John Romero makes first new Doom map in 21 years

[Cynical]

Romero said:

The reason why I start the map out with the crazy first room and hell cracks is to bring the player's ammo and health down and keep it that way for most of the map. If you start with a pistol it takes a few times to figure out the strategy of surviving that room.

Out of curiosity, what was the "intended" strategy? I found two ways that work consistently -- one is to quickly grab the shotgun and hop down into the slime trench; the other is to grab the shotgun, run back over the trench, sprint to the green armor ASAP, clear the imps on the outside ledge, and then fight the trickle of hitscanners from a position where they can only approach you from the one side.

[baja blast rd.]

Hushhush, grab that boomstick and go to work.

[VGA]

Cynical said:

Out of curiosity, what was the "intended" strategy? I found two ways that work consistently -- one is to quickly grab the shotgun and hop down into the slime trench; the other is to grab the shotgun, run back over the trench, sprint to the green armor ASAP, clear the imps on the outside ledge, and then fight the trickle of hitscanners from a position where they can only approach you from the one side.

He said he's doing a Devs Play of it so you'll get to see how he plays the map, hehe. The one with JPL was awesome.

[fabian]

Jon said:

Quite a few situations in crispy are painful because you're blocked by an imp off-screen on the other side of a window ledge etc.

You can enable "Walk over/under monsters" in Crispy. This should be exactly what you are looking for.

[EClydeDeebo]

Very Good Level

[Angry Saint]

Very nice level, a good take on the original E1 design. It seems not to be as "organic" as NRFTW but still it flows very well.

I hope to see more from Romero.

In addition: "Others Files By Author : doom1.wad, doom2.wad" is one of the biggest understatement of the idgames history.

[Chubzdoomer]

Romero said:

I'm going to be recording a devs play video talking about the design of the map and why I did all the things you see in it.

Man, I can't wait for that video! I absolutely love commentary like that.

[Jon]

fabian said:

You can enable "Walk over/under monsters" in Crispy. This should be exactly what you are looking for.

Thanks, I had forgotten that/never knew :) I'm guessing it was play-tested with this on (looking at the readme for the first time it was ran through with crispy)

[Doomkid]

Romero said:

I'm going to be recording a devs play video talking about the design of the map and why I did all the things you see in it. I know there are a lot of things that could be better, some texture alignment adjustments, and weak points. It's definitely not perfect but it's a warm up. I haven't touched a map editor for a 3D game since 1996.

Man I'm looking forward to that.

Also I just have to say it again, good lord I hope you make a DM map.. This has been quite a fun surge for the whole community!

[Linguica]

Jon said:

Thanks, I had forgotten that/never knew :) I'm guessing it was play-tested with this on (looking at the readme for the first time it was ran through with crispy)

I bugtested it with Crispy Doom (I dunno if Romero did as well; I'm assuming he didn't) and I had everything set to vanilla compat.

[ABRACADABRA]

Ling, what changes was made to the map after you tested it?

[MrDeAD1313]

Linguica said:

He means it's a "warmup" for the FPS he is making, not that he plans to keep making Doom levels, sadly.

I do believe I saw or heard him say he was going to be releasing more maps for Doom. I'm at work right now so I don't have time to look for a link, but I'll look tonight. Could be very wrong though and I probably am, but I hope I read/ heard it correctly :)

[Linguica]

ABRACADABRA said:

Ling, what changes was made to the map after you tested it?

The only significant change was toning down the floor damage, everything else was minor bugfixes.

[Buckshot]

Not that this has to do with anything, but I notice in zandronum, some of the door textures are misaligned, but in say... doomsday, everything is lined up as it should be. I presume that's engine errata, right?

[Doomkid]

A few maps I've played recently had screwed doors in Zandro, but worked fine in everything else - I wonder if that bug has been brought to their attention?

[mdmenzel]

Love it. A work of art. Perfectly balanced for an E1M8. Love the secret and item placement. Word of warning, though: if you're doing pistol start do HMP unless you're a Doom God - on UV or NM, you're gonna die a few times. ;)

[ReFracture]

I played through it in Doom-Plus just for shits and giggles. Apart from some slow down in the last room it worked nicely.

[Voros]

I'm sorry,
But is the new FPS Doom 2016 or something else?
*raises riot shield*

Romero, if what I played was a warm up, then I would love to see you make a...
HacX map!

[Jaxxoon R]

Vinesauce Joel gives it a go, then plays some of his stupid old myfirstmaps. To be honest, it was sort of interesting to hear the thoughts of someone who's still familiar with the game yet isn't a part of the inner community. Especially his fears about Doom 4, mostly leveled at some of the murkier areas making it hard to immediately tell enemy from environments, the possibility of the chainsaw interrupt gameplay flow, and the at-a-glance similarity the Doom 4 Multiplayer had to Halo.

