The DWmegawad Club plays: No End in Sight

[Capellan]

e1m8
Not much to say here. At least it's brief.

[Capellan]

e2m1
I'm more than OK with including homages to IWAD levels in your maps - just look at Nukage Halls, for example - but you still need to offer a fresh take on the scenario in the process, and this map doesn't.

[TheOrganGrinder]

E2M2: Proving Grounds

Twisty and varied in just the way the Shores of Hell theme best invites, this is a steadily-paced crawl through the innards of techbase that's slowly succumbing to demonic corruption; the adopting of a Tom Hall-esque aesthetic of filling every corner of a piece of paper with rooms and corridors, like the dungeon maps of old-school D&D modules, also contributes to that atmosphere. Likely-looking secret panels open onto flesh or fire in a way that confounds and unnerves more than it frustrates, and the level puts a different bag of tools to use in hiding its genuine secrets (of which I found a mere three on this first playthrough). Combat gameplay is nicely varied in pacing for the limited bestiary that's in play, with larger pitched battles alternating with claustrophobic corridor crawls and the constant wariness that something might be lurking just out of siht around the next corner.

[joe-ilya]

E2M1

I don't feel that much difference from the original E2M1 from Ultimate Doom, there were some creative turns with the architecture, but that's about it.
Xaser, how does it feel getting the same map made by you be reviewed twice in the DWmegawad Club?
What's up with those weak episode openers?

2/5

E2M2

Too boring and uncreative for me, you're just crawling your way through corridors (half of them are empty), it sucks that this is the path I have to take, instead of going into the room with the gates or the room with dozens of pillars with barrels.
The last trap was neat however.

3/5

[Demtor]

E2M3 - “Contagion Engine” by Xaser Acheron
gzDoom - UV – pistol start/no saves


Love the odd texture choice right away with the checker patterns and weird faces on the walls. Weird hell theme coming in strong. Enjoyed the frantic start with all of the Cacos floating around. Fair amount of lost souls flying about too. Keeps you on your toes. The CG placement is neat, especially after the wall opens up. Creepy cool. Lots of tricky damage floors everywhere this map.The secret steps here are awesome looking. Clever use of textures! You end up running through both blood and waste quite a lot, especially after the walkway drops. Not a fan but hey, the soulsphere secret was easy enough and there is plenty of health to be found so I can't complain too much.

Loved the hellish tech and skull corner with the RL. Looks bad ass. Without the SSG, that RL is the next quickest bet against Barons... but apparently I need practice. Yikes. Those tight spaces in Doom 1 really throw me off sometimes. Thankfully that PG helped me not kill myself, lol. I found it much easier to enter from the secret entrance my second play through. In any case, another beautiful looking spot with the blinking lights and stuff.

Interesting puzzle bit with connecting the walkways and such for the jump over to the exit. Overall a pretty exciting dip into a dangerous damage floor only kind of map territory but with plenty of visual treats which are unexpected for a Doom 1 map. Great work!

[NuMetalManiak]

E2M3 Contagion Engine

Let's see, curves everywhere, structures based on curves, annoying shotgun guy placement, it can't be, it is! A Xaser map. Getting two keys seemed easy enough though, but finding the yellow key took quite some time. (yeah, right there and I can't directly reach it, thanks). Also the north central part has some puzzle of sorts, and I forgot to use the red and blue keys to hit those switches early. Yeah, those switches do solve everything, rather than wading through nukage and such. These levels sure do give off an alpha feel to them with how they are textured.

[NecrumWarrior]

E2M3: Contagion Engine

First of all, fucking great name! This level looks really good visually. Fights with Barons were all extremely effective and put you into more and more claustrophobic situations. I really enjoyed the fight in the computer room, it was fun to kite the Baron around and come around to the other side to shoot him. Otherwise I really didn't like this map all that much. I wouldn't say it was bad, but I spent a lot of time unsure where I should head next. This was extremely apparent towards the end after the Caco horde when I couldn't remember how to get to that upper area you cross from.

