Stickney Installation - A 36 Level Ultimate Doom Megawad (Vanilla) [FINAL VERSION NOW ON IDGAMES]

[Wilster_Wonkels]

4 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

 

Really glad to see episode 2 of silence.wad is finally complete, I'll play this one on my YT channel soon just like the first!

go away

[Lucius Wooding]

Ok having played the rest of E2 (since my DnD group cancelled again), I have some general opinions. The original E2 was a big mixed bag and had some different style maps which I think applies here as well. Definitely still well crafted and a lot of good callbacks to the source material.

 

Spoiler

-Overall I feel this was much better balanced for continuous play than pistol start. Some of the maps become a really rough grind and a lot of the supplies and secrets ended up getting found at the end of each map just to be lost upon completion. Part of it is since I was mostly playing blind, but obviously it was my choice to play in this style and UV max. I'd recommend people to play this continuous even if they normally pistol start since many of the secrets are more rewarding if you're able to carry over. I suppose it's somewhat natural playing blind to get all the good secrets late. In the first episode it was much better balanced for pistol start and I never really hit any rough patches supply wise.

 

-For me personally, I prefer berserk in small doses. A couple maps making good use of it is refreshing, especially in Doom 1 with the limited monster and weapon choices. However every map seemed to rely somewhat heavily on it, especially pistol starting. After maps 2 and 3 I was ready to start getting to use better guns but the chance didn't really come except a couple sections with plasma. At times in some of the maps it seemed like it was required to punch out every pinky and a good chunk of the imps to take out the rest with guns. Plus the maps in the later part are generally crowded and hard to move through to get to weapons, and generally have a decent amount of shotgunners. You're really forced to switch from shotgun to fist constantly or take damage you can't afford. Plus this made getting all kills like pulling teeth, although again that's my choice on how to play. A couple extra chaingun or rocket launcher placements would do wonders to help.

 

-I felt cacodemon placements in general were like any other monster, and it was a bit overused in the later maps. Many of them had fairly flat and cramped layouts so in practice it was just a fat hell knight. The caged cacos in M3 and some of the areas in M4 were exceptions where they worked well but they felt like filler and baron infight bait at times. With pinky populations being high and their infighting potential being very poor, most of the later maps were very clogged up with bullet sponges already without even bulkier ones thrown in. Barons were not too big a problem though, they were used a bit more sparingly.

 

The lighting was pretty nicely done, although map 6 in particular was very dark throughout almost all of it. The original made use of this, but primarily on one limited section.

 

I liked maps 2 and 3 the best, and maps 6 and 8 the least.

Spoiler

See my previous comment for details. 2 and 3 improved on the formula and were a bit more willing to depart from the originals in some ways. Kudos since they were definitely not my favorites from the original game and I rarely enjoy crate mazes. They had a distinctive feel and gameplay style and were very different from one another. I felt 4, 5, 6, 7 had a lot of the same issues in common and played similar, though 4 probably had the most interesting design (and it's the original map I liked best).

 

In the case of map 6, it was a lot of little things. Many of them were somewhat my fault for choosing a pretty bad route. For one thing the room with the goggles and other goodies wasn't found till the end, as well as the chaingun which would have helped my health against the hitscanners a ton. I pretty much stumbled straight into the maze section and it was death by a thousand cuts. I also was boneheaded and had no berserk because I figured it was like the original where you backtrack after the run through lava. Making that floor section at the start 20 damage is brutal, it seems likely to deal 60-80 with little health available right after and lots of hitscan in the next area. Then there's no way back afterward, and I was even straferunning over the lava. I imagine running normally like a casual and starting on a bad timing cycle could legitimately result in death there. I can understand wanting the player to start on low health and it made the map very intense to try and survive, but for me I needed a bit of a breather between sections to gear up.

