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               100 LINE MASSACRE MAP-BY-MAP AUTHOR COMMENTARY
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MAP01: Underpass
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Slapped this together after my first 100 Lines wad because I wanted to make a better second wad, certainly better than that first wad's first map.

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MAP02: Sewage Bath
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
This was the second map I made for the project. My mapping style tends to revolve around irregular shapes and non-rectangular rooms, and I think this map encompasses that. In addition, this map starts off with an interesting encounter to teach the player to think out of the box while playing my levels.

The caco decorations are placed in the deep water so that when the Archvile teleports in, the player doesn't know which of the Caco corpses are real.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) deep water where the Cacos are, 2) the Cacos cannot see the player until they enter the room (blockmap trick) and 3) the Archviles actually open a door in a dummy sector (also opens door inbounds) and then teleport to where the player is.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Dirty Water” - This is a pretty simple but spooky music track I composed. The choir part turned out really well and this is one of my favourite tracks.

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MAP03: An Ordeal
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
The easiest map I will ever make.

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MAP04: Elusive Red
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
This is a simple puzzle map. The benefit to having a 100 line puzzle map is that it is easier for the player to figure out the puzzle because of the map size. My favourite part of the map is the zombiemen ambush.

In addition to the map having a puzzle, the beginning can actually be quite rough for pistol starters. The map purposely features no armour and only a tiny bit of health. You've been warned.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) the chaingunner in the beginning cannot see the player due to an invisible wall and 2) the map features a transparent midtexture door.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Mind Games” - This was actually one of the hardest music tracks to write. Originally I wanted to have a sneaky mischievous-like feel, since the map was like a puzzle map that was messing with the player. But since this was one of the later music tracks written, I didn't want to do another orchestra track. I settled with a track inspired by Doom II MAP02's The Healer Stalks, with its kind of Jazz relaxed feel. I think my track has a bit more playfulness to it, which makes it fit the map well imo.

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MAP05: The Cauldron
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Wanted to use a lot of verticality with damaging floors to make a more interesting box.

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MAP06: Light a Match
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
The main idea for this map is to actually make the light amplification visor to be useful, since most mappers nowadays seem to hate the powerup saying that it makes their map ugly. Almost the entirety of the map is almost at 0 brightness, with the beginning of the map having 3 lines that light up the dark corridors when walked over. As a result, the map’s textures and flats were specifically chosen with the intention of the player seeing them in full brightness.

Another goal of this map was to make a 100 line map that felt more like an adventure and was more then just one room. I had recently played MAP17 from this wad (Ninja’s “The Great Halls”), and I was impressed with how many rooms were able to fit into the 100 line limitation. This was my attempt at creating a 100 line map with some more exploration.

In addition, the new DehackEd health bonuses having a full bright frame were used in the darkness as a form of “breadcrumbs” for the player to follow. The map also features monsters out of bounds that get crushed to throw the player off, with archviles being audible outside the map.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) The flashing lines are done by using “light change to brightest” re-walkable trigger-line to change the brightness of a sector marked with the “glow” effect. The sector will not actually glow, but it will change to the brightest adjacent sector for a small amount of time. 2) Another sort of trick used in this map is overlaying two lines crisscrossed without intersecting each other. This is achieved by using a specific nodebuilder and this ensures that more than one action will happen at once; specifically in this map being the soulsphere trap.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Guiding Light” - This is one of my favourite tracks from this soundtrack. When I first heard it played on this map, I thought that it didn’t fit and didn’t sound doom-y enough. But after hearing it now, it is definitely a highlight for me. It almost has this reflecting/relaxing feel. It gives me vibes of Given.wad.

