From 2013. A hell-centric map that replaces E3M1 of Doom (not Ultimate Doom, but the older three episode version. The textures break in newer versions of the game and sourceports don't really fix this automatically, so you can consider this an out-of-date, out-of-time file!) Lots of mechanisms and weird progression logic plus a big berserk fight halfway through. It has one of those annoying secrets that closes after thirty seconds and which you'll almost certainly miss the first time around.
As I was working with an early version of doom.exe for DOS, I decided to keep the polyphony WAY down so that the music'd be compatible with OPL2/Adlib sound. This leaves the music sparse, but not uneventful; FRINGL is a bit of a murky, funky dirge that suits any strange level that has fits of action followed by lulls and exploration!
Hexasketch was about making puzzly mood maps with a strict linedef limit (666 at the maximum, thematically appropriate to Doom, around what the medium-sized maps in doom2.wad use up) and was intended to be a lot larger, but gimmicks are hard to come by and from early feedback I noticed everyone would hate a full thirty-two levels of this junk. lol
From 2014. A tiny tech facility made out of breezeblocks. Includes some really bad textures I made! \o/ Unnecessarily tricky ways to progress - I always say that my maps give the player options on how to proceed, but in Beacon all those options are invisible and troublesome to find. You need to shoot a crate, the crate is triangular, you need to dive on top of another crate and the tell is hard to spot. Meanwhile a bunch of hell knights filter into the main area and you've got a chaingun. This is 100% negative gameplay and I'm sorry for everything apart from the triangular crates which make me giggle.
Sounds like me doing horror chords over a QOTSA groove. A bit like a study of believable rock percussion in MIDI format. Catchy but atmospheric!
I'll defend this map to the ends of the earth - I really think it has calming gameplay and a mysterious way of unfolding! The "dig" mechanic is confusing, unexplained and Myst-like in general, in that you need to press the digging button after having entered the previous area it revealed, and finding a switch there which uncovered a switch in the main area so as to prime the next stage of the dig, and none of it is really represented on-screen until you do it accidentally and it just happens. But frankly, that's part of what I find charming about the map and it's mechanically satisfying to see a vanilla level divided into stages with a sort of story device. The secret comedy room with the Dead Simple-ripoff is lovely too; not many people have played this map because it seems like the few that did left a negative review, therefore you could say that this is one of the most secret secret areas in Doom history. The main dragging element in "Mithraeum" must be the Hell Knights - the map gives you a chainsaw but the nobles are classically resistant to the weapon. Most of 'em should have been revenants; revenants make things better as we've all learned.
Ringing atmospheric guitar music where the drums shuffle along a million miles away. Gentle but peculiar, hopefully touching at times. Hard to really compare this to many bands, one of those strange ZZZV genre things.
A slapdash oilrig covered in textures from my questionable forge. Visual errors in vanilla doom, probably tested with ZDoom at the time! This is a high-velocity adventure map where you get lots of rockets and endure lots of projectiles from all directions. At least you can't get lost on this one; there's only one way to go unless you discover a couple of bizarre secrets (one of which releases a cyberdemon and provides you with a seemingly useless blue key!) so the main problem is, um, getting blown up. No way can I beat this on Ultraviolence without just racing around and ignoring the enemies. It's a silly map.
A joke tune, written in under an hour, which combines the minor-key stepping up theme from the original E1M5 tune with the melody from "Smells Like Teen Spirit". It's very rocky, the power snare hit is too loud and it will probably make you giggle the first time and then IDMUS to something else the second time. For some reason this tune was reused in the Japanese Community Project, in the level "Hazmat Hazama" by Tooasty, which is an incredible and creative map which I admire... and one that's deserving of a far better theme. Check it out here: youtube
Made for a Doom mapping competition on Battle of the bits dot org in 2014. There was no prize, giggle, Wanted to do one of those goofy "layout of a work-place" levels, but the workplace is made-up 'n imaginary and begins with a vision of another place entirely, which you can reach if you perform a number of not-particularly-intuitive steps. That's doomperson's daydream, you understand, your inspiration to explore the level! The combat is incredibly mean and based on berserk fighting (you'll notice a running theme in yakmapping is refusing to add the correct amount of ammunition to a level \o/) so as a map it was almost totally rejected by the community, receiving negative comments and a review that called it untested! I try not to take that stuff too literally because it's a map that defies typical community expectations and you can't expect people to give your work their undivided attention, especially when you're basically an outsider. Anyway, you can also beat the whole thing without having to fight any enemies and I've provided floor arrows for anyone who wants to do exactly that. There, you won! The idea was that instead of looking for the source of their strange vision, Doomentity just finishes their job, checks out and goes home. Didn't really get a chance from many doomworlders, but a kind runner called Never_Again put together a great demo that visits every area and clears out every monster on the second lowest difficulty. I'm proud of the map and think it's full of cool ideas and cool set-pieces and I think anyone who has humoured the level has found -something- inspiring hidden within!
A progressive loop with whimsical overtones. kinda thing. I remember auditioning the parts on keyboard for weeks and weeks and then creating it in Cubasis in an hour or two. It's fairly bright music and it takes centre stage at times! It's hard to decide whether it's major key at all but the wandering chord changes can still feel fairly positive and heroic.
