Master Levels for Doom II

as featured in Super Serials

ATTACK	BLACKTWR	BLOODSEA	CANYON
CATWALK	COMBINE	FISTULA	GARRISON
GERYON	MANOR	MEPHISTO	MINOS
NESSUS	PARADOX	SUBSPACE	SUBTERRA
TEETH	TTRAP	VESPERAS	VIRGIL

ADDITIONAL WORKS OF THE MASTERS

Anderson	Flynn	Klie	Kvernmo	Mustaine	Willits
ACHERON	ANOMALY	BF_THUD!	ARENA	MM	DOOM
DANTE	ENIGMA	CDK_FURY	DERELICT	PERDGATE	KICKDM
DOOM	ETERNAL	CHRISK	ECHELON	TNT	RAVEN
RECANT	FARSIDE	DEVICE_1	ETERNAL	TWM01	STRIFE
	INTZONE	DMZ	FLOOD
	MINES	E_INSIDE	STORM
	ORACLE	HIVE	THE_EVIL
	SURROUND	SMUDGE	TODEATH
	TROUBLE	THE_CPU	WATCHTWR

This article serves as an index for my reviews of the Master Levels for Doom II as well as a brief overview of the relevant material as is my wont. Those wanting a far more thorough documentation of the Master Levels can find it here, containing interviews, walkthroughs, and other technical stuff. I'll try to hit the important notes. At least, I'll try to hit the notes that are important to me.

id Software superstar Shawn Green contracted a number of authors based on around 500 levels he had downloaded from various sources on the Internet. Those chosen were Christen David Klie, Tim Willits, John "Dr. Sleep" Anderson, Jim Flynn, Tom Mustaine and Sverre Kvernmo, who was a last-minute addition (as one of the original authors, who remains unknown, had to drop out). Mustaine didn't have any solo levels available at the time, but he was the lead contributor to a deathmatch compilation, #1DWANGO.WAD. Finally, as mentioned in the unofficial FAQ (and in the relevant .TXTs), Tim Willits' sister Theresa Chasar was co-designer on both WADs traditionally credited to him, ATTACK.WAD and CANYON.WAD.

The scope of the project was kind of nebulous. Some of the authors believed that they were possibly contributing to a single, cohesive megaWAD for Doom II while others believed the project was mainly a showcase of what authors could do at the time. Green and Romero insisted that the project was never anything more than a collection of 20 (heh) PWADs, feeling like a nod toward the Doom community, which had virtually exploded upon the release of stable map editors. Green didn't really direct the participants in any way except to maintain design standards and rein in the difficulty. The end product is an assortment of high-quality single level replacements from some of the best and brightest of Doom's architects. They vary greatly in size and difficulty but I believe that they're all worthy additions to any WAD collection.

Of course, the original Master Levels for Doom II came with Maximum Doom, id's own version of the shovelware compilations other software companies had been putting out. id themselves so much as admitted they barely put any thought into the collection, probably about as much thought as the average shovelware production. The patron saint of oldstuff, FunDuke, documented the product about as thoroughly as humanly possible, the fruits of his labors available here. Unsurprisingly, every author who took part in the Master Levels has a number of WADs available on Maximum Doom, excepting Kvernmo. His submitted material consisted of excerpts from a megaWAD he was working on, the Cabal, and was thus unreleased at the time. Privately, I wonder if the mysterious project drop-out has his levels on the disc as well...

"Master" doesn't denote the level of skill required to play these WADs (well, most of them anyway). Rather, it indicates a level of skill involved in creating professional quality maps for Doom II. I would stand any of these offerings up against any map from Doom II. There's a broad variety of styles to be found in these levels as well as other works from the same authors. It's no wonder that five out of six of these authors went on to work in the gaming business, Willits and Mustaine most famously.

Christen David Klie is the master of fun, disposable gameplay. All of his works are restricted in size and monster content as they were optimized to run on his less than optimal computer. He represents the antithesis of Eternal Doom and beyond, which is amusing considering that two other authors of the Master Levels, Sverre Kvernmo and Jim Flynn, are known for their larger, more involved maps (some of which appear in the collection). The smaller size allows Klie to get away with gameplay elements that would typically result in a smashed keyboard or thrown mouse, among them being certain death traps. His Doom II magnum opus, BF_THUD!, exemplifies level design as popcorn. His Master Levels showcase this style but with a noticeably higher production value, no doubt due to working with id directly.

