The DWmegawad Club plays: Echelon & Mutiny

[Demon of the Well]

Map 08 -- Compactor - 106% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA
I also saw the big patch of HOM others have mentioned near the secret soulsphere's area, as well as another spot of it over near where the level's SSG sits (I think?), both because I went back to look for the secret I'd missed after finishing. Probably worth a hotfix, that?

Went back to look for that last secret after all of the vermin had been exterminated and the machine had ground to a halt simply because this was a place I liked being, incidentally. My experience within the level was something of a comedy of errors from the outset--at more or less first possible opportunity, I accidentally fell off the initial upper walkway into the nameless orange liquid which is most definitely NOT lava (I like to imagine that it's some sort of industrial lubricant or detergent, and that the entire massive edifice smells like Palmolive), if that gives you any idea--but as has been said, it's really quite a playful outing and mostly a soft touch in spite of the hefty monstercount, with a very empowering item balance (rockets ahoy!) and a complex yet intuitive layout which warmly invites exploring off the beaten path and usually rewards you quite handsomely for doing so.

As a setting, "Compactor" is an interesting foil to the style of many of the earlier levels, which save for the off-kilter surreality of "Crossbug" and baldfaced gamespace of "Bunker Base" were all more or less realistic depictions of urban or industrial areas. "Compactor", by contrast, is much more abstract, a riotous web of walkways and sluices and massive pumping pistons loosely suggestive of some kind of massive laundry mangle with little identifiable parallel in reality, and yet it fields just as much of a sense of place as those earlier levels, if not moreso. A very strong texture/color scheme contributes to this--Tang-orange and what is essentially a slight palette shift of Doom II's much-maligned tech-cement textures, you don't see that every day!--as does a consistent sense of spatial depth, with action taking place on many different vertical planes and a great deal of visual interconnectivity between the areas comprising different legs of the journey, the latter perhaps more effective because you have to really be paying attention to notice, what with all of the grates and pistons and hundreds of other things going on in the presentation to distract you. That it's a two-author map never felt readily apparent to me; airy spaces are something I associate with Pavera, true, and colorful, idiosyncratic texture schemes are likewise something I associate with jmickle66666666, but everything here seems an organic stylistic synergy rather than a mashup of two creative idioms, and so for what it's worth I'd also say it's the most seamless of Mutiny's collabs to this point (and in the whole of the set, methinks). Ultimately, it's a very lively space, and between the moving parts, the non-damaging ooze, and another infectious midi, the location itself evinces a lot of personality wholly independent of the monsters and combat encounters situated within, and looking out at the dour blue city skyline in the distance from within the glowing buff-orange Compactor, I felt a touch of that sense of wonder I only ever get when a PWAD has truly drawn me in.

In spite of relatively high monster density, the combat itself is mostly softpawed, as aforesaid, enough to keep you busy but only seldom showing any real teeth. Much of the moment-to-moment action consists of skirmishing with scads of imps and zombies of various sorts, generally enlivened by the nature of the space itself, with a great many of the exchanges happening between different vertical planes, across gaps, through grates, and up close and personal on narrow walkways. The SSG takes its sweet time in showing up, while usage of other heavier weapons is encouraged from the get-go (I think it's possible to reach the plasma rifle much, much earlier than I did in the FDA?), with rockets in particular making a strong showing. Much of the actual bodycount is comprised of packed columns of doddering fodder enemies purpose-primed to be devastated en mass by barrages of rocket or chaingun fire, particularly the zombiemen pincer-crews in the lower reaches or the platoon of sergeants and imps who mount an almost comically tragic farce of an offensive beyond the red security shutters. On paper, this kind of stuff doesn't read like it'd make for very compelling gameplay, but in practice it's often the opposite in effect, engendering a satisfying feeling of blood-drunkenness without sacrificing pace or drive in the progression. What makes it work, I think, is that buried in the guts of the level there are a handful of more legitimately tense encounters, ala the pile of screaming skeletons jammed into a relay in the lower level or the pair of arch-viles who really catch you with your pants down as you crawl into an incredibly awkward nook to trip one of the final breakers; it's a very nicely balanced package in that sense, pampering the killer instinct with lavish no-strings massacres while remembering to occasionally make you feel like you've actually earned your place as apex predator.

Excellent work, a few bugs aside.

[Dgemie]

+++
Repost:
Six Miles straight down to Hell + Revengeon + The Ultimate Doom Forever + Action Doom

I guess that me recommending WADs that no one in here has heard of was not even taken seriously the last time, so let's explain:
Six Miles straight down to Hell - large hard maps, what else to say? Well, I found what I played of it somewhat challenging even on "Easy" (and "Hard" has twice the monster count at least on some maps) and the changes to the gameplay mechanics may be uncomfortable at first, but maybe neither will be too much of a problem to others.
Revengeon - MAP01 is rather crude and annoying in many aspects, but MAP02 is like 3 times bigger and more polished.
The Ultimate Doom Forever - I think that around half of it is worth trying even for those who are not into his NDCP2 magnum opus maps, although the other half isn't.
Action Doom - sure, it's Action Doom and such, but there is not a lot of talk about it these days, and even of the few mentions of it, more than half call it overrated. Let's make a final nail in the coffin, like with Requiem and Icarus, or...?

