Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #084

[ICID]

^{(logo by @4MaTC)}

 

ICID, what the hell is this now?

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures is a small project of exploration, interaction, entertainment and reviews where we meet once every two weeks to select random WADs in search of hidden treasures, lost promises, or our worst nightmares! We use the /idgames archive’s special feature that lets us search for random files. Of course, sometimes the results are resources or unplayable stuff, so we focus on looking for WADs. 

 

So, what do we do here?

1. Play at least one random WAD in a two-week period of time. WADs are selected using the Random File feature on /idgames or from the list below.
2. Post a review of whatever you play.
3. Always provide the name of the WAD, the name of the author, and a link to the file.
4. Play however you want, on any skill level, and with any source port, as long as you play the WAD as intended/in working shape.
5. Be respectful. It's okay to criticize a map, but remember that many mappers read these review threads and behave accordingly. Also, please don't tag mappers into a negative review of their work. 

 

What kind of WADs are we looking for?

Any file on /idgames is fair game, but most of us choose to stick to singleplayer Doom or Heretic WADs that work in our sourceport(s) of choice. If you're worried about finding Terrywads or broken files, I also pull at least five random WADs for the event. Feel free to play them with me if you wish, or look for your own! The point of the event is to encourage you to explore this vast, random world.

 

Recommendations for reviewing:

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1. Please take screenshots or video of your adventures.

2. Commenting the source port and difficulty level is not required, but provides helpful context to your review.

3. Try to stick to no more than 1 WAD per day to avoid burnout, but this part’s all up to you, champ!

4. Reviews of all formats are valid. Both longform and shortform are good as long as you write with integrity.

 

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures of this event:

 

1. DBM Random Map
2. Red Galaxy
3. RUN RIOT
4. Last Mission NiteSky
5. REDALERT!

 

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1. @Roofi | 8975

2. @LadyMistDragon | 5935

3. @Walter confetti | 2725

4. @Sena | 2680

5. @ICID | 2085

6. @brick | 2030

7. @Endless | 1260

8. @Thelokk | 725

9. @Clippy | 640

10. @smeghammer | 425

 

Join the Doom Master Wadazine community for more events like this! » https://discord.gg/Q2RKn4J

 

And check the Doom wiki for the full list of past adventures.

[LadyMistDragon]

The Hall (1996) by Kevin Eudy (Crispy Doom)

 

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One of my favorites, "The Hall" features an enormous cross-shaped hall that's full of trouble. As soon as you open the first door, you'll be staring down the full length of the ominous hall. The red key will be easy to see, but not easy to get. The large pillars aren't just for decoration, either. If anything seems too good to be true, it probably is . . .

 

 

The creator of the rather infamous ZOO.WAD brings this surprisingly solid map today! Experience definitely shows in the purpose of the layout and the arrangement of the textures too! Other than a couple of areas that feel a bit wanting for purpose, much of this map feels largely realized. Tying everything together is a series of references to maps in E2, though there's a few E1 ones as well, and in one room filled with computer banks perhaps both at once! The centerpiece is of course, the Containment Center-esque marble halls that might almost seem too large, were it not for the fact that this somehow feels fully intended to convey some scale, especially since there's a general variety in rooms size, with a couple admittedly being a bit too large.

 

There's a little less to say about the combat, say that it's constant and packs on quite a few Barons as well! Don't worry, there isn't that much Baron shotgunning, probably. Although the ways they're thrown at us in larger numbers later on seems awfully disorganized. I'm not sure if the Baron teleport trap that appears when teleporting back to the central halls with the now-revealed red key sticks to landing, but at the very least, it's a tougher-than-average Doom 1 map from '96 with a couple of cool twists inside a series of IWAD homages 7/10

 

 

 

[brick]

DBM Random Map (2011) by Demmon Break Master. 1 SP map for vanilla Doom II.

A bit of a pleasant surprise this one! The detailing and lighting are beautiful, and surprisingly elaborate for a vanilla map. I thought I'd get annoyed with the hitscan abuse but the map is cramped and twisty, so they're never too far away and there's always something to hide behind to mitigate the damage. There's some weird mixing of styles, the very start is pure atmosphere, the base parts are all hitscans, but then the tunnels have a more mixed compositions. Somehow it all works though, and the choice of MIDI (Suspense) meshes well with the more understated encounters and the lighting.

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Red Galaxy (2022) by Timothy Brown (MArt1And00m3r11339). 1 map for Doom II in DSDA-Doom.

I'll give Timothy one thing, if he has an audience then he knows it well, and delivers exactly as expected. The port requirement is unclear, Timothy mentions testing with DSDA-Doom but it's unclear whether the wad actually uses MBF21 or even Boom, or will just work on any limit-removing port. It's another arena slaughter with 4-digit enemy count, since I'm not the target audience it's hard for me to appreciate or critique fairly. I made it to the second (of two) arena but couldn't figure out how to open the exit. I'll say, running around that first arena in god mode watching a thousand enemies shred each other is pretty cathartic after a long day at work.

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RUNRIOT (1995) by Dario Casali. 1 SP/coop map for vanilla Doom II.

Rolling Punisher in an earlier Adventure then beating it fairly gave me a huge confidence boost and made me feel I'm prepared for anything Dario can throw at me. Turns out that's not true, but I also think Runriot is much harder than Punisher, and frankly a much worse map too. The latter can be conquered pretty reliably by just being patient, taking your time and slowly advancing, since ammo and health are both plentiful. Runriot by contrast is much stricter on ammo, there are lots of shells but no SSG (and really, who wants to go through 20 revenants with just the shotgun?), I don't think there's a BFG (if there's it's not even in one of the secrets), and even the RL is hidden in a secret. The worst section is the mancubus wall hiding the archvile, I had to restart this one several times just to make it to the AV before I ran out of ammo, I'm not sure if the strategy is supposed to be to draw everyone out to make the AV more accessible but I ran out of patience as the mancubi would not cooperate and move out. The final area is completely pointless, there are pillars that can be lowered to reveal individual revenants (a joke at this point) until one of them also opens up the exit. There's another riot.wad in there with an alternative version of the map, missing the blurspheres (which are completely useless anyway, if anything they make the mancubus wall even more difficult) and replacing the 20 revenant rush with a big Spider. I didn't like the map, but those who like Dario's style will probably enjoy it more.

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[ICID]

The fact that I let a MArt1And00m3r11339 map into the official list is proof I don't fake the randomness (and believe me, I thought about doing so this time.) That said, I for one will be skipping it.

[LadyMistDragon]

DT-MAGNUM.ZIP (1998) by Don Tello (Crispy Doom)

 

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Basically, a rather crude magnum sprite taken from the collection of one Simon Mellergardh who'd originally converted the magnum of Redneck Rampage for use in Doom. Honestly, I think I'm going to be much more careful with downloading tiny weapon mods like this. Fun fact: this spends pistol ammo!

