CRUD - 4-level Doom II Episode

[Moustachio]

 

CRUD is a four-level Doom II miniwad featuring short, simple maps that start out easy but get significantly harder by the end. I would liken the last map's difficulty to late-TNT, early-Plutonia. Each map uses only stock textures, and the whole wad can be finished in about 15 minutes or so. I did most of the graphics myself, but I did combine some skies by Mechadon. I used midis from Mark Klem's website as the soundtrack. No difficulty levels yet, that's about the only thing left to do.

 

Fully vanilla-compatible. Tested with DOOM2.exe v1.9 through DOSBox as well as GZDoom 4.5.0 and Chocolate Doom 3.1.0. Spoiler alert, the demos reveal some secrets.

 

MAP LIST

1. At Doom's Yett
2. Dungeon Crawl
3. Castle Halls
4. Residential Zone

 

Download from idgames

Edited March 6, 2021 by Moustachio : Had to change the name of the wad due to an obscure wad by the same name already residing in the archives.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Interesting, let me see if I try it quickly

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

CRUX

 

Ultra-Violence || Zandronum || Vanilla_I

 

Status:

Deaths → 0 (all maps)

Saves → none (all maps)

 

Map 01:

 

 

This map has been really brief, only fighting in a little closed places, and looking for each of the keys in places with really ingenious little traps, although the last one with the Pain Elemental has taken me by surprise, anyway, it was quite entertaining the map and it was not so difficult to overcome it.

 

Map 02:

 

 

Well, in this next map the difficulty has risen considerably, but even so, it was not a big problem having to exterminate all the creatures to obtain the necessary keys to advance in the progress, although that if, starting to add Enemies that have enough stamina already makes the situation a bit more intense, but still, it doesn't end up reaching the point of frustration, which is pretty good for me. The architecture has also seemed very interesting to me, because now it looked like a small castle with open rear areas and rooms with corridors.

 

Map 03:

 

 

In short, the difficulty is getting more intense, now being in a place with a structure of closed places, and with a lot of toxic soil, the fighting here is a bit tough, because the variety of enemies has been more resistant, both ground and air, and now you also included an Archvile surprise at the end, which, I really wondered when you were going to put it on some level, but it was nice that it was on the level before the last one, and I also have to thank the one that you will place the Plasma gun at the beginning of the level, because it really was very useful in the last meeting, great job.

 

Map 04:

 

 

This map has been really hard, this one if it reaches the same level as the difficulty of TNT, or almost equal to that of Plutonia, but in truth, if it was hard fighting that this final map brings with it, starting first with the architecture of the map. , again with certain closed spaces to fight during the beginning, and in the intermission, but then already in the last there is a huge open field in which a fair fight is armed with high resistance enemies, and very few weak enemies, Also taking into account one of the bosses selected for this area, the Archviles also appear with a little more frequency, and if they become annoying on certain occasions, but apparently, the arsenal offered along with the ammunition everywhere, They make the job a little easier, and the final part was very good in my opinion, I almost fell into the trap of the Archviles, but I managed to kill them all without dying very quickly. Great Wad that I have tried, this small set of maps was really spectacular, and I hope you get to create many more of this type, keep going, mate.

 

Extra:

Spoiler

Could you tell me how to find or discover the secret of the SoulSphere in that room? I really took a long moment of my time to try to discover where it was, but apparently I did not achieve anything, what do I have to do to obtain it?...

 

 

[Biodegradable]

Great set of simple fun maps to blast through, man. I had a ball... until the last map had me for breakfast lmao. Nah, while it is a doozy and drove me mad with that final room, it's a bomb set from beginning to end. Just a terrific fun romp with a classic feel to it that'll make any Doomer feel right at home. I loved it :^)

 

 

[Moustachio]

@ElPadrecitoCholo

@Biodegradable

 

Thanks for all the great comments so far, you two! Really glad you both enjoyed this short little set!

 

Unfortunately, due to there already being a crux.wad in the /idgames archive (and from 2008 too!), I had to "rebrand" the wad, so to speak.

 

CRUX is now known as CRUD.

 

Still no difficulty levels yet, but those along with an upload to the archive will come soon. In the meantime, I am hard at work on Atonement E4, which will come out shortly.

