Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #044

[Biodegradable]

Internal Reaches 2 (2003)

 

I stumbled across another crusty old map by @Kaiser from 2003 that was pretty cool for the most part. My only complaint was the level progression felt a little bit wonky and unintuitive with its teleporter shenanigans, but the visuals and combat have aged like a fine wine; a stellar use of vanilla textures and intricate detailing paired with very cheeky traps and incidental combat that keeps the player on their toes. It's a testament to Kaiser's work as a developer and a sign of the many great things he would go on to do with future mapping contributions and his many accomplishments in Doom port hacking and game programming since.

 

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Biodegradable

[Clippy]

Yes now I got more eps than threads lol

 

 

 

Pretty mediocre maps - unmarked doors and confusing progression switch hunting etc - luck of the draw I guess - thankfully @Dub Bag was there to keep things interesting!

 

also hilarious I never drew a map I already played before

 

links in description if interested

[LadyMistDragon]

My Computer DM (2006) by Jonathan Rimmer (Eternity)

 

Wait, Jonathan Rimmer did some speedmapping stuff! This is kind of a joke map though. Literally, it's a personal PC sitting in a void but actually not entirely unplayable, despite being very small. Like 4/10 but I do like the way brown shades are used here. The speaker's so well-done and also the keyboard! But don't use a shotgun here, you'll probably be frustrated a lot.

 

Spoiler

 

The Chaosian (1997) by Richard Dale Carlson (Eternity)

 

What a waste of time. Copypasted hallways at the beginning, a Tome of Power only existing so you could tear x amount of boring enemies to shreds and unmarked walls being the only way to progress out of the opening hallways. There are also 2 custom enemies that seem to be inspired by Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber series, although again, Eternity screwed up the DeHacked work so that they just appear to be flying orbs shooting gargoyle fire. Or at least that's the yellow kind. The blue kind shoots a green electric bolt that we shouldn't be at the receiving end of. The explosive pods have also been replaced with some bright green orbs that are hard to hit. The overly dark second room would be nice if darkness wasn't at the lowest setting. Otherwise, there's some pointless teleporter toomfoolery in the hallway leading to the green door, items sitting in a pit seemingly only existing to justify the Wings of Wrath probably picked up earlier and general dullness. There's a Maulotaur at the end because of course there is, and the exit comes very suddenly. 3/10

 

Spoiler

 

[Thelokk]

Alright! Time to sit down and see if I can find some awesome doomcute, so that I might bask in its glory and finally realize this realization that I seem to be the only one who's not realizing. 

 

Analogie Fatidique by @WH-Wilou84 (2018)

DSDA / UV /100% kills / 100% monsters

 

So, what do we have here? oh, a map originally made for 3 Heures d'Agonie. Not the hottest premise, as I didn't particularly enjoy that speedmapping series (in fact, if I remember correctly, I joined the Megawad Club for 3 and dropped out about halfway, once I got the umpteenth secret starting sector map), but I'm still willing to approach this with an open mind. 

I open the map... and get promptly owned. And then again. And again. So yeah, slaughterwad time! You know, I'm not entirely sure I'm up for this, but a random /idgames roll is a random /idgames roll. Maybe I should downgrade to HMP?

Or, maybe, I have an even better idea... I'm very sorry for what I'm about to do, Wilou...

 

 

Analogie Fatidique by @WH-Wilou84 (2018) WITH RUSSIAN OVERKILL

GZDoom / Drunk Simulator /100% kills / 100% monsters

 

I usually loathe mods (seriously, is there anything I don't hate?) but I will always make an exception for Russian Overkill, my answer to any map that's giving me a hard time. So I load the mod, immediately roll a superweapon, and proceed to make my lamb to the slaughter out of this map. Nice REDROCK hell aesthetics, really dig the red mancubi and the fusionites... or whatever remains of them once my superpowered-overcharged-blahblahblah (yes, that's the name of the weapon) blows them all into oblivion, all at once, with a single shot. Aaah, good times. The fun, upbeat music makes the overpowered carnage even more comical.

After this first couple rooms I'm stumped for a bit, as the vodka power of RO made me so groggy I could not recognize a switch that was right in front of me. A couple of very nasty ambushes follow, or rather would follow if I didn't roflstomp all over them with my instafuneral tri-shockrifle. Another nice reskin tho, turning the revenants into bony counterparts to the fusionites, unlike the latter I had never seen this reskin before.

Fortunately this time I'm not too stupid for switches, so I go deeper into hell with my dual handcannons. A nice, large slaughterfight ensuse, but by now I have over 5k health and could probably walk through Sunder with a peashooter. A few more switches, map is over, the end screen is pretty much me with RO so I don't feel too bad about making a joke of this, in its non-roflstomped form, excellent and tricky slaughtermap. 

 

Warning: lots of REDROCK and comically oversized guns ahead:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by Thelokk

[Silhouette 03]

Okay, So I got a wad that contains 100 000 maps, but GZDoom refuses to load it, and I really don't want my PC to spontaneously combust, so here's the wad. 

 

This file doesn't contain a wad file, and I know very little about command prompts.

 

 A DM map. I'd really like something that I can actually play now...

 

Another DM map with some single player monster placement. Not much to talk about.

 

DM Map.

 

1.BOBKDv2.WAD for DOOMC1.2-BOB CARTER-2010

 

BOBKDv2,wad is a Doom episode 1 replacement. I played the first two maps, and came to a conclusion fairly quickly.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Arguably the only interesting thing about this episode replacement is that it plays and feels like a 90's wad, yet was released on the archives in 2010. It has all the hallmarks of a 90's wad: Very basic and mostly flat layout, pointless areas that exist to waste the player's time, under detailed areas etc. You could say that it is a newcomer's first or one of their first wads, though. That's probably the best way to describe this wad.

