Plutonia 2 playthrough by one of the authors of Plutonia Experiment

[auber]

holy hell casali himself
honor to even be seeing this with my own eyes

[OniriA]

Cool to see one of the OG Plutonia persons around here, quite the unexpected surprise.

 

Map 1 of Plutonia 2 is called Comeback, which is a fun coincidence if you look at it in this context.

 

There was a Romero comeback in 2016, so it's only logical there should be a Casali comeback aswell.

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by OniriA

[VoanHead]

50 minutes ago, OniriA said:

There was a Romero comeback in 2016, so it's only logical there should be a Casali comeback aswell.

Sad we never got to see Romero do a playthrough of Doom The Way id Did and the Sequel :(.

 

Or at the very least hear his thoughts about it.

Edited October 19, 2021 by VoanHead
typo lol

[RHhe82]

Dammit, I’d like to play Plutonia 2 myself before watching this, but I don’t think I’m good enough to play it yet, so it would have to wait for a long time, but then I’d really love to watch these now… Darn it!

[Red-XIII]

This is amazing!

I just can't wait for him to play maps 11, 17, 29, and 32. 

[DCasali]

I just posted maps 05 - 08. Enjoying these a lot! 

 

 

[El Juancho]

I found this in your quake episode "Prodigy Special Edition" txt :)

Spoiler

 

I really like quake so i am 100% gonna play this :D

 

 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by El juancho

[head_cannon]

Hi there, Mr Casali. Big fan of the work you and your brother did in '96. I know that Final Doom is a distant memory from your perspective, but it was only in 2019 that I returned to the game, and the satisfaction of finally nailing a saveless run on every Plutonia level is still fresh in my mind.

 

Mechanically: I know that Go 2 It is a meme, but the actual bulk of the mapset is made up of finely-tuned obstacle courses which aren't sloggy to play at all. All killer, no filler. Even the most brutal maps have a brevity to them which makes the quest to nail each individual challenge in one flawless sequence seem like something that's always within reach - retries aren't a big hassle and reaching the exit is a goal which just takes a little tenacity to achieve.

 

Aesthetically: Its textures are iconic. There have been many tribute mapsets in the last two decades which use Plutonia's style of brick walls & wooden beams to evoke the menace of its deathtrap dungeons and embrace that primitive, earthy sensibility. There may not have been much conscious thought paid to it during the creation (nearly all the stories from the people who were there in the 90s repeat the mantra that they weren't concerned with legacies and the big picture, but were just trying to get the goddamn thing done & shipped), but I see it as quintessentially Doomy - like these military bunkers & science labs have gotten halfway stuck between dimensions due to the portal disaster and now we have high-tech computer panels coexisting with flooded, natural environments.

 

If you make it to the end of this series, I recommend giving the Plutonia Revisited Community Project a chance - I think it's more fun overall, but that comes with the caveat that, like any community project, there'll be a few duds that don't really land.

Edited October 20, 2021 by head_cannon

[DCasali]

12 hours ago, head_cannon said:

Hi there, Mr Casali. Big fan of the work you and your brother did in '96. I know that Final Doom is a distant memory from your perspective, but it was only in 2019 that I returned to the game, and the satisfaction of finally nailing a saveless run on every Plutonia level is still fresh in my mind.

 

Mechanically: I know that Go 2 It is a meme, but the actual bulk of the mapset is made up of finely-tuned obstacle courses which aren't sloggy to play at all. All killer, no filler. Even the most brutal maps have a brevity to them which makes the quest to nail each individual challenge in one flawless sequence seem like something that's always within reach - retries aren't a big hassle and reaching the exit is a goal which just takes a little tenacity to achieve.

 

Aesthetically: Its textures are iconic. There have been many tribute mapsets in the last two decades which use Plutonia's style of brick walls & wooden beams to evoke the menace of its deathtrap dungeons and embrace that primitive, earthy sensibility. There may not have been much conscious thought paid to it during the creation (nearly all the stories from the people who were there in the 90s repeat the mantra that they weren't concerned with legacies and the big picture, but were just trying to get the goddamn thing done & shipped), but I see it as quintessentially Doomy - like these military bunkers & science labs have gotten halfway stuck between dimensions due to the portal disaster and now we have high-tech computer panels coexisting with flooded, natural environments.

 

If you make it to the end of this series, I recommend giving the Plutonia Revisited Community Project a chance - I think it's more fun overall, but that comes with the caveat that, like any community project, there'll be a few duds that don't really land.

