Moustachio

Great issue! As usual, every page is brimming with the enthusiasm and creativity that the Doom community is known for, and the Q&A with Romero was an especially fun treat! I did not expect to see the small review of my miniwad, CRUD, in there! It was enjoyable to receive a short blurb of feedback that doubles as a highlight. All-in-all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this issue!

Some progress shots. I'm going for a hidden beach temple theme with a fun twist at the end. I expect to take most of May on this one, as I've got about 25% done so far.

@Salt-Man Z Whoops! An easy mistake to make. I’m really glad you’re having fun with the wad! And thank you very much, @Doomkid! You rock (like Zappa)!

BTSX, Ancient Aliens, and Alien Vendetta for me.

In no particular order: Skulltiverse Rowdy Rudy II: POWERTRIP! Abyssal Speedmapping Sessions 33 Doomworld Mega Project 2012 & 2013 Interception I & II Doom the Way id Did: The Lost Episodes Akeldama

Heck yes, I would greatly enjoy taking the MAP04 slot!

Strife in co-op? Hell yes. Time to rope some friends into a campaign.

Version 0.4.2 This update brings many gameplay changes throughout the wad. All of the maps have been reworked to address various issues, such as an overabundance of health and ammo, weird difficulty spikes, random enemy placement, bugs/crashes, weird texturing, and so on. If you've tried Atonement before and got bored or frustrated due to any of these issues, I strongly encourage you to try again starting with this update. A lot of the wad has been fixed and rebalanced, and it is definitely the most fun version of Atonement currently out there. Keep an eye out for the last 10 maps, as I'll be uploading each map to the thread as it is completed. Download Changelog: Known Bugs: And a very special thanks to @FrancisT218 for playtesting the wad on Twitch!

Hello. I'd like to claim Map 24.

Version 0.4.1 Significantly altered the visuals and combat of Maps 16, 17, & 19. The maps are now more detailed and the combat is more even with less difficulty spikes. Map 18 and Map 19 have switched places. Strike on Hectic Castle is now Map 18 once again, and The Island Fortress is Map 19. Updated Maps 01-03 to drastically improve combat/ammo balance. New custom palette (PLAYPAL & COLORMAP). New Mars-themed soil textures used exclusively in Episode 1. Altered the end screen of Episode 3 to reflect the sky remaining the same in Episode 4 as in Episode 3. Par times for Maps 16, 17, & 19 removed; need to be re-run. Removed the "Episode 3" subtitle from the CREDIT screen. Many small bug-fixes throughout the wad. Download

@Caleb13 Thanks for the feedback. About the difficulty balancing: I originally started this wad in 2017 wanting to get back into Doom. Though I am glad I stuck to an episodic release format, it has led to some inconsistencies across the episodes in terms of difficulty and general mapping quality. I am more focused on adding good new maps to the wad, but I would like to address the inconsistencies (particularly in difficulty balance) in the future. This is just the way to get out of the secret. Yes. :) But I did update the wad recently to provide cover, and updated it again today to rework the cover, so it should be far less malicious. They're supposed to be like that. I used ALLBLACK to try and provide some sort of void effect. It did not work. I'm not really sure if I want to keep the bonus maps by the final release (maybe as Maps 33 and 34). Again, the wad has been updated, taking care of all those issues and some more, and more updates will be happening regularly for now.

How about you try the latest Atonement maps? The latest maps are Map 16-20, but you can choose a few individual maps to check out. A good, short list of maps to check out would be Map 17, Map 18, Map 20, and Map 32. They're pretty short but challenging, and will run in any port. All difficulty settings are implemented.

@galileo31dos01 Thanks for catching that stuck arch-vile. I think the ghost monsters presents a further interesting challenge for Map 01. The goal in my mind is to run from the arch-viles (though it is possible to chaingun them down). Perhaps if I display the rocket launcher from the start and give some more cover in that courtyard, players will have more intuition to run away from the vile instead of engaging, then come back with the Rocket Launcher once they're back in the blue key building. Great feedback! Just want to add that skill levels are implemented. The secret levels, I should also mention, are brand new. The original Map 31 was moved to Map 22. I may want to also clarify that, because I wanted to use the text screen for story reasons, I reworked the secret exit in 15, and the only exit from that map now takes you to 31. Map 32 remains a secret level however. Remember to use the -dehlump parameter if you're launching this with Chocolate Doom, since the Dehacked lump is embedded. The Dehacked work is a bit more substantial this time around, especially for the secret levels.

@Andromeda Oh my goodness, thank you! I was pulling my hair out last night trying to figure it out. You rock!

Great catch there. Not sure if it's quite enough to warrant a patch since it is avoidable, but I will make a note of it for a possible future update.

CRUD is now on idgames!

EDIT: I misunderstood the previous post, I'll wait until the start of the project to claim a map.

Atonement Episode 4 WAR is now available for download! Includes Episodes 1-3, a new Map 31 & 32, and two bonus maps from previous editions. Episode 4 features more difficult maps that are generally lighter on the enemy count than E1-3 were. Still did a lot of experimenting with this set, including introducing a new demon for the secret maps. I'd say this feels firmly Plutonia level in terms of difficulty. Map 31 features a non-vital glitch that I can't figure out. I set a sector to lower to 8 above the highest adjacent floor, but it just won't drop. I have zero clue what's wrong with the set up. From what I can see, there are only two adjacent floors, both lower than the target sector. If anyone can help me out, it would be very much appreciated! Screenshots:

I've been trying to figure this one out for the last couple of hours now. It seems like everything should work, the only two neighboring sectors to the target sector (355) are both lower than the target sector, and the target is not split by any linedefs or anything like that. Anyone know what's up? The format is Doom 2 in Doom format, it's a vanilla compatible level. The map.

This looks pretty cool, I'd like to participate.

@ElPadrecitoCholo @Biodegradable Thanks for all the great comments so far, you two! Really glad you both enjoyed this short little set! Unfortunately, due to there already being a crux.wad in the /idgames archive (and from 2008 too!), I had to "rebrand" the wad, so to speak. CRUX is now known as CRUD. Still no difficulty levels yet, but those along with an upload to the archive will come soon. In the meantime, I am hard at work on Atonement E4, which will come out shortly. @ElPadrecitoCholo There's a switch on the other side of the concierge desk in the lobby you exit the starting building from.

CRUD is a four-level Doom II miniwad featuring short, simple maps that start out easy but get significantly harder by the end. I would liken the last map's difficulty to late-TNT, early-Plutonia. Each map uses only stock textures, and the whole wad can be finished in about 15 minutes or so. I did most of the graphics myself, but I did combine some skies by Mechadon. I used midis from Mark Klem's website as the soundtrack. No difficulty levels yet, that's about the only thing left to do. Fully vanilla-compatible. Tested with DOOM2.exe v1.9 through DOSBox as well as GZDoom 4.5.0 and Chocolate Doom 3.1.0. Spoiler alert, the demos reveal some secrets. MAP LIST At Doom's Yett Dungeon Crawl Castle Halls Residential Zone Download from idgames

Sure thing, @DFF, in that case I could just update the wad on Google Drive this Sunday and just push out the idgames update when it's settled.

I will go ahead and update the levels sometime this weekend when I have time. About MAP30B, it's a copy of MAP30 with the dehacked nazi replaced with a DECORATE clone. This is just so that monster mods don't break the final boss encounter. I think if I can come up with some ZScript to replace the dehacked nazi on MAP30 when loaded in GZDoom, that would let me get rid of MAP30B.