Duke Map/Mod of the Month Club - May 2025

Duke Map/Mod of the Month Club - May 2025 "Maps by Various Authors #2"

quakis

#1 Posted 02 May 2025 - 12:56 PM

What's this thing?
We play through a set of maps/mods during the month, and use this thread to discuss it as we're still all fresh with our comments/opinions/feelings about the maps.

What's the purpose?
Basically, there are 4 purposes:

Showcasing some of the older mods/maps to wider public - they definitely deserve the attention!
Getting more people to actually enjoy and appreciate the user content - because let's be honest, over the past 29 years this was really what kept Duke alive after all.
...and while we're at it - keeping Duke alive by still enjoying it, as there's no new games in the franchise on the horizon (and let's be honest, they wouldn't be as good as some of this stuff!).
Having a more structured discussion on maps than what's going in "Last map you played" thread - which is great, but it's basically a monologue most of the time.

Can I join?
Sure, as long as you find some spare time during the month to play the stuff that's on the table!

Why a month?
Because people have lives, jobs or other stuff to do (like mapping). For smaller maps, this could be shorter time - it's all up to debate in the future!

What port should I use? Are mods allowed? Where to get the maps?
It's entirely up to you how you play the game, so you can use whatever port or mod allowed - it would be cool to state in your posts what you're using too, as there might be some slight differences between the ports! As for the maps, they should be always linked within the first post.

How should I play the maps or post about them?
Again, it's up to you. You can finish them all in one go or play them one by one whenever you feel like. On Doom forums, there's a rule that you should keep the pace by not posting about a map that has a higher number than the day of the month, so e.g. on 6th you shouldn't post about map 7 etc. I think that might be a good practice if there's a large interest in this, but first let's see how active the thread is for a start - so if there's nothing going on, feel free to post about whatever map you want to.

Previous 2025 Editions

Spoiler

Previous 2024 Editions

Spoiler

Previous 2023 Editions

Spoiler

Previous 2022 Editions

Spoiler

Previous 2021 Editions

Spoiler

Just to change up the formula a bit from author specific events and episodes, I've made a selection of levels each going for different themes and styles. To be honest I had trouble keeping this list short, so there's always another time for the others I couldn't fit in here if desired! This month we've got 15 levels, many of these I haven't played in years and others probably haven't been under the spotlight much at all. Some levels are shorter experiences while a couple might keep you busy. Don't feel obliged to play all of them! Hopefully we'll have more time this month for a community vote for June's event.

Hamilton Pool by David B.

Download: MSDN / Scent88

The Prison Campus by Waddah M. I. Abdu

Download: arrovfnukem / Scent88

Voices of Authority by SalaciusCrumb

Download: MSDN / Scent88

Red Rock by Markus 'Suppressor' Schopf

Download: MSDN / Scent88

Bobafett by Mike Beaulieu

Download: MSDN / Scent88

Elements by NerdKoopa

Download: MSDN / Scent88

Insurance Overload by Alias Conrad Coldwood

Download: MSDN / Scent88

Hostile Waters by James Duncan

Download: MSDN / Scent88

Castle of the Damned by Andras Piroska

Download: MSDN / Scent88

The Last Train to Marsville by reflex17

Download: MSDN / Scent88

Dracula's Castle by James 'Jblade35' Stanfield

Download: MSDN / Scent88

FactoryX by Nick 'Vector' Farrow

Download: MSDN / Scent88

Daemonus by Stranger

Download: MSDN / Scent88

Docking Doom by Lanna 'Girl_Online' Deones

Download: MSDN / Scent88

Post Logic by Bryant Arnett

Download: Scent88

This post has been edited by quakis: 02 May 2025 - 01:25 PM

NNC

#2 Posted 03 May 2025 - 11:19 AM

I remember enjoying Factory X and Hostile Waters.

This post has been edited by NNC: 03 May 2025 - 11:19 AM

quakis

#3 Posted 07 May 2025 - 08:56 AM

To get the discussion rolling, here's some older reviews from TAW I'm still happy with, the latter two I spruced up to the current format with a few minor touch ups. Other older reviews (most before 2006) I'd like to revisit and rewrite down the line.

Post Logic: https://taw.duke4.ne...e3d/post-logic/
Insureance Overload: https://taw.duke4.ne...rance-overload/
Docking Doom: https://taw.duke4.ne...d/docking-doom/
Elements: https://taw.duke4.ne...uke3d/elements/

I've been looking forward to giving FactoryX and Red Rock another spin, so might bump those two as priorities.

slacker1

#4 Posted 08 May 2025 - 09:33 AM

It's been a while since I participated. Hopefully I'll have more time during the month to play some of the other maps.

