MyHouse.wad

[PKr]

I think there might be something wrong with your house.

[Gregor]

13 hours ago, mankubus said:

Looks like you've spent quite a bit on this wad. I was wondering

  Reveal hidden contents

what do you think about the S+A heart sign? I mean, assuming Steve and Tom were a couple, wouldn't it be S+T? why would one use a surname for such a thing? you would typically use both names and not surnames. So this seems kinda odd to me. Maybe the A is for a girl, I mean the baby stuff, had to be a girl, unless they were adopting one or something. Btw the people in the pictures gives an AI generated vibe. Maybe none of these people even exist.

 

As for the level itself, pretty cool design, well executed. I was triping for a while until I figured out what was going on in the thread (I played the regular wad first). I wonder if there will be future updates with newer diary entries. Someone mentioned the file was updated (last update march 26th as of today).

 

Spoiler

As far as the S+A sign goes, it could of course be that Tom was a trans man and had a different name originally. But i personally think an entirely different person is implied here. Steve is blending his anguish about losing Tom with the other traumas of his life. I think the stillborn baby nightmare very points at a tragic end to a former relationship. But i also don't think that either Tom or Steve actually exist. At least not under these names. Maybe the author actually did lose a friend last year; some of the pictures of the high school and the original house that come with mod are obviously real. So there's probably a kernel of truth. But most of the framing story is most likely made up.

 

Also, the last small update didn't add anything of note, it just made a minor tweak to how the bathtub teleport to the flooded house is handled, without changing the resulting effect for the player.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath for any major updates or revelations. The whole point of a work like this is to leave the audience guessing.

[Groplaw]

16 hours ago, mankubus said:

Looks like you've spent quite a bit on this wad. I was wondering

  Reveal hidden contents

what do you think about the S+A heart sign? I mean, assuming Steve and Tom were a couple, wouldn't it be S+T? why would one use a surname for such a thing? you would typically use both names and not surnames. So this seems kinda odd to me. Maybe the A is for a girl, I mean the baby stuff, had to be a girl, unless they were adopting one or something. Btw the people in the pictures gives an AI generated vibe. Maybe none of these people even exist.

 

As for the level itself, pretty cool design, well executed. I was triping for a while until I figured out what was going on in the thread (I played the regular wad first). I wonder if there will be future updates with newer diary entries. Someone mentioned the file was updated (last update march 26th as of today).

 

Spoiler

You know what, Hm, maybe I'm off base, maybe not, but what if its a lot more messy and complicated than just a physical death?

 

What I mean is, we have the heart as S+A, we know Tom should make that a T, we also know that its implied they were a couple, and the wad is about them, so it seems muddled.  However, there's also the fact that after you get the pills, the bathroom signs change, which strongly hints at a transgendered element to it that no one has really fully explained.

 

What if A is Tom, what if Steve Nelson's high school sweetheart, Ashley, Anne, Angela etc transitioned to male?  Became Tom?  Maybe beyond a physical death there's an aspect of Steve Nelson dealing with the "death" of "A", who he loved, and mourns in a way. 

 

Going down this road makes things even fucking darker though, the final obit reveal that shows them both dying at the same time, implying dying together, what if it wasn't an accident?  What if it was Nelson not being able to accept this transition, lashing out in some... i hate saying this and adding a really dark take on this, but a murder/suicide of some sort?

 

Maybe myhouse.wad is the Hell Steve finds himself in, forced to relive all these memories of a life in pain over and over.

 

Or maybe the pills and transition element being in an airport, signifies a relationship that fell apart from the transition and Tom is leaving? "Tom left after transitioning" kind of fits with the order of everything, since outside of the good ending its the last thing that happens.  This could also mean the 'good' ending is Nelson looking at how things might have gone different if they made other choices, maybe how things could have been if they didn't push them away, or maybe in their own mind if A/Tom didn't transition in the first place? "If none of this happened we would be happy on a beach now".