Favorite Maps:
1. E1M7: Biosphere
2. E2M2: Proving Grounds
3. E1M4: Abandoned Factory

[bioshockfan90]

E2M3: Contagion Engine|11:00, 89% kills 25% secrets|


Not gonna say much, since I'm tired and cold from being out all day, and I didn't really spend that much time on this map except going through it very casually. All grumpiness aside however, great Xasermap. Favorite room was chaingun room. Lots of fun layout action here and quite challenging monster placement. Barons almost killed me, would participate again.

3.9/5

[Demtor]

Spectre01 said:

@Demtor: How do you take those professional looking photos? Some of those angles don't look like they're during regular play. Do you "freeze" and revisit places of note after normally playing the map?

Hey thanks! It depends on a few things, biggest being how picturesque a map is or isn't allowing for easily captured shots. Ultimately though, it is a mix of three different kinds of shots.

If you see my minimalist UI and weapon, possibly firing, that's a shot during play on the fly. If you see enemies alive, possibly in mid pose, and my UI and weapon are gone... that's a freeze shot during a revisit. Lastly, if guys are dead... obviously I just came back to it after clearing things out. Rarely, I will noenemy a map because there are just too damn many getting in the way but I prefer not to do that. I don't like freezing right in the middle of play so sometimes I'll bait the enemies to do just a little bit more than just stand there before making a freeze shot.

Also, with gzDoom I can use crouch/jump to get a better angle on some shots. Sometimes I'll noclip on top of or through architecture that's ruining a good frame. Sometimes the high above shots are too far away or the angle sucks. For example, there was a recent shot in Biosphere I managed to do while falling from a high ledge which gave me a really good angle. All about that money shot!

[Salt-Man Z]

E2M2: Proving Grounds
21:54 | 97% Kills | 79% Items | 50% Secrets

My stats are subpar for this one because, while hunting for secrets near the exit (and finding my fourth) I got turned around and hit the exit switch by mistake. The end! And I hadn't saved in a while, so oh well. I'd already been searching for a bit, too, so I figured that was good enough. So was this map! The atmosphere is great; the texture usage (especially on those random opening wall panels) really makes for an unnerving feeling. Very eerie. Well done.


E2M3: Contagion Engine
25:52 | 100% Everything

This one is an absolute blast, though. The start was the most dangerous; I ducked to the left where the blue armor was, but then everyone followed me down there and I took quite the beating before getting establishing a foothold and climbing back out to replenish my health. Quite a twisty, maze-y level for having a relatively small footprint. And it seems to me that exiting required a couple mandatory secrets (though maybe they weren't labelled as such.) The secrets were good, too: tricky and fun without being completely obtuse. (I'm also playing Monti's Mano Laikas right now, and man talk about your obscure secrets.) Super fun level.

[Magnusblitz]

E2M3: Contagion Engine
100% kills, 1/4 secrets

This one started hot and heavy, as I moved towards the blue armor and soon had hellspawn rampaging down the stairs from both sides. After that, it was another romp similar to E1M7 where I just sorta picked a direction and kept blazing through it, letting the map take me where I needed to go. I felt like a moron because I had almost the entire level cleared out without getting the blue key... until I checked the minimap and found the hallway near the start I had missed. Not a fan of that checkerboard pattern, but cool map.

[TheOrganGrinder]

E2M3: Contagion Engine

This one has an intriguing layout that makes heavy use of looping corridors and roughly circular spaces; there's a sense of being constantly in motion, a fear of being outflanked that's fully realised through the map's numerous windows and long lines of sight. It simultaneously discourages cautious play because there's always a sense that what you're wary of ahead can readily get around behind you, and encourages bold play by diminishing the worry that pressing ahead will leave you stranded without resources or retreat. There's an echo of Biosphere in the way the doors are arranged here, framed and offset in a way that suggests the separation of different functions and sectors. And yet, for all the dizzying roundedness of the map, there's nothing about it that feels random or haphazard; instead, this is a space where the underlying techbase layout has been warped and moulded by infernal forces into something threatening and disorienting. There's a logic to it, but it's a warped and forsaken logic, and I find it quite delightful.

