The Dean of Doom series (companion thread)

33 minutes ago, continuum.mid said:

Tangent: I wonder how MtPain will weigh the "difficulty of combat" vs "difficulty of finding the exit without watching a playthrough" in the Eternal Doom episode, assuming there's one in the pipeline. That would be an interesting digression.

Eternal is in the season 3 trailer (0:06) so I guess it'll be covered soon

Has anyone on here ever tried to predict what maps in certain WADs not yet covered that would get Valedictorian, Salutatorian, etc?

I get the feeling MAP20 and 21 of CC4 is gonna get that silent start he does on iconic maps. I wouldn't at all be surprised if they get the top grade as well.

I'm guessing this is the reason we haven't gotten another episode in awhile.

Better late than ever.

This is the one I have dreaded.

I dislike the map I made for Solar Struggle.

Oh yes! I really hope this will incentivise Violentbeetle and Co. to make a sequel to Solar Struggle, because frankly speaking, it's easily one of the best UD megawads I've ever played.

14 hours ago, MemeMind said:

This is the one I have dreaded.

 

I dislike the map I made for Solar Struggle.

Ah, don't worry about it man. Some of the guys that got A's have been mapping for years. I'm sure even someone like Cannonball has made maps he didn't like in the past. Just try to improve on the things about your map that you did not like and come back stronger. 

Sometimes I forget how much Mt Pain’s taste in maps differs from mine, and then he says something like “reminiscent of NEIS’ middle section” as a reason a map is bad. I love E2 and E3 of NEIS! His explanation for why he didn’t like a level actually made me want to try it out even more haha.

After all, disagreeing is part of the fun.

"I love the lack of self-consciousness about [Stickney Installation e3m1's] one-minute clear time. More of that please." 

100

edit: I regret my typography choices already

That title MIDI made me become one of those *realizes* reaction images. Oh god, why must memes run through me?!

11 minutes ago, Vladguy said:

That title MIDI made me become one of those *realizes* reaction images. Oh god, why must memes run through me?!

Poor Mozart, now his masterpieces are just meme material >:(.

Finally, some proper Guardian Angel Loses Their Will appreciation. I've been thinking of an alternate timeline where the Dean reviews AV with the midi pack already out, but this will do!

I dunno what that is about this episode in particular, but it honestly feels special to me. It just has that sort of energy thar males it absolutely enthralling to watch. This is, in my opinion, the absolute best DoD episode out of all there is.

It also makes me suffer small pp syndrome, but that's another story.

10 hours ago, MoiraHeart said:

Finally, some proper Guardian Angel Loses Their Will appreciation. I've been thinking of an alternate timeline where the Dean reviews AV with the midi pack already out, but this will do!

Agreed, Plasma is a track that felt so married to Toxic Touch for me, and the fact that track managed to not only live up but surpass it IMO is unbelievable. Love to see it get more attention, an all-timer midi.

Best episode. The analysis is deep and specific while still being concise and emotionally compelling.

He keeps making me look into wads I'd otherwise never think of touching.

This one looks crazy difficult though, will have to try it in the future after ive mastered other things. Ive only just managed to beat HR, I should rewatch his video on that, now that I have fresh perspective on it.

Yeah, that was a very nice episode. Great writing and the wad seemed very well made too.

Had a feeling that Doorway To Quake would be in the top maps. Expected it to be Valedictorian even. And surprised he didn't comment on Skinny Puppy's music, it's so damn funky.

12 minutes ago, roadworx said:

-snip-

What about Demo Recording? There are demos in Requiem, and countless other 90's wads. 

And recording single-level Demos back then forced a pistol start.

Just now, Guff dotD said:

What about Demo Recording? There are demos in Requiem, and countless other 90's wads. 

And recording single-level Demos back then forced a pistol start.

i'm sorry, and demo recording. happy? :p

It's funny how I had started playing Rebirth and Requiem at the same time for some reason but felt like one of them had to go so I could focus on the other, and I picked Requiem but was only like halfway thru it regardless when the Dean of Doom on it dropped. Unsurprisingly I think I'll have another go at Rebirth instead since it seems like I've seen the best Requiem has to offer anyways.

Ive never managed to get through Requiem, always get bored early on. Probably because it has no connection to TeamTNT's works outside of Dario, and because by the time I found Doomworld and its downloads, the Top 100 was already out and thus I'd entirely missed out on Memento Mori and its sequel, so theres no real hook for me, outside 'one of the classics'

I do plan on getting through it one day though. With HR and AV conquered, I really should go back and finish the other classic megawads. Thankfully with Doom Launcher's stat tracking to keep my OCD hooked, it will happen in time.

Ahahaha he really tore Requiem a new one

TBF memento mori 2 aged so much better than the two other megawads in the trilogy

19 minutes ago, Benjogami said:

Did they give themselves piles of weapons and ammo to approximate what they might have when playing continuously, or use idfa? Surely not.

Gonna be honest, this is exactly how I playtest my own maps lol.

19 minutes ago, Benjogami said:

 

I accept that continuous play was the predominant way to play, maybe the way that authors expected you to play, and probably the most fun way to play, but I dunno, I just don't accept that the wad shouldn't be pistol started or that bad pistol starts shouldn't be called out. If it's expected that players will pistol start when they die (although I sure didn't play that way---I loaded a save instead), then what, are they just supposed to not die on most levels? Is a miserable pistol start the intended punishment for dying?

 

And they surely didn't test any given map by playing every map before it. That would be absurd. No testing until the wad is compiled?? Gotta play through the whole thing to retest changes in a later map??? Of course not. Did they give themselves piles of weapons and ammo to approximate what they might have when playing continuously, or use idfa? Surely not. They knew how the pistol starts played and they chose to ship it that way, and I think it's valid to criticize that choice.

they likely did test their individual maps at first, but from what i understand, they went through afterwards once it was all said and done and rebalanced for continuous. there's literally people who made maps for requiem and mm2 still around today that you could ask about this.

also, the mindset was that if you died and were choosing not to play with saves, then...yeah. you were gonna be punished. it was supposed to be a challenge to overcome. by playing each map with pistol starts you're deliberately giving yourself a skewed version of what the map is like, because you're playing a version of the map that's deliberately harder. this is like watching an episode in the middle of a story-based show and then criticizing it because you don't know what's going on.. if you wanna figure everything out from there, then sure, go ahead, but it's intended that you start from the beginning.