The DWmegawad Club plays: PUSS IX: Mapping at Warpspeed

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP15: "The Atropal Jaws" by BlooberryPi

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 3/4 secrets

 

A very red map with lots of gory texturing. Flesh, blood, and AA red cliff textures are predominant here. Definitely not a very "AA" looking map, but makes for a cool change of pace. The texturing isn't super intricate here, but the visuals still do the job well enough (besides, speedmap). The midi is one from stewboy, that I'm not entirely sure I've heard. A bit of a darker atmosphere it this one, it's decent.

 

Combat gears more toward incidental encounters here, and for the most part things are quite lax. A player could have some troubles with resources here, the initial stretch can lean on your ammo a little bit and there isn't a huge amount of health in this map. When you get to the crusher hallway, put the crushers to good use. Then in the cybie room, just unleash the monster closets and let him take care of them. If you do that you should be flush with ammo for the rest of the map. That one path near the beginning becoming shut off was kind of strange, but oh well. I mostly just left a bunch of shells behind. The secret exit isn't too bad to find, a bit of backtracking but I found it relatively simple to manage. The wall that holds the switch to open the secret exit is clearly telegraphed. That symbol in the exit teleporter sure seems familiar though...

 

This one was okay, didn't move me a ton but wasn't bad or anything.

[Veeda Vidlak]

I'll do the secret maps in the next couple days. For now I'll make sure I'm not behind on the main ones.

 

Map16 “Mors Palus Aliens”

 

Late Night Person, a PUSS regular, provides another quickie in Mors Palus Aliens. This small, rocky moon outpost plays like an alien truck stop, with Zorglo refueling his saucer or whatever he’s doing here.

 

We start in a little pit and have to kill a nearby shotgunner to get a weapon. Sliding into a crevasse takes us to a switch that opens up the level, revealing a pool with snipers and several caves that make the starting room resemble an alien claw. Said claw will serve as our hub, with a method to access every area of the level. Don’t forget the missable SSG on the pool ledge and enter the northernmost teleporter (on damaging floor) to proceed.

 

We’ll have to duck and cover immediately, the tele destination is guarded by a chaingunner with everyone’s favorite hidden archvile providing infinite lives (though some club members report he is killable outside AV’s range). Following this is probably the trickiest encounter in the level, a cave with imps that unleashes an ambush of three revs and a vile. We don’t have many rockets and backing up too far puts us in Mr. Chaingunner’s LOS, so go for that vile immediately (revealed to the left). Afterwards head up the stairs and get the blue key, and a secret with a [redacted].

 

The blue key gets us a plasma, a secret soulsphere, and the red key, needed to trigger the final fight. Head to the southernmost teleporter (accessible beforehand, but there’s no point) and head up to hit the switch on the ledge. The pyramid lowers and a platoon of monsters teleport in, the only dangerous one being a vile. Be careful about teleporting to the UFO (a bunch of crap is usually gathered there) and punch the switch to leave. Note: Four chaingunners that are supposed to join the final teleport ambush fail to wake up (deaf). Their closet is inaccessible, so I think 100% kills is impossible.

 

Not a bad map, though there is some sloppiness with the deaf gunners and the awkward CG/AV battery. The visuals are crisp throughout and we have some interesting small-scale skirmishes. I generally appreciate the 16 slot being a cooldown map and this outing definitely qualifies. Solid work, and an archetypical example of a speedmap.

 

warpspeed16.zip

Time: 2:57    Kills: 78/82   Secrets: 2/2

 

BFG? What, there’s no secret BFG in this level I’d have obviously used it if there was. Stop looking at me like that.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Veeda Vidlak

[RHhe82]

MAP18: Close Encounters of the Weird Kind. Played on DSDA v0.25.6, UV, PS. 200/201 K, 0/0 S, 111/111 I. Comp. time 20:41

 

This map is a decent one, not quite as detailed as the previous one but covers some notable area and consists of several arena encounters most of which work well. We have a couple of instances of hell noble sandwich pressure situations, although I'm not sure if the first one (where they approach from three directions) I could have handled better with more infighting.

Speedmappiness rears its head at least once, upon exiting the aforementioned three-way hell knight fight turned into a small arena: near the lifts there are notable HOMs (at least in software mode).

 

The final arena was quite docile; I mean I got myself killed a couple of times there, but only because I failed at rocketing archviles that are released along with smaller hordes in small bits. The idea is fine, the execution is "just fine".

 

I half-expected more weirdness, a sort of surreal spacescape, but in the end CEotWK is an AA E2 style of map. One minus from one of the UFO encounters, where there are first revenants, then archviles: I wish it weren't so cramped! Died there, too, because facerockets.

 

Extended HUDlessness robbed me of one kill! D:

[Helm]

World 18 - Close Encounters of the Weird Kind
by Weird Sandwich 

I am listening to Invocator again, they fit Doom well.

First of all, Weird Sandwich? Don't know 'em, but that's a good nickname right there, well done. I'll have a weird sandwich, once! 

Deeply amused by the nickname, we take a look around. Internal teal structure with neon band highlights. Very multilayered, verticality, many perches from where enemies are shooting at us. We glean this center area will be an incremental switch flipping, colored keycard opening hub. We grab a shotgun from the one sergeant next to the first switch flip, pacify the opening room and go up the red staircase we just opened up. This leads to a minor yellow key drop encounter, nothing too hairy, but indeed the very first time I actually have to move fast to survive in the footage. Ok, Weird Sandwich! 

With the yellow key we can open a path outside again that leads up to another flying saucer. We beam up and get our first difficult bit, which is pacifying the top level, with all its awkward railings and such from a bunch of plasma stealth troopers. After the first barrage we get an SSG. This transforms the reactors around the circular saucer track and deposits 8 revenant snipers. Weird Sandwich will make us two different arenas in their map that are solved by frantic circlestrafing, so we get a sense of what the mapper likes. The ammo is a bit tight, promoting good flickshots nonetheless. I respect the hustle, but in the end it is still a circle-strafe related solution to an elaborate lock in.

