PasokonDeacon

I'm sorry for your loss. None of us can personally know what you've been going through; I can only hope life carries on and you feel better sooner than later. I should really check this map out (and your legacy works I've yet to play!), so the bump is appreciated.

Be rootin', be tootin', and by Hell be shootin', but remember, always be speedmappin'.

I'm also still less than 24 hours out (progression mostly final, thing placement not so much), though I finally got to make the lion's share of mapping progress this weekend. Maybe I bit off a lot to chew in the span of a few days, but I wanted to do the MAP26 slot justice. Let me know if you need a beta soon for RC1; I've already selected a MIDI and placed co-op/DM starts.

Coming in clutch with a relatively straightforward map! Name: Skull Pointer Overflow Author: Pasokon Deacon Music: "Choirs From Hell" by Paul Corfiatis (pcorf) Restrictions: 100 lines, non-orthogonal, sector special 10 Notes: 2024-PasokonDeacon-32in24_15v2-Skull Pointer Overflow.zip

Among the IWADs, it's Plutonia, no question. Beating the harder levels (Onslaught, Death Domain, Go 2 It) introduced me to pressure-cooker combat design and made me (relatively) comfortable. I used to save-scum through those maps and now I can do single-segment demos with enough prep. Even before that, however, I got exposed to a lot of community-era mapping tropes via Back to Saturn X E1, far from the hardest set out there. It still has some ball-busting moments peppered throughout, of course; MAP05's final battle is a real test of managing threats from all sides, to use an early example. WRT releases I've been playing lately for exercise and inspiration, shout-outs to Kama Sutra on UV! I bounced off Hell Revealed quite hard (save the standout maps like Post Mortem, Resistance is Futile, and Afterlife), so it's awesome to play a later set that greatly improves that style of congestion and slaughter. Maps like Cow Face feel like a breeze now that my crowd herding skills have improved. Eventually I'll move on to HMP/UV for Combat Shock, Stardate xxxx, etc.

As an on-and-off Backloggd wonk (see my Doomsday of UAC review), I noticed and liked your Cacowards list about a week or so ago while going through WADs I need to log. I should also get some more WADs added to IGDB. There's going to be a lot more entries on those BL lists if we take the effort, and IGDB's pretty lenient on what data they'll take for new submissions (ex. copying from Doom Wiki).

Afterglow's site hosted here on Doomworld has a great selection of tex packs old and new. Some of them are his work (scratch, conversion), while others like 32-in-24-15 are links/mirrors for essential updates to classics like CC4-tex (itself a "best of" collection for many legacy resources like GothicDM textures). CC4-tex has generally lost the "overused mappers' pack" status to OTEX in recent times, but it's still distinctive enough to matter now, and arguably easier to work with if you need something smaller yet varied. I'm personally a big fan of alternate IWAD resources for doom2.wad projects, ex. Ultimate Doom graphics and fixed-up Plutonia assets. Combining the best bits of the official IWADs can do a lot to expand your palette early on without getting overwhelming, and it's been a common practice to mix these textures together since the turn of the 2000s. Zoon-tex is much larger than 32-in-24-15, meanwhile, and has found some usage in WADs already; all the IWAD+ recolors/franken-textures and new additions here make it quite versatile. WRT whether or not new mappers should stick with IWAD-only textures, all I can say with confidence is that texture packs usually share enough characteristics to make transitioning between them easier than you might think. My first map used just doom2.wad patches + tex, but my following public releases relied on a mix of non-idSoft packs (ex. 32-in-24-15 for most of Modest Mapping Challenge 2's resource WAD, whatever Obsidian/TMD chose for ASS sessions back in the day, etc.) while my private speedmaps stuck to Doom II & Plutonia. Now that I'm getting back into mapping, I'm keen to start making my own composite textures from the IWAD sources, plus any fan packs whose licenses allow for that approach to their textures. The key to making all this gel is using editor filters to keep everything organized by theme or use category. Let's say I need horizontally tiled walls to take my mind off texture alignment, let alone making non-orthogonal/off-angle geometry. Maybe this next map(set) calls for strict limits on what tex/flats I'm allowed to use at all! I can make a filter config just for those textures within Ultimate Doom Builder, then export the configs to all the map formats I've enabled in case I want to load them for a project. This can also help reveal which common texture name prefixes exist across resources, in case you're browsing an unfamiliar pack and want to quickly identify types of graphics. A potential advantage of newer art add-ons, beyond just visual stylings, is they help discourage potential pitfalls like over-detailing and rigid on-grid construction. IWAD textures had zero novelty by around a decade ago (or more!), so tricks and flourishes with sector/linedef detailing became one way to forestall using a fresher resource pack for whatever reason. Packs like Zoon-tex, OTEX, etc. are much better about baking in details normally absent in the IWAD-era patches, meaning it's easier to make a "detailed" map with less worries about geometry quantity and placement (new color palettes help as well). Many lauded vanilla-limited WADs have taken advantage of this since Back to Saturn X showed how effective it is (not to forget The Darkening Episode 2). While I love getting as much as I can out of the IWAD assets to make spaces with certain themes or moods in mind, I think it's overly restrictive to only use base-game textures up until some certain threshold of mapping experience. It's more than possible to fall into the aforementioned detailing/repetition traps using newer resources. Alternating between sets for different kinds of projects keeps mapping fresh for me without disguising any missed potential and fundamentals I should work on.

