Napeyear

Wise man once said, don't feed the trolls.... it never ends well.

Just finished the latest version on GZDoom on UV and I thought it was awesome, I think the balance with ammo/health and item placement was a huge improvement on the other versions (I thought each version that came out improved on the previous one, so sorry if this comment seems repetitive lol), and it's cool to see how far this map has come since the very first version that was posted over a month ago. The additional secrets were really nice too, and I think they really helped with the balancing as well. I loved how the music transitions as you go into certain areas, it makes the level really moody and the music choice was appropriate for each given area. I took a different route than my other playthroughs, and went straight for the yellow key in the cavern and went to the beginning area to grab the SSG, then went for the blue skullkey, the red key, going for the mega armor and secret supercharges along the way, and grabbed the plasma gun before entering the four way cyberdemon fight which I manged to figure out how to beat this time without cheesing! that was a huge morale boost lol. I like the ending level along with the secret ending/fight, which I managed to find after about an hour and a half of total play time, and I had a lot of fun exploring the map. I forgot how large the cavern and temple section was, and I managed to back track quite a bit to find those last secrets, but I managed to get 10/12 secrets. This level was really well made, and I think the work that you put into balancing and adjusting the weapon and key placement really payed off, and made this a really memorable nonlinear level for me. Also, I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but the level slots are MAP01, MAP03, and MAP04 which I found odd. Was there a reason you skipped the MAP02 slot? Overall, this was the best version of Excavation yet. There are still some minor issues like texture misalignment in the temple, mostly in the doorways leading into the blue skull area, and the northern most teleporter pad on the revenant platform in the four way cyberdemon room was missing lower textures, resulting in a HOM. This same platform wouldn't let me traverse across it whenever I teleported onto it, I think the linedefs were flipped the wrong direction, as I would teleport back to the central area whenever I tried to get off it and explore the revenant platform and I had to noclip to get across it. Despite this, I really enjoyed watching this level come together and playing through each version along the way! Can't wait to see future levels from you.

Current work, about 60% finished. Development has been painfully slow so we'll see if I can get it done before 2025.

Played it about halfway through and made it to the cyberdemon room with the arachnotrons and cacodemons that spawn in from above and got stuck before I took a look in the editor, only to realize the map was meant to be played in Boom format, of which I was on complevel 2 and spent about 10+ minutes trying to figure out where to go which made me feel like I completed wasted my time on this level... Not only were you too lazy to upload screenshots but you also didn't bother telling people what source port to use, or what comp settings should be ran with your WAD, forcing what few interested people who did want to play it, despite this egregious lack of information, to figure this out on their own which is very unintuitive for people who want to check out your work. I don't even really care that you didn't change the default music (as I just used IDMUS cheat) but this kind drives the point home that it was a really lazy upload on your part (all of which can be fixed on your end). I decided to give it another playthrough (I thought it was a cool level up until I got stuck) with the correct settings, and I thought it was fun, but the lack of ammo and powerups half way through was a killer for me (though the megarmor secret was helpful). I didn't think dealing with hordes of cacos and hell nobles with a SSG and chain gun was very fun, and the archviles that respawn all of the monsters back only exacerbates this issue further. I did try to infight but I could only get so far before I just ran back into the beginning area and ran away from everything to make a break for the red keycard. The cyberdemon was kind of clutch though and managed to do the majority of my cleanup work, but I still found myself running around with no ammo which sapped the fun out for me. I did think mowing down hordes of hitscanners in the beginning was satisfying however, but I wish you gave the player a rocket launcher or a BFG to mow through the higher tier monsters because otherwise it's such a slog trying to do it with only hitscan weapons.

Least confusing PWAD level. Very new player friendly, no backtracking whatsoever!

