The DWmegawad Club plays: Interception II

dobu gabu maru · November 1, 2021

What is the DWmegawad Club?

This is a place where we settle down, have a cup of tea (or drink of your choice) and take a month to play through a megawad on our own, together! Any keen observations, criticisms, or frustrated ranting about it goes here in the discussion. As long as you want to say something about what you've played, feel free to speak your mind.

Can I join?

Sure. The only rule is that you have to play at least some of the levels in our monthly megawad to contribute, but you're generally encouraged to finish the whole thing, even if you've played it before.

What levels am I allowed to post about?

Whatever day of the month it is, is the upper limit for the map you can post on. So if it’s the 6th, you may discuss up to MAP06.

Do I have to post an entry every day?

Nope, not at all. This is only for our more enthusiastic members. As long as you play through it with us you’re part of the club.

When do we vote on the next month’s megawad?

Voting begins on the 25th of the current month. Remember to add one “+++” before your vote to make it easier to count. For example:

+++ Ultimate Doom

Note that you can only nominate up to three separate wads for a single month, and the wads must contain at least three maps each. The winning wad must receive at least four votes for a thread to be made. Ties will be decided by RNG.

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>>>DOWNLOAD INTERCEPTION 2 HERE<<<

Interception is back—with a Boom-compatible vengeance! Moustachio has once again wrangled together a group of mappers to deliver a megawad fraught with danger, demons, and some demented visuals. What're you waiting for? Start shootin’!

Author & Maplist:

MAP01 - “Euphoria” by NeedHealth, DFF, Moustachio, Quantum_dranger

MAP02 - “Beyond the Living” by Diego “DJV” Villarroel, Moustachio, DFF

MAP03 - “Desecration” by Misty, DMPhobos

MAP04 - “That Which Shall Not be Named” by DMPhobos

MAP05 - “Astral Castle” by Moustachio

MAP06 - “What Could Go Wrong?” by Big Ol Billy

MAP07 - “The Everlaster” by joe-ilya

MAP08 - “Bermuda” by Moustachio, Pegleg

MAP09 - “Belly of the Beast” by Moustachio, stewboy, Pegleg, NuclearPotato, DFF

MAP10 - “Eldritch Apparitions” by Moustachio

MAP11 - “Slipgate Ex Nihilo” by DFF

MAP12 - “Deep Space Mine” by Moustachio

MAP13 - “Habitat Ring” by Moustachio, stewboy, Pegleg, DFF

MAP14 - “Murder Mountain Mayhem” by General Rainbow Bacon, DFF

MAP15 - “Volcanic Research” by Moustachio

MAP31 - “Beamfleot” by Moustachio

MAP16 - “Planet Vertigo” by Diego “DJV” Villarroel

MAP17 - “Yellow Sea” by DukeOfDoom

MAP18 - “The Golden Palace” by Moustachio

MAP19 - “Asteroid Assault” by DFF

MAP20 - “Moonlit Escape” by JadingTsunami

MAP21 - “Return to Sender” by A2Rob

MAP22 - “System Corruption” by Moustachio

MAP23 - “Asbestos” by Needhealth

MAP24 - “Terracotta” by Moustachio

MAP25 - “The Sad Kingdom” by JadingTsunami

MAP26 - “Sinister Teachings” by General Rainbow Bacon

MAP27 - “Cargo Cult” by DFF

MAP28 - “Dr. Jones Abby’s Malediction” by galileo31dos01

MAP29 - “All Fall Down” by valkiriforce

MAP30 - “Guillotine” by DFF, Moustachio

BONUS CONTENT

Doomwiki

MAP28 fix

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OLD THREADS

Spoiler

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Edited May 8, 2023 by dobu gabu maru

Capellan · November 1, 2021

I'm going to skip this month: the WAD's text calls out that it features large maps, and I won't have time to keep up.

I did play MAP01 on HMP, though. It's a very nice-looking map. I liked that the visual motif was not that of your typical opener. It's also bigger and with more meaty opponents than a typical map01, which some people will like. Progression felt a bit all over the show, though - perhaps a factor of the many hands involved in making it?

TJG1289 · November 1, 2021

I played this a few months ago and liked it! Some really cool looking maps here. I especially liked the first episode. I'll probably play through this again, but I'll pistol-start it this time. I'll do the first 2 levels (hopefully) tomorrow. And yeah, there are some long maps here (looks at map 11 iirc)

cannonball · November 1, 2021

MAP01 - “Euphoria” by NeedHealth, DFF, Moustachio, Quantum_dranger

A bit of a Frankenstein map this one. To be honest the number of mappers involved is probably a detriment to this one, it doesn't quite know what it wants to be and we end up with a mess of techbase, gothic hell, marble/green. It doesn't really gel in the traditional sense or even in a sense of weird reality. The gameplay is also a bit of a mess, the hardest part is very early on when you are pushed into a room with a mix of fodder and revenants/hellknights. The gameplay after this is relatively straightforward. I do appreciate the upgrade of the pistol and fists though. The berserk is available right off the bat and it is quite fun to punch out a large proportion of the opposition.

