Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #006

[Endless]

 

Endless, what the hell is this now ?

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures is a small project of exploration, interaction, entertainment and reviews where we meet once every 2 weeeks to select random WADs in search of hidden treasures, lost promises or our worst nightmares! In case you didn't know, /idgames archive has a special feature where we can search for random files, of course, sometimes they are resources or unplayable stuff, so we will focus on looking for WADs!

  

So, what are we going have to do ?

1. We/I try to play at least 6 (or more if you can) random WADs on /idgames. For that, I use the Random File feature.
2. We comment/review the WADs for the duration of the event. There's no set time, but one WAD every 2 days is a good measure, or 1 every day in case there's plenty.
3. Try to take screenshots of your adventures.
4. Play however you want, on any skill-level, as long as you play the WAD as intended/in working shape.
5. Avoid shitting on people's work, try to review in a respectful manner, but of course, let's all have a good laugh in case we find something odd.

 

What kind of WADs are we looking for ?

Mostly singleplayer WADs that work in your source-port of choice. You can skip DM WADs in case you don't have anyone to play with. Heretic WADs are also allowed. I will look for at least 4 random WADs for the event and add them here. Feel free to play them with me, or if you wish, look for your own! The point of this is to encourage you to explore this vast, random world. 

 

Tips/recommendations for commenting/reviewing:

Spoiler

• Do provide the name of the map and a link to the file. Very important.
• Sticking the name of the author doesn't hurt either, especially if you have previous experience with it.
• Commenting the source port and skill-level is also good if you wish.
• Try to stick to 1 WAD per day to avoid burnout, but this is all up to you, champ!
• Screenshots or videos are awesome.
• Long or short format, both are good as long as you do it with integrity.

 

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures of this event:

 

1. SUPER
2. woody3
3. Happy Birthday TM512
4. A death maze/arena
5. The Process
6. DOUGH1.WAD
7. Drama, Pizza Et Tortilla

 

Spoiler

The Top 10 out 20

1. @Roofi | 400
2. @Endless | 190
3. @Walter confetti | 185
4. @Maribo | 125
5. @LUISDooM | 110
6. @Sena | 100
7. @Misty | 75
8. @smeghammer | 60
9. @leodoom85 | 55
10. @Biodegradable |45

 

Join the Doom Master Wadazine community for more events like this! » https://discord.gg/Q2RKn4J

 

» Previous adventures:

Spoiler

• Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #001
• Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #002
• Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #003

• Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #004

• Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #005

[Sena]

Day 1: Dumerica Bowling Arena https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/0-9/7-10splt

 

Not much of an arena, but it is a bowling alley, you go under it for a key, you go out the front door to kill John Romero, that's basically all there is to say, it's pretty short, too narrow, I don't remember there being this many hitscanners in any other IoS maps I've played, and I died once so it probably wasn't just bad RNG. It's very basic and I didn't particularly enjoy it, but it wasn't painful either. The Doom equivalent of a movie you'd never watch at home, but you're on a plane, and it's marginally better than doing nothing at all.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Sena

[Sena]

Day 2: SUPER https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/s-u/super2

 

A lot of custom sounds in this one. The music is the Mission Impossible theme, new gun sounds, new death sounds for the zombiemen/shotgunners, who I think is Millhouse, but don't quote me on that one. And the player pain sound is some obnoxious bloke shouting "danger", so if I can suggest something, it's you play this WAD with godmode on, not because it's particularly hard, but because that shit is extremely annoying, if the HEV suit could figure out how to make getting some monotone voice telling me I got shot not be annoying, then I don't know why these people couldn't.

 

Apart from that, it's mostly okay, reminds me of Tricks and Traps in some ways with the layout, albeit this map lacks any actual tricks or traps. It's not bad at all, it's got some decent variety, and the combat's fine, only problem is, that fucking sound every single time you get hit, but for a '96 map this is very competent, even got that trick where you watch a set of stairs unfold before the player, so, bottom line, good map, so long as you play with god mode on, or the sound off. 

 

 

[Maribo]

Train // Your name here (Guit2001@juno.com) // 1998 // PrBoom+, UV, No Saves

Uses conveyors to give a neat, if basic, illusion of doomguy being stuck on a moving train with no way off aside from killing John Romero's head, which is sitting way off in the distance.

Spoiler

 

Glaive 2 // EANB // 2020 // PrBoom+, UV, Pistol Starts on all Maps, Some Saves

Hell maps that feature some really really good Archvile use, and some really really flaccid Archvile use. I've never played the first glaive, but given the highs of these maps, I'd probably really like them if they're similar, and given that they're dubbed easier than this, they might not have as many of the lows. I like this set, I think it sets a good example of how to make use of hell visuals, and when the combat is good, it's very fun. Admittedly I have some hangups with this set, one of which is MAP07, which makes a pretty funny use of the Mancubus mechanics, kinda just feels like a series of "ok, fuck you"-type encounters, minus the cacodemon cloud, which is just "nice...... a freebie" that lulls you into a fall sense of security for the last fight. I'd definitely recommend it if you like the hell aesthetic though. The maps are mostly short ones as well, you won't find any that takes over 10-ish minutes once you learn them (though learning them can be a bit time consuming). If you LOVE the color red, this is a set for you to at least try.

last screenshot is before i idclev'd to reset to pistol lol

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Edited May 4, 2021 by Maribo
words

[Roofi]

Day 24

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) Cloven Hoof by Chris Wright (2010)

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A modest size map with one particularly-harrowing marble room.

 

Cloven Hoof is a rather simple and abstract level with the particularity of having a totally organic layout. The map contains little variation in height with fairly flat rooms. However, I greatly appreciate its gameplay, which takes great advantage of its non-orthogonal design.

 

Most of the fights are incidental with monsters spread all over the place but I had a lot of fun. The items are numerous enough to make the map quite smooth.

 

Visually, I like the play with the shadows that give a certain tone to the map.

