Pancrasio Posted April 10 (edited) Habitat hardly needs an introduction, but I will give its basic context so that we can all remember it well before discussing it. Its author is Christopher Buteau, it is map 22 of TNT, appearing among the infernal maps, and was published on June 17, 1996. It is a very misunderstood map that does very clever things and tells truths about modern life, all without using any words, except perhaps the title. I would also like to expand information with interpretations that I have managed to put together about this fundamental piece in the history not only of Doom, but of modding in general. Let's start with the name. Habitat. What does it mean to tell us? The map is about that, about the "new habitat" of Man, after the Neolithic revolution but above all the industrial revolution, and his habits. We generally talk about habitats when referring to wild species, but we must remember that the human being is still an animal, and the places where we congregate would be our habitat. It is clearly no longer nature, and that is what the map is built on. Right from the start it speaks about LIFE and our customs. It is a masterpiece. The first thing we notice when entering the map is its appearance. It's not particularly good-looking. This is obviously not due to the author's inability, since his map for Icarus: Alien Vanguard demonstrates his genuine visual gifts. No, in this case it is on purpose, thematic, the appearance of things does not matter but what they represent, it is not the physical that is valuable but the spiritual, which is something that permeates the entire level. At the same time, we will notice flat lighting, to the maximum allowed by the engine. This is obviously intentional as well: It is a reference to the Enlightenment, the concept that inspired the French Revolution (remember that the author is Buteau), but in this case it is also the light of God (remember that his name is Christopher), falling from heaven, there are no shadows for a reason, and it is the light of God because it is capable of going through even Hell itself, it is giving us its wisdom to be able to continue with the level. In addition to being "ugly" and absolutely lit, the level is quite abstract. It largely connects with what we already mentioned about the aspect. It wants to free the space that we give to trifles to allow us to generalize, not to discriminate objects based on small details and to give us the ability of abstract thought and think in complex ways, to use the imagination, in turn, transcending the physical towards the spiritual. It is Enlightenment, without rejecting God and spirituality. Now, only the minimum characteristics of each concept can be observable in order to understand. What, specifically, is the first thing we see when we start? On the one hand a river, nature, and on the other hand pollution, from a machine, due to the work of man. The walls are clearly mechanical, but they are full of dirt, permeated by nature. If we need to remember what causes this, just look back, that is, reflect, do a retrospective, and see the boxes: The cause has been mercantilism, mass production, human criteria. These two visions translate in turn into two paths to choose from, that is, free will is present: We can go towards the river or go towards the pollution. Let's start with the river. The first thing we have to notice is that it is located to the left of our point of view as soon as we enter the map. In Western writing systems, we write from left to right, and writing is also an abstraction that allows us to make communication more complex. That is, we are going backwards. It's not saying that we degress or anything like that, it's simply chronology. At first the map would even seem to support this action, since the human path is pollution, with negative connotations. Upon arrival we find a large plain, very open, but the progression is not clear. This is a metaphor for life. It gives us many paths and options but we never know if we are doing the right thing. Demons will begin to come out. They are metaphorical, they are our internal demons that we must fight, the thoughts that we have to deal with, the ones that do not allow us to progress. On a gameplay level it also lets us know that although it invites us to think and that is the highest priority, we still have to try to survive. It is also a metaphor. We have not transcended yet. We have to go about our daily lives, eat, sleep, follow our basic body needs. We will notice that these figures are all quite animalistic, of course, it is a habitat, there are bulls, pigs, and who knows more, but there is also an archvile, a humanoid figure. It is the shadow (in the Jungian sense) of our species. The prehistoric man. We have come from nature, and this is what this piece is trying to make us think. We will wonder what to do. Just as there are no clues in life, we will have to discover on our own what we have to do, and it will turn out to be go through a wall. This is not coincidental. Who goes through the walls? The souls, the spirits... We will have to reject the material world and turn to the spiritual world to advance, and we will be given an answer, a key... This key is technological. A technological key among nature. Perhaps the distinction doesn't make much sense. If man is an animal, why wouldn't his work be part of the natural world? Isn't the dam that a beaver builds natural? And it is an answer that will let us continue. In fact, we will have to do it, because if we continue trying to go backwards we will find a closed path and a fence, a cage, the past locks us in. In any case, nature is essential, because if not, there would not be a key there. When we return, we will enter the machine. We will discover that, in reality, perhaps it was not as harmful as we first believed, since the water manages to purify itself and keep moving, and continues to be a fundamental part in the progression of the map. In fact, we will try to grab the