Pazuzu (Wings of Possession) (PAZUZU.WAD)

PAZUZU

WINGS OF POSSESSION

by T. Elliot Cannon

aka "Myscha the Sled Dog"

T. Elliot Cannon has a brief but promising Doom II authorship that was cut down in its prime by being hired to work on Unreal at the recommendation of John Anderson of Master Levels For Doom II fame. He released the raw, cramped, and switch-crazy Iditarod; the charming architectural delight of Odyssey;  and then published the lone but formidable Diabolos, all three PWADs being uploaded to /idgames in 1996. His last known single-player idtech1 creation was this: Pazuzu (Wings of Possession), a MAP01 replacement for Doom II, similarly released in 1996, about a month after he interred the rest of his known single-player maps.

Diabolos (DIABOLOS.WAD)

DIABOLOS

by T. Elliot Cannon

aka "Myscha the Sled Dog"

A lot of Doom WAD authors from the '90s went on to work in the gaming industry. We're very familiar with names like Dario and Milo Casali, Tom Mustaine, Sverre Kvernmo... but less so with dudes like T. Elliot Cannon. TEC authored eight of the original Unreal's 38 single-player maps but started out cutting his teeth on Doom II. If you aren't much of a WAD archaeologist then Cannon's name will probably be unfamiliar. His biggest legacy as far as community recognition is concerned is as one of the founding fathers of The Talosian Incident, but he also authored some deathmatch levels, including contributions to Team TNT's Bloodlands and Grievance. Myscha--his handle is based on the name of one of his beloved dogs--didn't end up authoring any maps for TALOSIAN, but if he had, then we'd have some very different things to say about it, based on Diabolos. This is a MAP01 replacement for Doom II, released in 1996.

Odyssey (ODYSSEY.WAD)

T. Elliot Cannon went on to have a relatively robust career in the video game industry beginning with Unreal, but he got his start--like so many others--with Doom. It appears that Cannon's heyday was focused on the period where the community was anticipating Quake. I initially thought that the Ancients Series marked Cannon's first forays into single-player level design. These maps appear to have been individually released at earlier dates and then were packaged together and re-released as Odyssey, perhaps around the time that TEC authored Iditarod. Both PWADs were uploaded to /idgames on 07 Apr. 1996. After looking at the .TXTs for his deathmatch packages for SLEDDOG and GRISHA, however, I am inclined to believe that the true production order was something more like SLEDDOG, IDITAROD, most of Odyssey, and then Grisha. Unfortunately, with the death of Compuserve, there's no log of Cannon's original releases, and the deathmatch packages do not appear to have made it to /idgames. Odyssey as it exists here is a five-map minisode for Doom II, replacing MAP01-MAP05.

Secret Lab (#SLAB.WAD)

SECRET LAB

by "Sphagne"

Community Chest contributor Sphagne uploaded the majority of his works to /idgames in mid-2002 but the levels themselves were purportedly crafted from 1995-1999. There are quite a few holes in the collection. For instance, Simphony of Death is the first of his creations that is available and he notes that it is actually his second. This one, Secret Lab, is the second upload from the collection but it's his fourth creation. Like the rest of his works, it is a Doom II MAP01 replacement. Given when it was created and his admission that he was unaware of online communities, it would appear that #SLAB ought to be vanilla-compatible. It appears, however, to have been tested in Boom and ZDoom prior to upload.

Hell Pit (HELL_PIT.WAD)

HELL PIT

by Mike Alfredson aka "Use3D"

Mike's most recent release was as part of Ultimate Doom the Way id Did but he's been a low key contributor to big names like the Community Chest series and Back to Saturn X. Not to forget the original DtWiD, of course. All of his solo single-level publications are effectively archival releases and generally old ones at that, either from the category of "Nilla Doom reject" or "old level that predates Nilla Doom". I assume, anyway, as the former levels go out of their way to say that they were made for and then cut from the running order of his in-development megaWAD. Like Soulcage, Hell Pit is a map from the latter category, a Doom II MAP26 replacement that was handcrafted back in 1996 only to be uploaded much later in early 2004.

Sacrifice (Doom Tutorial) (SACRIF.ZIP)

SACRIFICE

A DOOM TUTORIAL

by John "Gestalt666" Bye

I made some assumptions on Bye's back catalog based on the way in which they were uploaded to the archive but I've come to find out that Sacrifice was actually his first published level. In 1996 he converted it to a Doom II map and then offered it up to the community along with a slightly worked-over version as a sort of Goofus / Gallant pairing. His intent was to illustrate some freshman foibles in order for beginners to have a better idea on how to handle part of PWADcraft's essential window dressing. This is the equivalent of polishing a turd due to the source material but John does show in a few instances that a bare minimum of work can breathe a bit of life into stale scenes.

