The DWmegawad Club plays: STRAIN

[vdgg]

So many of you commented on that faster pistol. Not sure if I noticed that, heh. Checking now: standard pistol fires one bullet every 14 game tics, strain.deh 11, so this is 21,5% faster. However, I did noticed the faster "sawed-off" version of the shotgun, despite its mere 16% speed increase (31 tics vs 37 tics).

MAP02. A very unique city level. The Bobby Prince Medley by Tolwyn is a great, humorous tune. I remember some glitches involving lifts or floors (HOMs) and this soulsphere behind the exit lines is both cute and illogical. I liked the map a lot.

The new demon (217 hp): for me it makes sense. 150 hp was good for Ultimate Doom, with the SSG you need a bit more. And no worries about 200 hp max berserk damage, as the almighty double punch evens the odds.

[4shockblast]

Map 03: Kills: 97%, Items: 89%, Secrets: 66%, final time: 8:51 (0 deaths)

I liked this map, the shape and texturing of the map were very reminiscent of Doom 2 map 12, but it looked pretty clean to me, the use of lighting made it interesting despite the majority of the map being brown. I didn't find the health cache secret until after I got through all of the large building, so I ended up playing that section with low health and under constant pressure of hitscanners, which made it pretty fun. I feel like I have seen the new imp variant in a speedrun or a Twitch stream before, so it wasn't a complete surprise. Still, the variant is pretty cool, since its fast firing and somewhat erratic movement makes fights a lot more dynamic in my opinion. I was never really confused or lost for too long in my playthrough; some progression was a bit weird, but I'd usually find my way to where I need to go quite quickly. The end section was kind of strange; the exit was quite sudden, and I can't find anything that makes it obvious that it is the exit (a problem I also encountered in the last map). The soul sphere placement especially confused me as I assumed that, since I was getting a soul sphere, the exit sector would teleport me to some final fight. The other part that confused me was the red key; I found it in my FDA, and I had no idea what it did until I checked Doom Builder, where I found that the switch to open up the soul sphere required it (which I obviously didn't notice since I already had it by that point).

Also, after checking the map in Doom Builder, I noticed I unintentionally skipped a fight and stimpack in the red key building by straferunning around the trigger to the switch that opens up the staircases :P (probably where I missed the 3% kills).

FDA here.

[Capellan]

Map04
Who let this idiot into the WAD? :-)

My project brief for this map was to intro the chaingun marine – which is just a reskin of the normal chaingunner – and the "doppleganger". How the clownfaced lost soul replacement got that name, I don't know. I do think it's a bit of a failure as a monster. It's admittedly less irritating than a normal lost soul because it is less likely to suddenly be in your face, but its fireball attack is weak and the fact that its death animation reverts to a normal lost soul visually is quite distracting.

My own personal goals for the map were to make use of STRAIN's neat tech/industrial textures. I liked the griminess and dinginess available here, and I think that visually the level works well as a run down industrial park. It would be good to see more mapsets using STRAIN's textures.

I also wanted to have lots of height variation in my map, to create dynamic fight locations, and interconnectivity for deathmatch play. I think this came out pretty well.

You'll probably notice the non-harmful nukage in the map. I wanted the blue key at the top of a 'waterfall' type structure, and other than blood, nukage was the only option. I decided not to make it harmful (a) to mess with the player's mind and (b) so that DM starts in that part of the map would not automatically force a player to take damage.

The exit trap is kind of a jagoff move, as SteveD would say. I'm not sorry about that, though :-)

[Sui Generis]

MAP04 - "Industrial Zone” by Adam Windsor
I was awaiting the first Adam Windsor map of Strain with interest after the first three, as I find in other wads (eg. Requiem from one of the club's previous months) that he is a reliably good mapper. Happily, this map seems to be no exception - a taut, interlocking layout combined with some neat visuals and pretty smoothly flowing gameplay. The two new enemies introduced here are less notable in my estimation: a recoloured former human commando with Doomguy helmet, seemingly being little different to the stock one; and a garish lost soul which fires a fireball before it's charge attack, arguably diminishing it's likelihood of hitting the player. Unlike the super imp which I feel makes a good trade-off between having faster movement but a long attack delay to make for a more distinctive new enemy, the lost soul and chaingunner seem different just for their own sake with the changes not really adding very much. It's probably a bit premature to be judging them both though so I'll keep an open mind. (And if there's some difference I didn't notice, then I guess that's egg on my face)

I only found 2/4 secrets here so commendations are in order to Capellan, as his secrets are subtle but fairly hidden as ever. I find the use of non-hurting nukage to help tie the map areas together to be nicely done, and it does call to mind Requiem Map11. Solid little map here.

