The DWmegawad Club plays: Doom the Way id Did (& Ultimate DTWID!)

[Ludi]

12 minutes ago, esselfortium said:

 

Well, whether you consider those to be issues or features is arguably up for debate. There are things I enjoy about the IWAD maps that aren't often captured in community mapping trends. I'd also say that I grew a lot more as a mapper from working on D2TWID, because it pushed me much further outside what had been my comfort zone.

 

That's good! I find that if I keep doing the same mapping style over and over, I enjoy it a lot less. Variety is the spice of life :^)

[Bobby :D]

Doom the Way Id Did but I ruin it for everyone by Over-analyzing it (and also not revising my original posts)

 

Episode 1 Preface:

 

With the rise of the vanilla format after a few legendary projects and groups emerged from the primordial soup of the Skulltag clan era, a Doom 1 Episode replacement idea had been done millions of times before, with anyone with a casual interest in Doom refitting the original 27+9 maps in the confines of the Id-mage they projected. However, the accuracy of said projects in emulation is often dubious; classic wads like Fava Beans doesn't really etch too close to the borders of a definitively Id'dy experience, and even more developed wads like the Classic Episode miss the mark in terms of progression and layout. In the 2000's, there were surely enough maps in the E1 Episode genre to fill a CD-Rom to the lip, and yet not one millimeter of that space could ever be consider a facsimile to the original's design.

 

What started as DTWID was a seemingly minute footnote of a thread, where Hellbent and others dialogued on the possibility of a small episode covering Doom 1's corpus, emulating the exact styling of each episode. Jason Root, known as Hellbent, wanted something faithful, something that would be just like the original episodes, devoid of the feature smashing complexes and modern trappings of previous Doom 1 recreations like Back 2 Basics and Flashback. There was a lot of uncertainty and clearly an attempt of emulation, something beyond even the mastercraft of Espi, was clouded in it's clear lack of digression on the forums. Old heads like Creaphis and Myk discussed with others the qualms of a DTWID project and what the episode design was going to look like. Out of this thread, a term emerges that I will use for the rest of the month: Functional Detailing. Not detailing to convey a sense of space or function, but to convey gameplay elements on the fly. Ultimately, the original thread ends on an unresolved note (and someone posting to the wrong thread lol) and only 2 maps, but now a clear direction has been grounded. (Eventually I will cover every nook and cranny of DTWID's Development, don't worry!)

 

To make a Doom episode, not only does it have to contain accurate maps, but an accurate game; decades of analysis, prodding every nook of the cerebrum tucked into every linedef, have shown that Episode 1 does a lot of design heavy lifting to service the player. No level is more notable for this than Hanger, where every stylistic decision had to serve a functional purpose or else the risk of alienation would be evident. If you weren't already shaken from the demonic presence, you probably quivered at the utilization of a Z-axis and vertical space never seen before in the home environment. To capture the exact styling of Romero is to put yourself in the shoes of a game designer trying to sell the idea of a truly 3D world to a player who has probably only played 3D games once or twice their entire life.

 

Before I continue, I must admit that DTWID, with modern context (now that D2TWID exists), is not that accurate to the design of the original games. The WAD, as Essel pointed out earlier, is better taken as homage than replica. That isn't going to stop me from needling every little bit of the WAD for this same reason, however :)

 

Episode 1, Mission 1: Communications Bridge: "Essel gets abducted by aliens and is forced to recreate E1M1 in 1024x1024"

 

Envisioning the first experiences of Doom, the open corridor and stairwells, there is a clear method to the originals composition. Every element is placed among a bluntly linear path; it is almost impossible for a player to miss any important detail in the map or walk away from it unaware of any game elements. The first room of Hangar used to contain 2 doors, but remains now only one at the end of the corridor - the original second door was at the stair well. Romero removed it because he wanted to quickly show off the height element of Doom and how different combat can be with it taken into account. It was also done to make sure that the player had a pretty clear shot to get the first armor of the set and establish that as the primary armor gathering mechanic as well. The first door was also the most important detail to get right, as although many played Wolf 3D, with the rise of the Eternal September, new people who had no experience with games or technology at all were now flooding the growing Shareware scene with gleaming eyes. Making a super easy to understand door-to-door progression was necessary for Episode 1, as most people have absolutely no idea what the hell they were doing in 3D. The window element helps set contrast and intrigue, especially since the first secret looks like it has another version of the vest-piece you just acquired a few seconds ago! The texturing and shapes help give each area an instantly distinguishable theme, and also establish several tropes used throughout the Episode (green toxic walls and pits, Star corridors, and boxy computer rooms).

 

The slime room is probably the most dialouged room in gaming history, right next to the intro to 1-1 from Super Mario Bros. The use of a zig-zag structure in the middle combined with the now-obvious poison sludge pits gives the player a few options, either to blast past the first sighting of hell spawn and head for the next door or to carefully trudge along the crooked path. All while the most important lesson in Doom is quickly dialogued: Dodging projectiles. Unlike other games at the time, the addition of a height mechanic provides new opportunities for dodging a foe's attack, and making the player accidentally dodge imp projectiles while crossing the gap makes them realize how important height can be in the delivery of combat. It is not a gimmick to add flair, it is an important part of the gameplay that must be mastered if one is to escape Mars alive. There are some other things to cover about this room, but for now, let's play the damn WAD already!