yellow key, again, technological, and the light will go out to reveal a pentagram and an archvile. It reminds us of the dark age, obscurantism, and the need for light, which is God, that we have found a way to take God where he cannot reach, and we must not lose him or we will return to that primitive man (again, hiding in the shadows), which would go against Him, hence the pentagram. Energy gives us more opportunities. But it is not still a place suitable for human life, ironically, although it is made by man himself. This can be inferred by its depth, that is, further away from God. We know that it is man's habitat because of the monopolistic presence of human enemies. But they attack us. It is an allegory of the alienation of modern industrial life. From wandering through completely the same technological corridors, monotonous, bucolic and alienating, they have gone crazy, and attack us for our freedom and free will (this is also an allegory of what happened to the author of the map himself, which is why has retired so early from modding with only two levels). This is sad, but there is nothing we can do. Rather later than sooner we will find our way to the red key in these parts... But here there is a singularity. It is a skull, that is, it is natural. The skull, where the brain is housed. We repeat a theme: The one who devised all this is nature. We must not forget it. Finally, we reach the large reactor. This is because the author began to come up with the map back in 1986, in the middle of the Cold War, during the Chernobyl disaster, and the clash between the potential of nuclear energy versus the disastrous use to which it was put. This made him think deeply about current events, human nature and duality. He did not yet know in what medium he would capture it, but in 1993 with the release of Doom he was finally able to obtain one capable of doing so, and he spent 3 years in a row developing the map until its release in 1996 along with the rest of TNT, although the initial concept dates back to 1986 (Which means, the map actually took 10 years to make, and it shows) It is the area with the highest ceiling, but simultaneously the lowest floor. The most vertical area of the map. It is the nature of nuclear energy (a great example of abstract thinking, since we have never even been able to see an atom, and yet we can know that it exists, also a metaphor for faith), the greatest source of progress, but of allowing ourselves to fall into ambition, greed and hatred, causes a nuclear catastrophe that takes us to our lowest point. But we finally manage to climb. The first thing we find is the Invuln and a berserk. The invuln activates God mode. It is very clear. We have found God. We are in heaven. And about the berserk... They were, in Viking culture, those who went to battle motivated by the act of fighting itself, without weapons, completely unleashed and without feeling pain. Obviously it is a metaphor, you have to let yourself go, stop being tied to the commandments of earthly life and go beyond, accept that the pain is barely mental. In fact, the item leaves you at full health. It is clearly spiritual healing, with which we reach God. We will have to get rid of a couple of specters that, thanks to the contrast with the white of the invuln, are revealed. They are those internal demons that we could not see and that we still have to purge, without difficulties, since now we are immortal, eternal, and we can see everything clearly. This Eden, despite being mostly a natural landscape, has a fair amount of human presence, and in fact we must enter one of those constructions. In it there is a well, in which we will have to make a leap of faith. It is full of blood, which symbolizes LIFE. And thus we will finish the map once and for all. In conclusion, Habitat is simply a masterpiece, and without a doubt the best map from TNT. Others have talked about the cinematographic qualities of Central Processing (not Romero's, the other one), but I don't think it cuts it. Buteau should be listed among Descartes, Sartre, Foucault, Baudrillard, and other French philosophers. I think it's a shame this map is so misunderstood, and I didn't even start unraveling all, this is just the most surface level stuff. What do you think? Edited April 10 by Pancrasio 35 Quote Share this post Link to post
reefer Posted April 10 (edited) in all honesty, its not that bad. there are certainly some levels of ultimate doom that are worse. habitat is kinda fun, at least to me, just because of how goofy and niche it is. its more just fucking strange than bad. totally understand why people hate it, but like now, just because its so much of a meme, its just funny as shit. Edited April 10 by reefer 3 Quote Share this post Link to post
Murdoch Posted April 10 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Pancrasio said: What do you think? I think you have either thought about this way, way too much, or this is a trolling masterpiece. I am honestly not sure which. Edited April 10 by Murdoch 5 Quote Share this post Link to post
Logamuffin Posted April 10 1 hour ago, Pancrasio said: What do you think? I think April 1st was, like, 9 days ago dude. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Wavy Posted April 10 1 hour ago, Pancrasio said: What do you think? A lot actually 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
baja blast rd. Posted April 10 Only skimmed but my favorite gag was classifying the author as a French philosopher just based on his last name. 8 Quote Share this post Link to post