 

Spoiler

 

 

There's very little else to talk about here. The only other noteworthy thing about this all is the normal exit being marked as a secret. I'm not sure why, since it isn't really hard to find.

Spoiler

 

 

I can't really comment about much in this wad. It's very 90's in practically every category, but also feels like a newcomer's first wad. Maybe it's both.

 

Thanks for reading. 

Edited October 25, 2022 by Silhouette 03

[Walter confetti]

I already heard of Bob Carter before but i don't remember where, also this is a uploaded wad by RL, so it could be more older of the IDGAMES date link.... Always check inside the zip file for the date!

[Silhouette 03]

You're right. I had no idea that the credit file had a different date. It says June of 1998. Thanks Walter!

[Andromeda]

The levels are even older (1994), since they were used for The Lost Episodes of Doom.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Andromeda

[Roofi]

Month 12 Day 29

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] NUCLEAR RESEARCH - REACTOR ROOMS by Simo Malinen (2003)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

Large power station designed in a theme of the original Doom levels. Lots of action. Try to shoot barrels - and they'll clear the monsters for you!

 

A crowded and full of exploration nuclear plant. Simo talks about "Lots of action", I would say "constant non-stop action" since already decimated areas got repopulated again due to the many hidden monster closets. Fortunately, the author gives you lot of ammo in order to clean all that mess and green armors are plentiful so you don't have to worry about taking damages.

 

Nuclear research does a tribute to the legendary first episode of Ultimate Doom but Simo brought more details and a more distorted layout . I really appreciate how the scrolling flashy red textures are used to imitate the reactors I guess, even if using your rocket launcher in a such dangerous place doesn't lead to desastrous consequences. By the way, this level doesn't have stunning aesthetics but it will please any classic Ultimate Doom fan.

 

This map proposes lot of exploration but you never get lost because you spot the locked door before getting the key you need. The progression was really intuitive. Simo perfectly succeded at creating a middle-sized shooting gallery in which you never get bored.

 

Grade : A

 

I took an unmarked teleporter in chase21a and telefragged a barrel... ouch.

 

Quote

[Shanoa]

Steel by David Jewsbury, released in 1996. Played with DSDA DOOM on UV, this is a MAP01 replacement.

Status: Completed

 

This is a short map and a linear one at that. 

Spoiler

The starting room

 

Right off the bat you are given a super shotgun in the next room. There's a small mishmash of monsters that are instantly trivialized by your superior firepower. By the end of the fight you should already have a chaingun and the shotgun as well so you're pretty much set to finish the map. One set of stairs later you'll soon end up in the next big open room where more fight ensues, a revenant attacks you with a couple of pinkies but they don't really pose an issue here. The area splits into two paths, one path lead to a room with a rocket launcher and a few more enemies and the other is just to go deeper in the map.

Spoiler

Should just call the wad "Marble" instead of "Steel"

 

There's a long corridor with 6 or 7 doors opening one by one to unveil an Arch-Vile, the biggest threat. Sadly it's pretty much a sitting duck, you'll be able to kill it loooong before it's even close to reach you thanks to your rocket launcher. You'll then be given far too much ammos and a random blue keycard for the climax of the map but really it's just 2 pain elementals, an arachnotron that wish it could reach you and some cacos. Can't say I found the use for the keycard, maybe it's for the exit door or a secret, I didn't notice. Just feel like there was a key for the sake of having one.

Spoiler

The last room

 

At around 38 monsters the map won't be long to finish. There's sufficient healing and ammos (especially ammos) but not once do you really ever feel threatened. A contrast compared to the author's description where it says, and I quote: "This one is another a precision level: a couple of wrong moves can destroy your chances of finishing.". Not quite, at most you'll need a bit of healing. The map isn't really visually interesting but the 3 big combat rooms were at least shaped differently enough to make them different from one another instead of what could've been a large, barren square room.

It's just ok.

[Biodegradable]

Processing Bunker (2009)

 

A pretty decent old map from @pcorf that starts off with a sort of survival horror aspect to it, but then decides to pull the rug out from under you at the end, which is my only real complaint. So while its balancing is rather off, the map's design and progression have aged pretty well.

 

 

Tango's MAP02 Remix (2006)

 

Not much to say about this one. It's just a cute and jazzy little remix of Underhalls cooked to perfection. @Tango never disappoints!

 

 

[Roofi]

Month 12 Day 30

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] Damage01.wad! by (level design) Cole Savage (MaNCeR) (1996)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

A great DM level, for 2 players it's very cool! For 3 players it starts to get pretty intense! For 4 players it's a complete frag fest!

 

A rustic courtyard made of brownish bricks and deteriorated grass. If you're a Nine inch nails enthusiast , go for it, because the author used one of its songs !

 

[2] Right Scroll by Andrew Stine @Linguica (2004)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Quote

Play it. Holy poop on a stick, that texture is scrolling the wrong way!!! This is incredible!!! If only this was known ten years ago people might have cared!!!!

For the more technical minded, the trick is done by creating a whole ton of extra linedefs with the wall scroll special which all reference the same sidedef as the one you want to scroll backwards. You need to reference the sidedef an additional X-1 times, where X is the width of the texture in pixels.

While a backwards-scrolling texture is the most obvious trick, you can also change the number of extra sidedef references to just make the scrolling texture haul ass super fast.

Another idea would be to make a super-wide texture comprised of smaller "frames" placed side by side, i.e. make a giant wide texture with individual 32-pixel-wide frames side by side. Then make 31 extra sidedef references and the texture will appear to animate at 35 FPS because the texture will shift over 32 pixels every tic to the next "frame."

 

If you're not accustomed with vanilla mapping, you may feel indifferent about that discovery but it's actually amazing and the operation is actually obscure. Well done for discovering this ! I think I might use this trick on one of my future maps...

 

Grade : A+ (Even if the level is just a demonstration of the trick)

 

[3] The Crusher][ by Rage (1998)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Quote

Lots of crushing ceilings, tons of items and weapons, and just a lot of Death Match fun!