From there we go back to our center hub and deal with some caco reinforcements. We have raised a forcefield platform to allow progress to the next arena, the blue drop lock in. We get a rocket launcher at the start and Zorg's spidey sense (don't ask) was telling him the moment the doors fall I gotta book it because the space in narrow and multipronged so I was sensing a 'handle your splash' rocket arena with pinches and that's what I got. I see a long hallway with knights down the line, I rocket and move through and it's good I did as I had the equivalent amount of knights on my ass coming down the opposite way as well, so if you dally you're going to rocket yourself rocketing knights. Ok weird sandwich! 

I run out of ammo down there and I am nowhere near done with the knights, meaning I gotta make a strategic choice a juke one and hope there's ammo down the way and thankfully if I do exactly that the whole layout drops out and we're no longer in a claustrophobic corridor getting chased by knights with no ammo. That transformation is actually pretty slick, the whole arena changes to a completely different concept. Much appreciated how substantial this route was for a little speedmap. Now I have a red key and a rocket launcher, so we go back to the center hub and flip another switch, you know how it goes.

Oh dear, the grey and gold flying saucer is the next one we check to see if we can take it on a nice little joyride. This place smelled like viles before I even stepped a foot on it. We start with some revenants to dispatch is very narrow radial corridors, armed mostly with rockets... you can imagine how that went for me. Then we have to trigger said viles I was smelling and take care of them in the same layout before they resurrect the revenants. Ammo is tight. Hard bit but not too hard, but I wouldn't be against a little more ammo  right about here or at least a berserk. 

The saucer teleport pad that returns you to the hub has two different teleport entrances/exits which is one of those unannounced doom gimmicks you should have a little familiarity with to progress. At least he automap very clearly shows two perpendicular teleport lines to give you a little hint. For our hard work we find ourselves in a Sunlust-ian trap where a line of nobility is swarming our very small vital space while two archviles overwatch to make us move from side to side to get cover from the zaps. This is not even rotes from slaughtermapping, this is straight up one of these abstract challenges like in that map and that other map and that third map that's really tough... you know what I mean. 

I somehow make it through with minimal fuss but this encounter solidly pushed this map out of my single-segment range for the moment. 

Back to the center hub that now lifts some energy platforms for us, gives us a plasma rifle and reveals the final arena. Big square room with elevated platforms with mancubi, imps walking the center, two sides of revenants shooting at center, loads of goodies to pacman up while the infighting develops. There are four switches at the corners and if you do the speedrunner thing and flip all of them you might get 4 archviles on your ass in the fray. Having sensed what kind of Sandwich mr. Sandwich is I elected to slowpress them switches and make it through alive even if nobody's going to give me any awards for speed. This is still, for the most part a circle strafe arena, though.

Quite a meaty map in the end. Logical progression, internal concepts fairly solid. Lots of fun, a proper Sunlust trap for strong players to test their mettle on a single segment... no complaints about it at all. Different style completely to the rest in the set, which means Weird Sandwich brought their unique and passionate self and style of play to the set, well done and thank you, delicious if suspicious food item person sir or madam or whatever else! footage

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 17: Zero G Station

by @Danlex

 

Danlex's maps tend to have a fairly high degree of difficulty when compared to other maps. In contrast, the only one that comes to mind as notable easier than this would probably be a map he did for HELLYEAH! that, admittedly, had some time restrictions that made his rather high-brow visual style difficult to implement.

 

But in short, it's his standard sort of lovingly-detailed location, with at least two key locations containing the most impressive work. Generally, this can be thought of as a temple with lightly-covered trimming, although establishing a foothold is honestly quite difficult and we did die once. Mostly, the Guardian/trooper placement is just enough to be a serious annoyance. Not so much in the first section though, especially when we're as stacked with rockets as we are.

 

The traps are nicely foreshadowed though. Like when we get to some baron tanks in the void and flip a switch, Hell Knights are instantly released! Or when we get to the magenta-trimmed doorways where the red key can be found and the Revenants/Arch-viles behind the barrier are released when we get close. Not really that hard when all is said and done though. The same can't be said for the series of portals surrounding a blatant arena where we're attacked by plasma troopers and Guardians from the jump, then attacked by several Revenants located up some stairs and a Mastermind. We remember having quite a hard time with this our first go-around, although the Mastermind was also more cooperative by infighting the Revenants. Elsewhere, Mancubi teleport onto now-empty pillars outside but there's really not much to say right now. Probably falls between Holodeck and Moon Funeral in preference order though.

 

 

lmd_pussIX17.zip

[continuum.mid]

World 18: Close Encounters of the Weird Kind (Weird Sandwich)

dsda-doom 0.25.6+dfsg-1 (Debian 12), Doom 2, Ultra-Violence, blind, pistol start, saves

101% Kills, 100% Items, 100% Secrets, 20:35

 

Another somewhat challenging map, but one that accommodates my play style quite well! It seems to take place in a space station where four ships are docked - the entry and exit UFOs, plus two that host some neat combat setpieces in line with AA's "Leave Your Sol Behind." It's the most elaborate map in the set so far, possibly except for Another Glance; the visuals are a little weaker presumably because the effort was focused on putting as much "map" in this map as possible, but not by much.

 

The opening area is quite difficult, an ammo and weapon scramble amidst hitscanners and two sniping arachnotrons (which you'll probably end up having to shotgun to death, unfortunately.) You'll want to pick up all the health you can - and especially make sure to get the green armor - because picking up the yellow key (in a corridor opened up by pressing a button) will drop you into an ambush of hitscanners that is hard not to take damage in. Take the yellow key doors to the green UFO, where you'll face its stealth alien crew, followed closely by eight Revenant turrets when you get the SSG; I wonder if there's a better strategy for this than running around the edges and shooting, because doing so left me with little ammo, and the last remaining tracers killed me on my first attempt and left me with 7% health on my second.