Funny how it sort of echoes what a lot of people think over here.

[damerell]

Honestly, don't these 1993-94 WAD authors know level design has moved on since then?

(Joke. I'm a 1994 WAD author, so I can say that).

[Voros]

Has Aquarius199 made a review of this map?
He really should.

[GooberMan]

And in case you still think there's ambiguity, Romero has stated in an article over at The Guardian that this map was warm-up for a new FPS.

(I'll play through this finally once this crunch stops in a few weeks. Too braindead after work to do anything but sleep and mindlessly construct some Horus Heresy miniatures at the moment.)

[lazygecko]

After numerous spread out attempts without any quicksaves I finally beat the map. It really grew on me over time. I really like the super dense indoor layout mixed with the outdoor ones giving you lots of room to maneuver. Balance-wise there were perhaps a bit many instances of monsters appearing behind you, which felt a bit too trial-and-error.

[MrDeAD1313]

GooberMan said:

And in case you still think there's ambiguity, Romero has stated in an article over at The Guardian that this map was warm-up for a new FPS.

(I'll play through this finally once this crunch stops in a few weeks. Too braindead after work to do anything but sleep and mindlessly construct some Horus Heresy miniatures at the moment.)

This is pretty exciting. I wonder what it's going to be like. I hope its something very, very dark >:}

[lazygecko]

The most cryptic part of the level is probably the tower overlooking the outdoor yellow key card. After pressing the main button in front, you're also supposed to push the other button near the lift to elevate some stairs to get you out through the window. But the placement of that button makes it seem like it's just for operating the lift so people are prone to ignoring it. I know I did for a while, and watching the Vinesauce playthrough I see Joel making the exact same mistake.

[Wugo Heaving]

It's a good challenge, and one or two of the secrets (especially the one that gets you access to the rocket launcher) were well thought out.

I love the lava cracks too. They establish a certain degree of difficulty and 'threat' right from the start. I think it'd be less memorable without them.

[dantos]

I wonder if he could remake "the shores of hell" and "inferno" final parts

[Jello]

Well it was a very enjoyable level. Thanks to Mr. Romero wholeheartedly for releasing a new level for a game he helped make 20+ years ago. The dedication and appreciation for the community is just awesome. It was really fun to play and captured the spirit of E1 perfectly. Although the damaging floors were pretty damn annoying on a pistol start.

I was getting annoyed with the shotgun guys, but then I realized there's really no other enemy in E1 that gives you any challenge. Imps have slow fireballs, with low damage compared to a full shotgun blast, demons/specters should never even have a chance to do damage as long as you don't back into a corner, and then you've got the pistol guys, which do negligible damage. So really shotgun guys are the only real choice for a challenge, and after halfway through the level I don't think I dipped below 70 shells thanks to the merry little Christmas they drop.

Hopefully Romero gets bored and re-does E2/M8 and E3/M8, as this level is far more enjoyable than the original E1/M8. I still love playing through the original Doom, but I have no nostalgia for the Boss levels. That was always one of my problems with the original game, you work through progressively harder levels, reach the peak of your excitement working towards that facility/level in the distance on your auto-map, and then you reach the Boss level and it's a simple arena. "Oh, good thing I have this rocket launcher, better not shoot the specters when they're too close. Better not shoot the Lost Souls when they're too close. Better just shoot the big brain with my BFG." It felt anti-climactic.

Although to be fair, after killing over 200 former humans, imps, and demons/spectres, the Bruiser Brothers were kind of anti-climactic as well. But if I was 9 years old again, oh that would've been the special icing on the cake.

[Doomkid]

Agreed with Jello, the Doom 1 bosses make for great "half" bosses but they feel too easy overall. As soon as you master the game's control, it's really hard to get a proper threat outta them.

The Bruiser Brothers were actually the most satisfying, as it provided you with two separate entities instead of just one, which is much easier to focus on. An upscaled version of that battle with two cybers, or perhaps a cybie AND mastermind would have made a more interesting encounter. This is why the IOS is my favorite boss - it's a genuine challenge and thus far more rewarding.

Side note, a lot of people are saying stuff like "map is overrated because Romero", but the truth is it's gotten more exposure than most single maps, so naturally it's gotten more praise. Besides, what are we expected to do, bag out one of the Founding Doom Fathers because his map wasn't uber detailed? Get real! We want to encourage more out of Romero, not confirm his fears that his mapping would be "dated". Give him some time to get back into full swing.

(I know most feedback has been positive, but I feel it's necessary to let the naysayers know what's up. More Romero maps = everyone wins.) Maybe save your digs for his next release. Remember, this was just a warm-up, first in 2 decades no less.

Really really hoping for even one more!

[Tristan]

Let's send 15+ players charging through the map!

(Third pass is the best)