I'd have preferred a chainsaw here over berserk since the number of pinkies and cacos in close quarters is huge for not having an SSG; the latter is often suicide to try and punch even though chainsaw isn't 100% either. The rocket launcher at the start also doesn't do a great job in its role due to the large number of fodder enemies, close quarters, low health and darkness. It's just way more likely to serve the purpose of killing you when an imp steps out from a corner rather than cutting down the cacodemons. There are probably a couple rooms where it's viable but extra plasma and bullets would be preferable. 

 

I think map 8 is standard rocket vs rocket combat which I just don't like. None of the boss maps from Doom 1 or Doom 2 appeal to me and it's hard to spice up a basic cyberdemon fight creatively anymore so I don't really blame you for this one. I appreciate you at least changed things up a bit with hurtfloors to make demands on movement a little more, and the layout is much more open with less cover. I assume the large cache of cells in the end of the previous map are meant to deal with our boi, which would be preferable to using rockets but as a pistol starter I didn't get to use them. Also, I think you may as well provide the player a berserk in this map, if only to troll them. At this point in the episode with only map 1 lacking one, it's tradition.

 

Maps 4, 5, 7, 9:

Spoiler

Map 4: 

I like the original as well as any Doom 1 map, this had some interesting takes on it. I felt it had the visual style down in many of the rooms, but it didn't have the same creepy atmosphere since it was much more combat oriented and populated. Also gone are the open layouts, everything is tighter quarters for the most part and pumped full of demons. I liked that it forced you to traverse the rooms to hunt for ammo and had a bit more space to get by enemies. I failed to get the chaingun secret which is pathetic on my part, and it makes the combat very tough but doable with primarily shotgun. On my next playthrough I think I'd have far less trouble since I could fight from that chaingun room and make use of the crushers more. It reminded me a bit of your E1M9 with more slime and darker, and more bulky demons for the first half or so.

 

My main complaint on this one is that the second half felt a bit off, and it definitely overused crushers a bit in general. Making the entire circular room crush is much more problematic than keeping them to small areas, especially since backtracking forces you to go through it to get to the end. I did somewhat like the baron encounters later on, but it lacked some of the interconnectivity and shortcuts of the original, as well as some of the quieter rooms which help the pacing. The last few rooms before the final area felt like I just kind of ran through them and didn't really engage with me. But overall good stuff, this was probably my third favorite of the episode.

 

There's a HOM on the lower part of the crushers, as you look back from the quad teleporter leading to the end. I was hoping to lead the baron into it for a telefrag to feel cool but the floor is too low for him to walk down and he got crushed, how sad.

 

Map 5:

Only Limbo is a worse Doom 1 map than the original, and I don't think I'm alone in my opinion so I don't completely blame you for this one either. I think the number of shotgunners and pinkies in this map is excessive and the whole sprawling layout is thick with them. It could really benefit from a rocket launcher, and not leaning heavily on the berserk once again. Hitscanner hell in the back of pinkies requiring punching is a very frustrating combo. Like the original it turns into a slog but at least it doesn't require too close of a pass to clear out since there aren't 200 secret doors and cubbies. With continuous weapons I bet it'd be a better experience as far as the ammo will take you.

 

My only complaint on the mapping side is, why isn't the secret exit a secret? It seems like a must.

 

Map 7:

I have mixed feelings on this one. I think it's the hardest map of the wad to move through, and still very berserk dependent due to the pinky proliferation even though it has much more ammo overall, even not counting the final stash of cells near the exit. For the most part it plays similar to 5 and 6 but I just found it a bit more hospitable than the others once the pinkies are cut down a bit. It suffers a bit from cacodemons being seemingly in every room in the latter half, but at least you have the option of using some plasma. I think it's generally a good layout which saves it, even though I'm not a huge fan of the original.