 

The first shot, compared to the original, is computationally weak; the fact the player isn't immediately looking at any thing super discernible as a pathway feels claustrophobic and encroaching, which is weird given how open the first few maps of E1 were. I think the approach to have the armor not be on the main path undersells the importance of that first room, which was so easy to just waltz into unknowingly because of how boring the path to the door looked in contrast to it. I don't think a poison sign and a blinking light is enough to gravitate an unknowing player, and in fact I skipped the armor in my first play through of TWID

 

Everything in this map is glitzed up and the functionality of the original's detailing has been muted a bit. Height change, for this first room of the map, isn't as bombast as that opening area and staircase, but preserved is some of the textural tropes and geometry of E1's design.

 

We can begin to see a problem begin to emerge in the first map; for the first DTWID map, there is way too much going on with not a lot happening. For example, in the poison room (devoid of those imps, nor the need to really strafe at all.), if the player is bright enough, they can find a rad suit hidden in a cubby in the poison sign pillar. Compare this to the introduction of the rad suit in the original's later maps, where finding poison secrets was easier and more involving with height, the flatness and plainness of it all leaves a lot more to be desired. Speaking of flat, the presence of the imps in the repurposed first room homage is quite a depressing sight, gone is the presence of the height advantage circumstances in the sludge room and now what's present is a muted homage that delivers less of the message Romero was trying to get across.

 

The map has a bit of a perversion with encroaching space and texture variety, and none is more evident in the staircase room to the computer thingy. Gone is the careful use of symmetry and themeing and what we have is this sort of mishmash of several ideas tucked together with more support textures than in the average Tom Hall map. It's evident that with a size up this map would look more open and fresh, and also more like originals open design. My problem isn't that the detailing elements don't confine to my subjective worldview, its that as a product it doesn't come close to the functional design of the original E1, where every linedef and sector was used to contrast or indicate vital gameplay elements. The haphazardness of it all doesn't help it either.

 

Secret finding in this map is it's biggest offense. The lift bridge segment feels so out of place for the first map, especially since lifts as a usable game play prop aren't established. It's confining, multi parted, and also uses a switch for some reason (I guess cause UD used it)? Compared to the secret to get outside in the original, light and day difference in communication and ease of access, and also how it brought back the Wolf 3D Wall secrets in a way for old players while providing a simple detail for newer players to latch onto. For some reason, Essel thought to stick in the poison pit secrets from later maps for reasons we do not fully understand other than it was done at some point later in the Episode.

 

Anyway, EXIT!

 

Conclusion:

It's obvious that Essel tackles possibly the hardest slot to fill in for the Episode, if not the entire WAD. If you want a TWID approach, you need to also take in mind the importance of gameplay elements communicating it's many trades and signs. Unfortunately, I felt that Essel felt that she needed to establish absolutely every single trope in Episode on in the first map. In it's design, compared to the original, its a bit directionless in its lambast usage of textures and geometry, its mostly asymmetrical design and embroidery on the horseshoe layout seem to be present for the sake of subversion. It's enclosing design also adds to the lack of clarity that a good opener needs to succeed as an introduction. One thing that will be very apparent from here on out is that the power of modern tools and modern design tropes permeate the wad, despite the best intentions. However, it doesn't stop Essel from trying her best to convey the message the original was trying to. All the elements are there, like the presence of the armor, stair, and outside in the beginning, the sludge room, and the high posted imps. Whats lacking is how these elements are actually executed, which mostly comes to attempt at facsimile that misses the point. (No dig on Essel, she and others would do a lot better on in the wad and also in D2TWID where less of this arbitrary tutorializing was necessary and the approach to digesting the maps was more efficient.)

 

Id Factor: 3/5

 

Overall Grade: 3/5

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Bobby "J

[TJG1289]

I recently played this WAD's sequel, like last month, so it's nice timing. I feel like this WAD is gonna be super easy, so I decided to pull a FragsBunny and play this through with Corruption Cards. I haven't played CC with a Doom 1 WAD yet, but I have a feeling that after each episode I'll start anew and the previous 9 cards won't carry over. So to give this an even bigger challenge, I won't play standard mode like I have, nor hardcore like I've seen FragsBunny do the last 2 months. I'm going to do Chaos mode, where I'm not given a choice of cards, and they are permanent for the rest of the episode. Should be interesting! I'm still going to be using saves, but I highly doubt I'll need them.

 

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

E1M1: Communications Bridge - Esselfortium

100% kills and secrets

Time: 4:43

Card: Imp are able to fly

 

This one feels like is shares more identity with its sequel WAD's opening level than Doom's. Much more verticality to this one, giving it a bigger feel. There's way too many secrets for a map 01. The rad suit secret doesn't seem necessary at all. Finding the secrets is a little more creative though. Both the mega armor and shotgun secrets require multiple steps, and the shotgun is a secret within a secret (with 2 more secrets in that). The final room looks pretty cool, cooler than anything in Hangar. Combat seems a little easier than Hangar on UV, with only a few shotgunners here, but more imps. It's more fun to explore with the amount of secrets, but again, idk if it needs THAT many. Still, a pretty solid opener.

[dei_eldren]

E1M2 Military Bunker (HMP, continuous, legally blind): K 100%, I 98%, S 100%, D 0, T 27:39

 

Spoiler

Such a lovely thing there was no copy of, err, homage to, the main attraction of Nuclear Base!  Military Bunker not only cleverly took a couple of motifs from its original counterpart, but was also a good map in its own right, as it didn't feel like it was trying anything.  Also, the level of opposition and even the complexity of the map feel exactly familiar, and the secrets are quite challenging and faithful to Romero's classic style - finding the YK (i really thought that was a clever idea, as there's no YK in NB) and the last one, with the Imp, took me quite a while, just like a couple in E1M2 are very tricky, and as such satisfying to figure out.  There is, however, an outside area one can't access....

