Pegleg

As Major Arlene (who used to be on the team selecting the Cacowards) said over a year ago (we’ll before the Doom Awards): ”We never said we were the only people who could write awards. In fact, we’ve encouraged people to write their own.”

I've started and stopped a few times, but in mid-January 2024, this is at the top of my list of maps. I have a plan, and I'm still on board.

Of course saving your game in Doom is bad. EVERYONE knows that the ONE TRUE RIGHT WAY to play Doom is keyboard-only Nightmare Tyson reality, blind and without saves. Honestly, if you can’t beat a map, mapset, or megawad in one try without taking a hit, then how can you call yourself a real gamer? If you’re not deleting wad files as soon as you finish them (because playing them a second time wouldn’t be blind), then how can you even look at yourself in the mirror? Oh, but I need saves because I can’t possibly beat Eviternity II in one sitting. Oh, how could I possibly get through Sunder without taking a hit? Oh, there’s no way I could find optimal routes to speedrun maps without playing them multiple times. Ha. Get good, losers. So, to summarize, yes, using saves in Doom is bad and, furthermore, anyone who saves their game should feel bad for doing it and not call themselves a “good player” or “real gamer” or anything like that.

@Vajjer'sDoomThings I don’t think that the Doom novels were ever given an age rating. I read the first book when I was a sophomore in high school back in 1994/95, and I don’t recall there being anything that was shocking in there. I didn’t know there were 3 more books in the series until years later, but from what I hear, books 3 and 4 are completely off the rails and gave nothing to do with the games. If I were going to do a book report, I would just do it on book 1. As far as the books go, there’s obviously violence, blood, and killing, but I don’t recall it being gratuitous. I wouldn’t say there’s gore, but given the subject matter, I could see how some people might call it that. The two main characters are naked when they meet on Deimos, but they’re also covered in blood and bile, so it’s not meant to be a titillating scene, and they quickly take clothes off nearby corpses. I remember a comment being made that this is meant to be what people think Hell is like, as opposed to them actually being in Hell. I don’t remember if there’s profanity in the book. If I were to try to rate it, I’d probably put it somewhere between 6th and 10th grade (11-16 years old) depending on what people think of the “gore.” The writing itself is fairly straightforward. If you were told to pick any book you like, but the unspoken expectation was that you’d report on one of the “classics,” your teacher will probably be disappointed. But if you really get completely free range to pick any book, then picking “Knee Deep in the Dead” is probably not going to be a problem.

From what I understand, Donna Jackson will come to QuakeCon. I think I’ve seen pictures on DW that people took with her.

I haven't had as much time to map these past few weeks as I thought I would, so the map isn't done, but I plan to finish my map in the next couple weeks. Looking at the map list, I realize that mine is the last map you're waiting on, so I will make every effort not to dawdle.

This very thing was asked in a thread back in 2014. You could consult it for ideas. In addition to the map theme generator already mentioned, jmickle also wrote a random texture selector. Perhaps you could combine the two for some ideas. Alternately, look at maps that you have enjoyed playing and try to get ideas from them. Figure out what you enjoy in maps, and then make encounters like that. If you make what you like, then 1) you'll have infinitely more fun making it and 2) you'll be more likely to finish making it. Of course, maybe you're just looking for rough ideas. Here's a few: Ruined castle with techbase elements in the middle of a lake of slime. At one point in a map, you enter the room with a locked door. The room has monsters in it, so there is a fight. This room also leads to the key you need, which you saw earlier on your way to the locked door room. You go and get the key, which is in the middle of a large, open space. Once you get the key, nothing happens (subverting the expectation of players expecting an ambush due to the large space around the key). Or, have a monster closet with a few zombieman open when you get the key. However, upon returning to the blue key room, swarms of monsters teleport into the room that was previously cleared. Everyone has seen the techbase with a secret hell area beneath it (think Doomsday of UAC). So flip the script. Make a hellish fortress (blood fountains, lakes of fire, impaled and hanging bodies everywhere, evil eyes watching you, flesh and bone, snake floors, etc.), but have a secret techbase control center below it. And have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year yourself!

My personal experience is that you get better at ironmanning the more you do it. I hope getting messed up early doesn't put you off the style, and that you come back again. There's also the Doomworld Ironman League, another monthly ironman event. To be clear, when I'm playing for fun and not for one of these ironman sessions, I play with saves. I'm a full supporter of playing Doom in the way you find most enjoyable, but I do encourage everyone to try ironman and not be put off by it if it doesn't go well for you.

No, just load grimripp.wad. Do not load 4A.wad. 4A.wad is an alternate version of Map 04 that the author made specifically for co-op. The map is the same as the version in grimpripp.wad in terms of layout and enemies, but there are weapons, ammo, and armor at the beginning of the map to accomodate multiple players.

I had missed @joe-ilya's submission on the Ironman Discord. Here is his run, which I will be adding to the post above. Category: 1 Difficulty: UV Dead on: MAP17 Time of death: 46:30 Kill count upon death: 62/72 Time upon entering map of death: 41:47 Port: Nugget Doom 2.1.0 badideaIRONEAGLEjoe.zip

Welcome to the latest installment of the IronEagle competition, the ironman challenge that happily takes all-comers, regardless of your level of skill (or lack thereof--I'm firmly looking at myself here). As long as you enjoy playing Doom, then feel free to join us! This month, participants will challenge themselves against Grim Ripper, a vanilla 15-map set for Doom 2, released by Jaromirr Bergmann in 2005. This mapset is another straightforward set where you are fighting the forces of Hell and trying to survive. The author intended for it to be played continuously. Participants must play these maps on complevel 2 or Doom(strict). Download Grim Ripper here. Grim Ripper starts at Map 01. Survival is completing Map 15. There are no secret maps.\ EDIT: Do not load 4a.wad (included in the zip file)--the author modified it for co-op. It's basically the same map as in grimripp.wad, but with more weapons at the beginning. One more thing: since it's December, in the spirit of the season, there is one rule change: If you die in a map, feel free to pistol start that map and continue on with your run. You don't have to do this if you don't want to, but the option is there. You get one free pistol start, and your run ends upon your second death. If you use your one pistol start exception, note that you used it, and on what map you used it. Enjoy! Rules: The rules are basically the same as they have been. Either demos or streams are permissible. If you are creating a demo, post the demo. If you are streaming, post a video of the stream. Even if streaming, you can still submit a demo, if you want to. The basic rule is that you submit a demo/stream played at a particular difficulty level (HNTR, HMP, or UV) and you play without saving and reloading, ending your run when you die (or survive). The following are allowed (but not required): Freelook Crosshair Mods that are COSMETIC ONLY The following are NOT allowed: Crouching Jumping Mods that change ANY aspect of base gameplay, including (but not limited to) enemy behavior, enemy speed, player abilities, player speed, weapon damage, ammo, and enemy drops. Further, more specific, rules are listed below: Any port is accepted provided it will actually run the mapset. There is no preference. Category System: Category 1: Blind run. This explains itself. You have no knowledge of the wad and have not played/seen it before. I'm willing to be somewhat lenient with this Category. For example, if you die early in Map 01, and then decide to play again for your run, you can still call it Category 1. Category 2: Non-blind. If you have played the wad before and/or possess significant foreknowledge, your run is non-blind. Basically, anything that is not Category 1 is Category 2. If you're unhappy with your blind run, feel free to record a new run, and submit that run instead. (Just don't submit your first run.) If you want to submit your first run, no matter how you perform, by all means, go ahead and do it. You shouldn't feel that you HAVE to submit a run you're dissatisfied with, just to preserve a "Category 1" status. If you want to go back and submit a second run, you're welcome to do so, but, at this time, it won't be counted. Difficulty System: You may submit a demo/stream for only one of HNTR, HMP, or UV. Choose only one, because subsequent submissions will be rejected (i.e., if you submit a HMP demo, the HNTR demo you then submit will be rejected). We're not using the 1CC rule set here. Your first submission is what counts. Only runs from the same difficulty will be pitted against each other. Each difficulty will be graded separately. Submission: When you submit your run, please the include the following information: The category (1 or 2) The difficulty If you survived, your time If you didn't survive, the map where you died If you used your one pistol start exception and on which map you used it Time of death Kill count upon death Time upon entering your map of death (if you made it past the first map) The port you used (if you included a demo) A link to the stream/video (if you did a stream) You may include a commentary about the maps or details about them, if you want to. If you do include specific information about the map (e.g. "The demon trap in Map 08 is rough"), please put it in a spoiler, so that people that want a completely blind experience won't be tipped off. If you're just putting in a general comment (e.g., "Pro tip: don't get hit"), then no need for a spoiler. Attempting to max the maps is not necessary to win. Ranking for this mapset will be determined by: Survival, without pistol restart Survival, with pistol restart Time for survival Map of death (in descending order: Map 15, Map 14, Map 13, Map 12, Map 11, Map 10, Map 09, Map 08, Map 07, Map 06, Map 05, Map 04, Map 03, Map 02, Map 01; dying on a map following a pistol death restart will rank lower than dying on that map if you had not had a pistol death restart) Time it took to reach the map of death Kill count in the map of death If you die, please wait a few seconds before quitting. Breaks: Everyone gets tired. Sometimes people survive longer than they expected. Nature calls. Every now and then, there are family emergencies. Needing to take a break shouldn't necessarily end a promising run. While you should try to complete the run in a single setting, this isn't always possible. If you have to take a break, try to make it quick. Happy Dooming! Previous IronEagle Competitions