Gave this a whirl, admittedly not on -cl 2 when I should have: Just_Another_Wednesday-FDA-UV-cl9-PasokonDeacon.zip Fun little map! It satisfies my TeamTNT itch without getting lost in the weeds of too much exploration or puzzling...very akin to Shipping/Respawning and a treat to poke around. I think the secrets were a little too easy for this forum's demographic (judging by how you've tested this previously with friends (co-workers?)), but it's hardly an issue. Main things to work on for next time are texture alignment (ex. STONE wall discrepancies, the weirdly shaped bookcase sectors) and thing placement. The caco trap certainly gave me guys to shoot at, and there's a decent head count for the map size, yet I only felt threatened by the low-ish amount of health pickups around halfway through the progression. At least I had some time to admire the monitor sectoring and strange carpet (mosaic?) outside the meeting room. Lots of cool "that looks like a watercooler" moments for sure; DoomCute is maybe a bit too easy to impress me with, lol.

Cat: 2 Difficulty: UV Time (survived): 81:40 Kills: 467/482 [37/47 secrets] Port: DSDA-Doom [-cl 3] DWIL - Castle of Evil - FDA - UV - cl3_DSDA-Doom_castevil.zip Been a long time since I played this (back in 2019 after seeing an odd recommendation or two), so I wanted to see if I could recall as many secrets as possible. Excellent adventure for its period, and a marvel of architecture and evolving layout. I had some close calls, particularly the baron pit since I didn't have a plasma gun yet, but managed to get myself out of trouble with quick thinking. Shout-outs to the turret lift that takes so damn long to complete its cycle.

Doom Launcher is my main, with ZDL as the alt for testing. Occasionally I'll use command line/batch file for a very niche use case or two (ex. Master Levels), but even then most of my direct tinkering with DSDA-Doom cmd options happens in ZDL first. I used to just drag and drop, back when I didn't know what -complevel meant and when I figured ZDoom would suffice for just about everything. Doom Launcher helps me keep my enormous downloads library organized and searchable via tags, in addition to including cmd line and demo naming fields. It's excellent for casual plays and testing, and the size bloat's pretty minimal compared to having redundant copies of file folders with less management. I'd feel a bit different if I played more multiplayer mods (Doomseeker automates that just fine for me), but for single-player, there's not much more I think Doom Launcher needs to add or perfect. ZDL, on the other hand, works perfectly when I just want to record FDAs for something I've found in WAD Releases which I don't feel like adding to Doom Launcher yet. The lack of extra features makes it much better for these lightweight tasks.

For all the shock it gives newer players, then and now, Plutonia's style of combat and resource management still lags behind the aptitude and variety of strategies demanded by most newer mapsets. All it asks is that you get used to fighting the heavies and unusually threatening monster combos more often. Fast but precise movement to keep yourself safe, all while herding monsters for infighting or to catch them on corners, becomes more important starting from Plutonia onward, and I think that megawad's great for teaching these skills. Still, from what little I've played of Going Down (once on HMP, later on UV), it's one of the more manageable "frightening" sets I've seen get a lot of attention. I've just cleared Congestion 1024 this month and am even more comfortable with nasty traps in tight spaces, so (Boom trickery aside) I'm ready for the likes of GD and similar releases.