 

I like seeing crushers in maps, even if they kill me , but I admit it's "a bit" too much here, not because of the dangerousness but rather because it slows down too much the progression. I decide to just go the exit and not explore the entirety of the DM map because I don't want an another stupid death. The metallica fits with the madness here.

 

[4] MEGAMAP5.WAD by Aron "Darkwing" Kerkhof (1999)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Quote

A deathmatch wad based on a design found in MEGA.WAD map 5 (duh) or DWANGO5.WAD map 17. Also third in the NOCHEAP! series. It continues the "bacta tank" theme. More on that below...

 

A generic and blocky underground area made of metal and wood. The level has at least a new music and fancy new sounds. I recognize the PG sound from Doom PSX but I don't where the others come from. The sound you get when you obtain a gun is both cheesy and pretty badass.

 

[5] RubenDoom by Eye del Cul (RubenDoom)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Quote

An infernal map with some futurist decoration... I tried to make it with "own personality", working hard with the scenery (light effects, detail, textures...) I aslo pay attention to dificulty level; I like fight against lots of those nasty demons, but these combats shouldn't be too hard, a frustrating experience. A good player don't will have too many problems to beat the monsters...; a begginer, of course, will suffer a lot. ¡Ah! This level is especially dedicated to my cousin Ruben -aka Sigal-, who is now living in Mexico... Greetings from Anarko, Mazayas, Sento, Luis Maiguel & Cia -and, of course, from the family!-.

 

Rubendoom is a pair of light-hearted vanilla maps where you can see pictures of Ruben randomly placed everywhere for some reason and some new custom textures which blend into the background. Eye del Cul added some new sounds for the doomguy just to make you smile !

 

Despite keeping a "classic" look, the green marbled castles feature a rather elaborated architecture and open layouts. I was afraid of having a crash here and there but fortunately this was not the case. I don't have a lot to say about map 01 whereas being the most developed level among the two. If you're looking a bit improved experience compared to Doom 2. This little is for you ! The second map turns out to be a happy mess in a courtyard populated by tons of portraits.

 

Anyway, despite the goofy design choices, it's a kind of a polished "mapset" I recommand to play.

 

Grade : A

 

Decided to fall in water but it proved to be damaging in Cliffs.wad

 

Spoiler

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Trojan (2001) by Sphagne (Eternity)

 

People who have played the first Community Chest (and how do I feel sorry for you) will probably recognize Sphagne as the author of at least 3 maps for that set, one being the infamous Afterlife. All of their maps have a few notable characteristics: semi-open ended mapping environments, a firm commitment to vanilla texturing, and some seriously puzzling design choices. Trojan is no different, but I honestly think this would've been a better choice than, oh, their first CC map (no, I don't remember what that is, I'm often left cold by Sphagne to be brutally honest). @kmxexii hasn't gotten around to this one yet in his coverage of the other works of Community Chest maps, so I guess in a sense it falls to me. The menu sound has been curiously replaced, and the music choice (which came from something called painless.wad) is groovy and fits well with a nighttime setting.

 

You start out in a crate, hence the name, surrounded by several low-ranking enemies that are likely to tear you a new one due to the notably limited movement space. Small rooms are a notable characteristic of this map, although larger spaces aren't necessarily alien. You'll also gaze upon a Cyberdemon outside, although he won't see or hear you because there are probably monster-blocking lines.

 

 

Anyways, you'll make your way out of this room, scrounge for health and after accessing a control room with a backpack in a cage, riding an anonymous lift to the roof, climbing around that and ending up on top of the crates in the beginning, making sure to collect the berserk pack (ammo's not especially plentiful), along with the blue key here. After finding a switch that opens all the blue bars you've seen around, you can finally go outside!

 

This outside courtyard is an extremely dangerous place. Mancubi and Arachnotrons are literally everywhere, along with Pain Elementals at select locations determined to harass and waylay a player, along with several areas along the main building with Revenants and chaingunners mainly, though there are also Imps.

     These areas are ultimately the key to progressing, although it will take some time to discover which ones will help you advance. In one of these is a secret series of walkways, marked by a wall in a particular closet, that you can press on to teleport to a ledge with a series of transparent walls that contains a switch which can be pressed which I believe activated a platform on the nearby rooftop which allows you to pick up the backpack in the control room cage. You can also grab a cell box from another nearby secret by dropping down another shaft. Seriously, the amount of connected shafts in certain locations is flat-out ridiculous. Although I didn't spot any of this stuff until I reached the yk room and thought there was no manner to progress any further.

 

           Before that came the picking up of two particular weapons: the Super shotgun which ever so trollishly is placed next to a block leading to the exit switch in a green building of sludge management or something, and the plasma rifle, in a random kitchen cabinet as ever so helpfully pointed out to you by Sphangne in the text file. What a small dining room though, and nice side passages here too.

 

 

     With the plasma rifle, the bit with the storage room and Barons becomes far more mangagnble. If you scramble to the top of the crates here, you'll reach a switch which temporarily lowers some crates contaning 2 demons and a Megaarmour. After disposing of the Revenants in this room, you can jump to where they are, make your way through a series of rooms with a slime pool and a library and at the end, run back to hit an obscure switch spotted earlier which counterintuitively lowers the  the yellow bar to grab the yellow key and then head to the point in the map where the yellow door is but not before hitting the switch that....does something.

 

The yellow building is just confusing. So you kill the hitscanners on the sides and deal with the Cacos in a cage that has a rocket launcher for some reason. Head outside after hitting the switch here and there are open corners which you can head inside and shoot the buttons here to activate a lift to grab the rocket launcher but not before dispatching a pair of hell knights and a baron which teleport here but upon entering a certain portion of the cage, are locked in with red bars but can get out by shooting a switch whilst hitscanners continously teleport into the corners and Revenants appear to test your rockets on. And I'm nor certain you don't need to do this to grab the red key, btw. It's less confusing than that, but I'm not a good writer and am too lazy to think of conciseness right now. I think it's here though where we find an Arch-vile is taking our offense to the entering of their domain, a cute bedroom with red sheets.

