Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #022

[ICID]

^{(logo by @4MaTC)}

 

ICID, what the hell is this now?

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures is a small project of exploration, interaction, entertainment and reviews where we meet once every 2 weeks to select random WADs in search of hidden treasures, lost promises, or our worst nightmares! We use the /idgames archive’s special feature that lets us search for random files. Of course, sometimes the results are resources or unplayable stuff, so we focus on looking for WADs.

 

So, what do we do here?

1. Play at least 5 random WADs in a two-week period of time. WADs are selected using the Random File feature on /idgames or from the list below.
2. Post a review of each WAD. There’s no required pacing (you can do all 5 on the first day if you want), but most of us post a review once every 1-2 days.
3. Please take screenshots or video of your adventures.
4. Play however you want, on any skill level, and with any source port, as long as you play the WAD as intended/in working shape.
5. Be respectful. Good rule of thumb: making fun of a map is okay, making fun of the mapper is not.

 

What kind of WADs are we looking for?

Any file on /idgames is fair game, but most of us choose to stick to singleplayer Doom or Heretic WADs that work in our sourceport(s) of choice. I also pull at least 5 random WADs for the event and add them here. Feel free to play them with me if you wish, or look for your own! The point of the event is to encourage you to explore this vast, random world. 

 

Recommendations for reviewing:

Spoiler

1. Always provide the name of the WAD, the name of the author, and a link to the file.
2. Commenting the source port and skill-level is not required, but provides helpful context to your review.
3. Try to stick to no more than 1 WAD per day to avoid burnout, but this part’s all up to you, champ!
4. As mentioned above, screenshots or videos are awesome.
5. Reviews of all formats are valid. Both longform and shortform are good as long as you write with integrity. 

 

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures of this event:

1. jstuff10.WAD
2. Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom
3. MAZE
4. The Lost Realm (Warning: this is a Terry wad, proceed at your own risk)
5. Dungeon1
6. Satan's Lair v1.0

 

Spoiler

The Top 10 (out of 30)

1. @Roofi | 2561
2. @Sena | 1185
3. @Walter confetti | 575
4. @ICID | 485
5. @Endless | 380
6. @LadyMistDragon | 346
7. @smeghammer | 250
8. @LUISDooM | 235
9. @Maribo | 145
10. @Biodegradable | 105

 

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

[Roofi]

Thanks for the new thread again ! 

 

Month 6 Day 22

 

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

 

[1] - August03.wad by Kenneth Jacobsen (TheAugustMan) (1996)

 

Spoiler

 

A small DM map I already explored during Month 5 Day 21 but played with gzdoom this time. Nothing much to say. It's a pretty greeny park.

 

[2] - Fort Plasma by Jerry Neighbors (2001)

 

Spoiler

 

A not really bad looking first baby DM map. I really appreciate the effort to create extremely wide (but empty) outdoors spaces while respecting the vanilla limits. A lot of ugly HOMS display if you look at the central fort from too far but I really expected to crash because of VPO.

 

The author created a desertic environment pretty well with the lone base surround by 4 guardtowers. You can enter in the central courtyard by pressing a switch which will lower a sector blocking the access to it. I like the fact you can go everywhere . You can even climb the towers !

 

All items are toggled to "Multiplayer only".

 

[3] Demon Snare v3 by @fiend-o-hell (2012)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

A map created for FoH's Standalone Megawad Project in which the challenge is to work with a severely limited texture set derived from 40oz's UAC Ultra texture pack. This wad implements difficulty levels diligently, so it cadres to both casual and hardcore players alike! Be aware though! If you’re playing on Ultraviolent, prepare for a never ending onslaught the likes of which you will not be prepared for (contradiction intentional)!Make sure you load up the two wad files included with the zip together to get the fullest experience possible.

 

The scenery directly reminded me to "Skagway" from UAC ULTRA thanks mainly to the hellish rocky landscape but Demon Snare has a total different gameplay of course. This map has a progression which loops a lot on itself. You often take paths that you have already explored but in a different way as monsters gradually appear thanks to traditionnal monster closets and teleporters. Your main objective consists to reach the core of the tech-base marked by a pentagram and guarded by a lone arch-vile and some barons. I can say it's a good map but it didn't hook that much.

 

I respect the idea to create an evolving layout with lowering walls but the whole map ends up to be quite jumbled up. I don't really think it match well with the UAC Ultra's resources. I did not find the map pleasant to navigate because every place felt quite claustrophobic and bumpy , especially in the cavernous part where you also have to walk on damaging yellow liquid. Also, it uses one of my least favourite Mementor Mori's track but totally matter of taste here.

 

Gameplay-wise , you suffer a bit of ammo starvation near the beginning but the level becomes a lot funnier once you get enough ammo. Some awkwardly placed monsters were more of a waster of time than everything else. I especially think about the cyberdemon in the grotto which guards an optional and not that useful bfg. Arch-viles encounters were pretty well done. The author managed to make them pretty dangerous without being too nasty. Also, I love the numerous and extremly easy to find secrets.

 

Also, not a real fan of the key progression. I sometimes struggled to know where to use the keys I collected.

 

I was playing Days of Xornox The Ice World but the gameplay was unbearable for me so I stop here for today.

 

 

[Walter confetti]

jstuff10.WAD by Kurt Schulenburg - Vanilla Doom, 1994 but uploaded in 2012, played with Eternity forseti 4.0.2

Spoiler

A small and raw wad from 1994 uploaded by the eternal uploader™ Perseus by this "famous" mapper that i never heard of, but despite all the flaws in it this is a good map, with a functionable and fun layout neat architecture design and some charming design choices. Gameplay is good and puzzle-ish, with emphasis on secret hunting but a little too filled of big health items in secrets. A unexpectedly good map. 

 

Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom by Derek MacDonald aka @Afterglow - Vanilla Doom 2, 2005, played with Eternity forseti 4.0.2

Spoiler

A neat example wad showing a working spinning fan in vanilla Doom using stock assets only, i knew it already this wad and i really want to see how this is done by watching it in editor... Impressive stuff!

