Nostalgia - now on idgames! [32 Maps] [Doom 2 format]

[myolden]

 

Idgames Link: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/nostalgia

 

The WAD is now on idgames!

 

RC3 Update: [redacted]

 

Hello everyone, thanks again for all the comments and feedback. I have one final update here that fixes a small issue where the final two cyberdemons in map 30 can telefrag one another. I'll submit this version to idgames in the next few days.

 

RC2 Update: [redacted]

 

Thanks everyone for the kind words! I've made a few small fixes based on what people have been reporting:

Spoiler

-Added a candle to a secret in map 13 to better signpost it
-Minor cosmetic fixes in maps 15, 18, and 29
-Fixed an issue where players could get stuck out of bounds in map 15
-Added a block monster linedef in map 19 so monsters can't block players from dropping down after picking up the yellow key
-Fixed typos in the text screens after map 15 and map 20
-Fixed a broken monster closet in map 21
-Removed secret BFG from map 12

 

Going to leave it here for a little while and see if anyone else reports any major issues before uploading to idgames, will update with the link when that's done.

 

Original Post

 

Nostalgia is a 32 map megawad in Doom 2 format for limit removing sourceports. These maps take modern map design philosophy in my style and coat it with a layer of old-school paint, leaving behind the super detailed aesthetic in favor of simpler geometry. Each map is relatively short, with the difficulty falling somewhere between vanilla Doom 2 and Plutonia. This map set also follows the vanilla Doom 2 episode format, with each episode being seperated by a death exit. Aside from this, these maps can be completed either continuous or by pistol start.

 

I'd like to thank my testers @BluePineapple72 and @Death Bear for showing me so many bugs, texture issues, and balance issues with these maps! Also credit to BluePineapple72 for the amazing M_DOOM logo, and for the idea behind Map 30. This map set was tested using Crispy Doom, prboom+, and GZDoom.

 

Get the WAD here: [redacted]

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Map List:

Spoiler

Episode 1: Techbase
Map 01: Dragonaut
Map 02: Under The Surface
Map 03: Illuminatus
Map 04: Pull The Plug
Map 05: Poison Godmachine
Map 06: Spirit Crusher
Map 07: A Fine Day To Die
Map 08: Neurotica
Map 09: Bleed Me An Ocean
Map 10: Creeping Death
Map 11: Rapture

 

Episode 2: City
Map 12: The Lion's Den
Map 13: Sludge Factory
Map 14: Beneath
Map 15: The Lotus Eaters
Map 16: Fear of the Dark
Map 17: Ars Moriendi
Map 18: Times of Grace
Map 19: The Fault of the Flesh
Map 20: Hell Awaits

 

Episode 3: Hell
Map 21: South of Heaven
Map 22: Absolute Hatred
Map 23: Blood Red
Map 24: Flesh And The Power It Holds
Map 25: DDevil
Map 26: Sepulchural Slaughter
Map 27: Whargoul
Map 28: Seasons in the Abyss
Map 29: Chambers of Dis
Map 30: Nostalgia

 

Secret Maps
Map 31: Powerslave
Map 32: Retrovertigo

 

MIDIs:

