The DWmegawad Club plays: MAYhem2048

[dobu gabu maru]

What is the DWmegawad Club?
This is a place where we settle down, have a cup of tea (or drink of your choice) and take a month to play through a megawad on our own, together! Any keen observations, criticisms, or frustrated ranting about it goes here in the discussion. As long as you want to say something about what you've played, feel free to speak your mind.

Can I join?
Sure. The only rule is that you have to play at least some of the levels in our monthly megawad to contribute, but you're generally encouraged to finish the whole thing, even if you've played it before.

What levels am I allowed to post about?
Whatever day of the month it is, is the upper limit for the map you can post on. So if it's the 6th, you may discuss up to MAP06.

Do I have to post an entry every day?
Nope, not at all. This is only for our more enthusiastic members. As long as you play through it with us you’re part of the club.

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The megawad we are playing through currently is MAYhem2048

>>>DOWNLOAD MAYHEM2048 HERE<<<
(reminder: as the idgames release is pending, we will be using the latest version plums has supplied)

It's MayJuly! To celebrate we're playing through the third annual, Boom compatible MAYhem collaboration, featuring—you guessed it!—all maps constrained to a playable area of 2048x2048! With a diverse author selection and the addition of TeamTNT's Return texture pack, there's a lot more variation in this megawad than you might expect!

Author & maplist for MAYhem2048:

Quote

Map01 - "Unorthogon” by Jimmy
Map02 - “The Dark Tower” by ChaingunnerX
Map03 - “Outpost Delta” by Obsidian
Map04 - “Rublev1” by Rublev
Map05 - "Mayhem Town” by Walter Confalonieri
Map06 - "Serenity in the Air” by Memfis
Map07 - “Cacomap” by Inkie
Map08 - “Sheltered Outpost” by an_mutt
Map09 - “Dismay” by Scypek2
Map10 - “Sligeneous” by Getsu Fune
Map11 - “Escape” by Jaws in Space
Map12 - “Compound Invasion” by z0k
Map13 - “Death Dungeon” by pcorf
Map14 - “Emerald Gardens” by Breezeep
Map15 - “Titan Mining Complex” by Walter Confalonieri

Map31 - “A Calm, yet Frank Discussion of Your Life Choices” by ClonedPickle
Map32 - “Aeternal” by Eternal

Map16 - “Master Plan” by SFoz911
Map17 - “Besieged” by Obsidian
Map18 - “Black and Blue” by Marcaek
Map19 - “The Axe Murderer’s Domain” by Chris Hansen
Map20 - “Palace of Chaos” by Plut
Map21 - “Aberinkula” by Tourniquet
Map22 - “Puff” by archi
Map23 - “Abandon All Hope” by Phobus
Map24 - “Canyon Village” by joe-ilya
Map25 - “Heat Miser” by Steve Duff
Map26 - “Unfair and Square” by cannonball
Map27 - “Balls on Fire” by Corsair
Map28 - “Cold Seep” by dobu gabu maru
Map29 - “Imago Mortis” by Demonologist
Map30 - “Bloodstained Glass” by Obsidian

Map33 - “Crypt of Unsilence” by General Rainbow Bacon
Map34 - “99 Red Balloons” by cannonball
Map35 - “Mansion” by joe-ilya

BONUS CONTENT
Lingyan203's playthrough
----------
OLD THREADS
BF_THUD!
Community Chest 4
Jenesis
MAYhem 2012
Memento Mori
Interception
2002: A Doom Odyssey
Hadephobia
Coffee Break & Fava Beans & Double Impact
HYMN
Stardate 20X6 & Monochrome Mapping Project
Realm of Chaos
Back to Saturn X E1 & Favillesco E1
Kama Sutra
Unholy Realms & Zone 300
Vile Flesh
Ultimate Doom
Whitemare & Sacrament
Scythe
Epic 2
Whitemare 2
Sunder & Countdown to Extinction
Doom 2 the Way id Did

Edited May 9, 2023 by dobu gabu maru

[TMD]

The changes to the maps (for idgames release) are almost entirely cosmetic, and should not impact gameplay.

If you want to do continuous, you can just use the wad provided.

Also, holy carp.

[plums]

I'll have the texture-fixed version with the needed map changes done in an hour or so, should I just post it here?

[dobu gabu maru]

Sure, I'll update the OP when you do.

[plums]

MAYhem2048 "plums beta"
https://www.mediafire.com/?cy34o2foel3deuk

Contains fixes to maps by Chris Hansen and tourniquet, unused textures removed, and maybe other things that TMD will tell you about if they're important.