 

Map 9:

I kinda like the original even though it's far from a genius gimmick. I had an awkward time with this, the berserk at the start obviously told me I had to punch the baron to escape but once I figured out it was still a pacifist map I managed fine. The cacos don't really move through or infight easily unless you go up top, which isn't without risk when projectiles can deal lots of damage while you wait for the lift. Once you get stuff cooking it's no real issue, and it provides a nice ammo supply to continuous players. Personally I was confused by the non moving fireblu on the lowering wall, I feel like I missed the audio cue to figure out what was happening. I was a bit unsure how exactly to escape but it's simply on a timer.

 

With that said, thank you for the maps and I'm sure to check out episode 3 once it's ready.

[xScavengerWolfx]

Ok now i have it in the right thread lol. So like i said in Wilster's thread (when i had it before with out thinking) I loved ep 2. it was fun but a little brutal for me since i don't really play Doom 1 that offend. This actually made me want to try to make a Doom 1 wad again. 

 

Can't with for ep. 3 and sorry i had it posted in your thread wilster, i thought i had snax's thread open not yours, my bad.

[Captain Keen]

Really loving episode 2, I’m about halfway through, As some people have already mentioned, this reminds me of another great Doom 1 wad from this year called Silence. There are really some nice visuals and traps in these levels. Some great layouts. Feels like vanilla plus, or vanilla taken to 11. I think this wad will be a keeper! Also I love Doom 1 wads and feel really spoiled lately. It was always my favorite vibe of the originals and are really the only “official” levels I still go back and play even now. (Well maybe sometimes Plutonia too)

 

@Snaxalotl How many episodes are you planning total? 3 or 4?

Edited August 25, 2022 by Captain Keen

[Shanoa]

It's been fairly enjoyable like E1! Again, all the callbacks to the original game in the level designs are interesting, I like to think after E1 and E2 the UAC just tried to replicate their installation somewhere else and it just went awfully wrong again as it always do, hence the familiarity. Gonna continue later.

 

Misc stuff to "fix":

Spoiler

A non-issue this marb room is a damaging floor in E2M1

 

E2M3: Where I am standing is when the sector isn't a damaging floor anymore you can follow around, kill the baron and pinky without danger.

 

E2M4:

I wish I could be more precise as to "where" but it's near the end, the first and second step from the top does not have any textures.

 

In this room when the entire thing comes down you can grab the soulsphere. If you stay where the sphere is as the ceiling come down one side lack a texture.

 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Shanoa

[Snaxalotl]

17 hours ago, Lucius Wooding said:

Ok having played the rest of E2 (since my DnD group cancelled again), I have some general opinions. The original E2 was a big mixed bag and had some different style maps which I think applies here as well. Definitely still well crafted and a lot of good callbacks to the source material.

I appreciate the feedback though I feel a lot of the criticism comes down to preference rather than inherent problems with balancing. From the start I intended to have E2 feature ammo starvation alleviated by berserk and secrets to assist with the scarce ammo (While also not being required). I didn't want to have a harder version of E1 with a different coat of paint, I wanted something with a different gameplay loop to it.

All of that is fine since I can't expect someone to like what I was going for, I do however feel that some the criticism of the cacodemons are unfounded...

Quote

-I felt cacodemon placements in general were like any other monster, and it was a bit overused in the later maps. Many of them had fairly flat and cramped layouts so in practice it was just a fat hell knight. The caged cacos in M3 and some of the areas in M4 were exceptions where they worked well but they felt like filler and baron infight bait at times. With pinky populations being high and their infighting potential being very poor, most of the later maps were very clogged up with bullet sponges already without even bulkier ones thrown in. Barons were not too big a problem though, they were used a bit more sparingly.

The flat terrain making cacos act as fat hell knights is just wrong in most cases, here are the examples (each map has 10 or less cacos other than the Fortress Of Mystery esque level)

E2M1: Only place I can see this criticism applying, other than the one flying high in the tall spacious room

E2M2: No cacos

E2M3: The cacos that aren't in a cage have way more access to the open level than the other demons, they don't have any issue pursuing the player over the entire level.