Bauhaus - Category 1 Standard Submission Survived on UV in 1:01:49 Played on dsda-doom complevel 9 Really cool WAD! Surprised I never heard or played this one before, but I didn't really keep up to date with the Doom community in the mid 2010s so I can see how it flew under my radar. I really liked the architecture and the music selection. The difficulty was a nice step up from SiD (granted I've played SiD quite a bit, but modern map design is a cool change of pace) and I owe my survival to just being really careful and expecting to get wrecked anytime I picked up something or flicked a switch. I almost died to the first revenant in MAP01, and got lucky dodging its homing missiles on the staircase. MAP04 made me feel so confused, and I walked by the last switches a dozen times before I finally exited the level. The cyberdemon near the end of MAP04 was quite the surprise especially when your running on 3 hours of sleep, and I'm shocked I walked out of that fight with as much health as I did. You can actually see him idling when you creep around the corner so I did see it coming, but I didn't think I would be fighting it from below. Couldn't find the last 2 monsters (I'm sure one of them was an IoS since I heard it earlier in the level) but overall a lot of tight encounters that made me play carefully. Though once I had a megaarmor and at the end of MAP03 and many supercharges throughout MAP04, It was smooth sailing for the most part. Demo link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mkl3HCWJs7MLT7jvBT5Dtdmb9m0f8D9d/view?usp=sharing

First time joining one of these events, my first submission is of Suspended in Dusk. SiD is one of my favorite WADs of all time of which I've beaten a dozen times over the span of 10 or so years, therefore I have a great deal of familiarity with it, though I haven't touched it in about 2 years. Here is my standard submission, category two (let me know if I'm formatting this correctly). I will attempt Bauhaus sometime tomorrow or whenever I get the chance (never played it before nor heard of it until reading this thread! I expect my submission to be way worse than my survival of SiD) Also, just so I'm doing this correctly, on my 'Prepared' attempt am I allowed infinite attempts to survive the WAD and get as many secrets/kills? Or is it just one attempt after studying the WAD and looking through it on the editor? Suspended in Dusk Survived on UV in 1:04:42 Played on dsda-doom complevel 2 ----------------------- MAP01: 7:43 UV-MAX MAP02: 11:14 UV-MAX MAP03: 33:40 100% Kills - 3/5 Secrets MAP04: 11:33 UV-MAX ----------------------- Demo link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pn-2T7w32rELly6Mj4LiC3v1QqXRCcNN/view?usp=sharing

Fun level that was reminiscent of a Doom 2 IWAD map (but in a good way!). I killed 115/117 monsters, and found 7/10 secrets on UV. The exploration was really well done, and the restriction of avoiding 'wallhump' secrets made the secrets more interesting to find. As others already said, the level was really nicely designed and didn't need a ton of monsters and massive brawls in order to be challenging engaging. The decision to put the SSG and rocket launcher in secrets was a neat design choice too, but playing with the shotgun and chaingun wasn't a drag or repetitive either as you did a good job spacing out the different tiers of monsters throughout the level. The amount of lifts throughout the level was cool too and you did a good job with vertical combat as well. Overall a really good effort! Demo link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cxMR25XuEx5tivnRzNMen7yIPcAxb4zH/view?usp=sharing My full comments below (as included in the zip file)

Great level! I managed to UV-Max on my first demo attempt, and cleared it in 18:37. Visuals were excellent and I liked the exploration, I never got lost or backtracked for very long before figuring out where I needed to progress. Difficulty was more on the easier side, but the gameplay was fun enough for it to not be such an issue. Lighting, texturing, and level design were awesome overall, and I really couldn't find anything wrong with this level. Would recommend this WAD to everyone! Same. The island setting with the orange sky in the background gives me Beast Island vibes. I also just realized this is the third Endoom 2024 mapping contest WAD that I really enjoyed playing, such an well done project overall! Demo link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D4HychOwiAnxZZoGwuwzx4ni4uJpYfTC/view?usp=sharing My full comments below (as included in the zip file)

Was digging through my hard drive and found some screenshots from an abandoned WAD that I worked on for about a month and never finished (peep the missing candle in the first shot).

When I was little the soundtrack spooked me, but I always thought the 'red room' that houses the yellow key (along with a crusher trap and shotgunners) was really uncanny. Crusher traps in general freaked me out, as they always caught me by surprise and I managed to die every single time. During my first play through of Doom, after the first crusher trap I encountered splattered me, I would creep around the map without sprinting or back in and out of doorways to try and trigger them, hoping to avoid the same fate.

I try to find them and play them as I discover them, but If I end up finishing the WAD and didn't get to them, I usually do another playthrough of the level that has the secret exit/super secret exit or just IDCLEV to the corresponding map slot they occupy. I like secret levels, but I suck at finding them (and secrets in general) so usually the latter ends up being the case for me.

Endless Frontier by InfernalSky is an epic GZDoom level with some absolutely breathtaking vistas. Featuring new weapons and monsters, the player traverses a massive concrete structure that revolves around a puzzle involving placing and removing power relays in order to progress. Many areas look awesome thanks to the incredible texturing and attention to detail. The gameplay is great too with some interesting fights and combat set pieces throughout, made even better by the custom weapons and monsters that InfernalSky uses throughout the level. Thirty Years with Doom by 'Russian Doom Community' a gargantuan megawad that includes levels from the Russian based 'Doom Power' community. Featuring levels from Shadowman, Lainos, Silverminer, RastaManGames, Michael63, Chaingunner, ShiroiAkuma51, and many other great mappers and newcomers, all of which did a phenomenal job in creating this project. Each level feels completely unique, as the mapset revolves around different themes throughout its runtime, and all of the mappers did a great job in making some memorable experiences. Very few flaws can be found throughout the WAD as the level of care and detail put into each map is as meticulous as it gets. Some levels are HUGE and can take a quite a while to finish, not including secret hunting, but never drags out nor outstays its welcome, as the combat and overall gameplay is just as good as the world design. WADs already mentioned that get a +1 from me: Forsaken Compound by ivymagnapinna - really cool episode one replacement that feels nothing like episode one, but has its own twist on the classic doom formula. Featuring some slaughter set-pieces along with the regular doom formula, ivymagnapinna made the Doom 1 format feel fresh as ever, and is definitely worth checking out if you want something different from a Doom 1 mapset. Terror Signal by SeaTree - A two episode MBF21 WAD that features some great dehacked work, including immortal zombies, upgraded plasma gun/chainsaw, and new boss monsters. Although a short mapset, the combat is fierce and pushes the player to the absolute brink very often, and has some really well placed secrets and great exploration as well. Vogel im Käfig by ShiroiAkuma51 - Incredible urban level that features a desolate city infested with cultists. The atmosphere is the best part of this level, as the soundtrack and new SFX, along with the realistic level design come together to form an absolutely immersive environment. From graveyards to highways, and a sprawling metropolis, not one minute spent in the level feels wasted, and the ending was a unique experience in of itself.

Great work as always Slavius, this was a really well made urban level with a gloomy and grimy atmosphere. The bloodborne SFX and the cultist zombies were a great addition to the level along with the custom music which was superb, and really adds to the overall vibe of the map. I loved the ending too! I was really impressed with how you destroyed the city, along with the cyberdemons spawning in, towering over the player and the buildings from afar after grabbing the final 'item'. The music change was also really cool too, and let me know right away that shit was about to hit the fan lol. This reminds me of of the city levels from the '30 Years with Doom' megawad that released a couple of months ago, and your map blew me away just as much as that megawad did. The exploration was was phenemonal too, and I liked going through the interior of the buildings as much as I did running through the streets. I played on HMP and missed a bunch of secrets, but this level is well worth replaying, as it was an incredible experience!

Finally finished the remainder of your episode since my last post, I thought this was an absolutely incredible mapset, and many of my positive comments from before apply to the rest of the WAD, as the texturing and level of detail seemed to improve map by map. The glowing eyeballs on the MARBFACE textures and the doomcute in E1M5 was one such highlight. My favorite maps were from E1M3-E1M6, though the other levels were great too. The slaughter maps were very intriguing, and this was the first time that I've played a Doom 1 mapset with good large scale fights. You gave the player plenty of space and ammo to work with, though it was still a challenge even on HMP. I liked how you ended E1M8, the baron fight at the end really caught me off guard and made for a nice surprise to end the episode (though I should have seen it coming with all the ammo that was scattered around lol). Overall, the gameplay was really good and you make great use of the verticality in each map which made exploring the maps and the combat in general really dynamic, leaving plenty of opportunities for infighting as well. E1M9 was definitely the oddball of the bunch, but since it was a secret map I didn't really think it was too jarring. It ended up being the final level I played, as I couldn't find the secret exit on E1M3, so I was already used to the slaughter from the later levels in the mapset, and I found it to be pretty fun. I would recommend this WAD to anyone looking to play a chaotic and well designed episode one replacement, that does something different than the usual 'Knee Deep in The Dead' spinoff that most episode one mapsets seem to trend towards. Excellent work!