 

@ElPadrecitoCholo

 

There's a switch on the other side of the concierge desk in the lobby you exit the starting building from.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Moustachio

[Demon of the Well]

Hello, I played this early this morning. Here's an FDAs pack, skill 4.

 

Of note here is that in the current version of m04 you can easily reach a deadgame/softlock state by jumping out of the windows in the elevator hallway of the tall building where you first materialize on the bed; if you clear the wooden wall at ground level (not hard to do), there's no way back into the rest of the map, as happens in my FDA (I opted to kill myself with rocket splash and completed the map normally on the second try).

 

The overall feeling the set gives, I think, is something like the classic/familiar Scythe model of small/short/physically compact maps with very deliberate thing placement mated to the aesthetic and atmosphere of deep cuts from the Memento Mori series -- sort of a dusty brick/mortar ghost-town setup with something of an air of weary late afternoon light. After the very gentle touch of the first map, the action in the following three seemed to be defined foremost by the careful balance of resources supplied, particularly ammo, which lends a surprising weight to the generally very low monster counts, and gives the proceedings something of a grittier feel than one often encounters with these short/lightweight mapsets. Indeed, the austerity noose is at points tight enough (in pistol-start play at least) that certain secrets could be argued to be basically 'mandatory' for normal tactical viability (for example, m04's plasma rifle). This is certainly not something everyone approves of, though in my case I find it adds engaging nuance and depth to an experience generally meant to be finished very quickly.

 

I think that m03 is the pick of the bunch here, with its interwoven layout and plasma rifle focus which feels like an unusual contrast to the low-tech setting. The conclusion also reads better than m04's, as the thing balance means the last mob of creatures is likely to spill out of the final room at you, whereas m04's is more readily dissolved with a bit of rocket spam.

 

Oh yes, many props on the music selections, as well. Klem is almost never the worst choice, of course, but his tracks suit the mood of these maps perfectly. I was particularly pleased to hear "Breath" again, one of his very finest/most underrated, I can't remember the last time I heard that one in a PWAD. So, thanks for that.

[P41R47]

Now this is what i like, one of my favorite mappers making a good vanilla set.

Great to know you are back, pal!

This feels like a good snack before the new episodes of Atonement ;)

Oh shit, i'm actually drooling!

[ax34]

Thank You! I UV100%ed it with pleasure.

[Clippy]

 

[Moustachio]

CRUD is now on idgames!

[pcorf]

Looks great and love the brick and metal texture usage.

[NuMetalManiak]

Thoroughly enjoyed this nice quickie of a levelset. Quick, compact gameplay fit for speedrunning and designed well.

One issue I found, on MAP02, you can get on the doorstep of the blue door near the pain elemental and from there jump over the wall to the yellow key courtyard. If the blue key door isn't open, it means you can get stuck there since the backside of the blue key doors do not have actions.

[Moustachio]

9 hours ago, NuMetalManiak said:

...on MAP02, you can get on the doorstep of the blue door near the pain elemental and from there jump over the wall to the yellow key courtyard. If the blue key door isn't open, it means you can get stuck there since the backside of the blue key doors do not have actions.

 

Great catch there. Not sure if it's quite enough to warrant a patch since it is avoidable, but I will make a note of it for a possible future update.

[Egg Boy]

Fun stuff. I'm a fan of shorter sets, but this one left me wanting more. I was hoping the final map would be more than a tease at a full-on city map. The street you are given is nicely done visually, but in terms of gameplay it seems like a lot of monsters placed slap-dash, making for optimal in fighting. The last room is a bit annoying as well, a good portion of the monsters stuffed in here, your space is really challenged, that is, if you don't wait in the door way and then snipe the archviles off their towers. Overall, however, the set was really fun and reminded me of some of the best the 90s had to offer. Clean visuals, tight gameplay, unfortunate lack of a true city map.

[Suitepee]

https://youtu.be/dn-w_2QRkFo

 

My playthrough starts at around 1:12:00.

[terminator]

hi. just completed playing this map in [uv]. visually, the map has that pleasant simple vanilla touch, with matching great gameplay. however, the 4th (last) map was a leap above the rest in terms of gameplay difficulty. overall, a delightful mapset to indulge in. thank you for the awesome mapset release.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2021 by saibog

[Dimon12321]

Was just passing by.