[rehelekretep]

fda here

rdwpa's max really sums up this map - fast, frantic, exciting. i did find you can trigger the healthpack secret switch through the wall w/o revealing it first. lovely 'breather' map within the context of the other maps before it.

[Pirx]

dobu gabu maru said:

Plutonia is at 6 votes, TNT is at 5.

+++ TNT to make it more interesting :p

while plutonia is more challenging, TNT is more varied, which I guess is better suited for the club than Bart Simpsons review of plutonia.

Which doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy playing plutonia simply because I haven't played it for years and haven't beaten every map from pistol start.

But anyway it's funny to see how "legendary" wads are seen today, whichever gets chosen.

Now I have almost finished the oh so short echelon and have to post the rest, and to get more time for mutiny in January. .. holidays are like that.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP14: The Firewall

A short, intense, action-focused interlude between the more representational environments the WAD has focused on up 'til now and whatever migth lie beyond; it's a very abstract space with a design that focuses on its utility as a battleground and gameplay experience and not much else - which isn't to say that it's ugly, but the aesthetics here are focused on enhancing the clarity of combat and, where necessary, providing a setting for effective traps and ambushes. This one falls a bit too far outside of my preferred style of level design and play to really click for me, but it's still a lot of fun as an arrangement of smaller encounters that, played at a higher pace, blent together into an entertainingly frantic whole.

[T-Rex]

Pirx said:

+++ TNT to make it more interesting :p

while plutonia is more challenging, TNT is more varied, which I guess is better suited for the club than Bart Simpsons review of plutonia.

Which doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy playing plutonia simply because I haven't played it for years and haven't beaten every map from pistol start.

But anyway it's funny to see how "legendary" wads are seen today, whichever gets chosen.

Now I have almost finished the oh so short echelon and have to post the rest, and to get more time for mutiny in January. .. holidays are like that.

I know I'm gonna get flack for this, but can I change my vote from Master Levels to TNT? That way it can win the vote. Much as I wouldn't mind playing Plutonia, I agree with some that there's not much to say about it except for "32 hard levels of chaingunner and revenant spamming."

+++ TNT

My apologies for the sudden change of vote. I remember one other member did the same, so, what the heck? :P

[dobu gabu maru]

Dgemie said:

+++
Repost:
Six Miles straight down to Hell + Revengeon + The Ultimate Doom Forever + Action Doom

Three mapsets is my arbitrary limit for the Club—it's easy to sneak a smaller set like Revengeon into the month but it's more work for me to put in the OP and I feel that not packing every day with a map to play provides a necessary breather for many of our longtime participants.

Also, I'm going to change my "+++ iwad" vote to simply a TNT one, so that way I can start working on the OP today :P The current tally is TNT: 8, Plutonia: 5; Plutonia-lovers, speak now or forever hold your peace.

MAP14: I was greatly looking forward to this one as I feel that Breezeep and AD have very sympatico styles, though once I finished the map it was hard to tell who actually did what here! In a way it’s kinda like a classic 50 Monsters map with its number doubled, having a couple of sharp fights in a self-contained void with a lot of room and texture cohesion to carry the theme of the map. I’m always down to play those maps so I had fun here, but I wasn’t quite as wow!’d as I thought I’d be… perhaps I needed some more monsters to plow through? Whatever the case, it doesn’t exempt the fact that both AD and Breezeep are fantastic mappers and always produce efforts worth playing, and this map is no different. Fun, smart stuff.

MAP15: Knowing the work I did on KevinHEZ’s maps for NOVA 2, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t handed dt_ the layout and told him to fill it with monsters :P Our penultimate map of the set is noticeably… tame compared to what’s come before, warming you up with mostly low tier fodder. Of course it can still be tricky at times—I died an embarrassing amount to situations I should’ve had under control—but overall I like how our second to last foray into the cybertech fortress isn’t a ballbuster, as it gets me excited to see how the set ends. dt_’s finale here (and I’m fairly certain it was dt_ that designed it) is a really fun, chaotic closer; I don’t think the battle is quite as good as his finale in MAP05 but the AV use here is far more tasteful, as the player is packin’ enough heat (and potentially aided by the BFG/cyber) that 4 AVs is no problem. Well, I mean, it’s a problem when it first happens upon you and you get your shit shoved in, but it serves a good crowd control exercise and closer to a pretty enjoyable map. You better be taking notes Egregor!

