The DWmegawad Club plays: KINDa

[dei_eldren]

7 minutes ago, TheMightyWhoosh said:

The Invulnerability Sphere was certainly an intentional **** move as the idea was that it becomes more useful once you’ve played the map a few times, so the player in theory would know to then run across the map as fast as they could to use it against the final fight by the exit teleporter. In hindsight, I feel it would have been better to place a teleporter by the Invulnerability to the final battle, thus saving you time as a reward for finding the secret in the first place. 

 

Afterwards i kind of thought as it is it would give just enough time to dash to the YK room and then to exit, cheesing the Cybie without danger.

Edited October 6, 2021 by dei_eldren

[FragsBunny]

MAP06: Cement (96%/89%/20%)

1.       Baron throws a chain of three projectiles

2.       A baron of Hell will try to assassinate you

3.       Imp gains health and damage after killing another monster

 

This is not the kind of experience that I wanted to go through… The journey itself starts as a corridor shooter, mostly fighting against enemies in corridors or enclosed rooms, with occasional surprises like the caco-vile duo and the ambush of shooters back in the main corridor. I am fairly certain that not a single one of you missed that invulnerability secret. But I could not find anything to kill after picking it up! And by the time I encountered a cyberdemon, I realized that Whoosh wanted me to kill time by shooting it with rockets until it dies.

 

Afterwards, I started searching for secrets, only for the level to abruptly end when I stepped into a something that turned out to be the exit teleport. Uh, maybe you should place an “EXIT” sign to it next time? And to think that the yellow door was not needed to finish the level! I don’t think I would try a second walkthrough of this map.

 

Current cards on my playthrough:
1. Sergeants are always focused on players.

2. Player heals nearby monsters when damaged

3. Zombiemen picks up and throw dead monsters

4. Arch-vile can leap at their prey

5. Monsters gain a speed boost when they open doors

6. Imp gains health and damage after killing another monster

Edited October 6, 2021 by FragsBunny

[Book Lord]

MAP 06 – Cement

Doomsday Engine, UV-fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

With such a name, I expected a map full of CEMENT textures. On the contrary, it was all clad in various types of bricks, most likely with some cement between them. This author surely has a sense of humour. I neither like nor dislike bricks, except when they are so brightly lit to look like a Wolfenstein3D dungeon. It did not happen here, since the lighting and the juxtaposition of said bricks and other tech-base wallpapers was pretty, especially the red vs. green pattern in the courtyard.

Spoiler

Having dealt with the hitscanner welcome committee, and after silencing the noisy Arachnotron outside, I went westwards to find a U-shaped room with assorted snipers on a ledge. Locked doors of all colours were in sight, so I eventually moved to the east and descended a long stairway, reaching a muddy pit with tunnels dug into the brown earth. The height variation and the hitscanner placement in this area allowed for an entertaining reciprocal sniping. Automap helped revealing the secrets here, then I exited to the courtyard, where I took the BK and dealt with the related closet. The Cacodemon was unable to get out, possibly blocked by the attack mania of the -fast Arch-Vile, so they were not a threat by any means.

 

I expected an ambush while backtracking to the blue door, but the one in store was funny enough. The RK was surprisingly not trapped and the overlong row of bonuses, leading to a backpack and into the sealed room with a Revenant, had an arcade game flavour. I did not see the softlock possibility here, since reaching the end of the bonus row without picking up the RK felt next to impossible for me. The area behind the red door was the most challenging, with two possible routes to be taken in either order. The area dominated by a Baron of Hell felt bigger from the outside and should not be entered carelessly, because a lot of critters lurk behind the corners. The crossfire of the Hell Nobles on -fast was quite tricky to work around. The second route via the lift led to a telegraphed closet hallway and to the mandatory switch.

Spoiler

I easily figured out the Invulnerability secret, but its purpose eluded me completely. I saved before taking it, then quickly ran to the switch with plenty of rockets to press it. Nothing happened. For no logical reason, I moved to the U-shaped ledge room to check the yellow door, and immediately received a series of rockets in my face. The power-up faded away before I could properly attack the Cyberdemon, but I just shot him from below while he was constantly hitting the ledge. None of us was comfortable in that cramped space.

 

I disliked the unstated apparition of the boss and the room chosen as the battle arena. I did not find the well-hidden YK and the goodies behind its door, which would have been valuable for continuous play but worthless on this level. Cement delivered good fun, till the urge to employ a Cyberdemon in an unsuitable room marred the experience.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Book Lord

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP06 - Cement - dsda-doom - skill 4 pistol start rewinds

 

Confronted with well-used stock textures again.

The green staircase room before the caves is such a good use of space. 

Honorable mention of the red brick hallway you rise up to near the end with bright red caco staring you down.

