The DWmegawad Club plays: MAYhem2048

[cannonball]

Map15 - “Titan Mining Complex” by Walter Confalonieri
This isn't too bad a map, you get rather over stocked on ammo, especially rockets. The cyber is a complete fail as I really don't want to kill him in his room and you can cheese him from another vantage point without running the risk of death. Found both secrets too.

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

Ugly as heck, but actually the gameplay is pretty entertaining here, so overall I had fun here.

I will play map 32 later.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP15: Another great effort by walter. This time he takes on a lunar drilling station and does a good job portraying it in the small space given. Some parts do feel discombobulated, like the HK tunnel near the end and that constricted cyber fight, but it was still enjoyable overall. I'm quite impressed with his 2048 outings and I wonder if the smaller amount of space he has to work with, the better.

Also, I love the cheeky intermission screen here.

MAP31: The most notable thing about the map is probably the title given to it. Otherwise it’s pretty by the books and rectangular, the rooms brandishing such different textures that you can’t really come up with a theme. Alright in the end.

Fabulous job on the text once again.

MAP32: This was a surprising one. Perhaps most surprising is that Eternal gives us the majority of the level to run around in right off the bat, but extends gameplay by having the player look for switches and exploring tight passageways. The use of space here is sublime—definitely something I envy—and it’s one of the most refined maps in the set. Brilliant finale too.

[Phobus]

MAP15:
So much better than the first draft I played, although it does still seem to be stocked like it's wall-to-wall with enemies (kind of like the last corridor still is, but with enemies like Chaingunners that kill each other more than they hit you), so perhaps a bit less ammo is in order. TBH, at this stage in the megaWAD I'm so ridiculously stacked with weapons myself from continuous play that I'm guessing at map balance. I think the Cyberdemon might benefit from being an Arch-Vile instead, as that could hit you from anywhere and won't serve as an ammo sponge if you do cheese it like I did. The warp-in battle when you vault the railing after getting the blue key would be nicer with a few heavier hitters in there, I think, as it's very unthreatening when weak enemies trickle in. Good-looking map (reminds me of Lunar Apocalypse from Duke3D) that plays alright.

MAP31:
This doesn't seem to have changed an awful lot from the initial, unfinished draft I played, however. Texturing is pretty random (each room looks alright individually, but as a whole it's not cohesive) and it starts off pretty sparsely populated, although the teleported reinforcements do actually make the map hectic for a bit. I already knew the trick to the secret exit, which is pretty enjoyable. Feels like the 90's came out of nowhere for this map, TBH.

MAP32:
As much as I gushed about this map when I first tested it, I definitely enjoyed it more this time with stacks of ammo at start, as it meant I could fight a moving-battle against an entrenched foe, rather than scurry into corners and scavenge to just-about survive. The BFG does trivialise the final fight, but it's also the obvious weapon to use if you have it because a lengthy plasma rifle battle or rocket duel with the Cyberdemon can be lethal for you very easily. Looks and feels like a good Eternal Doom III map that doesn't outstay it's welcome. I'd be all in favour of moving this into the main line-up so that either a weaker map or a more gimmicky one can be pushed out of it into this slot.

[Steve D]

Map14 – Emerald Gardens by Breezeep (Rocket Launcher Path) - Kills - 107, Items - 100, Secret - 0. Death Count – 3

Map14 – Emerald Gardens by Breezeep (Super Shotgun Path) - Kills - 110, Items - 100, Secret - 0. Death Count - 1

UV pistol-start, Risen3D

Sorry to be a day late on this one, but got super-busy yesterday.

This is, as all have noted, an exceptionally attractive map, at least once you're down in the sewers. The outside areas are quite plain, but the sewers are beautifully-lit and very nicely detailed; quite moody and atmospheric. Unfortunately, the alignment of the green brick is messed-up at practially every vertice – on the stairs, at the wall details, at corners, and of course at the doors. This should all be fixed prior to idgames release.

I'm not bothered by the symmetry to the extent that some are. It looks good on both sides and the challenges are not quite symmetrical, so I'm okay with it. Breezeep is capable of producing quite flowy layouts, as I saw in the map Suitepee livestreamed, which, like this one, was quite visually impressive. Breezeep is yet another mapper to keep an eye on.

During the playtesting, I gave this map a couple run-throughs and pointed-out all the door-camping, especially in the pylon rooms, where you could just go and grab the weapon, press the switch to summon the monsters, and run out the door to camp them at your leisure, along with starting infights between the invading monsters and the ones above in the exit area. Thankfully, that has been fixed, and now the player is spam in a can and is forced into somewhat more dangerous encounters.

It's not really very dangerous, however, in spite of my – for this map – shockingly high death counts.

My first run took me to the rocket launcher side, which turned out to be the more dangerous path. While rocketing the nobles climbing the stairs, I managed a “Good at Doom!” suicide by rocketing the wall in front of me as I dodged. Oh, the indignity! ;D Then I got torched twice while door-camping the Archie because I backed-up, fell off the path, and got fried while trying to collect myself . Yeah, same exact reason for death both times. So, I guiess you could say that this symmetrical map led to my symmetrical deaths! ;D Okay, go ahead and groan . . .

