[Mapping Contest] MFG38's 10th Doomworld Birthday Bash (Winners announced! See p2.)

[VBraveMany]

Greetings! Am new to the forum, but I stopped by a few of your streams. So I decided to join in on this.

Uv ended up a smidge bit mean, so i'd suggest sticking with a lower setting and cranking it up if you find it too easy.

 

Map Name: Ghosts of Euno Muno
Author: VBraveMany
Map Format: MBF21 - DSDA or Z/GZ Doom should run it.
Music: No idea (its the intermission music from TNT)
Textures: Uh~ was going from bottom to top so, see below I guess.
Other Stuff: A bunch of recolors and palette adjusted ones by me. Used textures from Blood and Duke 3D.
         Ghost graphics from Hexen(?) (had them lying around for a while now) and the Mummy is from
         Heretic
Difficulty Settings: Yez
Tested in: DSDA & GZDoom
Play Time: Depends, shouldn't take more than 20 mins even if you play safe on higher Diffs.

Description: It's kinda blue and purple with a touch of green in places. But mostly blue.
         (Ps. Software rendering messes up the transparent windows, so keep that in mind.)

 

*No screenshots to avoid spoilers*

*Edit
Fixed a bug - missing teleport destination was added.

Download moved to its own topic:
https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/135891-ghosts-of-euno-muno-map-for-doom2/

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by VBraveMany
Update and Relocation

[MFG38]

FOUR HOURS REMAIN! Wonder if I'll get any speedmap submissions...

[MFG38]

AAAAAAAND TIME IS UP!

 

Thanks to everyone who sent their maps in! I hope I'll enjoy playing them as much as you all (probably) enjoyed making them. Playthroughs begin on my Twitch channel tomorrow at 7.00pm EEST/4.00pm UTC - I'll post an alert in this thread when I go live.

[MFG38]

Going live! https://www.twitch.tv/mfg38

 

[dmh094]

Hello! Just watched the stream. It was a good time! Glad you liked my map! Although you didn’t have to noclip haha :P

 

in the yellow door room, there is a peace of wall that lowers and a platform that comes up after pressing the skull switch. You have to walk through the peace of wall onto the platform. 
 

You landed on the platform about 3 times :P

 

Also, the S stands for secret, and the walls that lower that show the s symbol are shootable and open secrets. 
 

Glad you somewhat enjoyed it! Though!

 

and in my opinion the map really comes to life on ultra violence :P

 

Thanks for playing though!

 

cheers

 

Dan
 

[LadyMistDragon]

Video of Dr. Nuriel's map. Where was the cake? I'm dumb.

 

 

[dmh094]

1 hour ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Video of Dr. Nuriel's map. Where was the cake? I'm dumb.

 

 

 

This map was awesome! DoctorNuriel has accepted my invitation to include in my megawad :D there is something about it that is just really enjoyable :) 

 

And the cake is In the bfg room :P 

[dmh094]

A walkthrough of my submission for those who are having trouble:

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Played the jerryheppy map! 

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Here's the last one I'll probably be recording (I tried recording one of Manifold Gateway #38, but um....)

 

 

 

[VBraveMany]

Oh man, you actualy went for UV right of the bat, huh? Well ya did good anyway.

I didn't even bother marking Doom2 Entryways green armor equivalent a secret in this one since I figure everyone would catch on and know where to look.
(Also why i felt comfortable plopping the 6 stimpacks they house in there - probably would have helped a bit)

Regarding the archies - I expected most people to just cheese and punch them through the bars, hence why the 2nd ones pop in after the bars are lowered.
Anywho, I'm glad you persevered & hope you found it somewhat enjoyable. Thx for playing and recording.

[BeachThunder]

10 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Here's the last one I'll probably be recording (I tried recording one of Manifold Gateway #38, but um....)

But um...what?

[LadyMistDragon]

failed to record when playing and was running out of time, essentially.