 

 

         So now....go back to where you got the yellow key, go hit another switch here, then....well, that doesn't matter too much but you'll basically end up behind the Cyberdemon, along with 2 Invulnerbility Spheres and a few Barons. Let's just hope that the Cyber infight with the Barons in the control tower that's got green brick because it'll make your final job so much easier. Why 2 Invulnerbility Spheres? Well, there's a silly corpse blocking the way to him, and you thusly can't exactly cheese himn from here. Anyway, press the switch in the cyber tower, access the control tower thusly, and prepare to deal with a massive ambush coming from all corners of the courtyard that test your remaining ammo reserves. And no, I didn't find the hidden BFG because I seem to have this problem with visual language or something, bt also this map gets stupidly confusing in too many places.

 

 

Having said it, this isn't all that painful when a player knows what they're doing. 7/10 Maybe some of the Doomcute bits were cringy, but it's not overdone at least.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Roofi]

Month 12 Day 29

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] I am Evil 2 by Dr. Beefstupid (2001)

 

Spoiler

Quote

I think "I am Evil" sums it up

 

A very bad but fortunately very short level where you start in a small room in front of few imps. At this point you think it's an ultra easy level until you open the door at your right. An army of hell nobles was waiting you and ready to stuck you in the case you don't run past them in time. With some chance, I was quick enough to reach the exit switch located far behind.

 

Here is the story of I am Evil 2.

 

Grade : D-

 

[2] of Game impire (1996)

Spoiler

 

Quote

This is an imp level fought around and on the battlements of
        an ancient castle.  You have to visit the towers to find
        the keys. Watch yourself near the 'end'.
 

 

You have to plunder a rather "imp-osing" castle because it's guarded by some ferocious imps (and secondarily few barons). The unknown author gives you a SSG and shell boxes at the very beginning. It sounds good on the paper but SSG is far from being the weapon of choice concerning sniping the imps located up on the ramparts. I wasted almost all my shells killing them. You can obtain a chaingun and plasmagun in the ramparts but it's impossible to foreknow this in a first playthrough.

 

Anyway, I want to say the progression annoyed me quite a bit. Taking the elevators inside the castle is dangerous if you didn't kill the imps before because they can hit you when you take them. "Of Game inpire" figures among the old wads where the water does damage for absolute no reason. The final part takes place on a giant cliff , which somewhat reminds me of the part in Okuplok with all the mancubus. The ravine is filled with water but don't trust to the appearance. The liquid deals -20 dagame !! Also, the progress is a bit obtuse. Not a big deal but it doesn't help improving the wad.

 

So, sceneries were pretty great but the gameplay was quite irritating.

 

Grade : C+

 

[3] Flashback E1M8 by Espi (2006)

Spoiler

 

 

 

Ah... Flashback, an aborted Ultimate Doom megawad whihc had a great potential. I recorded a longplay of a compilation of some of the finished maps in march. If you liked "The way id did" concept, it's a bit similar but Espi brought more advanced cosmetic touch-ups. Sadly, textures weren't as meticously aligned than in Suspended in Dusk but whole aesthetics had been improved compared to the original IWAD map.

 

About the level itself, Espi reinvented the wheel but with there are few more monsters this time. The small group of barons aren't dangerous at all if you play on UV , but Espi's map reinforces the fact that the pinkies are the real boss. The ones trapping at the beginning are quite dangerous but they litterally destroy you if you attempt a NM playthrough I guess though.

 

Grade : B-

 

And Terry told me to stop in Temple of Chaos

 

Spoiler

[LadyMistDragon]

Enigma Demo (2003) by Various (Eternity)

 

The first 4 maps in what I guess was some kind of collaborative megawad? I don't exactly think this was a partial conversion, but the design goals seems as if though they include detailing conveying a real place without plunging into Doomcute. The 4 maps presented here are quite small, which I suppose makes sense because they are early maps, but it's also hard to parse out actual talent here.

 

Still, each map has a distinct identity, although all of them but Ralphis' map are decidedly techbase. Hyena's first map is a shockingly competent effort from one of the principal Mock 2 contributors. I really like how an unusual vanilla texture is used to create columns. I also like the tunnels at the beginning.

 

Map 02 is basically lots of blue-carpeted hallways and a general sense of an office complex. Although one room seems like interdimensional-connected experiments are being conducted.

 

Map 03 is by someone named Danarchy (no relation to the current-day mapper Dannarchy). And despite the hallways being much larger than they need to be, it successfully conveys the feeling of a multi-section complex. Monitoring stations and security rooms can be found throughout. I've no idea how to get inside the slime tank though, and I don't really care either.

 

Map 04: A sort of techbase in the early stages of corruption. Despite just 51 monsters on UV, Ralphis packs in a nasty close-quarters teleport trap near the beginning. Although balancing could still be better because unless you like to shotgun 4 Hell Knights, annoyance seems inevitable.

 

Decent visual touches but combat leaves much to be desired 6/10 as is.

 

Spoiler

 

[Roofi]

Month 12 Day 30

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] Maze by Scott Ashley (1995)

Spoiler

 

 

Maze consists to a disjointed corrupted tech base replacing E2M1. Contrary to what the title might suggests, it's fortunately not a typical mouse maze but rather a bunch of large and often flat rooms with keys and switch hunt.

 

Despite the lack of homogeneity and consistency between rooms, the author didn't botched his job. Some rooms have a nice use of textures or lighting so the differents areas remain interesting to explore. Of course, I don't think this level can match the quality of the second episode of the IWAD but the spaciousness of the layout offer a lot of freedom of movement which make the adventure breezy.