E2M4: The cacos in the large arena again have better access to follow the player and can position themselves outside tall windows shooting into rooms while the walking demons can't do. The ones in the second half of the level can fly up through the doorway that is way off the ground, and can also follow the player into the optional fight with the lava pool. Another section walking demons can't follow you too.

E2M5: The two in the courtyard can fly over nukage pools and balconies. And sure the other 5 act as fat hell knights but why does that matter? I don't have access to hell knights, so they act as a middle ground between imps and a baron for a few fights. I didn't want to replace them with more low tiers or even worse with barons, not every caco needs to utilize its flying ability.

E2M6: There is quite literally a wall I set up in the middle of the map that only flying demons can get over, this hub room has 6 paths that connect to every part of the map. They can follow the player way better than other demons can, I can't stress how important that wall is for them, the can follow the player anywhere because of it. There is also a large window by the yellow key that was built for the sole purpose of giving access to my cacos and lost souls in the level. Additionally the focus of the map is cramped hallways that branch and loop so even in the flat portions it serves as an excellent block in the road. Which is helpful considering the map is focused around tight looping hallways where the player is constantly vying for space and avoiding getting trapped.

E2M7: They have access to a shortcut separating the north and the south portions of the map without having to go all the way around, and again there are 7 over the entire map and some are used as light barons or a hell knight replacement... Which again I don't see the issue with since I don't have hell knights and a majority of cacos in the episode have shortcuts that I intentionally placed just for them.

E2M8: No cacos

E2M9: Oh fuck there are a lot of cacos (I can see this being annoying since I went for something similar to fortress of mystery lol)

Hopefully I don't sound too harsh here, I respect that ammo starvation isn't your cup of tea. But these levels are very caco accessible by design.

[Snaxalotl]

15 hours ago, Captain Keen said:

Really loving episode 2, I’m about halfway through, As some people have already mentioned, this reminds me of another great Doom 1 wad from this year called Silence. There are really some nice visuals and traps in these levels. Some great layouts. Feels like vanilla plus, or vanilla taken to 11. I think this wad will be a keeper! Also I love Doom 1 wads and feel really spoiled lately. It was always my favorite vibe of the originals and are really the only “official” levels I still go back and play even now. (Well maybe sometimes Plutonia too)

 

@Snaxalotl How many episodes are you planning total? 3 or 4?

Thank you!! And I'm planning on 4 Episodes, Episode 3 is already being worked on.

[sandwedge]

17 minutes ago, Snaxalotl said:

Thank you!! And I'm planning on 4 Episodes, Episode 3 is already being worked on.

 

I'm glad you're being forthright about releasing a 4th episode.  There was this one guy, I forget who, he made this vanilla Doom 1 thing called "Loudness" or something like that.  Anyway he literally never said whether he would do a 4th episode, and it's all people asked him in the thread, and he never gave a straight answer.  I'm still waiting to this day for an Episode 4, and I don't know if it'll ever see the light of day.

 

So I'm glad you didn't do that.

[Wilster_Wonkels]

30 minutes ago, sandwedge said:

 

I'm glad you're being forthright about releasing a 4th episode.  There was this one guy, I forget who, he made this vanilla Doom 1 thing called "Loudness" or something like that.  Anyway he literally never said whether he would do a 4th episode, and it's all people asked him in the thread, and he never gave a straight answer.  I'm still waiting to this day for an Episode 4, and I don't know if it'll ever see the light of day.

 

So I'm glad you didn't do that.

all i was doing was sitting around and chilling out in that thread okay

[Captain Keen]

4 hours ago, Snaxalotl said:

Thank you!! And I'm planning on 4 Episodes, Episode 3 is already being worked on.

 

Awesome! INFERNO replacements are my favorite, love old school Doom Hell.

