Opening Shots

[Maribo]

When the screenwipe is gone, what's behind it? That's what I'm looking to hear about in this thread. Just show me your favorites, my only stipulation is that it has to be what you see directly after the screen wipe is over, without turning during it. Am also willing to accept shots/gifs/videos of the post-wipe visual if the player starts on a lift/scroller/etc. These do not have to be gorgeous vistas or giant towering buildings that make you realize you are but a speck of dust in something greater than you, they can be anything that struck you as a unique/interesting/fun/etc first glimpse at the map you're about to play.

 

From Occula:

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From Elysion:

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From Xerxesia:

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From Saturnine Chapel:

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From Magnolia:

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From Wormwood: Expanded Universe

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From 1badwad:

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[Arrowhead]

This reminds me of a great episode from Evolution of the WAD!

 

They go over a few cool ones in here, but more explore the initial areas of a WAD, rather than just the opening shot.   :)

[thelamp]

Misri Halek from Alien Vendetta

 

Transcendence from Eviternity

 

 

[Shepardus]

Misri Halek's already been posted, so have some Alpha Scorpii Monument instead (Struggle - Antaresian Legacy MAP29):

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I would also post MAP28 from the same wad, but you have to walk forward a bit to get a good view, so here's the related Sunder MAP10 instead:

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FCFF has several that I quite like. I'm a fan of the grey buildings with sharp angles seen at the start of MAP01:

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A similar shot for MAP05:

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MAP06 is different from the previous two but is also a cool visual:

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While we're talking about Ribbiks, here's Swim With The Whales MAP02:

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Lost Civilization has some good ones, like the coziness of MAP03:

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and the scale of MAP20:

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Ancient Aliens MAP11 kicks off the second episode with a perfectly framed shot of the map, immediately showcasing the visual theme of the episode:

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I really like the start of Never MAP03. It may seem undetailed, even barren, but that goes perfectly with the tone of the wad, and the towering hallway gradually curving out of sight hammers home the sense of scale:

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I may have a thing for grey maps... (DIY MAP22):

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...but color is nice too (Time Tripper C1M2):

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Here's MSCP MAP02. I tried to capture a nice still, but the moving pattern of lights is what really makes the scene.

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The opening of dead.air seems like it was made for this thread:

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Edited February 13, 2023 by Shepardus

[RjY]

Equinox got a "wow" out of me, a lot of years ago.

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[Geniraul]

Auger;Zenith, map 01: Glass Messiah by @SuperCupcakeTactics

 

[Scotty]

Opening shots are one of my favourite Doom mapping things.

 

(20x7 is the best wad for opening shots imo)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by Scotty

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

Please excuse the choppiness I was in ... rush

hue hue hue

Preacher:

Cyber dreams:

My favourite clippyism so far: never skip leg day

Jade earth:

50shades:

Defy the omphalos:

also, sorry not-sorry about the high FOV

[RjY]

3 hours ago, Scotty said:

[...]

Another impromptu Guess The Map

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1 Stardate20x7 map01 (answer already given)
2 Deus Vult 2 map20
3 Flotsam map01
4 Scythe2 map25
5 Sunlust map28
6 AAliens map17
7 Abandon map04
8 ?
9 ?

 

[Roofi]

From Peter's Perv Private Place (Warning : not for kids)

 

[Andromeda]

6 minutes ago, RjY said:

Another impromptu Guess The Map

  Hide contents

1 Stardate20x7 map01 (answer already given)
2 Deus Vult 2 map20
3 Flotsam map01
4 Scythe2 map25
5 Sunlust map28
6 AAliens map17
7 Abandon map04
8 ?
9 ?

 

To complete:

Spoiler

8 Valiant MAP23

9 MAYhem 2020 MAP27

[spineapple tea]

Technically not the opening shot as the first thing you see is just a blank stone room, but if you count the elevator ride down then MAP29 might have the best opening shot in Doom II in terms of most spectacle. (again though, a lot of it is from Shawn's got the Shotgun and the parallax of the ride down.)

[Nefelibeta]

On 2/13/2023 at 10:54 PM, Scotty said:

(20x7 is the best wad for opening shots imo)

welp... :P

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A couple more from Ribbiks:

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Water Spirit, very underrated in terms of visuals

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darkwave32

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[arsac]

Abandon

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Sunlust

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Valiant

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Ancient Aliens

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Gothic99

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Crucified Dreams 

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SlaughterDM

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[LadyMistDragon]

Well, it's a little plain but I think it works (from Revolution!)

 

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[Veddge]

Batman Doom has some incredible opening shots, especially when you consider it was 1999

 

Map14: Gotham Tunnel

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Map16: Scarecrow

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Map22: Axis Industries

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Map30: Bane (Simple but effective)

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[head_cannon]

I'm partial to these two from Akeldama:

 

MAP21

 

MAP17

[Ravendesk]

Italo-Doom map 01:

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Was very inspirational to me, so my take on the same theme from PUSS XX map 38:

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[BedrockCastle]

Memento Mori MAP01's opening shot is downright iconic.

[myolden]

Going Down has a couple that are fantastic: Map 01 and Map 20 (once the elevator lowers)

 

Spoiler

 

[Doomkid]

Once upon a time - and not all that many years ago - Earth.wad had one of the most majestic starting views of any pwad:

 

 

Those waves crashing blew my goddamn mind. 1998 sure was a humble time.

 

Roger Ritenour was a very talented Doom creator regardless what you may think of his gameplay. I remember vividly when this would have easily been within the first 5 posts. It amazes me how far this community has come since, and continues to go..

 

On 3/29/2023 at 11:52 AM, BedrockCastle said:

Memento Mori MAP01's opening shot is downright iconic.

Truer words are rarely spoken.

[prfunky]

On 2/13/2023 at 2:32 AM, RjY said:

Equinox got a "wow" out of me, a lot of years ago.

 

I second this... only with the second shot AFTER the monsters transformed the world:

[Maribo]

2 hours ago, Doomkid said:

Once upon a time - and not all that many years ago - Earth.wad had one of the most majestic starting views of any pwad:

I'm glad you posted this, because Earth.wad is something I was hoping someone else would post at some point. Earth.wad was actually one of the first pwads I played, though certainly not in 1998, because I was flipping through the original Top 100 WADs of All Time page and came across that tiny little image accompanying Cyb's write-up for it. Something about it struck a chord with me and I think it was one of the reasons I kept playing Doom past the IWADs. I was captured by that grey sky and the crashing of ocean waves, nearly 20-odd years after it was made.

[BMWAG65321]

Edit: Damn, these were originally 4K.

DOOM

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DOOM2

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Edited March 31, 2023 by BMWAG65321

[BMWAG65321]

(25 MB limit per post)

TNT

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Cross eye stereograms of E1M1 and Equinox MAP01, you should probably open these in a separate tab and shrink 'em.

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[Jiggahertz]

This level from Refracted Reality (Don't remember the name)

 

Edited May 12, 2023 by Jiggahertz
Removed image to free up upload space :|

[Mr Masker]

Map 31 from Nostalgia

 

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[RonnieJamesDiner]

Always loved this opening shot from Atmospheric Extinction map09

 

 

And the opening of Mapwich 2 map19 always just feels so... pleasant and ridiculous lol

 

[akolai]

jumpwad

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frog and toad

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zzul bases

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dotw

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poogers (hands down the best of the bunch)

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[Roofi]

I recently played Epic 2 and the opening shot from Map 26 "Luxor" is one of the most intimidating I ever seen.