 

 

 

Deathmatch: Outdoors (2012) by TheNooBringer (Zandronum)

 

A seriously bland dm map with two open courtyards, a building in each of them and a twisting gray side tunnel that contains a switch at the end opening up both courtyards. I guess it could be worst but there's really nothing here.

 

 

SargeBaldy Speedmapping Compilation #19 (2007) by Various (From Doom with Love)

 

I have no idea why the time limit for all these speedmaps was 100 minutes. I can only assume it was an arbitrary number someone came up with in the very first collection. Anyway, quality here is fairly consistent which is to say, rather bland. On to the maps!

 

01: This was made by Karthik Krishna which is odd because surely, he spent less than 100 minutes on this! It's like some bad rip-off of Pablo Dictter's take on the Unholy Cathedral, but laughably truncated. And it seems like Karthik put down ammo before enemies which would be one thing if you had a solid foundation or two, but it seems like he ran out of ideas rather quickly. Of his two subsequent releases, one had been in development for a while and the other appeared in the followup to this.

 

02: Ok, this actually ranks among Torn's best maps. Even though this is an obvious Pit take-off. Like seriously, that stupid Lost Soul hallway is even here! And that area where pinkies are rocketed near the end is kind of Tricks 'n Traps meets the Focus' en. On the plus side, ammo is very well-balanced and this isn't a bland corridor outing like his Community Chest map or I Dunno Torn

 

03: A decently-detailed techbase with seemingly no weapons but the ammo and chaingun. It's quite short and insubstantial but still feels too grindy to bother with.

 

04: I never heard of DomRem but this almost might be the best map here. Although I'm not sure there's enough ammo to kill the Cyberdemon even through infighting. I feel like the Revenants in the same location have to die first since there also appears to be rockets here! Elsewhere, chaingunners fire from isolated windows, the central pit is irradiated and DomRem forces you to work for your weapons! Perhaps a little too much because we have to shotgun two Revenants before we can head outside, shoot an Arachnotron and pick up an SS. Ammo balance still feels a little screwy though.

 

05: Ok, I did not expect a Post-Mortum/Living End take from Dr. Zin of all people! Like I know he can pack the heat on and everything but I didn't think he was attempting that at this stage in his career! Anyway, unlike Fredrik Johanssen's opening map in a DWSP (#16), I can actually believe it was made in 100 minutes or so because it is pretty simple and will wet the whistle of anyone down with Alien Vendetta's harder maps. The one thing I did not like was the Arachnotrons placed in hard to reach places, and in one case, overlooking a chamber that contains an Arch-vile surrounded by nobles. That being said, it's not quite up to the challenge of Hell Revealed or AV otherwise, probably in part because there's water down below instead of blood.

 

6/10 in the end. While most of the best maps can be found in another form somewhere else in the metaphorical sense (besides 4), only 3 and 01 threaten to turn this into a waste of space.

 

 

Edited May 1 by LadyMistDragon

[LadyMistDragon]

BCDEATH2.WAD (1994) by Brian and Craig Sparks (Crispy Doom)

 

 

You're not the Sparks brothers I know! But anyways, the text file is typical 90s effluence and immodesty, though this isn't too bad in the latter category because they say they've at least put their work in. This seems to be one of six DM maps they made, and honestly, it's not too bad. Modern deathmatch afficianados won't like it too much because of all the split rooms but it does feel a bit like something from Goldeneye like the Temple. There are plenty of places to hide and ambush your opponents. Detailing is not too bad, but it's also very much '94 in how much actually gets used. It can also be played in single-player, and while it's not too bad, it kind of feels like an inferior version of Nessus perhaps. It can't really be recommended in most respects but the way the trees are used is nice at least

 

 

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Sprike2 (2012)  by John Bishop (GZ Doom)

 

 

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You flick the exit switch of Sprike; there is a moment of disorientation and you find yourself staring through a window into the very same exit room you had just struggled to reach. It seems that the nightmare is not yet over...

You pause momentarily and then operating a switch just ahead of you once again descend into the unknown.

 

 

With this last, ZDoom exclusive sequel to another map he'd apparently made in 2005, John Bishop would all but close the door on Doom mapping. And it's a little bit disappointing. See, the layouts and methods of progression firmly belong enough in the late 90s that it almost feels like John really was hewing less to modern mapping trends than someone like Pcorf (whose basic style has not changed in years, it should be noted). The Quake textures are nice and complement an industrial aesthetic attempted here and John at least has some skill at explosive fights, not to mention an immersive little room filled with something like blood and slime near a cave-in. Unfortunately, he also saw fit to include a self-indulgent maze that feels like it exists because it has to, basically. The red key sequence is a massive waste of time that absolutely no one would excuse today with its sheer repetitiveness and only proves a challenge to patience more than anything. The placement of what turn to be progression-critical items behind obvious secrets is something else to mention. Worst is when John turns 05 years old and starts putting transparent Imps in one hallway because...... I'm not sure. Even the final showdown proves somewhat disappointing. Not because it lacks a Cyberdemon but because there's too much space and little excuse to engage any more than is required. That said, the turret Imps could probably be removed. Still a solid 5.5/10 for the combat flow but there are some serious problems

 

 

 

Edited May 4 by LadyMistDragon

[brick]

Brick | 2 wads | 4 maps
Adventure | 5 wads | 7 maps

Last Mission NiteSky (1999) by Jim Ford. 3 SP maps for vanilla Doom II.
A mediocre trio of very short maps, probably meant for a longer megawad judging by some of the goodies you can get at the end of the last one. Architecture and lighting are adequate, layouts are simplistic, combat is ok... none of it is outright bad but there's nothing here we hadn't already seen even back then. The sore point of course, MAP02 has a blue key that is only tagged for UV, making the wad impossible to complete on any other difficulty. You know this mistake is a little too common when my first instinct on getting stuck with a missing key is no longer to try to find what I missed, but to immediately go into Doom Builder expecting it to be improperly tagged.

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REDALERT! (2003) by Chrono. 1 SP map for Doom II in ZDoom.
Yes, it's another cutscene-heavy story wad from that era of ZDoom. The entire first map is a cinematic, I expected some fancy scripting and camerawork but it's in fact remarkably simple, not that the scripting is in the actual gameplay map is any more complex. To be fair I don't mind the storytelling, it's as pulpy as you'd expect (and there are many typos) but it's earnest and well done, it even attempts to link into Gooberman's continuity (Doomguy is Russell Cartwright, you don't play him but he has a role in the story). The problem is that the gameplay is too dull. There are around 250 enemies in the map, but almost all of them are zombiemen, shotgun guys, imps, and a few demons. They're encountered either in big rooms past a door to camp, or in a succession of narrow corridors. My strategy was just to stand in the doorway and fire away, or backpedal if the demons got too close, there's plenty of space to mechanically dodge left and right in the areas with imps. The final fight mixes things up a bit, it's a small room with barons, demons, imps and shotgun guys, and it's not a bad fight, it's just that it's the only interesting one in the map. There's some nice architecture in some places, but the lighting is as monotonous as the combat and regrettably it doesn't help make the visuals more interesting. I don't think it's a bad map, just uneventful.