This is of course the map with the infamous softlock. I sat in there for an entire 2 minutes and 19 seconds, wondering what switch i was missing. Tragic.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[MtPain27]

MAP 06: Cement

KINDa continues to ratchet down the health and ammo deprivation and it dials back the hitscanners once again: this brick-philic facility is almost harmless until the final minute. I was taken aback by the arch-vile appearance outside but with a free SSG and the rocket launcher sitting at his feet, you're not exactly set up for failure here. The texturing is particularly organic, reminding me of Esa Repo's "material texturing" philosophy: TheMightyWhoosh's fondness for right angles coordinates with his choice of "building material," everything fits together in a sensical fashion.  

 

I did not softlock myself, though that was dumb luck; I'm not sure what the point of locking the revenant and green armor behind a red keycard was anyway. I found the tunnel secret with an assist from my map, but the YK secret I had to cheat to find, especially after running foul of that cyberdemon at the exit. I had been chuckling at the invuln only seconds before, thinking it was another belated powerup, but nope, it's there to de-fang Mr. Cyb. I'm not a fan of that fight: I know Plutonia has a cyberdemon at the end of its MAP 06, but you get more room to move around and you're on flat earth. Relying on the invuln felt cheap to me but I didn't want to chip away at him the old fashioned way. Kind of a dud ending to an otherwise okay map. 

 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP06 - Cement (95%K/85%I/20%S):

Another convoluted map in terms of progression, not a bad map, but getting softlocked so easily certainly lowers points, the thing here is that if you take the teleporter before grabbing the easy to miss red key, you will be trapped forever. Yes, the key is at the same area as the TP, but textures and narrow catwalks here do not help to mark the spot of where the red key is. The invulnerability sphere only works if you know where to rush to kill the cyberdemon at the exit. I think the yellow key is a secret, as I did not find it, and I guess it gives you some supplies. 
The cyberdemon battle was in an awkward room to fight, and I think it's easy to be ammo-less here, as there is a chance you can't kill him with your resources, because of previous encounters wasting your ammo. I think do whatever is possible to skip this fight and squeeze through the door to the exit pad. Said Invulnerability sphere may help you out.
Texture usage here is again weird as always, I don't fancy those brick textures as much, they look way too polished and feel like Wolf3D ones, but I think the author nailed it a bit here. 
I had some fun here and there but the map has some flaws.

(UV Playthrough - PrBoom+)

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP05

MAP01
MAP04
MAP06
MAP02
MAP03

 

 

[Veinen]

I've been playing along (and ahead) but have not posted anything yet. Haven't played the wad before so I've been recording some FDAs but also some UV-maxes with the motivation for such activities still left in me fresh from the recently ended demo month. So seeing as pretty much everyone else is doing commentary on first time playthroughs, I thought I'd offer a different perspective and commentate on how these maps work when you've already learned them, have some strategy in mind on how to tackle the encounters and preferably do it as fast as possible. I've been playing ahead for a bit as I mentioned and I feel like as we progress in the wad the experience can be very different in your second playthrough compared to your first. I've got UV-maxes (with enough effort put into them to warrant uploading them to the DSDA as table fillers eventually) done for the first six maps, for the rest we will see how casual they'll be.

 

Map01: Go video

 

Fun starter map. Visuals and music give some vague TNT-like classic vibes and I feel like that's pretty much what this wad is all about based on what I've seen so far. The strategy for a max is pretty simple: rush through the map killing only things you need to (first few Sarges for the ammo and rest since they're not conveniently on your path during cleanup) and let things in the outside area flow towards the big teleport ambush during the exit reveal which they tend to do. There's a small possibility that something is trapped on the other side of the main building but only a small one and the wandering Sarge in the demo for example came back just fine. The teleport ambush can be a little bit slow sometimes, the last few enemies dripping in later than they did in the demo but it's not so late that it'd be a problem for maxing. The secret in the map is tagged for the stats only, you don't actually want or need to go there. Overall it was a fun max to do, very easy and laidback but still offers some blood to be spilled during the finale.

 

Map02: Hell's Cavity video

 

Extremely mean map, especially for the second map in the wad. First time players likely get spanked in the very first ambush and proceed to crawl through the map hanging by a thread should they survive because there really isn't much in terms of recovery items in the map. Well apart from the Soulsphere which is dickishly handed after the map is pretty much through already heh. The progression is a tad confusing at first as I kind of accidentally stumbled upon the exit in my FDA, but maybe that's just me. Ammo balance is extremely tight here with barely any extra to spare.