[rehelekretep]

if everyone hates TNT for Jan its not my fault! :p :p

[Velvetic]

dobu gabu maru said:

MAP15: Knowing the work I did on KevinHEZ’s maps for NOVA 2, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t handed dt_ the layout and told him to fill it with monsters :P

If I remember correctly...

I design and detailed these areas of the map: the start area, the red key yard, the yellow key room, and the ending room.

Lycaon designed and I detailed these areas: the computer room, and the pipe room before CR.

The rest was dt_'s choice. Gameplay, item placement (I placed some stuff as well, but they were moved to other locations due to my shitty item placement), and some texturing job to make the map feel more uniform.

[baja blast rd.]

Everyone who voted for TNT is Hitler!

[AD_79]

dobu gabu maru said:

MAP14: I was greatly looking forward to this one as I feel that Breezeep and AD have very sympatico styles, though once I finished the map it was hard to tell who actually did what here!

I did the layout and gameplay, and Breezeep did the detailing.

I'm happy to see that people are enjoying it :)

v you just might get that sometime!

[Fonze]

Just want to pop in and take this opportunity to say Firewall is a fantastic level and makes me wish for more AD+Breezeep colabs.

[Paul977]

dobu gabu maru said:

Plutonia-lovers, speak now or forever hold your peace.

+++Plutonia

[Capellan]

Clearly, +++SUDTIC/TEUTIC/OBTIC is not going to win this month. :)

There's no chance of me playing either of the front-runners, so I'll be skipping January. And February too, though that's due to other commitments.

[Spectre01]

Voting for IWADs at all is literally Hitler. And 32 hard maps are better than 32 bad maps!

Let's see if I can finish up Mutiny before the end of the year.

MAP12 - “Wildcard” by purist, traversd

Hey, cool episode 2 sky! Nice combination of red with white and purple stars. This map is interesting in that there's very much a right and swift death wrong way to start it. I opened that door with the ~20 Revenants with a regular Shotgun and no armour and quickly realized you need to take the teleporter out of the starting area to proceed. Quite a few Cacos and snipers to watch out for in the next area but things get much easier once you grab the Plasma Rifle and Rocket Launcher. I can't say I'm a fan of Pistol Starting maps that have an early difficulty spike due to lack of equipment and then mellow out in the second half. Taking on that Revenant horde with the Invul is quite fun later.

Also, got a name change etc.

[rehelekretep]

goddamnit this is really going to confuse me now :x

[Spectre01]

MAP13 - “Laboratory” by Egregor, 40oz

Well, this took me way longer than I wanted it to; 50 minutes in fact. A lot of that was running laps around the map trying to figure out where to go next. Grabbing the non-yellow keys didn't really help guide progression as there are only 3 yellow doors on the automap. I don't even know what the other keys did. Also, by the time I found the BFG and then the Plasma Rifle, all the fights where they would have been useful have long been grinded out with an SSG or Rocket Launcher. Maybe I played this map incorrectly but it didn't click with me.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 09 -- Construction Site - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA
This is another level made primarily by the environment itself rather than by the encounters within it, though there does seem to be more of an emphasis on staged encounters or traps as the level is winding down, most notably the mastermind + goons + snipers fight tied to the final keycard. As the name doesn't quite make entirely clear, this is a rooftops-style map, or framed as one at least, with an eclectic (though persistently grungy/gritty) city skyline as a backdrop surrounding a series of walkways and squarish yards hemmed in by railings or other borders on all sides. There is a great deal of height variation in the layout, with most major 'rooms' (if you'll pardon the somewhat unfitting expression in this case) staged at different points on the Z-axis, though the impact this makes on actual gameplay is somewhat limited in this case. The vast majority of the combat exchanges take place on the upper levels, with participants much more often separated by lateral distance than by vertical span (i.e. the arachnatrons who appear in the far distance at some point during the mastermind sequence); the lower levels, by contrast, are mostly featureless and almost entirely bereft of enemies, offering only a few minor pickups (I think a carton of shells is the best item available down there?) and some superficial grist for idle exploration. For the most part, the height-varied nature of the setting and layout thus feels underutilized, with the lower levels serving as little more than a place to land should you fall off from up above, like an empty backstage area of sorts. The visual aspect of the layout also promises non-linearity, but this soon proves to be merely an illusion--you are given license to check out peripheral areas at your leisure (ala my short trip early on to the southeast pit area in the FDA), but as aforesaid, these usually turn out to be more or less featureless and offer very little to do, to collect, or even to see. A sense of inquisitiveness is occasionally rewarded, ala the first secret, which requires a cat-burglar impression to reach, but these are the exception proving the rule in this case, and oddly enough the way to actually progress forward past a certain point ends up feeling more like a secret than the rest of the route.

