Thy Flesh Turned Into a Draft-Excluder (DRAFTEX.WAD)

Cannonball debuted his first megaWAD, ConC.E.R.Ned, back in 2013. It was an OG Doom mapset that spanned three episodes worth of author growth. He followed up on the experience in 2014 with Thy Flesh Turned Into a Draft-Excluder, which pursued the Episode Four theme as rendered in Powell's own particular style. It's still limit-removing, much like his megaWAD, but there is a certain elegance in the architecture and combat that suggests that Cannonball has grown vastly as a mapper in the interim.

If you're wondering about the title, it's because the demons have kidnapped you from your flat in Basildon. which the author describes as a Hell unto itself. Coincidentally, its government home page is... orange. Anyway, demons steal you away in the middle of the night and release you to play a Hellish version of the most dangerous game, the punchline being that if they catch you they're going to skin and stuff you and turn you into a draft-excluder. Yup. You're not about to let yourself get turned into a glorified pillow, though. Can you escape Hell and your fate as a home decor object, or are you doomed to an existence of protecting the ultimate evil against modest chills?

I have a hard time believing that Draft Excluder is by the same author of CONCERN, at least until I hit some of the later, difficult levels, which feature a good selection of slaughter-caliber encounters. The level of craft feels... mature, for lack of a better term. It also has a nice variety of gameplay, running from scrappy Tyson to constant pressure from Cyberdemons to typical ruins-clearing to a map where most of the fighting is restricted to one big fight in a massive secret area. The later maps have their fair share of slaughters but they're usually paced much better than ConC.E.R.Ned's E3M8, which was more than I could really handle in the context of the original Doom.

So, yes. DRAFTEX is challenging. Some of it's sheer attrition and Powell does a good job of easing you into the slaughter scenarios that round out the back half but ultimately your ability to complete the PWAD will be based on whether you can handle battling Cyberdemons in some of the most awkward shootouts possible, just from crazy shit like back and forth teleporting (the terrible twins from "Temple of the Forbidden Gods") or three in a really cramped space ("Dungeons and Demons") or peak Cyberdemon saturation ("Palace of Destruction"). It never lasts long enough to feel like drudgery, though, and it comes with a host of fantastic landscapes and Hellish marble constructions to battle through.

Draft Excluder is a very cool Ultimate Doom episode and if this is any kind of an indication of Cannonball's current level of experience, I'm stoked to see what he'll come up with in the future. After all, he kind of has a Doom II megaWAD kicking around. If you love the Episode Four theme, especially when it comes with increasingly crazy gameplay, then you ought to give this one a shot.

THY FLESH TURNED INTO
A DRAFT-EXCLUDER
by Matt "Cannonball" Powell

The Lost Bastion

E4M1

Cannonball kicks things off with this nasty little level based on an outpost in the middle of a sea of blood. Resources are sparing and with all the imps and demons running around your greatest resource is a berserk pack, which should help you keep enough ammo around for the major badasses if you're unable to figure out how to get the rocket launcher, like me. Getting into the eastern annex is dangerous, but shotgun sniping should be rewarding. The western area has the rudest fight, a blind drop into the mix of things where you have to carve out a safe space.

E4M2

Putrefied Docklands

A dockside retreat with a sinister sentinel. Powell makes a bad situation worse by forcing you to run between the elevated marble flood walls while being shelled by rockets, not to mention a number of other confounding factors. When you finally bring the yellow key to the door, you open up another ambush that attempts to push you back into Cybie's loving arms. Of course, having a skyscraper with goat legs isn't as bad as it's often made out to be and if you snipe the hitscanners while you do your chores he will take out most of your opposition. All you have to do is not get blowed up. I like the scenic view into the next level's location...

Thy Mappeth Faileth

E4M9

Diabolical! This is a very simple yet very punishing level from Cannonball that relies on exposure and movement restriction. The hardest thing you'll have to do is make it through the opening blood trench while shotgun guys fire down on you from afar and demons impede your path. If you can get out and through the second tier you just have to weather a storm of projectile monsters including cacodemons that the Cyberdemon will be more than happy to help out with, after which you can administer the coup de grace.