 

Maxing this map was frustrating and involved a lot of deaths in the first half of the map. Really doesn't help any that you know of the first ambush since you'll get tagged multiple times anyway unless you take it very slow (which is of course out of the question). The next few rooms aren't any less deadly, especially since you're more often that not under 50% in health already, and since the map doesn't exactly let up with the hitscanners you're in danger all the way through the whole thing. The Arachs with their infinitely high butts and 90 degree angle sniping were an another nuisance though sometimes one of the two rode the up along with the rising ledge for a free kill. Even when maxing the map, where effective use of ammo is pretty much standard, ammo is very limited and needs to be collected along the way meticulously. So yeah, overall a bit frustrating to max and the map can easily direct one to play timid and safety first.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Veinen
borked vid links

[Veinen]

Map03: Toxic video

 

I quite liked this map. The nukage filled base -aesthetic is pretty lovely, especially when done in such a scale as this. Layout of the map is also well done, looping around several times all the way back to the start at the end, sans the very first room with the Imps which doesn't serve much purpose. Secrets are well hidden and I needed an editor to find a way to raise the bridge as it's not easy to spot and limited radsuit supply doesn't encourage needless wandering around in the nukage. Ammo is again quite scarce and I believe I had to skip the Cacos in my FDA as I simply ran out of everything. Things are a bit different when you know your way around though and the RL is a huge help when it comes to killing everything. Ammo is pretty tight again sure, but you can skip a few shells that are out of the way and still relatively comfortably get things done. The map flows along nicely since the SSG is handed out immediately and despite being a longer map than the previous one this feels like it flies past faster. Good map and fun to max!

 

Map04: Treehouse video

 

Agree with others that this feels like a bit of a breather map in many ways. Very short and very easy as the Megasphere secret is reachable early on and you can take a lot of damage with that. The treehouse aesthetic is a neat one but perhaps a more expanded map could have delivered a bit more off of it's potential compared to the small hedge maze -like appearance of here. The graveyard area is a cool one and powered by the Mega one is less inclined to stick to potshots at the entrance. While the surprisingly ample supply of resources and shortness leads to the map feeling like a breather in casual play, it's decent fun to max. Again the map flows good since you get heavy weapons immediately and not caring about health isn't exactly a problem when speeding through the map. Usually I had enough to just rush the AV and not care if the blasted me once, here he moved away from the alcove so I had opportunity to dodge without time loss. One thing I generally don't enjoy in maps that I speedrun are perched enemies that are used to deliver support fire from above in casual play, especially ones that have a lot of space to move around. They are more often than not a chore to kill unless you can somehow naturally bunch them up for a quick RL kill. This map has a few occasions of such enemies, first in the graveyard and then near the exit. The graveyard Imps behaved extremely well in this particular run as they bunched up on both sides but the ones near the exit were their usual scattered selves. In such a short map this mostly random factor can be a big time swing which doesn't motivate grinding the map much since your otherwise perfect execution might not be rewarded.

[cannonball]

MAP 06 – Cement

 

This starts off quite strongly but falters towards the finish.

So I went right at the T-junction and regretted this, however without taking damage I went the other way. The blue key offers the first archvile of the wad, not too bad a placement here, fairly easy but not a slam dunk to slay him. Now progression here is a little all over the place where you have to run around the same backbone of the map several times to reach the exit. However it is only once the red key is grabbed that this becomes a problem. Now I took the red key before the teleport and thus avoided the soft-lock (Given how much of the map is open to you but doesn't have to be, I am surprised this was locked away, again this could be fixed with one single switch inside that room). However the rest from here is a question of interpreting what hitting a switch does, which kind of drags.

The cyber I decided to skip because I was in no mood to fight it.

[dei_eldren]

KINDa - MAP07 the UAC Project (HMP, continuous w/ saves): K 100% (53/53), I 98% (38/38), S 100% (1/1), D 0, T 10:02

 

Spoiler

Dead Simple is an iconic map and one that is at least as often as any other from Doom II used as a concept to compose an extended variation upon on its theme for MAP07 slot.  Moreover, the resulting maps are almost invariably, in my limited experience, excellent, showing just how inspiring the original concept is.  Here the solution has been to place the Mancubus-Arachnotron arena as an extension to the main techbase, and thus keeping the original concept more pure than usual.

 

The map itself begins with a complex keyhunt through a techbase to obtain access by teleportation to the arena the UAC has for some purpose built (what's this resemblance UAC bears to Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire :D nevermind..)  In a weird coincidence, this map's architecture, by its complexity and not layout itself, reminded me of Doom Zero's MAP07 Claustrophobia, in which i don't remember recognizing any Dead Simple reference, in fact i doubt there was even a single Mancubus.  The obvious similarity with the present map i remember is a floor that is raised and lowered to enable access to different places, which element coincidentally enough is present also here.