[joe-ilya]

E2M3

Finally a good map after 3 mediocre ones, facsinating use of curves per usual for Xaser and surrealistic texture usage that seemed to give me the idea that I'm in a pandemonium of sorts.
Has some creative twists and turns within the seemingly 3D architecture and heavy use of windows and ledges, I liked how you can skip the venture for the red and yellow keys and the exit puzzle by using a couple of tricks, this map was definetly made for speedrunning purposes.

A hit of a map, just after I thought there would be something worse than E2M1, E2M2 and E1M8 which are a horrible combinations one after another.

5/5

[Demtor]

E2M4 - “Derelict Vessel” by Xaser Acheron
gzDoom - UV – pistol start/no saves


Very unique an awesome map. As soon as the bright lit hallway went dark... I was sold. That happened again later on down a similiar hallway when you attempt to open a locked door, but this time the it came with ambush nooks instead of just atmospheric lighting. Fun stuff.

Most of this is a tightly knit room to hallway experience through an abandoned space ship filled with hellspawn which opens up a little later to a hangar bay and a large blue stairway further on. I enjoyed exploring most of this dead ship, complete with kitchen cafe, rec area of sorts and locker room. The little bits that look like they are floating outside were pretty clever. Escape pods maybe? Also the end switch hub was a fun detailed set piece. Props for the soulsphere placement. Very cool looking next to all the polished blue with computer panels.

I especially liked when things started going to hell towards the end. Quite literally. After such a slick, clean space ship, these small bits of evilness really jump out. Cool effect with the dropping walls that revealed the horror behind it. It's like the ship is slowly being churned over by an unspeakable power that transforms terrestrial material. Fucking awesome.

I liked this map but the key hunt was a little frustrating especially with the RK room whose function seemed really dumb with the switch that doesn't lower the key. Instead you have to pass a trip line while getting face raped by lost souls and imps if you didn't step in and clear things out from below. Also, this map might be a little too claustrophobic but it wasn't punishing at least. I mean, I was never point blank with a Baron taking up the whole hallway with no where to move or anything. Most of the tight spaces with monster placement felt fair.

[NuMetalManiak]

E2M4 Derelict Vessel

Two for two, take two, this time in a very congested ship that is derelict and is a vessel. If I can crack a worthy joke for this forum I would never be in any danger here, but it's not possible for me sadly.

So this one starts out with me already getting the blue key, makes some sense considering the majority of floors here are colored blue. I figure out the red key soonafter. Interesting how there's a ton of optional side rooms here, might as well give us some. These secrets aren't as difficult to figure out, but apart from a plasma rifle I didn't get as much as I want. Oh well, moving on. Good claustrophobic nature, window snipers pend bullets before others in general, Actually, the claustrophobic nature turns from good to bad when I get lost in this stupid ship. I could figure out the keys quick enough, and the exit involved an annoying but doable switchhunt, but getting everything? A completionist's nightmare for sure. I like it better than the last level, but as I probably would say, save the long stuff for later.

[NecrumWarrior]

E2M4: Derelict Vessel

This was a very cool concept map. The feeling of being on a ship was always present by very unique usage of the vanilla resources. It always felt really good to find something recognizable in the structure, from locker rooms to escape pods. One of the best payoffs was when a corridor towards the end of the map slowly merges with hell as you unravel the path to the exit. Now, I think I can really only blame myself, but it took me 40 minutes to beat this level, not counting my deaths, because I couldn't figure out how to reach the exit. I was running around the map thinking there was some other path I needed to take, that it was related to the actually-optional Yellow Key, when really the solution was in the same area as the exit door which I had seen.

[bioshockfan90]

E2M4: Derelict Vessel|23:57, 88% kills 66% secrets|


Once again a quick post, but I loved this level, gradual transition to hell was nice, layout was big but not too confusing, solid concept and execution

4.5/5

[rehelekretep]

time to catch up a bit!
e1m7 - fda

pretty memorable map. the biosphere(?) areas themselves were the first hint of some outsized/imposing architecture. the descending cover + RL horde is repeated twice, which leaves the 2nd reveal a little anti-climactic.
i got turned around a bit in this one; some of the multi-level crooked/cramped corridors feel a little superfluous.