 

The level doesn't pose any trouble combat-wise. I don't have a lot to say about this except it remains classic. This level will not mark my memories but the absence of obnoxious level design choices is somewhat a great asset for a wad released in 1995.

 

Grade : B

 

[2] Facility H by Stephen Whittaker (2008)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

Simply a speedmap based on classic doom

 

Facility H resembles like a traditionnal E1-themed map but the darkness doesn't  help highlighting the grey and greenish textures in my opinion. The aesthetics felt too faded for my tastes but it's a speedmap afterall.

 

This map is short. It can be completed in under 5 minutes and under 3 if you're quicker than me. The fights turned out to be a bit dangerous because of the lack of armor (unless if there is one in secret?) and ammo. The different combat scenarios didn't leave me a great impression. The baron guarding the large red key's zone doesn't have a lot of efficiency for instance.

 

Facility was a decent speedmap for Ultimate Doom but nothing else.

 

Grade : C+

 

[3] Shotgun for Two RELOADED by Daniel Aguilera & Nicolas Foppiani (2007)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

10 years passed since we created SHTGUN42.WAD, and we still can't seem to get enough of it! This reloaded version intends to make things a bit fairer for the surviving player, since the original version allowed the healthy reborn player who just lost the last battle to chase the weak surviving winner down too quickly after dying, and thought that was a chicken attitude. So we added some 'health rooms' for the winner which become available right after the loser dies, so the winner can recover from the last battle before having to face the next one. The starting locations have also been improved (more shotgun shells) and textures in general look now much more realistic. Doors were fixed too, and now behave like real doors. We love this map. There's a lot of crap out there (BFG, plasma, huge levels, etc) and we always keep coming back home. Enjoy!!!

 

If you have no people to play with, you can try killing the 2 cyberdemons located in the 2 courtyards. They're not too dangerous but don't miss your shots too much otherwise you will run out of ammo. The othen point is the "Wimp's room" located next to the exit. I like the "conveyor' carrying the weapons and power-ups I would so much like to have (It's actually just a scrolling texture in the case you wonder why those items look like paper).

 

[4] Wolfenshit 3D Act 0ne: Das Wolfenshit Basen by Walter "daimon" Confalonieri @Walter confetti (2005)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

A crap wolfenstein style level whit a lot of enemies, make a laugh playing it...

 

It's a jokemap which has nazis, tons of BFG , a sky used as floor but.... absolutely no health. I think Walter didn't know health items exist before making this map I guess. Or maybe it's a specific challenge which reminds me of TOD's "No health" series. This level was therefore oddly difficult.

 

Fortunately, Walter gives you LOT of weapons and especially tons of BFG at the very beginning. However, your powerful BFG will not protect you from nazis's bullets and and they are likely to quickly drain your health f you decide to go for it. I lost at least 60 hp because of the first room so be careful. The other dangerous fight consists to the large sky room housing a lot of mancubus. If you're scared, you can just grab the yellow key and leave but I got courageous and killed them all. The exit room is guarded by some arch-viles but you can trust your BFG to do the work.

 

Yep, it's crap but I had fun. I can't give a bad grade to a map which amused me.

 

Grade : C+

 

[5] Sandmans Dungeon by MWBF Productions (1996)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

A great deathmatch WAD for DOOM2

 

According to the wad name, I would have expected a midi of the famous "Enter Sandman" but it's a crappy weird midi rendition of "The Unforgiven" by the same band instead (Metallica). I like how the grainy green rock texture was used in order to create a "garden" but the rocky maze at the surroundings add no value.

 

A revenant's rocket chased me in the dark catacombs of Killer

 

Spoiler

[LadyMistDragon]

The vineyard (1999) by Keith (Eternity)

 

Seemingly a conversion of a Doom II deathmatch map, this isn't without it's charm. But there's an almost cartoonish amount of room to move around. You can still move around the pillars here, but the yellow-vined walls do nothing to improve things 3/10

 

 

 

The Vault (1995)  by Derek Waters (Eternity)

 

A single map with a nice bit of environmental storytelling at the beginning as you're facing a dead corpse with your back to some windows. From that point though, there's tons of questionable choices regarding the signifying of actual doors, there's a pair of unmarked teleporters easily leading to the best part of the map (fight some dudes in close quarters for the BK), and it's entirely possible to stumble into a vat of slime next to the rk door and lose tons of health before finding a rad suit. You can drop into this place from another room, btw. It's a shame, because it's not a bad map otherwise, and it almost feels like barrels were scattered but still placed in such a manner you'd have a chance to hit something. And that bit of the blood floor that drops off helps the map live up to its name. But um, putting the name of the map in the map itself.....no. 4/10

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Roofi]

Month 12 Day 31 (ONE YEAR OF REVIEW !)

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] The_Exit by @6XGate (2003)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Quote

A small little WAD I did out of boredom. It is my first one.

 

For a first mapping attempt , this ultimate doom single map offers fine details and creative use of stock textures, especially concerning the greyish ones. The aesthetics represent the main feature of the map since the level is too short, linear and easy to create a replay value.  On the other hand, there are no real flaws that I can point out. The level is very pleasant and the experience is like a map from the first episode of Doom.

 

Grade : B+

 

[2] SEWERS.WAD by Unknown (2005)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

SEWERS.WAD

 

SEWERS.WAD is a single Ultimate Doom level which was uploaded 11 years after its making. It's a traditional sewers-themed level with brown/metal textures and damaging green nukage. However, its unknown author showed some creativity at some parts. I like how you can get out from the canals by taking tall and thin stairs for instance. The combat against the cyberdemon was both dangerous and unexpected. I also enjoyed the few weird design choices , like the series of switchs to press in order to get a soulsphere.

