The Dean of Doom series (companion thread)

Well one thing is for certain, Next one being the season finale is because by the time he is done with the episode the police will try to arrest him and he will lay low for a while.

Though "Caught on 4k" Seriously delinquent? Is that how are you going to react to your relatives that cannot be bloody revived?

i know it's a joke, but those are his family.

10 hours ago, A.H. Sankhatayan said:

Are any of them still around? All I know is that Matthias Worch, who worked on MM2, did a level design retrospective of his work (Doom, Quake, Sin) and Thomas Möller left a comment on the MM2 video, but that was 7 years ago. 

I think that @markklem and @DCasali are the only members that are still around from the team that worked on Memento Mori.

On 3/15/2022 at 9:56 AM, msx2plus said:

i have an incredibly hard time going back to MM and feel pretty similarly about it. even having played it 20 years ago, nostalgia has a hard time saving this one for me. it's definitely a bit of a "growing pains" time capsule as far as doom mapping goes.

 

+1 to the delinquent gags being great, very happy to see more fun and goofs being injected into the series as it goes on.

I somewhat agree with this, but after having played a number of other overly-ambitious ZDoom wads before this, MM was actually a breath of fresh air for me when I first played it back in 2013. Looking back though, most major mapsets that have come out since are probably more engaging than this, which is strange because I don't mind exploratory maps at all.

Honestly, I have a hard time seeing how this got a lower grade than Community Chest or especially Icarus, because the latter specifically had some maps that I'd really rather not play more than once and only is somewhat redeemable with how it contains an original track for each level. The only maps I really don't like too much here are Stoned, Kinetics, and Cesspool, and the rest of the maps are either all the cooler for being longer, or perfectly passable like Denis Moeller's maps. I think A Dead Man's Town may have been slightly undersold though.....

8 hours ago, Andromeda said:

I think that @markklem and @DCasali are the only members that are still around from the team that worked on Memento Mori.

Mark Klem has not visiterd in close to a year, but he seems to be all right. Yeah, doomkid makes it seem like he could pull some of the MM crew out of mothballs, but besides the fact that Tom Mustaine, Mattias Worch, and Jeremy Statz are all much too busy these days, I'm not sure you can exactly contact Denis Moeller, Michael Rapp, or Florian Helmberger all that easily.

13 minutes ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Honestly, I have a hard time seeing how this got a lower grade than Community Chest or especially Icarus, because the latter specifically had some maps that I'd really rather not play more than once and only is somewhat redeemable with how it contains an original track for each level. The only maps I really don't like too much here are Stoned, Kinetics, and Cesspool, and the rest of the maps are either all the cooler for being longer, or perfectly passable like Denis Moeller's maps. I think A Dead Man's Town may have been slightly undersold though.....

I agree, while I haven't completed Community Chest yet (playing along with the club), so far I'd rate Memento Mori above both it and Icarus.

15 minutes ago, Andromeda said:

I agree, while I haven't completed Community Chest yet (playing along with the club), so far I'd rate Memento Mori above both it and Icarus.

I actually played Icarus about a year ago but I stopped playing it and moved onto other wads for some reason. Maybe it's because all levels just looked the same.

3 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Honestly, I have a hard time seeing how this got a lower grade than Community Chest or especially Icarus, because the latter specifically had some maps that I'd really rather not play more than once and only is somewhat redeemable with how it contains an original track for each level. The only maps I really don't like too much here are Stoned, Kinetics, and Cesspool, and the rest of the maps are either all the cooler for being longer, or perfectly passable like Denis Moeller's maps. I think A Dead Man's Town may have been slightly undersold though.....

To be fair, while I don't know where I would rank MM1 and Icarus if I played them today, but I had overall better time playing Icarus than MM1 when I played them for the first time back in around 2017-ish. Plus I liked some of the neat ideas in Icarus, like the map with the ghost monsters mechanic and the idea of all the maps being simulations. So I would definitely rank Icarus above MM1 (and I rank Icarus quite a bit below TNT Evilution, which should tell you where I rank MM1).

On 3/15/2022 at 4:27 PM, Doomkid said:

I really want to lead a community project using the MM assets as a basis, like a spiritual remake but with less convoluted progression and a higher action-to-wandering ratio. I'll have to get in touch with some of the MM crew members who are still hanging around and work something out!

YES

the assets from the memento mori series are by far my favorite from any wad ever, and i absolutely adore maps made by the moellers (even if many are outdated by modern standards). i would love love LOVE to make something styled after mm1/mm2 <3

On 3/15/2022 at 6:27 PM, Doomkid said:

I really want to lead a community project using the MM assets as a basis, like a spiritual remake but with less convoluted progression and a higher action-to-wandering ratio.

Memento More-y

how'd you go about that, just load mm.wad into doom builder whatever? or is there a more formal resource pack?

1 hour ago, yakfak said:

how'd you go about that, just load mm.wad into doom builder whatever? or is there a more formal resource pack?

That or just copy over all the texture definitions and flats into a new wad and use that as a resource pack.

