Doom: Part 2 - Earth in Hell - Brand-new megawad from 1994 [IDGAMES RELEASE]

I hope you people have fun as we have working on it! Tell us what do you think about this!

Jeez, it's so authentic, that if you gave me these levels without context - I would say that it's definitely a wad from 1994-1995 shareware disc.
The fact that the levels are new gives only Dehacked, because in the 90s they were usually not taken care of, but in terms of design and music - it's like it was back then.

Good job, I like it, cause I'm that rare guy who sometimes likes to play 90s levels, whatever they are in comparison with the new ones, :D

A run of the episode using Doom 1.1 with DosBox:

It looks alright, but I admit I am a bit disappointed that it is not a reimagining of Doom II for Doom. :S

Quick wad update:
- Fixed the extra Ultimate Doom line actions in E1M3 and E1M5;
- Fixed the flipped switch linedef and slightly altered monster difficulty settings in E1M8.

New link in the top thread

9 hours ago, Rudolph said:

It looks alright, but I admit I am a bit disappointed that it is not a reimagining of Doom II for Doom. :S

There's always time and occasions for that, even by other people lol

Also, you can keep E1M4 and E1M7 as poor men versions of MAP04 and MAP13 rofl

BTW, did you known:

Hell yeah, more classic doom maps for us!

Hopefully, you haven't abandoned your OG Doom megawad either KT xD

4 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

There's always time and occasions for that, even by other people lol

Also, you can keep E1M4 and E1M7 as poor men versions of MAP04 and MAP13 rofl

Oh, I am not really complaining. It is just that based on the screens alone, it looks like you are just reusing Knee-Deep In The Dead's skybox (which did not look like Phobos at all to begin with, I know) as well as its intermission screen. I guess I was expecting you to use Doom II's or even Thy Flesh Consumed's there, given how the mapset is supposed to be set on Earth.

Oh my, this is really inspiring! It really looks like something made at that time, in the best way possible. The 90's flair is spot on and the layout seems very creative!

This takes me back to 1993, when I played the shareware version of episode 1 and didn't know yet that I had found a game that would last me for the next 30 years...

Super nostalgic episode, great fun, I enjoyed it a lot!

It won't win any beauty contests and there's some minor issues here and there (misaligned textures in map 3 and nasty HOM in map 6), but gameplay is generally solid and that's what counts. Loved the plethora of clever secrets too - though while I found all official ones, I couldn't locate the secret exit to E1M9... are you supposed to IDCLEV into it?

3 hours ago, Rudolph said:

Oh, I am not really complaining. 

Neither do I, i was just joking.

51 minutes ago, 50milliarden said:

I couldn't locate the secret exit to E1M9... are you supposed to IDCLEV into it?

No, a series of pillars opens up when you cross a line after you exit from locked yellow key room in the 1st story of parking lot (the central one in E1M3)

7 hours ago, Firedust said:

Hell yeah, more classic doom maps for us!

 

Hopefully, you haven't abandoned your OG Doom megawad either KT xD

@FiredustNah, I don't think I have abandoned Target, although this will be developed again in the future, for right now I have other priorities. :)

4 hours ago, Rudolph said:

Oh, I am not really complaining. It is just that based on the screens alone, it looks like you are just reusing Knee-Deep In The Dead's skybox (which did not look like Phobos at all to begin with, I know) as well as its intermission screen. I guess I was expecting you to use Doom II's or even Thy Flesh Consumed's there, given how the mapset is supposed to be set on Earth.

@Rudolph We are going to limit to stock textures and flats in this project, just to stick more to the 'plot'. The intermission screens will be replaced in the final release, just I need to come up with some ideas to them :D

BTW: I did small update of teleporting lines at E1M1. Updated Dropbox link on top of thread.

 

Can't wait to give it a go!

On 11/28/2023 at 12:40 PM, Kam Tovalski said:

We are going to limit to stock textures and flats in this project, just to stick more to the 'plot'. The intermission screens will be replaced in the final release, just I need to come up with some ideas to them :D

So it is more like The Lost Episodes of Doom - only with better level design, hopefully?

52 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

So it is more like The Lost Episodes of Doom - only with better level design, hopefully?