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MAP07: Way Too Simple
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Wanted to make a “Dead Simple” that people wouldn't expect lol

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MAP08: A Coffer’s Dream
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
This is probably one of the smallest maps in the set. At the same time, this map isn’t a pushover either. The idea for this map was simple: it would be a graveyard with graves, all the items would have to be “dug out” from the graves, the player would be pursued by ghost monsters, and you would have kill yourself inside a coffin in the map that is itself shaped like a coffin.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) The obvious main Vanilla trick used in this map is the use of ghost monsters. The map was specifically designed for the player to not be able to deal with the ghost monsters from pistol start, since the only rocket launcher is given in the final coffin that is a death exit. (for UV and HMP… easy difficulty gives a rocket launcher beforehand). 2) This map features a super low sky inspired by e3m6. Doom has a trick that you can have a low sky and other buildings/features are able to be drawn above the sky (in this map being the triangle obelisk). 3) there is a small invisible sector featuring a “floating” candle.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Gravehunt” - This was a pretty early track I composed, and for a while it was my favourite. I will say however, that this is a music track that should only be used for shorter maps. Just like Doom 1’s “Deep Into the Code”, this track is not meant for long maps and could easily become grating or annoying. I think for this map that only takes 2-4 minutes, it’s perfectly fine.

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MAP09: The Garden
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Wanted to make a microscopic “Mind Trap” (Hell Revealed II), was also the last map made for my original second wad idea before it died for a bit.

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MAP10: The Impostor
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
The map started out as a complex Among Us joke. Everything from the automap name “Feeling Sus?” to the end part of the map with the monsters literally coming up from vents.

While this map is sort of a joke, I think that its execution elevates it higher than just a joke map. This map features a new impostor monster which doomers familiar with early megawads might recognise.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) It’s almost cheating to say that adding a new DehackEd monster is a Vanilla trick. 2) I do use a trick that prevents other monsters from taking teleporters using a monster on the teleport destination. Those monsters can only teleport once the player has taken the teleporter and has telefragged the monster blocking the teleport destination. Also I was really proud to use the sector effect of 20 damage with flickering light.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Lurking” - This music track almost didn’t make the cut. When I first made this music track, I thought it was too empty and it pretty much only consisted of strings. It annoyed me how little instruments the track used. With all that being said, I think this track fits the level quite well. It’s got an ominous dark feel to it, like an orchestrated version of e1m5 “Suspense”. The mostly strings-only aspect of the song reminds me a little bit of the Eternal Doom soundtrack.

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MAP11: Archcyberpainspectre
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Was probably a throw away. I don't even remember making it lol.

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MAP12: Holepunch Me
AUTHOR: Arsinikk
AUTHOR COMMENT:
On pistol start, you are only given a chaingun and all the enemies you are against use bullets. You must “holepunch” them before they punch holes into you. This could easily be seen as the laziest map of the set, but I think it makes up for it with its fun factor.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) The map is a medium-sized circle arena with parts that light up briefly as you walk over the arena. This is done using the same technique used in MAP06, but used a lot more often. The area is a little dark, but if you walk around the arena you can light your way. In addition, the flash of the chaingun can be used as a light source. 2) this map is one of the first to use a voodoo doll grab to give the player an item after a certain amount of time.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Punch It!” - One of the very last midis made for the project. Ninja said that the midi I’d made for this map didn’t fit and said to make something that sounded more like technology. So I made a dance/club like song… with trap hi-hats. Because why not. I will also mention that I had watched a Tarnsman stream, where he was talking about how no one uses the “Gunshot” instrument in midi; well this song does, so there!

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MAP13: Dance Monkey
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Wanted to make a map with a funny name and also use “Waltz of the Lazy Chair Room” as the music.

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MAP14: The Healing Pool
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
This map has a simple premise: all the health in the map is in the water pool around the start. According to Ninja, this may be my hardest map in the set. Ammo is not that plentiful in the map. Small hint: The X where the Cyberdemon is isn’t just for show.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) the midtexture lift in the healing pool. It is actually an invisible sector with midtextures that help show where the lift is. Not really much of a trick, but the switch is actually cut in half, requiring the player to hit both sides of the switch to progress.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Sharkbait” - One of the last tracks finished for the project. The track features a simple but cool trick in that the harp instrument actually has an “echo”, which is actually just the same notes played a little bit after at a much lower volume. My favourite part of the midi is the string part in the middle.

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MAP15: Exit Secretly Maybe
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox
AUTHOR COMMENT:Made a dynamic map with monster movement, especially with the cyberdemon. Rocket jump is free btw.

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MAP16: Gag Reflex
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
You like Mouldy? Do you like Going Down? I do, can’t you tell from this level? No matter, you must jump down the throat of a beast and help with its indigestion.