 

Aesthetically, it's rudimentary and sewers are maybe one of the most uninspiring theme in videogames but I think it looks pretty nice for a map made in 1994.

 

I liked that one.

 

Grade : B+

 

An arch-vile busted me at the start of Contaminant Containment Control

 

Spoiler

[pcorf]

On 10/27/2022 at 12:13 AM, Biodegradable said:

Processing Bunker (2009)

 

A pretty decent old map from @pcorf that starts off with a sort of survival horror aspect to it, but then decides to pull the rug out from under you at the end, which is my only real complaint. So while its balancing is rather off, the map's design and progression have aged pretty well.

 

 

 

This map was intended to be a replacement for MAP06 in Whispers of Satan but I decided to release it standalone.

[LadyMistDragon]

Minigun (2001) by Espi (Eternity)

 

A cool little weapon mod that replaces the pistol sound with a series of short, loud bursts containing considerably more preciseness than something like a Glock, a more powerful Beretta-style gun perhaps. The titular gun sort of takes that sound and raises the pitch to be much higher and it's actually quite fun. The SS sound has also received a replacement (and works with Ultimate Doom when played in Eternity for some reason!) that is massively impactful and a solid improvement over the original. The mod falters in its attempts to replace the stimpacks and armor for some reason though. The stimpacks are nowa bottle of pills and a needle and the armor's tan recoloring are just plain bad. Solid 7/10, Espi can't do too much wrong unless he does too much maybe.

Spoiler

RICKS1 (1994) By Richard Chapin (Eternity)

 

Didn't I play this in Shovelware Society? Do I even care? It's a fairly bland '94 map, though still with a certain sense of adventure in the design choices that it doesn't really feel all that bad(the slime ceiling at the beginning is particularly noticeable). I like how slime is leaking from the pipes instead of blood in one hallway and how the final series of fights take place amongst some computer consoles. But there are too many switches, too many fake-out exits (ok, just 2) and too much ridiculous health amounts. 4/10, disposable as all hell but also not painful in any way.

 

Spoiler

[ICID]

Nitro's Chex Quest (2012) by Cory "Nitroactive Studios" Scott

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Not So Sticky}

Source Port: GZDoom

 

First I should admit that I technically did not play this WAD as intended because I didn't download the freeware Chex Quest WAD, and instead just ran it with chex3.wad. I didn't notice any meaningful issues other than missing a couple ceiling textures, so I assume my experience with the gameplay was more or less as intended. 

 

Second: I almost never play ER/iWA wads below HMP or UV. This one I went all the way down to Chex Quest's equivalent of HNTR. This is because, as noted in Thelokk's review and /idgames itself, the first map on UV is absolutely packed with pinky equivalents who you are expected to slowly punch or pistol down. Since I only have a limited time to play Doom, and indeed to live on this earth, I opted to go for an easier difficulty and just take in the level design.

Third: I love Chex Quest. Absolutely love it. Sure it's silly, but it was my introduction to Doom as a kid and I still think the original 3 episodes have a ton of low-stakes charm. I even 100%ed that mostly-terrible new 3D remake. It's...dare I say...a comfort food to me.

With all that background out of the way, I found basically nothing to like about Nitro's Chex Quest. The levels are fullbright with basically no height variation (except the occasional elevator that takes you to another, higher flat plane). There's a bit of doomcute, as in the original Chex Quest, but mostly textures and items seem to have been thrown around with no rhyme or reason - see the screenshots above with broken switches and tons of phones just lying on the ground near some spaceships. The combat is clearly unbalanced - even on HNTR I regularly ran out of ammo, except on maps that had the Super Bootspork, which remains OP in this Doom variant. The level design features several of the worst mistakes of the 90s, including cramped hallways, frequent backtracking, and whatever the Woflenstein is going on with E1M5 here:

 

 

I was really excited to play an actual Chex Quest WAD, and really let down by this subpar effort. You should just play the original game instead.

Grade: 2/10

Assault on Chextropolis (2018) by Stormwalker
 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

Source Port: GZDoom

 

I was still in the mood for some Chex Questing action after the last pick, so I did an /idgames search for all descriptions with "chex" and then used a random number generator to pick a WAD from there. You may decide for yourself whether or not this is truly in the spirit of the ER/iWA, but either way I ended up with this wonderful entry from veteran mapper Stormwalker (aka Vordakk), who collaborated with Phobus and a couple other known mappers on this year's Irkalla.

And this here? This is everything I want from a Chex Quest WAD, blending the doomcute design and overall silliness of the Chexiverse with modern slaughter-lite Doom combat in a sprawling epic with over 400 monsters. I like that this plays out as sort of a "greatest hits", mostly taking place over a shortened version of CQ2's Chexopolis (complete with the movie theater, the art museum, and those fucking sewers) before sending you to another starbase and another  meteor showdown with Lord Snotfolus a la Chex Quest 3. I also like that bosses are now treated as standard enemies, significantly increasing the complexity of encounters - in particular, it must take some kind of mad genius to design a satisfying setpicece around multiple Flembranes (the goofy wall that served as the final boss of CQ1.)

There's also a new story with new voice lines reminiscent of Duke Nukem 3D - basically, it's clear that this was a labor of love from start to finish, and the results are highly satisfying.

Grade: 8/10

 

 

Dead Perfect (2008) by Yonatan Donner

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

Source Port: dsda-doom, complevel 2

 

Okay fine, I guess I can play some regular Doom. This selection comes from Yonatan Donner - speedrunner, TeamTNT member, and co-creator of the controversial  megawad Hell Revealed. At the risk of offending the hardcore Dean of Doom heads out there, I actually still enjoy Hell Revealed quite a bit. Sure, it doesn't really line up with modern design sensibilities, but I don't think that makes it bad, as though Doom were a technological process that we've recently perfected instead of a million works in conversation with each other over decades.

