Favourite megawad?

[Luke Annett]

Interested to hear people's favourite megawad (iwads included).

Plutonia for me, without a doubt.

Love the textures, difficulty on UV is perfect for my skill level, I honestly couldn't pick a level I don't like on it. Every level looks great.

[DuckReconMajor]

I'm gonna have to say Mock 2. Go ahead and hit me, but I honestly had a lot of fun with it.

Plus, it's where I (and I'm guessing some others, too) found out just what ZDoom was capable of. Though with some, that's not exactly a good thing.

[darkreaver]

Hmmm, tough one. Currently playing through Alien Vendetta again, and I really like the first 20 maps. Also I love Hell Revealed 2. Hmmmm....

Ill go for Hell Revealed 2.

[wildweasel]

Some people might complain about how many threads of this type there have been. I am not one of those people. =P

My answer to the question at hand would be Revolution! (TVR!.wad). Its combination of real-ish environments and plenty of good places to take cover during the occasionally hectic firefights makes for great gameplay, the level design really appeals to me, and - possibly the most crucial for me - it lends itself well to all kinds of alternative weapon sets, gameplay mods, and the like.

[Patrick]

Plutonia is definitely good stuff. Deus Vult 2 is my favorite without doubt though.

[Graf Zahl]

I will never understand this obsession with megawads.

It has been proven time and again that smaller projects often have better quality maps and yet some people still think that the megawad is the ultimate achievement in Doom mapping...

[Captain Ventris]

Graf Zahl said:

I will never understand this obsession with megawads.

It has been proven time and again that smaller projects often have better quality maps and yet some people still think that the megawad is the ultimate achievement in Doom mapping...

It may just be me, but it seems you only post here to start fights. D:

[Mik57]

Well, he IS a forum legend. :P

Smaller projects can yield much higher quality maps, but megawads are known for their ability to entertain you for longer than a few days.

Also, I really liked ICARUS.

[Pure Hellspawn]

I think this thread should have been written a few months later after the release of several new megawads (Whispers of Satan, CC4(!!!), *possibly* timeofdeath's, and probably Journey to Hell (IRod's megawad).

That's 128 levels of DOOM 2 to evaluate that have yet to be released.

[Mik57]

Pure Hellspawn said:

That's 128 levels of DOOM 2 to evaluate that have yet to be released.

Man, even the number of maps conforms to the grid....

[Gez]

Mik57 said:

Man, even the number of maps conforms to the grid....

That's because there's 32 maps in Doom 2. Make a megawad for Doom, and it'll have 27 or 36 maps instead. (And a megawad for German Doom 2? Only 30 maps. :P) A Strife megawad would have 34 maps. If you're "lazy" you can make a megawad for Chex Quest 3 (15 maps), if you're courageous you can make a megawad for Heretic: SotSR (45 maps!) and if you're not sure yet you can make a megawad for Hexen (anywhere between 1 and 100 maps, your choice).

[StoneFrog]

Hexen megawads are ideal for people who failed mathematics because the maps aren't in order!

P.S. If you're even lazier, you can make a megawad for Shareware DOOM, a mere 9 maps. You can mask your blatant lack of enthusiasm by saying "it allows people who don't own the game to play it as well."

[Gez]

StoneFrog said:

P.S. If you're even lazier, you can make a megawad for Shareware DOOM, a mere 9 maps.

The great thing if you're lazy is that you don't even need to make any map, since Doom.exe and any port that respects the terms of the Doom sourcecode license and/or the wishes of Id Software will not allow you to load anything with a shareware iwad. So you can just pretend you've made nine kickass maps.

[Doom Marine]

Graf Zahl said:

I will never understand this obsession with megawads.

It has been proven time and again that smaller projects often have better quality maps and yet some people still think that the megawad is the ultimate achievement in Doom mapping...

That's subjective, it depends on the manner the map is constructed. In the hands of a skilled mapper, maps belonging to a given megawad will be just as high quality as individual maps... I don't even think the examples need to be to be mentioned here.

[spaztacus]

I'd have to put my vote for Scythe 1. Fun, short, nice looking levels with a great challenge curve. Might've gotten a little tired of the number of Arch-Villes in the later levels, but a great play.

[Butts]

Plutonia 2
Scythe 2

Megawads fucking rule.

[scwiba]

STRAIN

Graf Zahl said:

I will never understand this obsession with megawads.

I can't speak for everyone, but for me at least, I'd much rather invest the time in one large, cohesive work than in many separate levels. It's like listening to an entire album versus ten songs of varying quality and style on the radio.

Graf Zahl said:

It has been proven time and again that smaller projects often have better quality maps...

This is just silly.

[Kyka]

Alien Vendetta = win. Very win.

