|
Unfortunately, lifeus interruptus is making this week's TWID
Chronicles later than I would like. Actually, as I'm writing
this it is Tuesday and I
think that I can say with a fair amount of certainty that this
isn't getting finished today, either.
As I said - Lifeus Interruptus. Anyway, the show must go on and
this week there is lots to get to so off we go.........
P.S. All of the maps are direct linked in my personal back up
of the archives along with GOD KNOWS how many others for Doom,
Doom2, Doom3, ROE, Wolfenstein 3D, Castle Wolfenstein, Duke 3d,
Strife, Hexen, Heretic and more
here
=============================================================================
So, much to my surprise, there were four new maps in the
Doom section of the archives this week.
I've seen it go weeks and weeks without any
new maps added to that section so that sort of caught me off
guard but it also made me smile.
The first map is simply entitled
hare_v2 and offers nothing in the text file as far as a
storyline or any other description. It does replace episode 1 of
Doom although in the text file it also fails to mention that.
Regardless - a quick look shows, at least at
the beginning, a fairly tight map with some decent lighting.
Here's a screenshot for your perusal. As you
can see, at least at this juncture, it looks very vanilla and,
of course, it doesn't require a port so that makes sense.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The second map I
looked at is entitled
E1M8 Replacement and comes with the following description:
I got bored and made
this WAD. It's a replacement
for E1M8, as hinted by the title. First foray
into vanilla mapping.
Again, I gave this map a quick look and first impressions
can be killers sometimes. I was concerned, since this author
admits to doing jokewads, that this might be one. It isn't. But
it also doesn't appear to be extremely well done. It might prove
otherwise with a longer playthrough but the first several rooms
that I went through were fairly bland and the difficulty just
didn't seem to be there. I mean, I come across a rocket
launcher, a wall opens and a bunch of imps start howling - BOOM
- DEAD. Back to the shotgun. You get the idea.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Going into the next map,
we get out of the vanilla maps and get into maps designed for
ports. I have to be honest - I don't understand why you WOULDN'T
design for ports. How many people actually play Vanilla Doom or
Doom 2 any more? Anyway, with that annotation out of the way,
the next maps is entitled
Abyssal Speedmapping Sessions: Session 10, which appears to
be an ongoing thing that pretty much anyone can join in on - so
you are bound to get a wide variety of different styles,
quality, etc... from these maps. Here is a quick screenie that I
grabbed from Map 4 (chosen at random). Also, I'm not sure how it
wound up there - but this is a set of Doom 2 maps that ended up
on the
Doom/Ports/A-C section on the archives. Anyway - here it is.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The last map from the "Doom" section of the archives that I'm
looking at today is called
Spiderdemon Boss Remake and replaces the boss map of E3M8.
From the Description:
A remake of 'Dis', the
boss fight is much harder
and much better than before.
I'll leave up to you to judge but here's a
screenie for you:
Personally, after having a look at this - and
this IS what there is - don't waste your time.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, the next one -
Dimension of Hades at least comes with a story...
You and your team were sent to an
underground UAC
base that has been invaded by demons. As you
enter, the cave collapses and you are left alone
to fight the invasion!
Also, in the text file, the author confesses to being a
"horrible mapper". After getting a quick look at this, I don't
disagree.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you don't mind, but I skipped a couple called
Novice's House and
Military Artifact and moved on to this one called
Azrael's second level. Really, what it boiled down to was
any author who admittedly says in his text file that he sucks as
a map maker, I'm not interested. Anyway, I went with this one
next. It requires Brutal Doom, which right off the bat makes me
happy. So here's the description and some quick thoughts on what
I saw and a screenshot.
Acutally this is my
second map, as the first one has been never released, becuasue
I've lost it
and, well, it was made in 1996 by means of DEU 2.0.Besides, as
you can allegedly imagine, it was quite
rudimentary - I was 14 years old then. So why would I return to
editing Doom levels ? Primarily I've
come back to playing Doom due to the Brutal Doom engine, which
is truly magnificent (putting all the
gore aside). Basically I've never played such a wonderful and
action-packed mod before. EVER. Then
I figured out, that I could make an attempt at creating a brand
new level with a, comparing to DEU,
comprehensive tool - Doom Builder. It was just a matter of being
reminded of the 20th DOOM 2
anniversary and reading "Masters of Doom" and being inspired by
John Romero in particular. Afterwards you can see the whole
picture - inspiration for creativity galore. So all my credits
and warmest thanks go to John Romero and I would like to
dedicate this level to him. Otherwise this level would never
have been created.