A relatively light smattering of enemies, many of whom are naturally staged as snipers, loosely fills out the first two thirds or so of the runtime. Save one particular revenant in a particularly spiteful position (read: he is initially out of engagement range but can fire at you with impunity) and the expected depredations of mid/long-range chaingunners, the opposition feels almost cursory, a token gesture, which I suspect is largely a function of being unable to physically close with many of your few opponents (unless you stubbornly refuse to kill them until the last possible opportunity as a statement of principle of one sort or another, I suppose). Much of the experience thus comes off as rather dry here; you don't need high-octane or minutely choreographed fight setups out the wazoo if the map itself is interesting to navigate/explore, but as aforesaid a lot of the level's terrain is basically unadorned fluff in this case, and so much of the early game felt like simply going through the motions to me. Things improve later on, at least; the RK fight, which combines effective and actually somewhat intimidating usage of a spiderdemon with an element of bona fide long-range plasma snipery and a light cacoswarm for spectacle is a genuinely strong encounter, and easily the map's most memorable feature, making some use of literally the entire playing field in an unexpected and reasonably cinematic way. A sequence of traps and other gotchas beyond the red latch continue a more direct focus on action as the map exits stage left; I think the little jab at the exit is something that could legitimately be described as "cheap", but the rest of the level is accommodating enough that most players should be able to simply power through it with little more than a scrape and a grumble.

Not one of the set's stronger levels, IMO, though it's not without its merits.

Map 10 -- Generator - 101% Kills / 75% Secrets - FDA
Ah, a classic techbase/techlab tableau here, in the truest sense of the term--this reminded me of old standbys ala "Twilight Labs" or the like, with a polyglot selection of assets painting several different discrete areas all serving different and often only loosely related diegetic functions, and a lot of license afforded to the player to wander around on a self-guided tour, largely unhindered but also largely unguided, which perhaps makes progression slightly arcane past a certain point. In a sense, the level's 'modular', Lego-block sort of layout and sequence of self-contained events dovetailed together with no-frills connective tissue makes it more evident than perhaps in any other level in the set thus far that this is a multi-author collaboration--i.e. author A makes room #1, which is stapled to room #2 by author B, which overlooks room #3 by author C through its windows, etc.--although given the (sub-)genre I didn't find this somewhat piecewise construction to be unduly distracting or harmful to immersion or anything like that; on the contrary, it's more pleasantly nostalgic than anything. I won't pretend to be able to tell the different authors' actual segments from one another with any real degree of accuracy in this case (in large part because I've only seen a very limited sample of work by each of the three), but the framing of gameplay ideas and the attitudes towards combat vary widely enough between different and sometimes immediately adjacent areas that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out there's more than one authorial hand at work, so whoever it was that actually pieced the whole thing together into a workable flowing layout deserves a fair measure of credit. I did find it slightly confusing to navigate at times, largely because the actual route from any given point A to any other point B is often somewhat oddly roundabout (again, perhaps hinting at the nature of its birth), but I reckon this is more an expression of character than anything I'd call an actual flaw, also bearing in mind I was probably confusing myself looking in all the wrong places for that 4th secret (the mode of access for which I spotted almost immediately upon watching the playback, incidentally--c'est la vie!).

Lots of ideas at play here, some better than others, but the selection is lively and varied enough that the map does a pretty good job of maintaining interest throughout. Perhaps the most savvy of these was the notion of riffing on the level's natural non-linearity by posing a choice between the SSG and the RL at the outset (though you can circle back and get the other one pretty quickly if you know exactly where you're going), an idea later offhandedly reprised in the choice between combat armor and soulsphere outside one of the setpieces. I chose the RL--it's not always the most efficient and often not the all around wisest choice (unless you're playing a slaughtermap, that is), but more often than not it's more fun. This binary choice of primary weapon is a simple feature that adds a lot of mileage to gameplay and replayability in this case, making an impact across the level in ways both great and small, often heavily impacting your options and tactics in the selection of short setpiece fights.

On that note, there is surprisingly little truly incidental combat on offer here, though there are a number of areas where the main concept is more environmental in focus, in which case the monsters just sort of take their places to fill out the proceedings, ala the deck and waterway area on the west side or the two-key/two-stage generator actuation sequence at the core of the facility. The most memorable moments come in the form of short and occasionally sharp traps, the nastiest (and best!) of which is the three-vile tango in the pitch dark around the blue keycard, which I was very lucky to survive (SSG would've been vastly preferable to RL in that scenario, incidentally). Others trade straightforward threat for more in the way of playful wit; I also particularly liked the RK setup, which uses a speck of preamble action that turns out to be a very credible red herring, with the actual fight revealed through a wholesale shift in the geometry itself. Other than the very real danger posed by a couple of the traps, it's not what I'd call a particularly hard map overall, though there is a deceptive paucity of healing precluding truly reckless/brash play (and again underscoring the sort of risk/reward aspect of choosing the RL instead of the SSG at the outset)--it seems I was actually very near death more often than I personally realized during the FDA, largely a result of my continually tempting fate with chancy dicerolls (i.e. using the chainsaw more often than most players will, and so forth). More sensible/skilled individuals should be able to decisively triumph with a bit of clean/smart play, however, and even that nasty BK trap has a purpose-placed V-sphere secret to steamroll through it, provided you're sharp-eyed and inquisitive enough to seek it out.

A different take on the collaborative concept here, makes a nice foil for many of the other levels, which aim for more seamless integration/assimilation. Kudos to all three authors, even if I couldn't tell who was who in this case.

[baja blast rd.]

You linked the map09 FDA twice.

[Spectre01]

MAP14 - “The Firewall” by AD_79, Breezeep

Nope, did not like this one at all. The fact that there's very little health/armour combined with the liberal use of hitscanners and traps guaranteed to cause damage made this more annoying than difficult. If you're going to spam Revenants out the ass, at least give the player a blue armour so he's not always a one-shot death away if RNG gets a high roll.

[Demon of the Well]

rdwpa said:

You linked the map09 FDA twice.

Thank you, corrected.

[Spectre01]

MAP15 - “Breaching the Unknown” by KevinHEZ, dt_

Big fan of the aesthetics here, especially with all the greens like in the SSG room. The void techbase setting is also quite fresh and there's some good progression. The mass teleport near the exit was a tad underwhelming, as it's quite easy to run out of there while everything infights and then funnel what's left. I assume the BFG secret was from that shootable switch opposite the control room. Good map overall and apparently we're still not done just yet!

MAP31 - “The Brain” by 40oz

What, nearly 800 monsters at the start? What is this, some kind of "slaughtermap" or something? Having a thread on this subject recently, I'm not really sure anymore. Maybe it's just a map where you happen to slaughter large groups of enemies? This is a very straightforward and highly cheesable map that s***ghter enthusiasts should have no trouble with, and a good introduction to those not familiar with this type of map. The map can be broken down into 3 stages: The intro hallway and dual Cyber lift fight. The indoor arena. And finally the outdoor arena. I did run into a problem that lead to a restart of the map. If you happen to take too much damage in the initial Cyber fight or in the large tech cathedral, you may get shitscanned to death by the two Masterminds and Zombiemen outside. If not, it's very easy to flip a few switches while ignoring most enemies and camp behind one of the gates by the near-infinite cell stash while frying Mancs and spiders as they come through. There are no Archviles or Pain Elementals here to punish passive play so you can have fun taking out those ~800 monsters however you like. I'm sure a speedrun here can be quite quick, although one of the portals didn't cooperate with me and it took a long-ass time for everything to pour out. Fun closer and the midi is great.

[purist]

I'd like to give some designer notes on Wildcard because I always enjoy it when other authors do. Unfortunately, being a colaborative map, I don't trust my memory enough not to do Traversd a disservice. Regardless, I'll give my recollections of it's production and hopefully Traversd will pop in and correct any inaccuracies.

I think I started the map with the revenants behind the red door being the core concept behind the map and it was built around this. I spent most my time working this and the subsequent area searching for a sweet spot of risk versus reward. I'd recycled this concept from a map in a ZDOOM episode I made called Hell Bent.

Trivia: During project development some map slots had preset names and the ones that weren't were given the working title of 'Wildcard'. Hence, we kept the working title and the red key became the titular card.

Layout wise I think a general rule of thumb in terms of division of labour is that Travers handled much of the outdoor areas whilst I handled most the tech. However, there was plenty of crossover as we were both quite laid back about revising each others work.

I laid down the foundations of the combat and map route but Travers had the final say. He improved everything he changed with the exception of the red key fight that has been made much too easy to back out of in the final iteration - though it is a minor enough part of the map not to offend.

Aesthetic wise, Travers deserves all the praise. I realised very early into the polishing phase that I would be unable to contribute any further with out detracting from the finished look. Other than establishing some early visual motifs there's very little I can take credit for in this regard. I need me a Travers to polish all my maps!

[baja blast rd.]

Spectre01 said:

MAP31 - “The Brain” by 40oz

What, nearly 800 monsters at the start? What is this, some kind of "slaughtermap" or something? Having a thread on this subject recently, I'm not really sure anymore. Maybe it's just a map where you happen to slaughter large groups of enemies? This is a very straightforward and highly cheesable map that s***ghter enthusiasts should have no trouble with, and a good introduction to those not familiar with this type of map. The map can be broken down into 3 stages: The intro hallway and dual Cyber lift fight. The indoor arena. And finally the outdoor arena. I did run into a problem that lead to a restart of the map. If you happen to take too much damage in the initial Cyber fight or in the large tech cathedral, you may get shitscanned to death by the two Masterminds and Zombiemen outside. If not, it's very easy to flip a few switches while ignoring most enemies and camp behind one of the gates by the near-infinite cell stash while frying Mancs and spiders as they come through. There are no Archviles or Pain Elementals here to punish passive play so you can have fun taking out those ~800 monsters however you like. I'm sure a speedrun here can be quite quick, although one of the portals didn't cooperate with me and it took a long-ass time for everything to pour out. Fun closer and the midi is great.