In the end, it is often better to have one author make something cohesive that what has occurred here. In a way it feels like a map that might have missed the cut that others have made the effort to fix. That said there is some fun to be had here.

galileo31dos01 · November 2, 2021

Oh boy I better do this now, please everyone who joins and reaches map 28, ~~use this version~~ (EDIT: nope, it's THIS, the other is an update from the idgames version) which fixes a number of minor inconveniences that are present in the idgames release. You're not missing much anyways, no softlocks I believe (in the older), but it's the real last version.

Load them this way: "-file intercep2.wad inter2map28up.wad"

Edited November 2, 2021 by galileo31dos01

DisgruntledPorcupine · November 2, 2021

MAP01: "Euphoria" by NeedHealth, DFF, Moustachio, Quantum_dranger

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 6/6 secrets

The buffed pistol gets on my good graces immediately, and the speedy double punches are a nice touch too. The opener to this wad features a mixture of themes right off the bat, starting you in a demonic crypt area before turning into a techbase just outside. The rest of the level continues to mix demonic and tech themes together, and features a cliffy outdoor area. Definitely a lot going on here, but I think the visuals are pulled off pretty well in the end. The nukage here also looks particularly repulsive, but hey I don't think it's supposed to be pretty.

As far as an opening map goes, this one has a fair bit of length to it, which I guess is to be expected for a map with input from 4 people in it. Most of the combat also expectedly doesn't push you hard, but it's not completely toothless either. The most threatening moment was just past the lifts triggered by the eye switch in the eastern area of the map. After activating the gargoyle switch here you have a claustrophobic brush with a revenant, caco, and pinkies, with some chaingunners on the sidelines to spice things up. Fun encounter here. Little note though, I did have to get Youtube assistance to get 100% kills, as the 6th secret contains an extra encounter in a black void area. Was the only secret I didn't easily find, and it was a doozy.

A pretty promising opener, looking forward to the rest of the wad.

brick · November 2, 2021

4 hours ago, Capellan said:

I'm going to skip this month: the WAD's text calls out that it features large maps, and I won't have time to keep up.

I'm unfortunately in the same situation and will also have to skip this month, though it would have been nice to play along as I've had the wad on my playlist but never got around it. I will follow the thread for sure.

1 hour ago, galileo31dos01 said:

Oh boy I better do this now, please everyone who joins and reaches map 28, use this version which fixes a number of minor inconveniences that are present in the idgames release. You're not missing much anyways, no softlocks I believe (in the older), but it's the real last version.

Load them this way: "-file intercep2.wad inter2map28up.wad"

Thanks for the heads up, even though I'm not playing it now I wanted to download the fix and keep it for when I get around to it. I'm a bit confused by two things though. You mention an inter2map28up.wad, where does this come from? the link you posted just has another (newer?) version of intercep2.wad. Also, I noticed when opening it in SLADE that this fixed version of intercep2.wad has a 0-byte REJECT for MAP28, is this normal?

galileo31dos01 · November 2, 2021

41 minutes ago, brick said:

Thanks for the heads up, even though I'm not playing it now I wanted to download the fix and keep it for when I get around to it. I'm a bit confused by two things though. You mention an inter2map28up.wad, where does this come from? the link you posted just has another (newer?) version of intercep2.wad. Also, I noticed when opening it in SLADE that this fixed version of intercep2.wad has a 0-byte REJECT for MAP28, is this normal?

Right, I mixed up the files ugh... THIS is the one I meant to post. The other file is actually the last up-to-date version which you can get in the project thread (yes, as messy as it sounds, the version from idgames is outdated). So @dobu gabu maru could you change the links in the OP? Thanks for adding it by the way :p

Edited November 2, 2021 by galileo31dos01

DFF · November 2, 2021

Map01: Euphoria By NeedHealth, DFF, Moustachio, Quantum_dranger

UV, Continuous, GZdoom, Corruption Cards 3.1 (card: Spectres may appear).

Our journey begins with the player rising from a shallow grave, the story being carried on from where Interception 1 left off; The player being stranded in the alternate dimension of hell, having been replaced by Baphomet who plans to unleash his army unto Earth. Time to grab the berserk and break out of the tech encrusted crypt and find a way to escape the twisted dimension.

This was a rather interesting map to work on. As many commented on having several mapping influences the map is a sort of hodge-podge between gothic, flesh, and tech. This map had probably been remodeled and reworked the most, having been almost 3 separate completely different maps at one point in time or another. The problem stemming from keeping older map creators work included, but also trying to make a compelling and interesting WAD opener, one that would correctly set the tone for the WAD, as most map openers should. Whether that worked or not is debatable.

I found that I finished the map almost plum dry on ammo, either because i was careless, CCards spawned in a bunch of spectres, or I failed at ammo balance back when I worked on this map. Possibly all three. Either way its a bit of a hectic start. I doubt i'll be commenting on the map quality here for ethical reasons, but i will give some development insight where applicable and mostly discuss the gameplay experience.

ViolentBeetle · November 2, 2021

I am very interested in this because DFF, NeedHealth and Moustachio are on this project, who all submitted maps to Hellevator and Skulltiverse, but I never had a chance to see what they are doing outside of it.

Unfortunately MAP01 seems to conspire to make my life miserable, so I might lag behind somewhat.

Doritos420 · November 2, 2021

I hope I have time to play. I startd a new job so I'll be pretty busy this month.

I like that at the beginning menu there's the read me option that gives you a quick story recap before you start.

Map01 - Euphoria by NeedHealth, DFF, Moustachio, Quantum_dranger

Fun start giving the chance for the player to use the beefed up berserk powerup right away. I also like the increased pistol fire rate. The opening crypt area is pretty neat, I liked the imp hiding in the coffin. Like cannonball and DFF says, it’s a bit of a hodgepodge of a level with lots of intermingling themes and ideas. I think it gives a nice tease for what we may be in store for later. I found the combat fun, with a few traps to keep you on your toes. The early revenant and pinkies with the chain gunners gave me a bit of a hassle. I was able to find half the secrets on my own but had to look up the remaining few. The secret void arena was very cool, I especially like the spooky eyes staring at you from the darkness. Intrigued to see what comes next. I’m glad we’re playing a wad with some non vanilla textures this month.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Doritos420
A word

MtPain27 · November 2, 2021

Let's have a crack at this one: UV, pistol starts, going for 100% kills, playing through ZDoom.

MAP 01: Euphoria

First off, Interception II's quality of life improvements: you've got an Eviternity pistol (perfectly accurate and higher ROF), a STRAIN shotgun (faster firing without the weird sprite), and Rowdy Rudy II fists of fury. Lost souls also have 60 health, thank goodness.

I frolicked through this map yesterday and ran out of ammo halfway through, apparently not realizing I was berserked up. Punch as much stuff as you can and you'll have more than enough ammo. With the exception of one spider and two mancubi, you can punch everything in the map to death. Euphoria is a pretty stern MAP 01, though; I was going to compare it to Struggle: Antaresian Legacy for its Doom-atypical color palette, but even antares' first map gives the player a free pass. Euphoria doesn't. Not that I didn't enjoy myself: Euphoria compares favorably to Valiant's first episode enemy-density-wise, and doesn't lack room to move. Lots of secrets to find here, mostly little cabinets of health and rockets, with the automap (openable by pressing the dark strobing computer panel in the room with the BK door) pointing your way toward most of them. I have to say I wish the secret fight hadn't been a secret at all, I had to go to Ultimate Doom Builder to uncover it, and it really is a great hook of a fight, would have made for a great finale (between the red portal and the exit).

There are a lot of mappers to watch involved in this project, and so far I'm really liking the novel colors, music choices, and 2010s-blockbuster megawad style combat that I've played so far. Here's hoping I can make it through the whole thing this month!

ViolentBeetle · November 2, 2021

MAP01: Euphoria

It will probably take some time to get used to new fists and pistol and them being viable options. Seems like the map is built around it, starving me for ammo and expecting me to get into fistfights, but I'm not very comfortable with it. I did a few times, about half of which shockingly to the very first chaingunner.

The map is very beautiful and not at all confusing, although I felt the final segment dragged a bit (And that's not because I've ran out of ammo).

A solid and promising opening, once I got used to fists.

Book Lord · November 2, 2021

MAP 01 – Euphoria by NeedHealth, DFF, Moustachio, Quantum_dranger

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

A positive consequence of my DWMC participations is being invited to play map sets that I normally would not consider, given my inexperience with contemporary WADs. Interception 2 begins with Euphoria, an eight-handed work boasting a size, length, and monster assortment that clearly wanted to detach himself from the standard MAP01. While no devious aggression was set up, except maybe the ambush just before the BSK, the whole level lacked the unassuming attitude typical of the map slot, starting from the Tyson wake up inside a gothic crypt, followed by good combat inside and outside a sleek corrupted tech-base.

Spoiler

125173903_Interception2Map01_01.jpg.5808e35e7c7ae1b36e56cf7f37d9ccc4.jpg

Ammunition seemed just enough to kill every monster, provided that the Berserk was used whenever possible. Lost Souls could be reliably killed with boosted punches, due to their reduced hit points. Health and armour were enough to compensate for my swashbuckling attitude, soon curtailed by a Revenant rocket in my face. This often happens when I am turning -fast monsters off, as I will be doing for the duration of this playthrough.

Visually everything looked good, though the various areas felt stylistically detached from one another. The marble hallway was not only graphically disjointed but also a bit overcrowded with fodder enemies to kill. I found all secrets except the eerie chaingun arena, required to max out the map but a bit punitive, considering how concealed it was. Interception 2 presents itself with a note about the lengthy maps, which is not a feature I tend to like, especially if it turns the gameplay into an exercise of commitment and ends up highlighting less interesting material over the memorable moments. I hope the relatively long-winded structure of Euphoria will not be common to the whole megaWAD and to the bigger maps in store, however it served its purpose well as an opener.

FragsBunny · November 2, 2021

MAP01: Euphoria (79%/70%/66%)

1. Mancubi are partially invisible

2. Pain elemental may teleport away when in danger

3. Pain elemental will steal items off the ground

Judging from its mix of styles, this map is a combined “euphoria” of multiple mappers working on in, hence the level’s name. And the euphoria itself starts from the moment when you emerge from you coffin! Upon picking up the berserk pack, it comes to immediate attention that you swings your fists much faster than usual, delivering a rapid combo of bloody punches.

And since I’ve been in this map before, I thought to myself… Can I do a Tyson run on this level? And thus, I did! Almost any opposition that I’ve met on my way was completely crushed with the power of my fists, along with occasional carefully provoked infights. Even powerhouses like mancubus and arachnotron would go down in a matter of few seconds! With such bravado, I took some damage from various hitscanners that were also present, but the amount of health scattered on the level was four times higher than The Mighty Whoosh could provide (given that this is a work of four mappers, each of which had their health numbers reserved). The final leg after the blue key door did force me to switch to pistol, which thankfully was boosted here again (and what Tyson rules do not prevent us from using it?)

I only managed to find 4 out of 6 secrets, despite being here multiple times while having computer map on hand. While Moustachio and crew are more straightforward in laying the path to exit compared to Whoosh, they are also doing much better job on hiding secrets. 5/5, would gladly berserk punch everything in sight on first opportunity!

Edited November 2, 2021 by FragsBunny

finnks13 · November 2, 2021

Hi everyone, I've been meaning to get more involved with the community and playing through megawads with the DWmegawad Club seems like a fun place to start!

I've had my eye on Interception 2 for a bit, and this gives me a good excuse to give it a go. I enjoyed what I played of the first Interception, but I never finished it (not for any particular reason, I just sort of... stopped).

I will be playing with DSDA-Doom v0.21.0, complevel 9, pistol starts, UV. Going for 100% kills, but if I miss a few monsters in secrets, I'm not going to worry too much.

MAP 1 - Euphoria by NeedHealth, DFF, Moustachio and Quantum.Dranger:
I liked this opener, had a bit more heft to it than most openers I have played, taking me around 14 minutes to complete. The upgraded fists were really fun to use with berserk and I enjoyed the fight in the large green corridor a lot. I also liked the fight in the techbase area after you exited the tomb, it's probably the most challenging fight in the map with the lack of space to move and mid-tier monsters (though I hadn't realised that I had an upgraded pistol at this point so that probably would have helped).

Was not a fan of the nukage texture used in the techbase area here, I thought it was really ugly - I get that nukage probably isn't meant to be beautiful, but I really didn't like the combination of yellow, grey and green. I liked the visuals in the outside area, with the metal inside the canyon.

I will admit that I looked up how to get the secret fight after looking for it for ages and not wanting to leave with ~75% kills, but I enjoyed the little ambush taking place in that with the faces looking on from the void. I agree with MtPain27, it would have been a pretty cool final fight, but I've always liked secret fights so I liked it anyway. Didn't find the map very difficult (as is to be expected with opening maps), though I did take a death to a face rocket which will hopefully not be a running theme in this playthrough.

MAP 2 - Beyond the Living by DJV, Moustachio and DFF:
Really enjoyable map. I liked the focus of barrels, with the opener and library fights being particularly hilarious. I found the map quite light on ammo, though that's probably because I refused the offer of the chainsaw after finding out that picking it up didn't spawn anything in. I enjoyed most of the fights in the level, with the fight in the courtyard housing arachnotrons, hell knights and pinkies as well as the whole blue key area with the surprise archvile traps being the highlights. I expected a bit more of a fight when picking up the yellow key itself, but taken as a whole the area was still good. I didn't think the map was very challenging, but I did find the secret megasphere, soulsphere and invulnerability so that probably has something to do with that (though I did completely waste the invulnerability).

I think the map looked really nice, the outside areas with marble castle in a green void look fantastic and I thought the inside of the castle was very nicely detailed without going too nuts to the point where it was hard to read the map. I also really enjoyed the MIDI in this map.

I do worry slightly that introducing all of the monster roster bar the Doom1 bosses as well as all the weapons up to the rocket launcher already at the end of Map2 might make the later maps start to feel a bit stale, but I suppose we will have to see about that.

I'm looking forward to playing the rest of this as I've liked both levels so far so the wad is definitely off to a good start.

Krenium · November 2, 2021

MAP01 - Euphoria by NeedHealth, DFF, Moustachio, and Quantum_dranger

PrBoom+ / Hurt Me Plenty / Pistol start / Saves / Demo

doom07.png.668c6bb0cd70d634309a1ea5c0b70519.png

If I had three words to describe the things that immediately stand out to me about this wad and map, they would be:

Green!
Fists!
Pistol!

Indeed, Interception 2 seems to be emphasizing green as evidenced by the title screen, HUD, sky, and texture/palette swaps. I love it, though I must admit the tan in the new sludge almost looks like patchy grass when I'm not concentrating on it. The opening section introduces the new fists which are fun to use, and soon enough I realized the pistol fires more quickly and is perfectly accurate. (It might also do more damage?) These changes allow the beginnings of maps to have more bite to them when pistol starting. I look forward to seeing whether the mappers kept this in mind.

The opening tomb looks really cool and leaves a good first impression. As an aside, I like how the lift doesn't raise, trapping the player unless they're using an appropriate port/compatibility. The wad lays out its cards immediately for those who didn't read the readme. The music track, "What Could Have Been," perfectly suits the map (to my ears) and enhances its mysterious nature.

Despite how many people worked on this map, I don't think it's especially cluttered or directionless. Shifts in texturing occur at transitions between areas in a way that makes sense. My favorite area was the outdoor section with its tans, greens, and grays. I was pleased by monster placement in this map. They are placed in such a way that you can never quite be perfectly comfortable taking a single approach — gotta switch to the shottie and take out the sergeant before punching the pinkies. Can't shottie everything because you'll run out of shells. That sort of thing. Nice attention to detail, there.

All in all, I think this is a good opener that serves to set the player's expectations. It has me excited to sink my teeth into this meaty wad.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Krenium
can't forget the music

DFF · November 2, 2021

2 hours ago, MtPain27 said:

I have to say I wish the secret fight hadn't been a secret at all, I had to go to Ultimate Doom Builder to uncover it, and it really is a great hook of a fight, would have made for a great finale (between the red portal and the exit).

This secret used to be part of mandatory progression. It was originally a teleport line trap when grabbing the blue key. Once completed the teleporter put you back to the blue key ledge.

The choice to move it to a secret was because some of the group members felt it's mandatory inclusion dragged the map length a little too long, and I liked the arena so I didn't want to remove it entirely. It ended up being possibly too well hidden, but this was also during a brief phase where I was experimenting with the design choice of hiding optional gameplay in secrets that I've seen in a few maps.

I never thought to make the final room teleporter take you there rather than the exit, but it would have been an interesting closer.

DJVCardMaster · November 2, 2021

I did not play this to its entirety, so this month is a really good excuse.

intercep2.wad - Interception 2 - Moustachio, DFF and The Interceptors:

Here is the sequel to a Vanilla megawad made in 2013 by Moustachio et. al. This sequel works in Boom compatible source ports, and, why did it take so long? The reason is maps are now bigger, full of details, and also, Moustachio had to take a hiatus during the last year of development, so DFF managed to keep going on with the project, helping to finish some maps and doing some QoL changes. DFF wanted to get this wad semi-finished, so you may find that most maps are co-worked by him and Moustachio.
Luckly, with some problems between its development, we have finished this megaWAD. I contributed with one and a half maps here, during the later stage of development.
Yes, maps are an in-between of Ancient Aliens and Eternal Doom in terms of length, but some of them may be lenghty because of the packed fights it has. Luckly, there are some changes to our arsenal, fast punches and fast pistols, ideal for a Tyson playstyle. You may take some time to get used to it but it's a good addition. Also, correct me if I'm not mistaken, but also lost souls have less health (Thanks god). Oh and a slightly faster SG aswell.

MAP01 - Euphoria - NeedHealth, Moustachio, DFF & Quantum_dranger (77%K/69%I/50%S):

Our opener map may feel a bit lengthy in terms of MAP01 standards, also you may notice some Frankenstein-mapping in some parts of it. Some design choices may clash here and there. One thing to say is that maps often look beautiful, and this is the case aswell, pretty well detailed. You may have to get used quickly to the Tyson-styled gameplay, as the map may be a little ammo lacking, on purpose, so you get a good hang of the changed arsenal. It serves as a challenging but good starter map, as it forces you to learn the changed fists and pistol (You start with a berserk pack right from the get-go). The skybox is what you will like the most about this episode.

MAP02 - Beyond the Living - Diego "DJV" Villarroel, DFF & Moustachio (100%K/75%I/50%S):

Author's note: I only took part of most of the layout for this map, this is the "half map" I made. As I ran into a mental block, I struggled to keep this map going for a bit, luckly Moustachio, and subsequently DFF, helped to finish this map, originally, it was called Threshold, occupied the MAP05 slot, and had a Faith No More midi (Kindergarden), I made the layout until the ring shapped room at the yellow key. The rest is not from my authority. And most of the details are not made by me, I was not good at that point with detailing. Here is a photo of the starting area at an in-dev phase, right when I stopped working on it:
image.png.c1653103d762a60d3b6b8b56789da4f0.png

This is a quite grindy map with all of its barrels going around, the idea of the barrels must have been from DFF. I like how its gameplay turned out to be into a final state, still, some things like the spiked zombieman at the right path, which I always removed when I got a version of the map in my hands (I hate it, I always get stuck with this obstacle), still appears at the release version of this map (He is evil, he will keep appearing).
The gameplay here changes totally when you grab the rocket launcher, as it starts getting even more grindy than at the start, and a plus, if you manage to find the secret invulnerability sphere, you can start ramboing the ring shaped area full of barrels with the RL with total freedom, this is the part I like the most (Possibly because is the area I worked the least).
Sadly because of mental roadblocks, the map ended being shorter than I was planning for it to be, the exit area would have expanded for a little bit more, with a more elaborated portal exit, still it suits good for the MAP02 slot. I think DFF has really salvaged this map for sure.