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[LadyMistDragon]

DickWad (1995) by Warren Racz, Mark Rempel, and Vinzez Barut (Crispy Doom)

 

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A WAD with multiple levels, not-so-new sounds, new graphics, lots of secrets, deception, and evil tricks. Best on 486.

Near complete shit as it happens, bad enough that I'm not uploading the video of this. There's just no identity or focus. Corridors sprawl and twist around whilst textures shift in a way that's less surreal and more a way of throwing shit at the wall. There's also plenty of mandatory progression behind random walls but thanks to Crispy Doom, there's no need to wall-hump and there probably wasn't in vanilla either. Doesn't make tons of difference though. While E1M1 has a number of cool locales, there seems to be no central thing linking it together, whereas the following two arguably have even less to recommend them. E3M2 specifically feels like it was basically a mapping tutorial since it's composed of literally nothing but the same square room copy-pasted over and over, with some resizing and texture changes every so often.

 

E3M9 is probably the best map here, not because it's significantly better (there's too many incomprehensible decisions, and that fucking platform that hurts you!) but because there is some dumb fun to be had here. Although it would be nice here if ammo was a tad more available, it's at least fun for 5-7 minutes before you know where to go.

 

Conclusion: wads with puerile names should probably be avoided at all costs from now on 2/10 And those sfx can go die too.

 

 

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[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 10 maps
Adventure | 6 wads | 17 maps

 

Knee-Deep in ZDoom (2013) by KDIZD Team. 10 SP/coop maps for Doom in ZDoom.

To call this polarizing is an understatement. Some call it a bloated mess that exemplifies the dangers of feature creep, others think it's an incredible demonstration of the power of ZDoom and the timelessness of that first episode. I have no problem saying both sides are absolutely right. I had to stop myself from laughing at the titlemap's attempts at taking itself seriously juxtaposed with the deadpan voice acting and the bleeping of swear words, but at the same time, wow, we could do this in Doom in 2007! The maps carry the same feel, Hangar is an absolute chore to go through, shells are rationed and so we use the pistol against a hundred zombiemen and imps and those incredibly annoying shadows, but... wow I can't believe Hangar looks so good and is so complex now. There are plenty of impressive special effects: the (optional) sprite rotations, the glowing lights (some of these are more successful than others), the cameras, and dear me that custom intemission is one of the most impressive things I've seen on ZDoom (and this was a long time before intermission scripts were a thing; everything had to be coded manually). There are also some additions that don't really seem to fit; many of the new enemies look like they belong in a fantasy game instead (the Hell Warrior would be perfect in a Hexen wad), some are cosmetic variants from Doom II, and I found the Rocket Trooper to be the most dangerous enemy in the wad (I've read it has a tendency to kill itself and other enemies, but in my game every rocket hit me and only me with deadly precision). Speaking of Doom II, the SSG completely changes the game flow and made me wonder why the team didn't just design the wad for Doom II in the first place. The grenade launcher was so unwieldy I never used it, but the Rifle is very powerful and very useful.

 

The changes to the maps themselves make me equally ambivalent. In some the additions just feel tacked on, like two completely different maps mashed together with the hope that they will fit. Toxin Refinery is notorious for being so long now and is emblematic of the wad's excesses, it really is a great map with some fun puzzles but it goes on for a good 20 minutes longer than it should. I really liked Phobos Lab, maybe because the original was a favourite and the additions mesh organically, adding small segments to existing sections instead of completely reinventing the map. Central Processing could work if you go straight ahead at first, but I took a side door and though I was in a completely different map before I finally rejoined the original layout, which from there follows almost the same progression. The brand new super secret map is another one that made me wide-eyed with wonder, and that I enjoyed tremendously, until it overstayed its welcome and I started wishing it would just end already. It's interesting replaying this after so many years, I had forgotten both how aggravating it is in parts, but also how much I enjoy it when it does work and doesn't drag on too much. I think I lean more towards the side of liking it while still acknowledging its many flaws.

One small note: despite the text file recommending software on GZDoom, I think one of the updates (possibly the latest from 2012-2013) changed this because I ran into several software glitches (including Z1M8 sky being completely out of whack, and the intermissions sometimes breaking) but everything looked fine in hardware.

 

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[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 11 Day 19

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] The Abandoned Base (for Doom II) by Tom Robinson (aka Mystican) (1997)

 

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This is an effort at converting the much-loved Quake DM3 level (by John Romero) to Doom2. I tried to make it as realistic as possible without adding textures (otherwise it wouldn't properly be Doom2 would it? :) But I did add ambient sounds (very cool)

 

I have zero knowledge about Quake's DM maps so I searched the map on google. Here are some screens of the original Quake map :

 

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This map seems to not use 3D features such as overlapping too much so the author was able to produce a fairly faithful reproduction. Aside from this, the base is well detailed with ornamentation and borders, and the progression is interconnected and fluid. However, getting the BFG and invulnerability requires you to take a few slow elevators, which can be dangerous if an opponent sees and waits for you.

 

Also, it's not the first wad to do this but I'm always impressed when mappers incorporate ambiant sounds in their vanilla wads.

 

[2] Sprike by John Bishop (2002)

 

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You had no idea when you warped into the base that you would have such a fight on your hands - after all it was only a supply and recreation base planetside and the scans had showed no signs of life - not as you knew it anyway. But within minutes your three buddies had been iced and the ground was littered with gore. You stepped back into the alcove to catch your breath, knowing that the warp point out of the place was some way away. With no more than a pistol, hope, and your innate belief in yourself and your ability to overcome the odds whatever they might be, you step forward into the unknown ...

 

An early boom-compatible map which was uploaded on idgames in 2002 but actually designed in 1998. Sprike highlights the brillant rusty texture pack made by Likka Keranen and offer lot of actions. This map takes place in a grungy tech-base full of low-tier monsters and ambushes involving hidden monster closets. Sprike can't be considered as a hard map but it's still intense because John Bishop make you confront small hordes of shotgunners in tight spaces whereas armor and health aren't that abundant. The music from Doom's E2M6 contributes to the suspense along with the jumpscare-inducing monster closets.

 

The custom texture pack makes Sprike quite visually-appealing and unique but I don't know if I must congrat the most : John Bishop or Likka Keranen because the map appears more detailed than it really is, thanks to the textures. Nonetheless, the lighting effects and the final outdoor arena have been carefully crafted. The boom effects are nonetheless anecdotal and provide a slightly comic touch. You can swim in the first pool on the map, which isn't very useful but lends a light-hearted tone to the map. Honestly is it supposed to be a public pool or something like this?

 

In any case, Sprike is a nice little find. It's a beautiful map that offers exciting combats along the way. I didn't get bored in the 10 minutes I spent playing the map.

