DS-61-3 (DS-61-3.ZIP)

DS-61-3

by Malcolm Sailor

ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM
LAB	BOOM
WASTEME	SINFERNO

I think it was way more common in the early days of Doom but it was still relatively uncommon to find someone who had uploaded a .ZIP that collected single-level PWADs. The biggest exception in my recent memory would be jazzmaster's 32-in-32 series. In any case, two of Malcolm's earliest - and largest - releases were done in this style of compilation. 3PACK_1 collected one earlier level for an update and added two for an odd three. DS-61-2 doubled the fun with six PWADs and this time they were all originals. Most of its contents saw an update in 1996 as part of the DS-61-3 package. Both are named after Darth Vader's wing men in the first Star Wars movie. Based on the timestamp for FROMDREM I'm pretty sure that the original date of publication was late 1995 but I would need a copy of the first release to verify my assumption.

SINFERNO (SINFERNO.WAD)

SINFERNO

by Malcolm Sailor

DS-61-3
ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM	LAB
BOOM	WASTEME	SINFERNO

Seven levels in six WADs collected in one .ZIP file - that's DS-61-3. While every item has its own individual .TXT, only one of them goes unmentioned in the compilation's own information document - SINFERNO. It did find its way into some of Malcolm's WADographies, though, and is the last selection from its assemblage to be listed in QUIKISG2. The author didn't have much to say about it except to call it an okay Hell-themed level and mention that there were no changes between its re-release and the original, published in an earlier edition of the same package titled DS-61-2.

WASTEME (WASTEME.WAD)

WASTEME

by Malcolm Sailor

DS-61-3
ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM	LAB
BOOM	WASTEME	SINFERNO

DARKER, then 3PACK_1, and later probably DS-61-2... 1995 was likely a fairly productive year for Malcolm. The last .ZIP I mentioned had most of its contents updated and then uploaded as DS-61-3 in 1996, which is where this version of WASTEME comes from. And it's a good thing that the author fixed it! The initial release appears to have lacked an exit switch. It's still a MAP01 replacement for Doom II and while the monster count is a tad higher compared to the PWADs comprising the rest of the collection it's still shorter than the average bear. This level has nothing in the way of a framing narrative but information provided by Sailor suggests a lack of his own enthusiasm for it.

Boom (BOOM.WAD)

BOOM

by Malcolm Sailor

DS-61-3
ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM	LAB
BOOM	WASTEME	SINFERNO

Like the rest of the contents of the author's DS-61-3, this replaces MAP01 and was re-released mid-1996 but probably initially published as a part of DS-61-2 in late 1995. It's hard for me to gauge what sort of early influences MS had. In the one hand, denigrating id's own Hell episode in Doom II (and I know that he's not alone in his sentiments). On the other, using ideas from "Nirvana", "The Spirit World", and "The Living End" in his own ORIGINAL COPY DO NOT STEAL maps in 3PACK_1. One thing is plainly obvious here, though, and he so much as admits it in QUIKISG2's .TXT: BOOM.WAD borrows from John Anderson's Dante's Gate and given the texture scheme I assume its aesthetic sense as well.

Lab (LAB.WAD)

LAB

by Malcolm Sailor

DS-61-3
ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM	LAB
BOOM	WASTEME	SINFERNO

DS-61-3 is a 1996 update to a similarly-titled collection that could have been released in 1995, judging by the timestamp on FROMDREM. It contained six individual PWADs, all of which occupy the MAP01 slot. The imaginatively-titled LAB is one such delight. Of all the files in the package it's the only one with a framing story. Malcolm manages to slam both schools of thought concerning Doom's antagonists into one blurb. He describing the facility in question as belonging to aliens and then goes on to assert that while you ought to "blow it to hell", it's actually "already there".

From a Dream (FROMDREM.WAD)

FROM A DREAM

by Malcolm Sailor

DS-61-3
ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM	LAB
BOOM	WASTEME	SINFERNO

MS was a busy bee since his release of 3PACK_1 which collected his three most recently completed maps as individual files, one of them being an update. The follow-up was DS-61-2, a bundle of six PWADs totaling seven levels whose most recent incarnation is DS-61-3, an update made after the release of Quick is Good. The first few maps I played from this .ZIP (ALAPOLGY) were very short affairs and FROMDREM is no exception. It doesn't really have a strong hook or gimmick made manifest in the level but you may find it interesting that the nature of its design came to the author in a dream.

All Apologies (ALAPOLGY.WAD)

DS-61-3
ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM	LAB
BOOM	WASTEME	SINFERNO

All Apologies is one of six very short PWADs uploaded to the archives by Malcolm Sailor as part of DS-61-2.ZIP. He later updated most of the contained items and re-released them in July of 1996 as DS-61-3. Both packages were named after Darth Vader's wingmen during the climactic Battle of Yavin. I probably don't need to tell you that it's a Star Wars thing, but there you go. ALAPOLGY differs from the rest of its brood; it actually contains two levels, occupying the MAP01 and MAP02 slots, but it's otherwise in keeping with the traits evidenced in Malcolm's most original subsequent creation, TEKRKBRN.