 

Dungeon1.WAD by Miles Constable - Vanilla Doom, 1994, played with Eternity forseti 4.0.2

Spoiler

 

I definitely played this map before long ago, and i had my confirm when i reached the nukage pit room, is a short and kinda weird map, like many other maps from that year. The starting room is pretty cool and some other are unique like the red key temple room and the already mentioned nukage pit (that have a way to escape from it, but it's kinda hidden until you can't watch the automap). Overall, a ok abstract map.

 

ALTIMA.WAD by Robin L. Holden Jr. - Vanilla Doom, 1994, played with Eternity forseti 4.0.2

Spoiler

Last map of the evening and luckily is the last one. Got this by the random file, is a medium\large map that is too large for the intended deathmatch play, too cryptic for SP thanks for hidden doors textured as walls used in the room and the worst offender of missing 2 keys (at least, i didn't find them) that opens two locked doors and i have to cheat for getting them! Two unmarked locked doors as well. A pretty bad map.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Walter confetti

[Sena]

Day 1: jstuff10.WAD https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/j-l/jstuff

 

You know you're in for a bad time when you spawn in the line of fire of 4 shotgunners, in a mono-textured room. And it doesn't get any better, only more mono-textured rooms, not a good texture mind you, whole thing looks like a fucking dishwasher, and narrow corridors, and no ammo at all, hope you like holding down left click as you kill 4 cacodemons with the default shotgun, and then turn the corner and there's another 4 right there. The most interesting part of the WAD was me briefly testing my quickdraw skills when I exited the game upon having to walk up a set of stairs too narrow to dodge anything, and encountering a baron, who I was somehow expected to beat with nothing but my fists. And this shit came out in 2012, if you want to know how late that is, Doom released the same year as Mortal Kombat 2, this WAD came out the same year as Mortal Kombat 9. The author of this should be thankful he's got no online presence, or else I'd be suing him for emotional labour. 1/10.

[ICID]

jstuff1.WAD (1994) by Kurt Schulenberg

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source Port: dsda-doom, complevel 3}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

 

Quite possibly the worst run of WADs I’ve found in my time as Keeper of the ER/iWA kicks off with this awful, grey map almost guaranteed to be forgotten as soon as you’re done playing it. The /idgames reviews suggest that it’s actually beatable (EDIT: so does Walter's review), but even with all the cheats I could imagine I still have no idea how to get the blue key that’s necessary to exit.

 

And exit is something you’ll certainly want to do as you plod through identical corridors where door textures represent flat walls and identical patches of gray wall are quite often elevators or doors, all while uselessly shotgunning enemies that are way too buff for the default shotgun. I did eventually stumble into a secret chaingun that made some of the combats less hellish, but since there’s only two boxes of ammo in the entire map you’ll run out of it quickly and be back to slowly pumping away at scores of lost souls.

 

Completely unpleasant, utterly void of artistic merit, only barely a better use of your time than drinking battery acid. And yet, it still likely won’t be the worst of the WADs the Random File Feature has selected for this week’s adventure. Yeesh.

 

Grade: 1/10

 

[Walter confetti]

For reaching the blue key, you have to push a wall at the top of the central stair section in the gray room (the second one in your screenshot, ICID), i have to cheat using IDBEHOLD A for see where to go for taking the blue key...

 

And Sena, the map was UPLOADED in 2012, but done in 1994... c'mon, it's pretty visible that this is a map from that years of mapping! Just check the mail in the text (idk who uses compuserve in 2012), the other reviews in the idgames page (for example, the Grazza one gives some helpful bits of info) and most importantly, check the files in the zip man!

Edited December 14, 2021 by Walter confetti

[Sena]

2 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

For reaching the blue key, you have to push a wall at the top of the central stair section in the gray room (the second one in your screenshot, ICID), i have to cheat using IDBEHOLD A for see where to go for taking the blue key...

 

And Sena, the map was UPLOADED in 2012, but done in 1994... c'mon, it's pretty visible that this is a map from that years of mapping! Just check the mail in the text (idk who uses compuserve in 2012), the other reviews in the idgames page (for example, the Grazza one gives some helpful bits of info) and most importantly, check the files in the zip man!

That one makes more sense at least, but I saw no mention of it in the .txt, so I could only assume it was just made by someone who was still living in 1994.

[Roofi]

Month 6 Day 23

 

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

 

[1] Cybo-Kill!! by Brian S. Barrett (1995)

 

Quote

You've just transported into the Cybo-Demon's base of operations. Now all you have to do is find him and take him out. Somewhere in the base is his station-control-room, from which he radios messages to other UAC bases and of course the inhabitants of the one you're in. But beware! The Cybo-Demon is tricky! Once you spot him he'll do anything to make sure you stay....dead or alive.

 

Spoiler

 

A well crafted small UD map from 1995. I liked it. The whole map doesn't have a really outstanding theme but I digged some architectural elements like the big stairs , or the small windows carved in metal walls for instance.

 

I also enjoyed the interconnectivity thanks to three keys to get in a determined order. Gameplay-wise, it stays classic with some uneffective monster placement but you can meet an unexpected cyberdemon. You open a regular door leading to a small room revealing the cybie which instantly teleports once he sees you. I had a flinch lol, but in reality it presents very little threat.

 

I stop for today , the next wad is Sparta 2 - Project vesuvius but I don't feel playing a 19-levels wad.

[Sena]

Day 2: Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/prefabs/dmdhzfan

 

At least this one's straight to the point. There is a fan, and it spins, and that's about it. Can't really see it that well without turning on vertical aiming, but they set out to produce a spinning fan, and to that end they were successful. It's not a particularly big fan, and neither am I, as I prefer my levels to have enemies in them, but this does what it says on the tin.