 

Pressing all the switches in the UFO, then exiting, leads back to the opening area, where a button raises a path and releases at least five Cacos, and a sniping platoon of alien soldiers. I ended up dealing with the stealth aliens, and the chaingunners on the newly accessible platform, but didn't have enough ammo (or health) to finish them off, so i went straight to the next fight - a Hell Knight sandwich around the rocket launcher that opens into a big Mancubus/Imp infight party once the player escapes it. Main challenge in this one is avoiding getting pinned by or facerocketing on the Hell Knights. I had enough ammo left over to deal with all the remaining threats in the opening room, and the red key is also laying around here, giving access to the yellow UFO. This one consists of two tight, concentric ring-shaped corridors with Revenants scattered throughout. You'll likely have to use rockets to deal with the skeletons, and it's very hard not to face-rocket. After that, a button teleports in two Arch-Viles; thankfully on all three of my attempts they didn't resurrect anything, but again, facerocketing is more of a threat here than being zapped. As if that wasn't bad enough, the exit teleporter leads to the toughest fight in the map - Barons and Knights march towards the player while two Viles attempt to zap from the side. It's a really clever, and somewhat frustrating, combat setpiece - if you try to kill either Vile first the the Hell nobles will almost certainly pin you and scratch you to death, so victory depends on precisely aligning two towers to block the Viles while firing rockets forward - especially difficult if both try to zap you at once.

 

Oddly enough, the last fight was probably the one that gave me the easiest time - there's plenty of space to run around in the final room, so just grab the ammo, fire volleys at the Revenants when you can, and eventually, you'll be left with just a few Mancubi and Imps to trivially shoot down. The four buttons around the room summon more enemies, but as long as you prioritize the Arch-Viles and Revenants they're easy, and I dealt with them all on first try. Kind of an anticlimax.

 

Overall, I'd put WeirdSandwich's weird map about on par with the average Death Bear map. Much like the Bear's work, it stumbles and displays its speedmappiness at times, but comes together into an enjoyable, well-crafted experience. Also gave me the second most things to talk about of any map here, so that's worth something.

 

Ranking:

Spoiler

1. Lazarus Labs (Cheesewheel)
2. Another Glance at the Paradise (Muumi)
3. Holodeck (myolden)
4. Blood Swamps (Muumi)
5. Zero G Station (Danlex)
6. Electron Boogaloo (Death Bear)
7. Electron Avenue (Death Bear)
8. Moon Funeral (myolden)
9. Spirit Fracture (Lemonlytical)
10. Close Encounters of the Weird Kind (Weird Sandwich)
11. Ursae Majoris (Death Bear)
12. Oberth Malfunction (notTyrone)
13. Ancient Covenant (myolden)
14. I Skillsawed the Aliens (Death Bear)
15. Trespasser (notTyrone)
16. Lagrange Disruption (notTyrone)
17. Ursae Minoris (Death Bear)
18. Alien Tartarus (Muumi)
19. Mors Palus Aliens (LateNightPerson)
20. The Atropal Jaws (Blooberry Pie)

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by continuum.mid

[Celestin]

MAP18: Close Encounters of the Weird Kind by Weird Sandwich

Spoiler

A fitting name, as there are some fights in this extraterrestial base where space is a much needed commodity. Though not right away, the first arena (which acts as a hub of this map) is rather spacious. The yellow key shotgunner ambush is a bit tight, same with a plasma trooper and revenant fight inside the first UFO. You only have a shotgun, which feels too slow here - if you miss, prepare to take some damage.

 

The first standout encounter is the red key fight. At first is just corridors with hell knights, but the place opens up, revealing a cramped arena with more monsters, including mancubi. It can be easy to get blocked or hit by a stray fireball, but I still like this part. The second saucer though, is the exact opposite. Have fun fighting revenants in a tight, circular corridor with a rocket launcher (I was out of shells at that point, so your experience may vary). Survive this, and you can warp to the best fight of the map. In front of you is a wall of hell nobles and an archvile on each side. My instinct told me to kill the viles first, but it's a bad idea. Hell knights and barons are the biggest threat here, you'll get surrounded if you don't deal with them quickly. The viles? Just hide behind a pillar for a second. It took me a couple of deaths before figuring out the strategy and even on my successful try, it was quite tense to blast a safe passage and run to the other side of the corridor, where I had enough room to kill everything safely. It's a well-thought encounter which makes you rethink how to handle combat.

 

There's only once fight left, a five-wave battle for the blue key. Cells and rockets are everywhere, plus there's more room to move, so the only threat are archviles. Other than that, run around and blast anything in sight.

 

Close Encounters is probably the most uneven map in the set, where clever setpieces coexist with dull and frustrating fights. I'd say it averages out to, well, average.

[continuum.mid]

posted too early again...

Edited April 18, 2023 by continuum.mid

[Ralgor]

MAP18 - "Close Encounters Of the Weird Kind" by WeirdSandwich
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl9, UV, Pistol start, blind run w/ saves, then single segment w/ demo
100% kills and secrets

This map seems to be some sort of space-dock facility. There are four UFOs docked here, and you visit a couple of them on your way through the map. The start is fairly hard since you have to kill a shotgunner to get your shotgun, while being chased by pinkies and shot at by plasma troopers and arachnotrons. It can go wrong in a bad way if you mess up. Once you've pacified the central hub, you can start each of the set-piece fights that make up this map. There are way more of those than you would expect given the monster count, but this map is very efficient with its monster usage.

Most of the fights are fun, but there isn't much to say about them. There are a few I do want to call out. First you have the design of the first UFO you enter. The monsters in them are fine, but I had a really bad time getting caught on the geometry. Just not getting stuck on something was by far the hardest part of this first UFO. The second UFO is worse, you have to fight revenants in very tight, curved, corridors. The curve allows homing rockets to chase you down them, and it's hard to run very fast since you get caught on the walls. That would be bad enough, but then you have to fight two arch-viles in there! The map gives you a bunch of rocket ammo like you're going to be able to use it here without face-rocketing yourself. This second UFO is by far the worst part of the map.

The fight with the mass of hell knights and two arch-viles is interesting. It took me a couple attempts to figure out that I needed to ignore the arch-viles. The room is perfectly designed to let you block one arch-vile, but not always both. So you have to watch the arch-viles while shooting rockets to dodge the zaps. In one case I had to dodge a double-zap in my demo, and somehow I managed it! I had a lot of fun here, and it's the highlight of the map for me.

The final multi-wave fight is also fun, but not terribly difficult. The arch-viles are the only wildcard, but you get plenty of health and ammo for everything else.

