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.

Garbage (GARBAGE.WAD)

November of 2013 marked the beginning of perhaps Memfis's most productive span of authorship, kicking off with How Eye Killed Time and--apart from a lull in March--built multiple PWADs a month until July of 2014, right after his epic /idgames archive dump in June of 2014. Garbage is the second WAD published during this period, a two-level minisode for Doom II to be played in theoretically any limit-removing port. In practice, you are best to keep to PrBoom-Plus or its descendants like DSDA Doom. MAP01 plays just fine but the very first thing maze in MAP02 is not navigable in (G)ZDoom. If you must insist on playing in (G)ZDoom then you'll have to clip through the first maze. After that, it's aces.

How Eye Killed Time (KILLTIME.WAD)

HOW EYE KILLED TIME

by "Memfis"

Memfis uploaded some maps to /idgames as he made them, but he waited to upload even more of them until 06/21/14, the day of the great uploading. How Eye Killed Time, a MAP01 replacement for Doom II, was apparently crafted early October of 2013 but it doesn't appear to have been stealth-released on the Doomworld Forum like most of the June 2014 uploads that I've played thus far. Maybe he posted it to a different forum, or maybe he just sat on it until he decided to clear out his archives. In any event, the PWAD claims to require Boom compatibility, but based on what I've seen over past Memfis reviews, I believe that the reality is that the only environment this map was tested in is PrBoom-plus using -complevel 9. It wouldn't surprise me if it worked in more or less any limit-removing port.

pus06 (PUS06.WAD)

pus06 is one of those PWADs that Russian author Memfis published to little or no fanfare via a Doomworld thread, first debuting in July of 2013. It didn't make it to /idgames until about a year later in June of 2014 during the great uploadening. Memfis crafted a ton of small-scale releases from 2011 to through 2014, but he refrained from publishing more than half of them on the archives until mid-2014. From what I gather, this was due to a variety of factors, but the end result was an epic Newstuff flood that scifista42 took ownership of. pus06 is a two-map minisode for Doom II and its target port is prboom-plus -complevel 2, so... limit-removing.

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.

Mega Tear (MEGATEAR.WAD)

MEGA TEAR

by "Memfis"

This Doom II MAP01 replacement was initially published on the Doomworld forums in July of 2013 and was only uploaded to /idgames in June of 2014, nearly a year later. It's theoretically Boom-compatible but, in order to listen to the provided music track, the engine must be capable of playing mod tracker files. Memfis didn't have any contextual information to offer that would help clarify the choice of title, Mega Tear, and a cursory search doesn't reveal anything obvious like a manga. In the community, "mega" is more often than not associated with megaWADs, something that the author often started but never found the wherewithal to complete. One could argue, then, that it's named in deference to Memfis's practice of publishing megaWAD fragments. Would a reject removed from such a project be a "mega tear"? Or is it more of a reference to the author's regret in having so many "incomplete" productions, each one eliciting a salty "mega tear"?

Gredna (GREDNA.WAD)

Doomworld Forum superstar Memfis has made a bunch of small, individual releases. They span a variety of genres from relatively easy opening-map-to-megaWAD works to difficult, challenge-oriented levels. He covers a variety of themes but his favorite consists of tributes to community classic works like the Memento Mori series and 2002: A Doom Odyssey. There's some overlap between these and the MAP01 constructions because, well, many of these WADs exist because Memfis sat down to build a '96-'97 inspired megaWAD and then lost focus early on. Gredna, originally published on the Doomworld forums on July of 2013, is one such aborted project. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that this is the work that the previously-released Silent Halls was cut from. Gredna replaces MAP01 and MAP02 and should be good for play in any limit-removing source port.

Silent Halls (SILHALLS.WAD)

SILENT HALLS

by "Memfis"

Memfis made a ton of levels from 2011-2014 and more than half of these were built during 2013-2014. A lot of his works were soft-released on the Doomworld forums and then uploaded in bulk in mid-2014. This was for a variety of reasons, I'm sure. As an author, he has a ton of facets and is perfectly willing to explore grueling challenge-style levels - like Download - just as readily as he pays tribute to community classics like Icarus: Alien Vanguard with ICARUMEM. Silent Halls feels like it leans more toward the latter category, which only figures as it is a reject from a megaWAD that he was developing that was heavily inspired by Requiem, Memento Mori, and MM2. Originally occupying the MAP02 slot, it is presented here as a MAP01 replacement that ought to work in limit-removing sourceports.

Download (DOWNLOAD.WAD)

One reason that I have been working my way through Memfis's entire back catalogue is because when Kuchitsu was given a Cacoward in 2013, it and Voyage to Deimos: E2M1 were his only solo releases that I had played. I was intending to start my journey back in March of 2013 but I've always been biting off more than I can chew. It was more convenient in the long-term to wait, anyway, since he had several dozen levels crafted from 2011-2014 that weren't uploaded to /idgames until June of 2014. Download is a three-level minisode for Doom II that was published on Doomworld a year prior in 2013 before eventually making it as part of the mega-dump. It's intended for limit-removing ports, specifically using prboom-plus's vanilla ruleset (-complevel 2).