[Clippy]

I'm really into nostalgic doom 1 maps - and I have to tell you I am super impressed how fast you make these but have them be quality and all the nods to doom 1 is a nice and fun touch - good times - thanks for coming along @Snaxalotl @sandwedge @Doomkid

 

VOXEL DOOM IS SO COOL

 

 

didn't realize I played for a half hour had too much fun - E2M2 way better than original

[Sectorslayer]

1 hour ago, Clippy said:

I have to tell you I am super impressed how fast you make these but have them be quality

I strongly agree. That is very impressive, @Snaxalotl… 👍

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Looks like I forgot to mention that I played. Great stuff. Really nice layouts that are smooth and fun to play in. Great lighting in these levels too! I liked it a lot.

[Snaxalotl]

On 8/25/2022 at 5:44 PM, Shanoa said:

It's been fairly enjoyable like E1! Again, all the callbacks to the original game in the level designs are interesting, I like to think after E1 and E2 the UAC just tried to replicate their installation somewhere else and it just went awfully wrong again as it always do, hence the familiarity. Gonna continue later.

 

Misc stuff to "fix":

  Reveal hidden contents

A non-issue this marb room is a damaging floor in E2M1

 

E2M3: Where I am standing is when the sector isn't a damaging floor anymore you can follow around, kill the baron and pinky without danger.

 

E2M4:

I wish I could be more precise as to "where" but it's near the end, the first and second step from the top does not have any textures.

 

In this room when the entire thing comes down you can grab the soulsphere. If you stay where the sphere is as the ceiling come down one side lack a texture.

 

Thanks for showing me these!

The file is now updated with a wide range of tiny fixes, almost all regarding missing or misaligned textures.

[Shanoa]

47 minutes ago, Snaxalotl said:

Thanks for showing me these!

The file is now updated with a wide range of tiny fixes, almost all regarding missing or misaligned textures.

My pleasure!

Will download the new version ASAP and continue my run. c:

[xScavengerWolfx]

When i was playing and making the video on ep. 2 of you mapset. I did really enjoy it but the only thing i will gripe about is i didn't really care for the damaging blood floor, but it did make me figure out that i need the rad suits to get to areas and i just sucks at doom 1 because i'm so used to Doom 2 enemy roster lol.

 

I mean as we speak since playing it, i am thinking of trying my hand at Doom 1 mapping. I won't say when it will be done but when it is i might have sandwedge play it on stream someday.

 

Other then that i hope ep. 3 is going to be fun and more tough then ep. 2 i love getting my ass handed to me.

[Clippy]

I am enjoying the crap out of this experience - adding voxel doom and good friends to the experience is just the icing on the cake

 

I am endlessly impressed at the creative flow you're on right now, you are taking existing classic ideas and putting a nice spin on them that gives the player that nostalgic vibe with not knowing what to expect - I think I am most impressed with your E2M9 Fortress of Mystery overhaul

 

kudos I can't want to get together for more!

 

 

[Codename_Delta]

Well, when and if I'm able to do any serious Dooming, I'll defo make sure to check this out, I enjoyed Doom 1 as a whole (not counting E4 here), and I'm looking forward to playing this!

[Clippy]

Good news I finsihed ep 2! Loved it - good times - cant wait for more

 

 

[Codename_Delta]

Only Played through E1M1 and M2 so far, but what I've played is really good!

 

The only oddities being these.

 

Fixed up a screenshot. I accidentally put a wrong one.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Codename_Delta

[Arsinikk]

I played the first part of Episode 2 on stream (E2M1-E2M5 + E2M9), and actually quite enjoyed it more than episode 1 (not that episode 1 was bad or anything).

 

I don't think I found that many errors. The biggest issue I found is that E2M2 has 8 one-sided linedefs that are set to double-sided, which resulted in DSDA Doom giving a MISSED BACKSIDE OVERFLOW notice. You can use the analysis tool in UDB to find which of these linedefs are incorrectly tagged (they result in a HOM).

 

I plan on finishing episode 2 on a later stream!

