Note to maintainer: This is a Doom 1 Single-player WAD ================================================================ Title : Lodge of the Undead for Ultimate Doom Filename : LODGE.WAD Author : Dan Patanella Email Address : cu412@freenet.carleton.ca Misc. Author Info : creator of Gatchaman Doom TC, Fordham.wad, and author of "Maytel's New Direction" fanfic. Description : The UAC likes to provide a little R & R for its ace space marines and you've certainly proven yourself in the past. Of course, given that this is a virtual reality slugfest, you kinda know that your vacation will turn into a nightmare. Aliens and demonspawn have run amuck throughout the vacation lodge, and you'd better find your way to the escape tranporter before they make chili dogs out of you! As you'll immediately see, Undead Lodge falls into the "imitative" folder. This WAD evokes old-fashioned wooden hunting lodges nestled within forests, so look for some nostalgic graphics on the walls of the Undead Lodge. There are also some vaguely creepy graphics too, such as the Cat Door. You'll find plenty of shotgun ammo, since this is a hunting lodge, after all - but not a lot of the high-tech goodies you've been spoiled with on Phobos and Deimos. Armour helmets are pretty easy to find, but anything tougher than Green Armour isn't, mainly because few hunters would need heavy-duty Blue Armour to hunt deer. And you may wish you had a BFG! Too bad. There aren't any because there are no Tyrannosaurs in the vicinity for the UAC boys to hunt, so all BFG's were left at the metal detector. There are some nods to modern life. You may enjoy the Barons-of-Hell-sized videogame in the Rec Room (retro, naturally) and the demons carrying on in the trippy Rave Room (you'll know it when you see it). Like my other levels, this one is intentionally nonlinear. Romero and Petersen's levels were nonlinear and I've tried to emulate them. If you have any feedback on my work, by all means e-mail me at the above address. I'd like to know what you think. I hope you have fun in this self-contained little adventure. Additional Credits to : Len Pitre just earned more stripes for another ace playtesting job! Len was also the first person to hear my pseudo-raga remix of Victory. It sounds like a lost George Harrison b-side. Len also suggested the additional ammo needed to kill that nasty Spider Demon. Rez also served as a playtester, and offered some cool suggestions, namely making this level deathmatch-friendly. TJ Fisher's creepy tales of the giant spiders in her dad's getaway cottage were inspirational for certain portions of this WAD. It reminded me a lot of the giant spiders of Mirkwood in *The Hobbit*. I was also inspired by the great Galaxia level, although Undead Lodge is far less ambitious and has a much simpler storyline. Still, without Galaxia's influence, I doubt I'd have gone so nuts adding new textures to a one-shot WAD. And, of course, there were those giant spiders just outside Vancouver. . . Thanks also has to go to iD software, for creating the fabulous Doom engine, and generously allowing the fan community of Doomers to thrive. From the grandest TC to the smallest WAD, none of it would be possible without the Doom engine iD created. Thank you, iD Software! You've given us a great hobby. With each passing month and the rise and fall of other virtual reality games, Doom and Doom2 look better and better. Hints and Ramblings : The Red Keycard is used to gain access to a storage room full of useful supplies; if you want an awesome challenge, try playing the level without using the Red Keycard. On the easier difficulty levels, you can also find a couple of Light Amplification Goggles on the floor of the Rave Room. There are a lot of secret closets and rooms - I've tried to make them detectable to the naked eye of the observant player. Once you find one of the secret areas, the others should be easier. Also, conserve your ammo whenever possible. An itchy trigger finger will harm you more in the long run than a Cyberdemon. Extra health is available as are some of the alien artifacts (i.e. Blur Sphere, Invulnerability Sphere) but these are not always easy to get to. Yes the finale is tough, but it's the dramatic climax. There *is* a way to minimize your risk against the final baddie that involves teleportation, but that's only for the faint-hearted. The new graphics in this WAD were either from my own photographs, or from public domain photos available on CD-ROM. (I like antique shops and like to photograph old, obscure paintings in store windows). I recommend any Doom TC designers interested in creating new textures to check out some of the CD-ROM photo packages widely available. You'd be surprised just how many useable or easily tweakable graphics are out there, just waiting to be turned into Doom textures and flats. This level was very nearly a Doom2 level, but I started redefining textures early in the process and didn't want to start renaming the custom textures and tweaking the level any more than I had to. Which is just as well. The level might have been quite spider-heavy if it were a Doom2 level. Maybe the next one will be for Doom2. I also think that the over-intellectualization that comes with such a process actually hurts creativity. As a trivia note, this level and FORDHAM.WAD were created as a holiday from Gatchaman Doom, a retro anime TC I began in February 1998. In both of these levels, I've been experimenting with new design ideas and the like, so you might enjoy downloading the TC and Fordham.wad and comparing them. Just a thought. Also, has anyone else but me noticed that the slide guitar solo in the outro of Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" is virtually identical to Brian May's slide guitar solo in Queen's "Radio Ga-Ga"? Sorry, I'm *really* into trivia tonight. ================================================================ * Play Information * Episode and Level # : E3M1 Single Player : Yes Cooperative 2-4 Player : Yes (though untested) Deathmatch 2-4 Player : Yes (though untested) Difficulty Settings : Yes New Sounds : No New Graphics : Yes New Music : Yes and No (a remixed and altered arrangement of VICTORY) Demos Replaced : None * Construction * Base : New level from scratch Editor(s) used : DEU 5.1; BSP 2.3; NWT; DMGRAPH, MUS2MIDI, MIDI2MUS Known Bugs : Does the Spider Demon count as a bug? Seriously, there is a little streaking in the videogame. Also, Len's informed me that my remix of VICTORY doesn't sound as good through Allegro. Rez disagrees. Anybody else reminded of the old Great Taste/Less filling commercials? * Copyright / Permissions * You MAY distribute this WAD, provided you include this file, with no modifications. You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS, Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact. * Where to get this WAD * FTP sites: cdrom.com Other: http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/academy/6351/g_doom.html