I really enjoyed my time with this map, and it looks pretty good. I did dislike the second UFO, but the rest of the map is great.

Score: 4 out of 5.

MAP18 - 17:42.31 (17:42)  K: 201/201  I: 111/111  S: 0/0

ralgor_pussixmaw18.zip

[Klear]

Mapworld19: Hiding the Secrets by theBMFG

QuestZDoom, UV, blind, pistol start, saves

 

This is a bonbon of a map: it's sweet, colourful, lasts a short time, the music is bouncy and it's got yummy megaspheres. I like it. Oh, and the best part - it's so tiny and simple that the game is buttery smooth even when recording for a change! I am very resistant to low FPS in VR, something that's otherwise to be avoided at all costs, but this is a welcome change.

 

I take the time to examine the starting UFO, since I was pressed for time when finishing the previous map. I also see a bright beacon of light beckoning me forward. Someone might call it a speedmapping error. I call it awesome.

 

My only regret is that I was just too damn paranoid and defensive. I think I'd enjoy the map even more if I just ran forward and never stopped. Ha - like that's ever going to happen...

 

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Klear

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Pistol-Start/Saves

Map 18: Close Encounters Of the Weird Kind - Weird Sandwich 

100% kills and secrets

Time: 15:13

Deaths: 5 (all in the final fight)

 

I've played a couple of Weird Sandwich's maps before, and I remember them being a little different. I also confuse them with Washing Machine Enthusiasts for some reason. I think maybe because both of their names start with "W". Either way, this map is a little weird. The MIDI choice works here, as we do travel into a few different UFOs, though we don't go to different planets like in the song's original map. The map has one big hub area that you go to and from multiple times, usually from different spots of the room. You're only given the shotgun for a bit, with the other weapons not showing up for a while. You get the SSG in the first UFO, which helps with the 8 revs that show up right after. This fight is kinda tough, as avoiding homing missiles isn't the easiest with this layout. You can finally pick up a chaingun when you get access to the upper floor of the main room and kill the chaingunners in front of the red door. The rocket launcher fight looks like it's just a 3-hall hell knight ambush, but eventually this part opens up a bit to reveal imps, mancs, and I think pinkies. I did find ammo to be tight for this fight and through to the 2nd UFO. This second UFO is tough since it gives you rockets and you'll have to deal with revs and archies in super-close quarters. Try to take them out in the outer rings to maximize distance between you and them and prevent splash damage. The fight right after is the only true combat puzzle of the map. You have a wave of nobles coming down at you, all within eyesight of 2 archies. There's 2 pillars nearby that allow you to break line of sight of them, so use them to rocket the crap out of the nobles. Pretty fun fight, which after beating finally gets you the plasma. Now it's time for the final fight, which is just a big arena fight. Each of the 4 switches here send in more enemies, but lowers platforms with health, ammo, and armor. I decided to make things interesting and hit as many switches as possible, and the resulting chaos probably contributed to my deaths, especially when getting blocked by monsters while trying to avoid archie blasts. It's a fun fight tho. Overall, this map ain't too bad. There's a few fights that aren't too memorable, but they're good for the most part. 

[Ralgor]

MAP19 - "Hiding the Secrets" by TheBMFG
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl9, UV, Pistol start, blind run, single segment
100% kills and secrets

This map is pretty short and easy. It was still fun though for what it is. This feels like the first true speed-map of the entire wad, in that it feels like it was done quickly. It's not the best looking, but also there were no technical problems.  There's not much here to comment on.

Also there are no secrets.

Score: 2 out of 5.

MAP19 - 3:58.26 (3:58)  K: 84/84  I: 3/3  S: 0/0

ralgor_pussixmaw19.zip

[RHhe82]

MAP19: Hiding the Secrets. Played on DSDA v0.25.6, UV, PS. 84/84 K, 0/0 S, 3/3 I. Comp. time 5:42

 

I realize 10 hours is not that much time. When I map, I don't get much work done in 10 hours. That said, Hiding the Secrets feels, ahem, underdeveloped. It consists of a few rooms with enemies. The encounters are decent, the map doesn't feel tedious, although the completion time got inflated when I was trying to incite infighting at the start of the map.

 

So, it's not bad as such, but I wish at least a few of the mapping hours were spent on refining the map, never mind how short the map would end up.

 

Ironically enough, for a map titled "Hiding the Secrets", there are no tagged secrets. I didn't look at automap thru IDDT, but I suspect there no untagged secrets either.

 

As a sidenote: I forgot the extended HUD on from another wad session, and thought I'd just leave it on. I can live without it, but I guess, at the end of the day, I like it more than it hampers gameplay experience.

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map17 “Zero G Station”

 

Danlex takes his turn with this snazzy, compact space station, which presents a handful of quick encounters and an excellent map layout.

 

Right away I have to say this is one of the best-looking maps of the set, the alien temple/hippie space station mix really works here. The combat is pretty good too, spicy without being ballbusting. After taking care of the initial guards we have two key fights, blue and red. The one up the stairs to the south spawns a bunch of hell knights with sniping mancubi and the one to the east unfreezes a small squad of dangerous foes including two viles. I find that for the blue key if you dance right below the top couple stairs the mancubi have trouble hitting you, letting you rocket the knights while they’re clumped. The red key fight is less predictable. I like to blast one of the trooper groups and hold my ground, but retreating to the red door and firing rockets is also an option.

 

With both keys we have our final fight, which ominously grants a megasphere upon entry. Hitting the switch calls a mastermind on the center dais and a host of support, including sniping revenants and some plasma troopers. The mastermind is actually wildly unpredictable, sometimes she infights the whole time and sometimes she makes your life a living hell. If things get dicey know you can leave at any time via the switch up the stairs (I thought it was time-delayed but its not, just guarded by spawning troopers… who can be easily wiped out with plasma). After this just head up to the yellow key and deal with one final revenant ambush to leave.

 

This one was great. My favorite quick map of the set so far.

 

warpspeed17.zip

Time: 3:55    Kills: 112/112  Secrets: 0/0

 

Map18 “Close Encounters of the Weird Kind”

 

One of the more on theme level names so far (assuming Weird is referring to the mapper's handle), Close Encounters of the Weird Kind channels Leave Your Sol Behind with it's UFO action, adding some intimate get-togethers to test your nerves.

