Ambiguous designs you interpreted in some precise way

[baja blast rd.]

 

The seven towers around Skulltiverse map27, "Last Ruin," are reasonably simple "stuff in the void" constructs. They could be watch towers, portals of some kind, or any number of possible constructs. Yet in the context of the map, with its somber, fragmented setting and music, and thanks to their askew positioning, which gives the impression of mobility rather than a static structure designed in place, I couldn't help but imagine them as giant monoliths that have been creeping ever so slowly through this barren plane, where they've found a rare patch of still-existing world to either observe plaintively, or more chillingly, consume. There's a distinct feeling that if we arrived here months later (although there'd be some other unit of time than "months") everything would be blank, save for the monoliths skulking away the other direction. They look terrifying, although now that I'm posting this I'm realizing they also remind me a bit of a really tall, evil

 

Spoiler

amongus. Pretend you did not read this part. 

 

So, what are some designs of any type -- architectural constructs, details, settings or themes, whatever -- that might have a fuzzier meaning but imposed one highly particular interpretation on you? 

[Shepardus]

I think of this area in 5till L1 Complex:

 

 

The map geometry itself is little more than a bunch of rectangular blocks with the TEKWALL1 texture. In context, though, and with the way the light pulsates around it, though, I imagine it was meant to be some sort of power generator for the now-derelict complex. Or maybe it's a mainframe computer archiving data on the colony, still humming away long after its residents have departed. We can at least tell that it's some sort of machinery with its exposed metallic parts, distinct from the dull concrete, bricks, and metal plating of the complex's main living areas.

 

There is something else in particular it reminds me of, and that is this place from Girls' Last Tour (episode 8 in the anime):

 

 

In the anime, these structures are found to be graves, lined with drawers containing the belongings of the deceased so that they may be remembered. While there are no drawers visible on the structures in 5till L1 Complex, I like the thought that somewhere in there, the story of how the colony came to be is still being preserved.

 

There's probably a bunch more that one could pick out from this map, but this in particular caught my attention.

[Hitboi]

Cosmodrome from Plutonia 2, from the info text file Thomas van der Velden says that it "takes place in a Refueling Base for space ships", so in this screenshot I think that this shuttle holding a crate was being refueled here, and my objective here is to clear out the demons in this area and lift up the shuttle to continue progressing, I press a switch from the TEKGREN walls under the shuttle and it rises, but the weird part is, how did the shuttle wirelessly rise itself because I activated a switch that's not inside the shuttle?
Probably the switch was located outside of the shuttle due to the 3D limits of vanilla where you can't go inside it unless some parts of the geometry of that area had to be changed, or maybe Doom takes place in a futuristic world where this is possible.

Edited July 3, 2022 by Hitboi

[Thelokk]

 

Pretty much any of the gazillion mouths peppered around Sunder.

 

To me, one of the things that sets apart this wad in a league of its own is that unlike most slaughterwads, where you can just feel the enviroment is just an excuse to have a box filled with stuff to kill, I-G's maps have a real adventurous, cinematic feel to them - you really feel as if you are exploring a world by demons, for demons.

 

I mean, what are all these mouths all over the place? we know for sure from the txt file that at least one map is supposed to be some metal and beast hybrid - is that true for all of these gaping maws leading us into the bowels of demon-infested lands? Are they some sort of unholy stone-encased living remnants? or are they representations of some monstrous uberdemon, oversized idols so to speak?

 

Personally, as we know that architecture informs thought and thought informs architecture, I propend for the latter. Demonic altars to some horror we have not seen yet... MAP30 going to be one hell of a drop. 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Thelokk

[LadyMistDragon]

 

 

The above screenshot comes from Trecias.wad, an obscurity from 1998 that actually plays quite solidly all things considered. Basically, this wooden structure in the middle will raise several series of blocks in the next room that are each blocking a switch. However, the shape makes me think of a turnstile, perhaps surrounding a security station that happens to be unmanned. Of course, you still have to wonder why they'd place floor plates here as a measure of security when that shit went out of style in probably the 18th century. There's far more secure ways to hide something like that these days, like keycards for example.