MyHouse.wad

[ultra_kek]

3 hours ago, SkeletSpook said:

Signed in just to get on this hype train (altho I'm sure I still have an account somewhere from many years ago).Really liking this WAD, but I also echo some sentiments I've seen here:
 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Part of me was slightly disappointed when I realised what the mod was actually doing. I was already aware that it was a House of Leaves kind of thing but then stuff like the Backrooms and Poolrooms showing up felt a bit too familiar and I wished the WAD had done its own thing a bit more. I think "Liminal Space horror" definitely has a lot of potential as a genre without falling back on the same tropes over and over. On the other hand, the familiarity does have something nice to it and it's fun to see some of these creepypasta locations in the Doom engine and how they are transposed onto the lay-out of the House. It's almost like visiting a place from the collective unconscious.
Still, definitely not the most original thing. Even the opening section where the House keeps changing slightly reminded me a lot of the game Anatomy.

 

Incidentally I'm playing through Control at the moment and it's interesting to see both Control an myhouse.wad do similar things, they're both clearly influenced by House of Leaves as well as internet horror (in Control's case SCP foundation, I don't think Backrooms was already such a thing when it came out). But whereas Control takes the core elements of its influences to build its own thing, myhouse.wad copies and pastes its influences, only tweaking them slightly. That said, there's some stuff myhouse.wad legit does better than Control, such as creating a sense of dream logic.

 

My real joy from the WAD came mostly from just discovering how deep the rabbit hole kept going, stuff like finding out you could go to a mirrored Underhalls or a hospital after you died, literally made me laugh out loud at how crazy detailled and expansive it all is.

 

One thing I haven't seen discussed here, but I haven't gone through all 29 pages so I'm sure it was, is how the picture of Steve and Tom feels off, could it be AI generated?

 

 

 

Spoiler

I have not seen that much of Control but I think its unfair to say that myhouse's content is derivative to such a degree. I know others may not be up to date with it but I am actually immensely familiar with the backrooms and other "liminal space horror" (even if not really by choice...), as with Kitty Horrorshow and most of the wads direct inspirations. I will admit I wasn't too enthralled by the poolrooms house and think it's the weakest part of the map (I'm not counting the backrooms since to me its just a joke on those who try to cheat and its really well executed for that, I knew many of the mapping tricks this wad uses beforehand but could never have even imagined that), but while the wad shows a lot of its inspirations on its sleeve, myhouse uses the elements of its inspirations not to copy-and-paste like most backrooms or creepypasta content but to weave an original story that is hauntological rather than horror, made palpable by being given actual context to relate it to. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any backrooms/liminal horror content that could actually meet the narrative quality of myhouse.

Like, I do mean that literally, even if you still think its derivative it would have to at least be the best backrooms content there's been so far, given the competition consists of SCP knockoffs and maze games where you get chased by jpegs.

 

3 minutes ago, Weird Sandwich said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

It's funny, I was also thinking of the Control comparison this morning and coming to a similar conclusion. Control is very clearly heavily inspired by SCP, but creates it's own unique world using similar themes and ideas. I guess this approach is more what I was hoping for from this wad after seeing its reaction. The author is clearly talented and skilled enough to have made more unique environments, so it just comes down to an artistic choice by them that I don't think works for some people.

 

I'm glad you brought up Anatomy, too. The burning house section felt like something straight out of a Kitty Horrorshow game, in a good way. I'd recommend people who like this wad to also try out Anatomy and the Haunted Cities collections, similar sort of vibes.

 

As for your last point about the photo being an AI image, it at least offers a potential reason for the wad directly replicating so many popular liminal spaces  - Perhaps the wad is meant to have been created by the internet itself, through an AI known as Steve, and is piecing these bits together. This AI could then presumably take over any abandoned old Doomworld account to post the wad, such as Veddge's. However I'm not really a fan of this interpretation, as it goes against the more personal feeling parts of the wad and weakens them. Also not sure why an AI would feel compelled to make this.

 

Spoiler

I'm fairly certain that the photos are AI generated just so that the photographs can depict people who do not exist and cannot be identified or found in real life. I really doubt that we're supposed to consider AIs as part of the narrative...

 

[SkeletSpook]

6 hours ago, ultra_kek said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I have not seen that much of Control but I think its unfair to say that myhouse's content is derivative to such a degree. I know others may not be up to date with it but I am actually immensely familiar with the backrooms and other "liminal space horror" (even if not really by choice...), as with Kitty Horrorshow and most of the wads direct inspirations. I will admit I wasn't too enthralled by the poolrooms house and think it's the weakest part of the map (I'm not counting the backrooms since to me its just a joke on those who try to cheat and its really well executed for that, I knew many of the mapping tricks this wad uses beforehand but could never have even imagined that), but while the wad shows a lot of its inspirations on its sleeve, myhouse uses the elements of its inspirations not to copy-and-paste like most backrooms or creepypasta content but to weave an original story that is hauntological rather than horror, made palpable by being given actual context to relate it to. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any backrooms/liminal horror content that could actually meet the narrative quality of myhouse.