 

We start outside Weird Station to the boppin Space Jiggle from Leave Your Sol Behind. Upon entering we find ourselves in a fairly convoluted area, most of which is inaccessible for now. Head left and grab the yellow key, dealing with the small trap before reentering the hub to go to the first UFO fight. An initial wave of troopers serves as the appetizer for the main course, eight turret revenants assembled in a circle. This close encounter actually isn’t too bad, as long as you don’t bump into anything they can’t hit you.

 

With the UFO recalibrated we can go to our required destination… a platform about 20 feet above the main floor in the hub. Did we really need to commandeer a UFO to do that? There isn’t a ladder lying around in the station anywhere? Whatever, we can get up to the spider’s platform now so let’s do that. Head through the door to grab a rocket launcher and begin the first of two congested hell knight confrontations. This one is probably the easier of the two, focus rocket fire on one of the groups to clear it out, then head towards the red key. The walls open up to reveal more enemies, but this is actually a blessing, we have plenty of room now and can fight normally.

 

With the red key we go to the second UFO fight featuring revs then a pair of viles. In all honesty, I'm not a fan, partly because this is the point I realized shells are in short supply. I highly recommend saving them up for the awkward skirmish here, having to use rockets can be frustrating. Next, we have our second hell-knight confrontation, featuring an oncoming horde of hell nobles with two vile turrets we need to constantly use pillars to hide from. The key here is to act immediately, if you open fire the instant you teleport the nobles will be kept at bay. Don’t worry about taking hits, the megasphere will tank them, just make sure you never stop firing until the last noble is down.

 

To my pleasant surprise, we have a real finale in this level. After grabbing the plasma head up to the top and drop down into a medium size arena that initially has imps, mancubi, and lots of sniping revenants. There are four switches, each of which unleashes more foes and provides some items, and in tandem lower the blue key. It’s a fun fight but be careful about hitting them all at once, some call in archviles so you might end up biting off more than you can chew.

 

There’s a lot of close encounters in the map and aside from the vile/rev saucer, I enjoyed all of them. The level is less weird and more calculated, with resources properly scaled to handle the fights thrown at the player. While there's no single moment that’s brutal, there are multiple that are of moderate to hard difficulty, so a single segment isn’t trivial. The map is a fine challenge and again, I appreciate the variety in gameplay we’re getting from all the contributors.

 

warpspeed18.zip

Time: 10:24    Kills: 201/201   Secrets: 0/0

Edited April 19, 2023 by Veeda Vidlak
Inaccurate Information

[Book Lord]

MAP 19 – Hiding the Secrets by @The BMFG

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

The fact that novices can take part in a speedmapping project side-by-side with veterans is one of the best features of the PUSS series, and of the Doom community in general. Hiding the Secrets was the shortest and simplest level in Mapping at Warpspeed, counting only a few basic rooms stuffed with monsters and mostly textured with Ancient Aliens’ equivalents of marble. Pistol starters must rely on their Tyson skills to enter the first area and clear the balconies from Imps, while infighting should help with the following ambushes. The progression required pressing switches that revealed adjacent closets, including Alien Guardians shooting from behind a fake wall. Not the best stuff around.

Spoiler

The Arch-Viles on pillars zapped me while crossing the room from one balcony to the other, but there was plenty of Megaspheres to survive and to leave the map with maxed-out stats, after dealing with the wall of Chaingunners. There was nothing amazing to see or do in this map, not even a secret compartment to uncover. The exit UFO was lovely, but I cannot tell if it was done by TheBMFG or by someone else. The more I write about this level and the more it feels like I am bashing it, which is not what I want, so I’ll close the review saying that Hiding the Secrets was a beginner’s work, properly filling its slot and letting Zorglo breath between longer and harder maps.

[RHhe82]

1 hour ago, Book Lord said:

The more I write about this level and the more it feels like I am bashing it, which is not what I want

The same here; I don’t want to bash anyone’s sincere creation, and yet when I read my own review, I sense undeserved acerbity, which wasn’t my intent.

 

I think this can be talked more on the 30th, but as you said, one of the best features of this sort of projects is to take in novices and have the develop their skills; as for players, the blessing lies in change of pace they offer. Best megawads by veterans offer that, too, like Ancient Aliens with its episodic difficulty curves, where the last level of an episode is not necessarily the hardest.

 

On the other hand, it’s also a curse, because I can’t help but compare maps within a set to each other, and moreover, it’d be funny to give similar praise to grade A expert maps and decent early maps. The best one can do is to try to emphasize what’s working in the novice maps…

 

Anyway, that’s for my tangent. I completed the megawad yesterday, and I’ll just say, in retrospect, I’m happy there are maps like Hiding the Secrets :P

[Helm]

World 19 - Hiding the Secrets 
by The BMFG

I am listening to half a song by Memory Garden

This one is a speedmap! Died a few times in the beginning but once you establish yourself it's all relatively contained stuff. No secrets makes the map name humorous. Slight map on the whole. A bit of a breather, enjoyed it nonetheless but not much to write about on this one! For such a set that has been assembled by receipt of completion I actually accept and look forward to these dips in difficulty or length. Were I to be playing through map after map I wouldn't remember or feel the same way about some of the smaller things in the set, but given that we sit a whole day with whatever we got actually allows for a better appreciation of such contrasts.

For how small this one is the enemy compositions are quite tight actually. By the time we reach the perched viles the mapper overestimated the difficulty I think and gave us an extra megasphere and a bit too much RL ammo, but on the whole, can't complain, I had fun! footage

edit: a word on how to 'rate maps against each other' in a mapset like this, allowing for newcomers to cut their teeth without having to be put in unfavorable contexts: the solution to such issues is simple and any person that has done education will tell you the same, we shouldn't be *grading each other*. Our creativity isn't meant to be put on a competitive scale. Mappers did us a kindness and made maps for us. We are doing them a kindness and we are playing and discussing them, that's all a perfectly good karma loop. The moment we start going 'you get an A+ and you get a B-' we are perpetuating some trauma inflicted on us in school/by capitalism generally. You all get A++ SSS++ tier rating from me for being genuine humans and for genuinely liking your hobby and contributing to the scene regardless of how accomplished you are at it. Winning is for losers where I come from, but ymmv

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Helm

[Klear]

1 hour ago, RHhe82 said:

Anyway, that’s for my tangent. I completed the megawad yesterday, and I’ll just say, in retrospect, I’m happy there are maps like Hiding the Secrets :P

 

Oh no.