[WH-Wilou84]

Favorite megawad ? Quite hard to tell, as there are many very good ones...
Hell Revealed II gets my vote.

Graf Zahl said:

It has been proven time and again that smaller projects often have better quality maps

Well it depends, of course "quality > quantity" but here we're talking about products which actually deliver both :>

Megawads feel more like a "whole new game", with many levels divided into episodes, secret levels, and a boss fight.

Also it seems that back in time, the demo-recording activity ( which is very important for a wad's popularity ) was more centered on megawads rather than smaller mapsets.

Of course gems like Suspended in Dusk or Deus Vult are maybe better than many megawads imho... It's entirely subjective, it depends on the level designers and on people's taste.

[Doom Marine]

Alien Vendetta FTW.

I've seen many good megawads that had filler maps. In most megawads, there will be some maps that's far weaker than the rest. AV had this problem too, but it has highest "maps I like" to "maps I don't like" ratio by far. Many of its maps are still being studied by me for future mapping references. Map 05, 06, 08, 10, 11, 14, 18, 20, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, & 31 are instant classics.

[Gez]

Ryathaen said:

I can't speak for everyone, but for me at least, I'd much rather invest the time in one large, cohesive work than in many separate levels. It's like listening to an entire album versus ten songs of varying quality and style on the radio.

So the levels from, say, the Zort series would each become better if they were collected into a single megawad just because they're lumped together?

[The Ultimate DooMer]

I only map big, because there's much more room to create a new world with new concepts, game mechanics etc. than in a single map/small mapset. That, and the fact that megawads seem to be more memorable for some reason, and I'm more likely to replay them than single maps. (although the 10-ish map partial megawads are doing well atm)

Mik57 said:

Smaller projects can yield much higher quality maps, but megawads are known for their ability to entertain you for longer than an hour or two.

fix'd

Ryathaen said:

It's like listening to an entire album versus ten songs of varying quality and style on the radio.

Depends on the nature of the megawad...some play like albums, others play like random compilations.

[Deeforce]

@Luke Annett:
You may want to look at this thread too: “What are the 10 BEST megawads around?”

Luke Annett said:

Interested to hear people's favourite [...]iwad[...]

Doom.wad :-P! It has this specific atmosphere that I like.

[printz]

Graf Zahl said:

I will never understand this obsession with megawads.

I see your point, as it's about the fixed Doom map set shape (30 main levels, 2 serial secret levels always in the middle etc etc) and some mapper's "compulsive" need to fill all slots, lest their work be called incomplete.

But I've noticed that long level sets usually get more exposure than isolated maps. They're better remembered, anyway. So if you want your mapping work to be mentioned in the forums, try to do nine, ten or what have you, release them together, and hope you'll get acclaimed well later on.

[Pure Hellspawn]

Deeforce said:

@Luke Annett:
You may want to look at this thread too: “What are the 10 BEST megawads around?”Doom.wad :-P! It has this specific atmosphere that I like.

Doom2.wad is better :P.

[DuckReconMajor]

Pure Hellspawn said:

Doom2.wad is better :P.

You'd better take that back.

*pulls on boxing gloves*

[Graf Zahl]

Ryathaen said:

STRAIN


I can't speak for everyone, but for me at least, I'd much rather invest the time in one large, cohesive work than in many separate levels. It's like listening to an entire album versus ten songs of varying quality and style on the radio.

Me, too.

Most 10-level projects are more cohesive than the standard issue megawad which often is nothing more than 32 maps thrown together that have no real connection.

I'd prefer a 'The Darkening Ep 2' (12 SP levels) anytime over something like Requiem, Memento Mori or Alien Vendetta.

[Pure Hellspawn]

DuckReconMajor said:

You'd better take that back.

*pulls on boxing gloves*

Ok, Doom2.wad is *barely* better than Doom.wad. I'm mostly a Doom2 player;I like the SSG, the megasphere, and the new monsters.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

printz said:

So if you want your mapping work to be mentioned in the forums, try to do nine, ten or what have you, release them together, and hope you'll get acclaimed well later on.

Or you could release 1 or 2 large maps with 10000 sectors of detail instead :P

[StoneFrog]

Doom Marine said:

In the hands of a skilled mapper, maps belonging to a given megawad will be just as high quality as individual maps... I don't even think the examples need to be to be mentioned here.

I think (at least in the case of one/two man projects) the problem boils down to map consistency. Unless you design all the maps in the course of a month without taking any real breaks or you complete them all at once in a rough detail-less stage and then revise them simultaneously, your work will begin to look inconsistent.

I had a mini WAD with two levels done, and it was awkward picking it up after months of not working on it. The entire feel and thought process you use for the subsequent maps is off.