Jokes aside, this map and music is heavily inspired by mapper Mouldy of Going Down fame. Specifically MAP21 of Going Down, at least visually and audibly. The red pool where most of the level takes place is actually sound blocking; take that as you will. To start the fight the player is meant to shoot the switch behind one of the Archviles.

This map is a simple one fight puzzle map which may not seem like much, but its atmosphere and aesthetics are worth it alone.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) When the teeth of the monster start moving in the beginning, they will actually never stop moving. The teeth on top will constantly move up and down, as well as the bottom teeth. This is done by having the top teeth connected to a dummy sector far away. The reason they try to move down, but pop back up is because it is actually a door and in the dummy sector it is being blocked by a barrel. The same is for the bottom teeth, but instead of a door action, it is a lift being blocked by a barrel instead.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Growing Mould” - I made this midi specifically in the style of Mouldy. I’m not sure if I exactly emulated his style, but hopefully it’s close enough. I definitely went out of my musical comfort zone with this midi.

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MAP17: The Great Halls
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Tiny “Project Unity” map lol

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MAP18: Splinterbred
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Ha. This is the only map of mine that Ninja said that he disliked, calling it a “Ribbiks Puzzle Box”. There’s something about this map’s aesthetics that gives this map a kind of oppressive atmosphere. Combine that with the monster encounters, which I would personally say that this is the most difficult map of mine in the wad.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) One trick is the use of a door requiring four switches to lower. This is done via dummy sectors and lines around each switch that constantly try to lower the door sector to the “highest adjacent sector” with each switch lowering an edge to the main door sector. Once all the edge sectors have been lowered, when the player walks over one of the lines around the switch and since the highest sector is the floor, the door finally lowers. 2) The second trick used in this map is a Vanilla conveyor using a barrel explosion pushing a voodoo doll over multiple line triggers at once. This happens once the player grabs the Plasma Rifle.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Shapeshift Box” - This is the only music track for this project that used an old music track as a basis. I had created a Doom-like midi around 4 years ago and hadn’t done anything with it, and thought that it would fit perfectly for this map. The final version of the midi is actually more dynamic and much more interesting than the original version.

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MAP19: Flesh of Pit
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Lamest map combat wise.

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MAP20: Bloody Raw
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
This map was called “Bloody Raw” for two reasons: 1) the meme [obviously XD] and 2) when I first made this map, I was really unhappy with how the progression of the map was and so I called it “raw” cause it felt unfinished to me. In addition, since the sky is meat… It seemed to fit the map name.

This final version of the map actually has a progression and requires more player agency than the original did; specifically the player has to hit a switch to lower the tower to grab a weapon, instead of the tower lowering automatically.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) Most of the map features a sky on the floor and ceiling. This can actually be quite difficult to do in Vanilla without some knowledge and with some Vanilla trickery to get the engine to render the sky correctly on both surfaces (See Hell Revealed MAP26). Usually you can only use the sky on either the floor or ceiling and the other surface would usually HOM. Even the second teleport section was difficult to do so that no HOMs would occur. I’m very happy with how this map came out and proud of the use of telefrags (inspired by Skillsaw).

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Blood and Metal” - In a way this is one of the most experimental midis in the set. One of my favourite genres of music is metalcore/deathcore, and so I wanted to try to create a midi version of that for this map. This is also one of the first midis in the soundtrack to be inspired by metal at all. The midi uses a lot of zeros in the rhythm and uses doublebass drums. I like how it turned out.

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MAP21: Red
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Made a second “Project Unity” map, but made it not bad.

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MAP22: Ra’s Umbrella
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
This map can be seen as the original test map for the project, at least for my maps. I think Ninja had already made around 7 maps around the time I made my first. The map is a bit short, but it also showcased a bit of what I wanted my maps to be like: combat puzzle encounters using Vanilla tricks.

The map was originally called “Under My Umbrella”, up until I wrote the music for the map. Maybe I’m just being weird, but I thought the music had a bit of an Egyptian feel to it, and so I renamed the map to “Ra’s Umbrella”. Also when Ninja said I could start making maps, the first thing I wanted to do was make a map with scrolling Fireblu overhang, which I thought sorta looked like an umbrella.