 

i was by the way up to my ears in Mega Armour and really would've liked, for sake of balance, a Soulsphere :D  i wouldn't quite believe this is Romero's, though, but it's very fine basic dooming and 

 

 

Hittimittari

Spoiler

E1M2 - Military Bunker - 8.5/10

E1M1 - Communications Bridge - 5/10

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by dei_eldren

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

Oh what the hey, I'll also do a Corruption Cards run in this instance. Haven't fired up GZDoom in quite a while and I only have a tiny bit of experience with this mod, but this should be a fun way to spice things up. I'll also be giving it a try with Chaos mode, so let's see what wackiness unfolds. Also will be using the custom soundtrack as well.

 

MAP01: "Communications Bridge" by esselfortium

UV with Corruption Cards, no saves

 

Card: Imps spawn with a small companion

 

This wad's "Hangar" fits the part nicely with its very lax difficulty, techbase aesthetic, nukage section in the middle, and pretty looking cliff skybox. I've always been kind of fond of the KTITD look despite generally not being keen on Doom I, and this map wears the look very well. There's a whopping 7 secrets in this thing, but most of them are connected to each other so it's not as much work as it looks. There is a zombieman tucked away in one though, so if you want 100% kills you will have to go hunting. It's already been said, but the layout is also a hair more complex than what you'd expect, particularly with the bridge secret.

 

As stated before, difficulty is very easy here as you'd expect. Unless the hitscanners are feeling extra mean you shouldn't take much damage at all, but with that said the level does flow nicely and serve as a promising introduction. The mini imp companions introduced by the corruption card are adorable, the little high pitched sounds they make are too good.

 

Good start to the wad.

[Book Lord]

E1M2 – Military Bunker by @hobomaster22

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

 

Much more interesting than E1M1 from the combat perspective, Military Bunker began in a hallway with an upper section on the left, teeming with snipers ready to take advantage of their elevation. I have almost forgotten how much I liked playing with -fast monsters; it really makes this shotgun & chaingun gameplay very entertaining, tense, and somewhat challenging, even though the item availability was on the generous side here. Two combat armours were surely overkill and allowed for some careless playing, even with trigger happy zombies around.

 

Another mostly indoor level, with small corridors and rooms full of former humans and Imps, it reintroduced id’s trademark monster closets, triggered by crucial pickups and spicing up the backtracking. Completing the map was straightforward: I followed the path eastwards to collect the RK, then I opened one of the locked doors, entered the moderately tricky room with perched Imps shooting from all angles, eventually pulling a lever that raised the bridge to the exit. John Romero himself placed inescapable pits in his maps, but I still think that a 2011 WAD should have avoided them.

Spoiler

The unravelling of secrets required twice the time than the mandatory progression, and this will be the standard of this megaWAD. There were compartments opening in wild ways and an unmarked lift, all features that might elude the first passage through the corresponding areas. Studying the automap was enough to find all hidden doors and the secret YK, leading to a locked storage with a chainsaw I will never use with -fast monsters. Less sprawling than Nuclear Plant, this E1M2 improved the gameplay with varied fights and anticipated several features that the OG Doom saved for E1M3 (secret yellow room with the chainsaw, inescapable nukage pit crossed by a bridge, monster closets). It delivered classic Doom action, though it was still inconspicuous if compared to the original levels.

Spoiler

 

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

E1M2: "Military Bunker" by hobomaster22

UV with Corruption Cards, no saves

100% kills, 4/5 secrets

 

Card: Sergeant will steal items off the ground

 

I don't have a very vivid memory about most of Doom I, with Doom II being far more engrained, but playing this felt like playing something vaguely familiar which I suppose means it's doing the job. This second map delivers a somewhat more sprawling layout, and uses the red key plus an optional yellow key for a secret.  It feels almost redundant to comment on the visuals, KDITD being quite a thematically consistent episode and I imagine this will be following suit, but I will say the level pulls off the job nicely as the previous one did.

 

You get quite a large amount of supplies here compared to the small threat level, most notably armour. This might be a bit exacerbated by me playing continuous though, which I haven't done in a while but will be doing so to keep the cards going. Speaking of the cards, this one was also quite amusing although it didn't serve as much of an extra obstacle. But it was funny to see a shotgunner with blue armour on its head walking around. In any case, this level is good ol' fashion shotgunning of fodder, or chaingunning if you found the secret (which I failed to do so). Not tough, but keeps the ball rolling nicely.

Edited February 2, 2022 by DisgruntledPorcupine

[Agent Slacker]

Man, all of these people giving well thought out analyses and all I'm typing are simple first impressions (technically second or third impressions but whatever)
I feel that there's some kind of template I should be following, seeing as I'm new to all of this. I've seen people in previous threads mention their end level stats, their input method, rating the maps on a scale from 1-5. It's all a bit daunting. Is there anything I should be doing?
For now, it seems that the template I used was acceptable, so I'll stick with it:

E1M2 - Military Bunker
DOOM Retro, UV, Continuous w/saves, played on a Power A Fusion Pro for Xbox Series S|X

I feel like what I'm about to say is sacrilege, but I never cared too much about E1. I've always felt that E2 and 3 where much more interesting aesthetically and gameplay wise compared to the brown and gray tech bases that make up E1. I also think that Romero's levels, while not bad by any means, all kinda play out the same: you go from one end of the map to another with monster closets popping up to keep the blood boiling. It's not a bad philosophy, but I just wish there was more variety to E1's gameplay than that.