Capellan said:

It would be good to see more mapsets using STRAIN's textures.

I agree with this.

Capellan said:

I also wanted to have lots of height variation in my map, to create dynamic fight locations, and interconnectivity for deathmatch play. I think this came out pretty well.

Yeah, I think the more varied and distinctive areas in the map give it a generally better sense of place than say Map02 - of the maps so far I think it's the best.

Capellan said:

My project brief for this map was to intro the chaingun marine – which is just a reskin of the normal chaingunner – and the "doppleganger"

This is interesting, as more recent community projects have tended to be much more loosely organised than older 'team' based projects such as Strain. What other examples of planning and direction were there to the map makers? Were there any further directions or stipulations eg. perhaps as to level size? Weapon & power-up placement? Level theme? :)

EDIT: I put Requiem Map 10 when I was actually referring to Map 11, "Rats in the Walls"

[Capellan]

Sui Generis said:

This is interesting, as more recent community projects have tended to be much more loosely organised than older 'team' based projects such as Strain. What other examples of planning and direction were there to the map makers? Were there any further directions or stipulations eg. perhaps as to level size? Weapon & power-up placement? Level theme? :)

STRAIN does have a story, but other mappers engaged with it much more than I did (e.g. map07). As long as you weren't too out of sync with the episode theme it was OK. Charlie was big on puzzle-based gameplay, which is a focus of a lot of levels (especially later). I remember him being really keen on the 'vacuum demon' idea for the 'space episode', as described in the wiki, but it never actually got used.

I don't recall any level size requirements.

Weapons were strictly controlled in their introduction, like monsters were (in single player anyway - in co-op you get everything straight away). You get the chaingun on my map for instance, and I suspect you will be aching for the RL long before you actually see one :)

[vdgg]

MAP03. Repeating after gaspe (wanted to mention that but he said it first):
- Rapid imps replace arachnotrons, so they infight normal imps happily. Weird. Funny monsters, nonetheless.
- A secret with tons of stimpacks a la Wolf3D

Kind of average. Monotonous, luckily not too long. Red key mentioned by others. That soulsphere obviously is for continuous players.

MAP04. I really like lost soul replacement. They are less dumb than standard lost souls, and *THEY COUNT TOWARDS KILLS % !!!* Good, dynamic level, not as memorable as rq11 or m215, but nothing to complain about. Exit trap: you can just ignore it and rush forward to the exit switch and press it.

[mouldy]

MAP03 - "Downtown” by Florian Helmberger

Those fast imps are hilarious. This map is pretty harsh until you find a secret which is where all the health is hidden. I was crawling on my bloodied knees through most of it for that reason, after an early mistake left me on low health. Some convoluted switchy stuff going on, and a red key I found, but didn't see a red key door unless I opened it without realising. Maybe I did, I left with 100% of everything.

[gaspe]

MAP04 - Industrial Zone

Kills: 100% | Items: 100% | Secrets: 100%

A very solid map. Yes that's a really nice use of height variations, and Strain's textures make a good job for the setting/theme of the map. Here are introduced the doppleganger (lost soul) and the chaingunner. I kinda like the new flame colors but it's just slighty less annoying then the lost soul. The chaingunner is just grey and with the helmet. Really good map, and kinda hectic on pistol start.

[Salt-Man Z]

mouldy said:

red key I found, but didn't see a red key door unless I opened it without realising. Maybe I did, I left with 100% of everything.

The red key is for the switch that gives access to the soulsphere. I only know that because I found the switch before I acquired the red key (which I had completely forgotten about until that point.)

[SoundofDoomDoors]

Capellan said:

....(my ellipses)
Weapons were strictly controlled in their introduction, like monsters were (in single player anyway - in co-op you get everything straight away). You get the chaingun on my map for instance, and I suspect you will be aching for the RL long before you actually see one :)

Amen to that, at least to this point. There were way too many monsters on map03 for me to have fun without the SSG. At least the ammo is liberal. After the opening mob of fast imps, I was more interested in a backpack than extra shells.

The red key secret is only accessible after getting the computer map. Check your hud, it's pretty easy. I had more trouble with the teleporter leading to the smaller of the 2 health caches.