Well, I was pretty pissed off at myself for dying in such stupid ways, so I decided to play the map again, taking the far easier SSG path. This one had an even worse – meaning easier – door-camp against an Archie, because on this side, the Archie is prevented from getting into your room because of stairs that are too narrow and steep, so he's a sitting duck. I mentioned this during playtesting, but of course, if Breezeep wants us to camp Archie, I'll go ahead and say, “Thanks for the easy kill.” ;)

I figured I'd be Mister Smartypants and save some rockets for the exit Archie, but lo and behold, it was “Good at Doom!” time again! God, what a fucking dumbass way to get killed. So 50% of my deaths were by my own hand. Yay, Steve!

Overall, a nice, solid map by Breezeep, with fairly low-key combat making it another breather map, a calm before the storms that will soon come in this megawad.

[cannonball]

Map32 - “Aeternal” by Eternal
Well I haven't completed this one yet, but all I can say is simply that one monster completely ruins this map. You give me the shotgun and SSG quite easily, but then force me to progress out in the open which has an arch vile placed in a position where you will struggle to kill him and also can zap you when you are trying to push on, in fact if you go for the switch in the pond-like area and the arch vile starts attacking you might as well re-load as you are totally fucked.
Sorry, but pushes my patience too far. Also the ground switch isn't exactly obvious either :/

[Solarn]

Huh. Compared to everyone else, I didn't have much trouble with the Archvile. After I realized where he was, I could just make sure to keep out of his sight and kill as many of the other creatures that way as I could, then straferun over to the RL from the Baron platform and kill the Vile with rockets.

[Breezeep]

SteveD said:

Map14 – Emerald Gardens by Breezeep (Rocket Launcher Path) - Kills - 107, Items - 100, Secret - 0. Death Count – 3

[b]Map14 – Emerald Gardens by Breezeep (Super Shotgun Path) - Kills - 110, Items - 100, Secret - 0. Death Count - 1

Thanks for the review, after reading the other player's notes about my map, I felt I could have done better if I knew how to make a map properly or improve the skills I had. But anyways, glad you liked my map.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 15 -- Titan Mining Complex - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Again, there are some issues, but I liked this more than Walter's map 05. It's certainly an improvement aesthetically, if nothing else; the moonbase mining theme (clean white Duke3D flavor) is very clear with the inclusion of a very reasonable lunar drill facsimile, and whereas a lot of the textures/colors in map 05 seemed to clash these all look quite natural together. There are still a handful of instances of those distinctly Confalonierian isolated spots of anomalous hyperdetail, ala the hand-shaped crack on the floor of the central pod, but they're less insistent here and so fit in better with the general surroundings. He's even made a pretty good/unobtrusive use of a 3D bridge, which is perhaps what impresses me the most--these constructs are cool tricks and all, but they're so hard to use well because of the many special accommodations that have to be made for them (for example, we saw how useless the 3D bridge in PCorf's map made those two hell knights)--yet Walter has avoided these pitfalls by placing the bridge well and styling it visually so that its various impacts on the game world seem natural rather than artificial. As a bonus, he also chose my single favorite track from the RoTT soundtrack (is this maybe some sort of vague HR reference given the moonbase setting?); this is one of those tracks I just won't ever get tired of hearing, no matter how many maps it shows up in.

Gameplay is on the corridor-heavy side and skews towards high HP monsters, so it can be a bit door-campy, but as was the case with map 13's downsloping action I don't think the map lasts long enough for this to become too grating, especially given that the player ends up glutted on heavy artillery before too long. Surprisingly, there's even a small but significant element of non-linearity, an interesting contrast to map 05 which seemed like it should've had some, but didn't: if it occurs to you to try leaping over the striped railing near the blue keycard, you can get the rocket launcher and a crapton of rockets early; otherwise you wait until later, after opening the Bay 2 door. On the downside, the cyberdemon here is placed rather poorly. Despite the view he has of the walkway between the crate bay and the far building, he can only actually hit you if you stand still at one specific point (the first 'step'); otherwise, all of his rockets hit the side of the walkway, while the player can plink away at him with impunity. There's a hidden BFG in the map that you can use to charge into his tiny cubby and eliminate him that way, but I suspect that most players will just choose one of the many ways to cheese him through the windows....which, in fairness, makes more rational sense here than it has any right to. Definitely agree with Phobus that arch-viles would be better here.

Map 31 -- A Calm Yet Frank Discussion of Your Life Choices - 116% Kills / No secrets
The cheeky name belies a very modest, very mid-90s style map, pretty clearly a beginner effort (or perhaps a speedmap by someone who is not comfortable/experienced with speedmapping). Boxy, generously-sized rooms in linear sequence is the order of the day here; the deepest aspect of the progression is a brief backtrack to the central junction, where a second fight takes place. Each room flatly lit and is plastered in a different texture from what's around it, and the parade of different themes over the course of the whole adds up to precisely nothing, partially a function of a fairly even split between the Eternal and stock textures. Gameplay is very straightforward; generally a smattering of different monsters waits for you to enter their room and fight them with the generally adequate supply of ammo and health scattered about. It climaxes near the middle with a surprisingly large influx of opposition which teleports in when the player approaches the skull key; the thought is appreciated here, and it can be a decent encounter if you play it aggressively, although perhaps the arch-vile that appears in the main area might've been handled differently, simply because the infinitely-tall shenanigans that tend to ensue here 'in intended sourceport' curtail some of the more entertaining options for handling him. After that it's quite the anticlimax, although the super-secret exit is more well-hidden than one might initially surmise (incidentally, the secrets aren't tagged as secret).

In terms of overall build/presentation quality I suspect this one is probably going to be the runt of the litter, but I personally found it more enjoyable to play than map 09 if nothing else, and would also say it makes a more meaningful contribution to the mapset than 'Rublev1' did.