Like, I do mean that literally, even if you still think its derivative it would have to at least be the best backrooms content there's been so far, given the competition consists of SCP knockoffs and maze games where you get chased by jpegs.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm fairly certain that the photos are AI generated just so that the photographs can depict people who do not exist and cannot be identified or found in real life. I really doubt that we're supposed to consider AIs as part of the narrative...

 

 

Hmm maybe my wording was a bit too harsh

Spoiler

I do think it does more than just copy-pasting or at least that all these familiar elements it uses are being used in a smart and creative enough way that it becomes interesting. And definitely more intersting than so much of the “liminal horror” stuff out there right now. While I personally think it’s not a original as I had initially hoped it would be, I still enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to exploring it further. 

Oh yeah and I agree with you on the (possible) AI stuff

[Ven813]

A review on the wad written by my friend

 

https://bezdarbor.com/2023/05/10/myhouse-wad-is-not-another-gimmicky-doom-map-with-ingenious-level-design/

[YourOpinionsAreWRONG]

Gonna give this WAD a try soon. Without anyone spoiling anyway, should I read the journal before or after I've played the WAD?

[Pechudin]

On 5/9/2023 at 11:00 AM, SkeletSpook said:

One thing I haven't seen discussed here, but I haven't gone through all 29 pages so I'm sure it was, is how the picture of Steve and Tom feels off, could it be AI generated?

 

Spoiler

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but in the House of Leaves, Tom is the name of the Will Navidson's brother, and is one of more important characters in the book. I suspect Tom does not actually exist.

 

Spoilers for the book:

Spoiler

Tom gets killed by the house in the latter part of the book.

 

 

Edited May 11, 2023 by Pechudin

[Not Jabba]

20 minutes ago, YourOpinionsAreWRONG said:

Gonna give this WAD a try soon. Without anyone spoiling anyway, should I read the journal before or after I've played the WAD?

After.

[YourOpinionsAreWRONG]

7 minutes ago, Not Jabba said:

After.

Thanks :D

[HumanHardDrive1]

3 hours ago, Not Jabba said:

After.

lol.

[Groplaw]

7 hours ago, YourOpinionsAreWRONG said:

Gonna give this WAD a try soon. Without anyone spoiling anyway, should I read the journal before or after I've played the WAD?

 

 

I would say, play it once, then read the journal carefully, then play it again.

[MugMonster]

while we're on the topic of the journal again, another thing that I haven't seen brought up but I always found slightly odd

 

Spoiler

the dreams in the journal describe most of the alternate locations you visit; the abandoned daycare along with a reference to the crib in the attic, the mirror world and the beach, the car crash and gas station in the woods, the empty plane... just about everything but the brutalist section.  however, when it gets to the dream of sinking into the bath, it doesn't describe the poolrooms, instead it describes a rocky cave with a crevice that he hides in.  it does mention "being hunted by something unseen" and the poolrooms section has those monsters you cant see until they attack, but other than that, it doesn't really sound like the same area.  I doubt it's anything significant, but it does stick out to me.  do you suppose the author originally intended for a different location?  the world of game development is certainly full of scrapped ideas so it seems plausible

 

Edited May 12, 2023 by Mr.Unsmiley
small addition

[Powerhouse Willington]

I'm trying to get this to run, but I keep getting an error in both GZDOOM 4.8.2 and 4.10.0, launching it from ZDL 3-1.1

Quote

VM execution aborted: Tried to read from address zero.

Called from ChainsawRemover.RenderOverlay at myhouse.pk3:zscript, line 206

Am I doing something wrong or is there a setting I don't have enabled or disabled?

 

EDIT: I hadn't downloaded the zip file with the wad in it. What's the purpose of the PK3? Am I overcomplicating this?

Edited May 12, 2023 by Powerhouse Willington

[Velvetic]

9 minutes ago, Powerhouse Willington said:

I'm trying to get this to run, but I keep getting an error in both GZDOOM 4.8.2 and 4.10.0, launching it from ZDL 3-1.1

Am I doing something wrong or is there a setting I don't have enabled or disabled?

 

EDIT: I hadn't downloaded the zip file with the wad in it. What's the purpose of the PK3? Am I overcomplicating this?

 

Are you trying to launch it with any other mods?

[Powerhouse Willington]

1 minute ago, Velvetic said:

 

Are you trying to launch it with any other mods?

I have brightmaps, lights, SmoothDoom, and a custom invulnerability that I made since I don't like the default inverted effect. My guess would be SmoothDoom?

[Velvetic]

Just now, Powerhouse Willington said:

I have brightmaps, lights, SmoothDoom, and a custom invulnerability that I made since I don't like the default inverted effect. My guess would be SmoothDoom?

 

Yes, launch without it.

[MFG38]

So I finally gave this a spin, having heard some good things about it, and...

