Ex Aequo: a Doom I megawad (limit-removing) - BETA

[Bri0che]

                                                      

 

 

 

Welcome to Ex Aequo's beta, this is a limit-removing Doom I (Ultimate Doom more specifically) megawad that is still under construction (about 50% achieved this far). A quite basic one, classic Tech/Phobos-Deimos/Hell themed episodes. No particular restriction, no particular style, I assume that by extension you may classify this megawad as a "vanilla-style" one, even though there are some particular tricks here and here at some points…

 

 

This is still a WIP megawad. This beta include E1 and E2 only, some maps from E3 and E4 are also finished or under construction (more details on summary bellow).

 

 

Summary :

Spoiler

--- 

 

E1M1 : A1 Base

E1M2 : A2 Base

E1M3 : We got Hostiles !

E1M4 : Lethal Company

E1M5 : Consequences

E1M6 : Demons:Isolation

E1M7 : Abandon(n)*ed Ethics   *(oops, there is a mistake in it I just noticed, but I'm too lazy to correct the dehacked and graphic for now sorry)

E1M8 : Unknown Position

E1M9 : Lethargy (secret level)

 

---

 

E2M1 : Stone Age

E2M2 : Lurking Evil

E2M3 : Abandon

E2M4 : Iron Age

E2M5 : Forgotten Passage

E2M6 : Forbidden Symphony 

E2M7 : Darkness (officially "Whisperers in Darkness")

E2M8 : The Cyberbrothers

E2M9 : Anachronism (secret level)

 

--- !!! DISCLAIMER !!! here bellow are some E3/E4 maps that are finished/under construction included in this wad, go for them at your own risk.

 

E3M1 : Sanctus Tenebrae (fully playable)

E3M2 : Vade Retro Lux (under construction, no monster, unfinishable)

E3M3 : Anguish (placeholder, nothing)

E3M4 : Apathy (under construction, the very beginning is barely playable, but unfinishable)

E3M9 : Reminiscence (under construction, no monster, unfinishable)

---

E4M1 : Chaos (under construction, beginning barely playable, unfinishable)

E4M2 : Paradox (fully playable)

E4M9 : Tricks'o'fun (under construction, no monster, unfinishable)

 

 

Screenshots :

Spoiler

 

 

Technical utilities :

IWAD : Doom I / Ultimate Doom.

May run with : Any source port except non limit-removing. (GzDoom/DoomRetro/DSDA/CrispyDoom have been tested).

Play time : 1h for each episode approximately (average of 100 monsters, 8 to 10 minutes for completion).

Build time : Months…

Difficulty : Options implemented. General difficulty is slightly above Doom's original difficulty. "True" challenge is UV Pistol Start, the way intended. Continuous Play is fine though.

 

Download :

>>> https://www.mediafire.com/file/ryc5gbvi8j3zntl/Ex+Aequo.wad/file <<<

 

 

 

!!! Feel free to report any bug/visual glitch. Any feedback is welcome anyway :)

 

Thank's for playing, you can absolutely post your playthrough bellow !!!

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Bri0che

[Astro X]

Hey!! I assume it's inspired by Lethal Company xd

 

I'll make sure I play this :)

[jgs1989]

Just started playing...having fun so far.  Just wanted to report an imp out of bounds in e1m2.

[Bri0che]

8 hours ago, Astro X said:

Hey!! I assume it's inspired by Lethal Company xd

 

I'll make sure I play this :)

 

Not necessarily haha, but a lot of E1 map names are inspired by other titles such as HL, Lethal Company, Alien Isolation… Such games that I've recently (re)played.

Have fun ! :)

 

1 hour ago, jgs1989 said:

Just started playing...having fun so far.  Just wanted to report an imp out of bounds in e1m2.

 

You are telling me that I did not noticed that since all this time ??? Damn…

Thank you for telling me !

[apichatpong]

Played through E1continuously on UV, then some maps redone pistol start, and found it very enjoyable !
There might be a slice of monotony regarding fights (corridors, more or less tight, with hitscanners, ambushes (hinted ambushes)…) but it’s E1… and I don’t want to be too choosy because I like killing hitscanners a lot !
The openings are simple on continuously play, a bit less trivial on pistol start !
I spoke of hinted ambushes above, the ones with lighted arrows more or less all felt the same BUT, i must say that, especially in the second half of the episode, Bri0che, inside apparently classical progression, managed to organize very nice (although sometimes cramped) architectures so that you’ll always feel good in those levels !