 

Before the final arena, the most memorable scene is the view from the top of the facility looking far down at the inner courtyard where leads a flight of stairs.  In fact, an Imp was sneaky enough to climb them up and give me a fright.  On my HNTR run i died twice on the last fight, but managed it on first try on HMP - there's no difference in how the finale goes.  The player is teleported into a square room with a central podium, and some pillars for shelter, and at first there are four Mancubi.  When they are done, an Arachnotron emerges from an elevator on each of the walls, and if one isn't quick here, they sure can kill fast.  The Mancubes i killed with rockets, but used plasma, fortuitously gained from the YK door secret on the last map for the transarachnid ladies.  After the encounter, the exit teleport appears on the central podium, which i totally missed on my blind HNTR run, going around the facility again looking for the exit.

 

This map was a fun fast playthrough, until the last room, where the actual challenge was - nice concept for Dead Simple slot.  My only criticism is that now after seven maps i'm starting to get tired of the kind of ugly exit teleport :D  After the secret-heaven of Cement, here there was only one, which i found about 10 seconds into my blind run.  And it occurs to me now, i think i forgot to grab the Mega Armor for the next level.

 

i think this now marks the farthest i've played on DWMWC on HMP (not counting Doom Zero as i had played through it on HMP prior to the club). Thinking of dropping the HNTR run altogether, but it does help not to have to run HMP entirely blind... at any rate, these maps have been interesting enough not to have any qualms playing them twice (or often more) in a row.  And lastly, up to this point i'd say in difficulty this is very similar to Doom Zero (i make this comparison naturally because it is the last 'normal' D2 Megawad i played before this one.)

 

PS: i do agree with many others that the Cyberdemon in Cement was a bit out of place, so to speak, possibly in more ways than one, and somewhat awkward.  Not a big deal, like i said earlier, i think on subsequent run i would use the Invulnerability to cheese him entirely - getting the stuff in the YK room without the Invul would be hazardous.

 

 

HNTR blind:

Spoiler

 

 

Tops (originally intended to list only top-5 but i don't really want to drop any maps yet, the differences between them are almost negligible):

Spoiler

MAP05 - Leak

MAP06 - Cement

MAP04 - Treehouse

MAP07 - the UAC Project

MAP02 - Hell's Cavity

MAP01 - Go

MAP03 - Toxic (most likely doesn't deserve this lowly spot, just my blind run experience)

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by dei_eldren

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/Blind/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 06 - CEMENT

100% kills and secrets

Time: 13:44

 

Having seen people's mentions of a softlock here, I kept my eye out for it, and pretty much saved every time I was going to enter a door or a teleporter. Thankfully, I grabbed the red key before hitting the potential run-killer. Whew. As for the map, it's not too shabby. We do have another installment of, "Ok, what did that switch do?" toward the end. It opens the exit, but that's all the way back by the yellow door. Speaking of that, I tend to enjoy it when maps make colored keys secrets. I think it's a nice clue that there's something you need to find, and I like the bonuses they give. I noticed the hidden switch behind the archvile cubby when hiding from it, so it was nice to get the plasma. Later, I noticed on the automap there appeared to be another area behind it. So I went back and found a yellow key was now there. I'm assuming this opened up when a later switch was hit? Idk. The yellow key door has a backpack and a bulk cell which is very useful for the random cyberdemon that's in the room adjacent to the yellow door room. Plasma makes short work of it, and you can take it out from below without worrying about taking damage. Which is nice considering the first time you enter this room, you're presented with the only really dangerous fight of the map, since there's a lot of hitscan and a rev. Most of the rest of the map is just small incidental encounters that are small enough to deal with easily. Even the archie is a joke since there's so much room to move around with no enemies there. I think this big outdoor area here could have had a higher population. The cave secret took me a long time to figure out, since the wall texture part 1 is hidden behind is very easy to miss. 

 

This post is kinda rambly, but in summary: decent level, softlock bad, "What did this switch do?", kinda easy, looks nice, secret yellow key, random cybie.

[Book Lord]

MAP 07 – The UAC Project

Doomsday Engine, UV-fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

After an intermission text brimming with compelling plot details, I appeared in a TEKWALL-heavy UAC base. The rocket launcher in front of me was tempting, but I did not need it, so I left the room passing in front of the YSK and going upstairs. In hindsight, what a life-saving idea that was. The chosen path firstly led me to a room with a combat armour, then to an outdoor terrace overlooking a pit with stairs going down. There were several monsters there, but they posed minimal threat and were eager to infight while I camped the door. I was caught off-guard by Imps climbing up the stairs from the grassy area below, a feat you do not see in every session of Doom.

Spoiler

I found only a stuck exit door, so I jumped down and tackled the TEKWALL section from the grassy area. I killed some rabble and cowardly sniped a Revenant from above, then, after a chain of switches and teleporters, I began understanding how the YSK had to be unlocked, and how fortunate was my choice to not push the switch in front of the starting point. I would have been surrounded by enemies, with cruel surprises waiting in all escape directions.