(HMP Playthrough - PrBoom+)

Order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP02
MAP01

Both maps are similar for my taste, I think they are at the same level. I think the grindy play-style with those barrels bought me, though.

Edited November 2, 2021 by DJVCardMaster

Book Lord · November 2, 2021

MAP 02 - Beyond the Living by Diego “DJV” Villarroel, Moustachio, DFF

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

When I saw the marble castle suspended over the void I felt properly introduced to the Realm of Souls, the eldritch reign where Interception 2 was set. The colours and the shattered floating stones reminded me of the Black Sun Dimension from Wolfenstein. The very first seconds taught me that treading the void was harmful and introduced me to the barrel-assisted combat, which was going to be the highlight of the level. Although they were a bit out of place in such a mystic and ghostly location, I appreciated their contribution to gameplay.

The castle packed quite a bit of opposition, mostly hitscanners, but also beefier creatures in various locations. I liked the action in the courtyard with the SSG guarded by an Arch-Vile & Co., but also the multi-staged BSK acquisition in the bigger semicircle with the surrounding walkway. The Caco+PE swarm was handled by retreating inside and the snipers on columns could largely be ignored, but ammo was plentiful, so I happily slaughtered everything.

Spoiler

1046600514_Interception2Map02_01.jpg.94371a4c0bcaa62e403b131712b830a3.jpg

The library ambush was hilarious, and the YSK ring was a blast, not only because of the barrels. Hellspawn appeared wildly to surprise me and the two Arch-Viles were sneaky. The one in the closet blew me up while I was distracted by the Pain Elemental, then the chaingunners finished me off. I had saved the Invulnerability for the yellow door room, just to realise it was the exit. There was a stray Cacodemon in that area that was a drag to kill because of the one-way conveyor belt. The exit should have been separated from the rest of the map to prevent flyers from getting stuck there.

Spoiler

44939559_Interception2Map02_02.jpg.dda044a8908d3cc142dbdb4897b5ae3a.jpg

The teleporter to the Megasphere was well-hidden in the library, but I still left with 200% everything, thanks to the Soul Sphere and Combat Armour I found. A bit longer than my favourite first episode map, Beyond the Living was an enjoyable ride from the beginning to the end. The lively soundtrack is still playing in an endless loop inside my head, I hope for another good one to replace it soon!

Edited November 2, 2021 by Book Lord

RHhe82 · November 2, 2021

MAP01 with PrBoom+ 2.6.1um, played on UV. 100% secrets, 165/166 kills.

A nice opener map. I can only echo the sentiments of others; it's a bit long, and a flurry of styles make the ambience a bit alien - and I take it that's by design. At the start I was wondering if I'm picking too high a difficulty, but the sense of difficulty wanes as the level progresses. The first area before first setting foot outside is easily the hardest. The secret fight (which was a bit difficult to find, I think I spent some ten minutes wandering around looking for candles and whatnot) was fun, and far easier than I had anticipated. Loved the lurking gargoyle eyes :P

And I especially loved the fast pistol and fast fisticuffs. If I ever make a multi-level wad, I want to have both, and reduced HP on Lost souls (which I didn't realize while playing).

I got all but one kill -- I wonder what that was, and I was dense enough not to check with map cheat in the end, d'oh. At first I though a demon teleported away from the secret fight, but upon exiting the area, it was nowhere to be found. Oh well.

Edited November 2, 2021 by RHhe82
wondering -> wandering

Krenium · November 2, 2021

MAP02 - Beyond the Living by DJV, Moustachio, and DFF

PrBoom+ / Hurt Me Plenty / Pistol start / Saves / Demo

doom00.png.d2f0a6713831ccc2efe8e3ec091157c6.png

This map looks COOL AS HELL! Just look at that opening vista! And the courtyard with the intricate wall and pillars springing up from the void! I can safely say this will end up being a memorable map for me; the kind you think of when someone mentions a wad. I quite enjoyed the opening section, with the archvile on the pillar threatening while dealing with a couple meatier demons and being pelted by the odd hitscanner. I ended up losing my cool and blowing myself up with a barrel here — my first death. Generally, though, the barrels help more than they hurt, but still require caution and add tension to every encounter.

I find it intriguing that unlike the first map, this map doesn't encourage any punching (unless I missed a secret berserk) or pistol-using, instead opting to give you an early chaingun and a chainsaw instead. I don't object, since I love using the chainsaw. Monster placement was generally stellar; I like how monsters would often be released or teleported just as you engage another group of monsters, but nothing overwhelming. Instead, the map relies on the barrels to increase the danger of most encounters. My only criticism here is the pop-up mancubus which has other monsters (including another mancubus) behind it. I was about to rocket the mancubus when another one popped up in front of my face. I generally don't think it's a good idea to place monsters behind pop-up monsters.

My favorite part of the map is the wall overlooking the courtyard. The use of cacos here is well-done and the spawning of monsters on the void-pillars spices up the variety of combat. Plus the whole area just looks really neat. The music track, while good I felt was perhaps a little too folksy or chipper, but in the end it's still an okay choice. Oh, and that exit! How cool is that?