I bring all of this up because I feel like I'm probably not going to have a whole lot to say about the gameplay of E1 of DtWiD. I'll probably just be focusing on the aesthetics and how I felt about some of the more hectic encounters I've come across.
All I can say about this map is that it certainly does a decent job of aping Romero's style of back tracking and monster closets. Some of the secrets felt a bit out of the way and a bit more involved than I was expecting for something so early on in the episode. As BookLord mentioned, there are going to be a lot of opening compartments; just look at E1M1.
Also, this vista was nice.

[DavitW]

E1M2: Military Bunker

Reminiscent of a Knee Deep in the Dead map in several ways here, so good job on that. Not completely linear with multiple paths to take and large optional areas, along with a hidden key to a secret area which I'm always a fan of.

e1m2.zip

[dei_eldren]

24 minutes ago, Agent Slacker said:

Man, all of these people giving well thought out analyses and all I'm typing are simple first impressions (technically second or third impressions but whatever)
I feel that there's some kind of template I should be following, seeing as I'm new to all of this. I've seen people in previous threads mention their end level stats, their input method, rating the maps on a scale from 1-5. It's all a bit daunting. Is there anything I should be doing?

 

Not at all, your level of interaction and participation is on wholly voluntary basis, no need to feel compelled to do any more than you want to :)

[kalaeth]

E1M2 : Military Bunker:

Already more opposition than on the level before, as expected. Still, zombiemen and imps only. One normal door, one red door and one lift... I go up first. Shotgun and a green armor, for those who didn't get the 1st level secrets (or pistol start). Another red door and a lift to a switch that opens a new path, where imps and zombies guard a room with a big techno-something and not much else. I head back and try the other door. More techstuff, stairs up and stairs down. I go down. The yellow door guards a small courtyard where a chainsaw is, and a red key is here in a side room and a mismatched texture hides a secret door with some armor bonus and a lift, to an imp and the yellow key! So I go grab the chainsaw, go and check the stairs up and then back to red door number 1. A zombie and then 3 imps shooting from above. up some stairs, press a switch, raise a bridge, cross said bridge. Down the stairs and there is the exit. Now, I know I missed a red door and there's more secrets to find. 3 more secrets and a single enemy. First, the other red door. Then, secret hunting. Blue armor, nice. Ah!  I knew the big technothingy room must have had something. One more secret down, the missing imp too. Oh, another blue armor. Now... 2 secrets to go. No, 1. A secret chaingun revealed it self. And then a lot of wall humping revelead the final secret! This could have been over waaay sooner if I didn't insist in finding the secrets. 

 

(not sure if I will keep this up, I did the first 2 maps in HMP but not blind. So far 11m23s with 100% K/S on both maps.)

 

K/I/S : 100% / 100% / 100%

time  : 16:40 / 23:14

deaths : 0

[Rujasu]

E1M2: Military Bunker

 

Ah yes, I remember playing these first few levels. Possibly all of E1. I recall not being very enthusiastic about it.

That said, this one was another perfectly fine early Doom map. Light ambushes, minimap staring, the usual affair. I feel like this one reminded me more of E1 than the first map, being visually much less elaborate. It's also that classic blend of techbase and "eh, fuck it" to make it less boxy.

 

DTWID_Rujasu_E1M2.zip

[RHhe82]

E1M2: Military Bunker. 100% kills, 100% secrets. Played on DSDA-Doom, UV, and actually switched to pistol start anyway, and saveless. Completion time 9:40, last two minutes spent on trying to find the last item, unsuccessfully.

 

Whereas E1M1 combined the visual cues of E1 in, what seems to me, in a late 90s fashion, this map felt far more like mid-90s. It was a more bland experience than the first one, and here I even saw some of the texture misalignments I was trying to remember yesterday -- misalignments that do not indicate secret doors.

 

Spoiler

 

But, as a 90s experience, it was okay, and in a good ol' E1 fashion, not too hard, and good amount of not-too-obtuse secrets for a map this size. (Speaking of obtuseness, I wonder how I opened the chaingun secret. Suddenly it just was there when I backtracked).

[NiGHTS108]

E1M2: Military Bunker

By Hobomaster22

 

Kills: 98%

Items: 56%

Secrets: 100%

Time: 5:27

 

Not a load to say on this one, Hobomaster22's attempt at E1 emulation feels more accurate than Esselfortium's, this feels like a mix of E1M2, 3 and 4 to me, the gameplay is a little more thrilling thanks to the secret chaingun but not by much, but I do like retracing your steps with new monster closets after you get the red key, unfortunately I couldn't find the secret yellow key and chainsaw, sad face :(

 

Grade: B-

Difficulty: E

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by NiGHTS108

[DJVCardMaster]

E1M2 - Military Bunker - Nick "HoboMaster22" Laurent *John Romero* (81%K/50%I/0%S):

This is an obviously longer map, this has quite a big resemblance to E1M3, specially because of the outside area with the bridge near the end. It also feels quite like an iteration of E1M7, and you'll hear me saying this a lot throughout this episode, as, the Romero style is so standardized here, that most of the maps will feel samey, and just iterations of the original E1M7, which is the most Romero-esque map in KDITD.
This map is just as easy as the Communication Bridge, but longer, there are not so many shotgunners and there are not any pinkies yet. There is several backtracking, just as your regular E1 map.

IDness ratio: 4/5

(UV Playthrough - Crispy Doom)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

E1M2
E1M1

 

[finnks13]

Gonna try to get back into doing write ups this month, though I reckon I'll keep them fairly short as trying to force myself to get a couple of paragraphs out for every map is what made me stop playing Ozonia with the club last month, and I don't think I've quite got the writing skill that some of you guys have to make these longer write ups interesting and fun to read.

Anyway , I have played Doom the Way id Did before - a couple of years ago - and it holds the honour of being the first PWAD I ever finished and I remember having a pretty good time with it. I don't remember very much about it beyond that, so I'm interested to see if I still enjoy it despite my tastes in map design changing quite a lot since then.

 

I'll be playing using dsda-doom v0.21.0, on Ultra Violence from a pistol start, going for 100% kills but not sweating it if I miss a few. I'm also going to play it with fast monsters enabled because I saw @Book Lord talking about playing with that setting, and thought it was a pretty good idea to spice up these classic-inspired Ultimate Doom maps.

 

E1M1 - Communications Bridge by esselfortium:
An easy opener, this map is pretty boring, and introduces the basic mechanics of the game with the kid gloves superglued in place- though to be honest, I don't think Hangar is that much more interesting to play than this map. This is probably the single hardest slot to map for in the entire megawad, and I think it does a pretty good job of being a simple, short opening level. The use of verticality is well done, and makes the layout more dynamic, but it feels slightly too claustrophobic and vertical for Knee Deep in the Dead, especially for the opening map, though from reading esselfortium's comments about DTWiD being more based on the vibes of each episode than specific mapping techniques the id mappers tended to do, this makes a lot of sense.

 

I think the secrets are a bit excessive here, the map is so easy without them, that taking the few minutes to find the last couple after all the monsters are dead feels pretty pointless. I do like the bridge raising one for the shotgun because even though it feels quite out of place, I like this sort of 'get out of bounds' style of secret. Overall, this map is fine and with the restrictions of what this map could realistically use, I think it works pretty well for E1M1.

E1M2 - Military Bunker by hobomaster22:
This map is a bit lengthier and more fun than the previous one, consisting of lots of square-ish rooms connected by staircases and corridors. Texturing wise, it absolutely nails the aesthetics of Episode 1, being a little bit less refined than a lot of modern E1 replacements. It features a few secrets that feel like obvious callbacks to secrets in the IWAD maps - the blue armour secret overlooking a courtyard reminds me of a similar one in Toxin Refinery, and the secret behind a random wall containing 4 health bonuses is straight out of Nuclear Plant!

 

It has a bit more heft combat-wise, and the hitscanners near the start took me to low health before I was able to find a shotgun - the fast hitscanners are proving to be quite a formidable threat. I found the secret chaingun and it completely trivialised the rest of the map, which is very accurate to the actual E1M2 except this one makes you complete about half the map for that privilege instead of just the first room. Of all the maps in Episode 1, this is the one which feels the most like an actual lost Knee Deep in the Dead map to me.

[FrancisT218]

On 2/1/2022 at 1:08 PM, esselfortium said:

DTWID in general was more of a "wing it, go by feel" approach than the more in-depth study we later did for D2TWID. (And even D2TWID has some authenticity errors in it!) So it might be more enjoyable to take in DTWID as a classic-inspired nostalgia set rather than a truly authentic replica, because it's not really one.

 

One thousand percent on this. It's not a truly rousing success at authenticity, but IMO it IS a more than worth-taking nostalgia trip anyways. I actually like it better with the optional music wad, which makes it only feel even less like an OG replica, yet helps give the wad its own charming personality.

[dei_eldren]

E1M3 Fuel Synthesis (HMP, continuous, legally blind): K 100%, I 100%, S 100%, D 0, T 57:07

 

Spoiler

The enemy count on HMP in this map is over a hundred, which would suggest a step up in difficulty.  The start has a view down a long corridor with a couple of zombiemen at the end, and stepping forward reveals a pathway also to the left, and a window to the right to a room that turns out to be a secret.  By those numbers i was expecting tough opposition to emerge anywhere i went, but that didn't really materialize - the most 'dangerous' moment is when getting to the BK area, a nice architectural design, by the way, a room in the middle of a windowed semi-circular space, but even that had just a few Imps and Sargeants, nothing justifying even one shot with the RL.  In fact, this is a good example of the sprawling i've referred to earlier in regards this set.  The map is extensive with its meandering stairways and areas interconnecting often via windows, and while Toxin Refinery is larger than the first two, it never loses focus or distinction between its areas.  And i think that's one ingredient missing here, and in the layout this is sort of halfway towards an average Doom II map (which have different virtues from UD in their more varied texturing and more multifaceted selection of monsters to use).  Other than that though, i think this map too is intelligent design, and has a lot of good elements to it.  One that caused me some consternation is the raised bridge leading to the regular exit, ha-ha!  It turned out to be a useful way to get from the first half of the map to the second, but going from the second half back to the first was somewhat annoying, requiring a rather long trek.

 

Of secrets there were ten, and indeed, finding all of them doubled my time.  They were all well-designed, and classical in style.  A couple of them were required to find other secrets, and many were actual small areas.  The final one, the secret exit, was a real challenge, and in fact i didn't find it on the video.  But i went back, and frankly did iddt.  But, to my delight, as i already knew where it would be, that did absolutely nothing to help discovering how to access it!  So, it took me further some ten minutes, but finally i realized the trick that was so simple that it's the easiest to overlook.  It's probably the most difficult secret exit i've ever found without help - great stuff!  That's how its supposed to be.  To my mind, the original idea of secret levels aren't meant to be such that anyone can find them without effort.

 

Unfortunately those clowns got a shot at me.

 

Another problem is that the maps have lacked atmosphere.  i thanked E1M2 for not reimagining the main attraction of the original, but i have to say that in general lighting hasn't been used to good effect, while darkness hasn't been used at all. 

 

So, don't get me wrong, i enjoyed playing through this, the design when considered only by itself is solid and interesting, only that it doesn't hit its intended marks nor bear comparison with the originals - these levels would not have the same fascination if they had been in the original.  If we lower the expectations somewhat, and not compare the maps to the originals, they have so far been good - except, i really didn't like E1M1 - and others did a better job than i did at analysing what was wrong with it.  The secrets really crowned this map, and add at least one full point in its score.  And i do like the dedication to vanilla in all aspects - there has been no transgressions in that regard, which is important!

 

But: no Soulsphere??  C'mon, John Romero was generous with them, and he was always putting them on display through a window or atop something - that's actually quite a serious oversight of his early style.  Backpack was nice to get, though.

 

 

Order of Merit

Spoiler

E1M2 - Military Bunker - 8.5/10

E1M3 - Fuel Synthesis - 8/10

E1M1 - Communications Bridge - 5/10

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by dei_eldren

[dobu gabu maru]

Hello all! As we're approaching E1M9, I've decided to accept Book Lord's suggestion to toss Ultimate Doom the Way id Did into the mix!

 

>>>DOWNLOAD ULTIMATE DOOM THE WAY ID DID HERE<<<

 

In case anyone is confused as to how this affects the calendar, Book Lord also included a nice, tidy solution: play the secret maps on the day they're discovered, and play the last two maps of an episode together. So our calendar looks like this:

 

1st E1M1

2nd E1M2

3rd E1M3 and E1M9

4th E1M4

5th E1M5

6th E1M6

7th E1M7 and E1M8

 

8th E2M1

9th E2M2

10th E2M3

11th E2M4

12th E2M5 and E2M9

13th E2M6

14th E2M7 and E2M8

 

15th E3M1

16th E3M2

17th E3M3

18th E3M4

19th E3M5

20th E3M6 and E3M9

21st E3M7 and E3M8

 

22nd E4M1

23rd E4M2 and E4M9

24th E4M3

25th E4M4

26th E4M5

27th E4M6

28th E4M7 and E4M8

 

Enjoy!

[Salt-Man Z]

Shoot, I'm only halfway through Ozonia (pretty much ragequit at the end of MAP32!) but replaying DTWID (and/or its Lost Levels) has been niggling at the back of my mind for a while now. I probably played it shortly after its original release, and have even played D2TWID twice since then (the second time with the club back in 2014) so it's probably been pretty to close to a decade. So count me in, babyyy.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Salt-Man Z

[NiGHTS108]

UDTWID time? Okie dokie

 

E1M3: Fuel Synthesis

By Esselfortium

 

Kills: 94%

Items: 45%

Secrets: 40%

Time: 5:31

 

DTWID still isn't *quite* the most bombastic and experimental wad I've ever EVER seen but this map has surprisingly cool and fluid monster placements, making a lot of those zombies, Imps, and the now re-introduced Pinky, just like Doom E1M3, also like E1M3 you'll find a rocket launcher hidden away in a secret but little ammo for it, I appreciate Esselfortium's commitment to Romero's design rules here, like always making the outdoors accessible and stuff, pretty solid map, to find the secret exit, take a dip in some poison by the blue key doors (More Romero!) Shoot some Imps, run through the balcony, and on the lift up back to the main area, run off the wall of the balcony to a hallway that'll take you right to it

 

Grade: B

Difficulty: D-

 

 

 

E1M9: Excavation Site

By Stuart Rynn

 

Kills: 87%

Items: 51%

Secrets: 16%

Time: 4:18

 

The only other Stuart Rynn map I've played is Ancient Aliens MAP31, a map I don't really like, and I regret to inform you I don't like this one either, similar to AA MAP31, this map is profoundly grey thanks to some very dim lighting and I don't think really shares many similarities with E1, despite the map looking complex and peculiar on paper, you're more or less lead straight to the door you're looking for, the gameplay is also kinda dull, more than the last 3 maps, you get a non-secret rocket launcher later on but it doesn't make the map that much more fun for me honestly, Stuart Rynn is one of my favourite composers of all time but I'm sorry dude, I don't think this map is as good as your funky fresh beats 

 

Grade: C-

Difficulty: D

 

 

 

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

E1M2: Military Bunker - hobomaster22

100% kills and secrets

Time: 9:14

Card: Sergeant turns to stone on death

 

This card seems kinda dumb, but I realized that by turning to stone, they don't drop shotguns. If this card effected imps, it would just be a minor inconvenience using some more ammo to shatter the stone. Having it be a hitscan means I'll have to really be keeping an eye on my shells for the rest of the ep.

 

As for the level, this seems more like a mix of Doom's E1M2 and E1M3. There's a segment of computer panels that reminds me of E1M2's green armor placement, and some areas have lifts that take you down to a small room a la the room right beside the chainsaw secret. But then we get the green slime room that just screams E1M3, and there's a secret yellow key here just like that map. The visuals seem to be a little more "blah" than the IWAD, but there's some nice lighting in the optional area toward the northwest. Navigation is fine, and I didn't feel lost at all. Not sure what opened the chaingun secret, but I'm glad I found it. The 2 secrets in the northwest are pretty obscure. Combat is as easy as a first episode map can be. Don't have much more to really say. I have a feeling I'm going to be like that this whole month, cause this whole experience is going to be comparing this WAD to the original, and until we get to E4, it's probably not going to be hard. Map was fine, but I wish it looked better.

[Salt-Man Z]

E1M1: Communications Bridge (UV/continuous/saves)

12:01 | 100% Everything

So it's been close to a decade since I last played this WAD, and what I generally remember from back then (besides being reminded how cool Ep2 stuff is) is that the first episode really struck me as being more modern than I remembered the IWAD being. I'm still not as familiar with the Doom 1 IWAD as I maybe should be (but then, I've played waaaay more PWADs than IWADs) but I was--and still am--most familiar with Ep1, and DTWID always struck me as being, I dunno, a little too fancy? And maybe it's just me, but these maps feel much curvier than the OG ones, and certainly the secrets are way more involved (and there a lot of them!) Like, right at the start we have press-a-computer-panel-to-open-a-wall-panel-to-access-a-switch-that-does-a-secret-door, never mind the entire raise-the-bridge sequence near the end. Such unnecessary machinery! Now, this is still a pretty fun map! But it really feels more like an Ep1-themed map than an attempt to emulate an IWAD map (and it sounds from the comments like that's maybe more what it actually was...)

 

E1M2: Military Bunker

16:34 | 100% Kills | 91% Items | 80% Secrets

This is an odd duck, kinda sprawling all over the place with lots of optional/secret areas. I do like having secrets that allow for taking out the opposition from more strategic vantage points, which was nice to take advantage of here. Completely missed out on a secret that I spent waaay too much time trying to track down. I didn't mind the visuals so much here, and the actual geometry of the level was quite interesting. But man, the combat was pretty dullsville. I am playing continuous, so I don't think I ever used anything other than my shotgun, but on UV even the early IWAD levels provide some level of challenge. We haven't even seen a pinky yet!

[Agent Slacker]

E1M3 - Fuel Synthesis
E1M9 - Excavation Site
DOOM Retro, UV, Continuous w/saves, played on a wireless Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller

Before I talk about my experience with these levels, let me take a second to talk about the 360 controller. While I prefer the Xbox One controller over this one, the 360's design has kind of grown on me. It's a very aesthetically pleasing controller compared to the slightly sleeker and utilitarian design of the Xbone controller. 

Anyways, Fuel Synthesis was a fun map. I knew where the right path was most of the time, the monster closets were more plentiful than they were in the last map. The path to the secret exit had me thinking outside the box (pardon the pun). Overall, I thought it was more memorable than the last map.

Excavation Site I have a love/hate relationship with. It's a very fun map to blast through when following the intended path. I don't like it's aesthetics though. I personally think it's layout is ugly. It doesn't help that it takes place exclusively indoors. It's also quite tight quarters. I'm not claustrophobic, but I personally don't like super tight quarters maps like this one. It's the definition of utilitarian: functionally it's fun, but aesthetically, it's ugly. The first opening room is fun because every time you revisit with a new keycard it gets repopulated with more monsters. By the end of the stage, it's a mess of gibs. Good stuff overall.

[Book Lord]

E1M3 – Fuel Synthesis by @esselfortium

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

 

Fuel Synthesis was the first ambitious level of Doom the way id did. It doubled the size if compared to previous maps, but also devised a compelling progression with a couple of challenging spots. Esselfortium drew a non-orthogonal, intricate layout using the features that John Romero often advertised in his Doom creations: windows to achieve visual connection between areas, different heights between the player and the enemies, bridges to connect previously detached places in creative ways.

Spoiler

I am glad that Pinkies and Spectres made their first appearance with plenty of room to fall back, since I had no SSG to reliably one-shot them when they charged me at cheetah speed. The cheap shots by hitscanners were a constant danger, as they unerringly hit me through the central nukage pit, and in the eastern section facing to the outside. The YK trap was a classic surprise solution, while the closet in the chamber with a diamond-shaped hole in the ceiling caught me off-guard. The rest of the level offered sound incidental combat, either in stretched hallways or in cramped computer rooms.

Spoiler

When I reached the normal exit, I had exposed only a couple of secrets, quite a poor result considering the total of 10. A thorough search uncovered the most valuable ones, including the megaarmour and the rocket launcher. I struggled a bit to reach the secret exit, which I located by analysing the automap; the stepping movement to access the external courtyard, holding as bait some bonuses I could not see, was not a feat I associate to id games secrets. I missed the Blur Sphere completely. Fuel Synthesis was a strong entry by Esselfortium, a mix of Romero influences and personal elaboration; it turned the heat up a bit while still playing fair and true to the OG Doom. An accurate concept worthy of attention.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Book Lord

[RHhe82]

Okay, if were playing UDtWiD, then I’m certainly in for the long haul! Can’t wait for the 22nd!