 

Grade : B+ (15/20)

 

I've got pulvarizated in the first map of Eagle Speedmapping Session 1 - Rough Beginning

 

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[ICID]

 

DBM Random Map (2011) by Demmon Break Master

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: Crispy Doom via Delta Touch}

 

A pretty nice looking meat n' potatoes tech base with a little Doom cute and some fun secrets - nothing astonishing but worth the download. I got frustrated with how dark the latter sections were, especially the tunnels at the end - though I admit Delta Touch is probably making that worse than it would be on PC.

 

 

RUNRIOT (1995) by Dario Casali

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Hurt Me Plenty}

^{Source Port: Crispy Doom}

 

There's no denying that the Casali brothers revolutionized the way we play Doom, largely for the better. Sometimes I wonder if the game would have had the longevity it does now if not for Plutonia showing us how the existing structures of the game could be extended to be bigger, and more difficult, leading to successors aiming for bigger, and even more difficult, on and on until infinity.

 

That said, I'm not a big fan of Plutonia, and I'm even less of a fan of this. Fuck this map, in fact. What I like in Doom is killing things, but this isn't a map about killing things, because there's not enough ammo for that - it's about running between the two butt-ugly, flat, brown rooms hitting switches while tougher and tougher monsters shoot projectiles at you. This has all the hallmarks of a Casali map, like revenants and chaingunners and revenants and chaingunners and revenants and chaingunners and revenants and chaingunners. The platforming section with chaingunners, a revenant, a cyberdemon, and an arch-vile sniping you is especially evil, and even after switching the difficulty down to Hurt Me Plenty this thing was a slog. Probably interesting to the diehard Plutonia devotees, and they can keep it.

 

 

Last Mission NiteSky (1999) by Jim Ford

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence, continuous}

^{Source Port: Crispy Doom}

 

Three short, pleasant little levels with a spacey theme, a nice cooldown after the last map. You can beat the whole thing in fewer than five minutes and forget everything about it in about ten.

 

 

REDALERT! (2003) by Chrono

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence, continuous}

^{Source Port: Crispy Doom}

 

One of those early ZDoom maps that uses all the ZDoom features, basically speedrunning through the plot of Doom 1 from the perspective of a marine on Deimos, often forcing you to stop progressing to read several paragraphs of cutscene text. The environments are nice (though poorly-lit); combat is tedious but not too frustrating. Certainly indicative of its time.

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Zones of Fear (2012) by Various (Nugget Doom)

 

 

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After the first czech community project we were decided to make something larger hance Zones of Fear were born.

So this project is stated as being Boom-compatible, but due to some weird sky transfer issues, won't load in any non ZDoom ports besides Woof and anything forked from that, and even in the latter, bloody skulls show up for some reason. 

 

But let's just talk about my experience here. I adopted the Roofi philosophy of playing until I died or intentionally stopped, with the proviso of playing on HNTR, but I still didn't get too far, due to a combination of repeated hitscanners hits and falling into what seemed to be a bloody pit that only contained exits in certain places in Map 01. Map 01 was pretty nice all the same though, a well laid-out temple map with interesting and bloody detailing like something out of Kama Sutra almost. Though this map here's nowhere near as cramped overall. The bloodfall walkway over blood was a good idea but perhaps I could've picked the nearby rad suit up. I didn't think it would be that challenging to move around in. Oh well.......

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 11 Day 20

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] Kill 'em All by Adam Vaxvick (1996)

 

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This is version 2.0 of lvl1.wad. I did all the textures in it and changed some stuff so now it looks good. The level itself has several big rooms and then it turns into a maze. It keeps you on your toes, so if your not very good at doom it will be nearly impossible.

 

"Kill' Em All" is a reminder that that Doom's ultimate interest lies in shooting lots of things indefinitely. Don't overthink about the level design of this map because it follows no logic. Just grab all the dispersed ammo and health and shoot all the enemies until they die among this large serie of cramped mazes. Needless to say the level is pathethically ugly from the beginning to the end. Moreover, you can hear a poor midi conversion from one of the most overused Nine Inch Nail's songs among the wads from the 90's.

 

This map may keep you entertained for ten minutes or so if you like to put your brain on pause from time to time like me, but objectively speaking, the execution is still very rudimentary, even compared to Wolfenstein 3D.

 

Grade : C- (8/20)

 

A gang of chaingunners hiding behind a fake wall instantly shredded me in Eulogy 3.

 

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[brick]

Brick | 3 wads | 3 maps
Adventure | 9 wads | 20 maps

 

Deimos Entry (2010) by Paul Corfiatis (pcorf). 1 SP map for vanilla Doom
This is a @pcorf note-quite remake of E2M1 using the same slot. I say not quite because, although some ideas are borrowed from the IWAD map, they get remixed and used in a different way. The famous red cross passage is here of course, but in a completely different room. There is a plasma rifle in a secret accessible by teleport that you have to backtrack to, but aside from the vague description being the same the execution of each step is very different. Some of the texturing choices are immediately recognizable, but they adorn completely different architecture. It makes for an entertaining trip as everything feels vaguely familiar but nothing is as I remember, in a way very different from the usual remakes that try to make the homages much more obvious or copy the architecture or progression more directly. It's not a major milestone, it took Pcorf only a few days to make and it'll take you 10 minutes to play, but considered on this scale it's a pretty good map!

Spoiler

Warphouse (2016) by Ed C. 1 SP map for Doom II in GZDoom.
Ed Cripps's latest ZDoom extravaganza (hard to believe it's been 8 years already), this is another one of his sprawling bases filled with special effects and beautiful architecture. Early on I found it incredibly irritating as Ed likes to hide chaingunners in the shadows on balconies from where they removed over half my health while I flailed around trying to see where they were. Once he stops doing this the map gets much more interesting. The central open air area sets up a not-quite-hub structure, it creates a memorable space from which various bits of the map branch out but each section also gets connected to previous ones so the layout is intricate but easy to navigate. I remember finding Putrefier very irritating because of the unrelenting backtracking and the trial and error approach to puzzles (pull a switch somewhere, then go back through every room to see if anything has changed), but Warphouse's structure makes backtracking a lot less painful and the puzzles are much more logical and well hinted. Some of the secrets do require re-crossing the entire map but that's fair game for optional content. The text file is very vague about port requirements, the wiki says "UDFM port" but that's not true (the map will bomb out in Eternity), and you do need a hardware renderer (I guess it'll be fine under Zandronum). It certainly looks beautiful in GZDoom, slopes are used so naturally I stopped noticing them. Combat isn't too hard on HNTR but there are some tricky spots, Ed likes to launch a wave of revenants without any cover and he's not shy about archviles. As expected from a ZDoom map the starting enemy count is misleading, scripts will increase this number, though it's not too far off here. My favourite aspect of the map is how it mixes the more traditional techbase look with corrupted flesh corridors, Putrefier tried this but it's more successful here, trying to find a way past an obstacle and taking a detour through a dark tunnel is delightfully unnerving. Despite all the scripting and UDMF features it's a pretty traditional map in gameplay, incidental combat with the occasional setpiece balanced against exploration, with no cutscene in sight. It's a great map if you don't mind playing in GZDoom.