I have not tested this at all, I wasn't even involved in MAYhem apart from this and a few other technical bits. It should all work fine and hopefully be the final version, but I can't vouch for that, on the off-chance that something went wrong.

[dobu gabu maru]

Already noticed a HOM in MAP09

[plums]

dobu gabu maru said:

Already noticed a HOM in MAP09

Do you know if it was present in the beta version before mine? I removed a bunch of textures, it was an automatic process with texspy and textract, but it's possible it took away something it shouldn't have.

I see a few errors in DoomBuilder on MAP09 in the earlier beta, so maybe it's a problem with the map itself...

[Seele00TextOnly]

Map01 - "Unorthogon” by Jimmy

"I see him.... he's over there..." Ah in that silly needless sound replacement I find I start this little journey. Oh and the sound of taking damage is changed and the Imps fire red, I have no idea why these things happen or persist but surely there's some reason. At least it doesn't have the louder pistol/chaingun noise that rivals the original plasma for irritation.

On to the map! It's an intricate-ish time, lots of exploration and finding out what does what. I like seeing places the keys need to be used far in advance of getting said keys. Took out the Hellknight with a Rocketlauncher I found. After getting past the Red Key doors I come across a not-so-secret Backpack which hardly feels necessary in a map with so few monsters when I've not come close to filling up the default capacity even.

I do like having Revenants this early. Monsters have been tough but manageable, I'm not ashamed to admit I've died and reloaded from save a couple times. The layout got a lot of mileage from the small alotted real estate, I think it's a pretty successful map! Way to go Jimmy.

[dobu gabu maru]

plums said:

Do you know if it was present in the beta version before mine?

The two HOMs weren't there in TMD's beta. Dunno about the rest of the level

[plums]

dobu gabu maru said:

The two HOMs weren't there in TMD's beta. Dunno about the rest of the level

Eek, ok, I'll try to figure out what happened.

In the meantime, let's talk about the maps.

To start with, I'm not a huge fan of the Return resource pack. The textures are fine, half of them are from Heretic and Hexen anyhow and I love those games, but the statusbar and the sound replacements don't really do anything for me. Maybe it'll grow on me as I play it some more, but we saw a bunch of these things reused in Eternal's Epic 2, and it didn't really happen for me then either. Oh well.

Map01 is a good start to the mapset. I agree with Seele00TextOnly that it's nice to see revenants right away; no piddling around with lower-tier-only encounters. In fact for a map01 slot this is pretty tough, as you're under fire right away and have to figure out where to find a safe haven - something that's not easy to do in a 2048x2048 map layout where every corner seems like it's been used for something.

And that's actually my main complaint about this map, it feels just a bit too busy. In any other circumstance I'd suggest that things need to be spaced out a little more; I don't really know whether that's a valid criticism for this wad or not. I guess I'll see how other mappers handle it... anyhow, a fun start.

[plums]

MAYhem2048 plums beta 2:
https://www.mediafire.com/?kge65c7e3pk5szz

The texture list was sorted alphabetically in the previous upload, so the dummy AASHITTY texture wasn't at the top of the list.

[mouldy]

Cool, I like the idea of this wad. Forcing a size limitation like this really encourages mappers to make maximum use of the space, which can (hopefully) lead to lots of interesting inter-connectivity, although its still a large enough area to not feel claustrophobic. Here goes then...

Map01 - "Unorthogon” by Jimmy

Very cool map, full of clever design and squeezes a surprising degree of complexity and variety from the space provided. The ammo balance is pretty tight, forcing a lot of peashooting with pistol, and making the revenants feel a lot more threatening than they normally are. Really enjoyed this one, sets a high bar for the rest of the wad.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP01: Goddamn is Jimmy a good mapper. Sometimes I forget but as soon as I’m thrown into another one of his experiments, I’m reminded how everything just works together: level flow, layout, enemy balance, ammo balance, texture use, lighting… it just vibes together so effortlessly, being both fascinating yet quaint. And best of all, you can barely tell this area is in a tiny square box! A great, great opener to the set.

[Demonologist]

Try this utility to solve issues with unused textures, it always works for me, but it's better to check everything afterwards. On a side note - there are still glitches in some of the maps, so I advise TMD to wait with an /idgames release until this playthrough is over and then eliminate all the remaining bugs.

Map01 - "Unorthogon” by Jimmy
Not a bad opener, with reliance on stock textures and non-orthogonal shapes (hence the title), with very easy but overall decent action. That's all I can say about this one, basically.