Walter said me couple time, that there are some small similarites to 'The Lost Episodes...', although I did them unintentionally :D
There will be maps, that could also work as standalone wads as well.
So I guess statement is kinda true.

Played the first few levels of the wad, pretty awesome! Hope you enjoy the gameplay:

On 12/1/2023 at 4:11 PM, Rudolph said:

So it is more like The Lost Episodes of Doom - only with better level design, hopefully?

More something like a WAD compilation like Heroes or Wadpak series, at least i use this concept while making the maps...

Also, fun streaming @Hyacsho!

Okay, I finally started giving a shot, but already, I cannot help but notice something wrong with the level names.

For some reason, they do not quite match the names given in the OP. e.g. "E4M1: Earth" instead of "Down To Earth".

Because for vanilla Doom there's a charatchers limit in Dehacked editing, so for compromizing these limits i wrote the map names in that shortened way.

Okay, but why the "E4Mx" part? Is Episode 1 supposed to be replacing Episode 4?

2 hours ago, Rudolph said:

Okay, but why the "E4Mx" part? Is Episode 1 supposed to be replacing Episode 4?

@Rudolph Since we make it as a 'continuation' of original episodes 1-3, naming Ep. 1 as kind of episode 4 seems sensible. Just nice Walter's touch for details.

Also, If we name it as Episode 4 right away, you might seek for "Thy Flesh Consumed" at first sight.

And we don't call it as a replacement for Ep. 4, because in our timeline "TFC" didn't exist yet ;)

Then would it not make more sense to make it a Thy Flesh Consumed replacement? This would free some characters for the level names.

2 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

Then would it not make more sense to make it a Thy Flesh Consumed replacement? This would free some characters for the level names.

There will be more episodes: 5 and 6 ;)
(Or ep. 2 and 3 respectively)

5 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

Because for vanilla Doom there's a character limit in Dehacked editing, so for compromizing these limits i wrote the map names in that shortened way.

I think you can increase the character number by editing the second numerical value (Text xx xx) to match the new level name's character count (including spaces). I managed to do make "Down to Earth" appear entirely by changing the vanilla value "11" to "13".

I am a big fan this far :D

I always loved this charm of old maps done by very amateurish people that didn't knew anything about level design standards or level design by itself, but just made maps because they damn liked the game. Such maps really had a soul, despite sometimes being frustrating… You really kept that feeling, and "watered down" the frustrating part if I may say so. Really good work !

On 12/2/2023 at 10:08 PM, Walter confetti said:

More something like a WAD compilation like Heroes or Wadpak series, at least i use this concept while making the maps...

 

Also, fun streaming @Hyacsho!

AMazing experience, and I really want to finish it and make more videos on it. I'm never disappointed in anything I've seen from Tova, and so pleased to have found your work too!

Well, I began to play and record this map on DOOM.EXE and this is pure lovely stuff. I played the first three levels for now and it manages to catch the charm of cheesy 1994's tropes without caricaturing them as the maps have way more intuitive design than the actual maps made in 1994. I also really like how easy the maps are, it's the kind of stuff which exist to make you feel chill and nostalgic.

E1M3 is my favourite  map, damn those poorly rendered cars are cute and the idea to create fake overlapping floors with teleporters is neat ! Kam also seems to have good musical taste by choosing a music by Jean-Michel Jarre. His compositions really suit that old-school feel.

Now about the bugs :

E1M1

- Spotted some obvious tutti-fruttis (check at : 0:26 ; the step at 3:05 and the computer at 3:08 of the video)

- buggy midtex at 1:53

E1M3

- Some missing textures on steps near the blue key (check at 9:26 and 9:07)

- A buggy sector at the upper part of the parking (check at 5:30)

Keep it up men !

My videos so far :

Aren't tutti-frutti, HOM and missing textures add to the 1994 charm? At least i see It in this way... Thanks for playing, waiting to see what do you say for the next maps!

2 minutes ago, Walter confetti said:

Aren't tutti-frutti, HOM and missing textures add to the 1994 charm? At least i see It in this way... Thanks for playing, waiting to see what do you say for the next maps!

Maybe for the tutti-fruttis, but the missing textures and HOMS are still bugs that need to be fixed to me, no matter when the wad is released.