What is your favorite visual theme you've seen in a WAD?

[OpenRift]

Probably one of my favorite parts of Doom's vast and ever-expanding mod community is the wide variety of visual themes that custom textures and color palettes bring to the game. I think my favorite (at least right now) would probably be either the neon-soaked South American ruins of first episode of Ancient Aliens or the sandy Egyptian royalty of Steamy Bathhouse. Those might be some of my personal favorites. 

Edited January 18, 2023 by OpenRift

[arsac]

My personal favorite is definitely Sunlust's "black and gold" theme during it's last maps, especially God Machine. Also Valiants "green-ish" theme during it's first 2 episodes is a good mention.

[knifeworld]

Definitely the cave maps of Sunlust.

[Somniac]

The dark space station of the later Scythe X maps, Sunlust caves, everything about Morbid Autumn...there's more but those are what comes to mind right now. 

 

 

[Maribo]

walking in the void + spelunking through caves

Edited January 19, 2023 by Maribo

[maxmanium]

Scythe 2, episode 5.

[The BMFG]

the later eviternity maps

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

36 minutes ago, The BMFG said:

the later eviternity maps

I could vote for any episode of Eviternity. I like the Ice episode a lot, and the Hell/Heaven episodes.

[Herr Dethnout]

Cacoward style visuals.

My favorite genre.

[Nikku4211]

I really like maps like Void and Null Space.

[CFWMagic]

BTSX-E1 Quake-Like techbases. Speaking of which, big up @esselfortium, thanks for the wads and the music. Can't wait for BTSX-3 sometime in the the distant future!

[Geniraul]

Definitely the DIY theme. People just draw all the textures by themselves the way they want to, and this including enemies, Doom cute, HUD... Just everything! Some brilliant work there!

 

 

[Michael Jensen]

Edited January 19, 2023 by Michael Jensen

[Roofi]

My answer is pretty general but I love maps which try to create pseudo-realistic places with stock resources like UAC dead or Kama Sutra

 

One bonus point if it's vanilla compatible

Edited January 19, 2023 by Roofi

[Thelokk]

Abstract, especially if achieved through mostly / only stock textures. Bonus points if it makes vanilla engines seethe.

 

Pretty sure nothing will ever top this one,  for me at least.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Thelokk

[ZethXM]

Tough choice between Heartland and Auger Zenith.

[Deadwing]

Ancient Aliens is gorgeus, definitely. Some recent trend that I've been enjoying a lot is too is some "fall" themed maps, with lots of orange

[Professor Hastig]

I like it when mappers try to overcome the established tropes of Doom mapping without making the result look like something completely different.

 

A great example of this would be the base section of ZDCMP2. The attention to detail is amazing and all the signage made it feel like a real place where it is nearly impossible to get lost.

 

And yet, it is still very much Doom.

 

[Jizzwardo]

Have a few favourites- 
1. The Void in Map 10 of Haste - the way there are random feeling structures feels like the map is an amalgamation of many worlds colliding into one almost. So sick to me.

2. Down the Drain's whole aesthetic (to cheat), though if I had to pick one, I would say the first episode of that wad. Something about the way the fields look, it reminds me vaguely of just "old internet", which isn't something I was really around for, but I don't know. It's like the Windows XP wallpaper lol, its that kind of vibe. Absolutely amazing.

3. Flotsam's Map 09 - I love green basically, and this map's whole atmosphere is amazing to me. It was the first time I ever played a challenging map, and I was definitely not good enough to really be playing it at the time, but the visuals kept me wanting to play it. The music also adds so much to it. 

4. Crumpets Map 05 - More green :), I really love the way the puddles on the ground intertwined with the ground to make just a really wavy, smooth looking map. This was the inspiration for my first map. 

5. Toilet of the Gods Map 01 - I just love the huge open space with the massive falls in the distance, and seeing the caco swarm slowly floating towards you at the beginning. I also just love how vertical everything is, I'm a huge fan of just how the map looks. Kinda hard for me to pinpoint anything for this one but there's just something cool about it for me I guess :p

 

Spoiler

 

Haste Map 10:

Down the Drain Map 01:

Flotsam Map 09:

Crumpets Map 05:

Toilet of the Gods Map 01:

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Whatever was in City at the Edge of Ire and Babylon's Chimaira. Also, antares-style mass blue texturing and deep ultraviolet green( think DBP 34 and that one map in Judgment, 26 I believe)

[OpenRift]

9 hours ago, Roofi said:

My answer is pretty general but I love maps which try to create pseudo-realistic places with stock resources like UAC dead or Kama Sutra

  

One bonus point if it's vanilla compatible

I agree, I think one of my favorite examples of this is in Doom Zero, which has probably one of the best vanilla-style city levels I've seen. All within DOS limitations.

[OpenRift]

18 hours ago, maxmanium said:

Scythe 2, episode 5.

So just, Plutonia, with even more vines (and revenants)?

[Casketkrusher]

Egyptian themed, like EPIC. I just love Egypt :)

[thelamp]

Abstract flesh-computer psychedelic hellscape

[Lizardcommando]

Semi-realistic Doomcute levels.

[Walter confetti]

• Techbase/Hell mashup
• Black (but also other colors) void
• Semi-realistic urban environnement
• Space Stations / Starships like the Vrack Series or Ancient Aliens
• Moon/Other worlds like Ancient Aliens episode 2
• Building floating in the sky

Edited January 20, 2023 by Walter confetti

[Obsidian]

Finished playing Jade Earth recently and the "marble techbase" theming is something I found pretty cool. I'm always a sucker for unorthodox texture combinations and Jade Earth is one of the better examples.

 

Spoiler

 

[maxmanium]

4 hours ago, OpenRift said:

So just, Plutonia, with even more vines (and revenants)?

 

Not really, I never cared much for Plutonia's visuals. I know it has some jungle stuff but it's not the same as in S2.

[LouigiVerona]

Auger Zenith, hands down

[Noiser]

13 hours ago, Thelokk said:

My favorite level in Sunder. All made in stock textures, it's really impressive!

Edited January 19, 2023 by Noiser