Map 32 -- Aeternal - 101% Kills / 100% Secrets
This map makes me happy simply by existing, if for no other reason than that it proves that Eternal is still alive and mapping (or at least that he was until quite recently). If not for the name and some of the aesthetic cues, I think you could've told me this was a map by some other author and I'd have believed you, although the cyberdemon fight and the monster placement in the little library section are both very Eternal. The general thrust of the combat is one that I approve of: its schtick for most of its duration is to prevent the player from finding a safe place to curl up and carefully peck things to death from afar. The main yard accomplishes this best through efficiently using space to create a nasty crossfire situation--it's not so much that there's a lot of fire coming at you at once (there really isn't, at least not after the initial zombie trash is cleared out); it's just that the sniper towers are placed in such a way that they have a good overview of much of the play area, while they themselves can only be efficiently attacked from certain angles (again, that's without mouselook), most of those angles exposing you to fire from the other towers or from the arch-vile. On my first attempt at the map I was killed when I was simultaneously hit by the vile's spell, burned by a manc fireball, and then blasted by a rev rocket in the span of about 1.5 seconds. The upshot of all this is that the first part of the map turns out to be a combat-based puzzle of sorts: figure out how to get tooled up quickly, figure out how to prioritize your targets (archie is NOT top of the list!), figure out the best way to use the multi-level layout to your advantage in eliminating them. Once you've done this, actual execution is not difficult at all. The final battle uses a variation of the same idea, with the cyberdemon and instant-death pits controlling the center of the room, and crossfire coming in from the perimeter; a simple fight, but effective given the relatively limited space.

In hindsight, I think the most difficult thing about the map isn't even the crossfire itself, it's just that it's very important to avoid damage, since the early hitscan attrition eats up a lot of the stimpacks, and there is no armor save for the secret blue vest hidden in a quirky secret, so hits from the bigger monsters really hurt. Some would probably disagree with me on this being the main difficulty, though--apparently that ground switch in the pool has caused a lot of headaches. What can I say, it didn't give me any trouble.....I've seen Eternal do this before, and I've played Hexen and so am familiar with that particular switch graphic, even though it's employed as a flat rather than a texture here.

Neat little map (although I like Eternal's style best when he can really sprawl out with the play area), definitely worth the effort of finding the secret exits.

[Steve D]

Map15 – Titan Mining Complex by Walter Confalonieri - Kills - 103, Items - 100, Secret - 100. Death Count – 4

UV pistol-start, Risen3D

Great-looking map by Walter, in some ways reminiscent of scifista42's Space Base in DWMP2013, but without that map's raw, savage gameplay. Indeed, I found the gameplay here quite dull, with the absolute epitome of boredom being the red key door. Open door, splatter rockets at horde of enemies, and hardly any survivors manage to stagger out, and those who do are quickly SSGed.

The style of gameplay was set at the start. Open door, shitload of Lost Souls facing away from you, look around room, find corners to hide behind, choose the one that is not also targeted by distant, sniping monsters, open fire on Losties, then camp the safe side. Not super-compelling.

One way to liven up this approach is to put extremely dangerous monsters behind doors. So I died my first time at the blue door when I failed to pain-chance Archie. Next time through, I had the RL ready. Then I died again when I opened the red key room with my back to the Revvie that popped out. I died once more to the Archie that joins a crowd at the door below, and my final death was the big door-camping action against the PE, Cacos and distant snipers, once again to a Revvie rocket. This was a bit of a tougher camping exercise, since there were, IIRC, 3 doors the monsters could shoot through, which is why I got killed. ;D

One of the best bits of action occurred after jumping over the rails at the blue key. I didn't get the key first time through, instead I saw the little crates and jumped over, then took a teleport to the Zerk, and went back, hoping for a good Pinky punch-out. Alas, too many hitscanners teleported in for that to work, so I SSGed and Chaingunned almost everything. Still, the hitscanners put some damage on me, and running around in the open meant that I took a lot of hits. Good stuff.

I found the secret exit before I had a chance to kill Cybie, so I opened a save and did him in – of course from the distant sniping spot. I then played the ending twice, because the first time, I opened the door before unleashing the BFG and the Archie stepped through the portal, escaping me. Next time, I started-up the BFG before opening the door, and the little jagoff still stepped through, but the secondary discharge got him on the other side.

Overall, not a bad map, with its looks and ambience balancing out the somewhat tepid gameplay. I think the map showed an over-reliance on Archies, but at least it got a couple pelts off me that way. ;)

Perhaps this should be Map14 instead of Emerald Gardens, because you end Map13 by stepping through the Stargate, and you start this one on the other side of it.

Another positive note – if I find secret exits, I always play the secret maps continuously. If I luck out, that means I can play Eternal's apparently grim exercise with weapons and ammo from the start, so thanks, Walter! I'll go back to pistol-starts on Map16.

Edit: I agree with Dobu about the goofy screen writing at the secret exit. ;D

Edit 2: D'oh! Since this map has the secret exit, maybe Emerald Gardens should be Map13 and pcorf's should be moved to Map14 to keep the Stargate sequence from map-to-map.

[Seele00TextOnly]

Map15 - “Titan Mining Complex” by Walter Confalonieri

Starting right off I like the view out the window, interesting area. Not such a fan of the columns of Lost Souls that I op to run through and deal with from within the forward rooms. Go through some decent looking interiors rooms, get a Backpack, and... hear a Cyber wakeup, oh joy. It's kind of nice seeing all the idle monsters through windows as one proceeds through the map. Hit a switch, plow back through a somewhat annoying Baron, and it's off to get the Blue Key.