 

Theres a lot left unexplained, at some of those idea take it down a much more depressing and sad path, but, maybe its not as 'sweet' as it presents itself.

 

 

I honestly hope the real Steve Nelson never says anything about the wad, right now its pure death of the author theory-crafting, and them popping in to give some disappointing "real" answer would just diminish it.

 

[Gregor]

21 hours ago, Groplaw said:

  Hide contents

I honestly hope the real Steve Nelson never says anything about the wad, right now its pure death of the author theory-crafting, and them popping in to give some disappointing "real" answer would just diminish it.

 

I disagree. I hate fake mysteries. If the story is good, it doesn't need to hide itself in obscurity to create an illusion of depth and sophistication. The wad would lose very little in my eyes if the full story would be revealed by the author. What i admire about the wad is the level of craftsmanship and creativity on show, not the thrill of a contrived never-ending treasure hunt for answers that can never move beyond the realm of speculation and runaway imagination.

Edited April 6, 2023 by Gregor

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

Spoiler

Had the same first playthrough that I'm sure many did (Ending 1, went through the burning house, etc) and was in awe at the creativity. The brutalist world especially made my jaw drop. Then I decided to visit the thread and saw that I didn't even scratch the surface of what this thing had to offer... Not sure how to describe how this thing made me feel. I didn't necessarily find it scary or dread-inducing, I was just in awe of what I was seeing and was swept up in the surreal atmosphere, in a way that could only happen in the form of some elaborate modification of something already very familiar to me. Plus I found it kind of sweet in a way. Definitely an experience I'll be dwelling on for quite some time, this one raised the bar.

 

[Captain Ventris]

Spoiler

This was a hell of an experience. Really well done and mind-bending. I loved it.

 

[unraveler]

The wad has been featured in Doom Mod Madness

 

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by unraveler

[Nate42]

This one pretty much blew my brain

Spoiler

I was able to get the burned house -airport - for sale path on my own, and was already suitably impressed. Had no idea at first that I had barely scratched the surface. Had to use a guide to figure some things out because it gets pretty cryptic but highly recommend doing as much as you can blind. I'm beginning to question my memories - in part because I actually have dreamed about this wad, how often does that happen? But I could have sworn one of my playthroughs I ended up in a monster infested airport. All other times its been empty (except the bathroom). Any idea what triggers that? Have I lost my mind? 

 

[YouAreTheDemons]

8 minutes ago, Nate42 said:

-snip-

Well there are ways to cause monsters to spawn in the bathrooms of the airport (i think only the womens bathroom though?), so that might have been what youre remembering.

[Nate42]

2 hours ago, YouAreTheDemons said:

Spoiler

Well there are ways to cause monsters to spawn in the bathrooms of the airport (i think only the womens bathroom though?), so that might have been what youre remembering.

 

I know about that I was thinking elsewhere. Too much playing late at night I am beginning to think I imagined it. :D 

[ShallowB]

I made a lil video going over the story surrounding this wad. 

I’ve seen a lot of people saying the progression and secrets are a little cryptic, but there are actually plenty of hints sprinkled throughout the narrative!

 

I’ve done one play through, but noticed a few things that I think require more investigation.  The fact that the map loops back on itself through Underhalls is great, you can just keep exploring deeper every loop! 

[Gradius]

A pretty incredible wad. Though with that said, it appears there are points of no return rather than the ability to freely return to areas to 100% things. That or the path back is to cryptic for my potato brain. I guess I could try replaying with more saves, but it'd be nice if progression was tiny bit more open-ended on that front. I suppose it depends on whether you find knowing that there are more secrets left to find more inticing or frustrating. I wonder if this was as much of a PITA to actually create as I imagine based on the complexity of its layout.

[Gregor]

13 minutes ago, Gradius said:

A pretty incredible wad. Though with that said, it appears there are points of no return rather than the ability to freely return to areas to 100% things. That or the path back is to cryptic for my potato brain. I guess I could try replaying with more saves, but it'd be nice if progression was tiny bit more open-ended on that front.

