This week in doom - week ending October 11, 2015 (doom date 21.7973)

this week in doom is my attempt at keeping you abreast of all the goings on in the DOOM community and, as you will notice, a busy community it is. It's difficult to believe that after 20 plus years this game's community is still as active as it is but, of course, ID Software has helped by releasing Doom 3 10 years ago (or thereabouts) and is now in the process of the new DOOM game (sometime in Q2, 2016?). Can't wait to see the beta shareware, or whatever it's going to be.....

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Thanks to "Fonze" for taking up the mantle of responsibility for TWID and doing the research and writing up TWID for us. Also, Thanks to you, the reader(s), and Community, which have kept Doom alive and relevant for all these years. And, thanks to ID Software, without whom, all this could not be possible. Keep on Dooming!

As another week draws to a close, we are reminded that the time people put into Doom on a consistent basis, even today, is a truly remarkable thing and goes to show that sometimes, they just don't make 'em like they used to. Thanks to all of the members who have kept the spirit alive in the community over the years!

This week we have 13 new submissions to the /idgames archive, 5 of which are for Heretic (yay)!

Our first 3 submissions come to us from TimeOfDeath, who has made some really cool maps in the past.

The first is a massive slaughtermap with an empasis on the "massive," "slaughter," and I guess "map" (since it is a map) parts. The map's name is "dib map26/27" and can be found here: http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/doom2/Ports/d-f/dib2627.zip

This map is for the Doom 2 iWad, Boom+ (-complevel 9) format.

Upon map initialization, a quick look at the map (in zDoom) will reveal that this colossal behemoth of a map has over 2,000 enemies, and that's just to F*%(*%# start. I just had to keep playing and by the time this thing was through there were over 4,000 dead bodies littering the floors. I wonder if this map is even beatable without also inducing insanity. (Note there is a 1 hour demo of the map being beaten included with the wad; no further info on the player's mental health).

This map also falls way short in the "aesthetics" category. Just about everything is a box, square, rectangle; 90 degrees everywhere. Detailing was at a minimum, however there were a few cool looking spots and some really nice effects.

There was an equally massive and pointless-feeling switch-hunt which felt more like an excuse for many waves of tons of enemies and basically eveything came in predictable waves/patterns. On the other hand, this map had a lot of really cool puzzles and ideas. I applaud the author for those few cool ideas, but must caution that unless you are looking for a giant slaughtermap that will eat up well over an hour of your life, you may want to look elsewhere for your kicks. On the other hand, if this stuff sounds like it's up your alley, there were certainly some very good redeeming qualities to this map.

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Next up we have "NH2," the sequel to "NH1."
http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/doom2/m-o/nh2.zip

These 2 maps are for the Doom 2 iWad in vanilla format and are found in mapslots 07 and 08.

The first is a tiny Tyson map. Pretty darn fun. The second is a bit closer to "dib2627" in that it is a BFG-slaughtermap, but this one's tiny. Both of these maps are minimally detailed, but packed to the brim with tons of things that all want to be your best buddy. Given the quickness of running these two, I'd say they're worth a shot!

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The last map from TimeOfDeath is not at all what it says it is. It's a bonafide piece of garbage. You wanna know what's behind Door number 3 here?

This map is for the Doom 2 iWad in vanilla format.
http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/doom2/s-u/teledest.zip

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Our next 5 submissions are all vintage Vanilla Heretic maps uploaded to us by ETTiNGRiNDER! Apparently he scoured his hard drive and this is what he turned up. I say good on ya, buddy; we need more Heretic maps! Let's start with the Single Player ones and work our way to the Deathmatch ones.

First up is a map called "Lava Flow" from Greg (The Poolman) Hagedorn, found here: http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/heretic/g-i/hlavaflw.zip

Not gonna lie; this one aged badly. It played like a first map, complete with no "lower unpegged" doors. Gotta love Heretic, though; it was still fun.

Next up is a map called "Hell House" by Don Reames, found here:

http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/heretic/g-i/hellhous.zip

Now this is what I needed to bring me up from the previous maps! It's just such a shame that it wasn't to last long. This map comes in at 47 monsters and was very quick and easy. The aesthetics of this map were fantastic for something out of the mid-90's and I loved the lighting effects around the open doors. Definitely give this short map a download and check it out!

The last three we have coming in are Vanilla Heretic Deathmatch levels.

First up is "TeleHell" by Fred Garlington, found here: http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/heretic/deathmatch/s-u/telehell.zip

This is another one that aged badly. Some cool teleporting thoughts went into it, though. Might be fun with 4-8 players running around. The picture says it all, though.

Then we have "RT_Town" by Shawn Teal; Robinson Technologies, found here: http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/heretic/deathmatch/p-r/rt_town.zip

This map looks like it would make an awesome DM map! Considering the time this one was built, I'd say a lot of people had fun on this back in the day and likely will all over again. Deathmatch fans give this one a shot!

Lastly and our final Heretic submission, we have "Heresy" by Jeremy Geib and Tom Zimmerman,
found here: http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/heretic/deathmatch/g-i/heresy.zip

While not the most beautiful map, for the time I'm sure most people didn't mind its minimal detailing. On the other hand, this map flows really well and I'm sure it would make a fantastic 4-man Deathmatch. Grab a few friends and kill 'em in some Heretic this week!

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Up next we have "Practical Infiltration" by mrthejoshmon, found here:
http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/doom2/Ports/p-r/pract.zip

This map uses the Boom engine in the 17th mapslot of the TNT: Evilution iWad.