Not being able to shoot through the fence here at the Blue Key area kind of sucks, but I suppose the intention is to do no fighting while in there anyway. It's a pretty hectic fight out here, I kind of like it. Backtrack to the start for the Blue Door and Rocket an Archie. Get the Red Key and it's actually a decent hallway fight with an Archie and some hitscanners that follows. It's back out to the courtyard and right about now not being able to shoot through that fence is starting to really bother me. Anyway, it's a decent fight again and I manage to survive somehow.

The next combat through the Red Door is also pretty good, though the squadron of Hellknights with their Baron felt like a 'hallway with health' that I had to endure plowing through. Worse yet is the placement of the Cyber, which I really didn't feel like corner camping for five minutes so I just darted around him to the Exit. Except... that's not the Exit I'm looking for! Okay, so reload and dart in and out of there to search for the Secret Exit and soon it's found.

[Seele00TextOnly]

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

Well, I'm definitely going to be looking for cinnamon to go with my applesauce. Pistol starting this map is pretty fun, get some use out of the pistol darting around a Manc to pick up some better weapons from small fry. After that with the help of a little infighting I'm on top of things and the Red Key is mine. Past the Red Door, Shotgun a couple more Mancs and Chaingun a Rev before a whole platoon of Imps and more Revs show up in a surprisingly fun encounter.

Get the Yellow Skull, plow through a bunch of hitscanners and their Archvile friend, and after a few more mid tier monsters I'm face to face with the regular Exit. Looks like I'll have to go downstairs after all. What the... nothing down here but a worthless SSG. Hmm... well I find a Berserk hidden in a wall after a little more exploration, but the Secret Exit eludes me until I like others consult an editor. It's just a shame that that switch gets lowered into the ground like that, really.

Had a fun time with this map.

Map32 - “Aeternal” by Eternal

Well. After a few attempts at figuring where I should head at Pistol start, I just run as far as I can and hope for some cover and maybe a little infighting. Soon I've got a Shotgun and killed a Revenant, but have taken heavy losses. Eventually I find a SSG, some shells, and a cellpack along with health. We're in business. I lure a Baron out of the elevator he's guarding (too short on shells) and sneak past to rise back up into part of the complex.

I navigate the structure, picking off people that I can afford to, making good use of the Pistol. I have to say, so far this is the best map of the entire wad. It really does feel like storming and navigating a fortified castle complex. It's about now that I realize that hitting the elevator switch again will raise me another floor instead of lowering me to face the Baron's wrath. Yet... this opens up no new area for me. Infact I'm quite confused as where I can and should go next.

Then I notice something I would probably be more prepared for if I played more Boom etc type mapsets: A switch on the floor, in the lake of the courtyard. This creates a stairway to what looks like a switch, blocked by a very troublesomely placed Baron. Because of all the crossfire and the Archvile, I have to make several charge in, fire, retreat style attacks before finally he's dispatched and I hit the switch. This Archvile is seriously getting on my nerves, what a jerk.

Several more switches and navigating of projectiles and I'm watching the map change shape around me, always steps rising to the next objective. Finally I see that I can get the Yellow Skull, and I do so. Oh no, Cacos! My precious ammo! Honestly it's not that low anymore, but I still feel that mentality. A well balanced and immersive map can really do that to you. Soon I'm storming a library and come face to face with another Archvile and some Barons. Now this is just cruel. If only I'd figured out how to get that Rocket Launcher earlier.

I have no idea how I survive this fight, and soon Caco's and PE port in and I'm down to nothing but Chaingun. Starting to really wish this map had a nonsecret Berserk or Chainsaw. No matter, for now a Plasmarifle is mine. I plow my way over to the Red Door and another Archvile has come to wreck my day. Thankfully this door shuts behind me as I get the Blue Key. Plasma away the Archie and soon I strafe run my way to the Rocketlauncher secret, finally. .. 46 Rockets? Wow I was really racking them up. Time to kill everything.

After that, I'm through the Blue Door and it's time for the final showdowns. Megasphere is just out of reach, so have to deftly dodge and Rocket my way to clearing the room. Now I'm completely loaded with ammo too. Unfortunately I'm going to need it because this next fight with the Cyber and several cronies in alcoves is absolutely insane. The terrain does me no favors here, all the ups and downs combined with presence of some damage floor keeps one unnerved as they dodge the rockets. I tried my best to focus down the Chaingunners and Revenants first, then worked on the Cyber and Hellknights in tandem. Finally, thankfully, the Cyber dies and the map is over.

Great map, very tough one too. I doubt this will be knocked from my current slotting as Best Map in the Wad.

[Steve D]

Map31 – A Calm, yet Frank Discussion of Your Life Choices by ClonedPickle - Kills - 105, Items - 100, Secret - 0. Death Count – Zero

UV continuous, Risen3D

I really like the “back to the '90s” look in this one. Clearly the work of an experienced mapper emulating rectilinear '90s maps. Excellent gameplay with good traps and good, open fights, a real breath of fresh air after all the recent cramped spaces and door-camping. I can move, I can run, I can dodge. Yay!