Don't mind if I sub in for MAP26, then? I've got some ideas for Library Hell.

Demo for the initial version: Apprehension_MAP01-FDA-UV-cl9-PasokonDeacon.zip With your pedigree and this map's quality, I don't think there's too much to worry about. It's a fun, well-paced opener that makes the most of its curvaceous techbase setting. I like the balance between a symmetric inner arena and the outer wings which engage in different variations on cramped combat. Resource proportions feel just right, too, though I imagine they'll take a bit of work (alongside encounters) when balancing for skill levels. Lighting and geometry also work very well for this style of map. Though the demo makes it look like I'm playing some '90s labyrinth (been doing a lot of that lately!), I can't remember getting confused or worked up about any signposting problems. If anything, my thoroughness made it a cinch to find the plasma gun secret. That doesn't explain how I could miss the SSG room, however—weird behavior on my part. All I'd suggest for that is brightening up the door overhang sectors and giving them a flicker effect to highlight the path leading in there. RFHellTX is an inspired choice, mixing vanilla and classic PWAD texturing together without feeling too much like a throwback. This feels like it could have made waves back in the late-2000s, between the speedy pace of play and fancy but sensible level of detail not often seen in big projects at that time. The standout moment for me was the CG/HK ambush early on, raising my heartrate and keeping me away from door camping by supplying enough ammo for the weaker weapons without getting tedious. If it were me, I'd also add a couple spectres to the starting room (on UV) in case someone wants to try cheesing the fight, but it's unnecessary given the amount of health/armor slack in the big room. Lower wing with skellies and a chaingunner behind went the way that feels appropriate: quick, not too biting, and early enough that a death won't sting. The upper wing needs a bit of reworking IMO—moving one or two chain gunners to guard the switch exit, rather than get sniped in their cubby holes, could make that more interesting. But basically all the encounters are solid already. Technically speaking, all I noticed was this weirdness in the upper wing by the manc: Not sure what happened here, but maybe it's already fixed in the update. Keep up the awesome work! I'm keen on playing the next map.

There's something to be said for trying multiple control schemes in general, at least for media you're already investing a lot of time and focus into. I used to play KB-only, then transitioned to KB+mouse (sans freelook except for some GZDoom-based works), and I could go back to KB-only without much headache if I feel like it. For me, the higher skill and reaction demands of WADs today makes the KB+M model more viable; I want to start something and not immediately feel like my own controls are holding back my enjoyment. Since I've only got so much time to play games, I tend towards the most flexible controls I can get unless I need an unconventional setup to get what I perceive as the authentic experience. Death of the author is a thing, too. Most of us aren't using KB+M controls a la what Romero designed for Doom in 1993. That early form of mouselook/spring/strafe seems downright alien to most modern players, albeit in large part because it just didn't have the level of adoption as increasingly homogenized gamepad layouts. Fans of genres like survival horror can tell you how much debate still happens over "tank controls", as if there's anything inherently better or worse about earlier Resident Evil-/Silent Hill-type games' controls. Anyone pursuing a hybrid approach is more than valid, even if most genres make it hard or just unsatisfying to find that compromise. I avoid freelook for the most part because I find the horizontal FOV constraints amenable to more focused play, for example. Easily seeing flyers that can block my routes, or fireballs coming from above or below where I feel safe, would detract from my perceived need to keep moving and recalculate my positioning during combat. But I still use mouse aiming to rotate fast in a way that matches how quickly Doomguy can speed through areas—KB-only rotation struggles to keep up! Beyond how gamepads have been the paradigm for player controls on stationary/portable consoles since forever, some studies (of varying sample size and methodology quality) point to the difficulty of using keyboards and mice, let alone in tandem, for younger players today. It's becoming a problem mainly due to the dominance of touch/haptic controls for smartphones, a device category that's supplanted much of the laptop and desktop userbase in recent years. So while I doubt the research on this comes close to definitive, I'm also not surprised that many folks my age or younger might do much better via gamepad since, by and large, console manufacturers still abide by established control layouts and ergonomics dating back to the turn of the millennium.

Having just played through all of the released maps so far, this one definitely took me the longest. Without secret hunting, I ended at a nominal 30 min playthrough (though I'm usually a slow player), not counting reloads. There's definitely ways to speed this one up while retaining the pacing and general challenge level, though I recommend adding one or two more green armors for UV, at least for the YK lock-in.