The DWIronman League dies to: Firebox

[Suitepee]

June 2021

 

 

This month's pick for the awesome Doomworld Ironman League is Firebox. Some of you might recognise this map quite fondly. ;)

For everyone else, this is MY own debut map. That's right, I'm putting my own map up for the Ironman test!

But this WILL not be easy, as it turns out I embraced some elements of slaughter-style mapping, particularly for the crushing finale. Also I was inspired by SIGIL, so I hope you like shooting FIREBLU-textured boxes for progression. In truth, I'm genuinely curious to see how you all get on with my map under the Ironman format.

(This map might not be the kindest to blind run players, in all honesty.)

It should take around 15-20 minutes to beat.......

 

Here's the map: (cl9, Boom-compat)

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/firebox

 

Known bugs: None. (if you find any, feel free to let me know! This was playtested quite extensively earlier this year, so hopefully there won't be any technical problems. Please ignore a few minor texture misalignments...)

 

https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Firebox = maybe this recent article will also contain some useful information.

 

The DWIronman League is a monthly competition in which participants aim to survive for as many levels as possible in the given map set, preferably in one sitting. Players of all levels of ability are welcome. It could change the way you play Doom!

 

Rules:

 

You know em, but here's a simmered down version.... (thanks @dt_ for making this part easier to copy & paste)

 

-1 attempt (prepared or not), whether it be a natural death, technical issues, cat jumped on keyboard and made you rocket yourself, etc

-UV only

-No additional wads loaded

-No saving/loading

-No cheat codes

-No freelook, jumping or crouching

-Try to enjoy yourself, it's a friendly competition

-Don't complain that the Ironman League host for this month chose his own map for this month in order to try and gain an advantage for the Unclebowl @an_mutt. ;)

 

Categories briefly explained:

 

Cat 1: Blind.  Don't know this wad from Adam. (who he?)  Never played it before, no foreknowledge;

Cat 2: Have played it, or some of it before, enough to offer an advantage, prior to the wad being selected for club play;

Cat 3: Prepared.  Played some or all of the wad after it was selected for club play with an intention to survive or max the wad, and in the fastest time possible. (or you're the map creator and you spent hours playtesting the damn thing...)

 

Standard leaderboard:

• @Bdubzzz: SURVIVED in 6:47. BDubzzz be very fast! Shakes his camera furiously at struggling to ascend that box tower correctly though, but sets a nice time to start the month.
• @Tarnsman: SURVIVED in 18:46. Tarnsman faces a different kind of projectile hell and lives to tell the tale.
• @ReaperAA: SURVIVED in 22:22. Experts hate him! How he survives two cyberdemon rockets and a near-fatal crushing in the final room, only the Doom God knows.
• @Pseudonaut: SURVIVED in 22:48. Takes a not-quite-so lenient amount of punishment at various points along the way (including an early Hell Knight sandwich) to survive regardless. 
• @Beginner: SURVIVED in 32:04. Very, very, veeeerry patiently survives the final room by utilising the lesser known "hide among the top-right boxes for several minutes until most things die" strategy. Beginner, you ain't.
• @BoxY: 88%. He thought the hard times were over in the final room. A Cyberdemon followed by the Archvile he was trying to kill served the gruelling reminder that they weren't.
• @super: 84%. Crusher to the right of you, Cacoswarm to the left, and he was dead stuck in the middle.
• @Dragonfly: 80%. Couldn't quite Skulldash away from a sniping Arachnotron.
• @NightTerror: 70%. Cornered near the Mastermind cage and murdered by fireballs.
• @Arbys550: 58%. Cornered by Barons, they chose the wrong weapon up close.
• @David Asaad: 56%. He who camps in the Archvile corner of the final room gets severely trapped and burned.
• @dt_: 20%. 'Good at Firebox^(TM)'. (a Lost Soul was also involved)
• @head_cannon: 16%. Survives the initial part of the Godsphere trap only to headcannon a rocket straight into a nearby Pinky afterwards. A nearby Revenant finishes the job.
• @ScrappyMcDoogerton: 7%. Well....he killed a sexy amount of monsters before dying to the trap in the dark.
• @sapphics: 7%. At least he knew to dash for the Godsphere in the dark room trap, but one Pinky decided to play defensive tackle and made sure he was going down.
• @Vile: 7%. Nice to know even Doom community veteran speedrunners can be blown up in the dark.
• @Shepardus: 7%. Score another one for the trap in the dark.
• @Crusader No Regret: 7%. "No remorse, no regret. He don't care what the Godsphere meant. Another day, another death..."
• @Fadri: 7%. They didn't know what was coming, and succumbed to the trap in the dark.
• @E.M.: 7%. The way of the fist meets the way of not grabbing the Godsphere in time. A trap in the dark that might claim a few more blind runners yet.
• @DisgruntledPorcupine: 7%. Chooses an interesting time to embrace the ways of atheism. One more for the trap in the dark.
• @Endless: 7%. The return of the Pinky defensive tackle! No Godsphere in the dark room trap for you.
• @cannonball: 6%. Wasn't too Concerned until the trap in the dark.
• @Peccatum Mihzamiz: 6%. Proudly becomes another dead marine to the trap in the dark.
• @Vladguy: 3%. Who needs a room full of Revenants when one will suffice? Punched out whilst trying to escape the advancing Hell Knights.
• @Austinado: 3%. Turns out the true Scourge wasn't the Hell Knights he was expecting, but the lone Revenant boxer and his Pinky crew. "SHAME!"
• @Pegleg: 2%. It seems running the Ironman sister league doesn't train one in environmental awareness. Distracted by a Revenant long enough to become a Hell Knight sandwich.