Speaking of which, why so much health in secrets? There was a lot more than I needed in them, but I could have never finished this level from a pistol start without finding at least one. I really don't like when map makers do that!

Demo taken in GlBoom+ with STRAIN's wad and deh loaded separately. Fun fact: I got squashed by a crusher on my first demo and later killed by hitscanners. Watch for me to get a fast imp in one on the run I actually finished. That was satisfying. This is my first 100% kills/secrets demo. Speedrunning soon? Nah.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/058chbil4vm2db4/STRAIN_map03.lmp

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP04: Industrial Zone

Another compact map. it's no "Rats in the Walls" but it's quite stylishly designed. A reskinned chaingunner and a lost soul that fires imp fireballs and is called a "Doppelganger" debut here. why it's called doppelganger I really have no idea. nothing else to note about this level, other than me getting a chaingun and using it on everyone, as well as a very devious super imp trap at the exit.

[purist]

3

This one reminded me a lot of the factory. An 'Island' techbase complex that can walk all the way around and access from different points. I quite like this type of map but here it suffers from being a bit switch hunty and lacking logical progression at times.

When the new imps were introduced I thought my game had bugged out. I quite liked them, but other than the initial surprise they didnt have much of an impact on my playing.

The level looked pretty bland as utilitarian type themes will risk. This was not helped by the squareness of the architecture and the long plain walls that are the map boundary and exterior facade of the main building. These could have done with being broken up from time to time.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP03 Downtown:

I was expecting a plethora of buildings and annoying shit to explore but this was more like the factory from doom 2. I like the new imps the fast movement is cool and their fast fireball speed is pretty menacing. Fun map, better than the last.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP04: Industrial Zone

A compact and chaotic map (the music choice contributes to that feeling of urgency and barely-suppressed panic) that, as others have noted, introduces new weapons and monsters amidst its frantic carnage. I like the look of the chaingun marine, more 'business' than the default Heavy Weapon Dude's bloody drool and bright red armour. The recoloured Lost Soul I'm so-so on (it's not like Doom II's default bestiary offers any shortage of fireball-spewing abominations after all) but it does seem to fit Strain's apparent goal of "let's quirky things up a bit."

The level's tangled layout takes the player rapidly from courtyards to control rooms to slime-filled tunnels, all meshing together in a way that suggests a single sprawling complex rather than separate buildings with distinct, discrete purposes. The vertical elements contribute to this sense of convincingly industrial "function first" design, though I'm not sure either the fast imps or the Lost Soul replacements can bring their full potential into play in a map that's dominated by close-quarters combat. The frantic, chaotic feel of the gameplay is helped by the constant mixing of different monster types, all of whom are just as willing to fight each other as you; you're facing an invasion or an infestation, not a fortified den of carefully prepared ambushes.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

MAP04 feels like the opposite of the last level. There I had too much health in secrets and not enough in the level, but more ammo than I could ever use. Here I thought there was too much HP in the open, but the ammo was really tight. Maybe putting a box of shells in one of the secrets would have helped. The issues I had were balanced well, however by the gift of an early chainsaw.

Demo (glboom+, separate strain wad and deh files needed): https://www.mediafire.com/?tppod52j6dntmwl

Along with today's map and demo, I have two questions.

First, what's an FDA? Is that another term for a UV-Max run?

Second, how do I get rid of autoaim in Glboom+? With freelook on, it just gets in the way. I nearly died to a chaingunner in my demo because the game thought shooting the ground in front of him was funny.

[Capellan]

FDA = "first demo attempt". Demo of the player's first ever playthrough of a map.



Map05
Ugh.

Boring, symmetrical architecture. Mono-textured rooms. Flat lighting. Gimmicky, one-shot secrets. This is a very visually dull map.

And it's not like the gameplay spices it up. Most of it is boring, straight-ahead monster chopping, but it's "enlivened" by being pot-shotted by sergeants you can't see in the middle section, and by the monster flood at the end. Possibly the latter fight can be quite hectic if you rush back into the central area and engage the monsters up close, but – at least on continuous – it is laughably easy to snipe them from the northern-most doorway.

Not good. But at least is is not map06.