 

File 2) THE Tombstone Deathmatch by Access Denied. (1996)

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This WAD was based on PAR-002C.WAD file by Patick Small. Some cometic changes where made, but the most significant changes made where the addition of more "things," and also that this WAD works for DOOM, DOOM 2, and HERETIC.

 

This is a deathmatch wad that uses 3 different Iwads namely Doom (E3M1) , Doom 2 (Map 01) and Heretic (E2M1). Moreover, the same map is used three times with variations specific to each IWAD. For example, in Heretic, you face the boss D'Sparil while the Doom 2 map contains 3 arch-viles and 3 barons for Ultimate Doom.

In each case, there are a fair number of power-ups to easily finish off the rare enemies. (DM map above all).

 

I must admit that the concept is particularly interesting although the map itself is not very crazy. The Ultimate Doom version is aesthetically my favourite.

 

 

And dead in Suitcase of Gor map 08.

 

Spoiler

[Sena]

Day 3: woody3 https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/v-z/woody3

 

Yeah, it's alright. Got one or two cheeky inescapable crushers, and the big arenas seem to have a lot of empty space for the player, that is to say, if you stand completely still to sneeze you'll have instigated infighting with nearly the whole arena, combining the two would seem like the logical step, creating a crusher to force the player into enemy territory so these enemies are a threat, but that doesn't happen, but it is only map 3. It's not narrow enough to make navigating a problem, and there aren't too many shotgunners, which shows a lot more competence than I've come to expect from maps from the 90s. Pretty short, it's got a pretty hefty enemy count, but despite that, even with the large amount of backtracking, it'll take you 5 minutes. Not a bad one, but it is kind of forgettable.

 

 

 

[xvertigox]

DethCity by @fezzador (2005)

^{glboom++ complevel 9}

 

The wad starts off with an issue, no port is specified in the readme. I looked into it and it's a Boom map but from memory I don't believe it uses any Boom actions so may be playable in a limit removing port.

 

The map itself is decidedly average. It's too big for the small amount of monsters you fight at a time. Large rooms had me anticipating epic battles but the map never follows through. Health is reasonable and consistent however the ammo is spotty. It's not tight on ammo in that it gives you a challenge (you can dodge most everything regardless of ammo) but it is annoying.

 

Map flow is fairly aggravating. The maps 'gimmick' is you have a start room with four teleports - three lead to areas with keys and the final leads to the three-key exit. The most notably annoying area has you teleport right next to a lift without a teleport to get back. What makes it annoying is it's a reasonable distance to get to the teleporter that takes you back to the hub so if you accidentally go through it you have to waste time getting back. The teleporter should definitely be two way. Another issue with the map flow is that a required door looks like a plain wall, if I hadn't checked the automap I never would have figured out how to progress. Another progression issue is a switch texture that is activated from the start - I ran past this multiple times before realizing that I didn't flip it to raise the necessary bridge (you can see me almost quit if you watch my playthrough video).

 

Visually, the overly large environments lead to them feeling under-detailed especially with the lack of light variation. That's not to say it's all one light level but more gradients and contrasts would go a long way in breaking up the expansive rooms. It's not terrible but it's not great (this sums up the entire map).

 

Combat encounters are quite tame and one dimensional. For each fight you can either a) circle strafe everything with ample room or b) funnel through a, relatively, narrow space. Difficulty on UV is very gentle bar the occasional long range hitscanners.
 

It's not an overtly bad or unenjoyable map but it does leave a lot to be desired. It feels like a novice map so I cut it a fair amount of slack.

 

I give this map 2/5 buttholes

 

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Edited May 6, 2021 by xvertigox

[xvertigox]

Rescue by Templar (2003)

^{Vanilla map but played in glBoom++ complevel 3}

 

This is a quick and dirty Doom 1 techbase/spaceship map by Templar. The gameplay throughout the whole map is basically just "spam down a hallway" or "spam in a big-ish room". Ammo is scarce at the start and I imagine if you take an 'incorrect' route you could become suitably boned.

 

There is a distinct lack in detail and texture variety. For a spaceship map it sort of works but it really could be better. Progression is semi-linear and, owing to it's small size, not confusing. You can see the inconsistent detailing in the second screenshot. There's small bits of detail like debris and furniture but no detailing for the long hallways or larger rooms. The gameplay isn't bad bad. It's not very dynamic and is repetitive but given how short the map is this didn't really grate on my nerves.

 

One issue I encountered was that because the room that houses monsters for teleport traps is so strangely designed the last two enemies didn't teleport in and I couldn't get 100% kills. (Illustration 1 | Illustration 2)

 

There's honestly not much to say about the map. It's very small, full of low tier enemies (333 to be exact) and overly quite plain. If you look at the screenshots you've experienced most of what the map has to offer.

 

I give it 2/5 buttholes

 

 

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[xvertigox]

DemWAD01 by @vdgg (2010)

^{Vanilla map but played in glBoom++ complevel 2}

 

Now this is an interesting map. If you don't read the accompanying readme you'd think this is a crappy, linear little level. If you do read the readme you'll see that the concept behind this map is that if you playback 'lv01-039.lmp (Doom2, MAP01, UV Max in 0:39 by @xit-vono' that the demo does not desync despite it being recorded for the original Doom 2 map01 (video of said demo playing DemWAD001 can be found here). This is a very interesting concept in my opinion. It changes how I view the map. If I look at it a standard map it's decidedly blah however after verifying that Xit's demo doesn't desync I commend @vdgg for his creativity and skill in making it work.

 

As it's own, standalone level it's got alright texturing but quite bizarre architecture in places. It's very easy and short but all that's beside the point. As a side note, while taking screenshots and noclipping I found a unconnected room full of props and items. It almost looks like a test room for checking out custom resources but it's lacking many THINGs and has duplicates of others. @vdgg can you clarify what this room is for?

 

For it's ingenuity I give this wad 4/5 buttholes

 

 

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Edited May 6, 2021 by xvertigox
Wrote complevel 3 instead of complevel 2

[vdgg]

10 minutes ago, xvertigox said:

As a side note, while taking screenshots and noclipping I found a unconnected room full of props and items.

