thought it was a rather unremarkable techbase level. I pushed all the buttons and didn't suffer the penalty, so I'm not sure what was supposed to happen. I have a feeling I took care of what the penalty was in advance. I "nope"d my way to the megasphere tsk tsk.

[Omniarch]

MAP14: Outpost Processing - 100% kills 100% secrets

Yet another techbase, though this one is the most eccentric yet.

 

Outpost Processing is a fair bit more tricksy than the last two maps, utilizing a number of traps and generally low light-levels to keep the player busy. The midi is also quite eerie, which helps a lot with the atmosphere. I must say the map is a bit on the bare side, though that in some ways helps with the Petersen-esque vibe it seems to be going for. Beyond that, I don't have much to say besides to highlight the map's third secret, which I thought was very clever. It took me an embarrassing five minutes of running around scratching my head to figure it out. Now I wish more mappers would use this sort of breadcrumb secret.

 

Overall, good stuff.

[Phobus]

MAP14: Outpost Processing

The highlight of this map, to me, is the megasphere puzzle. If you find the secret path due to using the automap (or cheating), you get treated to a chance to crush yourself to death. If you press the right button, and go to leave the area, you may notice a new arrow. Pressing the wall where this one is pointing to sets you on a breadcrumb trail with an actual reward at the end. Very nice! The rest of the map is much the same as the previous couple, but with the added benefit of a backpack and rocket launcher carried over to give you a bit more breathing room and let your ammo worries melt away (although I appreciated the low ammo risk I had in the last couple of maps). The secret SSG had the biggest trap of the map, but it wasn't too tough.

 

This set is pretty creative, and seems to be unofficially hitting the same objective my own megaWAD from this year was pitched at.

[tmorrow]

map15

What an epic, nonlinear map, one of my favorites in the wad and also the longest so far. Heading outside from the start and you will find half a dozen buildings or so that need to be explored. Some of them need to be entered from more than one side to completely clear out. Ammo can be quite tight depending on the path you take and when the northeast toxic waste area opens up, which releases several floating enemies and a baron. There are ample rad suits to get the toxic waste areas completed, they are the least of your worries.

The secrets are quite tricky to locate. The bfg secret in particular requires some delicate platforming and is easy to screw up. The berserk secret is well concealed as is the secret that lowers the pillar of backpacks.

The path to the secret exit takes some work and you are trolled mightily along the way with bars appearing to block your path the first time you try it. Those who persevere will be rewarded though.

 

map31

 

This map cannot really be played and is used to advance the story. You face an intimidating toxic waste room with 35 enemies including a cybie, an archvile, an array of revenants as well as a hellknight shredding you from behind. Any way you move runs over a walkover exit line taking you to map32. The intermission text tells the story, it's time to retreat. Doomguy is hopelessly lost ...
 

map32

 

The map starts in complete darkness. Doomguy has taken a wrong turn and is trying to retrace steps. In a series of flashbacks to previous maps, doomguy is trying to regain his bearings. Nothing is as it should be. There are a couple of gimmicks at play on this map. One gimmick is the section where you can walk through solid walls and when you open a door, you have to walk through the wall beside it and other weird stuff. The second gimmick is the insta-teleports as you are whisked from one scene to another from previous maps. Make sure to pickup everything you may need along the way as there are several one way sections you can't return from.

Scypek2 really messes with doomguy towards the end, especially on the blue key hunt. Previous maps aren't exactly the same and strange things occur, just like in a dream. Poor doomguy never does get his hands on that elusive blue key, it remains always just out of reach.

[Egg Boy]

Map14: A non-linear offering with some neat traps. Thinking mainly the one after the yellow key that lowers you into a completely new portion of the map. Really neat idea. Not sure what those buttons were about, pressed all of them and didn't notice a change in the map.

[golbeeze]

Map 15

This was a lot of fun. It was a large-ish map with lots of areas to explore. It wasn't linear so I just sort of went clockwise around. I don't think I found all the secrets, but I'm pretty sure I found at least one useful one. Thanks be to Argent for letting me throw all the grenades at an archvile before it knew what hit him.

[akolai]

MAP15: Outpost refinery

I've gone between loving and hating everything about this level.

 

I thought it was such a cool level for its complete non-linearity, until clipping around afterwards showed that I'd just not noticed the key order.

Ammo can be surprisingly tight in the first half, to the point that I'm inclined to call it a tyson map.

After a bit of time, some cacos get released. This seemed really cool, as you have nowhere near enough ammo to deal with them, so your only option is to run from them until you do. Two things went wrong with this, and they were both pain elementals. The level is based in a city, with both a high skybox and long sightlines. These meatballs can take advantage of both to make themselves unreachable with melee, and as mentioned, ammo will be too tight for you to deal with them. Ideally, this would force the player into cover to scavenge for new weapons - I didn't and couldn't make any progress.

The red key room was a pretty cool setpiece, until some imps fell off the back of their platforms, making them unreachable.

 

Basically, it has a bunch of cool ideas, but a bunch of annoying catches. It was a pretty convincing city though, and the doors on the outer edge made me wonder what was on the outside.

 

 

MAP31: The way forward?

This is one of the most impressive maps I've ever come across, from both a gameplay and technical perspective.

 

It starts with the most daunting image of the entire wad: a stack of revs, an archvile, and a cyberdemon. This is a running theme with this map - the fights do their best to seem insurmountable, while subtly assisting the player in small ways to make it possible, creating a thoroughly rewarding experience for the player.