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1577976718?t=3h43m6s

 

[Codename_Delta]

Okay here's my comments on E1M3 - 6.

 

E1M3: Fun but it took me the longest amount of time to find out that one of the switches opens up the exit. (Played this yesterday, and only exited today)

 

E1M4: Fun, quite alot like it's inspiration, without the excess.

 

Similar nitpick about the exit door being too tall, but just a nitpick.

 

 

E1M5: Miles better than Phobos Labs imo, also helped by how short it is.

Exit Door is fine this time around.

 

 

E1M6: Hardest so far, fun too, I don't see the Central Processing influence but I guess the part behind the blue key door counts.

 

Exit door also good.

 

Screw it, I ain't got anything to do, in a situation like this, play more Stickney.

 

It's too fun that I'm gonna continue and edit this with my comments of the maps.

Forgot to mention, but I'm playing in choco.

Edited September 1, 2022 by Codename_Delta

[TheShep]

Just did E2 yesterday, vod here for your viewing pleasure: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1579731255.

 

Cheers and thank you!

 

[Arsinikk]

Finished playing Episode 2 on stream yesterday. It was quite enjoyable (apologies in like the first 10 minutes, but I had to swap my keyboard out for being dumb lol)

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1579972205

 

[Snaxalotl]

Episode 3 is out now, Stickney is now a full doom 1 replacement!

[Rudolph]

Sweet! Looking forward to it becoming a full Ultimate Doom replacement! :D

[xScavengerWolfx]

Ep 3 is out now? Oh boy time to dust off the recorder and start recording for a new video

 

[Wilster_Wonkels]

There's a broken secret on e2m5 (the noid level) where you shoot a switch behind some vines which opens a door with another switch behind it. this second switch doesn't lower the floor with the plasma gun properly though.

Also sector 200 on that same level is flagged as a damaging floor despite sitting outside of what i would imagine should be the damaging area. Sector 129 creates a hall of mirrors when it lowers as a lift.

Edited September 12, 2022 by Wilster_Wonkels

[Lucius Wooding]

My impressions of Episode 3 have been very positive. Although I had mixed feelings about Episode 2 I feel this last set has a number of winners and hits on the best parts of the original. Pistol start balance for UV seems a lot more friendly in E3, even though I was scrambling for ammo and health a good bit of the time there weren’t too many moments I really felt screwed by it. E3M4 might be my favorite map in the whole WAD, even though that style of map can be very hit or miss with me it felt like a lot was done right.

 

Highlights:

Spoiler

I liked the first map (Maelstrom) it has a similar feel to the original but it’s a lot less ass in terms of gameplay. The rocket launcher coming early enough to be of use is very welcome, and it's much better on ammo and less drawn out than the original. It's better to keep it a bit more compact and just lay everything on the table like this for a map 1 IMO. Nobody likes to spend literal minutes fisting pinky tunnels.

 

I didn't like E3M3 (Crimson Manse) at first and was still skimming through the maps at that point, but I went back after playing the rest of the WAD to take another look. Originally, I'd tried to run around the perimeter in search of weapons but obviously the main cache was right ahead of the start. That plus the well placed crushers and megaarmor made for a much better safe space; I was able to clear from there even though it wasn't pretty. The visuals somehow were probably my favorite of E3, and the monsters being able to follow and snipe you so easily throughout the map meant I had to have a sense of urgency thinning them out. Very fast paced shorter map, almost gave me a proto-plutonia vibe which I consider a good thing. My one knock on it would probably be the BFG secret, it felt a bit random but it's far from required after all. For continuous players it's a very rewarding one however.

 

Terrorformer was a cool House of Pain tribute, it kept a good tension the whole way through and was probably my favorite of the third episode. Although I died my first start or two, once I made it beyond the very beginning I managed to stumble through alive. Supplies were generally just enough to keep me going and I found some health or armor each time I got in trouble, which felt frequent. I only felt like I was in good shape to fight stuff a couple times, the rest of the run was very nervy. It hit the ammo scarcity mark pretty well, I was never completely screwed but I did have to run around a number of times for supplies when mine hit bottom. I'm not sure exactly why I had such a good time on this one but not on a couple from E2 with a similar style, but it was gritty and played out at a fairly slow pace without feeling super long. 