 

@Helm Agreed 100%. Except for myolden. He gets A- for all the revenants.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Klear

[Book Lord]

1 hour ago, Helm said:

edit: a word on how to 'rate maps against each other' in a mapset like this, allowing for newcomers to cut their teeth without having to be put in unfavorable contexts: the solution to such issues is simple and any person that has done education will tell you the same, we shouldn't be *grading each other*. Our creativity isn't meant to be put on a competitive scale. Mappers did us a kindness and made maps for us. We are doing them a kindness and we are playing and discussing them, that's all a perfectly good karma loop. The moment we start going 'you get an A+ and you get a B-' we are perpetuating some trauma inflicted on us in school/by capitalism generally. You all get A++ SSS++ tier rating from me for being genuine humans and for genuinely liking your hobby and contributing to the scene regardless of how accomplished you are at it. Winning is for losers where I come from, but ymmv

This is the reason why I do not publish map ratings. I have a rating system that I keep for myself and is only useful when answering to the final question "which were the best maps of this megaWAD?". Ratings might be unfair, and sometimes inapplicable when trying to compare work from people with different experience. I only hope that writing reports with a consistent structure, describing the map content, combat, and visuals with an average level of detail, can be an acceptable way to convey appreciation as well as constructive criticism. MAP19 had less to offer than every other map in the project, but it's not said with contempt or greater expectations. It's just a fact, and less of a personal preference than what I might say to describe my favourite bits in the various levels. It must be mentioned to inform the reader, while highlighting the parts of the map that worked best, in this case the Tyson pistol start and the fact that it was a useful bite-sized breather between maps that put me under higher pressure.

 

There is also the other side of the coin: there are many large, challenging, overstretched maps in this and in most projects. Trying to impress or even do your best might not always bring out the best experience for the player. A megaWAD is not an episode or a single-level PWAD, where you can do as much as you want; a mapper takes additional risks when doing more, if compared with doing less. The overall economy of the experience does not improve when every map is bigger, harder and more detailed than the last one. I think that's what @RHhe82 hinted to, and will obviously be a theme in the summary at the end of the month.

[Ralgor]

I don't see a lot of difference between giving a map a bad grade or score, and saying things like "Not the best stuff around." (I don't mean to single you out Book Lord, it was just the easiest quote I could grab.) We make the same sorts of judgments when we make a list of our most and least favorite maps at the end of the month. All a grade or a score is is a distillation of opinions. Since what makes these threads interesting is the contrast of opinions, it's pointless to have them in my opinion if we don't criticize maps when it makes sense.

 

I moved away from using "grades" recently due to not wanting to have my opinion be interpreted as some sort of objective rating. In school, something is usually either right or wrong. That doesn't apply here, and so I think the metaphor of "grades" is wrong. I still think having some sort of "tl;dr" like a score or something is still useful. I'm not sure what the answer is exactly, so don't be surprised if I don't change this again.

We don't want to discourage people from making maps either. I try to keep criticism to the map and not the author, but I'm still new at this so I can't promise I haven't screwed that up. I hope no one takes anything I write personally. I have a bad habit of writing more about the negative aspects of my experiences than the positive, and I need to do better. It's definitely something I'll be watching more closely in the future given the feedback here.

I appreciate every single map and author. I'm glad every single one of them exists. That doesn't just go for the this month's choice either, but every wad and level I've ever played. I don't want my (or anyone else's) opinions to stop anyone from making maps.

 

3 hours ago, Book Lord said:

There is also the other side of the coin: there are many large, challenging, overstretched maps in this and in most projects.

I'll second that some maps just try to do too much. I find that when a map starts going past 20 minutes I start disliking it more. I think that's mostly due to me trying to make single segment demos though, and not because I necessarily dislike long maps. I can definitely say that making those demos changes my opinions of maps. I don't think it's a good or a bad thing though.

[continuum.mid]

World 19: Hiding the Secrets (The BMFG)

dsda-doom 0.25.6+dfsg-1 (Debian 12), Doom 2, Ultra-Violence, blind, pistol start, no saves

100% Kills, 100% Items, 100% Secrets, 3:36

 

I lost the writeup for this map that I accidentally posted too early yesterday, but it's just as well, as this map seems to have instigated a small discussion as to how to review beginner maps. And thankfully I remembered my end stats!

 

This map is pretty obviously made by a novice mapper, and feels like it was made in two hours instead of ten. Its detail is minimal, its texturing is fast and loose (but still quite "aesthetic" in places), it lasts under five minutes even if you're the slowest player ever (me), and every fight looks significantly harder than actually is. I first played this map continuous, like some other maps, and I don't recommend it, because it trivializes the only genuinely difficult fight in this map - that being the opening fight, where a Guardian and two walls of Imps guard a single shotgun and 8 shells. Use the minimal ammo to dispatch the Guardian, then clear enough space to grab the berserk on one of the walkways and punch through the remaining imps. A button on the other side will open up the walls, revealing an SSG and a crowd of enemies on the other side. It's easy to dodge their fire while taking out the bigger threats with the shotgun, and eventually all that will remain are Guardians behind a fake wall, which take one point-blank SSG blast to negotiate. After that, the map is basically over. In another area revealed by a button, kill a few pinkies, and peekaboo-shoot the two perched archviles with the rocket at their feet. The exit has a crowd of chaingunners, but it's easy to get some distance and clear them with the rocket.

 

While Hiding the Secrets can't measure up to the more expertly crafted maps it's been placed amongst, it shows enough of a spark of imagination that it doesn't fail. I was always iffy about whether I should be ranking these maps, and Hiding the Secrets leads me to conclude that I probably shouldn't. Allowing new mappers to contribute to community projects like this is a double-edged sword - it gives them a good reason to improve their craft, and a platform to publish their work and feel that sense of achievement, which can be needed to grow, but it also leads to perhaps unfair comparisons with other maps.