Single best monster placement was those damned elevated Chaingunners flanking the Revvie. I concentrated on bonehead with rockets, and in microseconds, it seemed, those Chaingunners dropped me to 66% health from 139%. Dayum, that hurt! ;)

So, it was the old E2M1 switch trick, was it? That, plus talk of a waterfall, led me to the secret exit. Thanks, guys. ;)

This was a really fun run 'n gun map. I enjoyed the heck out of it.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 16 -- Master Plan - 133% Kills / 100% Secrets
Bit of a change of scenery here, I believe this map is another that uses nothing but stock resources, and uses them rather well, I must say. The combination of a night sky, dark metal, vine-grown composite, and sanguine seepage from parts unknown, liberally dotted with firesticks, strikes me as heavily redolent of something from one of the mid/later cantos in Dr. Sleep's 'Inferno' series--'Geryon', 'Vesperas', something in that general area. In layout terms it's deceptively simple; the play area is essentially divided into three lateral strips of roughly similar size, with a little bloody grotto acting as a transitional area between the first and second. The goal is of course the elevated third area, from where an arrogant spider mastermind personally oversees his nefarious scheme....

....A scheme to finally rid the netherealms of the scourge of Doomguy! The central second strip is the focal point of the plan, and it is very obviously designed expressly to be a killzone; without the closely-guarded blue keycard, it can only be entered from one static point, which is a focus for heavy fire from distant/elevated arachnatrons and revenants who are out of weapons range, requiring the player to charge through a gauntlet of heavy weapon dudes in order to mount an offensive. Additional reinforcements arrive as the player works his/her way towards the key; first revenants, then an overlooking arch-vile, and at some point the Mastermind himself is likely to start trying to micromanage the engagement--given the many obstacles between you and him at this stage his gunfire is not likely to be very effective, but it IS likely to disturb some of his arch-vile personal assistants, one of whom begins teleporting rapidly from alcove to alcove in the third segment. While he's not able to attack at this juncture, through the labyrinthine laws of Doom physics he gains the ability to repeatedly resurrect two of the chaingunners from the gauntlet (think Plutonia map 15, things like that). I honestly can't tell whether this occurrence is an intentional part of the design or not...architecturally it seems purpose-built, but there's no guarantee the scenario will trigger, so I dunno.

If all of that sounds bothersome, it's really not--it's a straightforward challenge-style map in a vaguely Plutonian idiom, using limited numbers of powerful monsters in carefully rationed open spaces in a way that maximizes their strengths while denying the player of a lot of opportunities to metagame the hell out of the encounters (although once again a mouselook player can ruin some of it by exploiting that functionality); a striking contrast with a lot of the set's weaker maps, which tend to encourage (or even outright insist) that the player do a lot of chokepointing in order to prevail. The action tapers off a bit after subduing the second area, but the author keeps things moving along by reusing the first segment for a simple (but effective) arch-vile + corpses encounter before shuttling the player over to the third segment in order to squash the spider. I kind of wish the map had a cell weapon to speed up the process of killing the spider and the viles; the invulnerability sphere makes the task a non-event, and being limited to the rocket launcher simply makes it take longer than it needs to. Nevertheless, a very solid map.

Small suggestion: Since the teleporter pads on the upper ledges of the second area are inactive anyway, do away with them/change the landing spot so that the player telefrags the revenant and/or arch-vile when beaming up there, as is the case with any remaining zombies upon leaving the soulsphere 'secret.' Just for pathos, you know.

Edit: On closer inspection, there are actually some Eternal resources present here, in the form of some unlit braziers that adorn the tops of the high outer walls--but that's it!

[SFoZ911]

@Demon of the well : the archvile resurrect thingy is unintentional, its only suppose to draw the player's attention in the final fight(the rapid teleport sound effect) but its in the case of "leave it in".

[Solarn]

MAP16, "Master Plan" by SFoz911. Played in prBoom+.

The streak of strong maps (not counting 31) continues. This time it's a dark metallic/hellish design, which I can definitely appreciate. The meat of the map is in the middle corridor, which is home to some real tough fights, but the cavern leading up to it shouldn't be taken too lightly either, with its lack of cover and surprisingly tough monsters. The trap beyond the blue door was a nice touch too, as nine times out of ten, a player will focus on the Manc that just came out of a closet behind them, only to find out too late that an Archvile has already resurrected everything they killed before. I only have one issue with this map, which is that the Mastermind fight is way too easy if you abuse the lift leading up to it.

[Steve D]

Map32 – Aeternal by Eternal (continuous) - Kills - 100, Items - 78, Secret - 33. Death Count – 2

Map32 – Aeternal by Eternal (pistol-start) - Kills - 100, Items - 96, Secret - 66. Death Count – 5

UV on Risen3D

My prayers answered on Map31, I was able to enter this map with weapons, ammo, and a recently-grabbed Soulsphere, which resulted in a night-and-day difference in gameplay by comparison to that which greeted pistol-starters, which I decided to try myself just to see how bad it would be. Answer, not that bad if you're a save-scummer.

On continuous, just a little bit of ammo at the start makes this map dead easy. No need to worry about that sneaky Archvile, just pump some rockets into those crossed swords and fade his ass. Rocket the Revvies in the sniper towers, SSG the Spectres, single-barrel the Imps. It's a shooter's funhouse.

That said, this map is also dead gorgeous, as in jaw-droppingly phenomenal. If beauty is its own reward, this map is Miss Universe with a contract for a major Hollywood movie. I was just fucking blown away by the architecture, lighting, height variation and overall ambience of this thing.

But back to the gameplay, which I found to be a collection of rather stilted setpieces based on switch-hunts, annoying snipers and backtracking. It was really nothing special for someone with ammo. But while I was playing continuous, it occurred to me that if you pistol-start, the map is basically over once you get the rocket launcher.