It's a slaughtermap of the DPS-maximizing player-empowering sort (think some of the maps in Rush). There are so many different 'genres' of slaughtermaps that are dissimilar from one another, and this particular genre isn't much like the gauntlet sort, or the "zone of influence" as SS Nazi of the Well calls it, or the ToD-like endurance grinds (although there is some kinship here, minus the endurance and grind part), or whatever.

Imo it doesn't really fully work as that. First off, there are some awkwardly placed imps; second off, it's a warp-in based map where the monsters that teleport in never really can build any momentum, even if you take your finger off the BFG for a while; third, the teleporters don't always function well. This map doesn't really have to try to be hard, but it could have be designed so as to not automatically hamstring the monsters. I think if this map were in Rush, you'd see the monsters warp in at a much faster rate, with two or three additional destinations. Token pressure.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP15: The Unknown

A similar set of textures to the preceding map, but the gleeful abstraction is dialed back a bit in favour of a more sombre tone, with a creeping audio track accompanying the level's pervasive gloom. Mostly this one consists of interconnected and relatively spacious techbase notes suspended in the surrounding void, with the ultimate goal being to collect the three keys and unlock a series of barriers leading to some kind of control room where the level's final pitched battle and ultimate exit are to be found. It's solid if perhaps lacking the distinctive quirkiness of many of the WAD's earlier maps; I don't know how much of this one is likely to stick in my mind outside of that closing brawl.

MAP31: The Brain

There's a delightful mess of mixed-tier slaughter presented to the player as the 'boss' encounter of this particular mapset; no Icon of Sin to be seen here, just legion upon legion of troopers and monsters to be carved through with gleeful abandon. Not really my style of map, but the setting is a gorgeous one, grandiose gothic architecture sculpted in modern, technological materials and fused with walls of quivering meat and curtains of pouring slime into one blasphemously techno-organic whole.

[dobu gabu maru]

Thanks for the commentary purist, I too always appreciate when authors share some thoughts or their design process.

MAP31: Haha I ate a rocket so fast at the start. I think this map makes a pretty good first impression with its dual cyber duel and then central chapel fight, but it’s a shame the premier fight of the map falls apart with some very simple U-strafing. There’s multiple aspects that are tipped in the player’s favor for that fight: the copious amounts of cell provided, enemies warping in not on the boundaries of the map, the enemies consisting of slow moving mancs/arachs, and there’s absolutely no AV/PEs to target. I like having the health be inside of the chapel and away from the player’s safe space, but it’s not enough—I think stacking the cell to be where the switches are (or swapping the cell stacks behind the two warp points with the rockets) and having one side warp in mancs while the other floods the area with arachs would work wonders for this map, especially since it’s a really cool arena to fight for your life in. It’s still a pretty neat map besides that, as the first two challenges are fun to undertake.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with Mutiny. I think upon hearing the words “community collaboration megawad” my first instinct is that it’ll usher in imbalanced frankenstein creations that the author pairings only contribute to half-heartedly, so it’s great to see some real meat on this project. Like with THT, some of these maps can go on for quite a while, but I’d say the worst sin the set commits is that the difficulty curve is all over the place. I mean for God’s sake the Ribbiks entry is the third map! I’m totally for having peaks and valleys in the overall challenge balance of a megawad, but this wad is so ridiculously front-loaded with its difficulty that, aside from the unintentionally rude start of MAP11, it’s all progressively downhill after MAP04. I know there are some people that could give a rat’s ass about how maps are ordered, but as someone that prefers megawads to feel like an adventure with a sense of direction, being battered so relentlessly at the start kinda dampens that intrepid spirit.

Nevertheless, Mutiny is still a cool set of maps, and a helluva lot of fun to play. I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing more of its quirky green+orange cyberpunk theme… this time perhaps with some new partially-augmented monster sprites?

Favorites: MAP02, MAP08, MAP12

Least favorites: MAP04, MAP13

[40oz]

Hope you guys liked MAP31. I too was aware of the weird difficulty progression so the only climactic thing i could think of to wrap the project up was with a spammy BFG massacre. I was generous with ammunition and powerups to make it pretty palatable for most players. I really didn't want to see the general public so pissed off at that point that they quit before powering through the last fight.

There was talk about making a dehacked boss monster but i wasn't keen on ripping sprites from places nor did i have the time or energy or creative drive to whip up some sprites on my own (especially after making all those textures) and i needed something quick to whip up to finally end the project on a good note.

I know some slaughter enthusiasts thought it was pretty easily cheesable but i don't think of that as a bad thing as long as general casual doom marines can find it and survive the waves that way.

