NEVER Doom2 PWAD/Techno EP Release

Played on HMP on Crispy Doom, no pistol-starting.

Took a whole hour to beat it, couldn't find all the secrets, the cacodemons scared me sometimes.

The music *chef kiss*, really adds to the atmosphere.

Nothing against the vanilla pallete, but I wish you implemented a custom one matching the colors of the Reshade stuff you shared before on the NEVER.WAD beta thread:

I've found some missing textures during my playthrough:

 Over all, good stuff. That room on MAP07 tho, what a way to end the wad LUL

Trailer did its job - sold on this and will be taking it for a spin later this evening.

The music is great, the maps aren't my cup of tea. The cacodemon is a great mix of scary and funny though ;) I also found a few missing textures. Here's one from map 2:

Only a couple of levels in on HMP, but I think you've absolutely hit your mark here, @tei tenga: this really is oppressive, in a fun way. The driving music, despite being relatively fast tempo, gets under your skin in the same way that Quake's OST did. It's complimented by constant flickering and contrast shifts that disorient the player - not in a technically incompetent or irritating manner, but in service to an aesethetic choice.

And all that is backed by the gameplay. These might not be the most complex maps, but you seem to have a pretty good knack of showing the player what they ought to do next, and then putting a good amount of opposition in between them and their goal. Tricksy, but acheivable. Enough hurt to challenge the player, but not to the point where they're ragequitting, and not too much dickishness in the traps.

I've also appreciated the limited use of mid-tier enemies in close quarters: good use of barons and skelebois, and the one Vile so far was an absolute prick to deal with - loved it. In fact it's almost entirely gravy up until the introduction of the new enemies:
 

Who hurt you, OP?

Thanks for the kind words!

Special thanks @Dub Bag for making a video. It's a thrill to see how people react to this in real time

Oh shit! I've been waiting for this since I played the beta last year! Can't wait to play it!

I played through the first two maps and I found a missing texture on the step in Map 02. You're a good mapper man and the music is really good.

Ok this is something I just stumbled upon. The first switch on MAP01 changes depending on which sourceport you're using.

Skull switch on Crispy Doom, no switch on dsda-doom 0.23.0 (nor PRBoom+, which dsda's derivative from), Lever switch on GZDoom (any ZDoom derivative sourceport behaves the same).

I suppose Skull is the intended switch and the other ones are a byproduct of the sourceports?

Yeah, I've noticed that. There are some custom textures (made from the OG patches) and the different source ports seems to have different ideas about whether or not the new or old textures get priority. It seems to happen particularly often with switches. Thanks for the QA @Drywtler!

I think this a little bit harder than Doom II because of monster density if nothing else (probably comparable to TNT)

Also,  here's a few HOM issues I spotted with trim in DSDA Doom

This appears in the one balcony right next to the first switch that opens up the Revenant closets in Map 03.

This one appears at a location in the subway area I think.

This last one is near the backpack secret in Map 03

I spotted a few others but I'm not sure they'd be as obvious, (some trim issues with the inner end of the rocket launcher secret for example).

I certainly need to do a roundup of these missing textures

oh my goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bandcamp version of soundtrack when!! let me support this! hahaha

I'm getting some Doom Zero & Nihility vibes from this, would definetly check it out.

Edit: yeah, this is definitely unique and high-quality stuff.

14 hours ago, msx2plus said:

oh my goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

 

yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

bandcamp version of soundtrack when!! let me support this! hahaha

I second this! Please put the soundtrack on bandcamp, I wanna add this gem to my collection!

Oh, and I'm excited to play this again. I remember the older version (was it a beta?) that was posted some months (?) ago.

Had a great time with that and gladly wanna experience it again!

On 5/5/2022 at 9:59 AM, msx2plus said:

oh my goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

 

yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

bandcamp version of soundtrack when!! let me support this! hahaha

friend!! you came to my party!

I played through Doom Zero, but I've never heard of Nihility. That Wad and Never are clearly barking up the same tree

I found some more missing textures. Both screen shots are on Map 04 using gzdoom.

On 5/4/2022 at 3:55 AM, Drywtler said:

Ok this is something I just stumbled upon. The first switch on MAP01 changes depending on which sourceport you're using.