 

Thank you. A saveless run is impressive! I don't know if I've done that before. Milo really nailed Go 2 It, we spent quite a while tuning it because we knew it was treading a fine line between seeming to be too difficult, and having a discoverable strategy to beat it.

 

Regarding the aesthetic - we wanted to create a relatively fresh look while maintaining the palette and feel of the original games. The Doom palette worked well with the wooden, earthy tones. With Plutonia, Milo and I were aiming squarely at creating something enduring for its challenge. We really wanted something that would engage us, make us think, make us try several times to get through, rather than coasting through on autopilot. We also were motivated by finding new designs, new ways to use the monsters that either of us hadn't done before so we'd outdo each other. There was a mutually respectful rivalry that really propelled that.

 

I'll take a look at Plutonia Revisited once I'm done with Plutonia 2, and then the original.

[Valboom]

Dario are you of Italian origin? (just a curiosity because I am Italian).

Edited October 20, 2021 by Valboom

[ChopBlock223]

Oh yeah, some people have actually managed to defeat Plutonia on Nightmare! difficulty now, single segment and everything. ZeroMaster was first to achieve it a couple of years back, but a few more people also managed it eventually. The footage is crazy, wildest gameplay I've ever seen.

 

This exclusive, single-digit fraternity of elite players have managed to get it down to like 35 minutes by now, I think.

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by ChopBlock223

[Gibbon]

This is fantastic stuff.  I haven't even managed to get half way through without decreasing the difficulty to Hurt Me Plenty.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Gibbon

[Dark Pulse]

7 hours ago, Valboom said:

Dario are you of Italian origin? (just a curiosity because I am Italian).

The Casalis are, I believe, New Zealanders by birth.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Dark Pulse

[StalkerBlade]

It's nice to see you look back at your roots, Mr. Casali. Your work in Doom and Half-Life have been nothing short of inspiring; I'm still blown away by the amount of creativity that went into Half-Life 1 and 2's level designs. They have a standard of quality and design that myself and many others strive for when creating our own levels, whether it's a Doom map or something completely different. I'm sure you hear that a lot, but I think it just goes to show how excellent of a job the designs are.

 

Have you by any chance thought of doing a video discussing the design principles you use in your levels, or just the general process of how you create them and derive inspiration for them? Getting to know how a long time professional goes about designing things could definitely be pretty enlightening.

[DCasali]

48 minutes ago, StalkerBlade said:

It's nice to see you look back at your roots, Mr. Casali. Your work in Doom and Half-Life have been nothing short of inspiring; I'm still blown away by the amount of creativity that went into Half-Life 1 and 2's level designs. They have a standard of quality and design that myself and many others strive for when creating our own levels, whether it's a Doom map or something completely different. I'm sure you hear that a lot, but I think it just goes to show how excellent of a job the designs are.

 

Have you by any chance thought of doing a video discussing the design principles you use in your levels, or just the general process of how you create them and derive inspiration for them? Getting to know how a long time professional goes about designing things could definitely be pretty enlightening.

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words. The HL projects were the result of a lot of passion, drive, competition and creativity, and some tough times for sure! During HL1 development, the team was incredibly focused. I remember coming home at 4am, sleeping till 10am, eating some cereal then returning to work, repeat. Did that seven days a week for about 18 months, it was brutal but so exciting.

 

When I do my Plutonia play through I'll be sure to talk about the design and stuff as I go. 

[pcorf]

7 hours ago, DCasali said:

I remember coming home at 4am, sleeping till 10am, eating some cereal then returning to work, repeat. Did that seven days a week for about 18 months, it was brutal but so exciting.

 

Pretty hard work indeed designing maps for games and the creativity keeps you alert, but it can also be tiring. I've been mapping for Doom/Doom 2 since 1996 and even worked on various maps for community projects including two maps for Plutonia Revisited CP. It has been a good fun hobby. Plutonia was a great megawad, my favorite maps were 01, 03, 06, 11, 12, 22, 27, 29, 32. I have a soft spot for Hunted, that was a damn fine challenge and such a great idea. MAP12 Speed was beautiful with D_E3M8 playing in the background and with me a big fan of WOOD5. Some of Plutonia's maps made it to PSX Final Doom (01,03,04,06,20,10).