The resource balance is almost perfectly tuned to keep you alive, without letting you get ahead of yourself.

The detail is also incredible - opening this in the editor showed that it had over 10000 linedefs - and it shows. Both the intricacy and scale of each arena enhance the feeling of 'inhospitality' present in all the fights.

 

I would recommend this map to anyone reading this, and I'm shocked to have found such an amazing map in such an unseeming wad.

 

 

MAP32: Wrong turn

"[True terror is] when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute." - Stephen King

 

This is a walk through memories - true to such, everything is just slightly different. There's always something to make you feel uneasy. All of these gimmicks are symbolic, but that's not what I play doom for. The shifted geometry part feels genuinely sickening, and I love it.

It's a gimmick map, sure, but a damn cool one.

[Omniarch]

MAP15: Outpost Refinery - 100% kills 100% secrets

This map might as well be called 'Into Scypek's City'. It is every inch the Sandy city level, except there are no helpful arrows to guide the way. Obtuse, frustrating and undeniably clever, Outpost Refinery is a particularly eccentric link in the proud and venerable line of Doom 2 city levels.

 

Ah, the city map, a most peculiar genre. It all started with Doom 2's MAP13 "Downtown", which is essentially the same as any other Petersen map (a series of largely-separate gimmick rooms loosely strung together) except that the voids and corridors between the rooms have been replaced with open spaces. Since then, countless imitations and expansions of the style have been created, and Outpost Refinery is definitely of that lineage.

 

To me, there are a few basic problems with the city level:

 

1. They are ugly. Like, really, really ugly. Uglier than a hairless pug. So ugly that the first time I stumbled upon Downtown dropped Doom 2 right there and played PWADs instead. Why is this the case? Well, I personally believe that Doom does not lend itself to a) large open spaces and b) free-standing structures, and city levels are defined by both.

 

2. They are obtuse. Directing the player in a given direction is a difficult task when your level consists of a bunch of (usually) self-contained buildings surrounded by wide open spaces (hence MAP13's infamous arrow), and the inability to create room-over-room architecture limits the possibilities of travelling between said structures. Mappers often resort to teleporters (inherently arbitrary and thus confusing) or some sort of platforming.

 

3. Due to the above two, they are often very annoying. Attractive visuals and clear progression are both good at assuaging player frustration, and city levels in general not only lack both of those qualities but usually manifest the inverse extreme, making frustration a major concern.

 

All that is not to say that the genre lacks virtues. Quite to the contrary, since, after returning to Doom II months later and with an open mind, those levels I had previously written off soon became some of my favourites in the IWAD. This was due primarily to how interesting maps 13, 15 and 16 are. I have always liked Sandy Petersen levels, despite their shortcomings (yes I know 15 was Romero but he blatantly took heavy inspiration from Petersen for that one), so the combination of his style of interesting gimmicks and the domineering facades inherent to cityscapes makes for an unusual but appealing experience.

 

So, what does Outpost Facility do with the genre? Honestly, it takes all the flaws and some of the virtues of the genre and turns them up to eleven. It is obtuse in is progression, frustrating in its combat and ugly as sin in its presentation (at least on the outside). It is also very clever and immensely satisfying to unravel.

 

It would be unfair to describe each building as a mere 'gimmick', since many of them are far too complex and interesting for that label. For instance, the south-eastern structure contains not just the rocket launcher puzzle, which I'd consider an untagged secret, but also a rather nasty encounter that can be approached from two different angles, and a rather cleverly hidden teleporter that can can help with progression.

 

Likewise, the north-eastern nukage maze is a complex area with several different encounters, which also contains the map's secret exit (I won't lie, a map editor was required for me to find that switch in the starting room).

 

The map secrets, tagged and un-tagged are also very interesting. The BFG secret in particular requires astute attention to detail and some serious platforming to acquire, and the afore-mentioned rocket launcher pseudo-secret is also rather clever. Finding these two will make any player feel like a hard-boiled detective. The secret exit (also untagged) was a bit obtuse in my opinion, though.

 

Outpost Refinery's main shortcoming is its combat, mainly due to a lethal combination of resource deprivation, long-ranged hitscan and ammo-sponges (Cacos, Barons, Lost Souls and Pain Elementals abound). All of the above may be present in a given map with inducing frustration, however when mixed with open spaces and unclear progression are annoying individually and downright infuriating when combined. I often found myself thinking "Why did you do this to me, Scypek2?" as I died over and over again to bloody lost souls or cacodemons (since I use Crispy Doom, I don't have to worry about infinite monster height, and can't even imagine how annoying it would be then).

 

I wouldn't call the progression a weakness. Actually, when viewed in isolation from the annoying combat, its quite fun and instills a sense of adventure and intrigue. Frankly, Outpost Refinery would have been better with half the enemies or twice the resources.

 

Overall, a mixed bag with many interesting ideas and secrets, bogged own by deprivation and excessive opposition.

 

 

I will not be writing about the secret map today, I've had quite enough 3IAC for one sitting. I will probably share my thoughts about it on the 30th.

 

[TheNoob_Gamer]

On 11/14/2020 at 12:48 AM, Scypek2 said:

• 37 chaingunners in a single level!  Precede their appearance with an image of the number 37... and include at least one other reference to the number 37 somewhere in the level.