So, I did a quick
look and this map has a couple of things going for it
right off the bat
1. Remember what I said about first
impressions. This one makes a good first impression.
2. It utilizes Brutal Doom. You CAN'T go
wrong there!
3. It appears to be well designed
4. Right off the bat, the gameplay seems good
- not intense, but good
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next up is a wad called
Botanic Biosphere v. 1.1, which as soon as I saw was made by
the author of
Death
is Just the beginning (a full episode replacement you really
SHOULD play, I had to check it out.
There was no description provided but here is
a quick thought and a screenie.
So, I only just started but out of the bunch
(so far), this one is a MUST PLAY. I'm not even kidding.
1. Right off the bat, he uses the over/under
3d effect BEAUTIFULLY
2. He uses glass textures/trees and other
cool eye candy
3. The design looks absolutely gorgeous (not
suprising considering the author)
4. I have a review on the hook but this one
looks like it might be next
Screenies:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, I've reached the
final map in this weeks archives uploads called
Klub Smoke. I like the name already. lol.
From the VERY brief
description:
This was basically a
test for a few things,
turned out pretty cool. So I decided to upload
this 3 map wad.
Quick thoughts:
1. Harder than it looks
2. I love the design. While at first it
appears a little blase', the club look is actually pretty cool
3. New characters, new death animations,
etc... - going to be a good one. Get it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
========================================================================================
Over on the Zdoom forums I came across this
tidbit:
Release of Demon Eclipse - Episode 1 - apparently the
original author decided to let it go and this guy picked it up.
I took a quick look around - looks pretty good. There are some
nice textures in there as well as some weapons changes and who
knows what else... There is a link to the download on that page
linked above....
=======================================================================================
It looks like Realm667 is
back up and running after an extended period of being down
because they were hacked. It's good to see them back online.
Hopefully the hackers will leave them the hell alone now!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over at the
Freedoom site (YES, if you
haven't gotten it you should check it out), they released a new version
with all kinds of goodies:
Project News
2014-10-14: Freedoom 0.9 released
This version represents rather large, sweeping changes to Freedoom,
easily one of the best releases we’ve had in years and we are extremely
proud to be able to release it for all to enjoy!
New file names no longer conflict with Doom's
FreeDM and Phase 1 have grown out of the shadows of the project and have
seen rapid advances.
New text font to replace the old one in all menus, in-game text, and
status-bar HUD.
New zombie, shotgun zombie, and assault tripod sprites by a skilled
pixel artist.
New sounds for the dark soldier.
More complete support for Final Doom mods, adding many more textures
missing to support mods for both TNT: Evilution and The Plutonia
Experiment.
This, of course leads me to my last little tidbit which I gleaned from
the Brutal Doom Facebook
page about updates to the v20 that is soon to be released (before
the end of the year) and it's interaction with Freedoom.
Brütal Doom v20 will feature a sprite revision
that replaces every Vanilla Doom's sprite, fixing offsets, and weird
pixels that looks out of place. There will be two extra benefits added
to this: Brütal Doom will be able to run with wads that uses custom
color palettes (such as Back to Saturn X for example), and the most
important: Will be theorically able to run without actually requiring
Doom 2 with just some minor issues, (such as some missing sounds. But
basically, all you will need is some wad with it's own textures, music,
and maps), making it possible to be played with FreeDoom.
So, for that, and more info on the upcoming release - head on over to
that facebookpage! JUST DO IT!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
That about does it for THIS WEEK IN DOOM. I chose not to
bother with playthroughs this week as it seems that nobody
really gives a shit and I'm like super exhausted but like I said
- nobody cares anyway. They're a nice little add-in I guess but
if you really want to see the newest play throughs - you can go
to /r/doom on reddit
and check out the posts. Also, if you're into the whole reddit
thing, you can find us over at
r/doomwadstation. Peace.
|