Glad some of you guys liked what you played. The project came out quite a bit differently than i expected it would but that's what you get when you request volunteers from the community and you cant say no to anyone. I expected a lot more well known mappers to participate but I'm really impressed with the way this helped some not-so-well-known mappers shine. I observed a lot of really cool hidden talent in a lot of cool people and it was fun to see people working together.

Thanks everyone for playing, ive been dying for more feedback on this project for a while so this DW megawad club was a real godsend :)

Thanks dobu!

[Spectre01]

Final Thoughts

I tend to not buy into hype and went into Mutiny with moderate expectations that have generally been met. As Dobu mentioned, the difficulty curve is quite random with some of the earlier maps presenting more challenge than the later ones in the set. It was slightly awkward from Pistol Start but continuous players might be scratching their heads at some of the progression. My impression is similar to that of THT not long ago. It's a generally good set but doesn't leave a particularly strong impression after going through it. I did like that finale, more so for the cinematic spectacle and carnage.

Rating: 3/5
Top 5 Maps: 04, 05, 06, 15, 31
Bottom 5: 02, 09, 10, 13 ,14

Looks like I enjoyed the first half a bit more. Still a good wad with fresh visuals, good music and a fun level of difficulty.

[dt_]

I really enjoyed being part of this project and enjoyed working with everyone I encountered. Ill offer some commentary:

Map 06- handed to me with about 75% of the geometry and layout done but with very little in the way of encounters. The map was beautiful but absolutely massive. I shaved about 512 or so map units off the overall length (north to south) of the entire map, and due to the level of detail in the map and how it was making shrinking certain areas difficult, I considered remaking the level from scratch but smaller as it felt so empty and I was at a loss as to what else to do, but it was evident that the other mappers had put so much into it I didn't have the heart. Was a head scratcher at first but once I got going I really got into it and think it turned out really well

Map09- the main map layout was done, bar the mastermind area, but was without any setting, it had a blood floor and was textured quite similarly to map19 of doom 2. The rooftop theme originally had a fall damage simulator whereby falling over the edge would trigger a voodoo doll to be crushed, so the player would die as he hit the floor if he fell with 200/200. I was informed that voodoo dolls are not co-op friendly however and the high areas were duly fenced off in a more conventional method

Map10 was a real team effort, with myself and Noneellama passing the map back and forth frequently and bouncing ideas off one another, and ending up with quite a looping non linear layout. Scifista did not contribute much to the levels overall layout, with the starting area and lift descent being his work, but he set the tone of the map's gameplay with the ssg/rl choice, a theme we echoed throughout the map. Did anyone spot the bfg and soul sphere 'secret'?

Map14- this was the first map I helped with in the project, and I think that map 13 and this one were the first 2 complete maps for the project. I placed the majority of the bad guys but Kev was the master detailer at work here, with him having all the west side of the map complete, and the east side being more my work.

I really enjoyed this and would be happy to get involved in another collab project should one arise

[Demon of the Well]

Map 11 -- The Furnace - 105% Kills / 0% Secrets - Another badly-played FDA.
Happy accident of those first two viles slipping their leash aside, this remains a pretty good one, probably one of the set's more memorable levels judging by encounters alone. Space restriction is the order of the day here, whether this is done through crowding claustrophobic spaces with powerful enemies or via the subtler approach of requiring the player to fight through harmful areas of the environment while under a radsuit timer, which presents a very different kind of pressure, more psychologically stressful than anything the actual placements in these areas would realistically levy on their own. It's a small/short affair, but works well as one, each individual area conceptually tight and concise, with action taught throughout. I suppose you could argue that the level has no real sense of escalation or climax on account of it showing its teeth from the word go; again, the unintended early appearance of those first two viles is probably culpable to some degree in this matter, but I feel that the 'zero to sixty' approach fits the map's length naturally enough, and the hardnosed start stands as one of the set's most memorable moments. Another quirky little feature that never really registered with me while I was actually playing is that either of the two different paths out of the YK's area makes its counterpart redundant--you only need to take one of them in order to finish the level. The interesting thing here is that one of the two routes (to the southeast) is by most reckonings significantly more dangerous (and longer) than the other, and there's really no additional bonus or incentive for going that way (or for clearing out both paths, beyond achieving maxkills). Some might take issue with this on balance grounds, I suppose, but I think it's kind of cool--player choices, especially blind ones, are more impactful and interesting when the experiential differences they engender are not necessarily limited by an authorial drive towards contrived equity, I feel.