The Subway (C4SUBWAY.WAD)

THE SUBWAY

by John "Gestalt666" Bye

When Bye released The Park in mid-'96 his Cygnus IV episode was just beginning. The author had despaired of the amount of effort that he had poured into Magnum Opus and was focusing on shorter levels. With the publishing of The Subway a few months afterward, though, his work was nearly complete; the original version would release later in September. This single map offering was a primer for the sort of level design that prospective players could expect from the entire adventure. It's a MAP09 replacement for Doom II and if you've already played CYGNUS20 then you can check out because, much like PARK, C4SUBWAY is functionally identical to the finished product. It has the same backing track, too, so you don't even get that novelty.

The Park (PARK.WAD)

THE PARK
by John J. "Spook" Bye

Bye released a handful of small, single releases before declaring his Magnum Opus, after which he vowed to stick to less time-consuming level design. The result of this three-month creative streak would outpace his previous levels in just about every aspect and result in his most accomplished solo work - Cygnus IV. Two of its maps actually saw additional publication in 1996 - apart from the not-quite-megaWAD. The Park is the first of them, being the opening level of the episode. It's a MAP01 replacement for Doom II. Spoiler alert: if you've already played the entire fourteen-level publication then this offers absolutely no mechanical differences.

Magnum Opus (MAGNUMOP.WAD)

MAGNUM OPUS

by John "Spook" Bye

It's interesting that Bye felt comfortable using this title since he would go on to craft the Cygnus IV episode / megaWAD and then tag team The Talosian Incident with Malcolm Sailor. Not to forget his two submissions to The Darkening E1, of course. Magnum Opus occurs relatively early in his career history. This MAP01 replacement for Doom II was released in 1996 and marks an important turning point that points the way toward his future productions. First, John tries his hand at crafting his own soundtrack and delivers a simple and moody piece. Second, the author was apparently dissatisfied with the amount of time spent making the level. He vowed to spend his future on less "huge" levels, possibly creating a series composed of smaller ones.

Hall of the Mountain King (HALLMONT.WAD)

HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING

by John "Spooky" Bye

Bye's early authorial career showed that he was willing to work with some crazy ideas. CyberDoom portrayed a virtual world whose structures represented hyperlinked websites in cyberspace. Gardens of Delight dialed back on the madness as a fairly mundane chateau / castle kind of thing. Hall of the Mountain King went even further, taking the promising static light work of GARDENSD and cranking it up at the expense of any semblance of interesting architecture. It differs from his earliest material in that it's actually an E1M1 replacement for the original Doom but it still hails from 1996.

Garden of Delight (GARDENSD.WAD)

GARDEN OF DELIGHT

by John Bye

Bye went on to have a career in the games industry but he got his start by reviewing user maps for Doom. It wasn't long before he began to make them. John's work is glazed over in current discussions of the community's history because his peak style does not reflect the overall trend toward action-oriented mapsets as depicted in Erik Alm-centric retrospectives. In some ways his goals as a level designer were and remain diametrically opposed to the zeitgeist of what we are calling the "modern" era. Garden of Delight is as good a showcase as any of his tendencies. Released in 1996 after CyberDoom, it's a MAP01 replacement for Doom II.

RRWARD03 (RRWARD03.WAD)

RRWARD03

by Richard R. Ward

Rich published a couple of large and wicked cool levels back in 1994, RRWARD01 and RRWARD02. In 1996 he uploaded part of the remains of his aborted Doom episode, Nocternal Missions, to be followed by a last gasp in 2003. RRWARD03, the first of the two later releases, is just as much an E1M1 replacement. It's a very different level in scope, though, which makes me wonder just what Ward was up to with the entries that didn't "[work] out very well". .TXT appears to describe the mapset as it was intended to be and mentions "bad jokes, weird maps and lots of bloodshed as only DOOM can bring it to you". My interest is certainly piqued; the author is unfortunately some fifteen-odd years distant from being convinced to show us the rest.

RRW_D201 (RRW_D201.WAD)

RRW_D201

by Richard R. Ward

Rich released a couple of well-regarded levels in '94 and then went through the trouble of converting his very first release (RRWARD01) to Doom II. The end result is RRW_D201, a MAP01 replacement released in 1996. Ward may have eventually intended to bring RRWARD02 up to the same sort of package as his later publications since this "port" includes his common custom status bar and difficulty settings, a few of which appear to contain Monty Python references. He appears to have been done with Doom as of '96, though, after releasing the finished portions of his failed Knee Deep in the Dead replacement.