I have yet to find which level contained exactly 37 commandos during my full playthrough... Can you give me a hint?

[Phobus]

MAP15: Outpost Refinery

The nice thing about coming into an open level like this on continuous play is you can joyously blast around the outside area to pick off opposition and get the lay of the land without necessarily worrying about ammo. It also gives you a good chance to find secrets, so I had the plasma rifle from this map nice and early and built up a decent stash of ammo for it to go with my bullets and shells. I think I forgot that I had the yellow key card for a while, so briefly got hung up wondering where to go when everything was explored and 2/3 secrets were found. Picked up the trail eventually, though, and then got the secret BFG and made my way to the normal exit without too much trouble. Then the secret exit path began!

 

Fortunately the automap broadly gives some clues as to what areas will open up, and where some teleport lines are, so this low-action, more puzzle-oriented sequence didn't go too badly. The close-quarters shoot-out on the roof with the Imps was probably my highlight encounter of the map (I used the chaingun for it), although I generally had a good time of it. Potentially a highlight of the set, for me. Enjoyable and varied!

 

MAP31: The Way Forward?

A skip map with a bit of a surprise. I reloaded the map start, just to see if I could get out of the initial hit or actually take on the encounter, but apparently not. I assume, story-wise, you're knocked out here. I'll think of it as a 31-map megaWAD :P

 

MAP32: Wrong Turn

Like the more gimmicky maps of the first NoPants2 marine's journey, things are truly not as they seem, here. It starts off with a playable familiar section that has a seemingly lethal dead end, and a corridor that I vaguely remembered differently. The journey to the red key (involving a secret BFG) was increasingly trippy, and the trick where the level geometry and what you can see not lining up was very clever, but not much fun to play. Through the red key door things quickly turn into a sequence of vignettes, some of which I recognise and a lot I didn't. The E3 sky looks lovely, where it shows up, and I'm glad we'll get a good 10 maps of that! Ultimately I missed one secret here, but pushed through to the end and am now ready for MAP16 tomorrow. Like with the other most clever maps that rely on messing with your sight and perception, this wasn't so enjoyable, but as a secret level it gets a bit of a pass.

[Scypek2]

5 hours ago, TheNoob_Gamer said:

I have yet to find which level contained exactly 37 commandos during my full playthrough... Can you give me a hint?

 

I did also "Precede their appearance with an image of the number 37", and it's right at the start, so it's easy to spot. That, and the Club is going to encounter it soon!

 

MAP14: Outpost Processing

The entire level grew from a room created to complete my second challenge: "A least seven arrow shapes that indicate the direction of something, at least one of which the player walks through." Walking on top of an arrow barely counts as "through", so the other obvious solution was an arrow-shaped room! Now, any proper arrow should be pointing towards something, and so the megasphere secret was born.

 

The switch with an arrow pointed at it lights up the first arrow-clue, all the other switches turn it back off. If you try to get the megasphere without solving the puzzle, either by the automap cheat or random wallhumping, you'll be in for a nasty surprise. The secret door can be opened by either touching an unremarkable patch of a nearby wall (on the big arrow with obviously no secrets inside it, so it's not something you'd wallhump for hidden doors) or by using the door directly, but in the latter case, the long corridor will end with a switch instead of a megasphere. Pressing the switch will crush you. Enjoy!

 

So I started off by making a big dark room with a wall filled with switches, screens on every wall, and a giant arrow in the middle of it. That has already set a certain mood! And that's what inspired the theme of the rest of the map. I even switched out the music later on (Dark Expanse instead of dfd5, which now only plays on MAP17), to really amplify the vibe. The level's appearance is heavily inspired by The Shores of Hell, minus the hell-corrupted bits. There's the vast compblue room, the suffocatingly flat rocket launcher area (at least, until the floor collapses), and a whole lot of grayness. I liked the odd combo of yellow and gray that dominates E2M7, so I implemented it here to add a splash of color that nevertheless looks nothing like E1.

 

Another texturing choice I like in this map is the combination of GRAY5 and STONE - I really like how nicely the horizontal stripe of the two textures can align, making it feel like they belong together. Here, it's used next to the lift that takes you out of the water-filled area. This one was inspired by the soulsphere secret of E1M5, and I imagine it wasn't even done on purpose on that level. Romero doesn't seem like the kind of person to deliberately choose against putting DOORTRAK on the side of a door, and while pre-release E1 was full of gray textures, I think this may be the only occurence of any GRAY* texture in the final version of the shareware episode. Aside from a bit of unreachable GRAYTALL, that is.

 

Weird texture musings aside, Outpost Processing has Hell manifest itself in subtler ways - a bit of gory decor in the SSG secret, a sneaky crusher in the supply room accessible after getting the red key, and finally the yellow key trap. I really like that one, and it reuses the MAP01 trick of trigger lines that only do something later. Here, not only does the floor collapse from under you, but the door you came through turns into a solid wall in front of your eyes.

 

The level ends with a rare bit of direct transition - you step on top of a lift, press a switch, and begin the next level on top of said lift, having ridden it up!

[tmorrow]

map16

A small map that starts with an all-in brawl involving a cacoswarm and several chaingunners. One simplest and successful approach is to scoop the rockets and ammo, take the north door to the invulnerability, head outside and start running round and round. After the initial wave dies off, you are left with finding the secrets and keys. The secrets are worth finding for the megaarmor and plasma rifle and cells. The remaining fights are fairly easy and you have plenty of cover from the surprise archvile that spawns in near the end.

[golbeeze]

Map 16

This was a fun one, although short and simple. The ammo is right out in the open and there is a lot of it.

[Egg Boy]

Map15: As a city map appreciator, I can really get down with this one. Its a sandbox, as comes with the territory, with some pretty simplistic rooms. The combat is basic, but fun. The progression can be a bit confusing, there are a few moments where you flip a switch and wonder "what the hell did that do?" I liked it overall, though, I did have to open it in the editor to find the secret exit (I don't play with sound really loud, and didn't hear the teleporter open up).

 

Map31: A cute little "fuck this" as well as a riff on the all too familiar trope of having maps 31 and 32 be ridiculously challenging.

 

Map32: A mindbending maps. One of my favorites of the megawad. The moment you enter the map, you know something is up. It looks... broken. But intentionally so. This map is... art. Well, maybe I'm being a bit pretentious. But I really liked how this map felt. It didn't play particularly well, but the twists, especially early on, kept me interested. I won't spoil everything, but there are a few deja vu moments, and despite this, its ridiculously disorienting. LOVE IT!

 

Map16: This maps all about crowd control, power up management, and spacing. So, consequently, it gets easier as it goes on. The beginning is a bit like a combat puzzle. When should I grab the invuln? Which door should I open first? So many small decisions. As interesting as the beginning is, it becomes duller as it goes on, since its mostly about clearing out the ridiculous amount of cacodemons. That being said, it is satisfying doing so, and early on there are a lot of close calls, especially with the specres about.

[Omniarch]

MAP16: Risk Factor - 100% kills 100% secrets

I'd be inclined to describe this one as a combat puzzle. Its short length, lack of exploration and high monster count per map unit warrant this classification, in my opinion.

 

Risk Factor is a noticeable departure from the rest of the episode, breaking the trend towards large, dingy, atmospheric non-linear maps and pivoting by a 180 degrees. It is short, punchy and devoid of mood. Lighting is generally bright, texture palette favours light browns and the midi is fast and high-strung.

 

Chaingunners, specters and cacodemons abound, with a supporting cast of imps and mancubi. In the first room you are given only a rocket launcher, though a chaingun is easily acquired from one of the 37 bald bastards infesting this woodland facility. Ammo is mercifully plentiful, and your arsenal expands quickly as you progress.

 

The main thing that stands out about this map is the lack of any single solution to the combat puzzle. On my first run, I used up my invulnerability clearing out the interior of the structure and acquiring bullets for my chaingun, which made killing the hordes mulling about outside quite tedious. On my second run, however, I grabbed the invul and made a mad dash for the plasma rifle, rocketing clumps of specters, imps and chaingunners as I went. This run was much faster and more frenetic, as I ran around the outside of the central structure, grabbing more rockets, a berserk pack and a handy SSG, before clearing out the interior.

 

I'm sure one could get at least a half-hour's worth of good runs from Risk Factor. This sort of short but non-linear combat puzzle is a kind of map I greatly enjoy, and wish to see more of as I continue to explore the Doom community's titanic output.

 

Overall, a short, high-octane combat puzzle with good replayability.

[Gez]

There's a potential lock in MAP11 where the two yellow-locked doors behind the red door can only be triggered once. If you open, shoot at the enemies, let the door close, then repeat on the other side -- your adventure is now over.

[Scypek2]

MAP15: Outpost Refinery

The last techbase level I made for 3iac (until the secret level...), and a really non-linear one. I didn't want to make it too boxy, and apparently that manifested in just a whole lot of circles.

 

Right at the beginning, there are two doors out of the starting room, with zombies right behind both of them, so opening one and making some noise will make the monsters open them all. This repeats three more times on this map alone, and it's a fun little idea I've learned when making Wolf3d levels. In Wolf3d you can't have teleport ambushes and motion-activated monster closets, so making enemies hear you and open door at the right time and place is the key to creating engaging gameplay. This remains possible in Doom to an extent, and feels a lot more organic to me than an opening wall does.

 

The progression is non-obvious for sure. The first key actually requires you to jump down a nukage pit, and the second one requires a bit of platforming no matter which way you approach it. At least they're both easily visible.

 

MAP31: The way forward?

Fun fact - while Doom 2 reuses a whole lot of midis, you can replace all of the duplicate ones with non-duplicates... except for MAP31 and the cast roll screen. Those two are hardcoded to use the same song, and that's the main reason why I chose the actual secret level to take place on MAP32 instead. So now you get to hear no more than two seconds of the unfitting music, and you're distracted further by all the insteresting stuff I've put in the player's line of sight at the start.

 

MAP32: Wrong Turn

Spoiler

A lot of wrong with this map, for sure. I meant to make it feel like a bad dream, and I'm glad to see it largely worked.

 

As per the intermission text, you somehow manage to retreat all the way to MAP14 - even the music matches up. Everyone's still dead, and everything seems just like you left it, except the lower part of the room seems awfully dark. If you dare to plunge into the darkness, it'll turn out to be an awfully deep plunge - right into a death trap, with a looping corridor that only exists to give you false hope.

 

Taking the only other path, you're met with a very unusual encounter - a whole crowd of enemies facing away from you, in darkness so you can't quite tell how many are there. This part is particularly fun on UV from pistol start, as you have nowhere near enough resources to tackle all that, and you're forced to take the safe option and take the highlighted door on the right... and then closing it behind you before you make any noise.

 

I've put a whole bunch of touches to make this section feel off and surreal. There's a couple of spotlights in the dark corridor, but the light actually just comes from a plain patch of wall that has no reason to emit light. The first SPCDOOR that isn't barricaded with skulls spills out its DOORTRAK all over the wall on the other side. Further behind it, there are bars with pitch black void on the other side, and the door that seems like it would get you behind the bars doesn't do that, instead dropping you off at MAP12 in a way that feels like it defies physics. By the way, I'm pretty sure this is also the only locked door in the megawad that doesn't have any locked door markings on it.

 

Your quest for the red key is the most thoroughly physics-defying part of the map. First, you have to enter a room with fake walls that are only visible from one side, tricking you into thinking you're walking through a winding corridor until you notice there's a wall to the left of you no matter where you stand. At this point, the door you came in through has vanished, and to get out, you need to start walking in the direction opposite to where the architecture is herding you, right through opaque walls. That's when a couple of wall patches will light up for a moment - one of them letting you out, and the other allowing you to continue towards the red key.

 

This leads to a really maddening section. You walk through a dark section of a corridor, and enter a room with a couple of lopsided floor lamps. This reveals the truth about the area - all of the walls are visually shifted sideways! All of the geometry, by the same amount, in the same direction. It's gonna take you a while to wrap your brain around it, and so I kept the opposition relatively nonthreatening - or at least, what would be nonthreatening in normal circumstances. Also, most of the goodies in this area are placed in the corners of rooms - physical corners mind you, not visual corners, meaning that you'll have to walk past the visible geometry to get to them! In general, I've placed the enemies and things in that section in a way that would make sense in a regular level. For example, there's a couple of shotgunners waiting to ambush you from either side of the first doorway, but the corridor is visually shifted so one of them is just sitting there in plain sight. I'm proud of how I managed to even make the doors conform to the gimmick. Tagless DR doors, mind you! Although to interact with them, you have to press use in their "visual" position, instead of their "physical" one - kind of a shame, since the opposite doesn't seem that hard to implement now that I look at it. Or maybe I had some reason? I'm not sure anymore.

 

Anyway, opening the red door leads you to the next part - getting teleported all over the place. Attempting to reenter MAP12 briefly throws you into MAP26, which lets you pick up a cell pack before getting yanked back to MAP10 as you attempt to approach a door. This area lets you linger for a bit longer, and mercifully gives you a whole bunch of ammo to take on a relatively small but nasty bunch - a couple of archviles, hiding behind multiple revenants, demons and cacos in a tight space. Good luck killing them first now! You might just want to try killing them faster than they can resurrect, instead. This area also contains one of the two secrets - a warped version of MAP10's secret, which you can access the exact same way you could on MAP10, except the lift-lowering switch is now just a tiny stripe of silver metal, and the lift itself is hidden behind a fake wall, so you either have to be extra observant, or have good memory. At least the contents of the secrets are also different this time - two soulspheres and a megaarmor. I figured you deserve something good for making it through such a level.

 

It's not over yet, though - you continue to backtrack through former MAP10 until you hit a dead end, and one of the formerly decorative doors turns out to be openable. You enter a room that isn't familiar at all but will be soon... and then you take the lift and end up back on MAP01. Or MAP10? Same thing. If you're fast enough, you may even catch a glimpse of your old friend, but the blue door quickly closes, and you set out to pick up the blue key, which somehow perched itself up on the central structure again. The corpses of your hell-swallowed friend's victims are still there, but it seems the place got repopulated in the meantime. There's another couple of archviles hiding behind meatshields. You have to press the stair-raising switch, cause apparently that got reverted as well.

 

You do so, and then you're about to press the lift switch... but then you plunge into darkness, as the floor you expected the tunnel to have simply isn't there. I think what really makes that part is that you get to walk through an identical tunnel a moment before that, and that one has the floor firmly in place. What follows is more mockery - you look around after your fall, and spot the blue key in the distance! So you approach and - what? It was just a health bonus, you idiot! I wish I could have used a silent teleport for that one. And now you're in MAP14, again. You continue on, through the most extensive stretch of unexpected teleportations yet - you get tossed into MAP22, then MAP26 again, MAP23, MAP18, and finally right back into MAP15. A couple of demons ate the chaingunner corpses while you were away, and if you try to backtrack again, it's just another barricade of corpses behind the door. And so you continue on... and take the regular exit from MAP15.

 

I just discovered there's a whole-ass HOM on the MAP22 bit. It's just right before a teleport line, so it's hard to notice - no wonder nobody spotted it.

 

[tmorrow]

map17

A facility with a fatal gimmick. It is not recommended to attempt an early exit. You want some heavy protection before pressing the lift switch and you have to pick up both the blue and yellow keys before you find the invulnerability you need to survive the trap in the exit area.

You begin in a room with 6 side areas and the exit door to the north. The side areas contain various goodies and enemies as well as teleporters taking you to 3 isolated zones, one optional area for the super shotgun and ammo and the blue key and yellow key areas. The zones can be done in any order.

There are several secrets to find which yield the plasma rifle, bfg, soulsphere, megaarmor and health. None necessary but all quite helpful.