Anyway, in keeping with older challenge wads, the difficulty is ramped up here by reducing space rather than increasing monster count, resulting in two cramped but pretty fast-paced maps with simple, Plutonia-esque visuals absolutely packed with high-tier monsters and super shotgun ammo. The second map has a clever gimmick at the beginning where the super shotgun actually hinders you, as you have to use it to clear a hallway packed with single-file imps in order to reach the  single shotgun that would have allowed you to clear it faster. Other than that, this is pretty standard but very good stuff from a mapper who found his niche in the 90s and spent the next ten years perfecting it.

Grade: 8/10

[Walter confetti]

After the works on Nanowadmo and another level this month, i have some time to play some doom wads, including some for this:

 

Classic 2: A place of Sin by Jan Var der Veken - Vanilla Doom, SP, 1998, played with eternity "forseti" 4.0.2

Spoiler

A short episode 2 map (E2M2) made by Jan var der Veken, a author known for Dawn of the Dead episode and Darkening series, is a map with heavy Inferno inspiration, especially Pandemonium with it's central hub structure. While being short and using a small amount of enemies (80 or so in HMP) the map can be pretty challenging, thanks to narrow corridors usage and strategical usage of barons and cacos in the map. In the Classic epissode i recall this map was used in E2M7? Anyway, a short very good map.

 

rdwalld.zip by sidman - Vanilla Doom, SP, 1996, played with eternity "forseti" 4.0.2

Spoiler

Text file doesn't tell you, but the map is for E3M6. Pretty random, i know.

You know, one of my first maps has been done behind the same concept of this map? After this small piece of today's useless trivia, i'm going to talk about this map: is a slightly complex and very cramped first effort by this sidman guy back in 1996, the level itself is a cool map for being a first time map, some errors are present but this is not that bad, actually! The layout is sets in this place where many vignette fights and scenarios are present, divided each other by teleport or locked doors\bars, the gameplay is kind of easy for the majority of the map is pretty linear, but there's a pretty problematic room not only by swastika design, also for the insane difficulty curve in that exact moment: you're going to fight against two cybers, a spider mastermind and i let imagine whatever else the author decided to put against you in this scenario, all on ledged platforms and the platforms can be reached by a unmarked teleport with random directions at each of the for sides. Fantastic. Overall, is a cool map for a first timer, despite it's major flaws. I've reached the secret exit before the normal one after traversing a series of linear corridors filled with monsters. Ok.

 

Ungay SkullTag by @sargebaldy and @Nanami - Skulltag, Doom 2, SkullTag, 2003, played with zandronum 3.1 and bots + Skulltag data pk3

Spoiler

 

This is a medium sized map for Skulltag based upon Team Fortress (the one from Quake i think, not the Valve one) and the SkullTag gameplay mode, a CTF-like type of game that wasn't that greatly popolar even back in days when Skulltag existed. 

This map is... pretty ok for my standards, even fun in some parts, the problem over the unfortunate title choice is the fact that the game mode doesn't work the way SkullTag originally intended on Zandronum for some reason, what's going on here? However it looks like a fun map to be played with people online!

 

Mini DM by William Lawson - Vanilla Doom 2, DM, 1996, played with zandronum 3.1 and bots

Spoiler

 

A very small, squarish and frantic DM map by this William guy, i recall a 1995 map with the same name but it's not this one. It's ok, i don't think is that bad like the anonymous reviewer think giving to this map 1 star. Not greatly visually, but it's somewhat fun to play.

 

Jagged Edges 1 by Quingshuo Wang (piXel reX) - Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 1998, played with eternity "forseti" 4.0.2

Spoiler

I'm pretty sure to have already seen this guy name around, he made a pretty famous map from what i recall... Anyway this is a small map with many really impressive features for vanilla maps, like 3D lift and windows, instant raising floors, really neat lighting works with curved lines and even instant lowering grates with falling monsters from it, this is insanity thinking it's all from a 1998 map! Gameplay is relatively easy, but the instant popping monsters are a pretty nasty surprise and a challenging treat in your play. A really good small map!

Edited October 31, 2022 by Walter confetti

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 01 Day 01 

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] Novice's House by SpiderDisease (2014)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

Another small experiment made by me, reminds me of early 90's community maps.

 

A small map I already played during Month 3 Day 19 of the first year. I played with DOSBOX instead of crispy doom this time.  Honestly, why even the "modern" maps I get via the random files button still look like maps made in the middle of the 1990's ?? Anyway, it's short and uncomplicated. I appreciate it.

 

Grade : C+

 

[2] August11.wad by TheAugustMan (1996)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

A level for DEATHMATCH only! Based on the wood textures with a dim light most places. In this level you'll find it useful to jump...snipe... jump...snipe...they're alot of different highs in this level and the big weapons are placed so you must jump in some way to get them. First time I use this princip but it surely *rocks*! Pick skill 1/2/3 if you don't want the BFG. 2 players are ideal for a fast game. Anyway, it seems that there are *several* ways to get the weapons...especially you may find many "shortcuts" to get the *big* weapons. A little but complex level for serious DOOMers!

! There are 2 exits on the level and the secret one ! ! is just for purely fun in case you wonder... !

Hope you enjoy August11.wad!

 

A tall underground room with an emphasis on height variations. I like the visual settings and especially the small part which resembles a bit of a chapel with a reversed red cross. I didn't find the secret exit (and I don't care).

 

[3] Hexen Is Cool.. Hey.. you try to think up one for this one.. by Andy Kendall (1995)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

A small level for Hexen that's just plain cool.. heh.. I tried to make it look like it says iD.. cuz Id helped Raven with this awesome game..

 

A bland underground deathmatch hexen map with a lethal pit in order to make the map a tad less uninteresting. There are 4 enemies in this map so you can have fun for 20 seconds. However, it's far for being enough to save this map. So maybe Hexen is cool (even if I don't like it), but your map has no interest and pollute the idgames archives.