My first death on continuous came by Chaingunner at the red key trap. Nice placement on that one. Second death came by Archie in my first go at the exit.

The cinematic quality of the exit Cyb fight can't be overstated. I had 180 cells left in my BFG, and as soon as I saw Cybie rise up from the flames, I grabbed the Megasphere, started the circle-strafe and emptied it all out on him. Good accuracy for once, too, but I wasn't able to 2-shot him, so I finished him off with the SSG. After that, I killed all the bastards in the windows with rockets. The fight was pretty cool and fun but amazingly easy.

Pistol-start was a different story. All those Revvies, Sergeants and Barons you can blast to smithereens at the start if you have ammo, suddenly become a horrifying mass of snipers on pistol. I found myself running like crazy, getting blasted here, and blasted there – death by Baron, death by Revvie, and death by Archie. Didn't have the ammo to kill the Baron guarding the platform from which you must strafe-jump to the RL, and I had another Baron wandering the grounds plus that damned crossed-swords Archie waiting to torch my ass. It took several tries, but I eventually ran past the guarding Baron, hit the switch, found some more shells, finished killing the Baron, and then finally had my chance to jump for the RL. Got it in 3 tries, then killed the wandering Baron, took out the crossed-swords jagoff, and commenced to finishing-off some Revvie snipers.

The Revvie sniper closest to the multi-floor lift was a real pain because Eternal put Spectres near him as auto-aim bait. No prob for freelookers, but a major annoyance for purists like me. Indeed, probably my main feeling about the gameplay is that it was annoying, the Hamburger Hill kinda deal where you have to conquer objectives, for example the Baron guarding the switch. It's not really difficult unless you're ammo-starved, and if you are ammo-starved, it's more tedious, to me at least, than exciting. The map isn't so much hard as it is a collection of crossfires that punish you when you have no resources, but falls apart completely once you have them.

The end fight was even easier than the first go, because this time I found the secret BFG, having spotted something suspicious by pure luck atop a bookshelf in the library, then noticing all those health potions up there that I didn't give a shit about the first time. In many ways, a typically bizarre Eternal secret here, which took me forever to figure out. When I succeeded, however, I had even more cells than the first time – 320! I was able to kill the Cyb and all the chaingunners with it.

The Blue Armor secret remains a mystery to me.

So in the end, this is a stunning map marred by stop/start switch-hunt gameplay and fights that are kind of weak.

[Steve D]

Phil1984 said:

Holy crap!

*Ring Ring Ring Ring*
Uh hello?
Mhhmmmmm Mmmmhhhmmmm sure, I'll just let him know! Cheers!
*Hangs up*

Yeah SteveD, 1996 just rang and it wants its fps control scheme back.

Seriously I can't even imagine trying to play a '3d' FPS without mouse support. Doom is possible obviously although I still prefer the mouse because it lets me turn quicker. I wonder how much Mac Doom is to blame for your control scheme given how ridiculously limiting it was back in the day? Well whatever works for you I guess :)

LOL, you'd be surprised how easy 3D FPSes are when they still have auto-aim. Even in Half-Life 2's massive maps, I found myself having a lower death count than in tough Doom PWADs. HL2 did have the most annoying use of aerial attacks. That was a bit rough on me, I must admit.

I don't remember MacDoom being an issue in determining my weird control pattern, though it was an issue in how most MacDoomers played Doom, for example, the inability to play and record demos means we gave no thought to speedrunning, thus our tendency to put useless monsters in awkward places that ended-up frustrating speedrunners, who themselves likely had no idea that we couldn't speedrun ourselves. It also led to the tendency of MacDoomers being continuous players. In one extreme example, I have a fantastic set of 3 MacDoom maps, where all the weapons are on Map01, meaning Map02 and Map03 have no weapons at all, only ammo. Thus, you have no choice but to play continuously, unless you wanna go Tyson with a Mastermind at the start of Map02. ;D

Phil1984 said:

What can I say, you are basically my God of Doom.

(Chest swells with pride) Thanks! But what's that I feel on my brow? (Glances at calendar) Is that . . . is that . . . flop-sweat? ;)

Phil1984 said:

So glad you enjoyed the run! I remember following ROC through its website back in the day as it got closer and closer to completion. Blew my little mind that Mac users could create doom levels. The like 90 minutes it took to finally download it when it got released (90's net was very cruel), was more than worth while. I'm very much looking forward to Realm of Intensified Chaos and look forward to being able to play the final release!

I'd forgotten how long it took to download megawads in those days, though I remember running an all-night download of some Marathon 2 deal. Glad those days are over!

One reason I enjoy watching speedruns like yours is that it's something I can't do myself. As a player, I have little skill, only a very stubborn nature. Thus, I can make a tough map, but I can't speedrun a tough map. Watching talented players like yourself tear maps apart is a real gas, I must say. ;)

[joe-ilya]

MAP16
Well this is a pretty normal map, nothing that special, the map turned out pretty nice without being ugly, buggy and stuff, I don't mind that godsphere at the final battle, it's pretty hard to kill them all anyways.
5/5 Solid.

[mouldy]

Map16 - “Master Plan” by SFoz911

This is a great map, totally shows how you can make use of the limited space without feeling cramped or hedged in. I love the way the mastermind is a constant looming threat. There is some fairly beefy opposition to face with only a shotgun and chaingun, but nothing that wasn't manageable. Still I felt pretty fortunate to accidentally back into the SSG secret, that thing came in handy for dealing with the mastermind. Nice use of invulnerability for the final fight. Mastermind battles can be a bit dull just dodging round a corner plinking away at it, so its good to have the option of leaping in with guns blazing, and the sudden archvile ambush gives you a real dilemma of who to target. There was some intriguing teleport chaining going on in one of the secrets, I discovered it the wrong way I think, by jumping down onto the soulsphere ledge. I'm wondering now how it could be used to telefrag a load of stuff. Definitely one of my favourite maps of the wad so far.