 

Prepared leaderboard:

• @4shockblast: SURVIVED in 2:51. From the playtester that brought me "I can break your linedefs", comes "I can beat your map in under 3 minutes and don't even need to climb the box tower." This will take some beating.
• @an_mutt: 63%. A most bitter obituary this is to write up. Nearly blows it (with rockets!) on 4% health at one point, but manages to avoid the Cyberdemon execution long enough to earn the 4th Unclebowl point.
• @Suitepee: 48%. You'd think creating and playtesting this map would be more than enough preparation here...not so! Splattered by a Cyberdemon in the final room chaos, as the creation beats the creator this time around.
• @Pegleg: 16%. Came prepared for a second crack at Firebox. Found himself cornered and brutally beaten once God's protection wore off.

 

Yearly leaderboard:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xSgVtna_6hMceFC-kDbmfiFU_0w0s4eD2N1V9AetO_k/edit#gid=0

 

Good luck to everyone who takes part this month! I'm looking forward to watching all the demos and making hilarious obituaries (hopefully).

Edited July 1, 2021 by Suitepee

[Bdubzzz]

Cat 2 Survival in 6:47.

 

DWIronman-Firebox-Dubz.zip

[GarrettChan]

17 minutes ago, Bdubzzz said:

Cat 2 Survival in 6:47.

 

DWIronman-Firebox-Dubz.zip

dubz, you should whack my max ;P

[ReaperAA]

Category 1
Survived at 22:22 (908/908 kills)
Demo: ReaperAA_firebox_DWIL.zip

 

Well well well. This was... actually a pretty fun map. Aesthetics are a bit too 90s, but the gameplay was pretty fun. The last arena is the main centrepiece of this map and damn did it make my palms sweat more than any gymnasium could.

Seeing BFG at the very very end made me slightly mad. But its ok, atleast I survived :)

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by ReaperAA

[E.M.]

Category 1, died at 5:30. Everything was going fine until that dark computer room that killed me almost instantly.

EM_IRONMAN_FIREBOX_CAT1.zip

[Dragonfly]

Category 1, Died at 10:47, with 761 / 951 dead.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Dragonfly

[Major Arlene]

7 minutes ago, Dragonfly said:

with 951 dead.

mum I'm scared

[Dragonfly]

14 minutes ago, Major Arlene said:

mum I'm scared

 

I typed the total monster count and not how many I'd killed; oops!! It should have been 761 dead. 787 if you count post-mortem infighting. :P

[Major Arlene]

Just now, Dragonfly said:

 

I typed the total monster count and not how many I'd killed; oops!! It should have been 761 dead. 787 if you count post-mortem infighting. :P

you do realize that doesn't make it better :P

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

firebox_dwi_dispor.zip

 

Category 1. Died at about 4:53, 63 kills.

 

Spoiler

I unfortunately failed to notice the invulnerability sphere sitting atop the pedestal at the center of the room, so I didn't think to run back there. Shame, but it happens!

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by DisgruntledPorcupine

[Pseudonaut]

Category 1, survived in 22:48. Left some monsters alive.

Spoiler

A more lenient map than expected. I ran for the exit as soon as I saw what looked like one; I felt I was more likely to survive that than trying to kill those viles.

 

fironman-pseudonaut.zip

[4shockblast]

Cat 2, I was trying to go fast, didn't work out. Rerecorded would have been under 5 mins :^)

firebox_Ironman_shock.zip

[4shockblast]

You can place this second attempt in 2:51 as a prepared run I guess :^).

firebox_Ironman_shock_att2.zip

[Shepardus]

Category 1, died at 4:31 with 65 kills (not including lost souls). Recorded with dsda-doom v0.19.3 (-complevel 9).

ironman_firebox_Shepardus.zip

Spoiler

Fell for the same trap as @E.M. and @DisgruntledPorcupine, and I bet there'll be plenty more dying here this month.

 

[donevan427]

first time trying this ironman thing out, inadvertently cheated by playing on hmp, otherwise its cat 1. still think its an entertaining replay.

Spoiler

can watch my horrible attempt at punching barons. could also use some help with setting using prboom+. don't usually use that source port. the lighting is dark and weird looking compared to dragonfly's. at the end the i couldn't kill the revenant since my autoaim would shoot the barrier near the floor, not sure why this is happening. what do most people playing wads for this thread use as a source port/settings? I found the setting in prboom+ to set default difficulty to UV. oh and the time was 23:something can give me a DNF/DQ is you want.