Spoiler

Title Screen: Whispers of War by Lee Jackson (From the Alien Vendetta midi pack)
Intermission: Xenotime by Dragonfly & Cammy (From the Alien Vendetta midi pack)
Text Screen: Ad Vitam by Bucket (From the Alien Vendetta midi pack)
Map 01: Roller Coaster from Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
Map 02: Sleeping Sergeant by Jimmy
Map 03: Set It Ablaze by Jimmy
Map 04: No Match For Me from Dragon Ball Z Super Saiya-Jin Densetsu
Map 05: Inner Darkside from Shinobi III
Map 06: Jade Empire by Stewboy
Map 07: Economy of Truth by Jimmy
Map 08: Shells by Jimmy
Map 09: Brutal Schism by Jimmy
Map 10: Fire Hive by Jimmy
Map 11: Astral Dreadnought by Jimmy
Map 12: Woe Is The World from Comix Zone
Map 13: Arcs from Brainlord
Map 14: Drilling by Night by Stewboy
Map 15: Everything Explodes by Jimmy
Map 16: Forbidden Area from Castlevania Aria of Sorrow
Map 17: Atmosphere by Tristan Clark
Map 18: Cave Dwellers by Tristan Clark
Map 19: Basement by Stewboy
Map 20: Turbulence from Dune The Battle For Arrakis
Map 21: Mystified by Tristan Clark
Map 22: Necron's Arena from King's Field
Map 23: Pelton City from Death Come 4
Map 24: Mandalia Plains from Final Fantasy Tactics
Map 25: Reaching Deeper by Tristan Clark
Map 26: Heated Battle from Maximum Carnage
Map 27: Malelk's Bastion from Blood Omen Legacy of Cain
Map 28: Minecart Madness from Donkey Kong Country
Map 29: Aorta by Tristan Clark
Map 30: Plutopia by Jimmy
Map 31: Troglodyte by Jimmy
Map 32: Rotted Roots by Jimmy

 

Resources Used:

Doom Textures for Doom II

Patched up Textures

Meks Box o Skies

In addition to my usual gimmick of naming maps after songs, I've also only chosen songs that came out before the year 2000 for that extra 90's flair.
Here's a playlist of all of the songs the maps are named after, in order:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by myolden
Updated to include idgames link

[Stupid Bunny]

You had me at “simpler geometry” and had me again at “Dragonaut”

 

I love maps that focus on architectural form and layout in favor of high detail and judging by the screenies you’ve pulled it off splendidly.

 

And a whole 32 maps! That is no small feat and you should be right proud of yourself for pulling it off. I can’t wait to actually start playing this.

[Death Bear]

I REALLY enjoyed getting to help test this set. I look forward to see it getting lots of plays! Congrats on the release!

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Looks very interesting, I'm excited to check it out.

[Egg Boy]

Looks like a fun time, love the aesthetic, though, I will say, its reminding me more of CC2 than anything from the 90s. Thank you for posting.

[TJG1289]

I haven't been too eager to do a megaWAD lately, but the description of this sounds really interesting! The difficulty sounds nice and appealing. Will check this out later tonight! Congrats on the release!

[Rudolph]

Four maps in and I am really enjoying it so far! It reminds me a lot of Jimmy's still-unfinished Earthless mapset.

 

Speaking of Jimmy, I am a bit disappointed that "Sleeping Sergeant" is not an original track, but rather a remake of "The Healer Stalks".

Edited August 6, 2022 by Rudolph

[ryiron]

This is great. I played the first map and realised it is a bit easier than your previous set, so I had a go at continuous play instead. Map it to map10, finding all secrets, before getting cornered by a revenant. I like the mix of old and new-school architecture combined with tighter, modern combat.

 

FDA: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YxASEQXMBB9O6V5ded0L5-MzfiQYtnKw/view?usp=sharing

 

 

[ebrl]

Really good stuff so far, not a surprise after Altars of Madness - despite being a completely different beast. Probably the highest amount of BFGs I've seen in a while!

 

Also, you can accidentally exit the secret building in map 15 by climbing on this desk and going through this window:

Spoiler

 

And there's a typo in the intermission text before map 31:

Spoiler

"Egyption" instead of "Egyptian"

 

[StodgyAyatollah]

Took a break form Mouldy's new set to check this out because I'm honestly burnt out on on vacation/tropical maps (still enjoying it) which is funny since I never seem to get burnt out on more traditional aesthetics like this. Enjoyed it quite a bit so far. Very good use of space. Things are condensed to the point the action keeps going and maps don't overstay their welcome. A little lighter on difficulty so far but if things push close to Plutonia in that regard I'll be happy. Also maps named after Mr. Bungle songs is a win for me.