If I remember, the making of the map was "learning as it goes", I had some very vague idea about which weapons and monsters use, and what kind of rooms and situations create. After the first area with the rocket launcher a problem appeared: when I was adding new monsters, the part which was previously perfectly in sync started going out of sync :) So I made a bunch of monsters / items just in case in an empty "inventory" room, because when moving them from there, there were no issues, as opposed to inserting them in the map. Then all monsters that were unused just got crushed at the end so the map could be maxed. Artificial, but any other way would be too much pain.

[Roofi]

Day 25

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) Heretic Binary Ripple Counter by Paul Hiebert, aka Creaphis (2008)

 

Spoiler

 

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A 4-bit binary ripple counter, loosely based on Fraggle's counter.wad (for Boom), proving that voodoo doll conveyor belt scripting was already possible back in 1994. Also included are a second level that demonstrates a few more engine quirks, and an absurdly unnecessary story that ties the two levels together.

 

I think the author's description is self-sufficient in saying what this wad is about. 

 

It is a test wad with two "levels" to show different mapping tricks on Heretic. It looks very interesting but can be a bit dated.

 

File 2) JAL_DM1.WAD by James Legg (1994)

 

Spoiler

 

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Set in an open-air castle castle Deathmatch only Designed to be played with -respawn

 

 

A very old DM map for Ultimate Doom. The level consists of large empty spaces textured with vines.

 

The map contains barrels, shotgunners everywhere, green armour and weapons. It doesn't take long to get the picture.

 

File 3) escape.wad by David Silver (1994)

 

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This wad file was created with deu 5.21 and the nodes were built with BSP12w (beta version). It is intended as a replacement level for E1M4. The name ESCAPE.WAD is given just for the sake of giving it a name. I call it DSE1L4.WAD, but infant2 wads all have real names, so there it is.

There is no fancy story to go with this wad. This goal is just like that of every other DOOM wad: Find the exit. Of course, there is alot of killing along the way.

He is some of what the wad offers (or does not):

-Only a one player level
-Supports several difficulties

The though that went into this wad was to just make something that is not too hard to solve, but has some great kick butt fun involved.

 

A very classic tech-base ultimate Doom map replacing the E1M4 slot. The map is of good quality for its time with some non-linearity, open areas with a simple but effective architecture to add variety.

 

Several times we come across barrels gathered in such a way as to allow us to kill enemies in a more fun way.

 

The map is probably too easy though with powerful weapons that can be obtained without difficulty (BFG and plasmagun).

 

File 4) RetroPack by Michael T. Cole(ShadowRunner)        (2004)

 

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Retro versions of E1m1, E2m1, E3m1.

 

This file contains 3 wads which are remixed versions of E1M1 , E2M1 and E3M1 of Ultimate Doom. The mapper proposes new maps using the gameplay or aesthetic gimmicks of these levels such as the blue armor located in the nukage in E1M1, the red cross causing damage in E2M1 or the two cacodemons to be killed with the pistol in E3M1. 

 

The concept is particularly interesting. However, I don't feel that the remix is better than the original. The interconnections are less numerous and more simplistic with an increased use of doors and teleporters. The rooms are sometimes unnecessarily large or small and often square in shape so as to make the maps less memorable.

However, I have to admit that the remixed version of E3M1 is better than the original for my taste, with less abuse of the 64 pixel wide corridor.

 

A nice wad to play though.

 

 

And I died in the big gzdoom map Skinship by Lorenzo.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Sena]

Day 4: Happy Birthday TM512 https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/g-i/hbtm512

 

Average map, call me self-centred but I'd probably enjoy it more if it was my birthday that someone especially made a map for, but it's not like there's anything that special about it, not like the demons have called a truce to have cake with Doomguy, just an ordinary map. A little formulaic in its design, a standard room-hallway-room, but they break it up now and then with height variation and teleporters and the like. Personally, I think it's a bit lackluster to have a birthday celebration without a super shotgun, but I can't find any actual complaints with the map design.

  

 

Edited May 7, 2021 by Sena

[Roofi]

Day 26

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) Runner by Paul Pollack (1995)

 

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Runner is a customizable program that allows users to execute your PWAD without having to type in arcane commands from the command line. It was developed by Paul Pollack of DragonHawk Productions, and may be freely distributed with your PWAD provided that some acknowledgement is given, and that it is NOT distributed with PWAD's that work with the shareware version of DOOM. This is according to id's wishes, since otherwise I might somehow be discouraging others from registering.

 

Runner is an old program that must have been useful in the days when throwing wads must have been a real chore.

 

We can thank all the port creators who are making it totally obsolete!

 

File 2) Sky Deathmatch by Kerkko Välilä (1998)

 

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This level is a small DeathMatch level in the sky. All weapons are available.

 

A small DM map that takes place in the sky.Actually, I'm a big fan of the grey sky that blends with the grey brick textures. This combination gives the level a rather funereal atmosphere without being macabre.

 

I have nothing special to say about the gameplay. The wad uses some sounds from some games (Goldeneye 64...) which are quite nice.

 

File 3) Dungeon by Konrad Bresin (2007)

 

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You are in England on a diplomatic relations trip. The conference is about what to do with old castles. Some of the politicians were looking at a castle when they found some thing strange. You (or your team)are sent in to investigate. There seems to be living beings in the castle. Research shows that many odd things have happened in the area since the middle ages. Stories of wizards, cinitars, and the living dead have been passed from generation to generation. Legend tells that they were captured and stored at a remote location. They were gathered and brought by nights hired by the nobility, who feared they would be lose power to the king. The maps that have been collected from other castles tell that the dungeon is were you are investigating. Do you have what it takes?

 

A level released on idgames in 2007 but created in 1998. The author states that the story takes place in England. However, there is nothing to make us feel like we are in England, or in any country for that matter.