 

testdemo1.rar

[Suitepee]

20 minutes ago, donevan427 said:

first time trying this ironman thing out, inadvertently cheated by playing on hmp, otherwise its cat 1. still think its an entertaining replay.

  Hide contents

can watch my horrible attempt at punching barons. could also use some help with setting using prboom+. don't usually use that source port. the lighting is dark and weird looking compared to dragonfly's. at the end the i couldn't kill the revenant since my autoaim would shoot the barrier near the floor, not sure why this is happening. what do most people playing wads for this thread use as a source port/settings? I found the setting in prboom+ to set default difficulty to UV. oh and the time was 23:something can give me a DNF/DQ is you want.

 

testdemo1.rar

 

Feel free to submit another run on UV. You have the rest of the month to do it if you so wish.

[cannonball]

I guess this is probably called revenge for the number of times my maps have killed you John.

57 Kills before entering "That room".

Fair to say it did not end well.....

Category 2 - I opened up the start room and didn't progress much further when this was released. I think that shows here.....

fireboxcb.zip

Edited June 2, 2021 by cannonball

[BoxY]

Cat 2, I never played the map but I vaguely remember watching parts of the starting area and rev room being built on stream which is foreknowledge, but I didn't see the rest of it. Dead in 13:01 with 802/908 (newfangled max kills) or 842/948 (old and shitty kill counter).

dwim-bx-firebox.lmp

 

Spoiler

I started to relax for a few seconds after I thought the hard stuff was done already and forgot that roaming cybers don't just magically disappear after they finish infighting.

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by BoxY

[super]

Cat 1, 761 / 908 kills, time of 20m 15s.

 

Got caught between a crushing wall I wasn't going to make it through to my right, and a swarm of Cacos to my left.

 

Spoiler

Does the SSG require an archvile jump? I checked every wall and even thought there was possible a hidden switch on the sides of that fireblu texture block. I don't think a single AV jump had enough height, but I did get bounced pretty good around for a bit, so I can see it being done with some luck.

 

cat1_super_firebox.zip

[Pseudonaut]

12 minutes ago, super said:

 

  Hide contents

Does the SSG require an archvile jump?

 

 

Spoiler

There are some very thin stairs on one side of the platform with the SSG. No AVJ necessary.

 

[Fadri]

On 6/1/2021 at 11:59 AM, Suitepee said:

(This map might not be the kindest to blind run players, in all honesty.)

 

I agree. :)

 

Category 1:

To be fair, I maybe would have survived just the extra time given by the invulnerability if I knew what was coming.

 

Boxes.zip

[NightTerror]

Category 1, dead at 6:27 with 617/908 (70%). No idea what I was supposed to do in that room

 

DWironman-firebox-nightterror.zip

[ScrappyMcDoogerton]

Category 1 dead at 5:52 w/69 kills (nice). Since this is my first cat 1 submission I just wanted to not die at the first deadly trap. Mission not accomplished :(. Thank you Suitepee for the map and for hosting this month's challenge.

 

DWIFirebox-SMD.zip

 

 

Edited June 10, 2021 by ScrappyMcDoogerton

[David Asaad]

Category 1

Dead with 528 kills

 

 

firebox_David.zip

[Pegleg]

Category 1

 

Dead on Map 01

Kills: 22/908

Time of death: 4:38

 

dwi_pegleg_firebox_cat1.zip

 

I didn't see a whole lot of the map. I remember watching a couple parts of this map being made, but it didn't give me an advantage except remembering something about the "gimmick" to open doors, and I didn't know anything about the enemy placement. I went in thinking that perhaps I could make a nice run, perhaps even to double digit percentage kills. Then I was ambushed from behind, which I didn't really notice on account of being more focused on the revenant that I saw in front of me. So, I didn't see much of the map, but the beginning of the map was interesting enough. I'm looking forward to going back through it again.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Pegleg
I forgot to add the zip file.

[Peccatum Mihzamiz]

Standard, Category 1
Kills: 55/908
Time of death: at 3:48
Demo recorded in: dsdaDoom 0.18.0    dwi_PeccatumMihzamiz_Firebox_cat1.rar
 

The first demo I've ever recorded :D! And that's about the only thing I can be proud of with this edition of DWIronman :p.
Big thank you to Daerik for making a demoscript and to Meowgi for additional advice. And thanks to all the shoulders their advice was built upon!

Edited June 11, 2021 by Peccatum Mihzamiz
thanks added

[sapphics]

cat 1  

 

67/908 kills

dead at 5:09

 

yo i fucking suck lmaoooo.

 

Spoiler

 

i even saw the invuln and was like "ima need to grab that after i shoot the wall probably" and i still didnt and got blocked in too fast smh

 

 

 

sapphicsDWIfirebox.zip

[Endless]

Another short run by me.

CAT 1

Deat at 4:20

Nice.

 

[Beginner]

Survived the map in 32:04. Category 2 demo.

[Tarnsman]

Cat 1. Did it on a whim. Survived. 18:46. I did reflex save while reading chat and completely forgetting I was playing it for Ironman, but never died or loaded.

 

Recording