 

[ICID]

Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom (1999) by Derek “Afterglow” MacDonald

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source Port: dsda-doom, complevel 2}

^{Difficulty: Nightmare!}

 

Derek “Afterglow” MacDonald has built a jaw-dropping legacy for himself over his astonishing 22 years as a mapper – including contributions to Skulltag, Eviternity, and Hell Revealed 2 – but even still, sometimes a true master of the art form can still surprise you. Afterglow’s finest work is a precursor to the Cacoward-winning FLORCEIL.WAD (universally agreed to be not only the greatest Doom map, but the single greatest file ever created by man) and consists of a single room with a ceiling fan that was designed for vanilla compatibility.

 

One of the most striking things that will be noticed instantly by any first-time visitor to “Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom” is the fact that the titular fan – the sole feature of the room in which you find yourself – is almost impossible to see when playing with the strict vanilla settings for which this 1999 map was designed. It’s an odd choice, especially for a mapper as accomplished as Afterglow, who would surely know that vanilla Doom did not allow you to look up.

 

But obviously, the fan in this scenario is more than just a fan. It is a literary, metaphorical representation of the Ground of Being or monistic substrate, the concept of god as that which we cannot understand. This concept, was best summarized by the German-American existentialist Paul Johannes Tillich in 1952’ The Courage To Be, in which he writes that “The God of the theological theism is a being besides others and as such a part of the whole reality. He is certainly considered its most important part, but as a part and therefore as subjected to the structure of the whole. He is supposed to be beyond the ontological elements and categories which constitute reality. But every statement subjects him to them. He is seen as a self which has a world, as an ego which relates to a thought, as a cause which is separated from its effect, as having a definite space and endless time. He is a being, not being-itself.”

 

 

As a fan of Neal Stephenson, who himself saw Tillich's concept of symbols as a means to sacramentalize life, I imagine Afterglow must be aware of this quote, which is plainly literalized in “Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom”. Like the Ground of Being, the horizontal spinning fan is indeed a being that is besides others – that is, something not present in the original Doom or in other Doom wads prior to this one – and yet it is made part of the whole of that reality by its presence in this Doom wad, and by its implementation at vanilla complevels. It is inarguably the “most important part” of the map, to quote Tillich – not only that which the map is named for, but its sole reason for being – but it is still a PART of the map. It is subjected to the structure of the whole in that it is subject to the same functions, line limits, etc. of the original idtech engine. In creating a Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom - in Doom, the title says, placing the substrate firmly in the ontological categories to which any other WAD is subject – Afterglow is not showing us the limitations of the vanilla map discipline, but rather revealing to us something which was always possible in it, much as God himself revealed the Shelosh-'Esreh Middot HaRakhamim to Moses.

 

This is an appropriate point of reference, as “Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom” expands its conception of God as fan (dare I say: god as Man?) beyond Christian existentialism and weaves in Jewish Kabbalah. The fan is constructed of four-frame animation textures with transparent bitmaps which only show one of the four graphics at any given time. According to Chazal, the number four signifies completion, wholeness, or fullness, pouring on the first use of the number four in Torah: "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads."

 

 

But by only revealing one of the four frames of animation at any given time, Afterglow deprives us of three of the four rivers’ heads (which according to Deuteronomy 28:12, could be correlated to "1. the key of life, 2. and of the tombs, 3. and of food, 4. and of rain”). That is: life, death, sustenance, and knowledge (pulling the last interpretation from common Jewish theology which equates water with Torah itself.) Why would the Lord God, as represented by a horizontal spinning fan in Doom, deprive his children of the fullness of life? The second I maneuvered into a place where I could actually see the horizontal spinning fan and realized the audacity of Afterglow’s interpretation of the heavenly spirit, I’m not ashamed to say that I wept openly, in awe of the challenging idea of god as a great divider, or separator – the Ground of Being placed on a ceiling, ever out of reach and beyond one’s comprehension, not only out of view but impossible to view. We can only see at most one-fourth of the ontological reality of knowing at any given time, like the lord placing his hand over Moses’ face (Moses again) as he “reveals” his attributes in the Book of Exodus. No wonder the horizontal fan fails to cast a shadow on the floor of the WAD’s sole room – it has long since fallen silent, ever-present and ever above us but unwilling or perhaps unable to interfere in human affairs.

 

And yet there is also a peacefulness to “Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom”. Afterglow omits any monsters from the map, which gives us the sense that this is, perhaps, a place where Doomguy is resting in between one of his many great crusades. A room where trial and tribulation cannot enter, and where there is only the awe that comes from a profound personal relationship with the Almighty (or perhaps, in Tillich’s model, a profound personal relationship with the ego, with one’s self and world, what he called the “definite space with endless time.”)

 

Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom challenges and comforts, it soothes and it seethes, it pulses with an almost otherworldly energy – ticking ever onward, spokes against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the future. Like any great horizontal spinning fan, Afterglow has truly provided us with…

 

…

 

…a breath of fresh air.

 

Grade: Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom/10

 

[smeghammer]

Well, I finally got some time to do another map.

 

I got a Hexen map this time: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/hexen/g-i/hexmiss. I loved Hexen at the time, for its atmosphere and otherworldly feeling. However...

The reviews didn't bode well, and I have to agree with them. It's quite dull and does not really fit stylistically with the other Hexen maps. It feels more like a 90's Doom map with Hexen monsters.

 

Anyway, here is my playthrough:

 

 

[Walter confetti]

Satan's lair v1.0 by Jeffrey Kung - Vanilla Doom, 1994, played with doom exe on dosbox

Spoiler

A big, chaotic and kinda hard map (especially for the big hordes of shotgunners all over the map) sets in the abstract mad world of the titled Satan's Lair, a techbase with abstract, hellish influences that have all the points for being bad but is surprisingly acceptable and somewhat fun, despite the maze layouts, the badly texture choice (mostly GRAY4 and STARTAN3 all around the place)  and a secret blue key door with a hellish sky crossing the big door sector! But the level is o weird that shows quite some fun. A so bad it's good map.

