Second Opinions

Some visitors may have noticed a Second Opinions tab after WADS by author. As described, this is a link to other sites that feature reviews in some form or another. All but two of them are dead, but I thought I'd provide them in tribute to the many others that have come before me.

Current status: MAP19 of Doom Core. If I finish Doom Core before Tuesday, I'll put it up instead of the Chris Klie single map reviews. That's not very likely, though (Valkiriforce makes some tough levels). After Doom Core I'll continue to indulge in 2011 releases, looking at Callum Guy Oliver's (aka forum superstar phobosdeimos1) Corebinder, Digon Base and Spire Complex mapsets, all part of his RAW ACTION series (well, Spire Complex isn't, but I don't see why it can't be). 

The Troopers' Playground (TTP.WAD)

Matthias Worch is one of those mysterious '96 mappers that wasn't prolific outside of the community projects, namely Memento Mori II and Requiem. He has a few solo releases, however. One is a tune-up of a WAD called Ring of Havoc by Jason Blevins. The other is a Doom II episode featuring among, other things, a new enemy. The WAD? The Troopers' Playground.

Dystopia 3: Re-Birth of Anarchy - Add-On Level (DYST301.WAD)

DYSTOPIA 3:
RE-BIRTH OF ANARCHY
Add-On Level
by Anthony "Adelusion" Czerwonka

Dystopia 3's .TXT gave a homepage for the project that hinted at more Dystopia levels to come in the future. As of 2011, only one add-on level for Dystopia 3 has been released, a MAP01 replacement by Anthony "Adelusion" Czerwonka. Just load it up with DYST3TEX.WAD or on top of DYST3.WAD to utilize the custom textures. There's no real story included, so one can only assume it's the continuing adventures of the Marine trying desperately to escape the hellish borderlands after destroying the demonic cult.

New Author Index

I've made some changes to the WADs by author index. It's been a long time coming, but I've been learning how to make Javascript function on the page. This will be incredibly handy when doing monographic series of reviews on particular authors. The basic gist of it is that clicking on an author name will expand a list of all their contributions reviewed on the site. I don't know how many people use the author index, but hopefully this is infinitely more navigable. There may be some minor changes to come, like shrinking down the font, but this is basically my happy spot.

My other technical update will involve welding the file/date/author index into one single table, sortable by the viewer. I suspect it'll take a lot more work than combining the author indices, but it will make things much more browseable than the current configuration.

Edit: Actually, it's way easier than I thought! Thank you, javascript! And thank you, Christian Bach! Once I convert the indices over, I can rest easy.

Edit 2: The new index is up! my review index is now sortable by filename, title, date, author and type (single, minisode, episode, megawad). Just click on the table header for automatic sorting.

What's in the pipeline:

Anthony "Adelusion" Czerwonka
Dystopia 3: Re-Birth of Anarchy - Add-On Level

Matthias Worch
The Trooper's Playground

Christen David Klie
The Catwalk
The Combine
The Fistula
The Garrison
Subspace
Subterra
The C.P.U.
Device One
The D.M.Z.
The Enemy Inside
The Fury
The Hive

What's incoming:

Doom Core, by Michael Jan Krizik aka "Valkiriforce"

Dystopia 3: Re-Birth of Anarchy (DYST3.WAD)

Anthony "Adelusion" Czerwonka and Iikka "Fingers" Keränen got together and had a baby. The baby's name was Dystopia 3, the apparent descendant of Czerwonka's DYST2.WAD, itself a conversion of a Heretic WAD (DYST.WAD). Really, I'd be hard pressed to draw any parallels between Dystopia and Dystopia 3. It's clear that Adelusion considerably honed his mapping skills, producing much tighter and deliberate gameplay through encounters and layout. His partner, Keränen, contributes a formidable six levels of his own, rounding out an 11-map episode for Doom II.

Review Pacing

Just a semi-formal pacing schedule I'm setting right now. Depending on what the latest review is, you can expect to see another in a given span of time.

• Single Map: Review next day.
• Minisode (2-6 maps): Review within the next three days.
• Episode (7-15 maps): Review within the next five days.
• MegaWAD (16+ maps): Review within the next seven days.

I work twelve hour shifts at the moment so I rarely take the time to Doom on working days. This should let me build up a buffer on my days off without getting burned out (and enjoy the glut of games I got during Steam's summer sale on the side). Dystopia 3 and its add-on level are ready and waiting. Meanwhile, I'm muscling my way through The Troopers' Playground, made a bit rough due to the switch to PrBoom-Plus (and those devilish evil troopers).

Also looking to improve some bits of the site with Javascript (namely the indexes). Dunno when I'll actually get around to it, but expect the slowly growing database to become a bit more manageable.

Army of Darkness Doom (AODDOOM1.WAD and AODDOOM2.WAD)

Steve Conway wanted to make a total conversion based on the now cult classic, Army of Darkness, then a recent release. He touched base with Stefan Maes, the man behind Excalibur. The two welded together a crew of individuals, among them Doomworld's own "Linguica" (Andrew Stine). Army of Darkness Doom comes in two flavors, Doom and Doom II. Qualitatively, there is no difference between the two. They have the same levels and the same arrangements. The actual differences lie mainly in the ways both are packaged to deal with the episode formats.

99 Ways to Die (99WAYS.WAD)

In 1996, Doomers everywhere eagerly anticipated the release of id Software's next project, Quake. Among other things, Quake featured 3D light sources, making realistic and attractive lighting far easier to execute than Doom's sector-based method, which often required painstaking work in order to simulate equivalent lighting. In the wake of Quake's previews, Warren Marshall released a short minisode for Doom II, intending to show just how far Doom's engine could be pushed. The .TXT has just a hint of desperation, almost pleading for Doom mappers to not jump ship for the new technological superior. While 1997 would show an exodus of many of Doom's most prominent mappers from '94-'96, anyone can see that the Doom mapping community continues to go strong. I'm not sure what effect 99 Ways to Die had on lighting standards, but I think Marshall made his point effectively.