purist

A bunch of people sign up in a thread, are randomly divided into small teams and each tasked with making a megawad in secret. No themes or restrictions, except that any original content in the wad must be made by one of the team. At a pre-determined time the teams all post their megawads back to the original thread and either judge the best effort or just rejoice in all the lovely new maps.

I chose my avatar because there was a time where I felt like I was invisible on the forum. Like most communities, the more you put into Doomworld, the more you'll get out of it. Be cool and gradually get more involved and I am sure you will begin to feel less this way.

Sorry for the double post, but just to update, I downloaded MSYS2 UCRT64 and no longer experience the error using that version so thank you @mikeday for the successful solution. Beforehand I tried running without sound as plums suggested and without pwads but that didn't help. There was no stdout in the version of Chocolate Doom I was using so I don't know if I can be any further help in diagnosing what went wrong.

I haven't tried anything yet, but I'm grateful for as many suggestions as possible since there doesn't seem to be a silver bullet fix. I don't get much time to use my laptop but I will report back when I do.

Thanks to those who have replied with suggestions. Next time I use my laptop I will continue looking for a solution or provide more information that may help someone else to do so.

I am using Chocolate Doom version 3.0.1-win32 with Windows 11 Home OS. It runs OK in-game but when I exit the music still plays, the launcher freezes and the application cannot be closed. If you launch again the two applications overlay so you get the music from both at the same time. I have tried launching from GZDB and had the same issue so it is not the launcher causing the problem. Does anyone know how to resolve this? It is a real pain for testing.

Closest was when the map I spent hours working on corrupted.

I'm happy to contribute a few words if you can use them in your book. I read some of the first page of replies and then skipped to the end because I am not interested in reading three pages of debate, but I do not consider a few paragraphs detailing my experiences of Doom a valuable intellectual property. Nor do I consider myself exploited, willingly supplying this text in full knowledge of how it is intended to be used and what I will and will not receive in exchange. In the unlikely event this book becomes a best seller or Hollywood adaption and my 400 words are cited as the driving forth behind it's improbable success I promise I will not hire a team of lawyers to come after my slice.

I'm working from home today, a long day after a late night at a concert. But I'm feeling surprisingly spritely. Would be nice to have a glass of wine with the wife tonight but we will see how this energy lasts. By the time the kids go to bed I might be ready myself. At somepoint today I need to buy gift for my brother's birthday. Suggestions are welcome as I'm at a loss.

I'm going to interpret this as "things that are done all the time in Doom but never get old". Possibly my favourite are zombiemen placed tactically to be exploded by barrels. I don't think I will ever lose appreciation for this.

Good luck with this, looks like a good project. Would be right up my alley if I had time to map.

Ultimate Doom E1M5 - Romero This was a favourite when I first got the game and it stuck with me. I think it is primarily the cinematic visual of the giant walkway emerging up from the nukage but I also liked the progression and enjoyed some of the shootouts setup with sergeants. E2M2 - Hall/Petersen Another holdover favourite from childhood. The crate maze felt as close to a real life place as Doom got. Plus we have the introduction of the bezerk pack, smartly placed in a map with no hitscanners. E3M2 - Petersen Even before I worked out the gimmick automap shape I thought this map had a unique personality. Taking place almost entirely outdoors this is about as close as Doom gets to a nature map. The open layout allows monsters to freely roam the rocky landscape hunting you as you scramble for supplies. E4M1 - McGee Brutal in it's simplicity. A shortage of health and armour gives an already vicious map an even more dangerous edge. American McGee's neat visual style lends a somehow conservative yet otherworldly atmosphere. E4 is known for it's uneven difficulty progression but this is a perfect opening to the final episode. Doom II Circle of Death - Romero I can't bring myself to split Doom II I to four lopsided length episodes so for the purposes of this post this is Doom II's episode closer. Most of my favourites are in the first 11 maps of Doom II so this can change on a daily basis but I love the use of central walkway loop to add a new dynamic to the hub style layout. Inmost Dens - McGee Out of place in the City episode but probably the most visually impressive - and influential of Doom II. It plays well too with carefully placed chaingunners and an arch vile waiting to chase you out his house. Monster Condo - Petersen I'll admit, I don't often play the Hell levels of Doom II. And I know the correct choice is the Living End, but I don't care. I choose Monster Condo. I have fond memories of playing co-op on this map and I found the playfulness of the concept quite charming.