Most of the encounters here are of a type where it's not really difficult to predict the general shape of what's coming (esp. since the designed encounters quickly establish a pattern and then rigidly stick to it), but most of them are not really reliant on the element of surprise per se in order to levy challenge/pressure and engender player movement, which sets the feel of the proceedings apart from most other levels thus far. Note, again, that those first two viles, whose appearance is rather sudden/unheralded in the context of a pistol-start, are something of an exception to this pattern--all the more reason I'd say this is a bug that should be treated as a feature. ;) My favorite fight was the initial YK pincer, but most of what's here works well enough--perhaps it might've been better if the 'candle' ambush weren't so relatively easy to escape, but it will still catch out those who don't suspect something is amiss, and so is probably effective enough for its intended purposes. The only placement I didn't care for was the vile atop the stairs in the furnace-chamber after said ambush, who is perched in an extremely obnoxious/awkward spot; you're sort of at the mercy of RNG with him, in that depending on how eager (or not) he is to roast you, you might end up with a choice between playing damage-floor dosey-doe or eating a hit in order to move on and be done with it, which doesn't feel right--I reckon just putting a radsuit out of his view at the mouth of the room would've read better--cheek for the sake of cheek occasionally has its limits of taste, after all.

Aesthetically this is also notable as somewhat of an outlier, though not to the extent that it looks like it doesn't belong with the rest or anything of that sort. AD_79 is a mapper with an unabashedly modern style to his shaping, structuring, and scale, and the polyhedral 'techno-sigil' look of the automap bears that design sensibility in spades, accented by the strangely regular layers of ash and cinder in the furnaces proper. Again, just where 40oz's hand comes in here is somewhat difficult for me to tell (southeast corner amongst others, maybe?), but again, more often than not this speaks to a successful collaboration, IMO--in the absence of a genre-based exception ala map 10, generally better something that feels like a cohesive entity than something that feels like different/disparate creations bodged together, I reckon. While most of the set has been dark and grungy to a greater or lesser degree, the look of "The Furnace" is dark and grungy in a different way, its subterranean setting, black/red color scheme, and subtle flirting with a more traditional Hell theme that otherwise has no real place in the diegesis of Mutiny presents a timely thematic departure for the greater set. Very nifty music track here again as well, again feels like it really fits the level to a tee, in contrast to the last couple of selections which were just sort of 'present', if you know what I mean.

Map 12 -- Wildcard - 102% Kills / 87% Secrets - FDA
The rash of sloppier-than-usual play continues unabated. I blame the flu (yes, they'll surely believe that). Also, there's some paranormal activity shit going on with the second mancubus at about 5:35 in the recording, had me saying "what?" out loud over and over while playing, as I recall. What is he playing at?

At the risk of sounding a mite churlish, this map struck me as rather more than a little conspicuously BTSX-y, depicting an angular military base with a loosely looping layout set down in a glossy-looking series of gulches and defiles under a dazzling starset sky, though I'm probably just being horridly superficial in all that. Aesthetically it actually looks a little more visually noisy to me somehow than many of the other maps, with lots of colors and lots of different materials packed in close together under a 'dappled' lighting scheme (i.e. tons of the light variation has something to do with the facility's fixation on gratuitous skylights). Stock textures are very rare here, though there are some stock-edits alongside other textures, giving the whole sort of a rusty orange art-deco Deimos look, as though your local Home Depot was bought out by one of Lucifer's subcontractors and is halfway through its rebranding phase. It's a bit homelier of a tack than the more poignant look of stylized urban drear that a number of the other maps aim for, I think, though it does put one in mind more readily of the offbeat visual style of STRAIN and some of Mutiny's other thematic influences, I reckon. Neat midi again, the set continues to be very much 'in the black' as far as that goes.

Most of the fights here are nothing special, and there's a sense that the action gradually peters out a bit in the second half (in that sense it's obvious that the initial crowd of skeletons behind the big shutter, encountered early on, was/is the conceptual kernel of the level, I suppose), but nevertheless it's a very clever level where few things that one encounters are quite as they initially seem, and where a lot of thought has gone into the little details of the experience. All along the main route there's a sort of trickling side-path of secrets which impact the proceedings in a number of ways (to the point that the later ones are probably objectively overpowered from a material standpoint); at some point it clicked with me that (nearly) all of these are marked by the carcass of a fellow UAC operative somewhere in the immediate vicinity, establishing something of a game within a game in the mapper/player dialogue. This mostly benign/good-natured teasing is perhaps the most persistent of the map's character traits; apart from the front-and-center staged gambit with the aforementioned horde of revenants behind that shutter, throughout we see a number of important items visually advertised well before they can be reached, including the red security card from which the map reportedly takes its name. Anywhere the map shows any teeth, there's some secret or trick available to take the sting out of things; you only need the patience and insight to ferret them out. The kicker in that regard is probably the double-bluff with that V-sphere, which has a better use than vs. the skeleton crew even though said sphere appears to be purpose-placed for your inevitable return trip to the fated shutter.

Not the most gripping of the set's maps as an action piece, perhaps, but there's a lot of smart design and a certain subtle sense of humor at work here that makes this appealing--I'm not one for jokewads or comedic TCs or the like, generally, but there is something about having 20 skeletons screaming "HIIIIIIIIIIII!" in my face only for me to slam a big metal shutter shut in their bony mugs while muttering "bye" that tickles me somehow, nonetheless.