 

The yellow switches led me to the alleged exit, which teleported me to the Dead Simple clone of the day. Nothing I would refuse to fight my way out of, as I did on first try surviving with 3% health, due to sloppy playing and -fast monsters, but nothing refreshing either. I hoped The UAC Project would have featured something new, after the intriguing preamble à la “Choose Your Own Adventure”, but the final fight was the same old stuff.

Spoiler

 

[Capellan]

 

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP05: Leak

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 4/4 secrets

 

A mostly grey techbase that sports a nice TNT midi. This one is also easier than the first 3 map, although not quite as much as a pushover as MAP04. You are kept relatively flush with ammo here, but the encounters have a little bit more bite than the previous entry. The damaging radiation areas were a neat implementation of radsuit time crunches, although you really shouldn't be in any danger of expending your whole radsuit while in them.

 

Combat is mostly simple, but there are a couple of tougher spots. The area after you lower the lift past the door to the right of the entrance has some pretty nasty hitscanner placement that you'll want to be ready for, and there's a relatively nasty encounter with 3 mancubi toward the end of the map. I enjoyed the combat of this one probably the most of the wad so far, it was well done. Solid map.

 

MAP06: Cement

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 3/5 secrets

 

Bricks of varying colours define this map, most often marble brick floors with bright brown walls. It's a simple looking map, but I feel like the textures work well here. There is a softlock possible in this level as others pointed out, but I luckily did not run into it. I'd probably move the red key to the room that you teleport into, its placement feels a little bit awkward as is which is probably why some missed it.

 

Combat in this one is moderately threatening, and hitscanners continue to be the wad's biggest threat I find. You'll definitely want to take the left path with the SSG to start the map, as the square room with enemies all along the edges can be quite painful when you're minimally armed. Quite a surprising cyberdemon appears at the end of the map too. At first I found the room awkward and tricky to fight him in, but once I used up my SSG shots I dropped down to the lower level and found that he can't really hit you so well from above, as he is unable to pass under the ceiling to come closer. So as long as you stand close enough to the ledge you can pepper him with rockets or bullets without danger. You will probably still want to get close with the SSG though.

 

Decent map overall.

 

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP07: The UAC Project (HMP/continuous/saves)

8:44 | 100% Everything

I feel like it's been a while since I've played such an obvious Dead Simple homage. Thankfully, the majority of this map doesn't go that route. I really really enjoyed the pre-exit-door portion of this level. I did in fact go for the obvious-trapped-switch-is-obvious right away; I was ready to immediately backpedal off the platform, but to my surprise the floor of the entire room gave way. I was immediately running for my life, furiously tapping at my handily-carried-over chaingun, managing to dodge revenants and a baron until my back was against a wall (well, lift) and I could catch my breath long enough to pull out the SSG and start reclaiming ground for myself. I really liked the multiple paths, with the multiple levels of play and the looping layout. The map's footprint is so small that the teleporters are totally unnecessary. In fact, the only real knock against this level (beyond the boring Dead Simple ending) is that it feels like it petered out just as I was starting to get into it. I'd love to play a map that takes this one as inspiration but quadruples it in size (or more!) Great stuff.

[Biodegradable]

MAP07 - The UAC Project

UV | Continuous | GZDoom and Vanilla+

 

That missing sense of intensity from the first few maps makes a comeback here with quite a bit of demons surrounding you in a sprawling corridor scenario followed by even more buggers sitting around waiting for you as you try to get some distance between you and the sudden growing horde. Thankfully, MightyWoosh's love of right-angles helps us about a bit there hehe. Speaking of which, it looks like our mapper of the month also couldn't resist making their own rendition of Dead Simple at the end that I for one thought was cute, despite the practice being well past passé at this point. This map definitely had a little more bite to it that was had been lacking in the last couple. I hope that keeps going for a bit and the next few maps prove to be more exciting.

 

 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP07 - The UAC Proyect (100%K/I/S):

Big resources problem yet again at the end, best thing is to ignore as always, the non-hitscanner enemies before you reach the Dead Simple fight. Yes, another Dead Simple clone, there are no twists here, but there is somewhat of a "minilevel" before said fight. The level itself is simple, there are more than one way to tackle it, but it did not blow my mind either. The fight does not give you anything more than a backpack and some shells, which, it's not enough for me, as I reached this fight nearly ammoless.

(UV Playthrough - PrBoom+)

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP05

MAP01
MAP04
MAP06
MAP02
MAP07
MAP03

 

 

[MtPain27]

MAP 07: The UAC Project

TEKWALL: The Map. I appreciate the flexibility you're given at the start: you get a rocket launcher and secret chaingun, and can relieve a few troopers of their boomsticks one room over before you get into the rest. TheMightyWhoosh returns to his refrain of ammo stinginess and peripherally placed hitscanners; I went for the megaarmor early to lessen the pain of getting winged. I initially missed one of the yellow key switches, shoved into the jamb of each lift that takes you back to the starting room, one of many uncanny little design decisions that give this wad its flavor. As you'll see in my screenshots below, I took a death that I'm not proud of and killed the last two arachnos too close to each other to exit. Sad face.

