Make, test, post. (MKTSTPST.WAD)

MAKE, TEST, POST.

by "Memfis"

Memfis has long had a love-affair with quirky stuff from Doom's '90s period. The vast majority of his catalogue leading up to and following really doesn't reflect the attitude represented in Kuchitsu, however, outside of perhaps Green Day. His smaller solo releases were more representative of his love for classic megaWADs like Requiem (REQUIMEM), Memento Mori II (MM2MEM01), and Phobos: Relive the Nightmare (RELIVEX2). 2013's Kuchitsu appears to have marked the seismic shift in his predilections, with the author continuing playing with more offbeat level design ideas in pus06, How Eye Killed Time, and--of course--Garbage. Make, test, post. was originally published to the Doomworld forums on November 14th of 2013. A MAP07 replacement for Doom II to be played in theoretically any limit-removing port, it continues the author's ongoing fascination with quirky, DoomCute elements.

MKTSTPST doesn't have a plot, which Memfis maps rarely ever do. However, the author DID share some insight as to his inspirations for this particular map. I didn't see it on my playthrough because I was more focused on a general trend of goofy stuff, but Memfis was specifically drawing inspiration from Kama Sutra. The two major influences were its quasi-realism--particularly check out the club that the player starts in--and, in a manner in which I didn't realize, its combat. One of KSUTRA's quirks, which may not be evident given its status as a supa-hard megaWAD, is that the player is rarely if ever subjected to lock-in fights a la Erik Alm. There is generally a place to retreat to, and point zero in Make, test, post. is the expansive barroom area in which the level begins.

I had previously inferred that Memfis may have been drawing on KSUTRA with pus06, but this was pure speculation, and the way in which both of its levels play--lots of player pressure of the lock-in variety--demonstrate that this comparison is less than apt. Or, well, maybe the author had more fun emulating Vojta and Razak's combat stylings. Posts around this time suggest that the author lost some of his desire to make arbitrarily challenging levels around this time; I'm curious to see how subsequent levels turn out. MKTSTPST is still a thorny level--don't get me wrong--but it has more of an emphasis on the tactical sort of gunplay that Team KSUTRA shot for and which, to some extent, pipicz brought to Bloodstain. I think that there's only one real "trapped" encounter where you have to jump down into a pit with some adjacent monster bunkers.

One thing that might get you, because it almost got me and apparently manifested in some of the people playing it for the first time: there's a super shotgun plain as day in the fountain area with all the medikits. Something about it makes it really easy to overlook, though. I think that I glanced past it on my first attempt and died (in the fireplace secret) and only saw it the second time around. The final area may be the single most troublesome encounter of the entire map but, again, Memfis allows the player to retreat into the lounge where the arachnotrons can't follow you and which has a window that looks into the yard.

In terms of classic Doom quirkiness, Memfis channels Vojta in not only the opening lounge but other areas as well, like a fountain plaza right by the starting area. There's one fun 90s style swinging door effect, though it's more of a pop open like you're slamming out of a saloon. One of the DoomCute embellishments got me trapped. There's a shoreline with a paddle boat and oar that has both a stone and wooden fence preventing the player from visiting it. A late addition to add some detailing to the level, though, fosters a mountain goat moment where you can vault over the stone wall and head down to the beach. The author never intended you to visit, so while you can have some fun looking at unfinished level geometry, there's no way to get back to the playing area without using a cheat of some kind. 

The overall vibe of this level is something like modern map flow with its minimum but still required backtracking to clearly signposted areas plus Kama Sutra aesthetics and combat pacing plus a bit more laid-back combat. The music track completes the image, sounding something like a swashbuckling Mark Klem tune. Memfis attributes the music to, uh, a ZDaemon coop PWAD called Shogun Trogun that, being a crusty solo player, I've never heard of before. Maybe someone can help confirm or deny whether it's a Klem Koncerto. In any case, I would have handily played a full megaWAD of feel-good levels like this.

Make, test, post. is a fun, short, but substantial adventure. If you find Memfis's gameplay to push you a bit too hard with health and ammo or too dangerous when battling bigger monsters, then you ought to give this one a shot.

DON'T TEST ME