To really fit the theme of the name “Ra’s Umbrella”, I decided to add the eye decoration to the exit, since the eye is a common symbol used for the Egyptian god Ra. This began the use of the eye decoration as a kind of exit sign throughout all of my maps in the set. This was also very beneficial in denoting the exit, since decorations do not count against the line count and if there’s an easy way to teach the player about an exit without more lines, the better. It’s kind of similar to how John Romero used the eye as a shootable switch; when you play my maps in this set, soon you will realise that the eye means it’s the exit.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) When the player moves in the beginning, a barrel in a dummy sector is crushed and its explosion pushes another barrel into a teleporter. Behind the player, there are pinkies stuck in barrels, and the dummy sector barrel teleported explodes the barrels that the pinkies are stuck in, making immediate dead corpses. The purpose of this is two-fold: First is the created dead corpses for the nearby Archvile to resurrect. Second is to slightly damage the Archvile so that it only has 60-75% of it’s initial health making it easier to kill, while the remaining live pinkies try to munch on your face. 2) Using untextured walls in front of the monsters on the top area, to make them not be able to see the player, but you can see them. This is probably the most Ribbiks inspired fight in the megawad: I like to give the player a future look at the fight, so that they can plan on what they need to do when it is triggered.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Murder of Ra” - As I said in the previous section, I thought that this piece of music had an Egyptian feel to it; even if it didn’t really use Egyptian instruments. This was actually the first midi made for the project and I think it’s really energetic. I experimented a bit with this midi by using the “synth drum” instrument as a sort of percussion for the main rhythm throughout the song.

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MAP23: Fortress of Extreme Heck
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
🚮 (trash).

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MAP24: Running with Razors
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
The original idea of this map was always for the only weapon to be the chainsaw. The name “Running with Razors” is a nod to the “Running with Scissors” term. However, the original idea for the map was for the player to be forced to chainsaw a single Mancubus to death. If you know how the Mancubus hitbox is, you know this is mean.

This map is surprisingly complicated for how it plays. First off, in the beginning room, the player is forced to grab the chainsaw to progress. In addition, the other monsters in the room cannot exit the teleporter until the player takes it first. Second, when the player takes the teleporter, they are meant to be stuck in a monster that they telefrag for around 1-2 seconds (unless GZDoom - BOO!). This is meant to sort of scare the player as the monsters in front of them have some time to see the player and move towards them as they are helpless for that small amount of time.

It is possible to grab the invulnerability, if the player is fast enough and doesn’t get blocked by the other monsters. The main goal of the map is to let most of the monsters infight (because you only have a chainsaw on pistol start) and also shoot a switch while on a tall platform (Icon of Sin anyone?). What makes shooting the switch difficult is the kickback from some of the other monster’s projectiles pushing you off. Once you hit that switch, you can either exit, or by leading the remaining monsters on the platform and telefrag them.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) the monster blocking teleport can be seen as a simple Vanilla trick. 2) The other trick in this map is far more interesting and complex. When you enter the main arena, the beginning area has a deep water pool of cracked rock (the cracked rock was an experiment to see deep water used a texture other than the normal liquid flats). What makes this deep water pool interesting is that when the player hits the switch at the north of the arena, the deep water no longer becomes deep and a platform rises in the middle of the pool. There is an actual reason why the deep water becomes no longer deep. In Vanilla doom, you cannot have an island in the middle of deep water (generally). The sector that is deep water is actually a flat bleed and the flat bleed edges must come into contact with adjacent sectors with the same height so that it looks natural. Long story short, the raised platform would cause the deep water to visually look incorrect, and so I made the deep water change to not deep to fix it.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Cut Above the Rest” - So funny story about this midi… When I first made the midi, I thought it was annoying. I was worried that the midi would be too repetitive and was prepared to write something else for it. This was actually the last midi made for the project. However, when I actually put this midi in-game, it actually worked perfectly! The midi for this map was always supposed to be super fast and upbeat and I think this fits the bill perfectly.

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MAP25: Rapido
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Probably my favorite Map I made, tried to combine “Speed” (Plutonia) with some Hell Revealed II stuff

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MAP26: Repent Thy Sins
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this map. I wanted there to be a cross and when the player approached it, it would invert to an upside down cross. Is it cheesy? Yes. But I think it’s also fun.

This map was originally called “They Will Repent”. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that I forgot that the Ultimate Doom had a map called “They Will Repent” and got quite disheartened about changing the name. I ended up with “Repent Thy Sins” that is similar, but at least people won’t compare the map to the Ultimate Doom map anymore.