 

Side note: It seems I'm not the only one to notice that this map neither has any secrets nor uses the track it's named after. That's fine though.

Edited April 20, 2023 by continuum.mid
correct info line

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 18: Close Encounters of the Weird Kind

by WeirdSandwich

 

Less gimmicky than lots of other maps this person has done.

 

Some of these spaces are TIGHT though!

 

Largest offense being two Arch-viles outside a hall with Barons and Hell Knights feeling more like a matter of luck.

 

Final battle is structured and quite chaotic.

 

WeirdSandwich's explosion of colors works out for the most part, but he does seem to like mixing purple and green. Only place where he succeeded in violating taste would probably be that striped green hallway.

 

Since the only place I had remote memory of was the beginning, here is a video below, also showing a HOM that was seemingly never fixed I'd noticed before.

 

PS - It was nice to enter different UFOs

 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Celestin]

MAP19: Hiding the Secrets by the BMFG

Spoiler

I don't like this one. I guess the placement here might be part of the issue, in a more traditional project, Hiding the Secrets would have been placed much earlier, but after experiencing the works of Muumi, myolden and Death Bear, it disappoints. It feels too basic, just press a switch, open a monster closet, kill everything, repeat for 4 minutes and the map is over. The only fun part was a chaingunner wave at the end, it wasn't a challenge (due to an abundance of rockets and health), but I found it hilarious for some reason. The map doesn't look good, either, with its plain texture choice and basic layout. 

 

Also, despite its title, there are no secrets to find. I guess stumbling across a weaker level is part of a charm in community projects.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Pistol-Start/Saves

Map 19: Hiding The Secrets - The BMFG 

100% kills and secrets

Time: 3:59

 

I'm pretty sure this is the first map by The BMFG I've played, but I have seen them post quite often here on the forum. I know they've posted maps before, but this was the first one that I'm aware of playing. Like others have posted, it feels a little unfair to compare maps in a community project since they're open to everyone and all skill levels. So naturally, there will be maps by people who aren't as good at making maps in 10 hours than others. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't make anything near as good as most of the mappers here, and something more in line with this. This is a very simple map with only a few fights and very basic architecture. First off, you have a guardian and imps behind a tall, slow to lower wall. Pistol the guardian then grab the shotgun to use on the imps. After grabbing the shells and berserk, hit the switch to open a wall on the other side with a crap ton of monsters. Let them infight, shotgun the hell knight and imps when you need to, and punch the pinkies. You'll get an SSG that I did not use, and another switch opens up the opposite wall with stealth troopers and some guardians behind a fake wall. I think the guardians here are the biggest threat in the map and did almost get me. A switch in this spot opens up a room with a lot of pillars, 2 elevated archies, and the rocket launcher. Take them out to hit a couple switches, revealing the final chaingunner ambush. Rocket them and you're already done! Overall, a true speedmap through and through. When it comes to community projects, as long as the map works and is moderately fun, that's all that matters. It might not stack up to other maps, but it's still enjoyable for what it is. 

[Book Lord]

6 hours ago, Ralgor said:

I don't see a lot of difference between giving a map a bad grade or score, and saying things like "Not the best stuff around." (I don't mean to single you out Book Lord, it was just the easiest quote I could grab.) We make the same sorts of judgments when we make a list of our most and least favorite maps at the end of the month. All a grade or a score is is a distillation of opinions. Since what makes these threads interesting is the contrast of opinions, it's pointless to have them in my opinion if we don't criticize maps when it makes sense.

 

I moved away from using "grades" recently due to not wanting to have my opinion be interpreted as some sort of objective rating. In school, something is usually either right or wrong. That doesn't apply here, and so I think the metaphor of "grades" is wrong. I still think having some sort of "tl;dr" like a score or something is still useful. I'm not sure what the answer is exactly, so don't be surprised if I don't change this again.

 

I was not writing against rates of scores in general, I was only explaining why I do not publish them. The main difference is that some readers may jump at the score and then decide to read the review, to see where the rating comes from, or just move on. The quote you singled out is a good example of a statement that out of context might sound like a harsh judgement, but I wrote another sentence above it. It said what I labelled as "not the best stuff around", i.e. Alien Guardians shooting from behind a fake wall. 

 

I prefer not to show ratings, in the hope that reviews are read in full and convey my genuine impressions. It might be wishful thinking since words can be misinterpreted, and this is even easier because English is not my native language. I still try to do my best, as all DWMC contributors, carrying on my personal review receipt. Please feel free to do the same. I also liked your ratings because you did not use half votes, plus or minuses; I find very difficult to interpret what those "modifiers" really mean, a lack of understanding that accompanies me since high school. 

 

6 hours ago, Ralgor said:

We don't want to discourage people from making maps either. I try to keep criticism to the map and not the author, but I'm still new at this so I can't promise I haven't screwed that up. I hope no one takes anything I write personally. I have a bad habit of writing more about the negative aspects of my experiences than the positive, and I need to do better. It's definitely something I'll be watching more closely in the future given the feedback here.

I appreciate every single map and author. I'm glad every single one of them exists. That doesn't just go for the this month's choice either, but every wad and level I've ever played. I don't want my (or anyone else's) opinions to stop anyone from making maps.

I also prefer to encourage mappers so that they keep trying, but there must be a place for polite disagreement. Nobody is guilty for being a beginner, and even less to take part in a project with many talented authors that spend a lot of time and energy in Doom mapping, though you need to hear negative feedback if you want to improve. What you do with the feedback as an author is your choice. I love when I receive a small token of appreciation for my reviews, and I would love some critique as well. 

 

I am sad whenever I read about someone with the mapper's block. I noticed this in some posts from @TheMightyWhoosh, an author that conceived not less than a full 32-map vanilla MegaWAD all on his own (KindA). His work was discussed extensively in this club, and 18 months since our playthrough he just wrote he felt less sure about his own ideas for Doom, now that he has shared them with the community. This has slowed down his activity on new projects he had in mind, and this is a shame since I am sincerely interested in whatever he'll come up with. I was "kinda" harsh in some of my reviews, but it was with the best intentions. I wanted to highlight the good and the bad, and I did my best to wrap up the experience on a positive note. The last maps showed a great improvement in combat design, and I think if he builds on those achievements we'll have some great material to play with. 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Book Lord

[Azure_Horror]

Map 16   Mors Palus Aliens by LateNightPerson

A small map with gameplay reminiscent of Plutonia Experiment. Pretty enjoyable, but compared to other maps in the set, this one does not look special at all.