[DoctorNuriel]

Hi! When will the winners be announced? :)

[MFG38]

16 hours ago, DoctorNuriel said:

Hi! When will the winners be announced? :)

 

This weekend.

[MFG38]

And here comes the announcing of the winners!

 

3RD PLACE: Stagnation by @dmh094

 

 

In order to explain my choice for who snagged the bronze medal, I must confess that I'm a glutton for atmosphere. Granted, when I say "atmosphere", I don't strictly mean the horror-inspired type that dmh094 employed in Stagnation, but this map definitely tickled that soft spot. The visuals, layout, general flow and MIDI choice all come together wonderfully to create an experience that, while admittedly somewhat outstaying its welcome compared to every other entry, was ultimately a delight to spend just under an hour in.

 

Taking place in a temple-like corridor complex partially filled with lava, Stagnation has you hunting down switches - some pressable, some shootable - in order to open up new pathways on your quest to decimate the resistance and eventually reach the exit. In a map any larger than this, the constant switch hunting would get tedious, but Stagnation's size ensures that the next point of progression is never far, and in a way, it helps the oppressive nature of the map. As do the not-too-spacious hallways and the few non-monster hazards, in particular the crusher area that seemingly references one of the maps in Romero's SIGIL.

 

 

Speaking of hazards, the map's monster density on HNTR isn't particularly worrying, but that's not to say Stagnation doesn't pack a punch when it wants to. The opening onslaught, funnily enough, is likely to make one of the bigger dents to your health throughout the course of the map, though there are combat scenarios later on that at least come close to matching that level of danger. Other than that, there's little in the way of challenge in Stagnation when it comes to the sheer number of hellspawn you'll encounter. I have been told, however, that the map really comes to life on UV. I'll take dmh's word for it.

 

As for its audiovisual department, Stagnation makes excellent use of custom textures, which come from Quake and OTEX, to craft its temple-like aesthetic. There is admittedly a degree of repetitiveness in the texturing, but the stark lighting and tasteful detailing keep the map from looking drab otherwise. The package is tied together neatly by dmh's choice of MIDI, a perfect accompaniment to the adventure ahead (and I say that without any bias whatsoever).

 

 

Overall, Stagnation is a solid effort and its positives ultimately outweigh the flaws, which is why it received 3rd place.

 

---

 

2ND PLACE: Bad Dream by @wxndxx

 

 

I'll admit to not being the biggest fan of the combat puzzle/challenge type of gameplay, but wxndxx's Bad Dream is a map that I'm happy to say serves as an exception to that rule. There's something about the way the map makes you observe your surroundings and think analytically about your approach to a given scenario that I actually didn't mind.

 

Ignoring the gameplay for a moment, one thing that Bad Dream has going for it is the visuals. Not only does the presence of OTEX help, but the map also has several areas with wildly distinct aesthetics. In a more conventional map, this much visual variety might end up doing more harm than good, but what helps in Bad Dream's case is that the areas aren't directly attached to each other - rather, they're separated by teleporters. And each area also has its own MIDI, aiding in establishing a distinct identity for each of them in a way.

 

 

In addition to the visuals and MIDIs that play in each area of the map, they all also have their own spins on the gameplay to an extent. Perhaps my favorite area gameplay-wise was the wooden cubicle, with walls that you can lower and raise at will, blocking off certain monsters and letting you experiment with different approaches. The general gameplay, at least on HNTR, was overall quite fun and not too frustrating.

 

One little curiosity about Bad Dream is the fact that the monsters apparently stay the exact same across the different difficulty settings - what changes instead is the items that the player receives. Finding this out made me wonder as to whether that design choice was inspired by the Devious Deviance community project, which revolved around a similar concept and was coincidentally hosted by me. Whether it was or not, I enjoyed playing Bad Dream enough to warrant giving it the silver medal.