 

It's hard to put my finger on KINDa: strangely, it reminds me of Doom Zero (which I have not completed) so far. It's like a Final Doom wad that never was: it rejects the grandiosity of blockbuster 2010s megawads, embracing simple architecture, vanilla textures, and small scale combat scenarios, all while sticking to its own offbeat brand of level progression...and like Doom Zero it meets with mixed results. Not to say DZ and KINDa play the same way, but they both feel like anachronisms in the 20s. I have to sort of admire its disregard for what's hip, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

 

[Doritos420]

Map07 - The UAC Project

Very fun map, love the tekwall texture. The area down below with the revenant and the baron was very hectic (reminded my of Bourgeois Megawad a bit), neat idea that if you charge straight ahead its way more deadly, or you can take the side route in order to snipe at the monsters to give yourself an easier time later. Fun progression through this map. I really liked the Dead Simple twist at the end. Didn’t find any secrets this time around though.

[Salt-Man Z]

56 minutes ago, Doritos420 said:

Didn’t find any secrets this time around though.

There's a single secret, and I had to hunt for it after cleaning everything else out. Eventually I looked at the automap, and had to LOL:

since it's an obvious off-texture wall right in the starting room!

[FragsBunny]

MAP07: The UAC Project (100%/100%/100%)

1.       Mancubus are always focused on players

2.       Zombieman can invert its gravity

3.       Revenants are partially invisible

 

Upon seen a mancubus in my card choice, I expected this map to play another homage to Dead Simple. And regarding those expectations, The Mighty Whoosh did not disappoint me this time. You still have a normal run and gun section, killing those weaker monsters while still watching your health and ammo. You do get another mega-armor for free in preparation for that fight, assuming that you do not miss it.

 

Once you find the required switched and grab the yellow key, a door will open leading to the teleporter with Dead Simple- like room. The setting is rather simple – kill the four mancubi first, followed by four arachnotrons trying to press you from four directions. Still, nothing that RL and SSG cannot solve, and there are also four pillars to use as a cover. Simple, but effective project!

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP07 - The UAC Project - dsda-doom - skill 4 pistol start rewinds

 

More tight ammo goodness. This wad continues to do ammo shortages well.

This seemed like a standard level, and I was somewhat relieved not to have to fight blubbertron and babyface from Toy Story. Sadly that bit was here, tacked on at the end. I could've done without, but it's fine.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Haruspex]

MAP07: The UAC Project

UV, Pistol-Start, Saveless

 

This is a trickier map than might be expected from the low enemy count. Especially because it tries to lull the player into a false sense of security before teleporting us to the Dead Simple-esque arena. There’s not a huge number of enemies lurking there, but the sudden change in pace makes it easy to suffer a lot of damage (even if you know what’s coming, as I found in a second playthrough).

 

TheMightyWhoosh also deprives the pistol starter of the SSG, opting to give us a rocket launcher to take down the big baddies instead. I’ve noticed this is a recurring motif of this megawad: the author denies pistol starters our mainstay weapon to inflate the threat of weaker enemies and to make us more careful with our resources. In this map, the final battle can easily become quite desperate if you wasted too many rockets in the first half.

 

Apart from that, I like the way this map loops back in on itself. It’s a clever design and it gives us an interesting choice of direction from the start. But for my taste it’s not the best looking map of the set so far. Maybe I’m just not fond of TEKWALL.

 

I’m going to rank it just slightly above Cement. It’s a better composed map but in some ways it’s less memorable. I wonder if the level would be better if it were less dependent on that final twist.

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Ranking:

Spoiler

 

MAP03: Toxic

MAP05: Leak

MAP01: Go

MAP02: Hell’s Cavity

MAP07: The UAC Project

MAP06: Cement

MAP04: Treehouse

 

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by Haruspex

[Veinen]

Map05: Leak video

 

Another fine classic style level with a cool little central theme around a radiation leak. Combat is fairly straightforward but not quite as dynamic as in the previous few maps due to lighter arsenal of weapons and a few occasions where you're forced to kill things slower, namely the Manc trio arena and the Pinkie horde. Just a few more rockets would've been helpful in the Manc arena, instead of having them at the last secret at the end of the level. Pinkie horde is arguably a bit excessive but I don't mind punching Demons and the area is suitable for that so I don't really mind. The layout of the map makes you loop back to the start a few times which means that you don't have to kill everything immediately in a maxrun but the Zombiemen have a tendency to wander around a lot and may end up in unfortunate places like in the radiation pit (one of them clearly had the mind to do that in the demo but I denied him...). Quite an easy map to max since you get the Soulsphere early and there aren't many dangerous spots in the level after that. Sometimes the perched Arachs get a nice volley of plasma on you when gathering the secret rockets but it can be avoided easily by staying near the back wall.