Capone's Pit (PIT08.WAD)

CAPONE'S PIT

by "Capone"

The author known as Capone had a brief stint in early 1997, finishing the quasi-notorious AOL Girls Museum during that period but uploading it to the archive a year and a half later. He didn't make many levels but his few releases were short and not particularly challenging or even inventive; all of them but AOLGIRLS claim to use a pre-existing map for a base. Capone's Pit is the first of these, a Doom II MAP01 replacement released at the tail end of 1996. It doesn't mention what the original source was; I presume that it shared the PIT moniker and was maybe a Deathmatch level but none of the stuff I looked at fit. I didn't try too hard, though.

No Sun Series

THE NO SUN SERIES

by Malcolm Sailor

as featured in Super Serials

NOSUN	NOSUN2
NOSUN3	NOSUN4
NOSUN5

Malcolm is much better known for his CHORD series - specifically CHORD_NG, CHORDG, and CHORD3 - but he had another span of single-level releases that spanned from 1996 to 1997. The NOSUN levels are an interesting bridge between his early works, which felt increasingly aligned with the authors of Master Levels for Doom II, and his time spent working as part of Black Star Coven and John Bye. I assume that both Bye and Anderson served as an influence in the way Sailor approached lighting as detailing. While the location / adventure-oriented level design did not survive through to the final stage of his authorial career it's an interesting period to consider.

No Sun 2 (NOSUN2.WAD)

NO SUN 2

by Malcolm Sailor

While he did most of his mapping during his early teens, MS is primarily known for his CHORD series because of its soul-crushing difficulty and gorgeous, detailed environments. If you forget about his contributions to The Talosian Incident then you might be surprised to find him responsible for another series, this one actually attempting to draw a narrative through its action across a grand total of five entries. NOSUN2 is understandably the second level and was re-released in 1997 though I strongly suspect that it was originally published toward the end of 1996. Like most of the levels released by Malcolm, it's a MAP01 replacement for Doom II.

Sequel to Quick is Good (QUIKISG2.WAD)

SEQUEL TO QUICK IS GOOD

by Malcolm Sailor

MS began with DARKER in 1995 and then slowly honed his authorial skillset into the perfectionist machine that crafted the CHORD series. It's most fondly remembered for its last two levels, published in 1999 (CHORDG) and 2000 (CHORD3). In 1996, the author was beginning to indulge in longer maps with a more developed story by way of his NOSUN series but he still had a strong affection for Short and Hard levels. Enter the imaginatively-titled Sequel to Quick is Good, antecedent to QUIKISGD. It and NOSUN2 might just be the last things that he released in 1996. QUIKISG2 is a MAP01 replacement for Doom II, much like the majority of Malcolm's levels.

Skull (SKULL.WAD)

SKULL

by Malcolm Sailor

The young MS has left behind a sizable collection of levels for Doom II but you might not know that he crafted a paltry single map for the original. Skull is an E1M1 replacement released in 1996 after the dual publication of Go Away and NOSUN, the latter starting its similarly-titled series. It's interesting to see Malcolm try his hand at a format that's far more restrictive than the palette of monsters found in the Doom II rogues' gallery. What would his combat be without the screaming revenants, oppressive arch-viles, or corpulent mancubi and arachnotrons? Can you even live without the constant threat of a chaingunner suddenly appearing? Err, nevermind the last one.

No Sun (NOSUN.WAD)

NO SUN

by Malcolm Sailor

MS was a fairly prolific author of maps if not at the same production rate as workaholic wunderkinds like Paul Corfiatis. His biggest claim to fame was his CHORD series, probably followed by his contributions to The Talosian Incident as part of Black Star Coven. The former showcased outstanding architecture, lighting, and grueling combat while the latter had him developing short but scene-setting levels to further a narrative through the limitations of idtech1's gameplay. His work on TALOSIAN may have ultimately directed his talents toward the aesthetic of the CHORD levels but I'd like to think that NOSUN - a MAP01 replacement for Doom II who also kicks off its own sequential series - is the work that caught John Bye's attention.

Go Away (GOAWAY09.WAD)

GO AWAY

by Malcolm Sailor

The man who composed the CHORD series had a pretty meager start to his authorship (DARKER) but by his third major release - DS-61-3.ZIP, a collection of six PWADS packaged in a .ZIP file - he was making maps that would have easily fit among the Master Levels for Doom II. GOAWAY09 furthers his trend. Originally uploaded alongside the beginning of his NOSUN series in 1996, this MAP01 replacement eschews the Quick is Good philosophy made manifest in the previous release and aims at something a fair bit larger if not just as challenging. He didn't abandon his direction toward short bits of action; more on that later in SHRTHARD.