[jmickle66666666]

map01: unorthogon by jimmy

I love jimmy's open layouts, and this map really handles pistol-start super well. Challenging from the get-go, even though there are no tougher enemies than revenants in the map.

My only real complaint is that once it starts letting up, the challenge almost immediately disappeared for me. At first I was scouting for health and ammo and picking my battles, running around for any cover I could find, and it was a lot of fun! But once a lot of the areas were clear of enemies the key progression didn't introduce much more danger. There were only ever a few enemies that teleported in.

I think it could have done with more spots that enemies repopulated, in different areas of the map, and maybe a few monster closets to make the level feel more dynamic (though the open layout does a huge amount to help it not feel static)

Super enjoyed it, and lovely music.

(edit: I can't seem to find information on the music being used?)

[joe-ilya]

When are the bonus maps will be reviewed? (MAP33-MAP35)

MAP01
That is a pretty hard map for such an early map slot, while the map is being colorful, bright and very cheerful. It's puzzly too. Jimmys nowadays theme and style by the way. I was walking with my fist trying to find ammo almost most of the game time.
5/5

[Phobus]

joe-ilya said:

When are the bonus maps will be reviewed? (MAP33-MAP35)

I was just going to tack them on at the end... Or potentially ignore them, as I remember all three not really being to my taste. It's not like any of these maps will take a particularly long time to beat if we do want to get two in on certain days to get through everything.


And yes, I'm back to the club (I think my attendance at this point is something like 10%). See, I've already tested almost all of these when they were in development, but now I'll be playing them continuously, seeing where the improvements/fixes are and checking out the few maps that weren't finished back when I did do my testing run. Plus, it's easy minimal commitment and that's my favourite kind!

MAP01
Jimmy puts together a great looking map, making great use of the space, that (as is a staple for him as of late) uses all three keys in a non-linear area, although you do have to collect them sequentially rather than how he does it in his ASSmaps. Very easy a second time through, when you know to conserve shells a little at the start and that you'll be overstocked by the end, but still a fun play through.

[Memfis]

01 - Interesting geometry for just running around but maybe not for playing: apart from typical teleporting monster traps there isn't much happening. The low tier monsters are powerless against all that interconnectivity. The difficulty is pumped up by low ammo though (when I run out of shells I don't use the pistol and go look for more, alerting monsters and leaving them behind) but I can't call myself a fan of low ammo challenges apart from some very specific cases. Perhaps would be more exciting with a SSG, some arch-viles and more revenants. Good trick with the blinking light at the entrance, never seen that before.

[cannonball]

Map01 - "Unorthogon” by Jimmy

Nice map, uses the space well with lots of interesting shapes and angles. The difficulty is a little tame at times but maybe jimmy was going for the early mapslot anyway so that is fine. A good start to the wad in my view.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP01: Unorthogon by Jimmy
100% kills, 2/2 secrets

Count me in with the crowd that's annoyed by the soundset... the imps are harder to see, the "he's over there" gets repetitive around the second or third time, and the Hexen sounds feel out of place. Oh well...

This is one of the maps I played when it was first released, since the screenshots and other reviews were good. And for good reason - it's a good map! It looks pretty nice (though maybe has a bit more texture variation than I'd personally prefer), has a lot of inter-connectedness and ability to see but not grab keys, and the combat is at the perfect level for me. I'm a big fan of the "deal with these larger monsters with smaller weapons" when it's balanced correctly to not be a slog, and that's what we get here - just a couple of revenants, one PE and one hell knight, enough to be threatening but not slow things down. The level does definitely get easier as it goes on, but that's okay.

The unorthoganality was an interesting experiment... there's still a lot of straight lines and non-acute angles, so it's easy to not really notice it just running around (maybe a slight subconscious noticing?) But then look at the minimap and, ugh, my brain melts. Heh. But yeah, really strong map, good choice for the opening slot.

[Demon of the Well]

Right, I'm usually harder than many others are to impress/entertain with short/small maps, but a 2048x2048 field should allow for a pretty substantial chunk of Doom if utilized well. Some of the authors here have seen the majority of their work released in the MAYhem WADs, so it will be interesting to see what's changed (if anything) in their cases. Come to think of it, I don't believe I ever actually saw the full/final version of last year's MAYhem....did that ever actually come out?

Anyway, UV/pistol-starts/very few or no saves for me, as per usual.