[Demonologist]

Map16 - “Master Plan” by SFoz911
Well-well, ignoring texture pack almost completely here? This map is rock solid despite this fact though, well thought-out and nice looking, too. It actually feels like something from Kaiser but done compact (ironic, isn't it, Kaiser's maps are usually quite expansive). I like how everything is orchestrated all the way through, though I agree about absence of plasma-based weaponry to deal with SM faster. Not a dealbreaker of course. Good work!

[Phobus]

MAP16:
A generic Doom II map that could fit into most standard community megaWADs, but it looks good and plays really well, even coming in ridiculously stacked and playing with mouselook like I am. Looks like the unlit braziers and the trees using Eternal sprites is purely coincidental - those braziers are probably one of the types of floor lamp in the editor. Another oddity I notice in this map is that the Spider Mastermind has had it's death sound replaced by the stock Doom powerup picking-up sound... Why?

[Magnusblitz]

MAP16: Master Plan by SFoz911
100% kills, 2/3 secrets

Another author I haven't played a lot of maps by, but now I want to. This really is a great map that hits all the right buttons for me. It looks nice without being overly detailed - if you squint it could arguably even be a really nice looking id level (aside from the free-standing doors), helped by the fact that it uses entirely stock textures. It also plays really well - it's definitely tough, but I never felt that it was tough in an unfair way. Lots of needing to think about how and where to move, use ammo in the most efficient way (as it's somewhat limited but never too tight), etc.

The blue key killzone area is great, and I liked the AV ambush near the blue armor since the player's attention is drawn to the mancubus while the Vile slips in and starts doing his Satanic work. And the last fight with the Spiderdemon/Arch-Viles isn't something you see every day (unlike Demon, I was unable to kill them all with the invuln sphere... killed the Viles and then plinked at the Spiderdemon from across the pit).

Lastly, I had completely forgotten the 2048x2048 limit during this map - it just feels like it was designed to be a bite-sized level without needing to cram in tiny small corridors or make lots of use of keys/switches/backtracking to increase length. Definitely one of my top maps so far, bravo.

Phobus said:

Another oddity I notice in this map is that the Spider Mastermind has had it's death sound replaced by the stock Doom powerup picking-up sound... Why?

I noticed that too ("did I pick up a soulsphere when the Spider died? what?") I assume it's just another one of the weird changes in the audio files made with the resource WAD.

[cannonball]

Map16 - “Master Plan” by SFoz911

Yeah this was pretty darn fun. Some nice little fights in here. I chose to pick the mastermind off from the other side of the map like others have. I didn't here anything unusual when the Mastermind died though.
Definitely one of the highlights of the set so far.

[Seele00TextOnly]

Map16 - “Master Plan” by SFoz911

Alright so my Master Plan in approaching this map is to not be kill by demons. I set that into motion by killing every hitscanner I see, along with a couple Revs as I proceed along the path and down a lift to where a Mancubus is conveniently just pacing back and forth. I soon take a teleport into an absolutely ruthless setup, with many mid-tier monsters all having a shot at me. Darting for the RL and frantically trying to prioritize an Arachnotron seems to pay off for me, as the other one gets to infighting with a Baron and HK.

I pick everyone off and take care of the Revs that come through the door; it's time for another teleport. Get the BK, Rocket an AV and some Mancs. Backtrack through repopulation to the Blue Bars. A Manc catches me by surprise as an AV raises hell behind me; it's a pretty tough fight and I end up Chaingunning the AV to death in the panic. Hit the Skull Switch, grab the Invuln, and Rocket two more AV's up close and Exit.

The Mastermind was a total non-presence that never applied pressure or hit me, and I never bothered to kill it. Otherwise map was pretty decent, good job.

[Phil1984]

Map15 - “Titan Mining Complex” by Walter Confalonieri
UV pistol start on pr-boom+ 2.5.1.4.test
Deaths - 2 / Kills - 101% / Secrets - 100%

This is an uneven map to me. Some rooms look good, and some look like rubbish. Some gameplay areas work (most notably the large outside area) and some areas don't (not a fan of the cyber demon placement in this map) I am also never a fan of opening up a starting door only to discover 20+ lost souls. God I hate those as an enemy! I was also able to accidentally skip a monster teleport trap that is set off (I believe) when running over the blue key. So maybe look into that if you are looking at fixing bugs.

But overall I enjoyed my time spent here even If I overall consider it weaker than Walter's Map05.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 17 -- Besieged - 105% Kills / 100% Secrets
Hmm, well, it's another Obsidian map, and I find that that little phrase alone speaks volumes more here than it would if I were to use it of many other mappers. Playing Obsidian's 'Countdown to Extinction' for the Club a little while ago, a few miscellaneous single releases by him before that, and now seeing his maps here, it strikes me that the 2048x2048 space restriction is hardly felt at all in his maps--little curio boxes with histrionically elaborate trigger mechanisms are just what he naturally does, space restriction or no, and so the least we can say of these maps is that they don't suffer from feeling like they are less than they could be--no looming impression of 'budget constraints', if you will. The other thing I've noticed about his mapping that this particular map really drives home is something of a double-edged sword.

