Wonderful Doom (WD14.WAD)

Doom is wonderful. Wraith knew this and believed in it so much that he wanted to give players an excuse "to play First Doom one more time". To this end, he crafted Wonderful Doom. This megaWAD was apparently released in several iterations before being released in time to feature as a runner-up in the 2007 Cacowards, with several updates since then. It replaces every level in The Ultimate Doom with, for lack of a better term, remixed versions of the original levels. I've seen a broad variety of opinions on this project, the extremes of which boil down to dismissing it for being too derivative of the IWAD versus loving it for how close the maps are in spirit to the originals.

Invictus (INVICTUS.WAD)

INVICTUS

by Rex Claussen

Wow, it's been a long time since I've played me some Claussen maps. Pre-Invictus, Rex made a ton of levels including a series of partial and total conversions (A Hex On You, Phoenix Rising, Paranoia, Temple of the Ancients, The Darkest Hour). Along the way, while I imagine The Darkest Hour was about a month away from being released, Claussen participated in DoomCenter's E1 Mapping Contest in 2001. His entry, "Invictus" (E1M6), was a break from form in a variety of ways. It included no copy and pasted geometry from his previous levels and tended toward more abstract level geometry based in OG Doom's aesthetic compared to, say, the more Quake II- or Half-Life-esque base and office designs.

Laitos (LAITOS.WAD)

LAITOS

by Esa Repo aka "Espi"

Espi was one of fifteen different people who submitted levels to DoomCenter's E1 Contest for the chance to get a sweet, signed copy of The Ultimate Doom from the man himself, John Romero. Some of them went on to have rather illustrious careers in the community. Amusingly enough, the contest winner did not! Some of the contestants released their levels individually once it was over. Laitos--which was originally E1M8, not that this technically meant anything--has virtually doubled in size, if not more so. My understanding is that Espi revised this level several times. The final version (v1.4), published in early 2002, is an E1M1 replacement for the original Doom.

007: License to Spell DooM (007LTSD.WAD)

Stephen Clark was something of a self-appointed vanilla advocate, a dude believed that OG Doom and Doom II were capable of great things that could close some of the gap between them and Quake and subsequent FPS games. He made Operation: Lightning, a Doom II episode that deliberately evoked Quake II with its dropships and had carefully arranged vanilla sector machinery to create effects like exploding reactors, flooding vessels, and collapsing bases. Then he took his lessons learned and authored Fragport, a 2001 "21st Century Doom 2 Episode" that was actually a megaWAD and which toned down some of OP-LITE2's worst excesses. Then he pushed Heretic into uncomfortably ingenious places with the Shadowcaster episode in 2002. This is also the year where he learned to stop worrying and love the ZDoom. Enter 007: License to Spell DooM, an E4 replacement for The Ultimate Doom.

Ultimate Doom Project Leftovers (UDPL.WAD)

Memfis established a reputation as a crafter of levels that would be fine openers for megaWADs because, well, he perennially started larger projects and stalled after the first level or so. Hence Ultimate Doom Project Leftovers, an archival release from 2012 that was published to /idgames in 2013. There is something morbidly amusing in UDPL as a demonstration of why he was pigeonholed into the "XXM1" / "MAP01" characterization, given that it replaces the first level of each of Ultimate Doom's four episodes. If you are looking for a more "substantial" experience, then UDPL will probably not make a convert of you. Its levels are short and not even classically difficult, insofar as how they differ from the standards set by id's own E1M1, E2M1, E3M1, and E4M1. They are assumed to be vanilla-compatible but may require a limit-removing source port.

E2M1ER (E2M1ER.WAD)

E2M1ER

by Esa Repo aka "Espi"

Espi kicked off his career with the experimental Barons o' Fun, a level where the object was to goad goat men into tearing each other apart over barrel splash damage. Esa wouldn't upload another single player level to /idgames until nearly a year later in mid-2001, where he dusted off "an old PWAD" for release alongside an updated-but-previously-released-elsewhere KARMEA. E2M1ER is an E2M1 replacement, natch, and a full-fledged level as compared to BRNSOFUN's arcade-style execution. Between this level and his Laitos, which originally appeared in the DoomCenter E1 Mapping Contest, it's clear that Espi liked making OG Doom levels in his idiosyncratic style. I wonder how they compare to his entries in the piecemealed Flashback project.

Duse Ex Machina (DXEM.WAD)

DUSE EX MACHINA

by Andy Leaver

As it turns out, Andy can do levels for the original Doom beyond Knee Deep in the Dead. If you'd played most of his previous maps - bitebwad, his levels in NHFL, Indifference, and Timelessness - it wouldn't be a stretch for you to believe otherwise. Every one of them was Phobos to the core with a shareware-exclusive bestiary. Here, then, is Duse Ex Machina [sic], an E3M7 replacement released in mid-to-late 2003. It also proved to be a swan song of sorts. Published shortly after the first Community Chest, it's also the last map that Leaver would make for Doom, original or Ultimate. Everything from here on out would be Doom II, whether for the CCHEST series or his aborted No Hope For Life Episode II.

