![]() The map feels like a "whole" experience, rather than a series of individual experiences strung together. It doesn’t keep you in any one place for very long, nor does it sacrifice its ability to create memorable moments. ![]() Closely tied to that note about the layout and rounded-corners, there’s a focus on momentum in Brigandine. A lot of the fights kick off in a flash, they’re intense, and in a moment they’re over and we’re moving again. In his text file, Viggles expressed his intention to bring “deathmatch flow” to a single-player experience: he nailed it.Ĭombat is bite-sized, even up to the larger "setpiece" arenas. On top of that, there are several doors that open themselves with the careful use of WR (fast) lines, offering Viggles the luxury of a barrier without having to stop the player. Another defining aspect is found in the lack of right-angles – the majority of corners are rounded, leading to a sort of “roller-coaster” sensation as I zipped around the level. I was never lost, despite the level utilizing tons of clever “overlapping” in terms of connected space (both visually, and in combat), because Viggles put a great deal of care into making sure that my path invariably led me straight towards my goal. The layout is smooth, compact, and clear. what the hell is even that? While I don’t possess a degree in Gamerology, Brigandine offers great examples of what I considered satisfying “flow” at work in a Doom map. More to the point of what really butters my eggroll about this map is the flow. I can’t imagine attempting the blue key region to the south-east without that early, secret RL, but god bless the souls who try. ![]() As a mapper, I'd really like to use this approach more often. Each one comes with a small “bonus fight” (the details of which I’d rather not spoil), but it made finding them a lot more exciting, and the fruits of each secret all the more rewarding. The three secrets I did find were the Berserk cave, the early RL, and the BFG, and this is a perfect point to dive into some of the things I love about this map – to start, I admire just how much fun it is to find secrets here. I played using GZDoom on UV, securing 100% kills and items, and a modest 3/6 secrets (I couldn’t figure out how to reach the Megaarmor, the Backpack, and I’m not actually sure what the last secret was). I think I’m even more impressed now than I ever was. I wondered to what extent my view of the map would change, on the back of everything else I’ve experienced since my first playthrough. Having not played the map in 4-5 years, time that has been marked by an incredible journey into the Doom scene – both, as a player, and now a happy little mapper myself – this seemed like an awesome chance to revisit Brigandine. To sum up my experience at that time of Viggles’ brown, gothic gem with a single sentence, it would have to be “ Holy shit, you can make this kind of stuff?” After downloading my first source port, Scythe 2 was my introduction to full 32-map PWADs, and shortly after that, I tried my first single-map PWAD: Brigandine. I played UD, D2, and Final Doom for the first time around 1999, and went back to them (well, mostly D2 and Plutonia) every so many years, but the modding scene managed to stay off of my radar until 2016. Notes: Criticality and Miasma are long and difficult One Boom-format map by Chris Lutz (requires retres.wad for textures, ZDoom is author recommended although not mandatory) Whatever you prefer. You can play any or all of the month's wads, in any order and at any time. When a set has more than one map, you can do a single write-up for the whole thing or one for each map. Play along and post write-ups and share videos. Through user suggestions and my own picks. My goal is to maintain some diversity along vectors like difficulty and art style, so selections won't always default to whatever got the most votes. Thread cycles are now roughly a month and a half. The next thread will begin around April 15 "Smaller" refers to the amount of content, not necessarily the map count. The DWMegawad Club fills most of its days, but this club won't, so that you can maintain other Doom obligations. It's like the DWMegawad Club, but we'll focus on single maps and smaller mapsets.
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