- The map has a bug: 4 chaingunners do not get aggroed by sound, and thus they fail to teleport.

- Darkness in the main map hub felt notably annoying... Leads to slightly more paranoid lurking, less crazy action. Ancient Aliens is the later, not the former!

- The unmarked secret is not THAT big of a deal, because the map is so small.

- The area inside the UFO was very nice, though!

Like I said, Mors Palus Aliens is not a bad map, but other maps in the project feel much more special.

 

Map 17   Zero G Station by Danlex

A middle ground between typical Ancient Aliens episode 2 map and map 24 culture shock!

I looooove the aesthetics of this map!

The spider mastermind in the final fight was surprisingly efficient too.

 

Map 18   Close Encounters of the Weird Kind by Weird Sandwich

Lots of Ancient Aliens gameplay goodness in this level...

Pistol start with minimal weapons, but with some high0dnger enemies? Check!

Narrow UFO corridors with Archviles and Revs lurking inside? Check!

An almost Sunlustian fight? Check! The battle versus an army of Hell nobles and two nasty perched Viles is quite scary...

The spectacular final battle, which can easily go south in a moments notice? Check!

 

Playing more Ancient Aliens "Lost Levels" is always nice! Map 17 brought the perfect aesthetics match. In the similar way, map 18 brings the wonderful gameply match...

 

Map 19   Hiding the Secrets by theBMFG

The narrow combat spaces with many high-damage monsters remind me about Going Down. Luckily, @The BMFG is not as ruthless as @mouldy. Why luckily? Because map 20 exists. Map 20 of Warpspeed will go full Going Down in both its premise and its execution. Its great to have a more relaxing map right before it...

 

Okay, map 20 will be discussed later. Back to map 19:

- Like I said, narrow spaces + high damage monsters remind me of Going Down. The chaingunner army at the very end, and the post-SSG stealth alien squad in particular were very memorable in this regard.

- BTW, Hiding The Secrets without secrets sounds very much like a nod to Going Down map 14 "Secrets and Lies". I don't know if this reference was intentional, or if it is just happy coincidence, but it is very cool nevertheless.

- The combat starts a bit slow, but it quickly expands into very explosive action: SSG comes right in time to blast fragile-but-explosive Rocket Drones, and you receive the rocket launcher in the very next fight! Very fun gameplay happens in the end!

- The small size is not a problem at this point: the WAD has many big maps, so a smaller, breather-ish level does makes for better overall experience, IMO.

- The visuals of this level are very basic, but the color combination is still very beautiful. Once again, no problem here.

 

TLDR: I enjoyed playing Hiding The Secrets. Short and relaxing Going-Down-ish level is a very good fit for Ancient Aliens-themed WAD, IMO.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Azure_Horror

[Klear]

 

[Ralgor]

5 hours ago, Book Lord said:

I prefer not to show ratings, in the hope that reviews are read in full and convey my genuine impressions. It might be wishful thinking since words can be misinterpreted, and this is even easier because English is not my native language.

 

This is actually a really good point, and one I hadn't considered.

 

Your English is very good, and not just for a non-native speaker. I don't think I would have ever guessed it wasn't your first language! One of the reasons I started writing for these threads was to improve my own writing.

 

6 hours ago, Book Lord said:

I love when I receive a small token of appreciation for my reviews, and I would love some critique as well.  

 

I feel the same way, although maybe this thread itself is a bad place for that sort of critique. I feel like we've been a bit too meta as it is. Is there a Doom-related Discord or anything that people on this forum (and especially this thread) hang out in?

[Ralgor]

MAP20 - "Archvile Arrival" by Muumi
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl9, UV, Pistol start, blind run w/ saves, then single segment w/ demo
100% kills and secrets

First off, I really think this map should have been called "Archvile Avalanche".  The level starts out unassuming enough, with just four monsters with their back turned to you. Then you open the door... and the horror begins.

 

Spoiler

The Welcoming Committee

The first time I opened that door, my mouth literally fell open and I just stood there watching the arch-viles swarm me. I missed the warning messages scrawled in blood on the wall before you enter the hallway. The only thing to do is run and don't look back. This level is completely blind playthrough unfriendly since you'll have no idea what you're supposed to do, and a misstep will see the swarm catch up to you. You really don't want to engage with any of the monsters if you don't have to.

Eventually you'll come to a large ziggurat. Climb it and plunge into the portal at the apex, and you'll find the power to turn the tables on those arch-viles. The rest of the map is just a BFG spam-fest, but a very fun one. Getting revenge on those arch-viles who have been hounding you is very satisfying.

 

Spoiler

The moment the you get the power to fight back.

When I first started playing this map, I actually didn't like it. It rapidly grew on me, and when I got to the BFG portion I was loving it. I don't think I've ever played a chase map like this, but right now I think it's the best map in the pack.

 

Spoiler

Die, Archvile scum!

MAP20 - 5:37.29 (5:37)  K: 553/553  I: 23/24  S: 2/2

ralgor_pussixmaw20.zip

 

I have to ask @Klear, is that your full comment, or just a teaser? I have to admit I had a good laugh out of it. I hope that was the intention. I can't imagine doing that level in VR! :)

Edited April 20, 2023 by Ralgor
Added some screenshots

[LadyMistDragon]

8 minutes ago, Ralgor said:

 

This is actually a really good point, and one I hadn't considered.

 

Your English is very good, and not just for a non-native speaker. I don't think I would have ever guessed it wasn't your first language! One of the reasons I started writing for these threads was to improve my own writing.

 

 

 

 

 

Huh, I have noticed the odd grammar error here and there that seemed like the sort native English speakers don't exhibit so much, but I told myself it was nothing. Always go with one's intuition, in most situations that is.