Spoiler

Fear Island (1999) by Gurkha Boy. 1 SP map for limit=removing Doom II.
This is one of Rex Claussen's earliest maps. It shares some commonalities with others released that year: reliance on berserk/chainsaw to conserve ammo (which you will need to do so you can use big weapons on the heavies later on), a lot of symmetry (too much really), but also the early signs of what would become Rex's very particular style of detailing. It's still embryonic here but you can tell there's care put into texture choice and alignment, particularly for a beginner's map. I found combat interesting even if the map is too symmetrical and repetitive, @ReX tries to make encounters unique with the choice of enemies and the combinations used (another great way to save ammo: infighting of course). Rex's next map Decimate, which I played for ER/IWA a while back and was released only weeks later, already showed huge improvements in every area, but it's fun to play such an early map by one of Doom's (IMO) unsung masters. Almost all of Rex's future maps are better, but the seeds of greatness were already here.

Spoiler

 

[LadyMistDragon]

City of Tanash (1996) by Scott McNutt (DSDA Doom)

 

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City of Tanash is the necromantic hub of the so-called Sorceror's World, where many scientific principles do not apply. Can you survive the wizards and warriors?

 

Scott McNutt is a name I've seen before and honestly, I was filled with some trepidation because the quality expectations were always going to be up in the air but they would probably lean more towards the 'shit, avoid" category. But this starts out pretty well all the same, presenting a Hell Revealed-style sort of grindy gameplay and crude visuals that don't really enhance the map so much. The blue key maze is annoying to the point that no one should really be exposed to it. But the true nadir comes in the courtyard at the end, the best looking part of the map, but containing D'Sparil, conveniently forgetting he just behaves the same as any other D'Sparil, meaning he teleports around too frequently as he's close to dying. I guess it's not as bad as that Heretic set from a few years ago called Wampire's Keep where every map had a D'Sparil that could basically teleport across the entire map. But he takes 3 times longer to kill than a Cyberdemon and there was zero chance I was about to waste him when the map had been barely mediocre as it was. 3/10, you're better off not touching this, despite the ammo being more prolific than Hell Revealed, some design decisions are truly terrible. Maybe skipping the bottom-barrel Doom 2 map would hardly have been worst...

 

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 11 Day 21

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] H I P A F R A G --- for DOOM ][ Deathmatch by DENIS Fabrice aka DeF-46! (1997)

 

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Little map, hi-tech design like Doom2 map01, corridors, rooms, but still lots of openings... makes it very high-frag! Ok from 2 to 4 players.

 

A small green tech-base suited for fast-paced closequarters combats. The author built staircases in order to create height variations so that no lift will hinder your movements and he put weapons everywhere in order to always be quickly armed. I don't think it's the kind of map you"ll spend hours on but should be fun for several minutes.

 

[2] ODESSA12 ("Chambers") by Bob Evans (2014)

 

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Within this seemingly peaceful complex lies a Computerized Torture Chamber where some alien being is experimenting with human beings,namely your former comrades. Seek out and destroy the inhabitants therein. Recon has reported that the entire local population surrounding this complex has been wiped out. Proceed with haste, but exercise extreme caution. You will be teleported to the tower at the entrance, alone as usual.

 

When it comes to Bob Evan, a certain amount of patience is required to solve puzzles. Fortunately "Chambers"'s puzzles aren't as infuriating than in "Excalibur" from Eternal Doom but you"ll still quickly notice how loves his surprise lifts and monster closets. Odessa 12 has no etablished theme but is definitely full of tricks and traps and the music from Doom II's map 23 subtely announce it. ODESSA12 isn't as puzzle-heavy as I expected but the red key's riddle took me a good fifteen minutes to solve. I liked it because I'm familiar with Bob Evans' profile, but the problem with this type of map is that it doesn't really have the look and feel of a puzzle map, and it's easy to believe that the level is simply broken when faced with these types of puzzles.

 

Still, "Chambers 12" isn't hard about the combats but offer entertaining fights. All those small traps help keeping your attention. Overall, I enjoyed this map, but don't expect any storytelling behind it. The scenery resembles classic Doom II. Competent, but very old-fashioned. Today, Bob Evans' maps remain unattractive compared to nowadays puzzle-oriented mappers such as Dobu Gabu Maru.

 

Grade : B- (12/20)

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

DIEHARD2.WAD (1995) by Jeff Ross (Crispy Doom)

 

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Anyone in 503 wanna DeathMatch?

Imagine being stuck all by yourslef in the cold elevator shaft of a high-rise building infested with alien terrorists. With ony your double barrell at your side you must navigate the labyrinthine corridors of hell to gather keys and open doors so that you may make it to the roof where a helicopter is to meet you, only to be surprised to see the roof has been taken over by Barons, and the helicopter destroyed! You must find a new way out, but getting through the lobby gates is gonna be tough!

 

 

 

Please stick to comedy Jeff. This map bottom-to-top is a complete abortion. Despite being deathmatch-intended, the many cramped rooms and constant drop-offs, not to mention the essentially segmented layout make it an unbelievable pain in the ass to play. Meanwhile, single-player has lots of tromping through simple combat and misaligned textures whilst criss-crossing the entirety of this map in a few cases to access a door that opened. The red key location feels like a laughable error: I don't even know if it's possible to escape from the 20 damage pit. Really, one of the few highlights is that doomcute funnel-cake slime fountain inside a little sort of bank office. But even this section is ruined by a poorly-placed switch that probably opens the final exit hallway in theory but in practice is in such a small location or is just untagged that it won't actually work. And why the hell is a switch suddenly shootable for no reason?? Sack of shit, would not recommend 1/10

 

 

 

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 4 maps
Adventure | 10 wads | 24 maps

 

Scuba Steve's: Action DooM (2004) by "Scuba" Stephen Browning. 4 SP maps for Doom II in ZDoom.

I had trouble getting this to work on the most recent GZDoom, and after some more trouble trying to get an older ZDoom to run on my PC, I opted to just go with the Rampage Edition remaster. From what I remember of the original, other than cosmetics and compatibility it seems to be identical in gameplay.

I think Action Doom seems much less impressive nowadays, with so many games published with GZDoom that look and play nothing like Doom, but 20 years ago this was groundbreaking work in Dehacked and with what ZDoom was capable of; this was long before Zscript and even Decorate! One of the most remarkable achievements is that it takes Doom and its hitscan weapons and enemies, and completely removes the hitscan from it. Every bullet fired by your weapons or an enemy is a projectile, and it's incredibly thrilling to watch them whiz past as you dodge a barrage of gunfire. There's a huge variety in weapons, each playing completely differently from the others, and while the 2-weapon capacity can be limiting it also forced me to keep trying different ones, which is a big part of the wad's fun.