[rehelekretep]

e1m8 - fda


i was fully expecting to play this, kill some barons, move on.
what i wasnt expecting was 1 baron to take offence at something his fellow said, and then kill him with some intra-species infighting.
well it certainly made me enjoy the map, although im sure NT didnt intend it to go that way ;D

[rehelekretep]

e1m9 - fda


great little chance to let loose. lots of meat to blast through, nice open-ish arena to give you an incentive to duck and weave. fun stuff.

[NuclearPotato]

E2M3: Contagion Engine
97% kills, 50% secrets

This map's theme seems to be "circles." The starting area surrounds you with circular pits open to the sky; the primary nukage area has a huge circular staircase as its centerpiece; the pathway to the ending teleporter runs in a circle (or a curved, double tiered line, rather) around the area; do I have to go on? Plenty of nukage and blood to run over on this map, and with only three rad suits around, you better be prepared to make the most of those. This map feels a little more ambush heavy than previous maps, between the room where you get the red key card and that Baron in a closet when you open up the teleporter that will eventually lead you to the exit (real dick move there, Xaser. Maybe it just feels more ambush heavy when I'm still sore over that encounter).


E2M4: Derelict Vessel
100% kills, 16% secrets

This is another map where I feel like Xaser is cribbing from mid-90's map tropes, and making them less sucky. In this map's case, the trope is "realistic spaces." (Or in this map's case, realistic spaces, in space). The map really does come off as this old, abandoned spaceship (and rings my continuity alarm bells, not that there's all that much of that in this particular WAD), slowly being corrupted by the influence of Hell. It certainly feels like one of those mid-90's adventure maps that people seem to think of when they think TNT (not that those were all that common in reality. I like to think people just had PTSD from running through Drake O' Brian maps to realize that).

The ending takes the player on a demented switch hunt, as Hell asserts its influence over the surroundings, turning everything fleshy and wet, before culminating in an imp-filled upward climb towards the mother of all fleshy cylinders (at least in this WAD so far; methinks The Eye would have a say in the cylinder department). Also, for a map with 6 secrets to its name, there sure were a whole ton of pseudo-secrets lying around (the soulsphere comes to mind, in that regard). Fun map, if easy to get lost in at times.

[Spectre01]

E2M3 - “Contagion Engine” by Xaser Acheron

All the curvature seen at the start made it easy to guess this map's by Xaser. The start is the hottest yet as you scramble to pick up enough shells while chased by Cacos and the usual crew of enemies. Good thing a blue armour is given early on. The two beefy UDoom demons appear more frequently here, with a minor Cacoswarm flying in near the exit. My one criticism is that the Rocket Launcher is found very late. I had only 6 enemies left when I got it and used it to kill one Baron. I think an earlier placement would increase the Pistol Start fun as there are barely any cells. I do like the chess-board looking tiles and the bloody hallway in the north of the map.

E2M4 - “Derelict Vessel” by Xaser Acheron

This is a rather intricate map and quite tricky to max. Taking place on a large spaceship floating over Deimos, which happens to look like the Millennium Falcon, you explore various parts of the corrupted vessel. This is a great concept map and it's full of interesting details like lights going out in hallways and views outside the ship. I also like the more realistic direction taken here with some new textures depicting living quarters for the crew, including a locker room/shower packed with shotgunners. The coolest aspect is the fleshy hellish corruption appearing near the end of the map. My favourite part is looking outside from the final secret and seeing the exterior of the vessel covered in skin. Creepy stuff. Great map!

[Magnusblitz]

E2M4: Derelict Vessel
99% kills, 1/6 secrets

I came into this one really expecting to like it... I'm a big fan of E2M4, and Xaser said this was one of his favorite maps, but... I didn't like it. Full disclosure, I played it a bad mood, so that might well be coloring my judgment... but it just didn't work for me. I think the main issue I had was that it felt overstuffed - the layout is pretty constricted with lots of tight corridors and tiny rooms, and at points it felt like every single room had enemies stuffed in it, many of which felt pointless (especially the lost souls). This had the effect of really taking me out of any atmosphere the level might've had and instead put me in the frame of "open door, how many times am I gonna have to pull the trigger to clear out this tiny room."