[StalkerBlade]

23 hours ago, DCasali said:

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words. The HL projects were the result of a lot of passion, drive, competition and creativity, and some tough times for sure! During HL1 development, the team was incredibly focused. I remember coming home at 4am, sleeping till 10am, eating some cereal then returning to work, repeat. Did that seven days a week for about 18 months, it was brutal but so exciting.

 

When I do my Plutonia play through I'll be sure to talk about the design and stuff as I go. 

Damn, that's some serious dedication! I can certainly say all of the hard work that went into these games shines. To this day people still play them and continue to create mods for them, even after 20+ years.

[DCasali]

Maps 09 through 15 are up. This is a great set of maps! Really cool that this came together from a diverse set of mappers in the community. It took me a little while to realize each map is directly inspired by the equivalent Plutonia Experiment map number. It's a great idea and executed really well. I'm getting lost a good deal in some of these, I wish the automap was more helpful - like coloring doors and keys for example. 

 

 

 

[Grimosaur]

3 hours ago, DCasali said:

I wish the automap was more helpful - like coloring doors and keys for example.

 

In PrBoom+ you can change the colours of the automap lines in options>setup>automap, including colouring key doors. It's weird that they're not coloured to begin with though, I suppose just to be more like the original Doom which I don't think coloured key doors on the automap either.

[Rudolph]

@DCasali Mr. Casali, I apologize if this has been asked to you before elsewhere, but have you considered going back to making Doom maps, like John Romero did? Or are your Doom mapping days definitely over?

Edited November 4, 2021 by Rudolph

[Foodles]

It would be very interesting to see what 20 years of experience as a level designer for a top games studio would yield in terms of doom mapping. Also I have to say I'm enjoying watching you play through Plutonia 2.

[Steveb1000]

@Rudolph People have asked that on his YouTube channel comments - he replied with variations of 'I'll have a play around and see what happens/how I feel'.

[roadworx]

well this was the last person who i expected to see posting on dw, i thought you were out of the doom scene for good

Edited November 6, 2021 by roadworx

[joepallai]

@DCasali I have really enjoyed seeing you play these levels; and seeing your playthrough of Aztecorum was a personal highlight for me.  I'm really glad to have been able to return the favor of sniping chaingunners and revenants to you after all these years.  

[DCasali]

17 hours ago, joepallai said:

@DCasali I have really enjoyed seeing you play these levels; and seeing your playthrough of Aztecorum was a personal highlight for me.  I'm really glad to have been able to return the favor of sniping chaingunners and revenants to you after all these years.  

Hi Joe! Your map was really great, thanks for building it! Those sniping revenants were tricky to deal with but used really well. The big outside battle was fun too. Adding the damaging floor was genius, it gave me a timer for dealing with everything.

[DCasali]

21 hours ago, roadworx said:

well this was the last person who i expected to see posting on dw, i thought you were out of the doom scene for good

It's been a long time, but I've been busy! Doom was easy to get back into, there's something about the raw simplicity of it. I haven't tried playing more modern Doom stuff yet but I've been (mostly) enjoying Plutonia2

[ChopBlock223]

Stuff like Plutonia 2 remains popular, with Vanilla and Boom format maps being the most common to make (and the new MBF21 format likely overtaking Boom format with time).

 

People make a lot of highly advanced works with ports such as GzDoom, but the majority of that stuff seems to be various mods to change the gameplay itself, which then gets played with various Vanilla or Boom level sets.

 

The influence of works like The Plutonia Experiment, Alien Vendetta, and Scythe 2, stand strong still.

[valkiriforce]

On 10/19/2021 at 11:24 PM, head_cannon said:

If you make it to the end of this series, I recommend giving the Plutonia Revisited Community Project a chance - I think it's more fun overall, but that comes with the caveat that, like any community project, there'll be a few duds that don't really land.

Unfortunately, that would be one of my maps - however I did try to make up for it with Kamikaze Suicidal, which can be used to replace the existing MAP22 when playing Plutonia Revisited.

 

All that aside, it's great to see one of the original Plutonia authors making a comeback with Doom - I've been enjoying this entire series so far and it's even better with the honks, pops and Great Scotts!

[Steveb1000]

2 hours ago, valkiriforce said:

...it's even better with the honks, pops and Great Scotts!

Holy Mackerel is my favourite, someone (maybe named Casali?) Needs to make a very epic secret level with that title.

[Uni]

How cool is it to see Dario actually participate in the community and share information about Doom stuff, what a time to be around. A Plutonia playthrough with you commenting on the inspirations and level-design would be a dream come true to a lot of us.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Uni