MAP01 gives strong Duke Nukem 3D vibes with the city setting and the scripts that collapse some of them. MAP02 is memorable with a succession of set pieces, including a branching path that either takes you through a boat chase scene, or a very atmospheric ride down an elevator with hundreds of hibernating imps that you then must try to walk past without alerting. MAP03 once again has branching paths at one point, though progression through them is more conventional. The escape sequence and jumping into the helicopter definitely captures action movie vibes. There's an extra map reached if you play on Contra difficulty (just warping there will not work) that has a pretty cool puzzle boss fight with some excellent horror movie vibes.

Ultimately the gameplay has some serious flaws, the one-shot-kill mechanic doesn't work as well in Doom, where things can sneak in behind you without being seen. At least in Rampage the easier difficulties add more "hearts" (I'm not sure, was this mechanic in the original too?) but I couldn't find any way to replenish them, so they really only delay the inevitable. MAP02 is still worth seeing for the spectacle alone, the set pieces are incredible and it's impressive to see just how far from Doom the team pushed the wad with the tools they had at the time.

 

Spoiler

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Defragmentation  factor (2007) by Wraith777 (Crispy Doom)

 

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My second freakmap expirience, another "just a large single map with mixed design")). Contains textures from first Doom and two new monsters, created with dehacked - Plasma Gunner and Double Gunner

 

 

This is supposed to work in vanilla but whatever led to the exit broke so I couldn't finish. Too bad though, the creator of the well-regarded Wonderful Doom utilizes an entirely vanilla set of textures that he sprinkles with a strong touch of surreality every now and then as evidenced by the Arch-vile in the pillar in one room, tricky fake exit and a couple of other little things too. Wraith also doesn't really provide lots of ammo either, and most players are going to be low for much of the map's runtime. On the plus side, this is a wonderfully interconnected layout and there are plenty of secret passages to find that make it even more so. Although it was perhaps a little too long going without a Super Shotgun. And even when the odds are in your favor, it's never really easy, to the extent that perhaps you'll be in less of a mood to go traipsing about if you know where the exit is.

 

It's definitely quite bold to make both ill-advised design choices and to boost the difficulty like what's going on here. Perhaps a little bit too much because this isn't one of those maps that's exactly kind to people who go hunting for secrets either; your chances of survival will merely be boosted. Something just feels slightly wanting here and I'd be hard-pressed to put a finger on what exactly that might be. 7/10

 

 

Edited May 8 by LadyMistDragon

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 11 Day 22

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] Fighting by @Memfis (2014)

 

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Fight the power! Inspired by Squadron 417.

 

I didn't play a lot of Squadron 417 but I instantly recognize the custom sounds and the futuristic statbar (the doomguy was replaced by a robot if I remember correctly though). However, the most important thing to know is the fact that Squadron 417 was designed for co-op purposes and, unlike this megawad, "Fighting" from Memfis just plays like a singleplayer map. It contains a bit less than 100 monsters and the most co-op things you can find here are duplicated weapons and green armors. Fighting was a bit challenging near the end because Memfis tends to be cheapskate with ammo and not because of an invasion of enemies that would necessarily require the presence of several teammates.

 

Overall, "Fighting" did not exceed my expectations. Indeed, I was expecting a '90s-style map and I got exactly that, and anyway, it fits Memfis' style. I liked this map.

 

Grade : B (13/20)

 

[2] chase21a by Thomas E. Davis (1994)

 

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This is a big and somewhat simple deathmatch wad (only a few tricks

 

The luminosity contrast intrigates me in this old DM map. A cartoony sunny sky illuminates the empty outdoors whereas the interior of the buildings are underlit. I remember I died in this map months ago because the author put barrels on teleport destinations . As a precaution, I blew up as many barrels as possible but still managed to telefrag one (luckily I had blue armor.)

 

[3] cement.WAD by Andrew Murphy (1994)

 

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Dark, you'll feel foreboding DOOM after starting this level. This level is pretty linear, so you don't have to worry about getting the keys in the right order, because you get the keys when you need them. Not easy. Trust me, I created this level and it takes me at least 15 minutes to get through, and sometimes I get my ass kick.

 

An old Ultimate Doom map that replaces E2M3 and has a rather self-explanatory title. The author used lot of concrete but not only. You also have the opportunity to explore sections made of STARTAN for instance. The textures used are of little importance here because Andrew just drew ugly abstract rooms. Actually, the layout is so organic and mishaped that it gives the feeling of exploring a large cavern.

 

Combats are unsurprisingly random and uncomplicated. Enemies wait for you to get shot as the author grants you all the arsenal. Wasn't this map supposed to be "not easy"? Even maps from the IWAD were more challenging ! Nonetheless, the progress was surprisingly smooth for a 1994 wad. With neither doors nor elevators aplenty, cement.wad offers a few minutes of action with no real moments of boredom when you don't know where to go.

 

To keep it honest, cement.wad is a mediocre outdated map but I had a bit of fun on this one.

 

Grade : C- (8/20)

 

[4] Mine filled with methane by @Jacek Nowak (jacnowak) (2013)

 

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A relatively large map (over 300 monsters on UV to keep you busy) with a bunch of nonlinearity. There is more than one way to complete the map and you don't have to visit all areas to do it but exploration is encouraged and will make your life easier thanks to different weapons and powerups you may find in "optional" places. This wad includes MAPINFO lump which disables jumping - please do NOT override this as you are not supposed to jump in this map. Action takes place in a mine filled with methane... and hellspawn! Try finishing with 100% monsters and secrets! I hope you will enjoy playing the map as much as I enjoyed making and playtesting it!

 

 

"Mine filled with methane" is a rather large zdoom-compatible map which seem to be inspired by Doom 2's map 24 "The Chasm". First of all, methane is less menacing term to say lava because yes, this map has lot of chasms which are fortunately escapable. Secondly, methane figures  methane is also included in flatulence, because the haters will probably think that the concept of this map stinks. Anyway, METHANE.WAD sends you in a large hazardous cavern filled with lava and of course, monsters.

 

Your goal consists to recover three keys scattered in the cavern. As Doom 2's map 24, this map lets you explore several ancillary areas such as a stronghold made of bricks and even a sort of library. However, you'll spend most of your time to walk on rocky ledges and gradually kill enemies guarding the surroundings. This map has lot of backtrackings but obtaning keys open monster closets among already cleared areas , so that you'll always have monsters to chew with your guns. As menacing as this may sound, the author has been lenient with ammunition and teleportation pads in case you fall into the ravines. Platforming is also absent, so you just have to be careful not to go too fast to avoid falling.

 

About the visuals, I like the emphasis put on large-scale architecture and the discreet zdoom features such as the rocky slopes at some places. Still, METHANE.WAD is without doubt the product of an amateur as knowing that the details are particularly spare, if not lacking. I'm pretty sure that, with a little work, the map could be made vanilla-compatible despite the size of some of the locations.