 

ALIEN INVASION 1.1 (disk 2) by John Diamond - Vanilla Doom 2, 1996, played with GZDoom 4.7.0

Spoiler

 

Dropped at MAP03. Unluckily, a broken total conversion based upon the Alien franchise, needs the disk 1 to be played correctly (that i don't really care to download ATM). However you have missed nothing here as it looks, the levels are all some sort of rectangular tunnels with some Aliens hive, but in the way i've played it is too broken to be acceptable imo. The new sky looks awesome btw.

 

Spoiler

I think i'll going to borrow it if the author gives permission XD

 

Geo-thermal Test Base by Rob Schwaller - Vanilla Doom 2, 1996, played with GZDoom 4.7.0

Spoiler

A overall not bad map, heavily inspired by Knee-Deep in The Dead mapping tropes and homages to the original E1 episode and this is a really good thing, as well with a nice interconnected layout, some nice lighting works and some small cute details here and there. But this is punished by two major, horrible flaws: unmarked locked doors and a unmarked exit, too! That's pretty cruel! Despite the large amount of monsters (138 on HMP), the level is pretty easy and can be completed fast, like a some sort of micro hard (no, this is not slaughter) map. Overall, a ok and kinda fun map despite its flaws.

Edited December 16, 2021 by Walter confetti

[Sena]

Day 3: MAZE https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/deathmatch/m-o/maze_wad

 

Yesterday, I said that I liked my maps to have enemies in them, and my opinion on that matter has yet to change. So for that reason I'd find it hard to say much about this level, which thankfully has a very inaccurate title, it's not a maze in the slightest (which I am more than happy with), it's an exceedingly basic deathmatch level, a big square with a small square in the middle, with very small squares that hold teleporters and weapons. If you've ever played the original DoD incarnation of cp_orange, you'll know that map's size completely ruins any question of interesting balance, but that's besides the point. This is a small and basic map, I can imagine it being completely unplayable if you try and put more than 3 people in it, and I never cared for the most simple of simple multiplayer maps, even Entryway or Space CTF, which also have a reputation for being small and geometrically basic, have far more in the way of options for the player. But that's just conjecture, I went into this looking for a singleplayer experience, and was not given one, so, like yesterday, the only real point of commentary I can offer is that you're better off playing a level with enemies in it.

[Walter confetti]

Looks like a even more simplified map layout from The Last Resort...

Edited December 16, 2021 by Walter confetti

[Roofi]

Month 6 Day 24

 

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

 

[1] DOOM ASSISTANT Version 2.25 by Scott Hall, David Greene (1996)

 

Quote

DooM Assistant is Freeware DOS DooM-Engine game Shell which allows you:

* To store you WAD files in ZIP compressed format and unarchive them for you automatically when you wish to play them.

* Also with a few keystrokes you can change all the below DooM settings and tag a PWAD(s) before launching DooM

 

An old software.

 

[2] Maze of Frustration by Paul Corfiatis @pcorf (2006)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

Welcome to the Maze of Frustration, the most challenging level for Doom2. The level is made up of 16 identical rooms, each with 4 teleporters in them and every room has an arrow. Red teleporters work while silver teleporters don't work. Certian rooms contain a square in the centre of the floor, often these rooms are the vital rooms of the map. The red square is the starting room, ect. The arrows may not mean a thing in this map and in some ways its fairly simple to complete. There are two ways to speedrun this map within 10 seconds. This map is also excellent in DM mode as well and 8 DM starts have been included in this level for one of the most fun DM experiences. GOOD LUCK!

 

Maybe Paul Corfiatis was too harsch on himself but I didn't find this maze frustrating at all. Indeed, the author blatantly designed it to be extremly repetitive but even without knowledge about the map , you can easily beat it in few minutes. You indeed just have to find a blue key to unlock the exit.

 

Also, the gameplays proves to be more than fair because P.CORF grants you a SSG and box of shells in order to get rid of the few pinkies and cacodemons guarding each room.

 

Fun little (joke?) vanilla map.

 

[3] CH by Sébastien FAURE (1996)

 

Spoiler

 

A DM map replacing map 07 which I partially explored because a lot of sections are only accessible from Player Deathmatch starts and all the things , even teleport destinations (except monsters !) were for multiplayer only.

 

The author created pretty impressive sceneries . I like the light gradients which highlight the stone fort at the middle of the courtyard. Also there are some interesting texture usage. I noted the blackwall texture used as steps instead of grass, drawn arrows on teleporters and haning bones which are actually IOS's textures.

 

[4] Entrance by Brandon Gray (2010)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

This wad contains the first (short) level of an 8 level iwad I'm working on. There is a hidden super shotgun and rocket launcher.

 

A small introduction  for a hypothetic mapset. Maybe the author  rapidly lost the motivation. I understand this feeling. Well, the map uses more than dispensable zdoom features like floor textures on walls. The level itself doesn't look bad but I think it still undercooked considering you have 21 monsters but no secret to find and quite rudimentary aesthetics. Even for a map 01, it definitely lacks features. Take a look at Doom2's map 01 or Doom E1M1's , they all contain secrets , alternative paths and varied architecture.

 

[5] Pulse Blast by Daniel "@FractalXX" Bettenbuk (2012)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

1 level tech-based Boom compatible map. Please test, comment, & rate it. :) It's my second release here.

 

Officialy a boom-compatible level but I played with gzdoom because a problem with the sky makes the port crashing. Anyway, I found this level enjoyable. 

 

First of all, I like how the author unconventionnaly used the Doom E4's sky texture for its tech-base. Usually, mappers reserve this sky for more rustic themes with wood , marble, metal...