 

Map06: Cement video

 

Fun map. The earthy brick theme reminds me a bit of Kama Sutra and for once there seemed to be ammo to spare if you grab the rewarding secrets including the PG and YK. Still, rationing plasma use is a factor when maxing the map as you have to leave enough for the Cyber near the end, although in the demo run I could've used it a little bit more freely as I finished with forty something plasma left over which isn't quite optimal. Like probably 99% of players, I also thought the Invuln secret completely redundant when first playing through the map but it has its use in the max as there is just enough time to cheese the Cyber fast with it if you don't bumble around and/or get unlucky with the damage rolls. Such a huge difference in knowing how to use it vs playing time first could typically warrant some criticism but since the Cyber can be easily cheesed without the Invuln too, it's not a big deal. Couldn't really find a good use for the stash of rockets near the exit-revealing switch as effective use of the Invulnerability is key at that point and leaving things behind in the opening area doesn't work that well since they seem to go into the room behind the red door.

[cannonball]

MAP07 - “The UAC Project”

 

The main area that is relatively free to explore is actually okay, albeit the execution is a little questionable (Some areas too cramped and a general sense that this could be tweaked to play far better than it does). The two switches required to reach the yellow key are tucked away beside the two lifts near the start. Again a little questionable if you ask me. The combat is okay, the monster placement is pretty fair and if you get the blue armour it isn't overly difficult despite light amounts of health.

The exit room - It's a worse version of dead simple... Lets not sugar coat this and frankly the level would have been better off fleshing out the rest of the map whilst scraping this part altogether. 

Just a footnote - I had 6 bullets at the end of the map, so fair to say that ammo is tight, not to mention I got the only secret so that was 70 extra bullets.

Edited October 7, 2021 by cannonball

[dei_eldren]

KINDa - MAP08 Deux (HMP, blind, continuous w/ saves): K 100% (90/90), I 100% (12/12), S 100% (1/1), D ~2, T 15:05

 

Spoiler

The homages to Tricks and Traps are generally more abstract and conceptual than implementing any particular element from the original (that said, Doom Zero did have the iconic starting room with doors, and the ending run, too.)  In this map, the progression itself was somewhat trickier than usual, and the layout itself had a couple less than obvious routes to go from one place to the next.

 

The map begins in a structure of green marble in the middle of a sea of lava, and after clearing the hall from some enemies, there's a multifront attack of Cacodemons through windows, and a Mancubus firing from an outlying room through the windows, who with some luck ends up infighting with some Cacodemon.  It was one of those situations that was trickier than it should have been, taking a couple of minutes.  At the back there are also a couple of Hell Knights. 

 

When fighting them in the small outside area something went wrong.  After 3:45 in my video ( https://youtu.be/aIrtpvIKj-k?t=225 ) a Hell Knight and a Spectre come through the wall, and soon after i fall through the railing into the surrounding lava, and it's clear something has bugged (i colloquially say map on the video, but that's very unlikely) - it seems the walls failed and enemies became ghosts.  Am playing in Crispy Doom 5.10.1 and it'd be interesting to find out what exactly happened, if someone can tell.  After reload, everything worked perfectly again.

 

Anyway, after all is dead there's the first trick in the progression - a quasi-hidden switch in the corner of a narrow walkway that opens up a timed teleport that's not quite in view when it's pressed.  Simple enough, but a mechanism usually reserved for secrets, so, unexpected.  The teleport takes me to another structure to the southern part of the lava-pool, and the same Mancubus from the beginning, in a small room of his own in the middle, is now firing this way. 

 

This is actually the hardest fight of the whole WAD so far.  There are two doors opened with a switch to get inside into a large hall, with about a hundred hitscanners, Chaingunners included, and before really addressing them except by sending a few rockets their way, there's two Barons to deal with.  So with the open doors, the Mancubus and the Barons, there's quite a lot of crossfire to deal with, and i died a couple of times, once exactly by some hitscanner from the inside while fighting the Baron outside, and another time at least by a Chaingunner.  When this room is cleared, there is immediately another substantial combat in a pool of blood behind the hall, against Pinkies, a Pain Elemental, and Imps ambling about on the high wall around the pool.

 

i appreciate the design of the complex hall, with its pool of blood, oak floor, and secret hidden behind a corner, and the whole structure is interesting with its non-intuitive paths.  Me being me, an exceptionally unobservant individual, i obviously first miss the obvious way forward having convinced myself on account of the previous teleport that i should open up the teleport hinted at the map somehow, to enter the wooden structure in the pool of blood having no obvious access to it.  Only after finding the secret, i notice the pathway along the walls around the pool of blood, that goes all the way also to the unaccessible side of the hall, allowing me to finally collect all the booty.