Barons o' Fun (BRNSOFUN.WAD)

BARONS O' FUN

by Esa Repo aka "Espi"

Espi is one of the most celebrated authors of the Doom community. I've only touched on his Suspended in Dusk, but his Back to Basics and level in Eternal Doom IV, "The Shrine" (MAP27), are similarly lauded. When we instituted a lifetime achievement award for the Cacowards, it was named in his honor. And it all began with this. Barons o' Fun is an E1M8 replacement for the original Doom. Released in 2000, the name clearly refers to Barons of Hell while also implying the presence of explosive barrels due to it being a take on Doom II's "Barrels o' Fun" (MAP23). You will have both, but the execution may be simpler than you were expecting.

Timelessness (Tribute to Fear Factory) (TIMELESS.WAD)

TIMELESSNESS

TRIBUTE TO FEAR FACTORY

by Andy Leaver

Andy Leaver is the only Doomworld member to have contributed to all four iterations of the Community Chest series. When he wasn't making Doom II levels, though, he was carrying a huge torch for original Doom maps. bitebwad, his debut, featured low-key E1 action in straightforward, abstract layouts. His levels in 2001's No Hope For Life Episode 1 consisted of novel constructions with the Phobos texture scheme and 2002's Indifference continued in more or less the same vein. Timelessness, an E1M3 replacement for the original Doom released in 2003, is an overt homage to John Romero's "Computer Station" (E1M7).

OTTAWAU.WAD ver 0.9 (OTTAWA09.WAD)

Jean-Serge Gagnon released and updated his Forest Valley PWAD through 1994-1995. The final publication included a teaser for his next subject - the Ottawa University that must have been near and dear to his heart. OTTAWAU was never properly finished. Gagnon had planned out level names for the entire episode but in spite of the "ver 0.9" descriptor, the set only spans E1M1-E1M5 and E1M9. E1M5 only has the starting area built and it's apparent after perusing README.1ST that Gagnon and his team were not even finished with the maps that are included in OTTAWAU. This more or less final version was published in March of '95, a few days after the last version of FOREST.

Indifference (INDIFFERENCE.WAD)

INDIFFERENCE

by Andy Leaver

If Andy has a major claim to fame in the community then it's his consistent participation in the CCHEST series. Those being for Doom II, it's interesting to see that the vast majority of his other output occurred from 2000-2003 and consists of levels created for the original Doom. bitebwad was a three-map minisode and he led the No Hope For Life team, crafting an entire E1 replacement between himself, Pablo Dictter, and Jay Trent. Indifference was uploaded to /idgames in 2003 but the timestamp appears to indicate - along with the glut of May uploads - that it was published elsewhere, perhaps as early as 2002. It is an E1M2 replacement and appears to be vanilla-viable.

No Hope For Life Episode 1: Back to the Fight (NHFL.WAD)

The road to Hell is paved with E1 replacements. No Hope For Life is a joint venture by three fixtures of Doom's source port boom: Andy Leaver, Jay Trent, and Pablo Dictter. Andy had already done a small set of E1 levels, bitebwad, in 2000. Jay participated in the 2001 Doom Center E1 Mapping Contest (judged by the man himself, John Romero), clinching 2nd place out of fifteen entries. Pablo had published a ton of levels by this point, many of which are no longer publicly available, and was working on an E4 replacement with Karthik Abhiram, Tobias Munch, Damian Lee, and Joel Murdoch - The Ninth Gate. tNG never fully panned out, though, whereas we have 2001's No Hope For Life Episode 1: Back to the Fight available to download on /idgames... admittedly some two years after its initial, official release. The authors suggest ZDoom but it should work in any limit-removing port, the primary concern being the dreaded visplane overlord.

bitebwad (BITEBWAD.WAD)

My first introduction to Andy Leaver was via Community Chest 4, as of this time the last of the CCHEST series as well as - as far as I know - aleaver's last published level. His authorial career began during the source port boom in the year 2000, however, with the curiously-named BITEBWAD, found in a .zip named DIGIMORT. The latter is uncomfortably close to the title of the first level from No Hope For Life, which Andy released in 2001. I'm sure that the two are related in some fashion. This is a three-level minisode for the original Doom, replacing E1M1-E1M3. At least, I'm pretty sure it would play back without the Ultimate features. Looking ahead, it seems as though most of Andy's non-community project works were for the original Doom.  It'll be interesting to see how his craft develops from here.