Now some of you may remember WOOO, others may remember WOOO2; I tend to remember the Hell out of WOOO2. Fun set of maps from many different people, headed by this guy. I liked the way this map looked, it has some cool pieces of what I call "furniture" (in this case, not "architecture") or non-essential things created through lines, such as the pipes, computer terminals, and open boxes. I liked the look of the outside area and the base portion of the map. Monster placement could have been done much better and this map offers little forgiveness in the realm of health kits, though a few secrets contain health-goodies. I really liked the way the ending was done, that was flat-out the best part. Seeing the exit door next to the "Disaster Area" sign made things fit just right. Can't spoil too much but that was my favorite part of this map. Give it a shot!

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Our last four submissions to /idgames are pretty interesting things, though they may not seem that way at first.

First up we have "LinBoom" by Colin Phipps and it's source code! What's LinBoom, you ask? Well, it's an early port of Boom 2.01 to Linux. Included is the binary version, which means that it does not need to be installed to a computer to run. However, this being an old port to Linux, it may not run on modern machines.

Second, we have "PDoom" by Phill Harvey-Smith (repackaged from a self-extracting ARJ to a Zip file by Mike Swansonand) it's source code, too! Two (Four) for the archives in a row, sweet! PDoom is a fork of DOSDoom 0.2 that includes flight, kill-all monsters, and quad-damage cheat codes added in.

Both of these were uploaded to us from Mike, so let's all give him a big hand for these gems!

Also, you can find each of them here:
http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/themes/TeamTNT/boom/linboom
http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/themes/TeamTNT/boom/linbooms
http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/source/pdoom
http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/source/pdoomsrc

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Over on the DoomWorld forums we have progress on Khorus' map "The Warlock's Hearth," found here: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/71758-the-warlocks-hearth-a-large-limit-removing-map-for-doom-2-october-update/

Khorus is well-known for Strife and it looks like this map will be an awesome addition to his legacy. It's still a WIP, but the screenshots look pretty and it looks like it will have a few tricks up its sleeve! Keep an eye on this one for sure!

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At the ZDoom forums we find an Army of Darkness weapon mod: http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=49701

This comes to us from xenoxols and looks like a lot of fun to play with! Pretend your name is Bruce Campbell today! Evil, possessed hand not included.

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Looking towards the Zandronum forums we find a couple cool looking wads.

The first is up and coming, called "Donkey Kong Country Trilogy" for GzDoom/Zandronum and is by Doomero. This looks really sweet so far; I hope to see more out of it soon!

Check it out here: http://zandronum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=6034

Next is something that sounds pretty cool. It's called ZandBand 3.0 and is basically Guitar Hero/Rock Band for Zandronum. It looks great, sounds like it's getting a larger song repertoire and deserves some good recognition. Give it a check here: http://zandronum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5037

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Looking around the web, at One Man Doom there is a really nice review of the "Abyssal Speedmapping Session 2" that can be found here: http://onemandoom.blogspot.com/2015/10/abyssal-speedmapping-session-2.html#more

For those who know little about these sessions, the participating members (headed by a well-eastablished mapper, Obsidian) take 2 and a half hours to quickly craft maps, all at the same time, all while on a common Skype call discussing what I'm guessing is either the latest football game or what they are doing in their maps at that moment. It sounds like it would be a ton of fun to participate in and has even attracted more fantastic mappers since the first! Sounds like it's a growing craze, so get in on the next one! In the meantime, give these sweet speedmaps a go!

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Realm667 has got 5 new reviews up!

First up is "5 Rooms is Enough," which was a community project headed by Keeper of Jericho to make really sweet maps using only 5 rooms.

Second is Lutz' map "Hellscape." "Hellscape" is a reimagining of Doom 2's Hell levels and came out really nice.

Third is "Space Wars" by Paul Corfiatis, which as you can guess has Star Wars themed map design and is just beautiful.

Fourth we have a review for "Sunlust," which was born of Ribbiks and dannebubinga's "lust" for "Sun"der and wads like it with some of the most impressive visuals I've seen in maps. Truly beautiful maps and good call, Tormentor, on featuring them!

Lastly, we have a review for a wad coming in from Jaxxoon R. who made other frankensteins such as "Beef Jerky." I say frankenstein, but what I mean is that it was Doom, yet not, but in a really good way. I loved Beef Jerky, (download it here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/161031419/Beef Jerky.pk3 ) (link is sadly gone) Back on topic, the map is called "DEEM 2: REDEEM'D" and looks like it's gonna be a lot of fun! It's not ready yet, but there are a good amount of screenshots posted on the DoomWorld thread and a couple videos. In the meantime, play through "Beef Jerky" and troll Jaxxoon 'til he finishes it ^.^

Dev thread for DEEM 2: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/74198-deem-2-redeemd/

Check out all of Tormentor's reviews here:
http://realm667.com/index.php/en/

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In the world of Doom 3 we have a couple new things coming in:

For starters, we have an update patch to the Doom 3 BFG Edition Hi Def mod by y2keeth! The newest patch is 2.4 and can be found here: http://www.gamewatcher.com/mods/doom-3-mod/doom-3-bfg-hi-def-2-4-patch

The next two appear to be the same to me, but I could be wrong. They are called "Insidious Doom 3" by RECESIVE and look pretty darn cool. Doom 3 fans give this one a go!

http://www.gamewatcher.com/mods/doom-3-mod/insidious-doom--1