 

[4] Dungeons of the Doomed by Rich Carlson (2004)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

This level is based on a Doom map that I made in 1996 called Citadel. In 1997 I converted it to Doom 2 (Citadel II). Dungeons of the Doomed is a new Doom 2 version with many tweaks and fixes.

 

You start in front of a mysterious teleporter which leads you to a wooden dungeron. This map uses a midi of a classical music I already heard somewhere but I forgot the name. Funnily enough, the custom soundtrack makes  the map more charming than it actually is but the choice of music is an important element of a map afterall.

 

Your mission consists to sneak in tight corridors and find all the keys in order to leave the fortress and reach the courtyard populated by tough monsters such as an arch-vile, a flock of arachnotrons and of course a cyberdemon. The author mostly used zombies and hell nobles concerning the indoor fights, which not necessarly make the game easier. They're likely to quickly punish you if you decide to mindlessly rush.

 

Anyway, I ended up really liking this level for the cosy aesthetics, entertaining music and the simple combat scenarios.

 

Grade : A-

 

I got locked in a cavern with pinkes and an archvile in Alexsa Loose MapS 2021

 

Spoiler

[LadyMistDragon]

Vengeance: Sky Base Sirius IV (1999) by Paul Fleschute @Kor  (Eternity)

 

Good and not especially challenging single-player map. Rooms are filled with computer consoles and it's easy to see how this is a base. There are also a few important rooms with crates and even a vent at one location. Visually, it doesn't really stand out from other tech maps, though the orange sky apparently came from Paul's cancelled Vanguard project. In one spot, there's an outside area that may be an outdoor lab of some sort, but it's too abstract to bother describing right now. There's also a sort of machine room with pipes running over the ceiling. Encounters are constant but not especially present until you get toward the end and Revenants and Arachnotrons take care to bear down on you. This does have its fair share of design issues and the progression is a little...odd, if not really obtuse (blue key is behind a crate and red key door is practically a few steps from the red key). However, good use of vanilla textures and solid combat make this hard to knock 7.5/10

 

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Clippy]

still the same thread lol - nice - here is ep 46 - just me today waiting for roof ppl to finish - let me know if you hear banging in the vid

 

 

 

get it here : https://youtu.be/fVX3bGOsCOQ

 

This was actually a good map - I'm surprised lol - getting a decent map on the first click - I like the acid theme and some decent traps and tight proper ammo reductions - overall quite fun even tho I fumbled out of the gate like I always do - it was fun finding secrets too - very good times - nice classic competent map and sorry to say - not always what you come by when doing the random thing

 

good times

[ICID]

New thread! 

 

[Kor]

3 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Vengeance: Sky Base Sirius IV (1999) by Paul Fleschute @Kor  (Eternity)

 

Good and not especially challenging single-player map. Rooms are filled with computer consoles and it's easy to see how this is a base. There are also a few important rooms with crates and even a vent at one location. Visually, it doesn't really stand out from other tech maps, though the orange sky apparently came from Paul's cancelled Vanguard project. In one spot, there's an outside area that may be an outdoor lab of some sort, but it's too abstract to bother describing right now. There's also a sort of machine room with pipes running over the ceiling. Encounters are constant but not especially present until you get toward the end and Revenants and Arachnotrons take care to bear down on you. This does have its fair share of design issues and the progression is a little...odd, if not really obtuse (blue key is behind a crate and red key door is practically a few steps from the red key). However, good use of vanilla textures and solid combat make this hard to knock 7.5/10

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Thanks for the review.  This level never got much attention.  BTW I never had a Vanguard project going.  This level was to be the first in a series based on Vengeance's story line, but i lost interest in it.

[Yeszo]

On 10/21/2022 at 7:46 PM, Sena said:

100,000 Levels: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/0-9/100kmaps

 

This one doesn't actually run on my machine, but I have played 1942, so I know that any more than 3 levels that are the exact same is all I can take. But if you want to press your spacebar 100,000 times in a row, then they've got you covered.

 

Smile the Map: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/smile

 

Pretty good by first map standards, although its opening could definitely be a lot better, with the first 10 of its 60 enemies being low tier fodder that the player is funnelled through a narrow hallway to kill without any hesitation. Once it opens up, it manages to do some pretty creative things given its runtime, with a good variety of enemies, combat scenarios, and some especially striking scenery for what is (presumptively) a limit-removing WAD. Only problem with it is the ending, a cyberdemon fight in a level with no cells, which in my view is something that just cannot be fun given how long it takes to kill the cyberdemon. But still, there's a clearly significant amount of creativity on display here, including plenty of secrets, plus a toilet, which Doomers seem to love. 6/10, this appears to be the only work by Yeszo, but I'd gladly pick up a second map if he decided to come back. Also, one of the playtesters was Alla Shimeimaru, just had to put that in there somewhere.

 

Sorry for bumping an old ass thread, but thanks for generally enjoying my map lmao. The reason why that opening section sucked so much is because that was the first time I figured out how doors worked. Also, it isn't a limit-removing WAD for the most part, outside of one particle effect in a secret room. Sorry about the Cyberdemon.

 

I've actually made quite a few more maps, but none of them have really been good enough for me to post imo. I also did a multiplayer-focused mod with a friend of mine that never saw the light of day due to compatibility issues with newer versions of Zandro, I did like the maps I made for it though, and I may still release it at some point. Who knows, maybe the next map I release is a 7/10.

 

I actually have no clue who Alla Shimermaru is! They just showed up in a server I was running while I was testing out the mod in multiplayer. Is this someone I'm supposed to know?

 

(also, for future notice, my pronouns are they/them)

Edited May 21, 2023 by Yeszo

[Sena]

Alla's not actually anyone well-known per se, it just so happens the name is a corruption of the Touhou character Aya Shameimaru, and if there is one thing to say about Touhou, it's something that manages to show up everywhere.