Read the title as Whore Your Favourite Mappers... Erik Alm is the first name that comes to mind because of how influential Scythe was to me. Not just in a mapping sense but pulling me into exploring custom levels and being a catalysts for the longevity in my interest in Doom. Tarnsman is an author that speaks to me. His maps are executed so well you get that "I see what you were going for there" feeling, which is one of my favourite things. Memfis' uncompromising attitude gives his work a character that makes them identifiable to him, which I think is an undervalued quality. I remember him once saying how he prefers playing 1994 maps because they predate accepted conventions and there is something useful to learn from that. 40oz is a student of the game. I remember him once being super prolific and his work was always of a minimum good standard no matter how quickly put together. However, he also puts tons of thought into his work and theorising interesting ideas.

There's no correct answer obviously, but I tend to lean towards red, blue, yellow unless the key is being placed a flat that it needs to contrast against. I think the reason why is red is the first key you find in Doom. Yellow I associate with the a long search for some reason. Would E1M6 or E1M7 support this? I can't remember the key placement in those maps.

Haha, Dylan is now Luna. She is on DW as @Luna_Bourke and plays more Doom now than I do. As much as I'd still love to make a father/daughter megawad I have very little spare time and Luna prefers playing to mapping. Maybe in the next 10 years :-)

Cool, I get to wheel this out again:

I always wanted a modernised spiritual successor to Barbarian. I thought the instant death concept was underused in versus fighting games.

Barbarian Mortal Kombat 2 Doom II Quake Worms Pro Evolution Soccer Championship Manager 00-01 GTA Vice City Fire Pro Wrestling World Hotline Miami

Speed disappointed me because it is a total misnomer. The level itself is fine but it practically forces you to play slowly and methodically.

I always struggled with E3M5 Unholy Cathedral. Mostly because of the obtuse progression. The first level I really struggled with due to the monsters was E1M8 Phobos Anomaly because I was playing on the Atari Jaguar from pistol start. When I played from an earlier level and carried over the rocket launcher it became much easier.

I'm going to approach this from the perspective of new monsters being created during the design phase. 3 monsters for each. Plutonia was very strategy orientated so the monsters would fit the gameplay challenges the Casalis like to employ. Sentry Gunner Stationary chaingunner that cannot be destroyed but can be stunned to briefly interrupt it's attack, like a painchance. This serves the purpose of the turret chaingunners so plentiful in Plutonia and would replace the infinitely respawning chaingunners. Sprite Vile A lesser version of the arch vile. Quicker to kill and no resurrection ability but keeps the same attack. The Casalis used Viles primarily for their attack rather than their resurrection ability and I think they would appreciate a weaker variant that they could use more commonly. Banshee Floating revenant. Same everything else except maybe a lost soulesque charging punch for when it is fancies a change from homing missiles. Not much to say here except I think the Casalis would think of a ton of uses for Revenants not limited to terra firma. They may never place a cacodemon again. Evilution was more about atmosphere but there were some gameplay tropes that new monsters would compliment. Plasma Zombie A former human type equipped with a plasma rifle and dropping cells. TNT uses a lot of former humans, which results in hit-scan hell. This monster would allow for a projectile variation of the theme. Fire Knight I can't remember the name but it's the Valiant Hell Knight that chucks out a ton of fire projectiles. The purpose of this monster is area denial. Evilution uses lots of wide open spaces that this creature could spice up a little and keep the player on their toes. Mother Demon Uh-oh, it's the boss! It's not so much what the monster does as opposed to being an effective final boss. I feel like Evilution really could have used an alternative to the Icon of Sin, even more than Plutonia.

My memory of it was similar to Graf Zahl. It was considered a bit of a lazy cash grab since there were no new monsters/weapons/features.

How about health degeneration? So your health drops by 1% per second on top of any other damage being taken. You would have to play fast but balance speed with avoiding damage and topping up health. If it proves too difficult a compromise could be to eat any armour before health. Another tweak could be that it stops at 1% so it you wouldn't die outright by the health degeneration but it could put you in a one-hit kill situation.

Plutonia and TVR come to mind. Icarus doesn't have a high ceiling but is mostly a breezy play through. Requiem and Memento Mori I remember not aging great in terms of gameplay with Requiem in particular largely involved super shotgunning monsters directly in front of you. Hell Revealed was just not to my taste.

Lately I have used some of the following principles. 1. Try doing something new with each map to keep things fresh. 2. I like layouts that are interconnected. If they are quick and fun to run around without monsters it is a good sign. 3. Work to your own conventions, not others - even if they are generally accepted. I trust my instincts now, and like to add character to my maps. 4. I have got into making secrets. Nested secrets large areas and optional gameplay is good. If you have more ideas for your map but it is long enough already, make them a secret or optional area. 5. I like risk/reward scenarios like multiple routes or strategies that allow players to pick their own pace. 6. On the contrary I am often thinking of ways to force the player to keep moving and never feel too comfortable.