Somniac

Well, every mapper here is a hobbyist. Everyone does it for free, because they like doing it! Regarding megawads, I simply don't have the time or energy to make something that would qualify as a megawad on my own (so at least 18 maps, maybe 32, maybe more), and even if I did I don't think I'd want to. I don't have the free time I had as a younger person to be able to consistently do that over a timeframe I would find acceptable. I have to be in the right spot for even one map or one room to work out sometimes. Even doing a 9-map Ultimate Doom episode, I felt creatively spent by the time it was over. I really enjoyed doing it, but it was fucking exhausting. I like making single maps, but a habit I have is making something that feels like a spot-on MAP01 and going "now there has to be a MAP02", and a MAP03, and it basically turns into "you're making an episode". I typically make vanilla maps so I naturally fall into the vanilla structure of episodes. This ties me up a bit because releasing anything less than that would feel like unfulfilled potential in a way. I don't make big maps so it feels like there always has to be "more". I'm trying to break away from that mentality, because I like playing miniwads and bite-sized mapsets, I just struggle a bit with the notion of doing that myself without asking myself "where's the rest of it?". Its a tricky one!

Thank you both for the feedback and bug reports! I will get around to addressing that when I can, been pretty busy recently but I'll be off work next week so I'll have time to time to go through this in detail. Well, for KDITD at least, E1M2/E1M3/E1M6 are the only maps to exceed 1000 lines. E1M7 gets close, but not quite at 958. The lowest in E1 is (unsurprisingly) E1M8 with just 333 :p You know, I think this is a good point. I really liked E3M7 as I thought the concept was both bizarre and original, but I do see how it could frustrate players. I found it pretty difficult myself, but I thought it might be something that speedrunners would enjoy figuring out. @Scionox, @DeetOpianSky how do you both feel about this? Would you be alright with the slots being swapped? I know its pretty late to be asking this, so if that's not cool I understand, but I think it might be a good decision.

Sure thing, I'll take care of it! I can try fixing the graphic too as it only needs some letters swapped around, should be fairly easy. That's okay, and yeah its worth fixing both so go ahead :) Thanks for the update!

Thanks for the bug reports, will fix those asap! No idea where that door texture went lol. I've also fixed a pillar in E4M1 that wasn't showing the texture for some reason that I noticed in one of the other streams.

I am once against indulging my green/brown/orange/blue fetish.

I remember I really wanted to jump on this, but felt that I didn't have the chops or the ideas at the time. Looks really neat! Congrats on getting it out.

They're vanilla format maps, just booted it in Crispy and its working fine. Glancing quickly through the editor they appear to be almost all doom2.exe compatible, but MAP28 will require a limit-removing port, at least. Just whizzed through the first few maps and it seems like a fairly fun 90s style mapset!

MAP10 - Dark Woods Wait, did bro actually use CRATOP as a SAND texture!?!?! Bold choice, but ultimately it looks quite ugly and reminiscent of the floors/ceilings in WOLF3D which didn't use texture mapping. Its nice to see a return to a more natural setting as seen previously in MAP03, and there is potential here, but this map does stretch my personal capacity to overlook crudeness given the vintage of the material pretty far. Its just very blocky, flat and not that interesting. I'm not gonna hate, because for all I know Chris Harbin was a kid when this was made, and would have been using tools far more primitive than we have today, the same kind of tools I couldn't wrap my head around as a kid trying (and failing) to make maps with, in a similar time period. I think if there'd been more monsters and more engaging combat, it'd be a better map. The snow-topped peak at the end has me thinking this is leading into something new.

I can get that for about £20 plus shipping on ebay, though granted there are only a handful of copies available right now. Paid similar for Playstation Final Doom a couple of years ago. Converting the price in the OP comes out as over £60 and doesn't appear to be a "graded" price either, the absolute state lmao.

MAP09 - Security Oh hey, its Pcorf! I've played a bunch of his maps before and enjoyed them, and he's done some really good midis too. Perhaps not coincidentally, this was probably the first map in Biowar that really hit the mark for me. Of course, there are other variables to take into account (from "have I rolled a shit RNG" to "am I even really in the mood to play Doom right now"), but I mostly had an enjoyable time with this map. I had to endure a little bit of doorcamping, but I've dealt with worse. There was even a bit of this map that reminded me of one of my own maps (the yellow key area, there's a similar bit in Fire on the Mountain MAP03, which I ripped off from Alien Vendetta MAP14 IIRC), which got a chuckle out of me. The chosen midi is one of my favourite Klem tracks, with such a satisfying arrangement IMO. It suited this map very well. There are 11(!) secrets in this map, one of which includes a computer area map so you can get the rest of them if you want. Missed one kill, I think.

MAP07 - Apparatus Gets points for not being a Dead Simple remake and for featuring 0 Arachnos or Mancubus, and for the MM tune. This was another frustrating map for me that took a few attempts to get right, and by the time this playthrough was done I was sufficiently salty about it to go and punch out the remaining PEs and Lost Souls, which was quite cathartic. Eh, I was tired and the PE fight was just obnoxious. MAP08 - Biolabs I liked this one more, and I'm also a bit more "with it" today. Had I not saved some plasma and had to shotgun the Baron I would probably have been a bit peeved, but whatever. I kept thinking those blue laser bars would be glideable, but I don't really know how to do it. I liked the gloomy atmosphere in this map complimented by the MIDI. The ending was a little strange but it was cool to get an outside perspective of the building you've just blasted your way through.

MAP06 - Last Call First UV max of this wad for me and the first map by a different author. Once you get past the lousy start and those 64-wide corridors that killed me twice previously, the map becomes a bit more engaging and I liked it more than MAP05. Lots of moving machinery parts again, and you can go down to a spooky crypt at the bottom. There's more of an attempt at lighting in this map which increases the visual appeal. I recognise the MIDI from STRAIN, but it seems to be a different arrangement and it sounds a little weird at points. Not much else to add, really.

MAP05 - Skybase I had a bit of a rough time with this one, suffering from low health and several obnoxiously cheap deaths due to low health and low visibility before the above playthrough. If you don't get the green armour at the start and the secret berserk, this map could be pretty mean. A lot of the time I either forget to save or just don't want to, admittedly I could have saved myself some frustration that way. While there are more cool machinery setpieces (and a nice "switching the lights on" moment that I always really like seeing) I found the layout kind of a drag to be honest, and although it wasn't exactly cramped, the only time I felt really able to let loose was the blue key room.

I only truly like A Saucerful of Secrets to be honest, the original version of Money is quite fun to play on bass though.

Cool map, comfy E1 vibes with nice detail and architecture, here's a playthrough: I missed some kills but not sure where, maybe in a secret I didn't find?