Hamilton Pool

When I saw the screen shot, I was pretty sure I played this map before. After loading it up, I knew that I did. It's been a long time though. It's always interesting when loading a map you haven't played for 5-10 (or more!) years and a whole bunch of it comes flooding back. For example, in this map, I pretty much fully remembered the whole first floor's layout as soon as I walked into the building. Wild. Anyway....

I liked the map's detailing and styling. Everything was polished and the layouts of all the floors made sense and were easy to navigate. The only thing I noticed is that the scaling of areas was just ever so slightly leaning towards the smaller than normal side. For example, I felt some hallways and doorways were just a little tight.

Weapons, enemies, and health placement I felt was very balanced and fair. I liked that I didn't always have a ton of ammo and though health was pretty abundant, its mostly in the form of the 10+ packs so that also wasn't overdone. Granted, there are a bunch of toilets you use or break and drink if absolutely needed to. Enemy ambushes and spawning was also nicely done. The only one that almost got me that maybe is a little unfair was the final small ambush in the hallway. I ended up backing up into a tripmine and dropping to 18 health while getting chaingunned by an inforcer.

The ending sort of felt a little unfinished. I feel like in the final room, if the computer screens would have opened up as you entered or flipped a switch and a miniboss (or boss) came that would have been cool. Two pig cops and a nuke button just seemed unfinished.

All in all, it's a good level. I was happy to replay it and had fun doing so.

Rating: B+

Aleks

#5 Posted 08 May 2025 - 12:07 PM

In order not to write all these reviews "to a drawer" and to keep my motivation for a more quality output a bit higher, from now on I'm going to upload the reviews on DukeMaps.net. Here's the first one - for Voices of Authority, which I'm pretty sure I've played before, but didn't remember all that well...
https://www.dukemaps...s-of-authority/

quakis

#6 Posted Today, 02:49 PM

Thought about taking a different approach to this. I'm too caught up on wanting to write a review for everything that I'll just never write about anything for a long time. So I'm going to try playing and leaving some initial thoughts I can then use later as brief notes for an eventual review to go more indepth if applicable. At least serve as an experiment for me to be more active as part of these events where possible.

Played four levels today:

Red Rock has a very striking design you won't see its full potential until a little further into the map, but the titular red canyon has a unique look boasting some intense sunlight hitting the rocks and large scale environments where neat structures like a crane and broken bridge are part of the navigation. Also love how Schopf embraces colour, especially as we get deeper into the EDF base with intense reds and blues cutting through the low level lighting. Some other fun gimmicks include a repairable tank and electrified water that'll instakill you. Neat experience to replay, shame they never stuck around for a sequel or such, I'll have to check out their earlier release soon.
Daemonus feels like an elaborate DM level which Stranger made a bunch of, then given a singleplayer treatment. I'm a sucker for these themes and designs though probably more suited for Doom of Quake, but after so many cities, facilities and detours into space, I love a good fantastical setting in Duke now and them. These textures are more than apt for it as showcased here along side a ton of geometrical shapes that make up a multilayered structure squeezed into a small space. You can get lost in these halls as they loop amongst themselves.
Voices of Authority offers a nice showcase of SalaciusCrumb's base design that has always appealed to me, the smooth metallic texture is something I attribute to their style and while, yes, is mostly a monotonous grey palette, something about the clean look with complex structure still stands out. Gameplay is mission structured, involves some backtracking using slow elevators, neat concept that could have been tightened up a bit more to match the perceived time sensitive intensity. Little disappointed the final weapon firing didn't do much as the mothership was still encroaching while I could exit, maybe something went wrong or it was always like this. Will speedrun through it later to be certain.
Bobafett was a cute combination of moon rock and cold metallic bases, with some minor Star Wars references and neat constructions. The level is a simple romp that packs a bit of variety within its linear format, some underwater segments and a blend of indoor and outdoor sections. Enemy palettes to make their skin blue do make the environment feel a bit colder than usual, which itself has solid design made up of mostly whites and greys. First keycard location being on top of the hallway structures flowing through the cave system was a nice touch. Had trouble seeing where the blue keycard was, the sound cue threw me off the trail but maybe I was just being blind. Ending involves a typical BOSS that's super easy to dispatch, the ship structure makes up for it though.

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