 

And at last, the author used the music from "Barrels of fun" which isn't in my opinion not the most fitting music for an adventurous map like this.  I'm one of those people who like this music, but I think other midis from the Doom II repertoire would have been better, such as the music from map 24 for example.

 

Anyway, "Mine filled with methane" was a cool low-key adventure map. Despite only being compatible for zdoom , it manages at bringing a classic experience.

 

Grade : B- (12/20)

 

[5] Ray Poward by Michael Jan Krizik @valkiriforce (2017)

 

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It's Ray Poward from Contra: Legacy of War. Bit of a rough translation from the PS1 game into Doom so hopefully it plays well enough to work.

 

The perfect skin if you're an absolute fan of Contra series or if you're just bored of seeing the same doomguy face in the statbar.

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

WANG (2024) by Various (Crispy Doom)

 

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32 Extremely quick and dirty maps. 90S YEAH too bad Doomkid didn't participate.

So y'all want to watch wang or do you want to watch.....ok, we'll skip that part. 32 maps, with two participants from Bourgeoise Megawad brings to us these maps. Several of them are blatantly remixed from iwads in true nineties fashion, while a few are even recycled from Bourgeoise DM. But Decay has the bulk of the maps so perhaps that's inevitable. Although Argent Agent, the strongest contributor borrows the Dead Pimple title from some joke megawad (not purposely) but at least he's putting effort into the combat to make most of his efforts a certain fierce toughness that can still be speedran fairly easily but will take a little bit more work to get around them. Maps 13, 15, and 27 probably rank among the best easily. Every so often some creativity manages to show itself like in 25 or in 13 with some nicely inspired settings but perhaps this is best for multiplayer for the most part. A lot of the maps just feel a little bit too empty. Kind of like 90s maps but that's probably not a good idea in a set like this 6.5/10

 

 

 

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 2 maps
Adventure | 11 wads | 26 maps

 

Deeply Demented in the Knee (2023) by Clippy Clippington. 2 SP maps for vanilla Doom.
Yes it's another demented and humorous experiment from the mind of our very own @Clippy and probably the first time I see you try your hand at something for the original game. It's one of many IWAD remake attempts, but unlike something like KDIZD which I just played last week, it turns all the familiar layouts into something ridiculous and much funnier. The stairs that should go to the green armour collapse as soon as we pick up the rocket launcher (!), the toxin zigzag walkway is much thinner, the Nuclear Rant now has many enemies neatly surrounded by barrels and ready to be blown up (you know it's a Clippy map when there are exploding barrels everywhere). Delicious items like a BFG, tons of cell and rocket ammo, and other delights stand just outside our reach (and will stay so). These traps and the ones in the exit rooms can be irritating in other contexts but I found myself laughing instead, everything is so over the top that the humour is infectious and the maps are too short to wear out their welcome, even with all the traps and reloading each took less than 10 minutes. I would've loved an entire episode of these shenanigans but I'll settle for what we got. Thanks Clippy, your maps never fail to entertain.

Spoiler

 

[Clippy]

4 hours ago, brick said:

Brick | 1 wad | 2 maps
Adventure | 11 wads | 26 maps

 

Deeply Demented in the Knee (2023) by Clippy Clippington. 2 SP maps for vanilla Doom.
Yes it's another demented and humorous experiment from the mind of our very own @Clippy and probably the first time I see you try your hand at something for the original game. It's one of many IWAD remake attempts, but unlike something like KDIZD which I just played last week, it turns all the familiar layouts into something ridiculous and much funnier. The stairs that should go to the green armour collapse as soon as we pick up the rocket launcher (!), the toxin zigzag walkway is much thinner, the Nuclear Rant now has many enemies neatly surrounded by barrels and ready to be blown up (you know it's a Clippy map when there are exploding barrels everywhere). Delicious items like a BFG, tons of cell and rocket ammo, and other delights stand just outside our reach (and will stay so). These traps and the ones in the exit rooms can be irritating in other contexts but I found myself laughing instead, everything is so over the top that the humour is infectious and the maps are too short to wear out their welcome, even with all the traps and reloading each took less than 10 minutes. I would've loved an entire episode of these shenanigans but I'll settle for what we got. Thanks Clippy, your maps never fail to entertain.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Oh man it's so cool to get picked randomly

 

I'm also glad to hear you enjoyed the spirit of this silly abandoned project and the fact that you got entertainment out of it makes me glad I at least shared the maps I did make

 

I was going to do a full episode but then I switched gears when I came up with Great Expectations

 

The plan was after the first two maps which were very connected to the originals I was going to pull the rug from the player and make completely wacky off the rails shit that had no recognizable traits but I went in a different direction

 

Glad my time and effort wasn't lost on what I did make though thanks again that was a nice read and fun thing to wake up to

Edited May 10 by Clippy

[LadyMistDragon]

Water HQ (2012)  by Lukas "omegamer" Wilhelm (Crispy Doom)

 

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This is just another classic Doom 2 map. I got inspired by the original MAP02 and some other WADs but all I made is from scratch.

A ripoff of the underhalls? And using "The Imp's Song?" BLASPHEMY!!!!! But seriously, there isn't a ton here that stands out. The Arch-vile popping out when you collect the red key is respectively rude, although we're expected to hide behind the nearby pillars (get the backpack first or don't, I'm not your mom and it's inconsequential, really) but in any case, the Arch-vile appearing when you collect the blue key that's obviously "inspired" by the red key building of the original Underhalls as conceived by the obscure TiC member Steve Towle is also a welcome surprise, although considerably harder to dodge than the first one. Exit's courtyard's a little bit disappointing. I mean, they can see you from practically the jump of starting this map! And eat your hat if the Arachnotron doesn't survive the likely infighting in said western courtyard. Overall, there's little memorable here, and the stupid side cages of Imps in the little water storage facility and treatment roon leading to the berserk pack is just bad 6/10

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 11 Day 23

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] Death Maze by Spencer Brown (1994)

 

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This was specialy made for deathmatch. No monsters at all, strictly you and your prey.

 

A miserable old Deathmatch map for Ultimate Doom exclusively made of distorted dark corridors. The map has no height variation and the automap doesn't help you as the author hid many lines. He also placed a lot of barrels which probably allow you to kill an opponent who would have the mercy to play this map with you.

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

Force Your Way Through (1994) by Tom Boyles (Crispy Doom)

 

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Wolfenstein "feel" but a lot stinkin' harder to stay alive!