E4M3

Ravine of the Damned

Powell knocks it out of the park with this difficult adventure level. The only way around the ravine is through some locked doors so you have to go deeper into the canyon, exploring the infested blood tunnels for the keys. The outer area is dangerous due to all the free-flying projectiles and the cacodemons that are hanging out, plus your limited move space. In the tunnels, it's mostly about traps, the worst of which comes with the blue key and will put your weapons to the test in a blaze of barons, imps and cacodemons. A very cool level; I really like the layout which instills a sense of place without sacrificing anything in terms of gameplay.

Nuclear Jellocide

E4M4

Another nasty level, this one in an odd fusion of marble and UAC base that is split wide by an enormous, green (but not toxic) aqueduct. The western area is where you spend your starting time, a wonderful network of organically shaped marble tunnels that connect some larger rooms that serve as your set piece locations. It's nothing too crazy, but Cannonball steps up the pressure in his fights with encounters like the rocket launcher trap or the big event which opens up monster closets from far away, serving as a classic way to pace the fight. The eastern area isn't as dangerous but has some neat architecture in stuff like that catwalk that extends into the aqueduct. The Spiderdemon alone fails to measure up to the penultimate fights, one of which includes barons and demons in a crowded room while the other floods the exit path with tons of space-hogging monsters, but I suppose it might serve as a rock or a hard place if you can't fight your way back through the invaders. Neat stuff.

E4M5

Life Support

This is an interesting, organic-shaped red rock level with lots of cherry-red goodness. The monster density is down a bit for most of the map with Cannonball looking toward sneakier encounters with a healthy amount of spectres stalking the darkness. The assemblage of rooms is interesting including a secret jaunt to an ominous void marked with cherry-red platforms that is your key to kickstarting the slaughter finale with an invulnerability sphere. The big finish floods the room with imps, demons, and cacodemons, plus a potential setup for some "Gotch!" infighting if you can hold out and line up the major players. Fun stuff.

Temple of the Forbidden Gods

E4M6

"Temple" takes the main gimmick of E4M2, multiplies it by two, and then drags it stomping and howling through the entire length of the map. The layout is ingenious, taking the player through the infernal construction on an epic trip that loops in on itself several times, eventually ending at the starting area where you can now push through to the exit. Along with all the monsters to kill, you'll have to dodge rockets the whole way through a variety of scenarios that separate the quick and the dead, with later instances involving both at the same time. The finale is an enormous clusterfuck that throws another two Cyberdemons at you from up high while the terrible twins teleport back and forth, plus a bunch of cacodemons and lost souls that turn it into a maelstrom of explosive death. An ingenious work of relentless pressure.

E4M7

Dungeons and Demons

An odd change of pace. A large portion of this level's action is tucked away in a secret annex, visible from the northeast wing. It's easy to find, but difficult to best off the bat as stepping inside unleashes a massive swarm of cacodemons from almost every direction. Your reward is presumably the plasma rifle in the center, which is guarded by a pack of barons, but I think that coming back with the BFG would be a better use of your resources. Speedrunners are welcome to show me the error of my ways. The real finale turns up the heat with three Cyberdemons in very close quarters, plus the usual space hogs.

Palace of Destruction

E4M8

Of course, if you knew Cannonball you could have figured everything was leaning toward this moment. "Palace" is a big ol' slaughtermap, though not as insane as the stuff that ended ConC.E.R.Ned. I mean, dodging Cyberdemon rockets as you run back and forth through the palace to unlock the BFG is pretty intense, but for whatever reason I really enjoy the pacing of this map since it's locked at 350+ enemies, most of which will be carelessly slain via infighting. The only encounters you really have to think about are the dead drops for the blue and red keys. After that, it's a careful, twisty BFG zerg as you attempt to cleanse the grounds of your lethal foes. The ending can't quite live up to the verve of the main action but it's a very cool level through and through.

This post is part of a series on
Doomworld's 2014 Cacowards

The Top Ten	Best Multiplayer	Runners Up
Going Down	32in24-13	Bauhaus
The Adventures of Square	Push	Bloody Steel
Back to Saturn X: Episode 2	Rage CTF	Mayhem 2048
Plasmaplant	Best Gameplay Mod	Whitemare 2
Shadows of Chronos	DemonSteele	You Dig
Monster Hunter Ltd. 1/2	Mordeth Award	The Wailing Horde
Resurgence	Doom 2 in Name Only	Reconstruction/
Mayan Mishap	Mockaward	Decomposition
Urban Brawl: Dead of Winter	Brutalist Doom
Thy Flesh Turned Into a Draft Excluder	Mapper of the Year
	Joshy