Toilet Break (TOLBREAK.WAD)

TOILET BREAK

by "Memfis"

2013-2014 was Memfis's most productive period as an author, at least in terms of the sheer number of releases. The true depth and breadth is obscured by how he held most of his available works off the archives until mid-2014, but both years feature something like twice the number of publications seen from 2011-2012. Toilet Break was made available on the Doomworld forums in May of 2013 and is a MAP01 replacement for Boom-compatible ports. It isn't always obvious to me whether his levels are actually -complevel 9 or just limit-removing and tested in PrBoom+ but there are a few clear instances of transparency to be seen.

Love You With Poison (LUWP.WAD)

LOVE YOU WITH POISON

by "Memfis"

Memfis made quite a few maps that leveraged resources from classic PWADs like Requiem and Memento Mori II as well as more obscure releases, e.g. Phobos - Relive the Nightmare. Love You With Poison, a MAP12 replacement for Boom-compatible ports released in 2013, is a bit different. The author decided to make use of the monsters and resources of JCD's Survive In Hell, a 2012 megaWAD that drew from - among other things - slaughter standards. LUWP is not a slaughtermap but it is a pretty tough play for a healthy variety of reasons. Note that you WILL need to load the SIHR2FIX PWAD in the correct order with LUWP in order to play the level.

3 Heures d' Agonie 3 (3HA3.WAD)

The Doom community has several, thriving international scenes. The French have developed over the last few years, spawning some prolific authors as well as auteurs. The front face of the FDC has been the 3 Heures d'Agonie series, which debuted in 2012 and was founded on the premise that all of the submitted maps be built over the course of three hours - give or take a few. These speedmapping megaWADs were conceived as an attempt to rejuvenate their community, which had become burnt out by the now-Quixotic construction of Necromantic Thirst. 3 Heures d'Agonie 3 is the third and purportedly final installment of the series as far as megaWADs go. It is a full, 32 map replacement for Doom II and ought to play well with any source port.

Gordia (GORDIA.WAD)

2013 was one of Memfis's biggest years. He published something like sixteen solo releases between /idgames and the Doomworld forums, not to discount the release of his contributions to community projects like Interception. The year was officially kicked off with Kuchitsu, which received a Cacoward. Gordia wasn't much later, though. This is a short, two-level minisode for Doom II that, according to the author, was inspired by the year 1995. The era of user levels, I assume. It's suggested for playback in limit-removing ports and, while I don't see anything obvious, it's conceivable that its layout could invoke the dreaded visplane overflow spectre.

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.

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.

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.

Tayutayu (TAYUTAYU.WAD)

In my review of ICARUMEM I mentioned the idea of further galactic adventures in the vein of Memfis's MEM_OLD1. Tayutayu may not use the Icarus: Alien Vanguard texture set but it is another level on an interstellar station which makes it pretty cool in my book. Like his old space base it's also for the original Doom, occupying E1M1 and E1M2. This minisode was explicitly tested in PrBoom-plus but the parameters suggest that it ought to work just fine in any limit-removing source port. It was soft-released to various forums in early 2012 but was not uploaded until his great archive dump of 2014.

Menkui (MENKUI.WAD)

MENKUI

by "Memfis"

If you've been following along then the fact that this level showcases textures from 2002: A Doom Odyssey should not come as a surprise. I've seen Memfis as an outspoken fan of 2002ADO and even surmised in my review of Beware of False Prophets that he might have tributed it at some point. This PWAD is right in line with an MO established in Requimem and then continued in MEM_OLD1, MM2MEM01, Relive X2, and ICARUMEM. I just hadn't guessed at this one because - as he admits - Memfis grabbed its title from a hentai manga. Menkui is an E4M1 replacement originally released in 2012 but not uploaded until 2014 and should play back in any source port.

icarumem (ICARUMEM.WAD)

ICARUMEM

by "Memfis"

Requiem, Memento Mori II, Phobos - Relive the Nightmare... and then Icarus: Alien Vanguard. It would be neat to see Memfis continue to check boxes of classic-era megaWADs after experimenting with their resources. It's something that I've actually thought of doing. Until then, here's icarumem. This one was published to the Doomworld Forums in early 2012 but, again, didn't make it to the /idgames archives until the 2014 June powerdump. It requires the actual ICARUS.WAD since it's used as a texture resource and should work with essentially all limit-removing source ports. Apart from the PWAD dependency it's also important to note that icarumem occupies the MAP24 slot of Doom II. It isn't thematically linked with "The Haunting". The author presumably enjoyed its slot's track, "Ghost In the Machine".

Relive X2 (RELIVEX2.WAD)

Memfis loves classic PWADs. If they're relatively obscure, then even better. Shamus Young made a couple of things that he really enjoyed though the Doom City tribute wouldn't come until 2013 as a part of his Kuchitsu. RELIVEX2 is his little love letter to Phobos - Relive the Nightmare, a Doom II episode that drew inspiration from the names of Knee Deep in the Dead's maps. This couplet - originally released in 2012 - is a limit-removing minisode which occupies MAP01 and MAP02. It doesn't require Shamus's PWAD as a resource since it incorporated all of the relevant assets. The author forgot something along the way, though, because MAP02 references textures which aren't included.