 

It is a very classic level as we see many. The first part of the story takes place in an open-air fort surrounded by a shallow moat. The other part consists of a dungeon made of marble and wood that is particularly abstract.

 

Enemies are killed exclusively with shotgun, which is a bit baronsat times when they are barons. Some of the traps are quite effective, especially with the AV at the end.

 

A decent map but nothing special.

 

File 4) Mean Mines by Jacek 'Illdo' Dobrzyniecki (2005)

 

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A short and relatively easy map, located in mines.

 

A short mine-themed level. Most of the game is played in a large brown cavern with elements such as a minecart, a stalactite (or a drill?) or rails.

The level is very simple with small monsters to kill. There is even enough space to skip them.

You finish the level by going back to the surface. The texturing is quite nice but you can just run to the exit without worrying about the monsters.

 

File 5) YakWorld by Spackle Ltd. (1994)

 

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What is Yak World? The simple and clear answer is that we haven't got a clue. Many sections are highly nifty, but if it resembles a theme park or some sort of yak-infested planet we'd be the last to know. It lacks theme, unity, some of the things we love to see in a healthy WAD. We admit it! Don't hurt us.

However, Yak World shows a clear progression from Yak Man's initial stumblings in Deu 5.0 ("oh boy, let's put a 1024 drop right here, and many shotgunners") to an expert overuse of linedefs in 5.1 to create lighting effects, ultimately bringing Deu to a crushing halt, unable to create or delete sectors without giving over 1000 warnings and crashing at the end of the compiling process... These problems have been identified by UpJohn Co; Deu warnings are definitely a contributing factor to male-pattern baldness.

Of special note is the secret sewer area, which I rather like, being it my idea and all. If you haven't played it you haven't played the game, or something like that.

Features of Yak World include aforementioned unfinished sewer system, big drops, scary things with light, weird texture replacements, guns, rockets, lack of spider demons. Lots of secrets I can't tell you about. Go play that wad!

 

As indicated in the long description provided by the author, Yakworld is a particularly quirky 2-level wad (E1M1 and E1M9) immersing the player in a variety of scenarios such as:
- an arena battle with a cyberdemon
- a passage through the sewers,
- a small maze in the dark

...

The level is meant to be fun and it actually is. I had a lot of fun. Moreover, thanks to the berserk given at the very beginning, it is very appreciable to play it in tyson mode.

Aesthetically it's not too bad for the time with some intriguing textures, including the word YAKWORLD written in a colorful childish font at the very beginning. There are rooms with various shapes, differences in luminosity....

 

A good wad.

 

 

 

 

 

Hmm... The next wad is the legendary slaughterwad Holy Hell 1.1 by JK. I really like but it's so damn long. I will not play it and stop my adventure for today. Also there is a very high probability to die in this wad.

 

[Sena]

Day 5: A death maze/arena https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/s-u/sdd1mz1

 

Not bad at all, when I saw the maze, I came into it expecting to hate it, but it wasn't particularly bad, the opening maze actually had a pretty cool trick with turning the lights off after a bit, and the combat's not bad, it opens up, with that said, in a narrow corridor with a ton of angles to be shot from, and also darkness, the only real strategy is to just run past everything, which proved effective, apart from the part near the end with the cyberdemon, not because his rockets are so fast and so damaging that it got me killed, but because after that point a teleporter sends you back to the middle of the map, and after exploring every single room, there was no way to advance, and killing him didn't end the level either, so I don't know if it was a glitch or bad design, but I got to 100% kills, and I couldn't complete the level, there were a bunch of secret rooms I opened but they only ended with teleporters to the non-secret rooms, so I've got no idea what the planned way to complete it. So, unless there's some big switch I missed because I'm a mug, good map, not too easy, but not a ballbuster either.

 

 

 

[Endless]

@xvertigox Welcome to the club mate! I see you're a Cacohole enjoyer :P

[Sena]

Day 6: The Process https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/s-u/tprocess

 

A map from 2001, which the author uploaded as late as 2019, which is a surprise to me, I suppose he must've forgotten the content of this map, because he really shouldn't have bothered.

 

First problem with the map is that it's just plain ugly, it's got a lot of these amateurish textures that just look plain bad, and while I'm not one to normally complain about a lack of a visual theme, it seems like there is no real reason to the textures here, in one minute it goes from metallic tech base to medieval library to minecraft dirt house.

But, more critically, the design just seems to be an afterthought, it's like they built a bunch of rooms in no particular order, and only when it was done did they worry about how you're actually meant to move from one to the other. At least half the rooms seem to provide no purpose at all other than to waste the player's time, and there's a whole lot of "I activated the switch, now I have to figure out what it actually did". Also, they seem to really, really, like explosive barrels, never positioned in such a way they're a threat to a player, and the enemy counts are rarely high enough that more than one or two is needed to kill them all, but that's just something that's there. Somewhere between 2001 and 2019 Oblige got invented, which I'd say invalidates any reason to play this map, that'll give you something better.

 

  

 

[Roofi]

Day 27

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) LIEDOWN1.WAD by Kenji.K(LEI) (2012)

 

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デスマッチ用PWADファイル

 

A 1996 wad published in 2012. These are two small vanilla maps with a particular gimmick:

- The first map consists of a large room with a giant crusher to avoid.
- The second map takes place in a kind of "station".

 

Each map contains few monsters but they are quite dangerous, especially in the first map. Most of them are hitscanners that can cause considerable damage from near and far. The maps do not contain any armour.

 

It is also interesting to note that the mapper is Japanese, which is not very common in the Doom community.

 

 

 

 

Dead in the last level of the ultimate doom episode  Fernito's Phobos base (silly name, I know, but I haven't thought of an official name yet xD).

 

Spoiler

 

[Biodegradable]

Drama, Pizza Et Tortilla

UV | GZDoom and Vanilla+

 

This is one of the most tedious and annoying WADs I've ever played. I can see the mapper was trying to be tongue-in-cheek with the whole thing, but this player wasn't laughing alongside 'em. This thing was an agonising slogfest that set out to do nothing but disorientate, frustrate and waste my time. I fucking hated this map.

 

[Sena]

Day 7: DOUGH1.WAD https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/d-f/dough1

 

Well decorated, but not well populated. While nothing too impressive, the maps look nice, or maybe I'm just saying that because the last one was just so bad, but they are too big for their own good, and you can just run past them. With that said, I don't think the mapper was incapable of figuring out how to get you to stay, there's the standard fare of putting keys/switches in dangerous spots, but if I see 15 imps all clustered together, I'll just leave the area. Also, I thought the exit switch was really cool, having an elevator that activates when someone steps on it, meaning you have to kill all the enemies located in the cubby holes on your way down, or that's how I thought it worked, but you can just end the level immediately since I forgot for a second that stuff in Doom is infinitely tall. Not a bad map though.

 

 

 

[Roofi]

 

Day 28

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) dm2edit.zip by Glen Johnson (1995)

 

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This program will edit Doom II savegames for weapons, ammo and keys to maximum values. You can also select God Mode and Full Area Map. The program will edit single and 2 player savegames. If a 2 player game is detected, both players will be edited with the same selections. The only reason I didn't provide for 3 and 4 player savegames, is that I don't have access to a Network in order to determine file locations for the remaining 2 player options. If anyone can E-mail me "clean" (no cheat codes edited) 3 and 4 player savegames, I will incorporate them into the program. I also found that when I attempted to edit the other artifacts, the savegames would error.

 

All is in the description written by the author. It's a very old program. Only useful if you are Dos box addict.

 

File 2) The Seventh 05: Underground by Michael 'prower' Reid and Mike 'Cyberdemon' Watson (1998)

 

Spoiler

 

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The Seventh 05: Underground

You've had enough of this. You've destroyed a planet and it's satellite

 

A map made by two people who participated in the Hell Revealed 2 project. This one uses the Boom format of the time.

 

It is a relatively short level containing just under 50 enemies, most of which are mid-tier. The most notable gimmick on this map is the particularly advanced shadow work. The effects are particularly nice when the light/dark contrasts are high. On the other hand, the effects are sometimes less perceptible due to the ambient darkness.

The music used is particularly annoying because of the overuse of the battery and the poorly balanced sound.

 

The most notable Boom features are in the use of lifts that work with a button to go up and a button to go down. Other than that, it is a very classic vanilla map and not necessarily very memorable.

 

File 3) Multigon by Dexter Gresh (1995)

 

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This my first attempt at building my own level, and I think it came out pretty well. Let me know what you think. Too easy? Too hard? Cool? Uncool?

 

Spoiler

 

A first baby map from 1995. Actually, I found much worse maps made before and after this one.

 

This is a fairly basic ultimate doom map, replacing the E2M1 slot. Most of the locations consist of dark and rather narrow corridors. The author has the particularity to put a lot of hidden doors, making the progression unnecessarily more complicated. Fortunately, the level is not very big and it is easy to find if you press a little bit everywhere, especially if you manage to find the computer map in one of the secrets.

 

I liked the little puzzle with the teleporters to get the red key. (You have to get the right combination or you go back to the beginning). Besides, the fights are quite fun, it remains classic doom above all.

 

File 4) The Pits and the Pedestal by Stew Oswald (2005)

 

Spoiler

 

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Designed for Deathmatch. Each player starts off in the center section. Each platform in the center section opens a door. There is one warp that takes you to the tall pedestal in the center section. Deathmatch is much better WITHOUT monsters, so I didn't even include them.

 

An old DM map from 1994 that was uploaded in 2005. I don't have much to say. The gimmick of creating a hub with doors leading to different areas is not a bad idea in itself.

 

 However, the layout is in my opinion much too large to be fun in DM. Also, it's aesthetically quite bland even though there were much worse horrors in 1994.

 

File 5) Dark/Hard music by Mr. Chris (2003)

 

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Just a set of music for your listening pleasure

 

A compilation of midi metal music to be launched with the Iwad Doom 2.

 

This file concentrates several great tracks made by famous bands such as Pantera , Slayer or even Alice in Chains.

 

A great wad for those who want "doomy" metal music. Moreover, it contains the midi rendition of "Pull me Under" composed by Dream Theater (map 10) which is one of my favourite music.

 

File 6) Gaming Outpost's Complimentary Deathmatch Level by Fred Carrillo (1995)

 

Spoiler

 

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If you like this level in a two player deathmatch, imagine it with four people. This level is strictly for die hard deathmatch fanatics. Sorry, no monsters and no exits.(use the -timer parameter)

 

A DM map that probably takes place in some kind of fort in the desert. Indeed, the CRATOP texture seems to be made to represent sand and the brown textures go well with this material.

 

Nothing special to say about the gameplay. However, I really like the architecture with its blood cascade. The level is extremely small.

 

Cool.

 

File 7) DMZOUNDS!.WAD by Stephen pandke with help from Derek Vallillee (1994)

 

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This PWAD is for doom1

 

A wad that replaces all the sounds of the first doom with silly sounds composed of movie quotes. 

 

It's pretty funny to be honest but most of them are too long to play fully in game. In addition, the sounds all end up overlapping, making for a horrible hubbub.

 

Anyway, for those who will try this wad, the frog sound every time you pick up an item is legendary and the "You're an idiot" sound every time a barrel or a rocket explodes will be remembered.

 

Also , after playing UD with this , have fun playing every sound with slade.

 

File 8) ­¤ëî‡ç'ë by ­¤ëî‡ç'ë (1995)

 

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This is a Full DEATHMATCH level...i suggest you try it in 1 player to scope out all the secret areas and sniper points though. Oh ya...don't fall in the well..you'll know it when you see it.

 

 

The official name of the map and the author is unreadable. The file is called "insects" though, so I will call the wad as such.

 

Insects is a DM map that doesn't look like a DM map and contains some randomly placed monsters. There are way too much health and ammo to make them a least a bit dangerous as many DM maps.

 

It's very basic and uninteresting but I liked the use of the wolftenstein doors and the little decorations to make the map a bit cute.

 

PS: I'm sick of Deathmatch maps. 

 

File 9) Borgs of BOH! 1 by Maverick (2005)

Spoiler

 

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Borgs of BOH! is a series of simple death match levels designed to give Bots as fair a chance as possible. There isn't much in the way of obstacles or structures that can inhibit the movement of ZDaemon Bots.

 

The description of the wad makes me think that it is quite possible to play DM maps with bots. However, I don't want to because I'm not a fan of multiplayer, it would take too much time and a lot of maps are not really suitable for bots.

 

In any case it is a compilation of 5 zdoom compatible arenas due to the use of slopes and zdoom action to create the exits.

 

The first two maps have enough detail to make them interesting, the others are too basic in my opinion, but the slopes are used rather well to make doors, original windows...

 

Also , this wad has some cool tracks.

 

File 10) Hangar18 by Sean Birkel (1995)

 

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This deathmatch, in my opinion, is the best deathmatch PWAD you'll ever find. This is like no other PWAD in the sense that it is complex, well thought out and creative. Not to say that there aren't good PWADS floating around on BBS's, but normally when you download a DOOM PWAD you find a sloppy level that has no symmetry or complex design patterns. This is my 5th level (worth counting), and I believe it is my greatest accomplishment to date. It has taken me about 3 1/2 months, some weeks with little or no work, but none the less I have worked very hard on this! Being a frequent deathmatch player I incorporated all the elements that I have observed are the best for DOOM combat. There are no monsters since they just distract the player from his opponent and the weapons only appear when DOOM2 is set for deathmatch. All the textures "fit", there are no "that's good enough for fuck'n us" jobbies, and the layout is full of nooks and stuff so you can surprise your opponent with a rocket or two.

 

 

 

By reading the description, one can easily guess that the author does not lack self-esteem. And he is right, because he is the author of the legendary wad "Fava

Beans". One of the first wads that managed to match the quality of an episode of the original iwad.

 

This is just the Deathmatch version of the E1M2 map from Fava Beans. The level is completely empty as the weapons are only accessible in multiplayer. This is quite interesting for this map as you can only focus on the layout. You can see how connected the rooms are.

 

However, I don't know if this is really suitable for multiplayer. According to a comment from Doomkid, it seems to be.

 

PS 2: I'm sick of DM maps. I want monsters!

 

 

 

 

And dead in the last map of Warriors of Spider. Very interesting wad but I got so exhausted by some maps that I decided to mindlessly rush. I was planning to stop after this wad anyways.

 

Spoiler

 

[Sena]

Day 8: Drama, Pizza Et Tortilla https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/p-r/pizza

 

I don't think I hate it quite so much as the last person, it was definitely quite bad. You go from a series of platforms where you telefrag cyberdemons (who are idle, for the record), to walking through an area of enemies who are under crushers, and I say walking through, not fighting, to killing a bunch of hell knights on an elevator, who might have been difficult if not for the fact that for one reason or another all their projectiles didn't hit. A huge elevator, mind you, I guess they wanted to outdo MGS3, and after I was done, I was looking the wrong way to the door, which isn't at the very bottom of the floor, and noticed I was on 76/78 kills, and I would have spent 10 minutes waiting for the elevator to go all the way to the top, and then back down again, to then spend 10 seconds killing whoever was waiting for me, so I just quit there. I prefer my WADs to feature enemies who can actually fight back.

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Day 29

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) Fuck You! (version 2) by John Cusack (1996)

 

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Let's just say it's not for the young and impressionable.

 

A wad containing 44 sounds that will relax your ears. Enemies throw lines at you that contain a lot of the word "fuck". Weapons make annoying noises too.

 

Also, most of the sounds are too long to be played properly, so you end up with nothing but a jumble of hideous sounds . :D

 

Fuck Thank you for this masterpiece, John.

 

File 2) the Challenge by Jacob "ellmo" Zuchowski (2006)

 

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Okay, this basically is a very old WAD of mine, that comes from the times of my first steps in Doom editing. The actual date of this file's creation is 20-10-2002, and it's chronologically somewhere among my 10 very first maps. However it's not utterly crap, so I thought I might as well upload it. Despite it's age it should still provide some fun (even it is just for 3 minutes).

 

A map called "The Challenge" should be at least a little challenging and it is.

 

It's a fairly small and narrow map with lots of little traps that can kill the most inattentive.  Beyond that, the difficulty at the beginning is to know how to get the first weapon, the shotgun. You have to go through some traps with a gun, which can be considered as quite brutal.

 

Beyond that, the encounter with the cyberdemon is probably the hardest part of the level. I killed it with my weapons but the gimmick was to find the crusher to finish it off.

 

The level is quite nice for the time. There is no particular theme knowing that we go through a wooden part, a tech base part, an infernal section...

 

 

 

 

 

And I died in the very old Ultimate Doom map Babylon 6 because of a very vicious large crusher (sorry forgot to take a screen).

[Sena]

Day 9: GENOCIDE https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/g-i/genocide

 

Actually very good, I'm quite tired right now, figured I'd be able to deal with what I usually find on the archive, just write a quick "babby's first wad yeah it sucks gg", but this is one of the best levels I've played in quite some time. It's got pretty much everything, standard arena combat, striking and varied visuals, dark areas, and enemies who teleport behind you. And, one trick I thought was quite interesting was featuring a slow moving elevator that serves as a bridge that has an archvile on it, which isn't actually an outstandingly creative design choice, but I think it's my first time seeing it, and it's kind of strange to think that so many slow moving elevators never actually put enemies in them. 