2 hours ago, yakfak said:

how'd you go about that, just load mm.wad into doom builder whatever? or is there a more formal resource pack?

What I had in mind was adding all the custom textures from MM 1 & 2 to a single wad, then “strongly suggesting” the use of an MM trilogy MIDI. I personally would give wiggle room to music choice, but it would still need to be somewhat heavy on the Klem to really feel “true to the spirit” of MM. Most of his music has a very distinctive style that has also come to be synonymous with MM, after all.

24 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

What I had in mind was adding all the custom textures from MM 1 & 2 to a single wad, then “strongly suggesting” the use of an MM trilogy MIDI. I personally would give wiggle room to music choice, but it would still need to be somewhat heavy on the Klem to really feel “true to the spirit” of MM. Most of his music has a very distinctive style that has also come to be synonymous with MM, after all.

I’ve often thought it would be cool to do a modern remix project of MM. Instead of entirely new maps using MM resources, authors could make maps inspired by their favorite levels or setpieces from both wads - not as straight remakes, but rather remixes or even blends of several different levels - resulting in a megawad that serves both as a modern update to the two MMs and a celebration of the first community megawad.

7 hours ago, Doomkid said:

What I had in mind was adding all the custom textures from MM 1 & 2 to a single wad, then “strongly suggesting” the use of an MM trilogy MIDI. I personally would give wiggle room to music choice, but it would still need to be somewhat heavy on the Klem to really feel “true to the spirit” of MM. Most of his music has a very distinctive style that has also come to be synonymous with MM, after all.

Map01 should be forced to use a version of Hidden Anger. 

Always a joy to see MtPain dive head first into the classics of yore. Memento Mori was among some of my first megawads that I ever played (obviously) and it's been years since my last playthrough. It itches my replay instinct.

Wonder what other classics will he play, and if there's going to be a spotlight for more obscure works.

would MtPain ever do TCs?

54 minutes ago, Foxstiel said:

would MtPain ever do TCs?

Does BTSX count?

57 minutes ago, HrnekBezucha said:

Does BTSX count? 

No? its still regular vanilla doom gameplay

5 hours ago, Foxstiel said:

would MtPain ever do TCs?

I'd like to see him do REKKR, considering it's in the official add-on lineup.

4 hours ago, Foxstiel said:

 

No? its still regular vanilla doom gameplay

I'd say it's a partial conversion. New palette, brand new textures, original music, etc. 

10 hours ago, Foxstiel said:

would MtPain ever do TCs?

I think he's said before he doesn't really like it when the core gameplay is changed too much. Though, he has mentioned that Pirate Doom is on his list, but that's more a partial TC. I rewatched a couple of older vids recently, and in the comments someone asked about it and he mentioned that one being a possibility. The same person asked about Adventures of Square, and that one wasn't on his list. 

30 minutes ago, TJG1289 said:

I think he's said before he doesn't really like it when the core gameplay is changed too much.

And so, we will never see a "Dean of Doom Mod Madness" collab with Mr Icarus.

22 hours ago, Dusty_Rhodes said:

I'd say it's a partial conversion. New palette, brand new textures, original music, etc. 

true

Is it possible to know what wad is voted? Like without having to pay or something.

About a half an hour until the Season 2 finale.

Will there be a graduation video like in Season 1? Who knows.

We'll just have to see.

Wait a minute, is MtPain27 so dedicated to the schtick that his seasons are run at the same time as IRL college/university semesters?

Edit: got my hopes up, doesn't look like it, egg on my face

Great season finale, and I just want to say that much like MtPain27 I'm also a huge fan of Lost Civilization. It was definitely a huge influence when I made Infested last year.

Combat-wise its not the most polished experience and the maps are a bit uneven (some of them being unwieldy almost-masterpieces), but the action keeps you engaged enough to string you along towards what really makes the WAD shine: the exploration, visuals and gratuitous Doomcute. This WAD is an utter joy to play, very therapeutic. Almost every map is great.

Favorite map: River Valley (MAP04)

Kind of quivered in excitement in my seat while he was speaking about The Farmlands. When I wrote this post the other day for some reason I was wondering if I was remembering Lost Civilization correctly, and if The Farmlands was indeed the map that absolutely defined the set for me.

This review very safely cemented that idea for me. What a magical experience this megawad is.

Thanks @Jaska for giving us something that can provide such a sublime level of comfort and homeliness through the medium of Doom.

Holy crap, this is one of the best looking Doom wads I've seen. Open ended city/forest maps are right up my alley and it doesn't look slaughtery either besides maybe the final level. I'll definitely keep an eye on this one in the future.

I remember playing Lost Civilization when it had a lot fewer maps, and then I kinda lost track of it and its development (I remember Mountain Village the most).  But even that smaller set that I played at the time stood out as exceptional, and always seemed underrated and infrequently mentioned in "good wads" conversations.  'Good to see Lost Civilizations showing up in people's recommendation lists lately.

This also means I should probably play the newer maps...