 

The structure has a couple of switches, one of the opens up the teleport mentioned earlier, and effect also a hell-load of Imps teleporting into the pool.  The second one, i assume, opened up the final door in the first structure, leading up to the final room guarded by the omnipresent Mancubus.

 

There's nothing overtly tricky about the map, it's a matter of subtleties - as i was looking at the automap and going through the level in my head at the end, i was admiring the simplistic complexity of the whole thing.  It's just a couple of small things that made it tricky.  Good stuff.

 

 

Top of the pops:

Spoiler

MAP08 - Deux

MAP05 - Leak

MAP06 - Cement

MAP04 - Treehouse

MAP07 - the UAC Project

MAP02 - Hell's Cavity

MAP01 - Go

MAP03 - Toxic (most likely doesn't deserve this lowly spot, just my blind run experience)

 

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/Blind/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 07 - THE UAC PROJECT

100% kills and secrets

Time: 5:55 (apparently my total time in the WAD so far is 1:05:55. How I missed it was 1 hour exact last map, idk)

 

We have a smallish techbase here, that doesn't appear to be a Dead Simple clone! We just have some small incidental encounters to deal with, though there are a decent amount of mid-tier enemies thrown in now. Your first fight has hitscan and revs coming at you from multiple paths, so you need to prioritize a few things. I went hitscan first, then rev. Your goal is to go down 2 paths. Each leads to a lift back up to the start, but the lifts also hide switches that need to be hit. Hitting them lowers the yellow key. Once the yellow key lowered, I noticed the secret nearby with a nice chaingun and bullet box. I'm playing continuous, so idk if that is playing a factor here, but I'm not noticing a lack of resources anymore. I'm pretty sure I have more ammo now than I did when I started, but idk. Anyway, the yellow switches open the exit, which is actually a teleport to a mini Dead Simple clone. Guess there is one here afterall. 4 mancubi and arachnotrons each, and both can be dealt with easily via your rockets. Simple map, but not dead simple.

[Book Lord]

MAP 08 – Deux

Doomsday Engine, UV-fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

This one was rather interesting and after the first minutes I was already sold on it. I was in for a hot start, in a room with two exits and enemies attacking from all directions: hitscanners, Imps, Cacodemons floating by the windows, a Mancubus shooting from a tower across the lava. The environment was both reminiscent of The Inmost Dens and an original revisitation, mixing brown brick with marble and using lava and blood as contrasting floors. None of them was harmful and lava could not be entered at all.

Spoiler

Once the initial chaos was suppressed, I explored the small lava castle for goodies and noticed the exit was there, still unreachable. A teleporter brought me to another building, constituting the second main area and totally separated from the first. Deux means “two” in French and probably the two areas give the level its name, but it was not the only double instance to be found. The building was tricky to enter on -fast since a cohort of snipers was shooting at once. Two Barons (2) acting as door replacements must be tricked into infighting, so I danced behind their muscular backs and played peekaboo with Imps. A Pain Elemental and Cacodemons also emerged from the blood pool and met me by the two (2) doors.

Spoiler

When I finally killed everybody, I perlustrated the area and found all secrets and goodies, then I entered a control cabin of sorts with two (2) switches. The active one was a trap releasing a mini horde of Imps on the two (again) demon face pads, ideal for wasting rockets on some gratuitous gibbing. The other switch was the right one, opening a portal to return to the first area and exit. Short, action-packed, and entertaining, Deux was a winner under many aspects.

[Capellan]

 

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP07: The UAC Project

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/1 secrets

 

If you can't decide whether to make a Dead Simple clone for MAP07, why not make a map that is half Dead Simple clone and half not? Jokes aside I thought this map was pulled off pretty well. I stopped mentioning in my writeups for fear of sounding redundant, but I've often felt like the maps in this wad have suffered a little bit from having somewhat unwieldy layouts, striking me as feeling a bit unintuitive in a way that doesn't exactly contribute positively. This one still does get a bit random with its placements of progression points, but it felt a bit cleaner and more fluid to play than most of what's been seen so far. The map is a nonlinear techbase, with your goal being to hit switches to lower the yellow skull key, and then using that key to unlock the portal to the Dead Simple-like battle which caps off the map.

 

This one does fall back on the easier side of the set so far. The map does go back to keeping you tight on resources, but this is offset by the hitscanner placements feeling a bit less devious than usual, and the level's layout feeling a bit advantageous to you and giving you plenty of room for cover from threats. I can see the final battle maybe causing some trouble, facing you with 4 mancubi and then 4 arachnotrons, but if you tried to save some of your rockets for a rainy day like I did it's not so bad. Use them to cut down a couple of the foes in each wave and then you can find an easy spot to take care of the others from.

 

An easier map, but something about it felt quite fun to me. I'm a fan of it.