 

About the map itself, it stays very classic because the layout mainly consists to explore more or less detailed corridors but I'm 95% sure it works on vanilla ports  if you remove the boom-effects. Also, the gameplay remains very SSG-centric which could not please modern players but hey, I found it fun because the author gives you lot of ammo and health to survive. The progression turns to be extremly linear but it was seriously not a problem for me. The author aimed to create a action-packed tech-base instead of a complex one with tons of differents paths to take.

 

I appreciate the Unreal Tournament midi but it doesn't fit to the level for me. I definitely thinks it rather goes for epic outdoors maps. Also the only new texture you can see are a custom switch button but it's not animated.

 

I stop here for today.

[smeghammer]

Today I got SARGE CITY. 

 

It's a fairly mediocre '99 map, Doom2, MAP01.

 

Kind of OK for a few minutes, then gets all 'run around, WTF do I do next?'. Stuff randomly rises out pf the floor and - the reason why I finished abruptly - the exit switch (possibly?, see the reviews on IDGames) is a blank piece of wall.

 

GZDoom, UV, freelook, no jump/no crouch. My playthrough:

[oops - no sound, sorry]

 

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by smeghammer

[Sena]

Day 4: The Lost Realm https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/themes/terrywads/lstrealm

 

This is my first time playing a Terrywad, and to be honest, I'm a bit disappointed. Seen them before in the archive, but chose not to play them for obvious reasons, but this isn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. The title screen has an array of flashing images and text, directed at a certain "furfaggot", I don't know who, and the major literary theme identified throughout is that Terry really wanted to anally rape this fellow, or maybe me, he didn't make it entirely clear who this was directed at. This all happens so fast that it destroys the framerate, making it difficult to identify what's going on, but correspondingly, this loss of framerate means the message loses its effectiveness, if Terry wants to troll me, to make my experience as unpleasant as conceivably possible, he'd have done a much better job if he limited the amount of stuff going on so he can actually produce an eyesore with all the flashing images, maybe on a 2013 computer I'd have to open task manager or something to close it, but this really isn't that bad at all. The level itself basically doesn't exist, a black room that kills you immediately, none of the flashing images or anything. For all its notoriety, the terrywad just seems a bit lifeless to me, I've found myself more upset at playing bad levels constructed out of STARTAN off the archive, and I've found myself more startled launching CS:GO than I did at any point with this. Really, this is just a low effort trolling like any other - it may try and be provocative and offensive, but it's just plain boring. 0/10.

Edited December 17, 2021 by Sena
changed my analogy with the game with the excessively loud menu music (as if it matters)

[Sena]

Day 5: Dungeon1 https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/d-f/dungeon1

 

Typical 90s jank, rough around the edges, and excessively linear. In the literal sense, it's rough around the edges because they have these jagged rooms for no particular reason, I guess that makes it one step disconnected from being just a bunch of squares, but it's not much of a difference. Secondarily, it is just a general mess of unfulfilled ideas, such as when they give you the light amplification goggles in the first room, which are then basically useless thereafter because nothing is even close to being dark enough that visibility would be a problem, if I could equip an underbarrel flashlight, I wouldn't consider it worth the effort. Ignoring the incidental point where they place you in nukage in which the only escape is via an elevator that looks nothing like an elevator, it's pretty basic, very linear in its design, basically a corridor shooter. Peculiarly enough, it's got a Plutonia-style reliance on monster closets, despite predating Final Doom, although the aforementioned lack of polish extends to that, they made one particular monster closet, which if you go inside to get the ammo dropped, will lead to you being permanently being stuck in there, and I also got some barons to infight, which was obviously a mistake because I don't believe anyone at all in 1994 knew about the explosive barrel infight glitch, much less this geezer, but it was convenient nonetheless, because no fucking way am I going to deal with one baron with a mere 3 rockets and however many shotshells that leaves, let alone two. But apart from that, it's a linear journey, walk through the level, deal with the occasional monster closet, and then finish in a huge ending room that could not have said "I ran out of ideas" more clearly if they tried. Overall, the level's just a bit flavourless. It works, and it's a minor travesty than the expected level of quality on the ER/IWA is so low I have to actually specify that, but a level just working is not enough to interest me, has to have actually decent gameplay as well. 3/10.

Edited December 17, 2021 by Sena

[Walter confetti]

MAZE - A DOOM ][ replacement level by Talon - Vanilla Doom 2, 1995 but uploaded in 2005, played with Zandronum 3.1 and bots

Spoiler

As Sena wrote in the previous review, is a pretty basic and plain wad where luckily no mazes are involved but the level itself is not a complete waste for a DM arena, just pretty basic and with that wild early 90s DM maps item placement in the arena, including chainsaw as a main gun and a invulnerability in the central section of the map. The new graphics and the Heretic sounds + Saint statue wall in the alcoves are a nice touch, as well as the new graphics. Overall, a nice map.

 

Deathmatch Cathedral (Doom II) by nicholas r. spampata - Vanilla Doom 2, 1995, played with Zandronum 3.1 and bots

Spoiler

A small hellish map that is not that bad as i've expected from the only review and vote, but is still a janky map, both in SP and DM, is a Doom 2 version of this map by the same author. Level consist of 2 different and unrelated arenas, with the first being the better made of the two sets in a outdoor place surrounded by columns with two teleport that leads to the same wooden hallway at the left of the starting point. two switches (one in the main area and one semi-hidden in the wooden hallway) lowers a pillar near the central section of this arena that opens the second arena, a rectangular pit filled of (literally) toxic damaging shit with two janky teleports that leads you to random raised platforms with random goodies to take, as well of the exit. In SP is slightly more challenging with some tough monsters puzzle having ammo starvation at the start, leading to find the "hidden" teleport faster for taking better guns in the second arena, in DM is not really fun since there's no way to go back and forth trough the arenas, leaving the map flow pretty broken, at least with those dumby bots in zandronum. Maybe with some real people it could be more fun, but who knows. Overall if this map have some slightly better work on the making it could be better, but as it is, it just works.

 

No, i'm not ashamed to use a JoJo reference here, shut up.