The cool effect of the lighting turning dark, for example, is completely undermined by having a bunch of enemies already running around, meaning the player will already be in hot-blooded combat mode. Compare to last month's MAP12, which showed what you can do by simply NOT placing enemies and keeping things quiet for patches. I also just got a bit confused by the turn to the flesh stuff near the end... I had been running from the barons in the engine room (since I hadn't gotten the yellow key, and therefore the RL, yet), started a bunch of 'I don't know what this did' switch-hittery, and oh, hey some of the walls are pink now. Another example where something that could've used some more cinematic dressing up was poorly paced, at least for my experience. The sky also does this setting no favors IMO (I'm not sure how it tiles in other ports, but it looked pretty bad here). I do admit that shot of the skin enveloping the ship is pretty cool... I just wish I had seen it in-game, by the time I got there I just wanted the map to end.

[TheOrganGrinder]

E2M4: Derelict Vessel

This one doesn't do the episode's sense of continuity any favours, but it's otherwise a delightful and relatively slow-paced exploration challenge as the player gradually figures out the interconnections between different sections of the ship; you may be close to where you're trying to get to, you maybe can even see it through a window or a grating, but to get to it will often involve finding a circuitous route through some other part of the vessel entirely. There's some fairly subtle use of textures to differentiate between the living spaces, control rooms, and grimy working spaces of the vessel, and then it all goes sideways in the best possible way during the last quarter of the map when you're reminded at some length that, hey, this is an episode 2 map, and infernal suberversion of the environment is the name of the game.

[joe-ilya]

E2M4

Unmemorable map with only an obscure progression to offer and nothing else of excitement, the only encounter I liked was the one in the changing room flooded with hitscanners.
Boring and too claustrophobic otherwise.

1/5 Come on Xaser, where's your juice?

I finished this level in a tasty timing. (lets see who gets this)

[Deadwing]

E2M3: Another strong level, lots of curves and unconvetional progression. Damaging floor is everywhere too. I wasn't a big fan of the block monsters trapping the caco's in the beginning, though, but no big deal. 9/10

E2M4: This is one of these levels that kinda try to emulate "real stuff". Normally these kind of levels are deal breaker to me (things like chair or beds looks so out of place in Doom), but there were some interesting stuffs like light-changing events and monster placement was good. There were also too many doors, which imo would make the flow go better if they were D1 instead of DR. Anyway, a surprisingly solid level. 8/10

[rehelekretep]

e2m1 - fda


not a bad map, but is a little too close to its source material for comfort. it doesnt help that i think d1's 2-1 isnt very good or fun.
i did quite like the 'jump on top of the pillar secret' though :)

[rehelekretep]

e2m2 - fda

a lot more fun than m1; lots of neat little areas that are quite distinctive, although this does mean it feels a bit like a mish-mash, quite non-representational. the combat is made more threatening by darkness and barrels placed everywhere.
i think the barrels around the slime-pit near the exit are a little bit over-egged; it was quite obvious that something would be nearby that would cause chaos, it turned out to be those lost souls so i got rid of them asap.

[rehelekretep]

e2m3 - fda

great map! genuinely threatening, with cacos and barons spread around and lots of angles to cover, nukeage to fall into etc.
i felt the midi was too short and repetitive to spread across a large map like this, but thats really my only complaint.

[rehelekretep]

e2m4 - fda

another fantastic level - the detail of the ship was spot on, lots of cubby holes and a completely optional/non-secret bit in the crew quarters with little tables and shower blocks. lovely stuff.
combat is pretty tough if you let yourself get stuck (or do something dumb like fling yourself under a crusher D: ) and theres a good use of barons/cacos etc.
the hell-ish bit at the end was cool; you dont see many corrupted spacecraft so that was a nice little added flavour towards the end of the map.