this week in doom - week ending February 28, 2016 (doom date 22.8114)

Well, faithful followers of "This week in Doom", here we are in the year 2016. As I have been doing for the majority of the history of Doom's existence, I will continue to bring you new doom wads, new reviews, updated news and much more. This particular page is my modest attempt to keep you abreast of all the current goings on in the Doom community - new Doom wads, new Doom 3 maps, updates on projects, Doom engines and more. Enjoy and Keep on Dooming!

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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!

This Week in Doom: 02.28.16

I've said this a few times, but I just love Doom. The monster roster is just heaps of fun to work with and the wad editors out now are so intuitive that mapping is a fun exercise more than actual work. My hat is truly off to the guys that have constantly pushed the limits of wad editing software to the point where it is now. Same goes for all the fellas over the years that have developed ports that push the Doom engine to it's extreme and allow for greater community interaction, through demos and multiplayer. All of this thankless, hard work is one of the main reasons the community is so alive today. Proof can be found by simply asking the question(s): would Doom be as big today if we were all still playing it in DOS? Would the community be as vast if the editing softwares weren't so easy to use? I think the answers are clear and all the more reason I am thankful for their time-invested. There never would have been 7 new wads released to /idgames this week, over 22 years after Doom came out, if not for the foundations laid and expanded upon over the years by many awesome people.

Let's check out this week's submissions to the archives, as stated there are 7 this week!

The very first wad this week is called "Winnie Pooh" by Bzzrak Ktazzz; find it here:

wniepooh.zip

This wad features 2 levels for the E1M1-and-2 mapslots of the Ultimate Doom iWad and runs in vanilla. These look and play like first maps.

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Second is the "Abyssal Speedmapping Session 26" by a mixed bag o' nuts, headed by TheMionicDonut and Jimmy and can be found here: abyspe26.zip

This wad features 21 maps made in the span of about 2.5 hours, held over 2 "rounds." It is Boom-compatible and runs under the Doom 2 iWad. The Abyssal Speedmapping Sessions are held over a common Skype call where members talk about their crushes and what they are going to wear tomorrow. This sessions themes were based on Romero's maps: E1 theme, higher tier monsters and weapons, all vertices on the 32 grid, plus a bonus theme for those who showed up for the second round: Horseshoe layout, like E1M1, or backtrack layout, like E3M9.

All-in-all, I'd say that this session turned out just as good as any session. These guys did a fantastic job, once again, on making some fun stuff to play. Give these gentlemen a hand and play these maps today!

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The next wad this week is one I had the pleasure of playing a couple months ago: "Elf Gets Pissed 1.1" by RottKing, which can be found here: elfgp.zip

This episode replacement runs in zDoom for the Heretic iWad and it replaces the Episode 1.

As I said, I had the pleasure of playing this mapset before, during the week of 11/22/15; I enjoyed it then and I enjoyed it now. Not just because it's Heretic, either. The architecture is solid, maps atmospheric and memorable, and items expertly handled. If you are a Heretic fan (or even just own the game) I would highly recommend checking out these maps immediately.

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In the fourth slot is a mapset titled "Deloran" by Tereith2050; found here: deloran.zip

This wad contains 15 maps for the Doom 2 iWad to be run with either Brutal Doom or Project Brutality and runs in (G)zDoom. It was okay, but the maps were short so it did have that going for it. Also, I'm pretty sure there was a stealth caco or two in there... heh.
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Up next is a wad called "Mt. Erebus 1024" by Subucnameth and can be found here: ereb1024.zip

This map runs with the Doom 2 iWad in zDoom or better. It is themed after E3M6 of The Ultimate Doom and is contained within a 1024 space. This level was super short, with only 27 monsters, but it looked awesome and nicely reminescent of the map that inspired it. Give this nice quicky a go when you can.

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Sixth is a map called "An Evening Stroll in Venice" by Hebridean Isle, which can be found here: venice.zip

This map is also contained in a 1024 space and has a monster limit of 100; run it in GzDoom under the Doom 2 iWad.

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In the final slot for the week we have a map titled "Heavy Water Plant" by Lowpass30Hz squeaking in. You can find it here: hwater.zip

This wad runs in vanilla with the Doom 2 iWad. It was a fun, medium-sized map; not overly pretty, but not ugly. I say give it a shot, at 120 enemies it really ain't too bad.

Excellent week for /idgames! Let's check some forums.

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Over on the DoomWorld forums, there is a really sweet map set in the works from author antares031! It's called "Struggle" and the third BETA version just came out. It includes 17 maps for the Doom 2 iWad in any limit-removing port.

I do not know how I missed these maps earlier, during the previous two betas, but I am so glad I found them now! This is sure to keep me busy for a little while and if you havent yet played one of antares' maps it's not a bad time to start, as these maps just look and feel fantastic so far. I really look forward to finishing this beauty over the next couple days, which is something I don't do for many wads these days. That alone speaks volumes of my respect for antares as a mapper and enjoyment of his maps; play these maps absolutely right now, they are the best maps of the week.

Find it here: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/74791-struggle-feb-26-2016-version-beta-three-is-available/

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Wildweasel's competition over on the zDoom forums has been getting a ton of replies; there really looks to be some cool stuff in here and there's still time for you to submit an entry! Head on over to the thread and check it out for yourself!

Click here: http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=50859

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Doomero released a video on the Zandronum forums of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for Zandronum! After watching it, I'm sold. Sign me up right now. You need to see this video right away, so head over to the thread and give it a look without delay!

View it here: http://zandronum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=7024

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Looking at One Man Doom there are 2 new articles up, both about early zrrion maps:

First is a wad called "The Void of Hell" by zrrion; find it here:

http://onemandoom.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-void-of-hell-hvoidwad.html

Second is a wad called "The Blood of Virgins," also by zrrion, found here:

http://onemandoom.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-blood-of-virgins-vbloodwad.html

Great reviews, as always, KMX; I highly recommend reading these beauties!

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Realm667 has a new little blog about its SFX Shoppe's new rule changes. Seems they will now accept effects which use ACS script, so long as they are easy to use and well-documented. That sounds awesome; I can't wait to see (hear) what comes of this! Check Realm667 here: http://realm667.com/index.php/en/

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New blog on Doomsday: "Prototype Stage" is about the prototype stage of the new Home UI. Good read; check it out here: http://dengine.net/blog/2016/02/prototype-stage/

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There is a new World Record Speedrun for Doom 2 Nightmare! 24:09 is the time and the run is from eLim. Check the DoomWorld thread here: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-speed-demos/86359-doom-ii-nm-speed-in-2409/

This was absolutely amazing to watch; fantastic job here, eLim! But who's going to crack the sub-24?

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No news for Doom 3, so get back to some Doom Reborn; it's a ton of fun!

http://www.doomreborngame.com/

Take it easy, everyone!