Map 01 -- Unorthogon - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Very pleasing opener. It disregards the notion that map 01 must be completely perfunctory in terms of combat and monster usage; it's by no means a particularly dangerous or difficult map, but it makes liberal usage of more types of hellspawn than the usual map 01 imps/zombies, as well as various other action staples from Doom's bag of tricks, particularly teleporting monster squads. Only 60 monsters all told, but they're enough to provide a mostly uninterrupted stream of incoming attacks, largely by dint of how carefully interconnected the main base is, in conjunction with its necessarily modest size--if you try to play too conservatively you're going to get broadsided or snuck up on sooner or later, so get in there and give 'em hell.

I was struck by the map's usage of little but stock resources (only some of the tree sprites are not stock); a bit surprising, but perhaps it's for the best that the Eternal textures aren't dogpiled on right away. Incidentally, apart from some painfully hokey-looking tech assets and some other odds and ends, I quite like most of the Eternal textures, and look forward to see what the team can do with them (I've played a handful of these maps before, and some of them are very interesting visually, so stay tuned). I've also always liked the Eternal status bar, and the dark imps are a nice change. The clumsily synthetic voice clips for the zombies, not so much....but it's not a big deal.

Anyway, nice map 01, Jimmy. But that backpack's not secret. It just isn't!

[Steve D]

Map01 - Unorthogon by Jimmy - Kills - 100, Secrets - 50 - Death Count - Zero

I playtested this back on May 5th on UV and got killed, but today I did a casual HMP playthrough and fared much better, even though I was dropped to 30% once and this time I failed to find the Rocket Launcher -- so lame. The original version also had a secret Soulsphere.

As others have said, this map has a fun, tricky layout, looks good, seems bigger than it really is, and on top of that has a sweet music track. In other words, it makes for an excellent Map01, even though it's a bit rough on UV, but then, I don't believe in easy Map01s, so that's fine by me.

As Magnus stated, the Dark Imps are hard to see, which basically every mapper took full, cruel advantage of. Much pain lies ahead.

Ammo Stress is a factor in this map, as Memfis said, but it didn't seem excessive to the point of making this a survivalist experience. In an oldschool attrition/resource management map like this, a little Ammo Stress forces the player to use strategy, and IMO is something all mappers need in their bag of tricks.

This is the first map of Jimmy's that I ever played, and I was well pleased. I especially liked the height variation that helped make for an excellent appearance. Nice way to kick off the mapset.

[Steve D]

Demonologist said:

I advise TMD to wait with an /idgames release until this playthrough is over and then eliminate all the remaining bugs.

One of which would be my name in the CWILVs, which is still "STEVED" when it ought to be "Steve Duff." I made a post on 6-15 to that effect. ;) Actually, I was a bit wishy-washy and offered a choice between "Steve Duff" and "Steve D." STEVED in all caps just looks weird. So, if this months DWMC is used as a final bug-test, please change that to Steve Duff.

[Marcaek]

I'm playing continuous, with pistol starts on death followed by continuation from the point I died. I figure being a community effort that it'd be more appropriate to pistol start everything, but this is my usual method for play, and it shouldn't be too hard to tell what was intended for pistol starting in any case.

Map01: Unorthagon by Jimmy (Maxed)

A nice map to start on, constant action without ever becoming overly difficult. A couple of tactically placed barrels are available which are always appreciated when zombies are around. The non-orthogonal layout is refreshing and intricate, with instances of mild platforming to reuse obstacles as a ways to get around, which is something I like when it's well done. The glimpses of inaccessible areas outside the map is a nice way to contribute to the atmosphere and avoid the tendency for maps in a constrained square to feel, well, square :P

Found both secrets, but horribly squandered my 2 rockets, heh. I missed the backpack on my way into the adjacent building, so I figured it lowered or something on my return trip, very glad to see it's just marked secret for no real reason. All of the points, Jimmy.

[Memfis]

02 - Another map with an annoying challenge (ammo is low again as well btw, happy I found the plasmagun), in this case the problem being that I can barely see anything without gamma correction 4. Good thing I played this at night so the sun couldn't make things even worse. Lots of parts where it's very awkward to move in this level (the starting area and the green armor that took me like 15 seconds to take are the worst).

The texturing is pretty rough for my taste: a common case of a mapper being overwhelmed by the amount of new textures (Community Chest 4 is especially notorious for this). Also I don't like the arcade-like quest for the switches. I don't hate the concept but for me it only works when I can feel a certain logic in the way it is done. It's hard to explain, I like the realisation in fdc6.wad for example, but not here.