This map uses a fun light trick, making the player feel like the lights are slowly coming on as they walk through the beginning corridor. This map also reuses the same coffin used in MAP08. I wouldn’t say the rest of the map is lazy, but I will say that it had less work put into it with how many lines were left over.

Just a small tidbit, the map was originally too easy on Ultra-Violence and so I added an Archvile behind the Revenants to spice the fight up. This was meant to be one of the hardest maps of mine in the megawad.

Also, P.S.: You can actually beat this map in 1-2 seconds. There is a secret way of beating the map in the beginning, but it has a consequence in continuous play. This map originally was slated for MAP28, but Ninja persuaded me to move it so that the consequence of the secret exit would actually affect the next map.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) I guess you can say that the lights turning on in front of the player are sort of a trick. The main trick used in this map is the beams of the cross being an invisible sector with floating midtextures, that when the player approaches the cross actually move down to make an inverted cross. 2) Another interesting trick quite similar to MAP18, is an action line that can be walked over more than once, but not triggered until a certain time. This is done similarly with the four-switch door in MAP18. A wall does not lower until the player has first triggered the inverted cross and then when the player walks over the line again, the wall lowers.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Unholy Matrimony” - The midi was originally made for MAP12. I know what you are thinking… This music doesn’t seem like it’d fit MAP12 at all. Ninja thought the same thing, and so I changed it so the midi would be for this map. I was literally gonna do a pun for it to fit into MAP12: “Unhole-y Matrimony”. Yikes indeed. The midi clearly fits this map much better. I don’t know what I was thinking. Even the use of bells in the midi creates a tie-in with the theme of the cross/church.

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MAP27: La Guarida de Risitas
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Was just an excuse to use “Maybe I'm a Lion” music, the pinkies are lame, Final fight is ezpz. Was trying to make different traps with the doors and lifts opening traps instead of my regular stuff.

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MAP28: Fuel My Fire
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
What is a Doomers favourite thing to see in a map? Platforming? Ah yes! Sarcasm aside, I usually hate Doom platforming; but for this map I ended up including a small platforming section anyway. I thought that I can’t necessarily say something is bad, without trying it out myself. I did have a sort of rule attached to this platforming section: the player would only have to do it once in the map, and then a shortcut would be provided afterward. The map starts out with Pain Elementals (that are harmless in the beginning of the map), floating in the air and flying towards the player. If the player lets the Pain Elementals get close, while they are harmless, they can block the player when they are trying to platform. This was also an experiment in creating a map without using a sky to create a different unique environment.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) This map specifically relies on the Vanilla Lost Soul limit. It may be possible to beat the map without the limit, but it was specifically made with this limit in mind. 2) In addition, this map also features an invisible bridge (shown with candles on the floor). Once the player makes it inside the “reactor”, the invisible bridge will raise. Once the bridge is raised, the player can lower it down as a lift. 3) The Pain Elementals were able to start the map “in the air” with a simple trick: they start on a raised platform that isn’t textured, and when the player moves from the initial platform, the platform instantly lowers. This trick allows for the Pain Elementals to stay in the air so the player can see them. This was originally a problem because of how flying enemies and floors are dealt with in Vanilla: If flying enemies are on the floor, and the floor lowers, the enemies will move with the floor. However, since the enemies start on the raised platform and then fly off it, since they have passed the lowering floor they will stay in the air and not lower.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“On a Tightrope” - Out of all the midis I sent to people, this is their favourite. This originally surprised me, since the way I wrote this track was completely different. I wrote this song in more of a traditional pop song format, even using a more electronic drum pattern. Even so, I like this midi a lot. The middle of the song uses a very similar technique to the bass from “Smells Like Burning Corpse” midi from TNT MAP02.

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MAP29: Stop Complaining About the Icon of Sin
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
Made this map because everyone complains too much about the Icon of Sin, and also because Tarnsman cheats Icon of Sin maps. Just aim lol (Also plz play Tarns KEKW).

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MAP30: Fuck
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
“You said a bad word”, said Ninja when I sent this map to him. I then responded: “I was feeling edgy”. I really do not like Icon of Sin maps. The previous map name was named that because Ninja was making fun of my disdain for Icon of Sin maps. And so what did I do? I made an Icon of Sin map.