 

I'm sorry, but I couldn't. Sure, I can see why the wad is so hyped up, but it just isn't my particular cup of tea. I can only wander aimlessly for so many minutes and walk through the same door so many times before I start to lose my patience, and with the frankly tediously obtuse design at display here, I lost my patience record-breakingly quickly. Then again, I guess the blame is mostly on me for jumping into this with the wrong mindset. Even saying that, though, I never was the secret-hunting type. As much as I appreciate myhouse.pk3 for the sheer amount of attention it's garnered, I don't really enjoy it from a design perspective and quit it after less than an hour.

 

Spoiler

I will say, though, that the brutalist house with the dogs was positively one of the most intense Doom experiences I've had to recent memory. The big two-headed hound jumpscared me when I first ran into it and I was legitimately scared being chased by it. No actual horror game I've played has ever evoked such a sense of dread in me, and that's saying something!

 

[zombie_ryushu]

I am looking for a technical advisor or map contributor with inner UDMF knowledge as to how this map works. I've been dissecting this map to understand it. I'm working on a very different Hexen oriented project with a great deal of ACS and Decorate features in Zandronum, and want to approximate some of the feature set of this map, but in a different context. If anyone would like to contribute, please speak up.

[Gregor]

35 minutes ago, zombie_ryushu said:

I am looking for a technical advisor or map contributor with inner UDMF knowledge as to how this map works. I've been dissecting this map to understand it. I'm working on a very different Hexen oriented project with a great deal of ACS and Decorate features in Zandronum, and want to approximate some of the feature set of this map, but in a different context. If anyone would like to contribute, please speak up.

Have you watched @DavidN's analysis videos for Myhouse on his YT channel? He goes pretty in-depth as to the inner workings of the mod. May be worth checking out.

[zombie_ryushu]

45 minutes ago, Gregor said:

Have you watched @DavidN's analysis videos for Myhouse on his YT channel? He goes pretty in-depth as to the inner workings of the mod. May be worth checking out.

I have, but there are features that Zandronum doesn't support; like portals. I need an engineer who can help me fashion such a concept in Zandronum, because it needs to work in a multiplayer setting. I realize not all parts will be possible.

[ShallowB]

This isn't really the right place to be recruiting for your personal project.

[ChaseC7527]

On 3/2/2023 at 11:01 PM, ChaseC7527 said:

pretty good, i played on the true color renderer so mid textures were wack but that was the only issue.

holy shit after watching Power Pak's video on this map and i now realize how amazingly well crafted and intricate this map is, my god. kudos.

[LSC Lasico]

Damn, my meme got into a 1.5 hour long myhouse.wad documentary

[AL1]

11 minutes ago, LSC Lasico said:

Damn, my meme got into a 1.5 hour long myhouse.wad documentary

 

Literally came here looking for it. Enjoy the fame while it lasts! 

[DAZZER]

this is the best "map" i ever played. and i played alot.

[Quizno]

What a cute little house.

[WhateverComic07]

Absolutely fantastic experience. If this doesn't get a cacoward, nothing deserves to. Possibly the best map I have ever played, and this is coming from someone who doesn't much care for this kind of thing normally. I got caught trying to solve the puzzles on my own, but eventually had to look at some hints from the early portions of this thread.

 

Spoiler

Specifically the fact that the dark concrete maze thing has nothing, the hospital has nothing except the revive, and I had somehow missed the wine bottle of all things.

Spoiler

Anyway, the final fight was pretty fun, it felt nice to finally be back to something familiar after all the eerie stuff and near un-killable creatures. The journal stuff was pretty interesting. I recognize some stuff as references to House of Leaves, which I really should read sometime, but I'm a fantasy/Sci-Fi nerd and only ever read that stuff for the most part.

11/10 experience, highly recommend.

[Ningen666]

I think I figured out something
^{(Spoiler-ed for your convenience)}

Spoiler

As much as I love gay things, I believe this is NOT a gay love story as some are suggesting, I believe that the image in the QR code resembles that a piece of Veddge died when his friend died.

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by Polyg0n

[windows8_enjoyer]

I played this and it was really good. The environments are full of life/emptiness and its done in such a good way. Love it

[TinyNeenja]

I made an account to post on this thread. Seriously this WAD is like, one of the craziests things I've ever played and I am soooo happy I stumbled upon this doomscrolling twitter.

Me and my partner hopped on a stream last month and played it, so if y'all want to see us freak the fuck out here ya go lol: TinyNeenja & Squarepainter play My House for the first time

Thank you OP for making our lives incredibly weird and causing me & my partner to lose sleep falling down rabbit holes for hours in this.

 

[JustANormie]

(On Intel Mac)

 

After seeing Power Pak play this for a few minutes, I decided that I didn't want to spoil myself further and fully immerse myself into this map, but the problem is that I can't run it whatsoever. When I put the pk3 into the additional parameters box and run GZDoom(Latest version 4.10) it just... comes up as a black screen. No music or anything at all. What's happening here?

[houston]

23 minutes ago, JustANormie said:

When I put the pk3 into the additional parameters box

I guess you're using some kind of launcher instead of GZDoom itself? Is there an area dedicated to WADs/maps inside the window? If not, try putting "-file (mapname).pk3" in the parameters box instead I suppose, if you only had the filename earlier.