[Phobus]

MAP16: Risk Factor

Factor 37, apparently. The bleepy-boopy intense music is back, this time in a bit of an arena setup, with plenty of chaingunners. I came in low on health and stacked with weapons and ammo, so took a maximum aggression approach (with rockets) and just generally killed stuff before it had too much of a chance to hassle me. I got a bit hemmed in with the blue key card, got really low on health and chaingunned my way through quite the horde of enemies (the outside doors had opened up, setting a horde of Spectres and other treats my way).

 

I eventually found the room rammed with stimpacks, and was all good after that, with ammo being no kind of worry and my war of attrition pretty quickly turning in my favour. Once I grabbed the berserk and soulsphere I could chill out, and the plasma rifle secret maxed out my cells, meaning I never bothered with the invulnerability sphere and just BFG-slapped the one Arch-Vile. Rockets, the SSG and chaingun were my main tools of war and I had a pretty decent time of it. Not an outstanding map or anything, but a fun megaWAD entry nonetheless.

[Phobus]

MAP17: Deadlift

This is a strange, strange map. The crumbly gray STONE texture is used in the manner it's usually used in for secrets in the starting room, but every instance of it opens and is required for progression. I didn't realise it, but the exit is unlocked from the get-go (I think) but represents a death trap. You probably can't survive the Arch-Vile and Barrels combo without the eventually allowed invulnerability, and even if you did survive it, there seems to be an activation line for the yellow and blue key card between the exit door and the switch itself. This is supposition on my part, though, as I had both keys and the invulnerability by the time I tried the exit door.

 

I found a secret BFG and mega armour, which were pretty handy, along with a third secret that was basically step #1 on a chain to the mega armour. I missed a couple of secrets (one a clearly visible soulsphere) and one kill, but generally speaking, the map feels directionless. You've got multiple anonymous teleporters behind the walls in the starting room and a few keys and weapons scattered around. My ammo reserves from the previous map were eaten up a bit, particularly plasma and rockets, which I used liberally as I'm anticipating a death exit sooner or later. Being able to BFG the big crowd of Imps in the nukage was pretty satisfying!

 

So yes... A disconnected group of map sections with bleepy-bloopy sci-fi music has led me to ramble about the map rather than have clear thoughts. Not a huge shock!

[kalaeth]

MAP 14 : 0 deaths, MAP 15 : 0 deaths, 36minutes, total : 4h09m20s

MAP 31 : it just finished. Although I picked up a medikit? Deaths : 0 , time : 0

MAP 32 : ok, we are back at MAP 14? (my intermission text was just the one from doom 2, urging me to blaze through it), it's dark everywhere, and there's a door I don't remember existing with imps and cacos (and maybe others) facing away.. Kinda like they are waiting me to unleash fire upon them. A corridor of many doors.. I'll go right side first. Guts, room with SSG (and guts that lower to reveal a red door). Guts. Guts, guts, guts, guts but with a shotgun, and back to the start, let's go left. Guts and a chaingun, guts, guts, fake door, guts, room. A fake wall! No wait, 4 fake walls! And a section that lowers just as I was entering that particular stretch of fake walls. Profound darkness, but there's a path.. And nothing appears to be hidden in the dark. Weird walking through walls bit, and after this strange corridor we reach another "normal" techbase room.. Nop, not normal it still has the actual playspace a bit to the right of the room.. Red key at the end, guarded by a rev and now it's back! It took me a while to find the way, you return not through the same door but another. And on the first door there's a secret passage to a square of blood showing another square of blood holding a BFG that I can't, as of yet, access. Red door opens and it's back to another map for a short second, and yet another and another teleport. Another map, I think this one was actually the map, second time? Yup, this is the first map. And as I was getting familiar, I fell down. Eventually found a path to the blue key inside the darkness, but I was teleported away from it. Following that, a series of teleports, and it's MAP 15's exit I see before me? It is. (I nocliped back to better appreciate the several snippets).

100% kills, 0% secrets, 22m13s, 0 deaths.

 

MAP 16 : great map! no notes because I was having too much fun killing everything :D

0 deaths, 100% K/S/I

 

MAP 17 : I've been here before! The non-doors doors of this room eluded me for a while on my first play through. So I teleported to the blue key, but went for thew wrong side, so I had to do a bit of walking around in circles until I found the switch that raises the pathway again. This isn't a very linear map, nor it is a very populated map so must of the fun comes from figuring out what to do next. The first room has 3 teleports to three zones : the blue key one, the yellow key one and the other one, a nukage filled square of circular rooms with a gift soulsphere. The yellow key one has the maze and then the 9 big whatever-they-are, once of them hiding a BFG (yey!) and another a HK ad the aforementioned yellow key. Opening the YK door gives us a BK door that gives us a teleport we don't even get to step into, since the walls behind open and throw imps at us. Now we can see two more walls that are doors, one of them giving us access to the teleporter again, and we are in a exit room. Pressing the exit switch doesn't end the level, it makes us invincible! For a fight with two archviles. Fight done, and since I can't "legally" go back, I have to end the level with 1 enemy still alive :

16m31s, 0 deaths, 98% kills, 60% secrets.

 

Total : 3 deaths, 4 hours 59 minutes and 51 seconds. 

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by kalaeth

[Omniarch]

MAP17: Deadlift - 100% kills 100% secrets

This map is easily the most hostile level in the episode so far, with overwhelming opposition seemingly around every corner and a frankly ridiculous degree of deprivation. This on top of a bizarre non-linear layout and a death trap exit make for an equally interesting and frustrating experience.