So, it’s an approachable episode and I won’t say « easy » for two reasons :
— since Bri0che is generous on ammo and health, continuous play is quite easier (even if you don't use heavy weapons... for instance, didn't use rocket launcher before E1M7 and plasma gun before E1M8).
— at some point, the word « easy » came to my mind, then I realized we were on Sunday morning, so my mind started to sing the Faith no more version of « Easy »… and I woke up stuck by a bunch of pinkies and spectres leaving me with 1% health (in the red bars room of E1M5)

Didn’t found problems (but didn’t look in great details to textures), was able to max all maps except :

E1M2 for the reason evoked above by jgs1989
E1M9

Spoiler

but i don't know, it might be impossible... I imagined that the cyberdemon's scream is just supposed to frighten you and indirectly give you an idea of what will come on next episodes... but looking on slade, there is some teleporting stuff... maybe just to hear the noise ? I've played on GZdoom it might also be the reason.

E1M7 ok, in fact i killed them all but

Spoiler

the two imps hidden after red key door (sectors 391 and 239) only killable if you still have rockets, it's vicious ;)

 

The only map that seems a bit deceptive (even if i liked the last room, and especially the way you enter it) is E1M8 but, afterall, it's an ultimate doom hommage, original E1M8 is also deceptive.

 

Conclusion : might miss a bit of variety in fights but : Very nice episode 1, good job bri0che, i'll try episode 2 soon (in fact, already tried it a bit last week, since E2 was released before E1) !

Edited December 3, 2023 by apichatpong

[Bri0che]

4 hours ago, apichatpong said:

Played through E1continuously on UV, then some maps redone pistol start, and found it very enjoyable !
There might be a slice of monotony regarding fights (corridors, more or less tight, with hitscanners, ambushes (hinted ambushes)…) but it’s E1… and I don’t want to be too choosy because I like killing hitscanners a lot !
The openings are simple on continuously play, a bit less trivial on pistol start !
I spoke of hinted ambushes above, the ones with lighted arrows more or less all felt the same BUT, i must say that, especially in the second half of the episode, Bri0che, inside apparently classical progression, managed to organize very nice (although sometimes cramped) architectures so that you’ll always feel good in those levels !

So, it’s an approachable episode and I won’t say « easy » for two reasons :
— since Bri0che is generous on ammo and health, continuous play is quite easier (even if you don't use heavy weapons... for instance, didn't use rocket launcher before E1M7 and plasma gun before E1M8).
— at some point, the word « easy » came to my mind, then I realized we were on Sunday morning, so my mind started to sing the Faith no more version of « Easy »… and I woke up stuck by a bunch of pinkies and spectres leaving me with 1% health (in the red bars room of E1M5)

Didn’t found problems (but didn’t look in great details to textures), was able to max all maps except :

E1M2 for the reason evoked above by jgs1989
E1M9

  Hide contents

but i don't know, it might be impossible... I imagined that the cyberdemon's scream is just supposed to frighten you and indirectly give you an idea of what will come on next episodes... but looking on slade, there is some teleporting stuff... maybe just to hear the noise ? I've played on GZdoom it might also be the reason.

E1M7 ok, in fact i killed them all but

  Hide contents

the two imps hidden after red key door (sectors 391 and 239) only killable if you still have rockets, it's vicious ;)

 

The only map that seems a bit deceptive (even if i liked the last room, and especially the way you enter it) is E1M8 but, afterall, it's an ultimate doom hommage, original E1M8 is also deceptive.

 

Conclusion : might miss a bit of variety in fights but : Very nice episode 1, good job bri0che, i'll try episode 2 soon (in fact, already tried it a bit last week, since E2 was released before E1) !

 

All you said is well :)

I've both Pistol Started and Continuous Played every single map to make the most fair balance I could provide, but this is seriously impossible to balance such two opposed game style. I believe Pistol Start is the more interesting way to play these maps, indeed because Continuous Play may feels more on the easy way, and dodge some level design effort I made, but nothing crazy though.