The main reason I tend to not like Icon of Sin maps is two-fold: 1) I do not like constantly respawning monsters and 2) I find the mini game of firing a rocket into the brain at a very specific height to be extremely annoying. So while this is an Icon of Sin map, I would say it is a more unconventional one. In order to beat the map, you must kill two Cyberdemons on each side of the map while the Icon of Sin is spawning monsters. Behind each Cyberdemon is a hanged marine (reskinned Keen) that the player must kill both to reveal an eye switch. The player must shoot the eye switch to open a passage, in which the player will beat the level while usually dying on their way to escape. This map ends with the player never making their escape, which ties in with my story.

Most of the lines in the map were used in the star, which was quite difficult to remove slimetrails from. I’m really proud of my usage of the DBRAIN texture on the star.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) MAP30 has a special quirk in that all monsters can telefrag other monsters. This functionality is most known from its use in MAP30 of TNT. So this map uses the same trick with an Archvile telefragging a bunch of Imps, essentially teleporting out of a bunch of corpses. 2) Behind the final eye switch that the player must shoot actually has a voodoo doll behind it. So you must essentially shoot yourself to push the voodoo doll over an action line to open the escape.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“TNT My Life” - Originally this map used the music track “Smells Like Burning Corpse” midi from TNT MAP02. So I was really concerned on how I could give the music for this map the same feel. The result was a sort of loose cover of “Smells Like Burning Corpse” with a bunch of new melodies added to it. I say loose cover because this midi has a different tempo and a completely different melody than the original TNT track, however it is done in a very similar feel to imitate the original track. I like to think of this midi as a tribute. This may be my favourite midi for the project.

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MAP31: Marble Carousel
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
This is the only non-even map in the main megawad attributed to me. Specifically I wanted to do MAP31 because I already had an idea for the secret exit. The secret exit progression was an idea I had already thought of beforehand and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, especially for a 100 line map. The map is almost entirely marble textured and I called it a Carousel just because you can run around the map in a circle.

The main progression of this map is pretty simple, you just run around the entire map once until a door opens up with the walls hinting at what enemy you’ll have to face. There’s a red key in the alcove that opens up and the player must do another must go around the map a second time to use the locked red door to the exit. While I consider this map pretty easy, if you do not react to the main trap quick enough, you can make it way harder on yourself.

The secret exit in this map is what truly makes this map interesting. Like MAP04, the secret exit is like a mini Doom style puzzle. When the player grabs the red key, they may notice that a new door has revealed itself, but is also out of reach and higher from where the player is. The puzzle part of the map comes from what happens when you enter the red key alcove.

Sharp players may notice that the alcove opens up when the player reaches the highest step on the staircase. However, even sharper players will realise that when the player grabs the red key, after a while the alcove will close again. There is an action line when the player enters the alcove that opens the door for around 10 seconds and then closes it. This means that since the alcove is already open from the player reaching the top step, they may not realise the timer immediately, since the door can’t open twice. You can find a hidden switch on the other side of the door when it closes, so if you stay in the alcove, you can see the switch.

Once that hidden switch is flipped, it opens a small area with a double switch. In reality it kinda is a triple switch though. Both sides of the switch do a separate action, but also the player walking into the hidden area also does an action. After all the actions have been activated, the player will see that the staircase is no longer a staircase, the lighting of the map is now uniform, and the middle of the map has opened up with a Lost Soul. The use of the midtexture in the centre of the map is a bit experimental, but I think it works. The player is then expected to guide a Lost Soul (without killing it) to open the door to the secret exit.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) requiring a monster to open up a door is something that I haven’t seen quite often. 2) Also using the Doom action of “Open a door for 10 seconds and then close” as a secret way to find a switch is pretty unique. 3) It is worth noting that when the stair sectors all become uniform in height and brightness, the uniform brightness is actually relying on the Vanilla change brightness algorithm. Which means that in Boom and later compatibilities, the lighting doesn’t change as it is supposed to compared to Vanilla.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Strung-Up Circus” - This midi was a little difficult to compose. I had to listen to a bunch of circus music to try and figure out how to make this track the way I wanted it. It is the only music track for this project that is in ¾ time. In addition, it is the only music track to feature more orchestrated drums. The goal was to create a circus song with orchestral instruments. The choir in the beginning of the midi is reminiscent of “They're Going to Get You”, the midi from E2M4 of Doom.