[dei_eldren]

E1M9 Excavation Site (HMP, continuous, blind): K 98%, I 100%, S 83%, D 0, T 35:20

 

Spoiler

E1M9 Military Base is in my opinion the worst map by John Romero by far - it is annoyingly symmetrical against his own preference and i get a feeling of tedium just thinking of playing it.  Excavation Site has a strong beginning in a cramped dirty green staircase in front and windows to both sides showing nothing, giving immediately a sense of imminent danger.  Going down the stairs i was immediately attacked by shotgunners, who just kept on coming, while going into the open was out of the question as there's an exploding barrel placed beside the open doorway and windows above at the other side of the room, over a pool of nukage.  About a dozen of them later things finally seem to settle down, and indeed, next attack comes from the windows.  The map remains dark and atmospheric, and threatening, throughout the long journey through corridors and ambushes to reach the exit.  The use of lighting in form of flashing lights and darkness is effective, and while the layout in no way resembles anything by Romero, at least i don't see it.  There's a lot of visual interconnectedness between the areas, with a lot of height variation, and the first room i came down to turns out to be a hub, but everything is laid out very differently from anything by Romero in UD.  In fact, the layout resembles more Nicolas Monti's Favillesco Episode 1 -maps, also visually.

 

The secrets, however, were pretty faithful.  i only found five out of the six.  Three were pretty easy, but the last two i found in the southernmost section of the map required trying out some random panels, and by luck a pathway opened.  This lead to a secret computer-room with five enemies and some goodies.  But, the true reward was still coming, as from this secret was the way to the switch i'd been hoping to reach for a long time.  Pressing it brought down with a pillar a beautiful Soulsphere down to a red pentagram floor.  After this, i really couldn't care anymore about finding the sixth - nor had i any clue where to begin looking (could be i missed something equally great, of course).

 

Not only my favourite map in the set so far, but one of exceptional design.  And Romero's personal style aside, this also captured the essence of the OG best so far.

 

PS: Sorry for the audio in the video being even worse than usual - by oversight left on a loud blowing heater which must have affected the sound.

 

 

Order of Merit

Spoiler

E1M9 - Excavation Site - 9.5/10

E1M2 - Military Bunker - 8.5/10

E1M3 - Fuel Synthesis - 8/10

E1M1 - Communications Bridge - 5/10

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by dei_eldren
ps

[Daytime Waitress]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading through last month's thread, so I'm very excited to join the group for this month's offering!

 

***

 

GZDoom 4.7, HMP, continuous, first playthrough, no saves, optional MIDI pack

E1M1 - Communications Bridge by @esselfortium

Maybe folks will be forgiving because it's MAP01, but I don't envy the author here. They have to set the tone for and lay out the intentions of the entire project, and they also have to "remake" or "reinterpret" the most cited level in The Big Book of How to Design Video Games.

 

I'm typically a sucker for maps like this which attempt to utilise every inch of playspace, not just through backtracking, but by contorting, rotating, elevating and generally reconfiguring previously traveresed areas. So I'm kind of at a loss as to why Continment Bridge left me a little cold. Part of it may be that it feels a little barren, although that's definitely due to it replacing E1M1. So while the combat didn't set my world on fire, I can see how it accomplished its mission. Part of it may be that seven secrets seems like saturation for the first map, and that the shotgun path in particular feels a little drawn out or unecessarily convoluted.

 

And yet... the secrets wrapping around on themselves simultaneously gives the map a greater sense of place and gives the player more to explore. I'm gonna leave it to more experienced and knowledgeable players to evaluate whether or not this map and the WAD as a whole adheres to its stated goals - as either replica or homage. But for me, the interconnectedness of this level - and thus hopefully the rest of the project - helps to hit that midway point that Doom excels at: the-possibly-real-but-still-kind-of-abstracted; 100% devoted to neither realism nor bullshit videogame logic.

 

tl;dr: it felt pretty Doomy this end, looking forward to more.

 

Also, dat completion screen: adorable.

[Book Lord]

19 minutes ago, Daytime Waitress said:

Also, dat completion screen: adorable.

 

Yeah, the new intermission screen is nice and true to the original drawing. Who did these drawings? Were they all @Kracov's work?

[Book Lord]

E1M9 – Excavation Site by @stewboy

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

 

A weird level under many aspects, in my opinion stewboy did not take its secret role too seriously. Excavation Site was a serviceable map with varied ambushes and combat situations, though it did not feature anything special or distinctive from a standard map, perhaps only the requirement of all 3 key cards to reach the exit, its only common trait with Military Base. I expected this to be an outdoor level or a network of burrowed tunnels, but it is better described as an underground nukage tech-base. It was a little more crowded than the first maps, with many enemies activated at once and creating a bit of apprehension, especially at the start when I could not guess the position of several groaning zombies.

Spoiler

Once I dealt with the ambush around the white computer terminal, the level took a linear flow. I collected the BK across a toxic pool, then I picked up the RK inside the blue door, after dispatching a semicircle of Imps that was not easy to target. The YK appeared suddenly along with a mob of hitscanners, on top of a lowering pillar like seen in Romero’s Computer Station. The attacks were mostly frontal or came through the windows, completed by closet ambushes protecting some of the item pickups.

Spoiler

I revealed many secrets, but I forfeited the most valuable one with the Soul Sphere. The item was fully concealed and so was the path to it. A non-shootable switch hinted at the secret, but I quickly forgot its existence after seeing it the first time in an Imp cubicle. As a personal rule, I prefer secret maps to have a peculiar design, including traits you do not see on most maps of the episode, and I expect them to be a rewarding experience. Considering I did not find the Soul Sphere and that the backpack was in E1M3 as well, I only wasted my combat armour to hitscanner attrition here, so the place was not worth the admission fee. An all-right map per se, though not a good secret one.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Book Lord