The points of no return are probably intended to be there for narrative reasons. Keep in mind, one of the major themes for this wad is regret - you often don't get another chance in life to go back and fix your mistakes.

[bofu]

Finally had a chance to play this (I don't like to play a WAD while I'm working on a level, otherwise I end up unintentionally aping it!) and holy hell, is this a case for all of GZDoom's advanced capabilities without abandoning the Doom aesthetic. No spoilers here, but the first ending I got really amused me with its unexpected outcome. Excellent work. A completionist's nightmare, but the enjoyable kind.

 

My advice to anyone playing this: just let your playthrough take you where it does. The next one will take you somewhere else if you let it.

Edited April 7, 2023 by bofu

[PsychEyeball]

29 minutes ago, Gradius said:

A pretty incredible wad. Though with that said, it appears there are points of no return rather than the ability to freely return to areas to 100% things. That or the path back is to cryptic for my potato brain. I guess I could try replaying with more saves, but it'd be nice if progression was tiny bit more open-ended on that front. I suppose it depends on whether you find knowing that there are more secrets left to find more inticing or frustrating. I wonder if this was as much of a PITA to actually create as I imagine based on the complexity of its layout.

If you want to find out more on your own without resorting to walkthroughs, I encourage you to read the journal found on the Google Docs folder. Heck, try entering some cheat codes too!

[Fairen]

42 minutes ago, bofu said:

My advice to anyone playing this: just let your playthrough take you where it does. The next one will take you somewhere else if you let it.

This isn't really a thing at all.

 

Spoiler

There are three "endings", and two of them aren't even endings, you just get no ending whatsoever if you a.) didn't do the scavenger hunt and/or b.) killed either of the dogs.

 

The other problem is if you just "let your playthrough take you where it does", it's entirely possible to completely lock yourself out of entire sections of the game with zero way to know you've done so, and by doing so render the scavenger hunt impossible to complete. Which leads to the "no ending" thing.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Fairen

[MugMonster]

On 3/24/2023 at 9:36 PM, Renbot said:

Thoughts on one of the included files (and one hidden one);

Anyway, I hope we get to see new stuff soon :)

 

something I noticed the first time I read the journal but haven't seen anyone else mention is that in the first several entries, it's written very vaguely, presumably intentionally so, with the author only ever referring to "my childhood friend."  Thomas isn't actually mentioned by name until February 19th, which is conspicuously after the Valentine's Day entry, which is the first indication of the author having lost a significant other rather than a friend.  and then on February 20th, the author says "after 13 years," which suggests some connection between 2010 and the map, but the author ostensibly hadn't seen the map until a few months ago.  there's almost certainly an intentional disconnect between Steven and the author that makes it unclear who actually completed and released the map within the narrative (and in the real world for that matter lol)

[senyaiv]

i wonder if the wad name is a reference to Luca Mugnaini or it is just a coincidence

[YouAreTheDemons]

1 hour ago, senyaiv said:

i wonder if the wad name is a reference to Luca Mugnaini or it is just a coincidence

Who's that?

[bofu]

3 hours ago, Fairen said:

This isn't really a thing at all.

 

  Hide contents

There are three "endings", and two of them aren't even endings, you just get no ending whatsoever if you a.) didn't do the scavenger hunt and/or b.) killed either of the dogs.

 

The other problem is if you just "let your playthrough take you where it does", it's entirely possible to completely lock yourself out of entire sections of the game with zero way to know you've done so, and by doing so render the scavenger hunt impossible to complete. Which leads to the "no ending" thing.

 

Spoiler

Not to get all arthouse and philosophical on here, but the lack of an ending is an "ending" in and of itself.

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by bofu
edited to be less acerbic

[Fairen]

15 minutes ago, bofu said:

Not to get all arthouse and philosophical on here, but the lack of an ending is an "ending" in and of itself.

That's exactly what it is, though.