Yes the Cyberdemon is just a figurant. I was considering deleting him before the release, because I knew people that like to 100% would maybe be frustrated about that, but I told to myself "you know what, f*ck, it's just a symbolic 1% left".     

 

When it come to fight diversity, I'm not the best to be fair, I simply can't afford to do better than ambushes and teleporting monsters x) but I assume that Doom doesn't have the best gameplay possibilities when it come to enemy encounter, maybe I'm wrong.

 

E1M8 isn't that great, it's a fact that I know, the map will surely change before the final release.

 

Anyway, thank's for playing, and have fun for the next E2 if you do it so. I had great fun to make those episodes this far, so I hope you will have as much fun as I had !

Edited December 3, 2023 by Bri0che

[apichatpong]

1 hour ago, Bri0che said:

 

All you said is well :)

I've both Pistol Started and Continuous Played every single map to make the most fair balance I could provide, but this is seriously impossible to balance such two opposed game style. I believe Pistol Start is the more interesting way to play these maps, indeed because Continuous Play may feels more on the easy way, and dodge some level design effort I made, but nothing crazy though.

Yes the Cyberdemon is just a figurant. I was considering deleting him before the release, because I knew people that like to 100% would maybe be frustrated about that, but I told to myself "you know what, f*ck, it's just a symbolic 1% left".     

 

When it come to fight diversity, I'm not the best to be fair, I simply can't afford to do better than ambushes and teleporting monsters x) but I assume that Doom doesn't have the best gameplay possibilities when it come to enemy encounter, maybe I'm wrong.

 

E1M8 isn't that great, it's a fact that I know, the map will surely change before the final release.

 

Anyway, thank's for playing, and have fun for the next E2 if you do it so. I had great fun to make those episodes this far, so I hope you will have as much fun as I had !

 

I like to kill every monsters when I can but I’m not a max ayatollah and it’s a pity that the « maxing » thing made me question about the cyberdemon because I instantly got what was your intent and it’s after some reexploration of the map (with due fear, because your effect works well) that I thought about the 100%.
Anyway, I think it’s a very nice idea and you should stick with it !

Regarding fights, the theme of the episode might restrict very different fights, I had the same feeling yesterday playing Precipitous by Paf.
To be a bit more precise (or at least try to), there are some nice variations on your E1, for instance, I really like the nukage « timed » fights of E1M4 (it’s hitscanners, ok, but don’t feel the same way), also liked the outdoor area of E1M5 and, thinking of E1M7, the four aligned doors openings leads to very similar fights but, after that, I loved the way you have intricated the different doors !.
I’ve played the first three maps of E2 and the fact that there are, beyond opening areas, biggest rooms (like the storage of E2M2 or the lowering wall’s short labyrinth of E2M3…) plus some fun secrets

Spoiler

(for instance, the rocket launcher secret with invulnerability sphere, just like that it's plain fearless fun (and sometimes it's just what we want !)... maybe you can extend a little bit the room and add some monsters, so that in the end of the timed invulnerability, you feel a bit more anxiety... but from my point of view, not sure it's necessary... )

made the pleasure even bigger !

I've also tried E3M1 and really liked this wide open area with all the monsters in the area revealing why they are threats (distant snipping for imps and hitscanners, deadly blocking for pinkies, spawning everywhere for the flying bastards and, inside that kind of mayhem, barons are really monsters you don't want to encounter too closely).

So, you're also good at variating fights, and even on the techbases of E1, some of your technical ideas help to never get bored.

 

Anyway, had  fun with  E1, have fun with first half of E2 and first map of E3 is promissing !

 

P.S. : i read your introduction after my playthrough, so discovered lately that it was designed for pistol start...

Edited December 3, 2023 by apichatpong

[Zahid]

my e1m1 to m8 fda good so far

popi9.zip

[Bri0che]

10 hours ago, Zahid said:

my e1m1 to m8 fda good so far

popi9.zip

 

Thank you sir :)

[DRON12261]

Awesome job, went through the whole first episode in one breath. Later I will pass the second and will wait for the release of the whole megawad. Great exploring, the levels are interesting to explore and wander through them. And cool choice of midi.