Anomaly Report - Released! A new 33-level megawad for vanilla Doom II.

[xAn]

Just finished Reverie a few minutes ago and was looking for something new to play. Started with this one, without knowing you're the same author. Really like this one (made it to map08 so far). Also noticed the secret-bug on map02. But apart from that: thumbs up.

[TheCyberDruid]

This is really a great throw back to how good wads looked (and played) in the 90s. I'm in map 05 right now and I'm loving every second of it :) Well done!

 

Edit: Finished it. It's a great wad, but I felt that 'End Times' was a drag. Getting to the blue key took way too long for me and the whole map is rather cryptic. The last level felt a bit too easy while the 'window' to shoot the rockets was quite narrow. Overall it was a blast playing these maps :)

Edited April 6, 2022 by TheCyberDruid

[Pistoolkip]

To make a wad by yourself is a massive undertaking, and you have delivered with a variety of maps in theme and gameplay
 

 

[OpenRift]

Ooooh, this looks really promising! Definitely giving this one a download!

[OpenRift]

By the way, here's a dehacked patch for vanilla with all the map names. Feel free to include this in RC2 if you want.

AR_vanilla_deh.zip

[Veinen]

@valkiriforce Quick heads up: map02 has a tag 0 linedef (574) with W1 Door Open Stay action, which completely breaks the map if you happen to cross it (at least in prboom+ 2.5.1.3). Not exactly in the main path but secret hunters might stumble upon it. FDA attached for evidence. Also sector 97 as secret in the same map seems like a mistake.

 

FDA_AR_RC1_02.zip

[galileo31dos01]

So I reached up to m31 at the moment. The MM influence is high, possibly the closest in spirit and soul that I've seen from yours in a while -- compblu rooms mostly gave me that vibe, music as well, though that inmost dens-ish map was the peak so far. I liked what I've seen and I'm glad the middle half is beginning to show some blood (finally!). There you have a few observations: 

 

- In m02, while looking for that missing secret, I jumped to a narrow ledge with computers and the whole map got fucky. The culprit must be this line with a special and tag 0 (below the +)

- Same map, unreachable secret.

- In m04, technically nothing broken though the YK "trap" is a mite, umm, anachronistic (come on, you can spread those spawning spots!).  

- In m06, accidentally noticed the sergeant here didn't move upon seeing me, very minor thing though.

- In m15, I'd only suggest a different spot to teleport you back from the key sections. I was lucky the cyb didn't immediately shoot after the YK part, as it was only a few steps away from the spot. The way the hub is built makes skipping earlier kills to leave for last pretty straightforward, which is what I did.

[valkiriforce]

Thanks for the bug reports - I know there are bound to be foul-ups I've somehow missed more than once. I'll be sure to make those fixes soon.

 

15 hours ago, VoanHead said:

Tbh, I’d love to see you eventually do maps under boom or mbf21. Be cool to see what you can come up with.

 

Well, Sargasso was something of a partial-conversion experience that used Boom, so that's pretty close. I wouldn't mind trying out MBF21 for another project I've had sitting around since last year if I can learn the ins and outs of it.

 

6 hours ago, Hisymak said:

So... The map33 in this megawad is accessible only through "cheating" in vanilla? Appears a bit strange to me, maybe it's considered just a "bonus" map which is not meant to be part of classic continuous playthrough?

 

MAP33 is just a bonus map because I liked an idea I used on MAP29 with the sky floor and green midtextures, so I wanted to make a small BFG arena map to play around with it further.

[Big Ol Billy]

Took this for a spin on my lunch break, Ironman-style. Dead on MAP08 but absolutely loving it. I like how it just embraces the vanilla Doom engine. There's no super-tricky technical stuff or straining attempts to make Doom into something else, there's just rock-solid design letting the engine do what it does best. Continuous balance has been great so far.

 

bob_ARfda.zip (DSDA-Doom, forgot to set complevel lol)

[Rudolph]

2 hours ago, StyxGaming said:

Few bugs (like the map 2 secret)

Yeah, I was going to report that: the only way to get it to register seems to noclip through the wall.

[Noiser]

I was looking forward for this. Can't wait to try it out!

[GarrettChan]

Oh wow, this looks really good. 33 maps as well. Have to try this out :)

 

 

[Rudolph]

Made it to MAP06. So far, this feels more like TNT Evilution than Doom II, which is fine by me.

[StyxGaming]

3 hours ago, Rudolph said:

Yeah, I was going to report that: the only way to get it to register seems to noclip through the wall.

Yeah i spent a good hour or so and nothing i could find gets you to that secret. Likely just a mis tagged line but thats ok. Can't expect everything to be perfect haha

[Gibbon]

Played the first 6 maps using glDoom.

 

Very impressive, love it so far!

[valkiriforce]

On 4/4/2022 at 12:42 PM, galileo31dos01 said:

- In m15, I'd only suggest a different spot to teleport you back from the key sections. I was lucky the cyb didn't immediately shoot after the YK part, as it was only a few steps away from the spot. The way the hub is built makes skipping earlier kills to leave for last pretty straightforward, which is what I did.

 

I thought about changing this myself at times when playing it, although a part of me also likes the idea of the risk and reward of having the monsters do the cleaning up with fighting each other, but also at the risk of entering during a hot part of the battle if you leave it unattended. Not sure if I've settled on making any changes just yet.