[Roofi]

Month 6 Day 25

 

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

 

[1] Simply Dead by @Ruba (2008)

 

Spoiler

Quote

This is a fun level for Doom 2 called Simply Dead. You kill 2 hanging toy like things and a fatso and then have some hard fights with archviles and the exit is really interesting. I dont know why people hate my levels but I think you will like this because I tried my hardest to get the layout done to perfection.

 

A small short fleshy gimmicky map where you actually starts in front of two keens to open the first door , which reveal only 1 mancubus. Kill him to lower a sector in order to enter in room featuring crates at the ceiling , a BFG and a teleporting arch-vile. You can find in the last room , an another teleporting arch-vile , nazis , a cyberdemon and  gathered power-ups.

 

I had 1 minute and 51 seconds of fun. Nice job !

 

 

I got sadistically crushed in Be Quick or Be Dead 

 

Spoiler

 

[Sena]

Day 6: Satan's Lair v1.0 https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/s-u/satan

 

Remember when I said that you can probably infer that a map is bad if it decides to spawn you directly in the line of fire of 4 shotgunners? To add onto that, if a map decides to spawn you directly in the line of fire of 4 shotgunners, and has you facing the wall opposite to them, you can assuredly infer that the map is excessively bad. You could probably make a game show out of these 90s maps, and it'd be more fun than playing them, there are only 3 or 4 scenarios that could follow an opener like that, and it just so happens the one they went for was a series of long, tedious corridors, with shotgunners hiding behind every crevice, it's far longer than it really has any right to be, it's two little squares to the side, with a 1HP health bonus on the right, and a shotgunner on the left, copy pasted at least 8 times over. It only gets worse from that point onward, for some strange reason, this is the second map I've played this week that features light amplification goggles that are only useful in one specific room. The map does actually make some good use of some Hell textures, which is probably the only good thing I could say about it, because everything else just doesn't really work. You'll be navigating through a boring, one-note level where 90% of the enemies are shotgunners thrown together with no consideration, and the other 10% are enemies who are just a pain to wither away at with your shotgun, because that's all you get, they give you at least 1000 cells, probably 40 rockets, doesn't matter, they don't give you any of the appropriate weapons with which to use them, not that you would to begin with, the default shotgun is the fastest way to deal with shotgunners anyway. If that's not bad enough, it's a specific type of level, the type where there are no doors or elevators, nothing works, you have to just push random fucking buttons to figure out where to go, which is a common sight, but this is probably one of the worse ones, a huge sprawling level, where everything looks the same, and you've got to figure out which of the 50 tiles that looks the same is the one that does anything.  It's just an incomprehensible mess that seems downright hostile to the concept of making it playable, there is no attempt to make you want to progress forwards, not unless walking along every single part of the map and pressing space is your idea of good level design. Say what you will about sewer levels, at least most of them aren't as full of shit as this. 2/10.

[Walter confetti]

Doom Surfin by Douglas A. Campbell - Vanilla Doom, 1999, "played" with Slade 3

A really neat selection of new music that i already knew from quite some time, all the midis are pretty cool and fits Doom pretty well, eve the "wacky" tunes like E1M2. A very solid music wad.

[Roofi]

Month 6 Day 26

 

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

 

[1]  DeuTex 4.4.0 Source code and DOS binary distribution by The original author of DeuTex is Olivier Montanuy. From 1994 to 1996, DeuTex was maintained by Olivi (2005)

Quote

DeuTex and DeuSF are programs than can do many things with Doom, Heretic, Hexen and Strife wad files such as extracting and inserting graphics, sounds, levels and other resources. See the manual for details (dtexman6.txt). The package deutex44.zip contains the DOS binaries and the source code for DOS, Unix, OS/2, Linux, SGiX, and DEC Alpha.

 

An old software originaly released in 1999. It looks like the ancestor of Slade.

 

[2] Gallery by the author of PD3D (1995)

 

Quote

Gallery is a wad that replaces e1m1 of doom. It has all new graphics of Anne Nicole Smith, Erika Elanik, and even Pam Lee. Before you get to see these hot chicks you have to pass a couple tests, find you way through the forest and the security system. It is worth it once you find them

 

I forgot to take screens but was it really worth it? It's an x-rated wad ,back  when pixelated pictures of nude women were considered as porn. You start in a huge totally dark courtyard populated by many pinkies and the security system consists just to two monsters closets containing lost souls.

 

Totally lame level but I liked the simplistic starry sky and zombies growls were replaced by bird sounds to create ambiant sounds lol.

 

[3] Speed of Corvus by Walter "Daimon" Confalonieri @Walter confetti, @Philnemba, imp_lord2 (2010)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

Another short speedmapping session for heretic made by some dudes in doomworld forums all in the 24 hours of 09\05\10.

This time theme is capture the flag gameplay.

See v-hsms4-info.txt for more information.

 

Creating Heretic CTF maps for Skulltag, that's what I called a niche ! It's just a compilation of three speedmaps , mainly made for fun and practice with Heretic resources I think. Honestly I don't know if this wad was at least a little successful but I doubt it very much.

 

The first map is the most interesting. The grand canyon looks pretty good and the author avoided symmetry. The other two maps, on the other hand, have identical blue and red sections. Heretic or not, it stays extremely standard.

 

[4] Duke Nukem's pistol for Doom by Dwayne Ings aka Overkill777 (1999)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Quote

Replaces the pistol with Duke's pistol from Duke Nukem 3D. There's also a small DeHackEd patch that comes with this that you don't need, but I suggest using. You probably want to use a Doom port with a good crosshair, like Smack My Marine Up or ZDoom.

 

Hey, it's the pistol from Duke Nukem 3D , Hail to the King baby !

 

 

I stop here for today.

[Walter confetti]

Thanks and glad you liked my map! I wonder if this still works for zandronum, but i doubt.

Overall, it was a fun experience with a very short life in the making, unluckily, with only 4 session held more than 10 years ago!