Not perfect though, this whole room with the lava beneath seems to have dodgy floor textures, there's this arrow in the floor to show the player to go, which is never good, nor is platforming over a narrow ledge. Nonetheless, definitely the best map of the 9 I've played for this thread so far, and on the better end of maps I've played this year.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by Sena

[Maribo]

Popcorn Panic (2020) by Xyzzy01 // PrBoom+, UV, No Saves

This is hitscanner hell, featuring attack dogs and ammo starvation. I didn't find it much fun, the lost soul spam makes it so that you can't quite ignore them all without eventually being killed by them, but killing them is time consuming and the way you have to go about it is irritating (I ended up baiting them and punching them with berserk). The pistol replacement is cool, if only for the fire rate boost, I suppose. Very strangely constructed map as well, it's claustrophobic and seems to hate the idea of having any room to move around.

Spoiler

 

That Day (2012) by Hardcore_gamer // PrBoom+, UV-Max, No Saves

I think calling this a tech-base is a pretty charitable designation, it uses the tech base textures but it's a very bland way, the walls are really just a couple of the brown ones repeated forever and there's very little "tech" in the way of screens, consoles, etc. It's still a lot more competent than almost any 90s tech base map though, so I give it credit for that. It's not really bad, just very basic and boring to look at. It's very hitscanner heavy as well, but the only really threatening room is the trapped one where it spits out 6 chaingunners in two trios, with only a couple of small walls to hide in between them, but you can solve this problem by quickly deleting three on one side. The encounters are also okay.

Spoiler

 

Avoid (2009) by Tvarr // PrBoom+, UV, No Saves

This level kind of rules, up until the cave stretch where your cover is really janky slopped pits in the ground. It kind of evoked thoughts about The Mucus Flow, but in a really abstract way instead of a direct comparison kind of way. The pinky/spectre + archvile bonanaza was really really memorable, partially because the room it happens in and the room preceding have sick texturing, at least by vanilla texture standards. If the end stretch of the map was reworked, it would be something special to me.

Spoiler

 

[Roofi]

Day 30

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1)  Midnight Tek Frenzy by Brian Knox (2012)

 

Spoiler

 

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Fast-paced, challenging map in a nighttime tek setting. All 6 keys are present and can be aquired in any order. It's a bit rushed, so there's some sloppy visuals, but nothing too serious. Originally intended to be released with Community Chest 4.

 

A fun map in Boom format consisting of a sort of slaughtermap with ammunition scattered all over the place and groups of monsters to eradicate in various improvised areas and arenas. 

 

The music of Rise of the Triad, which spices up the action, reminds me a lot of Hell Revealed although the atmosphere and the gameplay don't have much in common.

 

Even if, according to the author, the development of the map has been rushed, it remains aesthetically particularly modern and the dark blue sky is a very good choice.

 

 

 

 

I died in Dark Barren Forest which is a tribute map to "the ghoul forest" series.

 

Spoiler

 

[Sena]

Day 10: The Park V1.0 https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/p-r/park

 

As you can infer from the screenshots, this is a very basic map, I guess they have IKEA in Hell, seeing as this entire map is made of wood. It's largely symmetrical, including with its very small enemy count, 50 enemies on UV, which works well in deathmatch maps, but this is way too big for a deathmatch map. And, it ends strangely, there's a switch that does nothing, and you walk through a hallway, and I assumed there was still more to do by that time, and like all maps of this sort, the map's way too big for its own good - even if zombiemen could throw frag grenades, I still wouldn't need this much space to retreat to. Just another one of those rough around the edges maps that all blend together in my memory.

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Day 31 (1 month !)

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) casa by Jose Luis Gallardo (1997)

 

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This wad intended to be my house and a little part of my neighbourhood, but now I don't think my neighbours would recognize it (not even my mother recognized the house!)

 

Myhouse.wad Heretic edition. 

 

In reality, you start in a kind of ugly house and then explore a kind of uglier residential area. I'm being quite mean, I'm going to say that the aesthetics are very rudimentary in this wad instead.

 

Nevertheless, I liked at the beginning how the author wanted to recreate furniture such as a bed, a bathtub or a hi-fi system. Also, the integration of some Doom 2 textures such as the small red brick texture adds a dose of originality, even if they don't really fit with the medieval theme of Heretic. For some reason, Heretic textures can fit perfectly in a Doom map but not the opposite.

 

In terms of difficulty, it's a bit rough at first. Indeed, you have to face a lot of monsters in narrow places allowing to multiply their efficiency. 

 

For the rest, I don't have much to say, it is particularly abstract and basic.

 

File 2) CHOOK DOOM v 2.3 by Dave Biggs (1995)

 

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Imagine your wandering around hell or earth depending on Which DOOM ya wanna play with and all of a sudden a 6 foot tall chicken jumps out at you and starts throwing eggs at you. Then you whip out you Chook launcher and blow the sucker away. This Rather funny patch replaces imps with taller than usual chooks and replaces the rocket launcher with an awesome shouldermounted chook launcher. This patch was actually uploaded months ago but for some reason it never appeared on all all the sitez so here it id again

 

A fun little mod where you kill giant chickens with a chicken launcher (chooks) which is nothing more than the traditional rocket launcher.

I love the new sprite of the rocket launcher for several reasons. 

First of all, it's just the original brown tinted sprite rotated and moved to the side.  I have to say that this is really clever in my opinion and gives the impression of having a big weapon. The crosshair is purely cosmetic but it's a nice touch.

 

The way the mod works is quite strange. In fact, you can make the enemies "disappear" in such a way that you only see the chickens (reskinned imps). In reality, all the enemies are present, but they are completely invisible, making the mod almost unplayable.

 

File 3) Shiprock (deathmatch version) by Myles Williams (1994)

 

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This level is a replica of the Rose Pauson residence (Shiprock) designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Both floors are accessible, connected by a transport mechanism. I'm still looking for a way to turn off the sound, but for now consider it a feature, not a bug.

This new version DOES allow death- match play. Simply start the game on Ultra-violence or Nightmare level and all the stuff will be there. No monsters are present at any skill level.

 

A map with the sole purpose of rebuilding a house with a very contemporary architecture. By doing a little research, we can see that it is a house made of stone and wood in a canyon in New Mexico.