Subversion (SUB-EP.WAD)

Pablo Dictter was a community fixture during the source port boom, releasing a slurry of small maps and also contributing to a couple of larger products, chiefly Alien Vendetta. He was a contributor to several different original Doom productions as well. One of them was No Hope For Life Episode One: Back to the Fight. The E1 replacement had PD working alongside Community Chest regular Andy Leaver as well as Jay Trent, now of The Becoming fame. Somewhere during the process of building NHFL, three of Pablo's levels were cut as they had too many darn maps. Dictter picked the castoffs up, dusted them off, wired them three more levels, and sent them to /idgames in July of 2001 as Subversion. This is a partial Episode 3 replacement for the Ultimate Doom spanning E3M4-E3M9.

Rise of the Wool Ball (ROTWB.WAD)

It took awhile to get there but the modding capabilities of (G)ZDoom have led to a growing number of people making new games based on Doom's framework. Some of these are commercial prospects, the fact of which is great, but others like MSPaintR0cks's Wool Ball series continue the grand tradition of TCs (Total Conversions) in offering novel AND free experiences. Shadow of the Wool Ball, released in 2016, was a snazzy Wolfenstein 3D clone with some interesting environmental hazards. When I wrote my review I was positively anticipating a future iteration that ditched the Wolf3D flat plane of action for something with more vertical depth. Lo and behold, 2017 brought - among other great mods - Rise of the Wool Ball. Prepare to shoot, kick, and now BOUNCE your way through another 18 maps of catastrophic carnage.

The Anomaly: Part II (ANOMALY2.WAD)

THE ANOMALY

PART II

by Varun Abhirama Krishna

Varun is Karthik Abhiram Krishna's younger brother by about five years. The two made their /idgames debuts at around the same time in 2001, KAK with Ick (closely followed by Chaos Punch) and VAK with The Anomaly: Part II. They would eventually go on to tag-team a PWAD - 2004's Reanimated - but that is a story for another day. There's no way to infer exactly why but it's clear when comparing the two side-by-side that Varun was a more natural level designer than his older brother. I wager that you'll come to the same conclusion, whether or not Karthik's relative naivete is more interesting as an outsider perspective. ANOMALY2 is an E4M6 replacement for the Ultimate Doom and should play back in any source port.

Evil's Playground (Diabolique part two) (EVPL.WAD)

Time for another curveball in Pablo Dictter's portfolio. This publication primarily exists for Evil's Playground, released - I believe - in 2001. The subtitle is Diabolique part two, a reference to a previously-created level called - you guessed it - Diabolique. I'm not sure when the latter was created but it was included in the release of EVPL as something of a bonus, isn't available otherwise, and both were purportedly part of the Diabolique project. Pablo had his hand in like three or four different Doom avenues alongside his River of Fire series, Good V/S Evil (where An Infernal Place came from), and a couple of others that released later. Even if he was compelled to carve up The Gates as a failure. This dead-end PWAD couplet replaces E3M1 and E3M2 of the original Doom.

An Infernal Place (INFERNAL.WAD)

AN INFERNAL PLACE

by Pablo Dictter

Pablo was a boundless fountain of youthful energy around 2000. He made a ton of very small levels, the earliest of which are ferreted away in his personal archive. Some were never uploaded to /idgames, instead appearing on Doom WAD Station. An Infernal Place is a slightly weirder situation; it was originally released as an E1M1 replacement on DWS, where it is still available as such. The version on /idgames is v1.1, a Doom II conversion with a few alterations. Nowadays we typically think of maps as either stolidly for one game type or the other but it's not all that unusual when you consider how many 1994 authors converted some of their PWADs to Doom II. This review is for the original publication of An Infernal Place, timestamped 03/04/01. It is purportedly meant for play in a Boom-compatible port.

Europa 2 (EAEURO02.WAD)

EUROPA 2

by Erik Alm

2001 appeared to have been a pretty formative year for Erik. Alm made five submissions for Sam Woodman's One Week Mapping Contest, demonstrating an esoteric taste that spanned "short and sweet" to large-scale challenges informed by Hell Revealed. It also marked the debut of his Europa series. The first entry was a massive labyrinth that mixed his stiff encounter design with a tangled layout and key sidequest that evoked shades of 1995. This entry - the second - closes out 2001 on a high note that sees a drastic change of style away from some of his less user-friendly design decisions. EAEURO02 is a MAP01 replacement for Doom II to be played in a Boom-compatible port. As is the case with EAGOTH1 and EAGOTH2, you need to play this with the Gothic DeathMatch II texture pack.

MEMFIS_E1M1 (MEMFIS_E1M1.WAD)

MEMFIS_E1M1

by "Memfis"

Back when I started researching the development of Doom the Way id Did: The Lost Episodes, I was surprised to find Memfis's name in the submission rolls. Some of the production material has been publicly lost to the sands of time and this level was perhaps the most interesting. Mainly because it didn't find its way into the running order of DTWID:LE and was otherwise unavailable. The author himself didn't have it on his person but the Archival Saint of PWADs, The Mad Butcher, made their private selection available. Originally submitted in mid-2011 (sharing its timestamp with Sticky Blood), MEMFIS_E1M1 - of course - replaces the first level in Knee Deep in the Dead.