Obsidian is apparently pretty good at establishing tension through aesthetic cues like music/texture selection, lighting choices, and a pervasive sense of claustrophobia that persists even in his more open areas; his setups often look and feel ominous, sometimes even where they may not be actively trying to. There is certainly something to be said for this, but the other edge of Obsidian's razor is that he so often neglects to actually deliver a scenario that justifies the foreboding setup. In 'Besieged', for example, the most dangerous thing that ever happens in the map is that the very first revenant group will instantly gangrape you if you happen to walk by their closet instead of run (its trigger is perhaps placed a mite too early in the hall?); learn from your mistake and run through that hall next time and you're promptly rewarded with a berserk pack you can use against them, which is rather easy to do in this particular type of environment. The dank, dark sepulchre promises much, but delivers nothing but a slow-teleporting stream of lost souls that are promptly punched into oblivion; the gloomy blue key fountain with its conspicuously generous pile of munitions promises even more, but delivers only a few cacodemons and a gallery of constrained mancubi who are easily outmaneuvered in the space given (even the cacos being infinitely tall is of little consequence in this scenario). And things go on like this, culminating in the release of a highly ineffectual spider mastermind by the exit; I simply devastated it from a distance with the plasma rifle I got from the red key secret, but even a player who didn't find that weapon would have little trouble playing SSG peekaboo with Spidey using the very strange-looking wagon for cover.

Incidentally, noticing the Keen doll stuffed into the wagon for some reason was probably the greatest challenge I faced in this map.....and that's my beef with Obsidian's style, really. The highlight in his maps is usually the arcane little confabulations of linedefs and triggers that drive progression, and rarely the action itself. Granted, his maps are nowhere even remotely near as bad about this as Scypek2's, but I feel that it still robs them of some depth that many maps that accomplish things in far simpler ways often enjoy. The first revenant encounter says it all, really...it's a clever little trick that maybe gives you a little jump-scare and probably kills you stone-fucking-dead the first time you see it (which is just fine with me in and of itself, especially in a short map like this), but it only works the one time, and never again. The same is true for a lot of the little gimmicks here--the rocket-launcher mini-game is kind of cute the first time you see it, but as a battle encounter it's not very exciting.

What Obsidian often gives us is a map with lots of atmosphere and lots of ideas, but often with little actual meat on its bones. I would like to see him break out of his usual deal and attempt a longer, more expansive, and perhaps less on-rails map than he usually makes--a fuller setting would play more to his aesthetic strengths, and also encourage him to use his creativity with triggers and intricate mechanisms to deliver a more fleshed-out concept, as opposed to another little grab-bag of one-offs.

Edit: Oh yeah, what's with that "?" switch by the exit that puts you back on the rampart, but only one time? Was it supposed to be repeatable? Does the "?" signify something? I looked around for an extra easter egg or the like after hitting it, but found nothing...

[Obsidian]

The switch is supposed to be repeatable. :/ It's basically just a way to return to earlier parts of the map: I dunno about you, but being permanently cut off from areas of a map bugs me a fair bit. I'll see if I can rely more on action in future maps.

[Demon of the Well]

Right, that's kinda what I figured. It's a sensible practice to have, in most cases....I don't like being permanently shut out of most of the map, either, both because I like to look for secrets and because I sometimes like to walk around and admire the scenery (and perhaps my own handiwork) before I leave.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP17: Besieged by Obsidian
99% kills, 2/3 secrets

As usual, I'm just gonna basically echo Demon here. There's a very nice aesthetic to the map, and the texturing, lighting and music all come together to create a very nice and foreboding tension. The start seems to promise some sort of puzzle map (took me awhile to realize the torch was a switch), and the revenant ambush is a bit of a strange trap in that if you make the wrong decision (going left) you'll just get instantly beaten to a pulp, but make the right decision (go ahead) and you'll handle it easily.

The rest of the map, unfortunately, fails to deliver on either a puzzle aspect or any real difficult/tricky gameplay - I actually took the most damage simply from being slow in taking care of the shotgunners on the ledges in the blue key room. There's some insta-pop hell knights (ugh), and the caco/mancubus ambush isn't nearly as difficult as it might first appear (though having only a normal shotgun/chaingun can make it a bit slow). Outside isn't too tough either - it's pretty easy to defeat the enemies either by using the blue door or the wagon with the Keen doll inside it. The point where you're stuck with the rocket launcher doesn't even really require the RL, either. There's also a strange block monster line that makes the pinkie demons even more useless than usual.

In the end, not a bad map, but not one I'd recommend, either.

[joe-ilya]

MAP17
Puzzly crap at the start was puzzly, no doubts. That switch I was supposed to shoot wasn't comfortable, it's too small and I managed to run out of ammo once and then you pile lost souls all of the sudden, you know the player will waste most of the ammo on that red switch at the picture and will also have small health because he had to punch 3 revenants. So why the fuck to put souls? You could remove them and put health with some ammo, that stair battle was cool, after grabing the blue key I shot the monster who were behind the blue door and then ran up onto the edge of the tower and jumped behind those ruins at the left of the blue door, you know, where the red key is hidden and got stuck.
The finale was heavy, a megasphere would help and I ran out of ammo and got low health so I couldn't run from the commander keen thing to the exit, the SMM was still roaming behind it, so I had to cheat. I pushed the button first which teleported me back to the tower, and then got to the tele, would be much appreciated if you would mark the exit, instead of making it a guessing game.
2/5