 

 

---

 

1ST PLACE: Ghosts of Euno Muno by @VBraveMany

 

 

Similarly to the 3rd-place-winning Stagnation, Ghosts of Euno Muno's selling point for me was its atmosphere, largely helped along by its unique custom palette and MIDI choice, "Legion of the Lost" from TNT. A stand-out entry in more ways than one, VBraveMany's map hit several soft spots of mine and thus has the honor of claiming the 1st-place spot.

 

It took me a while to realize that Ghosts of Euno Muno is essentially a mashup of a few E1M1's - although the name sort of gives it away in hindsight - but that didn't hurt the experience by any means. If anything, the map works surprisingly well even knowing that it's basically one big reference. The non-linear layout gives you plenty of choice as to where to go right off the bat, while the scarce resources make you think about how you spend them. VBraveMany isn't generous with ammo or health, which gives the map a decent challenge rating even on HNTR.

 

 

What also made Ghosts of Euno Muno stand out are the few custom monsters. Mummies from Heretic, flying ghouls and invisible melee-only revenants make an appearance here, lending the monster roster a sense of delightful mystery but not swaying the gameplay all too far from the Doom we all know and love. Among the otherwise standard Doom bestiary, the new baddies on offer complement the map in a way that I can only describe as "flawless", thanks in no small part to the unique aesthetic that's on display.

 

The visuals in Ghosts of Euno Muno leverage the custom palette to its fullest extent, giving the grays a bluish tint and accentuating the predominance of the aforementioned with streaks of purple/pink. There's a lot to be said for a custom palette and how using one can give your wad a very distinct visual style, and VBraveMany definitely achieved that here. Ghosts of Euno Muno is one of the most unique-looking maps I've ever played, and the extensively modified palette is a big part of that.

 

 

Taking all of that into account, it should be no wonder why Ghosts of Euno Muno snagged the gold medal. It's nothing short of a masterpiece with a unique visual style and an atmosphere that matches it.

 

---

 

Once again, thanks to everyone who submitted to the contest, and congrats to the Top 3 spot-holders! (Also, sorry to keep you waiting.) I'll be contacting the winners by PM shortly.

[BeachThunder]

Thanks for running this, and congrats to the winners!

 

I might not have won anything, but I had a lot of fun (and learned a lot) making my level.

Oh, and of course, I'm glad to have now been exposed to the Wonderful World of MFG38 Midis.

[dmh094]

Thank you for the third place! didn't think id even come close to winning :)  Really appreciated! congrats to the first and second place winners! they were for sure hard competition to beat. 

 

Its was awesome to be a apart of this and if another comp ever came up, I think I would have no choice but to enter. thanks again MFG! 

 

 

[FEDEX]

Congrat. everyone! @MFG38 will you do some compilation of all submissions?

[MFG38]

Just now, FEDEX said:

@MFG38 will you do some compilation of all submissions?

 

I am planning to release one in the next few days.

[FEDEX]

Great 👍

[wxndxx]

Glad you liked it! Congratulations to everyone!

[DoctorNuriel]

Congrats to all winners! This was a really fun project to map for and play :)

[FEDEX]

Sorry for bumping this one, but @MFG38 any news about the compil.?

[MFG38]

2 minutes ago, FEDEX said:

Sorry for bumping this one, but @MFG38 any news about the compil.?

 

I kinda decided against releasing it in case participants wanted to release the maps themselves. Two of the six maps did get standalone releases, and I was honestly sort of hesitant about how people would feel about downloading 80MB+ worth of wads in one .zip and finding out it was only so big because one .wad file is almost 7 times as large as the rest combined. If there's enough demand, though, I'm still willing to zip up the submissions and release the compilation.

[FEDEX]

I don't think there is enough demand.. nevermind. Thanks anyway

[Ginji23]

I'd be willing to give the maps a whirl if they were nicely packaged together :)

[dmh094]

I don’t mind being in a pool with other maps haha :P might do a stand alone release if people are interested though. Depends on what people want.