[mouldy]

MAP04 - "Industrial Zone” by Adam Windsor

Fast paced and action packed, this was a lot of fun. The start is pretty hectic, took a couple of goes to survive that. Got a bit stumped by an unconventional lift texture at one point, which slowed things down, but apart from that its a blast, and flows really well. Those fast imps are a laugh, not sure I like the look of the multi-coloured lost souls though. Music is really great.

[Sui Generis]

MAP05 - "Depot” by Jon Landis
Jon Landis is another celebrated old author, whom I have yet to play many of his wads (Just !pois! if I recall) so it is interesting to see his later works. This is a very short, simple level with lots of low-level monsters to blast through. It almost feels like a dead simple map, what with the symmetric courtyard. The simplicity does work in the map's favour though with a nice quick pace and I appreciated the final release of monsters back in the central building.

I was rather less keen on the two secret doors simply being in effect, single-use trigger doors. I didn't know that they were monster activated only, but once the pony's sole trick was learned I simply reloaded and exploited them. That's the secret done for this map.

There isn't a great deal to say about this map really, it feels more like filler. At least I can't imagine any deliberate or thematic reason for it to be as short, simple and symmetrical as it is.

[4shockblast]

Map 04: 100% kills, 77% items?, 50% secrets, 1 death

Cool map overall, start was a bit hectic first time, so I lost a lot of health and died. Second time I got through with no problems. Cool map overall, very action-oriented gameplay, and the layout was pretty cool. Only time I got kinda confused was the red door which I had not noticed first time I passed through that area and took some time to find. The new lost soul replacement looks pretty trippy, kinda neat design in a fun way, although from my experienced it seemed too similar to the imp in its behavior, and I think the original lost soul's attack is more interesting. Exit trap was pretty fun. Spent some time trying to grab the red key from below but it's likely too high up even with a jump from the walkway.

FDA lost because of typo in my batch file :(

[purist]

4

Good map. Plenty of in your face action, which in my playthrough didn't let up for long because of the straight forward progression. I had my first death on this level, dropping into trouble but on second playthrough it didn't have many problems provided I looked before I leapt. The one tough moment was the very last act, which involved being dipped into a nest of hyper imps. Handily a couple of medikits are reachable to patch up before the next map if playing continuously.

This level introduces a new lost soul enemy. Not an improvement on the original in my opinion. They never gave me trouble, probably less than the original would have. The blue streak in its flame looks wierd also.

This level probably makes best use of the new STRAIN textures out of all of the so far. Aside from some lifts not being obvious every thing looked great and functional.

EDIT: Capellan, were mapnames predecided or picked by the project leader? I wonder as they all have quite prosaic location type names and there are several IWAD rehashes too.

[Capellan]

None of the lifts are actually meant to be hard to find, but Alfonzo also had trouble locating one of them when he played the map. I'm guessing the unfamiliar texture set plays a part in that.

These days I'd probably put walkover lines near the lifts to trigger them as well, which would help fix the problem and also make for speedier movement in DM play.

ETA: I don't recall whether the map names were pre-decided. They certainly weren't for any other project I've worked on, but there is a homogeneity to them that suggests editorial oversight.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP05: Depot

and at this point I start to wonder when the bigger meat will show up, as this one is entirely composed of smaller monsters and was rather boring to play. clearing out the building was fine, as was outside, and the two side areas, all too easy. Then more gumbersmutches decide to show up at the building I was in to prevent me from exiting. But it's still a piece of cake in this thankfully short map. didn't actually notice those two secrets were one-shot secrets, since I always rush the first few zombies in this map.

[gaspe]

MAP05 - Depot

Kills: 100% | Items: 100% | Secrets: 100%

Meh. A short symmetrical map with only low tier monsters. Secrets based on luck. The megaarmor is red and gives 300%. At least on pistol start is a little more exciting as we have to fight for the ammo.

[vadrig4r]

MAP03: Downtown
100% everything

I found this map very satisfying. A good amount of exploration, fairly open areas mixed with compact killzones. I especially loved when you get teleported into the low area with the grates to turn the tables on the bastards who were shooting out at you. The super imps can be dangerous in packs (and remind me of Fanaticism uniques from D2); the secrets are intuitive and fun to find.

MAP04: Industrial Zone
100% everything

Lost souls got a punk makeover! Doomguy chaingunners! The goo doesn't hurt! Lots of neat little lifts dotted around the map, great flow, a lot of fun to run n' chaingun on. Definitely my favourite map so far. I liked the texturing and style too. Very fun.