Thank you to all the competitors who challenged themselves against Bad Idea this month! Nevertheless, I hope to see everyone back for the challenge in December, and bring a few friends along for the ride, too. Without further ado, here are the final standings for IronEagle 60. UV NaZa (Survived +2) SCF (Survived +1) dt_ (Survived) galileo31dos01 (Survived) joe-ilya (Map 17) Austinado (Map 17) ginc (Map 16) NoisyVelvet (Map 16) Helm (Map 15) Asbadagba (Map 14) Horus (Map 14) Suitepee (Map 14) HMP LadyMistDragon (Map 15) head_cannon (Map 14) HNTR Andromeda (Map 17) Li'l Devil (Map 16) Pegleg (Map 14)

Category: 2 Difficulty: HNTR Dead on: Map 14 Kills: 30/46 (one monster died to infighting after my death, leading to the 31/46 in my demo) Time: 2:24 ie_pegleg_badidea.zip My DWIL run this month was 2:23. This run was 2:24. My friends, that's precision in dying.

Category: 2 Dead on: Map 01 Kills: 32/71 Time: 2:23 dwi_pegleg_absoldis_cat2.zip @Li'l devil You'll find I never have a problem admitting I died in the first map (which happened here) or in the first room (which happened with Hell Revealed) or even to the first enemy (which happened in 2017 Collection). I encourage everyone to submit their runs, but I respect those who don't want to. Also, there's no shame in being at the bottom of the leaderboard. I've been there a lot, but I've also seen runners be there one month and near the top the next month--such is the nature of iron manning. Obviously, I've played this before, having selected it for IronEagle back in 2020. And there's a reason I selected it back then--I enjoyed it and I thought it was a good mapset. And I still think that. Granted, I haven't played it in 3 years, but you would have thought I would still have done better. Oh well, foreknowledge doesn't relieve you of the consequences of poor play. ... I think I've written something like that in an Ironman League entry before. There were a few spots I thought might prove hairy in Map 01, and the blue key ambush was one of them--trying to clear the available portions of the map and being at 10% going into that was Anyway, Absolute Dishonor is still what I thought it was 3 years ago: a solid and under-appreciated mapset with good aesthetics and very good encounter design. The ambushes can be nasty, but they always felt fair. There's enough health and ammo around to handle things. I recommend this mapset to people that want to play something less well-known for a reason--it's good.

I had seen that you added me, but thank you for the second mention just to make sure. Is mid-December still the deadline? Or is it earlier?