 

Deadlift, despite its techbase aesthetic, creates a more acute sense of alienation than most hell maps (though even it cannot compete with MAP02 and MAP03 of its own megawad). Nothing here makes traditional sense, this being best exemplified by the opening room, which uses visual cues normally reserved for secrets as a mandatory part of progression. Its not at all difficult to figure out in context of course, but it sure does set the tone for the rest of the experience.

 

The map consists of a number of separate areas, connected by various teleporters, and each functions independently from all the others and can be visited in whatever order. Theoretically, this would lend the map a high degree of replayability, but I have not had time to verify this just yet. Foreknowledge of all the side rooms and secrets certainly alleviates the worst of the resource-poverty, and makes the map a fair bit easier for pistol-starters like myself.

 

The generally combat takes place in small room or narrow corridors, leaving little room for maneuver. This in combination with resource scarcity leads to rather frustrating gameplay, though the grind does serve to make victory all the sweeter. Asserting your dominance over each of the areas in turn is undeniably satisfying, enough so to offset the frustration somewhat.

 

Aesthetically, this one has little to offer, with a palette consisting primarily of dingy greens, grays and browns. Detailing is minimal and many of the rooms are rather boxy. Suffice to say, it is not a pretty map. There is some good high-contrast lighting in a few of the main room's side areas, so there is that. The deathmatch area is also well designed visually and fun to play.

 

Overall, a very odd and hostile techbase. In some ways frustrating, but definitely rewarding to conquer. The cleverest part is probably the exit. I am a real sucker for that sort of thing.

[tmorrow]

map18

The episode ender is an epic affair. Strap yourself in and put on your hardhat, you're going on a long, bumpy, back and forth ride between the starting corridor and the key areas as doomguy tries to locate his loved ones. The key areas are visited in order yellow, red and blue.

The starting room, an expanding corridor is the maps gimmick. Each time you head to western end of the corridor, you will trigger some badness and possibly reveal an ammo stash or a progression switch to open up a remote area. Doomguy then goes out and searches the new area and returns with a key that allows him to open up more of the western corridor and trigger new enemies and areas.

In the yellow key area to the south, doomguy earns his rocket launcher and super shotgun against some stiff opposition, revenants and an archvile. Later he finds a chainsaw to mow his way through demons, imps and lost souls. Finally he solves a small maze to pick up the yellow key.

The red key area is quite lucrative. The plasma rifle shows up and if you are on the ball, you can score a secret bfg. I found the fights in this area to be easier than in the yellow key area.

The blue key area is an easy slaughter affair in a booby trapped building full of enemies.

The most dangerous traps to look out for on the map are the 2 solitary cybie encounters and several individual archvile ambushes in various locations.

After finally beating up the map and finding all 3 keys, doomguy can make his way to the end of the starting corridor, only to find it has been blocked off. Progress has been very difficult for doomguy since those disorienting secret maps threw him for a loop. He realises he has to make his way back to the blue door he saw earlier in the red key area. Upon opening the blue door he is treated to a story update before noticing he is back where he started on map09. Nooooooo! As he steps forward onto a death exit he has a vision of an inverted cross exit rising out of the ground with some cities in the background. Little does he know that this is the final destination for our third hero (map27), whose story we are about the learn.

[Egg Boy]

Map17: A peculiar map with yet another tricks and traps-like layout. Each hub-spoke takes you to an entirely disconnected room, so in that way, it is very similar to tricks and traps. Like is so very common with this mapset, it also plays with your expectations. I'm thinking specifically of the teleporter raising, and monster closets opening behind you after you open the blue door. Though, my favorite part of the map was the creative use of the invuln as an item necessary for progression, an extremely clever, and unique concept. 

[Moravectomascb]

Map 09 weird ending. Because I didnt have bfg ammo, so I had to go down, kill archviles and if I gey yellow key, Ill die. But in video, I found, it itsnt bug, its dead exit, but didnt function for me. But if I had bfg ammo, I could kill all archviles and exit by that Icon of sin. I done it, but by idclip and I died by my rocket launcher and killed Icon of sin.

[Omniarch]

MAP18: Nowhere Fast - 100% kills 100% secrets

This map is awesome. An insane, sprawling techbase filled with interesting gimmicks and encounters, accented by strong visuals and my favourite midi in the wad. The perfect high-note on which to end the episode.

 

Linearity is a peculiar thing in Doom maps. On the one hand, linear maps often feel overly constrictive and predictable, while on the other they have an distinct advantage when it comes to creating a sense of adventure. For example, despite appearances to the contrary, Alien Vendetta's MAP20 "Misri Halek", often considered to be the greatest of all adventure maps, is actually quite linear. This is for one simple reason: non-linear maps are often very confusing. Nothing squashes a sense of adventure like getting lost in a vast maze or trying for hours to find that one bloody switch. Obviously non-linear maps can be highly effective adventure experiences, I'd even go so far as to say the ceiling of possibility for such maps is actually higher than that of linear ones. However, the kind of memorable set-pieces, periods of quiet build-up and moments of epic pay-off are all far easier to execute when the mapper knows exactly where the player will be at any given time.

 

Nowhere Fast takes this approach, using an ultimately linear progression to take the player on an epic journey through a bizarre, hell-twisted techbase.