 

 

To tell the truth, I find the original construction particularly tasteless because of its forms and its architecture, which is particularly random, like many "modern" buildings.

 

The Doom version looks even less like a house and the canyon is replaced by whitish scenery. Some areas are connected by corridors that are too narrow to be used normally.

 

 

 

 

The next wad is the megawad Requiem. I stop here for today.

 

 

 

 

[Sena]

Day 11: Blackout https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/a-c/blackout

 

Two maps, tech bases, with ROTT music. First map's fine, gameplay's not that good, but I guess it looks above average. Second map looked a bit better, but it softlocked me, and if I'm meant to trust the reviews on the archive, it's got puzzle solving, which means I'd rather quit early, just not the type of gameplay I enjoy. But, considering what I did enjoy, it's not too bad, when the opening ten seconds involve dealing with an entire regiment of chaingunners, I wasn't feeling optimistic, but it got better, just a little bit tight to move properly. I suppose this WAD gets the prize of "best WAD that I didn't actually finish."

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Month 2 Day 1

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) Thief - The Trail of the Arch-Heretic by Nigel Rowand (Enjay) (2006)

 

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A moody, ambient WAD intended to put some of the feeling of "Thief: the Dark Project" into Heretic. It's a reworking of my own njthief WAD for Doom2.

 

A Heretic wad for the zdoom deliberately inspired by a 1998 game. To tell the truth I never played the original game, so it will be difficult to compare the two works. However, after doing some research, they share a similar theme, which makes the mix interesting.

 

Thief is a large "realistic" map set in a city at night. When I say realistic, I mean that the architecture is mostly square with doors connecting the rooms. You explore a lot of places such as alleys, a market place, sewers and especially a kind of castle. The zdoom effects are well used to introduce the atmosphere with sounds and light effects.

 

Moreover, as the title indicates, we are a thief. So, we can collect loot which only adds to the fun. It's a bit like 100% items. The infiltration aspect is however much more anecdotal, due to the inherent gameplay of Heretic as well as the rather high number of monsters.

 

All in all a very good Heretic, probably one of the best I've played for this iwad.

 

File 2 ) Tech Crazy by Mr. Chris (2011)

 

Spoiler

 

Tech Crazy is a small vanilla map that has the particularity of using mostly TEK green textures. Contrary to the title, the level is not very crazy and is on the contrary extremely classic, but I had fun.

 

We mainly face small bestiary in this map. The level is very easy although the armor is very rare with only one green armor which is far from the beginning. Nevertheless, traps are quite rare and they don't require any particular technique to survive. (Blue key trap with lots of teleporting monsters.)

 

The music seems to be by Paul Corfiatis and goes very well with the purified aspect of the map.

 

File 3) The Deserted UAC Plant by Solo-Bringer (2017)

 

Spoiler

 

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This is a short level I made using a spooky ambience. Enjoy!

One day, no one showed up for work at a UAC nukage facility. You go in and see what is going on.

 

A small gzdoom map whose sole purpose is to be quite scary. However, for some reason, I was really expecting to die either from a monster in the style of "The Ghouls Forest" or from a bad old terry trap.

 

Indeed, there are 3 keys to collect in a fairly basic and uninteresting layout to be honest. However, there are strictly no monsters, so the base is really deserted. The red key is located in the dark, in a forest made of sprite trees. 

 

 A yellow key has to be collected in an all blue maze that has no reason to exist. 

 

JNo zdoom effect is used to my knowledge. Also, the lack of music didn't make me feel comfortable to be frank.

 

A rather strange level.

 

File 4) Coolmus.wad by Seth Stanton & Joe Seifert (1995)

 

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The wad changes every music file in DOOM to a theme

 

A musical wad that brings together ultra-famous tracks such as the simpsons, berly hills or "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. Needless to say, it's very basic and most of the time not adapted to Doom maps. However, the Terminator 2 theme is my favourite in this compilation and could easily be used in a Doom map.

 

File 5) DaisyDOOM by RKasa (2019)

 

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Replaces Doomguy with cyborg Daisy in The Ultimate Doom. Features new cutscene text, Daisy status bar portraits and sound effects, bunny-appropriate health pickups, and more.

 

Daisy decides to get her revenge by taking the role of the doomguy, in this useless but amusing and therefore indispensable little mod.

 

Frankly, looking at the statbar, I don't know if I should find Daisy cute or creepy. The new item sprites are pretty funny with carrots replacing medkits and health and armor bonuses that have bunny ears.

 

On the other hand, the pain sound of Daisy and her face are particularly creepy, as if she were a rabbit who has already endured so much.

 

Funny yet a bit creepy mod for some personal reasons.

 

File 6) RV-007 Map Sector Experiments by RV-007 (2018)

 

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my_map_laggo_or_nooh.wad This is my first map, but as an experiment rather than a demo. Nevermind the matter of gameplay for it has none (it sucks). Therefore, I could care less about votes or reviews of the file itself. Rather, I care more about feedback in mapping, scripting, and other editing methods related to the ZDoom sourceport. I can't do other ports, I'm settled, sorry about that.

 

The wad in question was rated x-rated probably because of the two scantily clad  women sprites at the end.

 

The file in question is very experimental as it makes heavy use of zdoom features such as intermission text, dialogue boxes, horizontal doors, ambient coloured lights, slopes.

 

The wad contains a good touch of humour but its main interest is to show mappers many features of this modern port. It is not a tutorial and is recommended for the really beginner mapper who is new to Doombuilder.

 

File 7) DoomED Deluxe v. 2.20 by Renegade Graphics (1994)

 

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Welcome to the EASIEST to use editor for Doom and Doom II. This editor has been created with ease of use and simplicity of action in mind. You don't have to deal with arcane commands and numbers or difficult to use tools.

 

Is it still the easiest editor to use? I have a big doubt. But fortunately, times change. :)

 

 

 

I stop here for today.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Roofi

[Endless]

@Roofi Hot damn, you're destroying this week! That Shiprock (deathmatch version) looks like an interesting novelty.