this week in doom - week ending March 27, 2016 (doom date 22.8142)

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!

==========================================================================================

This Week in Doom: 03.27.16

This might be one of the best weeks for the Doom community in a long time; let's jump right in!

Our first wad of the week is called "Doom the Way id Did - The Lost Episodes" by a great team of mappers, founded by Hellbelt and organized/compiled by Xaser. Find it here: http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/doom/Ports/megawads/dtwid-le.zip

Most of this wad is Vanilla-compatible, save the final two episodes, E5 and E6 (which require zDoom or Eternity to be played in-game), "though E5 is available as a separate add-on (DTWID-E5.wad) for vanilla. DTWID-LX.wad contains unmodified, original versions of some maps, which may not be 100% vanilla compatible, so be warned there." (txt file) Run this wad through the Ultimate Doom iWad.

I have been playing this over the last couple days and it brings that Original Doom vibe to the table in spades. Along with the excellent "No Sleep for the Dead" put out last week by Jan Van der Veken, I'm going to be spending much more time in the Ultimate Doom iWad and given the quality of these maps, you will too :)

If you haven't already, get on over to /idgames and download these beauties right away!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The second wad of the week is called "Vispire" by Michael Jan Krizik (valkiriforce) and can be found here: http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/doom2/megawads/vispire.zip

This wad runs in Vanilla with the Doom 2 iWad.

These maps were mostly short maps that looked pretty good and played pretty quickly. Some parts felt pretty easy while others took a sec to figure out, with those sudden difficulty hikes being just enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. These maps were just fun. Also, being vanilla-compatible maps, these things were awesome and being from an old hand, you know they are good.

I had a lot of fun with these 17 maps and I know you will too; so give this one a check when you can!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our final wad this week is called "Extreme Terror" by Alexa "yukib1t" Jones-Gonzales, which can be found here: http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/doom2/Ports/d-f/exterror.zip

This wad runs in GzDoom under the Doom 2 iWad.

It always blows my mind when somebody makes a GzDoom wad right and this was certainly just that. It almost reminded me of Doom 3 in its looks in a couple spots. This map was jam-packed full of detail-work to the point where you could tell that the author considered every square inch of his design. That's not to say this was over-detailed, but damn it was gorgeous.

This picture might look insignificant, but it's the little detailing like this example near the start of the map that set this wad over the edge (in a good way) for me.

This was not a hard map, but it was expansive and very interesting to explore with good bits of action and some really nice ideas thrown in. I had to laugh when I walked up to the red key only for it to teleport away, but it was the combination of so many little things done right to form what was an extremely fun map to play that makes me say that this is an absolute must-play for every Doomer! So head on over to /idgames and download this right now!

Not a long list of updates for /idgames, but a fantastic one regardless! The wads this week were all absolutely awesome. Time to scavenge some forums...

===============================================================================================================

On the DoomWorld forums, 40Oz has just released the first alpha build of his CP "Mutiny." I have had the chance to play a few maps from this awesome mapset so far and I can tell you that it fits right in with the other amazing wads this week.

These maps were designed by a team of mappers that all operated on a few basic rules, two of which being "all submitted maps must be a collaborative effort" and "emphasize contrast where the dark grays and browns are in the dark, while the vivid colors are under bright light," which really makes this mapset something truly beautiful to behold. I simply cannot recommend this wad enough, even in its first alpha stage; the maps are great!

Head on over to the thread: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/73615-mutiny-community-project/

And download them here: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/post/1577910

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DoomWorld member printz has released a new source port called AutoDoom. It is a bot that plays Doom for you, which might sound stupid to some at first, but let it simmer for a second and even a doubter can be impressed. He has done a great job with this thing so far and if his plans come to fruition we may have a bot that can play Vanilla and Boom-compatible maps both with and without us, which coincidentally enough would make for a sweet, battery consuming screensaver.

As it currently stands, the bot is capable of calculating level geometry, all "things" and objectives and carrying out an assault that almost looks like it could be a player, though it is currently limited to Vanilla maps. While it still has its flaws and cannot complete every map of say, Ultimate Doom, it can beat a decent amount of them so-far and shows promise to continue to improve. It's really cool to watch.

You can check this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3CLdqLojoU

And the thread here: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/86828-autodoom-available-to-download/

My hats off to printz for this so far; I can't wait to see how far he takes it!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Don't forget to continue to check Wildweasel's "'(File)Size Matters' 64K Competition" thread on the zDoom forums. There is still a month to go for you to get your submissions in; let's see what you can do!

Check the thread out here: http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=50859

===============================================================================================================

New blog on Doomsday, "Now with Twice the Bits" is a nice little read detailing work done to the Autobuilder, so all platforms now have 64-bit packages, as well as a couple other things. It's cool to have a constant feed on the work that goes into making source ports, like Doomsday, as awesome as they are. Check out skyjake's full blog here: http://dengine.net/blog/2016/03/now-with-twice-the-bits/

===============================================================================================================

The DooMed Speed Demo Archives has added 68 demos this week to their archives and the ones I've watched have been fantastic and well-executed. I highly recommend checking out Andy Olivera's site every week to see his new additions! Visit the site here: http://doomedsda.us/

Much respect to Andy for his dedication to this great service for the community!

===============================================================================================================

Besides the stuff that Vinny found above, I came across this little tidbit on the /r/doom reddit

Hi guys, seeing that we dont have a Discord server yet i decided to create one.
https://discord.gg/0uPZ9wgCutK6wt1B
Im sure most of you already know about Discord. For those of you that dont, it's basically a free alternative to TeamSpeak that can be run from a browser (but you can download the client, should you want to: the audio quality will improve).
Most of other games' subreddits have a discord server to connect player, so i believe it's important DOOM should have one too.
Let's get ready for the game launch !

I also discovered another little tidbit which I thought might interest the community.
John Carmack is receiving the highest award given out by BAFTA - The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, which I thought was pretty damn cool and well deserved. Check out the whole story here: PCGAMER story.

As if that weren't enough - there is a new port for Gear VR out there for Doom and quake.
So, if you want to find out more about that, you can go here (404 - Sorry, gone) and read the story and get downloads and such. Seriously, who can't appreciate yet another way to enjoy one of our favorite games. :-)

===============================================================================================================

In the Doom 3 world, I came across this nifty little mod that took some of the more popular mods, packaged them into one and "enhanced" them. I'm not really certain what the hell that means but if you're curious, head on over here and check it out.

Here's a screenie from the moddb page for you.

That about wraps it up for this week. Once again, Vinny and I would like to thank YOU, the people who keep the community alive, for visiting this tiny corner of the internet and getting your news from Doom Wad Station. Mucho appreciado!

See you next week, same Doom time, Same Doom channel.