Tim Willits executes a style that feels in some ways similar to Klie's, focusing on smaller maps with fun, disposable gameplay, only with more attention to aesthetics. Much of Willits's official Doom work appears to have been in tandem with his sister, Theresa Chasar, such that it's difficult to tell who was responsible for what when it's not specifically stated. Generally, however, you can expect plenty of fighting and the use of all three keys, on top of decent if not great texturing and detailing (though their earliest Raven maps are a bit rough around the edges). While the combined efforts of Willits and Chasar never reach the sheer spectacle of maps like Kvernmo's Black Tower, their efforts have a solid workman-like quality that stands shoulder to shoulder with much of what id produced.

Tom Mustaine's work isn't that well-exhibited outside of commercial releases, but the man is just as much a Master as the other authors. His works lack any sense of pretension; he seems comfortable sticking to smaller maps with tighter gameplay and a very strong handle on aesthetics. In fact, I'd go so far as to call him the master of MAP01. ParadoX, his sole Master Level, is in a bit of a different cut, being a bit larger and featuring some understandable symmetry given the fact that it's based around a castle keep, but it's no less enjoyable than his works present in the several megaWADs he's contributed to (Memento Mori, TNT Evilution, and Perdition's Gate). Historians note that MAP01 and 17 of Evilution are Master Level rejects, eventually published by id in another format. Fans of Mustaine will find Perdition's Gate to be a cornucopia of delights, featuring compact level design and fantastic vistas you won't see otherwise.

John Anderson's use of lighting and detailing made him one of the earliest icons of amateur Doom mapping. His levels are commonly a mixture of marble, mortar and metal, sometimes eschewing one element altogether. Anderson's gameplay is generally uncomplicated with instant-reveal traps and clever teleporters being the norm, rather than presenting you with fights that look difficult on their face. If you try out the latest versions of his freeware classics, Dante's Gate and Crossing Acheron, and find them enthralling, his Master Levels are essentially the same (with some great twists). It's a shame that he never finished his small plan of works, with Lethe still unreleased (and Chiron, ahem, "downgraded" to Ultimate Doom), but if any mapper's levels were worth including in the Master Levels, Anderson's would be the ones.

While Jim Flynn may not have pioneered the Eternal Doom aesthetic, he certainly pioneered its style of gameplay. Flynn's maps are with few exceptions massive with a host of puzzles to solve, oftentimes venturing away from Doom's run and gun playstyle. He also brought a unique sense of aesthetics to the table, using strange texture combinations in a consistent manner, evoking a surreal experience. The majority of Flynn's work is available outside of the Master Levels, but his two submissions are triumphs of adventure and gameplay, respectively, and I can recommend no greater author for Doom players who count themselves as explorers. Additionally, Flynn stands among the Team TNT developers responsible for the Boom engine, making him one of the grandfathers of many of the source ports currently kicking around.

Sverre Kvernmo strikes an odd balance between John Anderson's tight, gorgeous levels and Jim Flynn's expansive, puzzle-filled maps. I would also hazard to say that no other author has such a difference between their commercial work and what is freely available. His freely-released Cabal levels lack the polish of his Master submissions, which while excellent, fail to compare to his wonderlands found within Eternal Doom. His maps also rank among the most challenging of his peers, as evinced by such encounters as The Express Elevator to Hell. He uses a broad variety of traps in ingenious manners in addition to making monster battles that are just difficult in a straightforward manner. If you want a professional-grade map that kicks you around without the solution being too obscure, Kvernmo's your man.

For more info on the Master Levels for Doom II, you can check out the wiki (pretty handy stuff). Doomworld forum superstar Herculine did a pretty thorough retrospective on her blog. It's good for some Second Opinions, not that you need any because you either have the Master Levels already or are going to get them right this second, mister / miss!

ARE YOU A MASTER BLASTER?

This project is part of a series on
id's ICONS OF SIN

Doom		Heretic
(Thy Flesh Consumed)		(Shadow of the Serpent Riders)
Doom II		Hexen: Beyond Heretic
Master Levels for Doom II		(Deathkings of the Dark Citadel)
Final Doom		Chex Quest
TNT: Evilution	The Plutonia Experiment	Strife: Quest for the Sigil
Console Doom		The Wraith Corp MegaWADs
Doom 64		Perdition's Gate	Hell to Pay
No Rest For the Living		HACX