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MAP32: Wonderful Nightmare
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:Made to make a less shit MAP32 (from Project Unity), and also use “The Forgotten God” as the song after playing “3 Heures d'Agonie 3” MAP30… Is totally not “Scythe II” MAP30.

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MAP33: The Descent III
AUTHOR: Arsinikk and NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
(Arsinikk:) This map started out as a pitch from me. I told Ninja that I could make a Vanilla Doom map with an elevator that could have the ceiling move with the floor like in Boom. Originally the map was going to be a raising elevator with the name “The Ascent”. Unfortunately I realised with the very limited amount of ceiling actions in Vanilla Doom, only a Descending elevator would be possible with this technique. And so I did the technical part of this map with the ceiling and floor moving together as one, which for Vanilla is extremely impressive.

I worked with Ninja on combat encounters. This map is a sequel in sorts to “The Descent II'' from Hell Revealed II. At first when Ninja added two teleport destinations in the elevator, I was disappointed, but in the final product I think it works. We had a big back and forth when it came to the balancing of this map. He said that my version was too easy, and I said that his version was too difficult. We ended up with this version which is somewhere in between.

(Ninja:) No comment.

VANILLA TRICKS:
1) The main trick of this map is from the simple fact that the elevator moving down also has the ceiling moving down with the floor. This is done using a ceiling flat bleed. The way that the ceiling is able to stop is at the top of the final door at the bottom of the elevator ride. If this door wasn’t there, the ceiling would continue down to the floor. 2) This map uses a simple barrel conveyor to start the elevator since it requires multiple actions to start at once. 3) I’m not sure if this is a “trick”, but the stuck monster at the end of the map is on purpose. It’s sort of a joke, but it also requires the player to kill the monster in order to exit the map. So essentially it’s a door with health.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Under Death” - (Arsinikk:) This is the first map I worked on for this project that didn’t feature a music track composed by me. Those who are familiar with Vanilla Doom will know that the MAP33 slot uses the Story Music. I chose this Klem music track mostly because it’s one of my favourite midis. However I also think that it fits the story text perfectly. It’s both haunting and reminiscent at the same time.

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MAP34: Under a Bleeding Sun
AUTHOR: Arsinikk

AUTHOR COMMENT:
This was meant to be a satire on slaughtermaps. Satire maps in Doom can be hard to do, since at first people may find it funny, but after a while the charm tends to wear off. I think this map is short enough that it doesn’t outstay its welcome. The monster placement in this map can easily be seen as lazy, but since it’s a satire that‘s kinda the point? There are definitely aspects of this map that are just extreme for extreme’s sake. I mean this map features 20 Cyberdemons. I wouldn’t say the map is hard since I give the player 6 invulnerabilities.

The main reason that this map is an extra map instead of being a main map is because of how the map is built around the monsters being released in the centre of the map. Because of the 128 sprite limit of Vanilla Doom, while this map is possible to beat in Vanilla, I wouldn’t say it’s that playable. It’s too difficult to see all the information the player needs to see and since all the 1000 monsters are in the middle of the map, many of the monster sprites appear and disappear.

Another reason this map is an extra map is because it really doesn’t have a Vanilla trick to it. The only small Vanilla trick could be that all of the moving sectors are all triggered with just 1 action line. Also the blood walls that lower are actually higher than the ceiling, making a sort of natural made timer.

The goal of this map, besides making a satire slaughermap, was to make a 100 line map that felt grand in scale and scope. When everything has lowered in the map, the bleeding sun is a sight to behold. The grandness was inspired by Eternal’s Epic and Epic 2.

MUSIC COMMENT:
“Remains of War” - Those who know Vanilla Doom will know that MAP34 uses the same music as the Title screen. This music was specifically chosen for this map. Since the map is already a satire on slaughtermaps, the music pulled from Hell Revealed II is the icing on the cake.

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MAP35: It is Right There Bro
AUTHOR: NinjaDelphox

AUTHOR COMMENT:
I made this as a weird bonus map to make Arsinikk think it is impossible lol.