[smeghammer]

A rather uninspiring deathmatch WAD from 2004:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/a-c/amadeus

 

Title:The DeathMatch Of The Century!

Filename:levels/doom/a-c/amadeus.zip

Size:28.31 KB

Date:10/30/04

Author:Paul Johnson

 

GZDoom

Freelook, nojump

 

sorry, I fucked about with the sound at the start.

 

It has monsters, so is playable single-handed, but pretty meh for that. The map itself is uniform fullbright and grey with very little height variation. This exact same map would have been soooo much better with just some tweaks to the lighting...

 

It has custom music. YAY!! - probably the most memorable thing about it. I was wondering why the map was called 'Amadeus', and then it clicked. Doh!!

 

yeeaaahhhh... NO.

 

 

 

[Sena]

Day 7: UFO https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/d-f/dl_ufo

 

This seemed to have the makings of a good map, and it was by Simo Malinen, who would come out 2 years later with a Cacoward winner, and after playing the first map of that, I can say that back in 2005 we really didn't know how bad we had it. In any case, they seemed to have a general understanding of how to actually map, which is something, and something is usually better than nothing. The map just has one small problem, and that is that it's too fucking small. I am biased in this regard, since I dislike claustrophobic maps, but even if I dislike its implementation most of the time, I can understand the thought process behind making small maps as a means of making them difficult or interesting. However, I cannot conceive any reason as to why you would want to make a level this small, as a completely off-topic side note I remember playing a South Park map for Half Life, which evidently was built to scale for the tiny puppet people from the show, because you could clear an entire house in the time it'd take you to clear out one room from any of the default maps. Point is, just as you can have maps that are so big and empty and unfinished that it detracts from the experience, you can have the same when they're too small. When you open a door, and the enemy shotgunner is already directly in the very middle of your crosshair, because there's absolutely nowhere else for him to stand, that's not very good level design. There's really no getting around it, pun unintended, you are on a 100% straight line to the next room, just shooting shotgunners who pose about as much of a threat to you as pop-up targets at a shooting gallery, which is exactly what they feel like. On UV, you get exactly two enemies who aren't just shotgunners/imps, i.e. enemies who you can kill immediately with one shotgun blast as soon as you see them, and that's two cacodemons, who you can stunlock with your plasma rifle as soon as you see them, so they're not much better. At least it's over quick, 20 enemies, and it is kind of well detailed, but I can't say I enjoyed it. There is a fine line between creating a linear map, funnelling the player through a specific pathway so you can perfectly craft a memorable experience for them in the exact manner you want to, and just making a 2D line between the start and end of the level, this feels like the sort of video game you'd give to people with Parkinson's, to see if they have the motor skills to click a mouse within a 5 second time frame. Shakespeare might have said that brevity is the soul of wit, but he also wrote plays so long that they required an intermission on a consistent basis, so take from that what you will. Some of my favourite maps of all time are under 100 enemies, but this would probably rank as one of my all time least favourite maps, if I did not play absolute tosh on a daily basis. 3/10.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Sena

[Walter confetti]

RIGEL I by Scott lampert - Vanilla Doom 2, 1995, played with Eternity forseti 4.0.2

Spoiler

I think that i'm pretty sure to have read about this map on the Wadarcheology post, this is a really good and interesting map from 1995, even pretty unique for 1995 standards. The layout is well interconnected around this techbase place with some small hellish places around the base, a mandatory maze (ah shit) and a small nukage sewer in a corner of the map. The texturing is pretty well done and all the level reminds me of TNT, but better. Gameplay is pretty good and fun. Very good map.

 

Teleportation Test Lab #13 by Stormwalker - Limit Removing (?) Doom, 2010, played with GZDoom 4.7.0

Spoiler

Another pretty good find by the random button hit, is this early "bastardized" KDiTD style Doom by Stormalker, a author that became much more well known for his later works, like Call of the Apostate, Flashback to Hell and the 2016 cacoward winner (or runner-up? I don't remember clearly now) (my bad, this map didn't won anything on 2016, just checked now. But it was candidate for 2016 iirc) heretic map Templum Dormiens Dei, so a pretty respectable and talented author. This map is a large, well crafted techbase with a second section sets in a hell indoor section, where the layout is pretty reminiscent of original KDiTD Romero maps, so many interconnected areas and a 3 key key hunt, many interesting looking places and lots of cool simple detailing and room building construction involved. The health is pretty stingy trough the map, so be careful since you'll find many monsters in your walk, even including 3 spider masterminds and 2 cyberdemons at the end of this map, this is no messing around! Overall, another pretty good find and a bless from the RNG gods of random button algorithm.

 

Hell Entrance by @bejiitas_wrath - Zdoom, 2009, played with GZDoom 4.7.0

Spoiler

 

A hellish remake of MAP01 for zdoom and sets in the MAP15 slot for some reason, i've expected something in the style of Switcheroom 2 hell remake of MAP01, but instead i've got this weird hellish agglomeration of rooms that resembles a very little the original source, but the worst offender of this map is that this place doesn't almost have any ammo to fight the heavy monsters hordes and you really want that ammo here! Also, there's some new overpowered enemies as well of the other zdoom sin: invisible monsters, yay! There's also more other nice zdoom stuff like skybox, swinging doors, colored sectors, friction blood sectors (hooray...), floors as walls and the usual suspects are all here. Not horrible as i've expected from the other reviewers, but is way too cruel against everyone wants to approach this. Also a missed opportunity to have a secret exit, why?