MAP05: Depot
100% everything

I won't rag on this map too much as there's nothing I like about it. Boring layout, bland wide-open spaces, bad 'one-chance' secrets and unchallenging gameplay. I normally enjoy smaller, simple maps but this was an exception. Best bit was

Spoiler

the super imp ambush.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP04: Industrial Zone
18:24 | Kills: 100% | Items: 96% | Secrets: 75%

Took me 9 minutes to beat the level; the other 9 minutes were spent secret-hunting, in which I found two more and still missed one. A fun level; I started with close to 200% health thanks to the MAP03 supercharge, and eventually got whittled down to 20-something, thanks to copious hitscanners, demons taking longer to chainsaw than I'm used to, and of course that nasty surprise at the end! The map itself is highly interconnected, at times it just seemed gratuitous; at least the map was compact enough that it wasn't really confusing. Also thank goodness for harmless nukage!

[Capellan]

Don't feel too bad. When I played through STRAIN a couple of years ago, *I* missed one of the secrets on map04 :)

[Salt-Man Z]

^ Heh. They are pretty well-hidden (especially the one!) but then you're usually pretty good at that. :)

MAP05: Depot
4:20 | 100% everything

Um. Okay. Kind of a bore, but at least the opposition is thick enough to (more or less) keep things interesting. In fact, I died right at end via chaingunner (while still outside, trying to pick dudes off through the windows) and had to replay from start, which let me nab the one-time supercharge and red armor. It didn't occur to me until now to wonder whether the sawed-off is merely a graphical replacement, or does the shot spread out more when fired?

[vadrig4r]

Capellan said:

FDA = "first demo attempt". Demo of the player's first ever playthrough of a map.



Map05but it's "enlivened" by being pot-shotted by sergeants you can't see in the middle section

Argh! That's what I forgot to mention. I really disliked that.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP03: I just realized that I didn’t add the DEHACKED properly! The increased speed of the SG, SSG, and pistol is pretty neat, and I like that the imps & demons feel like halfsteps to their younger Valiant brothers. Anyway, this map is a tad like MAP12 of Doom 2 at the outset, having you run circles around the outside of a big, brown structure housing multiple buildings. I’m a wee bit torn on this one, enjoying the cramped and dangerous nature of the map (I kinda like that most of the health was shoved into secret areas), but the combat is really hitscanner heavy with minimal texture changes, making each corridor feel very similar. It’s still a pretty solid map nevertheless… one of the few times I also liked secret hunting too.

Also I think this door is pretty cool.

MAP04: Goddamn. Windsor pops into this mapset briefly to establish that when it comes to short maps, he is king. Delicious asymmetry, an interwoven layout, a real nasty ammo dearth, and tight corridors easily make this my favorite so far. And on top of that, the level is a beauty to look at—seriously, it looks like something you'd see from a modern day map! Perhaps the only downside is that some monster placement could've been better (and that sergeant down in that one tiny cubby is a real prick), but it's a tiny blemish on a nearly perfect action-based map.

[Magnusblitz]

Alright, now that I'm done with NOVA II, onto STRAIN. I played it a bit awhile back because someone else had mentioned it, and I found it sorta curious but not exactly something that grabbed me enough to play all the way through, so now's my chance.

MAP01: Barracks
100% kills, 1/3 secrets

This isn't exactly the strongest opener, being a lot of open corridors with the usual MAP01 riff-raff (zombies and imps) sprinkled throughout. 1997 was a long time ago, but other and better maps had been released at that point. Really the only notable thing is that it helps introduce the changes to the weapons (including going so far as to make a pistol start a 'zero-bullet' start, ostensibly so the player will see the changed fist mechanic. Aside from the central courtyard, though, it's pretty damn banal, with almost no height variation and lots of corridors, each one switching texture theme every room.

MAP02: Outskirts
97% kills, 2/2 secrets

I do remember this one, at least, getting horribly lost in it somehow. Thankfully, no problem with that here, although that means it remains a pretty boring corridor shooter, just moving straight through a bunch of corridor-shaped areas blasting away the enemies in front of you. The start is actually a bit difficult given the lack of ammo, but once more shells are obtained it becomes pretty dang easy. Lighting is pretty flat and the texture usage goes between boring brown brick with a lot of ill-fitting custom textures. The most interesting part of the map is how the track around the inner building raises/lowers, but a player that goes the "right" way may not even notice, while a player who goes the wrong way may just get lost.