🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello,

I have just released a new patch WAD for Doom 2, which is now
available to download from my web site:
http://www.starfighter.acornarcade.com/mysite/doom.htm#rienzi
This is something of a personal milestone because I started designing
it when I was still at sixth form college (in 1999, or thereabouts)
and I haven't released a brand-new Doom WAD since 'Fish!' in May 2003!

I have cross-posted to comp.sys.acorn.games because I did all of the
authoring on an Acorn Risc PC using Lee Noar's port of the Doom Editor
for Total Headcases ( http://www.leenoar.ukos.com/deth ) and
playtesting in R-Comp Interactive's port of Doom. At one time I
intended it as my entry in Acorn User magazine's Doom WAD design
competion - but narrowly missed the deadline for submissions by nearly
a decade!

This is a very detailed map with a volcanic theme and several
specifically-designed graphic elements, which was mainly designed for
a single player (although is has untested multiplayer and deathmatch
start positions). You must descend through caves and potholes to the
innermost sanctum of a cyberdemon before making your escape from the
bowels of the earth via the crater of a volcano.

The hostile environment can be almost as challenging as the minions
bent upon your destruction: if something looks hot then it is probably
painful to some extent! In most places falling into lava is fatal
because there isn't anywhere suitable to climb out. There are also a
couple of traps where you must act quickly to save yourself.

I have tried to design the map so that gameplay isn't completely
linear: there is no single correct order in which to explore, and more
than one method of tackling the few set-piece encounters with powerful
monsters. You won't always be in possession of the ideal weapon with
which to fight an enemy - that would be too easy! Availability of
ammunition is also limited, so you may have to wield a chainsaw on
'ultra-violence'. You don't actually have to kill the cyberdemon to
reach the exit, but failure to do so would likely result in your
dishonourable expulsion from the Society of Armed Volcanologist
Exorcists (SAVE).

My original inspiration came from an audio cassette adaptation of
Jules Verne's classic tale 'Journey To The Centre of the Earth', which
I enjoyed as a child. It featured Wagner's Rienzi overture as
incidental music, from which this WAD got its name (rather than any
direct link to the medieval Italian politician Cola di Rienzi).

In several locations this map is more complex than typical of Id
Software's original maps, and therefore the game may run jerkily on
slower computers. If you are using a RISC OS machine then I recommend
a StrongARM processor as the minimum specification.

Any feedback would be much appreciated. However, I used the maximum
number of sectors allowed by DETH (it crashes when saving a map with
more than 511), so extending the map or adding more detail would be
out of the question!

--
Christopher Bazley