 

The Unholy Cathedral sendup was pretty cool but I hate the original, I have mixed feelings about this one. It's definitely a bit of a meat grinder but pressing forward seems to be the best option until things thin out. I liked the combat fairly well which is the main thing, although I missed having my SSG with all the pesky lost souls. 

 

Inferno was a good sandboxy one, it took me a while to pick off everything and work my way through but I appreciate the plentiful rad suits and open space. It definitely felt the biggest out of this episode's maps with lots of supplies spread out in every nook and cranny. I'm somewhat neutral on the original but it's considered a fan favorite and I feel this captures the exploration and long range combat emphasis. 

 

Aorta was a much better concept than Limbo, I’m glad you seemed to chuck that turd into the trash and make something decent instead. It felt easier than its map slot (Probably the 2nd or 3rd on the difficulty curve) but I did find the secret BFG with perfect timing which saved my ass. It's a compact, but treacherous layout without any of the endless backtracking or hurtfloors of the original. There was some tension with lurking shotgunners around corners, as well as the crushers being present if you really make a mistake, but overall the beginning was the most dangerous part IMO. I was expecting a big ambush near the end, especially after all the cells, but it never came. Just a fun little run and gun experience with a chaotic first minute.

 

 

 

The rest:

Spoiler

I didn't like E3M2 but it's fairly true to the original in terms of having a dismal atmosphere, ammo struggle, and maze-like layout. I feel like a chainsaw somewhat near the start would probably be a godsend since the level's terrain and enemy type would really favor it over the berserk for slower cleanup, particularly with the numerous lost souls. With the ammo scattered through the level and lots of demons blocking everything up, it's the toughest start of the episode by a long shot for me. I replayed it with knowledge of the secrets and carrying over 11 shells from map 1, and it made a big difference in getting a foothold. While there's enough ammo by the time you clear the map, I feel it's the only map of E3 that's overly tight for pistol starting. 

Add to that the backtracking (although you did a good job communicating what stuff opened up), and it was a bit of a pain to navigate like the original. Also, shame on you for not making the map a fun shape (at least that I recognized). 

 

I generally don't like boss maps, so maps 8 and 9 are a hard sell for me. E3M9 had some fun elements but didn't really grab me, it's a decent one but not a standout in the episode. Not that the original is a towering masterpiece or anything. As for map 8, it basically beats itself if you're patient enough but continuous players have the luxury of the BFG making it a mercifully short slam dunk finale. Very much like the original in that sense. 

 

Bugs:

Spoiler

The 6 lost souls on E3M9 don't teleport in on UV, as a result of them spawning on UV but the teleport destination itself only being on lower skills. Doesn't prevent 100% kills though.

 

Overall I'd say there are at least a dozen real standouts across the set, and a fairly good variety of styles as well. If anything I think the most difficult episode was the second, but it was fairly consistent across all 3 with a few harder maps in each. Should you ever come out with an episode 4 inspired finale, I'd certainly be interested to check it out, although I only like a couple maps from TFC. For now though, congrats on finishing this WAD out strong, it's definitely been one of the highlights I've played this summer for sure.

[Snaxalotl]

16 hours ago, Wilster_Wonkels said:

There's a broken secret on e2m5 (the noid level) where you shoot a switch behind some vines which opens a door with another switch behind it. this second switch doesn't lower the floor with the plasma gun properly though.

Also sector 200 on that same level is flagged as a damaging floor despite sitting outside of what i would imagine should be the damaging area. Sector 129 creates a hall of mirrors when it lowers as a lift.

thank you, these are all fixed now :>