 

Thanks for the feedback on those other points - I did change up the MAP04 teleport destinations. It feels like something I should have done sooner. Also, I just tested that area of MAP06 in Crispy Doom - I've no idea why that sergeant is unresponsive until I stand directly in front of him. Strange...

[StyxGaming]

@valkiriforce solid map set. Hope you dont mind, im posting a playthrough of this on my youtube channel. First map up and im getting very positive feedback about the map.

Edited April 5, 2022 by StyxGaming

[Hypercube]

Well this was a nice surprise. I enjoyed your Reverie and Akeldama, so I'm gonna give this one a try too.

[Vile]

This was quite an enjoyable and chill megawad, definitely gave me the classic vibes from stuff like Memento Mori or others and not just because of the music.  TVR has been my go-to recommendation for a solid and consistent one-person megawad with an easier difficulty curve, but I would certainly recommend this similarly.

[Krenium]

I just finished the wad (HMP, pistol start) and it was the thoroughly enjoyable experience I was hoping it would be. I think my favorite map was Pendleton (MAP10), but other highlights for me included Canyon Station (MAP05), Los Alamos (MAP09), Deja Vu (MAP23), Colosseum (MAP15), The Crucible (MAP13), Sting Labs (MAP24), The Trenches (MAP27), and of course End Times (MAP29). The remarkable thing about this wad is that there are no duds. This is definitely going in my 'replay often' folder along with DCD, Reverie, and Akeldama. :)

[i_like_cheeese]

played the first level. solid start and love the midi!!

edit: i think my wad glitched because the blue key is not on map 05 and i can't progress with out cheating

Edited April 7, 2022 by i_like_cheeese

[Lizardcommando]

I just finished playing through this megawad. It really does have that old school Memento Mori 1 + 2 / Requiem vibe to it. A solid megawad for the most part, although there were a few parts that were very tough with some areas that get swarmed with monsters.

[RED77]

Super fun set of levels

[Roebloz]

I shall review this...Soon.

[galileo31dos01]

Finnished this yesterday. Here's a few more observations:

 

- In m31, I found this bit a little tame, cause of a single spawning spot it was too exploitable for such kind of setup - you can rocket everything without hassle. I would add at least a second tele spot, which'd give the ambush more impetus.

- It appears that the secret computer in m24 is either inaccessible, by non-damaging means, or you require an archvile-jump, because otherwise I couldn't figure out how you get there in first place, and looking at the editor I didn't notice any lifts or teleports or whatever...

- Ah, there was this too in the same map, close to the secret at north.  

 

Solid mapset overall, can recommend!

 

On 4/5/2022 at 4:37 PM, valkiriforce said:

I thought about changing this myself at times when playing it, although a part of me also likes the idea of the risk and reward of having the monsters do the cleaning up with fighting each other, but also at the risk of entering during a hot part of the battle if you leave it unattended. Not sure if I've settled on making any changes just yet.

 

It'd probably only matter in a speedrun, and that's just me second guessing because I don't speedrun. I noticed that the cyberdemon does spawn along with the hell knights, while watching Vile's stream, so in my case I must have headed to the next part too soon to see it appear in time, as I expected another set of monsters for the last switch, though that's on me for making decisions. Yeah, it's probably fine as it is.

[valkiriforce]

On 4/5/2022 at 3:58 PM, StyxGaming said:

@valkiriforce solid map set. Hope you dont mind, im posting a playthrough of this on my youtube channel. First map up and im getting very positive feedback about the map.

 

I don't mind! I welcome it - just don't be surprised if you can't get 100% on MAP02, at least not yet. :)

 

32 minutes ago, galileo31dos01 said:

- It appears that the secret computer in m24 is either inaccessible, by non-damaging means, or you require an archvile-jump, because otherwise I couldn't figure out how you get there in first place, and looking at the editor I didn't notice any lifts or teleports or whatever...

 

Spoiler

To obtain the computer map, you have to strafe run from the yellow key area - you can run through the windows into the next grass area to obtain it.

 

Again, thank you for all the helpful feedback - I somehow knew right away which area you were talking about on MAP31. It's about time it got the proper treatment.

[Lila Feuer]

On 4/4/2022 at 1:08 AM, Hisymak said:

The very first question that came up into my mind when I saw the thread name: How a vanilla megawad can have 33 maps? How can that work?

I'm a bit surprised nobody has asked/commented about that yet, but maybe I'm just missing something that has already been a commonplace in Doom world which won't surprise anybody?

An old and unorthodox method was to separate a "level" within an existing level, accessible only by finding secrets, you'd warp to it then warp back to the regular exit. At the cost of usually missing a lot of monsters and items on the tally screen and being confused as to why if you missed the "bonus level".

[StyxGaming]

14 hours ago, valkiriforce said:

I don't mind! I welcome it - just don't be surprised if you can't get 100% on MAP02, at least not yet. :)

Awesome! I also noticed no one else doing 100% UV runs on YouTube so I'm happy to be the first! I don't mind the broken secret, it's nice to know where it is and be able to show others so they aren't left wondering as well. I can only imagine doing 33 maps. There's bound to be stuff like that that pop up 😁

[kinker31]

Gave it a blind whirl, the attached demo (recorded with Choco Doom) was as far as I got.

I should also mention that although I love the game... I'm not very good at it.

 

AnomalyReport.7z

Edited April 8, 2022 by kinker31

[shinola]

Playing through the first handful of maps and they're amazing. Reminds me of a 1990s megawad, but these maps are consistently good... :-)