🚀 go-pugleaf

I have made some changes to my 'Rienzi' WAD to make it more playable
and less liable to run slowly or exceed static limits. (I failed in
the latter goal - certain areas of the map still suffer from 'Hall of
mirrors' in Jeffrey Doggett's source port http://jeffd.drobe.co.uk -
probably too many visible segs.)

Architecturally, the only obvious changes are that the BFG is now
somewhat inaccessible (lowered by a switch) and I have redesigned the
steps up to the cathedral's balconies (to block the line of sight
between inside and outside). There is also a new secret sector which
is intended to give cowardly players a nasty surprise, and I have
fixed a misaligned texture near the exit switch.

After trying various node builders, I settled on Marc Rousseau's
ZenNode. It seems to produce the best overall results, but only when
using the '-n2' option ('Minimize BSP depth'). The default algorithm
('-n1') produces a massive glitch in the volcano crater! Colin Reed
and Lee Killough's BSP and Randy Heit's ZDBSP produce minor glitches
in different places (vertical columns of pixels filled with unbounded
floor/ceiling texture). I find fiddling around with node builders and
verifying that they produce acceptable results for the whole level to
be the most frustrating aspect of WAD design!

Despite feedback that the level was too easy, I have actually made it
slightly easier so that my brother and others who aren't Doom gods can
enjoy playing (I kept dying despite knowing what was coming). There
are 70 additional health points and I have redistributed both health
and ammunition bonuses to avoid unduly penalising certain route
decisions. There are fewer revenants on all skill levels (being
attacked by five on a precipitous staircase with no cover was just
silly). I also got rid of the lost souls in the volcano crater because
being obstructed or attacked by monsters far above or below is grossly
unfair!

The ratio of monster hitpoints to maximum ammo damage has been reduced
on all skill levels (from 0.504 to 0.483 on 'Ultra-violence').
However, ammunition is still fairly limited and I sometimes find
myself hacking my way to the exit switch with the chainsaw! I suppose
what is a sensible ratio depends partly on the level design: The
player is more likely to waste ammo fighting at long range;
conversely, monster placement which tends to promote in-fighting would
save ammo.

Any more feedback welcome, as always:
http://starfighter.acornarcade.com/...doom.htm#rienzi