 

Twelve pages of desperately trying to find meaning in something that has no real meaning. What is the significance of this car? Maybe it's because the creator had a model of a car to put into their WAD.

 

The great thing about that is that it then allows you to dismiss any criticism of it by proclaiming "ART!". Why is it so incredibly easy to completely lock yourself out of any sort of satisfactory resolution if you were to click on this thing instead of that thing? Because that's good art, apparently.

 

Imagine going to an art exhibit and without any warning being told that, because you entered through that door instead of this door, you don't get to view half of the paintings. You only get to see 60% of this one. Only a brief flicker of this painting. Want the full experience? Go figure out the right door and view all the paintings in the right order.

 

Then you realize in the end that it was only about a half-dozen paintings and you spent so long on it retreading the same things, just figuring out how the stupid exhibit demanded that you approach its Art-with-a-capital-A without ever telling you of these requirements. By then you've lost any sort of appreciation for the paintings themselves, unless you want to believe all of that nonsense itself was Art-with-a-capital-A.

Edited April 8, 2023 by Fairen

[ebrl]

4 hours ago, Gregor said:

The points of no return are probably intended to be there for narrative reasons. Keep in mind, one of the major themes for this wad is regret - you often don't get another chance in life to go back and fix your mistakes.

Seeing as the one point of no return that was kind of weird and completely arbitrary was stealth fixed, it only reinforces that the other ones are actually deliberate.

[PsychEyeball]

11 minutes ago, Fairen said:

That's exactly what it is, though.

 

Twelve pages of desperately trying to find meaning in something that has no real meaning. What is the significance of this car? Maybe it's because the creator had a model of a car to put into their WAD.

 

The great thing about that is that it then allows you to dismiss any criticism of it by proclaiming "ART!". Why is it so incredibly easy to completely lock yourself out of any sort of satisfactory resolution if you were to click on this thing instead of that thing? Because that's good art, apparently.

 

Imagine going to an art exhibit and without any warning being told that, because you entered through that door instead of this door, you don't get to view half of the paintings. You only get to see 60% of this one. Only a brief flicker of this painting. Want the full experience? Go figure out the right door and view all the paintings in the right order.

 

Then you realize in the end that it was only about a half-dozen paintings and you spent so long on it retreading the same things, just figuring out how the stupid exhibit demanded that you approach its Art-with-a-capital-A without ever telling you of these requirements. By then you've lost any sort of appreciation for the paintings themselves, unless you want to believe all of that nonsense itself was Art-with-a-capital-A.

You really must be a fun person to hang out with.

 

Not to mention that the crux of your argument lies in the fallacy that you are only allowed to engage with the artform only once. This is more of a problem with you and not the art. It just means you don't want to spend the time required to let the whole picture sink in. Do you have to shove 20 dollar bills in your computer every time it starts myhouse.pk3? Or you're simply the kind who wants instant gratification and enjoyed when Deus Ex: Human Revolution gave you all the endings in one room where there's 3 different buttons for you to press, therefore giving no weight to any of the actions you have undertook in the previous 99% of the game to get there?

 

Instead of raining on people's parades who are having a good time trying to piece together a working narrative out of a fun and unusual project that takes the time to establish a narrative, maybe you should look into what really are your expectations regarding well, anything. 

[Fairen]

7 minutes ago, PsychEyeball said:

You really must be a fun person to hang out with.

 

Not to mention that the crux of your argument lies in the fallacy that you are only allowed to engage with the artform only once. This is more of a problem with you and not the art. It just means you don't want to spend the time required to let the whole picture sink in. Do you have to shove 20 dollar bills in your computer every time it starts myhouse.pk3? Or you're simply the kind who wants instant gratification and enjoyed when Deus Ex: Human Revolution gave you all the endings in one room where there's 3 different buttons for you to press, therefore giving no weight to any of the actions you have undertook in the previous 99% of the game to get there?

 

Instead of raining on people's parades who are having a good time trying to piece together a working narrative out of a fun and unusual project that takes the time to establish a narrative, maybe you should look into what really are your expectations regarding well, anything. 

And when people critique that which you see as Art-with-a-capital-A, proceed to treat them like they're drooling idiots who don't know what Good Art is.

 

It is entirely a valid criticism that something is a wholly-unfulfilling experience if you don't do something you're never told or even suggested that you should do. And even ignoring that, even with the interesting technical bits, it's still a eyeroll-worthy cliche-riddled creepypasta that stops just short of exposition about how hyper-realistic the random blood in the bathroom is. (You walked around in a bathroom, and now it's bloody and there are Doom monsters there! This must mean something, probably, definitely!)

Edited April 8, 2023 by Fairen

[esselfortium]

Sorry you didn't like it. You've long since made your point and don't need to keep reminding people how much you didn't like it. The exact things you didn't like about it are features to people who did like it. You are never going to see eye-to-eye or convince anyone here that the wad they're enjoying is actually bad. It was clearly not a "wholly unfulfilling experience" to a lot of people here. At this point, what are you trying to achieve with posting again and again about how much you dislike it, other than hearing yourself talk?

[Fairen]

7 minutes ago, esselfortium said:

Sorry you didn't like it. You've long since made your point and don't need to keep reminding people how much you didn't like it. The exact things you didn't like about it are features to people who did like it. You are never going to see eye-to-eye or convince anyone here that the wad they're enjoying is actually bad. It was clearly not a "wholly unfulfilling experience" to a lot of people here. At this point, what are you trying to achieve with posting again and again about how much you dislike it, other than hearing yourself talk?

Fair enough.

 

I'll leave y'all to enjoy and discuss the deep and rich narrative and symbolism at the heart of "Potato Rick".

[taviow]

With that said, I want to insert even more positivity here by saying that this was a wonderful experience and I'm so glad I played it. One of the most beautiful and inspired works I've seen here in quite a while. I'm simply blown away.

[DavidN]

9 hours ago, ShallowB said:

I made a lil video going over the story surrounding this wad.

This is a nice summary of the backstory - looking forward to the playthrough :) This is a fascinating, terrifying thing - after my own playthrough I’m working on a video about how the map is altered as the level goes on, mostly so I’ll be less afraid of how bloody mental it is

[D4NUK1]

15 hours ago, unraveler said:

The wad has been featured in Doom Mod Madness

 

 

So Icarus video lead me here and i followed his Spoilers intructions...

 

Spoiler

I expected changes with the GZDoom engine, and coming from the Old House to the New House maybe was the change to make in GZDoom, like you now, modernize old maps made in Boom?.

 

Anyways,  i find myself hopeless after "softlocking" with the blue keycard and the door dissapairing, but then the radio in the garage sections says escape...

After that i was expecting a hellaofalot stuff go demonic like on Doom, but there i was, in a spiral starcase, and then in heaven, and then fireblu, and then in a burned house, there so many things that i was feeling, chills and terror, then just the case of i feel bad and my mind it's says like stop playing, but i can't i need to escape the house, i want to get out of this house.

I entered the dark maze after the brutalist scene, and that was full of dispair and was crazy how i lasted there like 10 mins, i don't remember how i ended on the plane, as i was chating with friends about the .wad, but i missed the upper roms and the bathroom, go directly to the plane and walked from the destroyed house to the house like alone? The feeling when i escaped was bad, like... i win but i don't know what happened in really.

 

Maybe i'll write something in spanish on my places but man, this feel a worthy map.

 

[Bauul]

3 hours ago, Fairen said:

Imagine going to an art exhibit and without any warning being told that, because you entered through that door instead of this door, you don't get to view half of the paintings. You only get to see 60% of this one. Only a brief flicker of this painting. Want the full experience? Go figure out the right door and view all the paintings in the right order.

 

As an aside, am I the only one that thinks this sounds like a pretty amazing and memorable art exhibition?