[Suitepee]

I will have to get involved with this one for sure, although I'm going to wait a few days to see if the idgames version gets done quickly.

Expect a livestream of this wad from me for the Club at some point this month!

[dobu gabu maru]

Demon of the Well said:

Come to think of it, I don't believe I ever actually saw the full/final version of last year's MAYhem....did that ever actually come out?

Yup.

MAP02: ChaingunnerX’s map is a very dark one, not necessarily by tone but certainly by lighting standards. The courtyard is the most dangerous place, with sergeants off hiding on cliffsides and blasting you when you least expect it, giving me a couple of nasty deaths. But it was an alright map in the end—certainly a quick one.

[Demonologist]

Map02 - “The Dark Tower” by ChaingunnerX
Dark indeed, it gets really hard to see anything, so raising gamma correction level is the way to go for me. It's also short and easy, though darkness complicates things a bit, engulfing hitscanners and a bunch of tougher foes but never covering you from their prying eyes. Then it's about searching for several switches to reveal the exit. I remember that I wasn't able to kill everyone when I played this map some time ago since some of the monsters never appeared, don't know if that's the case now. So overall - not a bad map, but nothing special or truly memorable, just a quick run in darkness.

[Demon of the Well]

dobu gabu maru said:

Yup.

Thanks, map 01 alone is enough to get me to download it--interested to see what Magnusblitz's style is like.

Map 02 -- The Dark Tower - 91% Kills / 100% Secrets
From the name I expected something in a heavily medieval/gothic theme, but in truth this is a map with a strange thematic duality--it's a fantastical bathroom-tile tower on a lightly forested plateau, but it's also a squeaky-clean techbase with a neatly manicured lawn. Simultaneously. Weird.

It's also really damned dark. Persistently low light levels seem to annoy a lot of players, but it's not a sentiment I usually share. I think Doom usually looks good and often plays well when it's dark (at least more consistently so than when it's persistently bright), and the darkness in this map is used both to establish mood and for more practical reasons, as well. As Steve has observed, the darker coloring of the Eternal imps makes them harder to spot under certain conditions, and it's easy to miss one and be clawed in the back while sounding out the storage area housing the red keycard, especially since you're liable to be dodging around the hell knight in the rather tight space while doing so--ammo is initially extremely tight in this map, and rather than pistoling/punching the knight to death I had him follow me outside and killed him later, after he kindly eradicated several of the pesky shotgun sergeants on the rocky ridge who kept accidentally hitting him instead of me. This was about the extent of the gameplay, there's really not a lot to talk about in this one. Oh, I guess I more or less agree with Memfis about the switches--I see no reason for there to be more than one of them, they're so absurdly close together (and not at all concealed) that the multi-switch setup seems like it's just padding, definitely not an impression one wants a map as tiny as this to leave.

So, as aforementioned, this map is most interesting from an aesthetic standpoint. I like the moody outdoor scene in theory--candles and torches strangely juxtaposed with clean white fluorescent estate lighting--although the diminutive size of the yard does tend to make the whole tableau seem a mite cluttered between all of the rocks and crates and props and assorted vagrants from the boardwalks of Cocytus.

Edit: Oh yeah, and rewatching my recording of myself playing, it seems that Demonologist is right--four of the monsters never make an appearance. Easily missed/skipped tripwire, maybe?

[Seele00TextOnly]

Map02 - “The Dark Tower” by ChaingunnerX

Pistol starting, btw. Living off the land, travel light. The only way to really experience this crazy place.

Alright, we get some Doom furniture! Some nice outdoors area to chillax. Too bad everyone here's a talking Zombie. And that first Shotgunner always got a really good hit on me, ouch. Anyway after heading upstairs it's back downstairs to the unlit lounge. I was right in the middle of a chameleon Imp zoo, and somebody was giving booze to these animals! Finally checked out of there after clearing a Hellknight and it's back to the brisk night breeze.

Damnit... they've taken over the whole estate, haven't they. Some of the Shotgunners way off in the distance on that ledge in the dark... that's just unsportsmanlike. Get down here and fight. Sure are a lot of switches to hit in this map, no idea what they're all necessary for. I found the secret Plasma and killed everything in sight... 5 of them stayed cowering in their closets, though. 2 Shotgunners and 3 Imps, maybe they're clipping into a wall or something.

Honestly didn't feel that this map lived up to the first map. The darkness was interesting, I won't complain about it in general. But those hitscanners way off in the dark were a bit of foul play IMHO.