[Maribo]

5 hours ago, myolden said:

Nostalgia is a 32 map megawad in Doom 2 format for limit removing sourceports. These maps take modern map design philosophy in my style and coat it with a layer of old-school paint, leaving behind the super detailed aesthetic in favor of simpler geometry. Each map is relatively short, with the difficulty falling somewhere between vanilla Doom 2 and Plutonia. This map set also follows the vanilla Doom 2 episode format, with each episode being seperated by a death exit. Aside from this, these maps can be completed either continuous or by pistol start.

This is cool, I'm sure you saw in some of my AoM Max txts that I'd love to see what you can do outside the lock-in fight -> lock-in fight repeating structure. Had a great time with E1 tonight. Here's some sleepy FDAs, they might help you judge how a half-awake person will try to navigate it :P
nostalgia_e1_fdas.zip

[DoubleCakes]

Player a few levels and this mapset is scratching my itch for mid-difficulty megawads with short, snappy levels– something I'm almost always on board with. I'm going to assume that Under the Surface is inspired by Underhalls from Doom 2. It feels like a remake for Doom veterans with monsters packed in every corner. It's surprisingly formidable compared to the levels before and after it.

[RottingZombie]

Thanks for the WAD, this is my type of thing. Will probably play later tonight,

[Vile]

Quite a solid mapset.  If not for the music choices, I would have fully believed this could have been released in the 90s or early 00s.  I do like the music choices as they are, though.  A vod is available but here's a few things I noticed:

 

Spoiler

map14 - on UV there were a group of imps stuck together towards the end of the map.
map31 text - a minor thing but I think egyption should be spelled egyptian
map21 text - another minor thing, in the second paragraph 'it's' should be 'its'
map21 - some of the monster closets meant for the red key area did not work so there were missed kills

 

[myolden]

36 minutes ago, Vile said:

Quite a solid mapset.  If not for the music choices, I would have fully believed this could have been released in the 90s or early 00s.  I do like the music choices as they are, though.  A vod is available but here's a few things I noticed:

 

  Hide contents

map14 - on UV there were a group of imps stuck together towards the end of the map.
map31 text - a minor thing but I think egyption should be spelled egyptian
map21 text - another minor thing, in the second paragraph 'it's' should be 'its'
map21 - some of the monster closets meant for the red key area did not work so there were missed kills

 

 

Dang, sucks I missed the stream. I'll have to check out the vod. Glad you liked the set!

Edited August 7, 2022 by myolden

[Firedust]

Map 13, there's a softlock behind one of the cisterns.

 

This is a fun little mapset! Very relaxing and enjoyable.

[myolden]

3 hours ago, Firedust said:

Map 13, there's a softlock behind one of the cisterns.

 

This is a fun little mapset! Very relaxing and enjoyable.

 

Is it the northern one, next to the crane and the secret plasma? If so, then: 

Spoiler

if you press the crate it lowers, which then raises back up and gets you access to the plasma gun.

 

[Anarkzie]

Good job, I just gave it a go and it's a lot of fun and you can tell thought went into this. Hopefully it will become an official addon.

 

Random question but I saw you making a train level on YouTube, what project was that part of?

Edited August 8, 2022 by Anarkzie

[Firedust]

1 hour ago, myolden said:

 

Is it the northern one, next to the crane and the secret plasma? If so, then: 

  Hide contents

if you press the crate it lowers, which then raises back up and gets you access to the plasma gun.

 

It's the one to the east of the door. If that's the one you're talking about, then sorry, I am very dumb xD

[myolden]

47 minutes ago, Anarkzie said:

Good job, I just gave it a go and it's a lot of fun and you can tell thought went into this. Hopefully it will become an official addon.

 

Random question but I saw you making a train level on YouTube, what project was that part of?

 

That was going to be it's own thing, a wad in the style of Going Down but on a moving train. Unfortunately it fizzled out a bit. Turns out the geometry of the train limited the possible gameplay areas too much, and the maps were painfully linear with repetitive combat encounters. Who knows, perhaps I'll revisit it someday?