Monsieur E Posted April 10 To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Habitat. The level design intricacies are extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of doom map theory, most of the intricacies will go over a typical doomworlder's head. There's also Christopher Buteau's futuristic outlook, which is deftly woven into his maps- his personal design philosophy draws heavily from the Futurism movement of the 20th century, for instance. The FANS understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these design decisions, to realise that they're not just brilliant- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Habitat truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the pioneering spirit in Habitat's revolutionary tunnels, which itself is a cryptic reference to Alison and Peter Smithson and the New Brutalism as a whole. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those low IQ simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Team TNT's genius wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them. 😂 And yes, by the way, I DO have the TNT Evilution logo tattooed. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid 😎 7 Quote Share this post Link to post
Li'l devil Posted April 10 Habitat is okay because you can skip most of it, if you don't like it and if you know how. This compares it favorably to, for example, Administration Center or Baron's Den, which many people also don't like, but they have no choice but to play them all the way through and they're lengthy. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Pechudin Posted April 10 More please, I love this. One about Hell Keep? One about Unruly Evil? 3 Quote Share this post Link to post
JackDBS Posted April 10 1 hour ago, ObserverOfTime said: this image but with a revenant instead 2 Quote Share this post Link to post
Wavy Posted April 10 20 minutes ago, JackDBS said: this image but with a revenant instead 35 Quote Share this post Link to post
Stupid Bunny Posted April 10 (edited) The nexus of misunderstood genius Two stories that meander through so many fragments and snapshots of life, only to find that very few of them had any impact on the final, inevitable conclusion. Two that capture, more than anything else ever has, that life is not some grand narrative but simply a series of vignettes that we pass through on the way to the end, most (but not all) of which do not change the final outcome. Buteau <-> Wiseau Edited April 10 by Stupid Bunny 6 Quote Share this post Link to post
blueyosh43 Posted April 10 Don't really get the overwhelming disdain for this map. Didn't think it was any uglier than any random doom II map. I thought the tunnels were pretty straightforward, it's a maze and everything looks the same yeah but it's not huge and you have an automap for a reason. As for the secrets, I guess it's a little dumb but there's multiple secrets in the official maps that are in unreachable or arbitrary spots. They're not really that important anyway, it's just a number that goes up and clearly the OG devs didn't give too much of a shit about them aanyway. It does some cool visual things with the slime and water. Idk just seems really overblown. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post
Bri Posted April 10 I think TNT as a whole gets a lot of overblown hate, to be honest. It's a product of its time and there's stuff that could be better, for sure, but it's not bad. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post
Pancrasio Posted April 10 (edited) 8 hours ago, Logamuffin said: I think April 1st was, like, 9 days ago dude. I belong to that enormous mass of people that celebrate it December the 28th. Quote More please, I love this. One about Hell Keep? One about Unruly Evil? Administration Center ought to come next. Edited April 10 by Pancrasio 0 Quote Share this post Link to post
Maximum Matt Posted April 10 1 hour ago, Pancrasio said: December the 28th. What's that? 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Pancrasio Posted April 10 17 minutes ago, Maximum Matt said: What's that? Día de los inocentes 0 Quote Share this post Link to post
TheHambourgeois Posted April 10 This post: https://youtu.be/NAh9oLs67Cw 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Gmg Posted April 10 Why are there so many essays about doom? It's just an action fps game. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post
Pancrasio Posted April 10 2 minutes ago, Gmg said: Why are there so many essays about doom? It's just an action fps game. Doom itself is, Habitat, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post
DankMetal Posted April 10 This post has inspired me to write about e2m3 because E2M3 is the best doom level ever Sunloss? What is that, gtfo. REFINERY SWEEP BABY 🗣🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥🔥🗣🔥🗣🗣🇨🇱🇨🇱🇨🇱🇨🇱🇨🇱 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
DevilMyEyes Posted April 10 (edited) hi Edited April 10 by DevilMyEyes 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
JackDBS Posted April 10 28 minutes ago, Pancrasio said: Doom itself is, Habitat, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. Every map is a masterpiece if you do enough drugs 2 Quote Share this post Link to post
Maximum Matt Posted April 10 38 minutes ago, Gmg said: Why are there so many essays about doom? It's just an action fps game. Aw hell no c'mon 0 Quote Share this post Link to post
Pancrasio Posted April 10 (edited) 1 hour ago, DevilMyEyes said: hi Hola Edited April 10 by Pancrasio 0 Quote Share this post Link to post
TheHambourgeois Posted April 10 1 hour ago, Gmg said: Why are there so many essays about doom? It's just an action fps game. Doom is a commentary on the arbitrary metaphysics of existence, 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Kristian Nebula Posted April 10 Reminds me of that one time when I accidentally licked a stamp and realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post
Pancrasio Posted April 10 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Kristian Nebula said: Reminds me of that one time when I accidentally licked a stamp and realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Now here's Tom with the weather. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE! PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE! Edited April 10 by Pancrasio 2 Quote Share this post Link to post
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