 

Hell Keep (Console Remix) by Samuel Villareal @Kaiser and Midway Inc. - Limit Removing (?) Doom 2, 2003, played with Eternity forseti 4.0.2

Spoiler

Final map for the evening. This is a remake of Hell Keep on the console exclusive ports of Doom, (with the exception of Doom 64 that was a completely different, terrifying beast of it's own) it's more square-ish, harder and different from the most known version by Petersen (iirc this map was originally made by American McGee, as well of the other maps conversion on console ports, so here's explained the layout and the gameplay choices). Did i have to mention him in the review? Maybe not. Anyway, this is a kinda hard and fun map, so thanks kaiser for converting it from the console! Also the new metal\skin textures are pretty neat.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Walter confetti

[Sena]

Day 8: Europe https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/d-f/europe

 

"This is a huge giant map thtat [sic] try to emulate ambients of the real life, including Castle, Subway, City, and some more."

Maybe that's what he planned to do, but not even with an imagination can you actually find anything described. To borrow his prose, this is a huge giant map that emulates nothing, with areas such as the cobblestone hallways, the cobblestone hallways, the cobblestone hallways, and some more cobblestone hallways. Contrary to what some people may expect for someone who thinks that playing shite Doom maps from 20 years ago is a good way to spend their time, I have actually been to a decent number of European countries, and none of them looked even vaguely close to this, the only thing this looks even remotely close to is identical mono-textured cave systems found in Minecraft, a game whose map is computer generated, which is sure what this shit feels like. What separates the two is that in Minecraft you can move across the map at your own leisure, whereas here they've opted for the worst possible enemy design possible, line formations of shotgunners, making every single room a slow and tedious endeavour, which slows the pacing down to a crawl. And, considering how poor the enemy design is, you could probably make the case that making copy-pasted rectangles your entire fucking map is a contender for the worst level design possible. They don't bother to give you anything beyond a single chaingun/shotgun, and any time they try and divert from that enemy design it's for the worse, like when they decide to make a bunch of cages for what must be at least 80 cacodemons, who you can ignore completely, and a stairway of barons and an archvile, and they can get tae fuck with that one, normally I try and play in as legitimate a manner as possible, with the only exception being turning on noclip when I have absolutely no idea where to go, but I'm not going to feel even minutely bad for making an exception and turning on god mode to deal with that shit, just the prospect of having to deal with one baron with the default shotgun would be bad enough to make me contemplate leaving immediately. Naturally, having to turn on noclip wasn't that far behind since quite predictably the level design is absolutely tosh, and making the whole level the exact same rectangular stone textured room does not help in making it easy to navigate. This level is pure kusoge, it does everything wrong, I guess the only exception to that is the music which they just stole, which sounds fine most of the time but there's a segment that sounds like a helicopter flying overhead which is about as pleasing to the ears as you can imagine. It's true you can have too much of a good thing, I've played good maps which I felt have gone on for a bit too long, and clearly the author's self-estimation needed recalibration if they somehow thought having to go through 1800 enemies of this absolute pisstake would be worthwhile. 2/10, mortgaging my house would be more interesting than playing this for another second.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Sena

[Sena]

Day 9: Belial's Bad Brain https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/bbb

Normally with these long slaughtermaps, I have something bad to say about it, but I actually enjoyed this one. First impressions do mean a lot, and when mine are getting a BFG, and pushing a button to deploy one of the seven wonders of the world, the Great Wall of Chaingunners, I didn't think I was in for a good time, but the rest of it isn't like that. Unlike the type of slaughtermap that I graciously like to call BFG spamfests, this one actually demands a lot of the player, you do get a BFG early on, and it will likely be your most used weapon (and assuredly so for the period of time until you get an RL), but it's not the only weapon. And more critically, there's more to the general design than hiding behind a wall or streaming enemy projectiles with that BFG, there's actual enemy variety at play here, I think there's a number of revenants that is completely reasonable and I did not at all feel like they were excessive, and I could say the same about the archviles, just so happens the latter were deployed in such a manner that they kept on reviving barons and I couldn't even damage them, the anorexic martian dickheads shouldn't even have that much health anyway but that's besides the point.

Granted, the enemy variety is only generally so, and you do get a few instances where you just have to deal with huge droves of barons and hell knights through a series of corridors, who just seem to be in infinite supply, and I definitely made a mistake by completing this all in one sitting, obviously everyone's own level of patience is going to different, but this level is far too samey for me to remain entirely interested, due to my own lack of patience. However, one major strength of the map is its visual changes, the geometry itself can be a bit simplistic, especially in the first half, but they really made sure to make each area look distinct, not afraid to use different textures or to mix up the general aesthetic of the map, and it does it plenty of favours, as much as I might big up Sunder, you can't really deny that each individual room in its maps lacks a certain level of identity, whereas herein they did a solid job of achieving the visual look of descending further into hell.

It is a slaughtermap, so it certainly fucked me up more than once, and one point I found peculiar was its ammo/health placement, which is usually fine, although there are a couple sections which are rather stringent, leading to backtracking, and it's all the more peculiar because you've also got some rooms with loads of things you straight up don't need - why they felt it was necessary to give me 2 invulnerabilities to deal with one cyberdemon in a completely flat area, but 0 to deal with two spider masterminds placed awkwardly above stairs, in a room that you think allows you to advance and hide behind cover, but can't because spider mastermind hitboxes, I'm not really sure. Not that it matters, that's a minor complaint at most, to reiterate I really wouldn't suggest trying to beat it all at once as you'll most likely end up frustrated, but I'd call this an all around solid map, it just gets everything right, and despite its length, never feels rushed or like they ran out of ideas. 8/10.

[Roofi]

Month 6 Day 27

 

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

 

[1] The Freeze Thrower Mark 2 by Omegalore (2014)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

May be a month early but, the holidays is around the corner. I'd thought I make a Ice Weapon.

Sorry SomeMap didn't go very well. I'll try to do better and keep trying. This is also take 2 due to .Bak file in Zip, Oops. Sorry about that ;^^

 

This zdoom mod gives you a pretty badass "icelauncher" which exactly acts as a flamethrower but freeze your enemies instead of burning them. Sadly, you can obtain this weapon only by typing IDFA, so it's pretty useless.

 

I like the sprite though.

 

I stop here for today.