 

36 minutes ago, Firedust said:

It's the one to the east of the door. If that's the one you're talking about, then sorry, I am very dumb xD

 

No worries, just wanted to make sure I didn't miss something. Is this the spot you're referring to?

Spoiler

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by myolden

[Firedust]

4 minutes ago, myolden said:

No worries, just wanted to make sure I didn't miss something. Is this the spot you're referring to?

  Hide contents

 

Yep. I like how every map has its own identity. Sorta reminds me of Going Down in that regard - but obviously much easier :)

[Anarkzie]

10 hours ago, myolden said:

 

That was going to be it's own thing, a wad in the style of Going Down but on a moving train. Unfortunately it fizzled out a bit. Turns out the geometry of the train limited the possible gameplay areas too much, and the maps were painfully linear with repetitive combat encounters. Who knows, perhaps I'll revisit it someday?

 

Yeah, it looked really good but I imagine that the shape of a train would really limit your options when mapping with the doom engine. Maybe you could releases it as a single level of another wad, at least that way it won't get repetitive.

[Kor]

I've played up to map08 and I like what I've seen so far.  While I'm okay with challenges in maps, I find how difficult mapsets can get these days to be rather annoying.

[DoubleCakes]

Played a little more and I'm up to Map 16. As episode I progressed, I liked how these techbases were infested with hellish landscapes. The city episode has been a lot of fun as well. Map 12 has been my favourite level so far with its detailed and snappy level design.

 

I think I might finish this megawad before long. It's infectious!

[Veinen]

Just played through this and enjoyed it a lot. Lovely Scythe-like medium sized levels with good action, neat aesthetics and definite old school vibes. Not very tough overall but the third episode does start turning the heat a little bit with Rev, AV and Cyber density increasing noticeably. Also liked your style with secrets and how accessible they all were, quite easy to find most of them if you just pay a little bit of attention and use the automap for clues. Great work!

 

I recorded FDA demos for each map (attached), if such are of interest. Played on UV with glboom+ 2.5.1.3.

 

FDA_nostalgia_01-32.zip

[Captain Keen]

This looks awesome. Downloading now!

[DoubleCakes]

Alright. I finished Nostalgia and this turned out how I expected: 30+ snappy levels that give the feeling of an epic campaign without taking 20 hours. I think I could revisit this megawad and maybe try it without mid-level saving for an extra special challenge.

 

A small error report: 

Spoiler

In Map 30, one of the two cyberdemons that spawn before the red skull key got telefragged. I don't know how but there was no other monster there but the other cybie.

 

[myolden]

48 minutes ago, DoubleCakes said:

Alright. I finished Nostalgia and this turned out how I expected: 30+ snappy levels that give the feeling of an epic campaign without taking 20 hours. I think I could revisit this megawad and maybe try it without mid-level saving for an extra special challenge.

 

A small error report: 

  Hide contents

In Map 30, one of the two cyberdemons that spawn before the red skull key got telefragged. I don't know how but there was no other monster there but the other cybie.

 

 

Hmm, presumably telefragged by the other cyberdemon. This might be an uncommon issue (never came up during testing) but I think I may have a solution. Thanks for reporting!

[Valboom]

I just finished this megawad, i love it! 10/10.

Congrats and thank you!

[Shanoa]

Those screenshots looks fantastic and I was sold as soon as I read "simpler geometry". I played MAP01-MAP03 and the gameplay's tight. Your usage of METAL3 is interesting to say the least and I mean that in a good way. Visually, despite going for a less detailed approach, it still remain nicely detailed. I look forward to play it to completion. 

 

On a personal note, looking at the screenshots and having played a bit it makes me ponder how I approach mapping. Although anyone can create a Doom map I feel very intimidated when I see all the extremely detailed maps. I know the first rule is to not compare your work to others for a bevy of reasons but maybe I should consider making stuff in the vein of your map, @myolden . As long as it's fun to play, flow well I think people would be pleased. Anyway, sorry for the tangent.

 

Congratulations on the release and thank you for the maps and inspiration. I have some reflecting to-do.

Edited August 10, 2022 by Shanoa