 

The opening room more or lets sets the stage for the rest of the map, and acts as both a point of reference and way for the player to keep track of their progress. The encounter itself is a very interesting one, and probably the hardest in the map, forcing the player to manage their position, ammo and target priorities with little to no margin for error. The combination of fodder, pain elementals and a single irksome revenant with the room's geometry and obstacles make for a near-perfect blend of pain. The short nature of the encounter prevents it from becoming frustrating, and the relatively plentiful resources acquired after the fight adds a small sense of security to augment the feeling of triumph for the victory.

 

Spoiler

 

The next area acts as a sort of hub for the level since every major key-path begins here. Apart from a small skirmish with some chaff, this area is generally quiet, making the visuals the most interesting thing about it.

 

Spoiler

 

One thing I have so far neglected to mention about 3IAC is Scypek2's highly original texture choices. Even when the maps are ugly (as with most of episode 2), they are never really boring to look at. There are lots of small touches scattered about, too numerous to list but obvious to anyone who has played the wad. This tendency is something I really appreciate about 3IAC, helping it to establish a clear visual identity.

 

There is a rather clever secret hidden in this room, taking advantage of an inescapable pit I initially saw as a simple oversight to simultaneously hide and highlight the puzzle. Figuring this out rewards the player with a megasphere and the opportunity to explore a totally empty and inconsequential off-map area. I cannot for the life of me figure out why this section is here. It's presence is strangely creepy and existentially disturbing, possibly an extension of the off-map areas I mentioned way back in my writeup for MAP04. Regardless, I appreciate the touch.

 

Spoiler

 

The next room is very interesting, turning a very small space into a surprisingly-complicated encounter, forcing the player to keep track of enemies on the outside and inside of the central building while juggling between appropriate weapons and trying to avoid waking up the archvile. The fact that it can be tackled in many different ways is just the icing on the cake, adding a bit of non-linearity to a largely linear level.

 

Spoiler

 

After defeating that encounter, the player emerges from the dark facility into broad daylight. I like the change in textures here, going from the browns and greens favoured by the episode's interior areas to the grey-green outdoor style. This odd complex of structures is probably my favourite part of the map, since I really like the woodland base feel of the place.

 

Spoiler

 

The encounter with the teleporting lost souls and pinkies would have been a lot more fun if the bloody autoaim would let me shoot the bastards in advance like the map clearly wants me to, but alas Crispy Doom is not perfect and I couldn't land a single rocket.

 

Spoiler

 

The next section is a brief jaunt through some concrete corridors filled with nukage pits and fodder enemies, nice and relaxing. I'm not sure what is up with the inaccessible blue door platform with all the hitscanners though. Maybe just some visual world-building I was too dense to pick up on.

 

Spoiler

 

After acquiring the yellow key (amusingly the first of the three progression keys), the player returns to the opening room. Continuing down the 'exit' corridor eventually unleashes a host of revenants, easily dispatched with the rocket launcher, allowing the player to loot their monster closet and flip the next switch.

 

Spoiler

 

Sidenote: I love the sector trickery here, since the yellow key itself has nothing to do with the progression, but rather a linedef that is crossed in the process of acquiring it.

 

The next area is an odd one, quite visually distinct from the rest of the episode. Its a bit of an odd encounter, what with the horde of monsters (including an archie) stuck behind a wall of barrels and a rather annoying platform puzzle. Not sure how I feel about this part. The secret hidden in the pain elemental closet is much appreciated though, even if the nested BFG secret feels a little random. Moving on.

 

Spoiler

 

Once again, the player returns to the fake exit corridor. This time, entering the newly-revealed alcove to press the next switch unleashes a cyberdemon from behind the level entrance. It is not that threatening though, since it simply gets stuck on the obstacles and can be safely plasma'd to death.

 

Spoiler

 

The final key area is another interesting encounter that can be handled in subtly different ways. The room also looks great, combining a blue FWATER floor with grey walls, all cast in high-contrast lighting.

 

Spoiler

 

After acquiring the blue key, a cyberdemon teleports into the sewer hub area, and is similarly easy to dispatch with a stream of plasma. For some reason, the exit is located just outside the red key room, barred behind a blue key door.

 

Spoiler

 

The exit room itself is a great scene, with the last remaining marine seemingly watching you through an impossible window, while a ominous midtexture message straight from the Icon himself dominates the room:

 

Spoiler

 

Walking through the text causes the player to telefrag a voodoo doll and a romero head, functioning as a death exit. The last scene of the episode sees a hellish portal opening on what appears to be Earth. Foreshadowing, perhaps?

 

Spoiler

 

 

And so ends episode 2 of Three is a Crowd! I must say, my misgivings about this episode were far more numerous than with the first. I found it generally to be less memorable and significantly more annoying. Maybe I just prefer Hell. Regardless, this episode was still very good, with many interesting maps and ideas, and a unique forest-base aesthetic.

 

A good time, despite my issues. I wonder what episode 3 has in store?

[Gez]

Maps 32 and 18 are my favorite so far, both exhibiting a lot of that peculiar wrongness that characterizes 3IAC's demonic corruption.

 

I also like that Map 19 is the last remaining marine noping out of there after witnessing #1 get swallowed by the ground and #2 sacrifice himself to baphomet. Of course it's not that easy, is it ? Gotta take it slowly and cautious, taking advantage of infighting to distract the arch-vile so they don't BBQ you too fast.