 

Skull switch on Crispy Doom, no switch on dsda-doom 0.23.0 (nor PRBoom+, which dsda's derivative from), Lever switch on GZDoom (any ZDoom derivative sourceport behaves the same).

  Hide contents

 

I suppose Skull is the intended switch and the other ones are a byproduct of the sourceports?

Weird, on DSDA-Doom 0.24.3 I'm getting the lever switch like in the GZDoom screenshot.

34 minutes ago, Andromeda said:

Weird, on DSDA-Doom 0.24.3 I'm getting the lever switch like in the GZDoom screenshot.

You got a newer version of DSDA-Doom that's why, I have to get the latest release and for that matter i specified the version I had

52 minutes ago, Andromeda said:

Weird, on DSDA-Doom 0.24.3 I'm getting the lever switch like in the GZDoom screenshot.

16 minutes ago, Drywtler said:

You got a newer version of DSDA-Doom that's why, I have to get the latest release and for that matter i specified the version I had

It depends on which renderer you use, with software renderer I get no switch and with the OpenGL renderer I get the lever switch (dsda-doom 0.24.2, I should remember to update at some point).

This was sick.  I don't really listen to techno, dark or otherwise, but the OST really fit the dark, foreboding atmosphere and architecture of the wad.  I guess back in the day I liked nine inch nails so it scratches that itch a bit.  I struggled to remember the name in the vid, but this reminds me of that youtube horror series The Backrooms found footage with its creepy atmosphere, really enjoyed that.

I think you pulled off something pretty cool with the way you just use vanilla textures, as far as I know, and some pretty freaking large places that have a lot of bare walls and yet it all feels like part of the aesthetic, not like it's too bare.  I gotta say those cacodemons are scary as hell and are probably what I will remember most.  They really do a lot for the atmosphere because they can just lunge out of seemingly nowhere and keep charging you like a lost soul and take you out in short order.  I also had two infight each other??  That was hilarious and not sure if it was intended, though perhaps it's just using lost soul programming so that makes sense?  The lost souls end up feeling better than the normal lost souls just because of their lower health.  Of course I was expecting some lightplay with the club atmosphere, but thankfully you didn't make that too annoying or anything.  Also that final fight in map 3 was nuts, I suppose I could've jumped off and escaped but if you wanna get them all that is definitely a crazy fight.  Looking forward to finishing this later.

Man this was a fun mapset!

Chiming in with everyone to say incredible stuff tei, the atmosphere and encounter design of this set was really top notch. 

Finished this up, had a lot of fun... terrifying fun, lol.

Really started to feel the oppressive atmosphere by the 4th level.  5th level being a build up of resources for the final level was actually a really cool idea, especially with the more ambient music.  I really liked the 1st and 3rd puzzle but as you might see in the second, I just didn't really get it.  The first level of platforms made sense but the second level I just sorta randomly hit switches till I was able to cross.  Not sure if I missed something.  Also a softlock area there.  Also you can grab the mega armour through the gate.  But the other two puzzles were fantastic.  The final fight... oh boy.  Awesome stuff, cool disco floor, scary cacos, and the archviles threw me for a loop at first.  I guess I didn't realize the platforms would provide me enough cover from the archies so it took me a bit.  But great setpiece ending!  Thanks for all your work, really enjoyed the soundtrack too.  Amazing use of vanilla textures with cool architecture to make everything feel very fresh.

I updated the download link in the OP with a new version that just fixes some missing textures (thanks for reporting them) and tweaks the final fight a bit.

Cheers

Seeing this thread bumped reminds me that I really ought to finish playing this. While I wasn't immediately hooked by the first map, the second map onward have really stood out to me as a unique experience. I love the look you've created from the vanilla textures, and the awesome soundtrack complements it perfectly.

A couple missing textures that weren't previously reported, on the staircase early in MAP03 (just to the right of the player weapon sprite in each of these screenshots):

Crispy Doom until recently rendered HOMs differently from other source ports, so it's understandable that you missed these.

Edit - One more, later in the map:

Edit 2 - Missing ceiling near the beginning of MAP04:

Edit 3 - Finally finished playing this and had a great time! Just one more missing texture to report, on MAP06 if you fall off the edge facing the direction of the exit before the platforms to it have been raised: