Suteni (SUTENI.WAD)

SUTENI

by "Memfis" and Aleks Shahov aka "Plut"

Memfis has had a long and obscenely productive authorial career. 2011-2012 was a sort of warming-up period, followed by an even more prolific string of ideas in 2013-2015. Suteni isn't the last of his '12 period - that honor belongs to Horalky - but it wasn't uploaded into 2014, part of a huge dump to /idgames. Of all his early releases it's distinct for being a tag team feature. I dunno what sort of relationship Memfis and Plut had back in 2012 but they appear to share some similar interests. After all, they both cameoed in the French community's 3 Heures d'Agonie II. On this particular occasion they collaborated to produce a MAP01 replacement for Doom II that affirms compatibility with limit-removing ports.

Hellscape (DHS-LUTZ.WAD)

A large portion of Chris's inimitable career has been spent taking classic Doom themes and rendering them in his particular idiom. This began with his debut, Inferno, but extends to Phobos: Anomaly Reborn as well as several aborted attempts at a similar E2 scenario. Doom the Way id Did's "Lake of Fire" and No End In Sight's "Poison Control" were more id-oriented but the latter's "The Blood Beneath" is a considerable E4 take. I dunno how long Lutz had kicked around this particular idea but The Dying End, its MAP29, was released individually in 2007. Not as a teaser or anything; as far as I know there was zero indication that Hellscape was in development until its public unveiling in 2015. This Doom II episode was finally released in 2017 and replaces MAP21-MAP30, Chris's least favorite run of levels in the original campaign. The bare-minimum compatibility is Boom / MBF but the author suggests using a port with more complex Z-clipping, e.g. ZDoom.

The Tyrell Corporation (TYRELL.WAD)

THE TYRELL CORPORATION

by Brad Spencer

The Brad who goes by "Vorpal" has a fair bit of prestige. His Atomic Tomb, released in 2000, was named one of Doomworld's Top 10 WADs of 2000. He was also one of the main not-Anders Johnson voices behind Alien Vendetta, responsible for part of the character of its second episode. He had a bit of a hiatus but he's still making Doom maps. His pre-AV career consists of a roughly even mix of single / coop levels and deathmatch. Something missing called AMBUSHA was his first released level but it isn't on the archives. Instead, we have 1999's The Tyrell Corporation. It's a MAP01 replacement for Doom II and is recommended for ZDoom. I see that the actual geometry is probably limit-removing but Spencer makes use of MAPINFO and MOD music files so you might as well.

Inn-Escapable (INNESC3.WAD)

INN-ESCAPABLE

by Mike "Impie" MacDee

Mike debuted in the community making relatively vanilla Doom II levels in terms of action if not necessarily the intended settings. Impie made his first major mark exploring the Cthulhu mythos with Strange Aeons but he also delved into Alone In the Dark's Derceto manor. He additionally riffed on a toy line (MAX1 and MAX2, the latter for Heretic). Inn-Escapable doesn't reference a recognizable property because it actually comes from a series of one-off adventures that he composed for the HeroQuest board game. It doesn't look like it's currently available on his website, though. INNESC is a MAP01 replacement for Doom II that apparently requires a ZDoom-family port but not for any obvious reason. Jumping is not recommended as it could break the level.

The Chemical Base (CHEMICAL.WAD)

THE CHEMICAL BASE

by Pablo Dictter

Pablo was another prolific figure during the source port boom beginning in 1999 but mostly from 2000 and on. He rubbed elbows with the likes of his soul brother Tobias Münch as well as the Abhiram brothers (Karthik and Varun) and even found his way into the Alien Vendetta lineup. Dictter made a lot of levels but something like half of them - all early works - didn't find their way to /idgames. It's no wonder then that his first-archived material shows a lot of craft in, if not making interesting layouts or room shapes, adding a lot of visual panache. The Chemical Base is a MAP01 replacement for Doom II and was released somewhere on the borderline between 2000 and 2001. The WAD itself has an older timestamp while the .TXT leans toward the latter.

Dissolution (DISTION.WAD)

Bryant (aka "Gunrock") and Kevin ("The Solution") Robinson made Project Slipgate some time in 2001. It was a Quake-themed outing that explored the cool but sparingly-used (at least in the original campaign) "Complex" scheme as well as darker, disturbing fortresses. It also had something of a Doom 64 feel due to colored lighting, heavy atmosphere, and other aspects. The brothers decided to revisit the aesthetic with a side-story, released in 2002. Dissolution is yet another episode for ZDoom. It replaces MAP01-MAP07, though it's worth noting that the opener is a cinematic sweep of a fortress and neither requires nor takes any player input.

Blind Alley P., The Boardwalk (BNDALYP.WAD)

BLIND ALLEY P.

THE BOARDWALK

by Gene Bird

The original CCHEST - and, to a lesser extent, its sequel - gets a bad rap nowadays. Part of this is due to Gene's involvement, or rather looking back without its original context and holding the project to an unrealistic standard. Community Chest didn't have a lot of motivation beyond "Did you ever want to see a level of yours as part of a megaWAD?" Some folks made new ones. Others like Bird and Sphagne did not and opted to submit from their own, singles-heavy back catalogue. G.B.'s series was called Blind Alley and eight of its fifteen levels can be found in the first as well as CCHEST2. These maps began as part of a larger, more ambitious megaWAD and were released piecemeal as Gene finalized them. The Boardwalk originally occupied the MAP25 slot is MAP01 here mostly for ease of play, I imagine (the author suggests idmus25 or 22 for music). It ought to work in any port, including vanilla, though Bird recommends the use of something more advanced.

Overheat (OVERHEA1.WAD)

OVERHEAT

by "Memfis"

Memfis has tried on a variety of different WAD themes. Some of them, like ICARUMEM and RELIVEX2, were explicitly based on classic-era releases if not in the absolute content then the texture schemes represented in them. Others e.g. Kurogane are more vanilla but each one tends to have its own little twist. Overheat was originally published to the Doomworld forums in 2012 but, like so many other things by Memfis, only found its way to /idgames in mid-2014. It's a MAP01 replacement for Doom II and is theoretically vanilla-compatible but an engine bug restricts it to limit-removing ports that have squashed the "Medusa" effect.