Map ranking (favorite -> least)

2 1

Edited November 2, 2021 by Krenium
gotta talk about that exit!

DFF · November 2, 2021

One thing I wanted to note early on in the month. This WAD does feature a few beefier and longer maps (my map11 included) and I can understand that some of them can be a bit of a time sink to match a map per day. I would encourage those that want to try the WAD this month to do so as some have decided to skip this month because of the possibly longer maps. There's a lot of interesting maps in this WAD with some great work from many mappers, so finishing the WAD but skipping maps that end up being too long would be preferable over missing the later end of the WAD. Just a suggestion.

Map02: Beyond the Living By DJVCardMaster, Moustachio, and DFF

UV, Continuous, GZdoom, Corruption Cards 3.1 (card: Zombiemen throw corpses).

I forget who originally decided to barrel up the map, whether it was I or Moustachio. I definitely ran with it once in-place but after all this time I forget a lot of the specific changes I made. Moustachio did most of the detail addition for this map, I think i mostly did some gameplay tweaks, secret adjustment, and some rework on the teleport exit to make it a tad more reliable.

The barrels may not make a lot of sense setting wise, but they do feel very fun for gameplay purposes as I found I used them extensively in the map. The zombieman corpse card I took figuring it would be a negligle change, which it was. Most of the combat was straightforward, i chose to clear out the upper rooms before entering the courtyard, having only done so once I received the RL from the library. One thing I'd note (which is totally on me) is that the ammo balance is a bit off on this map, where i found depending on which path I took I ran low on ammo often. This is mainly because overall ammo is balanced for the whole map, but a lot of it is weighted on the RL room due to the large amount of zombies that drop ammo. When I chose to grab the RL first, ammo was well under control. The game decided to punish me for this by spawning in 15 spectres in said library, meaning i had to chainsaw a horde of them to get a secondary refill from the corpse piles.

I had a lot of good fun with this map, i had forgotten how prolific the barrels were. While there are arch-viles and revenants abound, those barrels when used smartly were able to pulp them very quickly. I also love the idea of the portal exit. How it rises from the green mist and sucks you in, very quirky and I am a sucker for boom tricks and effects, so props to DJV for that.

DJVCardMaster · November 2, 2021

Indeed I would suggest to play this only if you have some spare time, and play as much maps as you can so you can save some time, most maps end up feeling like a journey.

cannonball · November 2, 2021

MAP02 - “Beyond the Living” by Diego “DJV” Villarroel, Moustachio, DFF

A somewhat playful second map, the midi really helps with the mood here. Expect a lot of rather comical scenarios, many involving barrels that destroy often quite large groups of hellspawn. For a map02 this offers quite a large number of mid tier monsters including a few arch viles. Now the first interception had a few nasty maps in its roster so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise. Despite the monster count this one goes by quite swiftly. My only complaints would be that the large outdoor area with the blue key is a little tedious to kill everything (We are mostly talking about the turret monsters), I legged it after grabbing the blue key, which worked nicely as also the cacodemons/PEs bottle-necked in the room with the yellow key door, which meant clearing them up was straightforward. I guess the other would be that this map was a little door heavy at times, but that is minor here.

A good map, offers thrills in a light-hearted fashion, also that exit..... thanks, for preventing me from getting 100% kills :P

Edited November 2, 2021 by cannonball

TJG1289 · November 2, 2021

Alright, let's go this!

GZDoom/UV/Pistol-Start/Saves

Map 01: Euphoria - NeedHealth, Moustachio, DFF & Quantum_dranger

100% kills and secrets

Time: 13:16

Deaths: 1

This opening room is one of my favorite opening rooms to a WAD. It just looks so cool! You grab the berserk directly in front of you and realize your punches are much faster than before. Taking notes from Rowdy Rudy maybe? And the pistol has been upgraded to Eviternity's version, which is nice. I used the pistol a little bit until I was able to get the chaingun later on. For a map 01, this is surprisingly long, and actually kinda tough. The berserk at the beginning indicates you might want to punch some demons to save ammo, just don't get hit (I got hit, hence my death). I didn't really notice the hodge-podge of different mapping styles by different authors my first time playing this, but now that others have, I can kinda see it, but I still think it works pretty well. My only complaint is the damaging slime doesn't look like damaging slime to me, so it caught me off-guard a few times. I found the chaingun placement in the level to be really well placed. It felt earned. The secrets aren't too hard to find for the most part, with the exception of the hidden fight. I know in my first playthrough I had to open up UDB to find out how to get to it. I couldn't remember how to get to it when I started the map this time as well, but I did notice the shootable switch when I came back in from outside this time. The secret fight is fun, and one of the few times I brought out the rocket launcher. Behind the blue key door, I almost got kamikazed by an imp, who decided to blow up a barrel up on his ledge that ended by flying down to me. Playing dirty I see. Hooray for the hidden soul sphere in this area. Overall, a very strong opening level!

Map 02: Beyond The Living - DJVCardMaster, Moustachio & DFF

100% kills and 80% secrets

Time: 18:08

Alright, it's time for me to pistol-start these maps. This map is one of my favorites in the WAD. I love this marble base in a green-void aesthetic very, very much. Such a cool location! There's a lot of barrels to blow up, which is very fun! You'll get a dose of that immediately with the good chunk of hitscan directly in front of you. This map is a pretty nice challenge early on, as you'll anger an archvile pretty much as soon as you enter that door, and there's an arachnotron, hell knight, and other low-lives in the halls around. You only have the basic weapons here, so you'll need to do some fancy footwork here. The archie is guarding a SSG, but you need to lower the platform he's on to get it. Doesn't help more monsters spawn when you do so as well. There's a few areas you can explore before needing a key. The northern parts grant you the rocket lanucher plus two valuable secrets. One is an invul that I saved for the area behind the blue key door, and the other is a teleporter that takes you to the megasphere in the SSG courtyard. I needed that badly too, as I had very low health. An archie does spawn when you grab it though, and he spawns the the halls, so you don't know he's there at first. The blue key courtyard should be taken care of before walking on the wall surrounding it. The wall walk to the switch that lowers the blue key will periodically spawn monsters on the cool floating blocks around it, so watch out. Grabbing the blue key spawns a bunch of cacos and 2 pain elementals. I did notice the lost souls have lower health in this WAD too, taking another page from Eviternity. This fight is pretty fun, as there's lots of room to move, and daring to use the RL is probably the best way to manage some ammo. The blue key door features even more barrels and a bunch of heavies, including several archies. I went back for the invul before I hit the switch here, so I didn't get overwhelmed by the archie, revs, pain elementals, etc. Grabbing the yellow key spawns more revs and another archie too. After that, it's time to go through the yellow door back into the void, as it hurls you into the magically appearing exit teleporter. Very fun level, and a very cool looking one too!

Moustachio · November 2, 2021

Wow, didn’t expect to see this thread! As I’m reading through the comments, I’m getting a feel for who’s into it and who’s not so hot on it. It’s very interesting to read so far!

I’ll do my absolute best to keep up with the thread and provide any insights on how things went behind the scenes, similar to what @DFF is doing (and beating me to the punch at!).

DFF made a great point earlier as well. There are longer maps on average in here, but I still recommend checking them out. There are great maps tucked into the back half that merit not being overlooked.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Moustachio

Doritos420 · November 2, 2021

Happy to have people joining in to talk about the behind the scenes stuff.

Map02 - Beyond the Living by Diego “DJV” Villarroel, Moustachio, DFF

Really liked this one. Had a fun castle in the green void theme to it. I liked the scrolling sky texture and the explosive entrance of Doomguy. The level had some good combat, maybe a bit too much archville surprises but there was enough health that it wasn’t a big issue. I really enjoyed fighting on the wall overlooking the courtyard. I ended up getting 3/6 secrets here. Also the exit was pretty neat. Very fun vibe to this level with the whimsical sounding music, really dug it.

@DJVCardMaster I'd be intrigued to hear what different feeling the Kindergarten midi would give to this level (great song btw).

Edited November 2, 2021 by Doritos420

DisgruntledPorcupine · November 2, 2021

MAP02: "Beyond the Living" by Diego 'DJV' Villarroel, Moustachio, DFF

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 2/6 secrets

Another joint effort, the one brings more visual cohesion to the table. The setting is a castle suspended in the void among the green skybox, and it looks quite neat in that opening shot. I really enjoyed the layout of this level, running through it felt very organic and everything felt like it flowed well. The midi is awesome too, and I could tell from hearing it that it was a Stewboy piece.

Combatwise this one is already a little threatening. Similarly to last map where you'll want to use your berserk as much as you can, this one you'll want to use the chainsaw a lot. I had one run that made it all the way to the final archvile with 0 ammo left, so I just started over. In addition to the ammo squeeze, this map loves its archviles and pain elementals, both monsters that can really suck up your ammo if you aren't quick to get rid of them. Luckily though, this wad debuffs the health of the lost soul, which is such a good change to have. I really liked the way barrels were used in this one, they aren't the whole identity of the map but the usage of them in seemingly overwhelming encounters is always an easy way to put a smile on my face. My favourite encounter is probably the archvile fight for the SSG, it's not even really one of the harder points of the level I'm just a sucker for fights that use archviles to exert pressure like that. Also, in my first run that "almost" made it to the end, I archvile jumped to the megasphere without knowing there's a portal to it later in the level. It was the only secret I found in that run and I found it twice. In my successful run I did manage to add the invulnerability secret to that.

All-around a solid map, I enjoyed it a great deal.

Edited November 2, 2021 by DisgruntledPorcupine

DJVCardMaster · November 2, 2021

24 minutes ago, Doritos420 said:

@DJVCardMaster I'd be intrigued to hear what different feeling the Kindergarten midi would give to this level (great song btw).

It sounded really nice, here is the midi, I felt it fit really well at this map, but I have to mention the map was quite different without that added detail. It gave that "in the middle of nowhere" feel.

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