Neither of those things is true. Unless you believe that darkened halls of gray brick are automatically a Wolfenstein feel. On the plus side, there is quite a handy amount of interconnectivity and combat doesn't actually feel too bad. But the occasional failure to texture doors correctly just made me growl. That being said, it's kind of nice how the map expands and twists upon itself. But even on keyboard-only, it's probably not quite as hard as Wolfenstein, despite the presence of Cacodemons in several close-quarters area. Oh, and the exit switch seems to be broken for some godforsaken reason in Crispy and probably chocolate too. Or else, it just wasn't tagged. Makes no difference to me. Placing the exit behind another wall in a room you wouldn't see initially because of the monsters here is just beyond annoying 5/10

 

 

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Imp's are Ghost Gods (1995) by Tom Sanner (Crispy Doom)

 

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Did you ever hear of the infamous invincible imp? Well it's true, and this wad will show you how.

 

 

This guy did another demonstration map of Doom 'quirks' and this is even more useless if possible. He could have at least added some height variation and some way to not blow everything into bloody chunks instantly. 0/10

 

 

 

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Abaddon (2022) by Alejandro @AleDoom   Berges (GZ Doom)

 

Incredibly generic baby's first, except for the coloredd lighting. Lots of STARTAN, colors (i mean themes) changing illogically, spaces that are far more open than they need to be and use of dynamic lighting that doesn't really work. Although the star-shaped platform was sufficiently creepy at least. He got better but at some point seems to have stopped making maps entirely or releasing them anyway. 3.5/10

 

 

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Doom Color Changer (DoomCC3) (1995) by Douglas L. Leninger

 

 

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This program modifies the DOOM.WAD (or DOOM2.WAD) files' player pictures. This allows a you to change the way other players are viewed in a multi-player game. If you are playing a cooperative game, you can make the players white so they stand out and you can avoid hitting them by accident. Or, you can make the players dark colors so that a deathmatch game can be more difficult. This program will work with all known versions of DOOM and DOOM2 though version 1.7a of DOOM2 as it searches for the bitmap PLAYA1 within the WAD file to determine where to modify the player data.

Credits:

 

 

Another alternate way to play deathmatch from '95, it's pretty safe to say that unless you deathmatch with chocolate doom or anything like it that this utility will be hopelessly outdated when the same thing can be done with Zandronum just as easily these days. Still, it does sound like it could add some challenge or else make it easier, depending on what your deathmatch purposes are

 

 

Half Life transitions (2013) by Ethan @GooberMan Watson

 

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The Half-Life style transitions I'm using in Prime Directive (Space Station Omega's sequel), but now in handy prefab format.

 

 

This release apparently exists because of Rex Claussen's request. It's a little strange too because I played the wad referred to but I can't say it's something I've seen elsewhere. When someone else wants to do a story-driven wad, they don't really bother with that. If anything, they'll make their own that's probably better if not going for an approach that might be easier. But it's out there!

 

 

 

Edited May 11 by LadyMistDragon

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 11 Day 24

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] LEDGES3.WAD by Mark K. Gresbach Jr. (1994)

 

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This is the update or improved version of ledges3 for use with the new DEATHMATCH 2.0 rules.

 

The third map of "Ledges", a famous serie of DM levels from the 90's. As the others, height variations represent the core of the gameplay, materialized with lot of stairs and lifts or items that can be obtained by jumping on platforms/crates. Contrary to the first Ledges maps, Ledges3 takes place in a large warehouse and the layout is a lot more square. Several monsters can be killed in case you're alone (2 cacodemons and spectres).

 

[2] The Wicked and the Damned by @ReX Claussen (2003)

 

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Medium-sized level; base theme with sometimes detailed architecture. Be patient -- you'll get your action.

 

A singleplayer map that replaces map 17 of Doom 2. As soon as you start exploring the underlit tech-base, you'll realize that something is wrong. Action and monsters are missing, items are locked by pillars and switches aren't usable yet. If you already played the map "Transduction" from TNT:Revilution, this map from the "Wicked" series follow a similar concept. The author let you explore this abnormally depopulated complex until you find a switch that will deliver all the foes and unlock all the goodies you need.

 

Unfortunately, the laid-back stock midi and the overall low difficulty kill all the suspense factor and therefore weakens the concept, which itself has enormous potential (cf. map 12 of TNT: Revilution). The biggest oppositions you"ll meet are a bunch of cacodemons and a single arch-vile at the very end of the map, that you can effortlessly skip.

 

However, if I put the gimmick aside, "The Wicked and the Damned", like many tech-bases designed by Rex Claussen, is impressively detailed and open for a vanilla-compatible level. I really his curvy corridors, light gradations or detailed ceilings.  This map is a feast for the eyes for all tech-base addicts using iwad textures.

 

Grade : B (14/20)

 

[3] CHICKEN RACE! (CHICKEN.WAD) and GOTCHA YOU LITTLE FUCKER! -BOOM!- (GANGSTAR.WAD) by GANGSTAR/CTX/SWL (2004)

 

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Two garbage Deathmatch maps designed in 1994 for Ultimate Doom (but uploaded 10 years later on idgames). The first one, CHICKEN.WAD, is just a straight bridge, surrounded by two pits  both filled with ammo and two cyberdemons. In case you kill the cybies, you're still stuck in the harmless pit. Your opponent can join you and continue the fight outside the bridge.

 

The second map "GANGSTAR.WAD" is an immense , ugly and distorted warehouse guarded by shotgunners , several lost souls and a roaming cyberdemon. It has some "Tower of Babel" vibes. But the worst enemy here is probably all the scattered barrels. I took time to blow them up before engaging the fight against the cyberdemon, as the shotgun and the RL seem to be the exclusive weapons. I like the poorly converted midi of "Eye of the Tiger", it still gives the energy to "beat" this kind of level.

 

The next file is the megawad Survive In Hell Public Release 2 but I don't have the time to play this.

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

moist.zip (1996) by Nick (Crispy Doom)

 

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This WAD replaces level 1

There are no difficulty levels here but your brain will be moist after this!

It is a large level, took a long time to make and should take a long time to complete. I have added more detail here - light/shade etc to try and make it as pro as the original Doom 2 levels were. Did I get there yet?

There are lots of secrets, so keep your eyes open for the hints.

Credits:

 

 

What hints ARE you speaking of sir? Anyways, here we have a map almost entirely made of bricks that twists around in totally illogical ways that all the same proves surprisingly fun IF you find the Super Shotgun and other weapons in short order. Otherwise, you'll be running low on ammo and constantly feel annoyed. At least there are some sewer and industrial type areas, though one would hardly identify them as such who hasn't played Doom. Never found the plasma rifle unfortunately. In any case, other than that stupid Baron quad hallway, not to mention this one fucking room you can barely dropped in due to it being packed with Imps, this is a largely fun and action-packed map, although perhaps one will like the feel of Force Your Way Through More. One more thing - whoever thought making a lift an ASHWALL to access the yellow key was actually a good thing needs to be bopped. 6/10, enemies could be organized better.

 

 

Edited May 12 by LadyMistDragon

[ICID]

Thanks for playing, everyone! Wanted to participate more this time, but circumstances conspired against me. Crazy that Roofi broke 9000 this round - could a five digit score be within reach?

At any rate, here's the new thread: