To celebrate Wolf 3d's 20th Anniversary recently, John Carmack has done a Directors commentary discussing the creation and history of the original game. It's a very informative video as he really discusses in great depth some of the technical difficulties and processes in creating the game.
John also discusses the release of the sorce code and modding tools and even shows a few screenshots of some of the Community's mods.
From 8:50 onwards John actually plays the game and talks through about the games design and some of the initial plans and ideas that were discussed and worked on at time time.
Just to let everyone know that there won't be any posts for the remainder of May as I am heading overseas for a while. I asked in the Community a little while back if anyone was interested in helping out with some posts at times this year but seeing as I've had no expressions of interest the blog will just have to, unfortunately, sit dormant until I return.
I do have some posts in the works and posts will definitely start appearing again weekly once I've returned. Thanks for your ongoing support :)
Details Title: Stealth Creator: RonWolf1705 Released: 29/02/2012 Length: 3 Levels (0 secrets) Level Format: Continuous Story: None Graphics: Original Sound: Original Special Features: Change to officer behaviour, no weapons Dos/SDL: SDL
Initial impressions: This is a really creative simply little idea that changes the Wolf 3d is played completely. It features original Wolf
graphics but the main difference here is that as the player you get no weapons
other than the knife and no ammo, this, obviously, is why the mod is
called stealth!
It takes a little while to start to think differently as you natural compulsion is to just charge into any and every room with all guns blazing. As you have no guns, this really makes you think. Some of the main differences is how you attack each enemy and the maneuvers you must undertake to defend yourself from them s you can really only attack one enemy at a time, even the dogs have now become dangerous, especially in packs.
Gameplay: The
gameplay is nicely paced with enemies constantly coming at you. but not to an overwhelming level, you do get chances to catch your breath. The pathways the
player is to follow are fairly linear within the game but there are also
some nice layouts and challenges that lead to some good battles. There's
more here within the mod than initial looks as there is some really well done mapping and a nice array of enemies and scenarios to keep
things interesting.
Mapping: The Maps are really nicely laid out and there has been a lot of thought put
into guard placements so that the play can sneak around taking out a lot of
guards one at a time. Seeing the player only has one weapon, Ron has
cleverly added the ability to back stab, meaning you can kill some guards
with one stab if you catch them from behind and unawares. It's not all
that easy though as SS generally like to patrol in pairs meaning there is
often some backtracking and clever use of walls and angles to cut of
there gun fire so that you can attempt to face each enemy one at a time,
if the SS bank up behind each other, the game can end rather quickly!
Likes: The only other change up is that the Officers can't be killed. What, I
hear you think? Well, this only adds to the challenge as the player has
to now be careful to do something they've been trained not to do in
Wolfenstein 3d and that's to not be seen or heard and not kill every
living thing in the entire map! Ron has cleverly removed the Officers
from the actor count so that those 100% perfectionists like me can still
play this and be rewarded with perfect scores for following the
creators intentions.
There are no additional walls or sprites, but that's not important
here as the gameplay really doesn't require anything to be different from
the original Wolf 3d set, it just requires the player to think and play
in a more calculated, careful way.
Dislikes: There's really not much here that I disliked, the only thing I could mention is that there is only 3 levels when after playing them you are craving more! Ratings Dean's Score: 8.5/10 Difficulty: Harder than original Wolf Best Level: 3 Worst Level: None
Wrap-up: I found this to be an outstanding idea and a really revolutionary way of playing Wolf 3d. This is listed as a demo so I'm really hoping there will be more levels to come. Ron, in my opinion has become one of the best mappers in the Community and has consistently produced very high quality maps for a number of years now, this is no exception.
I
enjoyed this so much I'm tempted to have a go at making a 'stealthy' set
of my own!
Where Can I get it?: You can download the mod HERE or by clicking on the screenshot at the top of this post.
Disclaimer: All reviews are only my opinion when playing the mod and are not intended to discredit anyone or the hard work they have put into creating their mod.
Details Title: DHW MotM September 2007 Creator: Various Released: 02/08/2007 Votes announced: 16/08/2007 (42 votes made) Length: 8 Levels Level Format: Consecutive (Players starts fresh on each level) Story: None Graphics: Some original, mostly new (AReyeP's) Sound: Original Special Features: Shading, New Status bar, On Screen Messages, Timer, Full screen, Floating Keys, Heartbeat, Blocking codes, Switch Operated Walls, Damaging Sprites, Animated Sprites, 4 Keys. Dos/SDL: Dos
Initial impressions: The exe is pretty much the same as the August set from what I can see, which isn't a bad thing as it's not easy to think of may additions that could have made what the mappers had to map with much better. All the features have been used again extremely well by most mappers with the switched operated walls playing important roles in most maps, especially that of Arielus' outstanding map.
There was only 8 maps in this set, which, unfortunately, started to indicate the either decline in popularity of the contest or the ability of mappers to keeping producing a new map month after month. Moderators of the DHW forum have always been able to see trends of when post counts increase and decrease throughout certain times of the year and looking at those stats now, the popularity of this also seems to mirror those trends.
Gameplay: The game play is easily the hardest of any of the sets in this edition. There are less Bosses than in some other months but a definite increase in guard numbers as well as difficult tight areas where the player is set upon by swarms of enemies. There is again some back tracking as switches open walls in various places and there locations aren't always entirely obvious, or even near by for that matter!
Mapping: The mapping this month proved to be the hardest yet as the maps become more complicated and mappers kept pushing the boundary's of the things they had to work with. There seemed to be a lot more mutants than in other sets and even though the number of Bosses reduced the difficulty still increased.Map sizes also got larger for this set and for myself, while testing, found that most levels took well over the 30 minute mark to complete.
Again, most keys and switches were used as well as large numbers of enemies, treasure amounts seemed to slightly increase from the previous months sets also.
This was the first month that AReyeP didn't win, although his map was again, quite outstanding. Ron's had a great, but very difficult, beginning and was made even harder by the fact that there is no Chaingun anywhere in the level. Arielus' level was extremely creative and had a fantastic flow about it, He really used the switch walls better than anyone I'd seen do previously and made them a main focal point of continuation in the level rather than just being openings to secret areas containing treasure, health, ammo or keys. The player does need to be extremely careful throughout this level though as there is a very low level of health placed throughout the level (less than 100 points total!) - proceed with extreme caution!
Likes: Everyone rose to the challenge and we saw AReyeP lose his 'Mapping Master' mantle for the first time, and by more than one submission. The anonymity of this competition while voting is one of the better parts of the concept, even though there is certain mapping features that can help identify certain mappers if you look closely enough, and I feel that again, like each previous month, the best map won.
Dislikes:The number of participants seem to be dwindling with this release, although this, like August's release, was clearly the best exe used in any of the months contests. Perhaps the level of complication and features became a little overwhelming and time consuming, as did the prospect of having to compete with AReyeP, arguably the greatest wolf 3d mapper of all time!
Ratings
Dean's Score: 8.5/10 Difficulty: Very hard levels Best Level: 4 (Arielus: Line of Thought) Worst Level: 2 (RocketBoy: Fortress)
Voting Results; 1st - Arielus: Line of Thought (9 Votes) 2nd - Lozer_42: A Twisted Throne (8 Votes) 3rd - Haasboy: Adolf Me Not (6 Votes) 4th - RonWolf: Little Surprise (5 Votes), AReyeP: Look Both Ways (5 Votes) & Serpens: Seek N Secure (5 Votes) 5th - RocketBoy: Fortress (2 Votes) & BrotherTank: Deathtrap Deja Vu(2 Votes)
Graphics were again awarded to the winning mappers.
Wrap-up: Another great set with some outstanding levels included. The challenge was really taken up to AReyeP's dominance of the previous months sets, thats not to say that his level wasn't again quite brilliant. This proved to be a difficult set of levels and nything less than experienced players may struggle quite badly.
Where Can I get it?: You can download the mod HERE or by clicking on the screenshot at the top of this post.
My review of the DHW MMC for June 2007 can be read HERE.
My review of the DHW MMC for July 2007 can be read HERE.
My review of the DHW MMC for August 2007 can be read HERE.
Look out for reviews of the other months of the DHW MMC coming soon!
Disclaimer: All reviews are only my opinion when playing the mod and are not intended to discredit anyone or the hard work they have put into creating their mod.
Sorry for the delay in getting this weeks post up, Blogger, in their infinite wisdom, decide to force a change on it's users and it's made things a bit difficult in a number of ways;
1. The operational panel looks totally different and I'm trying to familiarise myself with everything.
2. It has screwed up some of the formatting on some of my posts and this is taking some time trying to fix everything.
There are some nice additions, such as a spelling check, so hopefully it will make posts easier for me to get up in the future.
I'll have a Review of the September 2007 DHW MotM competition up as soon as I can. Thanks for reading!
Q. Where did your nickname come from and why did you choose it?
A. Well, the first gaming/modding forum I've discovered was NewDoom.com. The choice for the name just kinda' came to me (it was a large forum with a lot of standard nicks already taken, and I needed a more original one after a few failed attempts) as a mix of Doom and being a Star Wars fan, so I thought it would be a rare mix. Since then I've taken that nick on every gaming/modding forum, so that people will recognize me from other forums.
Q. When did you first play Wolfenstein 3d?
A. I was 14 or 15 (It was somewhere in 1994/5), and my schoolpal showed it to me on his computer and offered for me to try it. I mostly remember the blue walls, and having problems navigating around as every area and door looked so similar, but I kept returning to the same place, lol.
Q. How did you come to be a part of the Wolfenstein 3d Community?
A. Being part of the Doom modding community (over @ NewDoom), I somehow got involved in the "Wolfenstein for Doomsday TC" project, led by Vermil. At some point during the project Vermil gave me the link to the DieHard Wolfers forum (I didn't know of any Wolf3D forums then, in fact I never even thought there would be a forum for such an oldie, even then, to be honest, I wasn't much of a Wolf3D fan) and told me to register there and help promote the project and hire new team members. Q. What is the best part about being involved in the Wolf 3d Community?
A. I won't be original to say the Community (Unlike Doom one), but it is very warm and friendly, including newcomers, also, there is something about the bulky Wolf3D engine that brings out amazing creativity out of people, I get great ideas from playing Wolf3D mods. All the engine limitations force you to be inventive. I have even more proof to that after spending a while in the Commander Keen modding community (being an old Keen fan). Having an even more limited Keen engine makes people there very inventive, it was very addictive but I still visit it daily, I don't see myself getting into any actual Keen Modding though. Still, some of my Keen art is being used in an upcoming Keen mod and I am currently working with one of the Keen Community coders (Lemm) on a Wolf 3d project.
Q.Where and how did you develop your amazing graphic art skills?
A. Long answer made short, practice, practice, practice, and patience! So much practice that I don't actually admit to have too much talent. You just gotta love what you do and put your time and heart into it, untill you feel the pixels at the end of your fingers, untill you spit and dream pixels. There are no schools for pixel art, sadly. I started from making games in Click&Play, and continued in Game Maker and Doom modding communities. I keep learning and improving, and keep challenging myself with tasks I could never dare before, and usually with success, that surprises me every time, like making 8-dir Wolf 3d Bosses just recently. I think I have pretty unique and recognizable artstyle in Wolf3D, it's amazing how in such a low resolution one can come up with so many different artstyles.
Pixel work for me is not a rational work, it's sort of human magic, like fast keyboard typing. Pixels out of place just immediately "stand out"/"feel wrong" and a pixel that finds it's place, it brings so much aesthetic pleasure. So it's like being a sculptor, it's about throwing a raw pixel splash and then removing the wrong pixels and uncovering the beauty hidden under all that pile of pixels, it's a non-linear process that slowly unfolds.
First the outline/body, and then shading and details (learned that from WLHack). Quoting A-Team "I love when a plan comes together". I don't leave it till I'm pleased with it, and I have high quality standards. Sometimes I can't get my eye off the result.
I keep improving by studying artwork of other Wolf3D spriters, like WLHack & MegaByte, constantly learning new tips and tricks while getting new ideas and developing new techniques, some of which I have shared in the Haven art tutotials that I've done.
I draw not only pixel art, but in "real life" on paper as well, since I was a child. My style is quite unique, pen and paper, no erasing, no colours. I especially love drawing caricatures and faces (99% male). People often can't believe it was done with just a standard pen, it looks like it has been painted.
Q. You have worked with some of the the best modders in the Community, how have you managed to get such talented people to work with you?
A. I wonder that as well, especially as I scrap more projects than release. Despite some clear areas of expertise, I'm far from being the best community spriter (anyone said MegaByte?). I'm not good with title screens and even textures. I do know how to re-use art elements and make the best of what I've got. I'm a trickster so to speak, I like the creativity of seeing an original way to solve a problem, seeing solution in unexpected places.
I especially wonder why people keep working with me after Sonder's cancellation. I could fully understand them if they wouldn't, after I scrapped 4 years of their work. It was a miracle for me to keep modding with the same guys, and I appreciate it very much.
I might not ever get an answer to that myself, but I guess it's just my ideas, art, long-term devotion to projects and ability to manage private development forum.
What's even more amazing, is that I get to manage most of the projects I'm involved in. Usually projects are centered around coders or mappers, almost never around spriters, but nowdays I try to manage less, especially after Sonder buzz when it was a team work, but I've got all the richoshets like it was my project. Still I manage a lot, it takes a lot of time actually and I partially understand why people avoid it sometimes. For me it's important to be able to get my vision across, I usually have very clear artistic vision of projects art-wise & feature-wise.
When I first entered the Wolf3D community and wanted to make "Femstein", no-one wanted to help me, and it was frustrating back then. I can fully understand it now, and new Wolfers still struggle with help untill they prove to be able to actually release a mod, rather than opening 10 parallel vapourware projects they can donate only ideas to, with no actual skills to back them up. It's natural, and it's a filter of vapour-wolfers, so many promising Wolf3D projects have never seen the finish line, hard to earn trust, but those who are serious and really want it will go the distance.
It could ended for me right there if not for WLHack, who helped many modders back then. He offered to modify his "False Spear" engine to make "Femstein". He did the coding and the mapping and so "Femstein" was released, and it showed (at least) my art skills to the community.
After that it was easier to get help, still, you have to have a good idea to start with. I guess my idea was good enough for modders to join in.
Q. Before we start to jump into discussing SonderKommando: Revolt, can you tell us about what your original ideas for Sonder were and what your vision of the project was meant to be?
A. Well, the original idea for Sonder is a bit private for me, though it has been published all over as well. I've never put any spotlight on it as I consider it personal and irrelevant for Wolf3D modding, this is just a mod like many others. Let's just say that I (at least at that time) was interested in past lifes, and got to believe I was myself a SonderKommando in Auschwitz. This got me interested in the whole SonderKommando/Holocaust issue, as a personal inquiry. And then during "Femstein" development an idea came to me of how I can actually attempt to recreate it in Wolf3D engine! I'm a Wolf3D modder dammit! I could play my own past life, this time changing the outcome. Wolf3D engine fits Nazi theme well, so I already had the enemies and such.
It was clear right from the start that it’d be a huge creative challenge to recreate a realistic place in a limited Wolf3D engine for any kind of real resemblance. Also I wanted to create a unique and immerse experience for the player, to feel fenced in, and to feel watched with no place for any basic human privacy, feeling of massacre, despair, feeling of random/sudden death, where you feel you can be sinpered just for fun at any time from one of the towers and much more, but those kind of unique challenges are the ones that fuel modders around the world and Wolf3D modders in particular. It looked interesting, challenging, original, all the elements of a great Wolf3D mod. It was interesting to see what this would unfold into.
I made a draft of the original plot based on what I thought to be my incarnation details. Since then it was re-written numerous times and so by the end had little resemblance to that original draft. We tried to add missions to the player and plot progression.
That original impulse for the mod turned basically into pure attempt to make a great, unique and challenging Wolf3D mod and nothing more, especially as no other team members shared or maybe weren’t even aware of my original personal impulse, and even I didn’t keep it much in mind, and sure wasn’t discussing that. It was a Wolf3D mod like every other, we didn’t try to show anything, teach anything and there was no agenda. Dr. Phil says “Things often start for one reason – and continue for another”.
Anyway, my original impulse was personal (and mostly forgotten even by myself during 4-year development) and was aimed at myself only, and was irrelevant to anyone else. The mod itself wasn’t going to mention it anywhere. I didn’t try to re-create history or re-write it in any way (and no, you cannot create a Wolf3D mod with just 18 Nazis killed in the real SonderKommando 1944 revolt), it was a “fantasy plot”. I wasn’t trying to make a Holocaust learnware or documentary (or claimed it to be such), no Wolf3D mods does that, and even original Wolf3D (where you kill Hitler himself, Hitler Ghosts(!) and Mutants) didn’t mean that and was no more accurate historically than Sonder. No-one learns history from mods, and sure not from Wolf3D mods, no student hides Wolf3D laptop under the desk during a history test to count the Nazi's He kills. Mods are meant to be played by those who appreciate this form of art and see it as such, not as documentary – just art. Art doesn’t have to be historically accurate and answers to noone. ART – has no limits. The only ones that limit art were Nazis and religious fanatics. In Israel they wanted to cover nude statues in history museums or move them to a backdoor room. If someone finds this form of art offensive, don’t look at it and don’t play it (it’s a pixelated modification of a 20-year-old game for God’s sake that only a few diehard Wolf3D fans still play, not them, not even their kids, they play very 'educational' and 'deadly accurate' “GTA3”?!), let it be enjoyed by those who know to appreciate it and see it for what it is, without taking it out of context for the sake of a headline. In Holocaust museum even small kids can see REAL PHOTOS of mass graves and tortured bodies, not a few red pixels to represent blood in a mod so detailed that an eye is represented by just one pixel/dot. The mod was made mainly for relatively small Wolf3D modding community, and not for those “headline thirsty” reporters who asked me if I try to make money from the Holocaust. No, it’s a free mod like any other Wolf3D mod (they’d know that if they'd any research on the subject), and they are the ones making “headline money” over Holocaust at this very moment.
Q. At what stage during the modding process did all the attention start to fall on the mod, and what caused it?
A. Attention (from Wolf 3d community and fans) was there all the time, all the 4 years of it's development as this was a very anticipated mod by the Wolf3D community in particular, and I was naive enough to do everything I could to keep the hype going, being naturally excited about the project, as wells as being my first large project. The development was open and public, with screenshots and updates so by the time the YouTube trailer came out the sudden over-attention came to me as a total surprise, the mod's page had been there for years on moddb, including full descriptions and screenshots before it got the spotlight.
The massive media attention came after the YouTube trailer (which I agree was overdramatic and didn't reflect the mod itself) came out, especially when the link to it was sent to a large gaming website that loves juicy headlines and which asked for a response from me and from ADL (The anti Defamation League). After I was naive enough to fall for that (uncarefully rushing the response before ADL will say their word, forgetting I know nothing of dealing with the media and being a "media virgin"), my "easily and professionally" distorted into a pre-planned headline, taken out of context response of myself, along with an expected response from the ADL which understands nothing of gaming or modding (even my msWord version doesn't recognise the word) and just says things people expect it to say, gave the Jewish (and later the World) media a bone to chew on. Then all hell broke loose. For a "media virgin" it was a feeling not less than a group rape, no-one cared about me, my feelings, my privacy, or even the correct information...
Q. You made the hard decision to cancel Sonder after many years of work, how hard was that decision to make?
A. Well, the decision itself wasn't hard to make, I saw right away that I have no other choice. It got out of proportion to an extent that a very private and sensitive person like myself couldn't withstand a public release of any sort. Some alternative solutions were considered by the team, including remaking it into a non-Holocaust mod, changing art and story, but after 4 years of work, no team member had the will to work on Sonder any further. Also as an artist (and modding is an Art, at least for me), Sonder was perfect the way we envisioned it. Everyone felt it's gotta be released as is, or not released at all. You can't repaint Mona Lisa into Lady Gaga without it losing it's charm, original vision and intent, and without having a feeling of self-betrayal by the original artist. Also the plot was heavily embedded within the level design, art and even coding features, it was there in the core of the project. It's easier to make a new mod than alter this one into something else it was never meant to be.
What was hard was coping with the made decision. I had to deal with multiple "fronts", and each stretched my emotional strength to the max;
- 1. I had to deal with myself cancelling my own work after 4 years. That was the (relatively!) easiest part, as I mod not for the result but for the enjoyment of the modding process itself and I already had a lot of fun making Sonder (and will still be able to play it myself). I also, by that time, already had to deal with similar situation before when we lost Sonder's source, till an older version was luckily found and re-worked. Also the alternative of not cancelling the project was most evident.
- 2. Wolf3D modding community - After I myself did everything to hype his project and keep the buzz, I had a lot of explanations to do cancelling 4-year awaited mod just 2 weeks before the release, especially right after such a teasing trailer. Making Sonder the most famous abandonware in Wolf3D modding history (I didn't say biggest, just most famous, for me 'Lair of the Mantis' by TheJosh is the biggest, I still hope he'll return!). I even thought the community might not forgive me for this and I might be even kicked out for bringing too much unwanted attention upon the Community.
- 3. Sonder team (aka "Team RayCast") - This was the hardest part, MUCH harder than the previous two. It's easier to cancel you own work, but cancelling free, excellent, talented and devoted 4-year work of the best modders in the Wolf3D community is very hard, especially as they still wanted to release it, and especially when I do this because of failing to cope with the media buzz and making many naive mistakes along the way. It was like admitting my own weakness, which in this case canceled so much work of other people who did nothing to deserve it. I actually thought no-one would ever work with me again and that it would mean the end of my Wolf3D modding career.
Q. Will Sonder ever be released publicly in any version?
A. No. The World insisted it won't be publically available to people that might get offended, and so I respect this. Needless to say that it's still available to project members to play privately, and maybe even a bit wider circle of people, still only within the Wolf 3d Community, as this project was mainly made for them and they know to see it for what it really is, just a well designed Wold 3d mod and nothing more.
Q. Both of the Wolf 3d mods you have made so far (Femstein & SonderKommando: Revolt) have proven to be controversial, Is there a reason why you've chosen such subjects for your mods?
A. While I see how you can link those two mods, there isn't much common ground for me in those. Yes, in both mods I wanted to do not just another Wolf 3d mod, but something not done before, something different (but only that, different, not controversial), even that is not fully true though. At first, a particular idea comes to me, and only then, the fact that it's not only a great idea, but ALSO something not done before (which adds it some extra points in my considerations), modders like challenge and innovation. It's exciting to suddenly realize "this can actually be done in Wolf3D engine", and maybe inspire other people to try to implement something fresh under that overmodded engine. It's about creating an experience, and even better, a not overused one, and one that presents a unique modding challenge.
That said, both mods started as personal projects that I'd do for (just) myself, even if no one else would ever get to see or play them. I never actively seek controversy, I mean, why would I? Anyone who followed me closely during the "Sonder media buzz" period could see my reactions, stress levels, and this is not something you'd expect if I'd be "a controversy seeker", but clearly the opposite. I didn't enjoy even one second of that media buzz and controversy, and just prayed for the spotlight to go away. I'm a very private person who hates any kind of invasive and uncontrolled spotlight. As I've stated elsewhere also, I'll be staying away from any kind of controversy in my future mods!
Q. Despite the controversary's, what has been the most rewarding thing that’s come from Wolf 3d and your mods?
A. Not all of it I can mention here, or even most of it, but when an experienced Wolfer who has really "played 'em all" says your mod is the best Wolf 3D mod that he has ever played, then that is really something quite rewarding!
Q. Are you working on anything new at the moment, and if so, what can you tell us about it?
A. Yes, I'm very busy as always. I'm working on no less than 4 different and promising Wolf3D projects.
Only one of these projects was announced just recently by a released playtest trailer – so it's hard for me to talk about them in too much detail. I have to say I even enjoy the fog of secrecy, every mod feels like a surprise for the community, like the feeling of a surprise party.
In general:
- 1stproject is the main project of "Team RayCast", started after Sonder's cancellation. It's a Large-scale long-term mod based on WSJ's "Castle TotenKopf" engine, that has tons of potential, and should appeal to wide audience of Wolf3D fans. Finished artwise this mod is currently stalled for over half a year for lack of active coders.
- 2nd project was planned as a fast mod (full TC actually, not WWII-related) with just 9-10 maps, and is currently in the mapping stage, finished artwise and coding-wise. RonWolf is the main mapper. We hope to release it in the upcoming months, but promise nothing. If it'll be well accepted by the community, then some nice art and story for a trilogy are already made as well.
My 3rd and 4th projects plan to take Wolf3D to the next level with things never implemented in a Wolf3D engine before.
- 3rd project was planned as a surprise for Wolf3D 20th anniversary, I’ve hinted of it at the Haven forum recently, I won’t add anything to it here. Also, don't take that as a final deadline.
- 4th project is called SplitWolf and has just recently released first YouTube playtest video – splitscreen Wolf3D (SDL) co-op mode support for up to 4 players on a single computer. The video speaks for itself;
Q. What advice can you give to others that you’ve learnt over the years about modding?
A. - Never overhype your mod.
- Keep external backups of the files.
- Avoid controvercial themes.
- Keep replay value high.
- Make a clear and detailed maplist on early stage of the project.
- Try to learn new skills so as to be less dependant on others.
- Play mods of others for inspiration and ideas.
- Force yourself to stop adding features to the mod in some stage, even if those are cool.
Q. What are some of your favourite Wolf 3d mods that you’ve played other than your own?
Q.Why do you feel that Wolf 3d has such a long lasting legacy being it was released so long ago?
A. The great community. Wolf 3d is relatively easy to mod, both art-wise and mapping-wise, with great modding tools, addictive gameplay, SDL, plus there's a great collection of coding tutorials.
Q. Any words of wisdom you would like to leave us on?
A. Modding is not a hobby, but the way of life. Know you can always change your life, don't be just a passive pawn in games of others, make your own game, your own story, your own path. To mod is to be a God of your world, creating without attachment to the result, while admiring and respecting creations of other "Gods".
There is always a key for every door, a weapon for every Boss, and every maze has an exit, God is a flawless modder who never makes mapping mistakes.
Wolfenstein Mods and Contributions Released Femstein (2007) (Review)
Cancelled
SonderKommando: Revolt
SonderKommando 2: Warsaw Uprising
SonderKommando 3: Road to Treblinka
Secret of Eridu
Russian Front
Heaven and Back Other Contributions DieHard Wolfers TC 2011 (Artwork) Project X (Artwork)
Unreleased
SplitWolf
Main in progress 'Team Raycast' project
Smaller in progress 'Team Raycast' project
Details Title: DHW MMC August 2007 Creator: Various Released: 01/09/2007 Votes announced: 21/9/2007 (44 votes made) Length: 12 Levels Level Format: Consecutive (Players starts fresh on each level) Story: None Graphics: Some original with many of AReyeP's walls and sprites Sound: Original Special Features: Shading, New Statusbar, On Screen Messages, Timer, Full screen, Floating Keys, Heartbeat, Blocking codes, Switch Operated Walls, Damaging Sprites, Animated Sprites, 4 Keys. Dos/SDL: Dos Initial impressions: The MotM competition has really developed with this months competition with the moving away from the standard walls and sprite set and adding addition features like animated sprites, 4 keys and switch operated walls. This was a nice change up an gave the competition a fresh new look while providing the mappers with a lot more to work with. Gameplay: The gameplay is quite fast paced with a lot of enemies on each level and again a large number of Bosses being used. The new additional features changed level styles a little as the player can often have to retrace steps trying to locate new areas revealed by the moving of walls once a switch has been flicked. I thought this might help make more 'common' areas where the player would having to keep come back to and generally make maps smaller but it seemed most people used the newly accessible areas as more like secret rooms with treasure, health, ammo and occassionally keys in them rather than the ongoing way to finish the level. Mapping: The mapping is a bit mixed in this, with a lot of differeing types of elements that have been used to varying degrees. The blocking codes haven't been used all that much, looking at Thomas' level, thankfully, as I believe it could of made things way to difficult for a lot of players. Most people used more than the standard 2 keys and just like in the July set there were a lot of Bosses used. The switch operated walls were a great addition and I believe used very well by most mappers, they really added a different element to the mapping and the levels as you play them in general. Most mappers went for levels on the larger size and with the inclusion of the switch operated walls I noticed a fair reduction in the number of secret areas used. There also seemed to be a lot smaller amount of treasure used in these set of maps also for some reason. Astheticly the levels look beautifully designed with the new wall and sprite set but also as additional sprites were added to the number in the original array meaning a wider variety of vistas becomes available. The levels are generally well decorated as an increased sprite count was also available to the mappers.
The start of Level 1 to this day is still one of the hardest starts to a level that I have ever played and I can understand why everyone hated it so much when it was initially released. Playing it again for this review I again immediately found myself quite aggitated after dying 20+ times while trying to test the level. I understand the intention to make the level difficult but when even very experienced players severely struggle with it then I think you've gone to far, there's not much fun in either dying 20+ times straight or not being able to finish a level at all, ultimately 'fun' is what we play Wolf 3d mods for.
The infamous Level 1 start - looks fairly innocuous!
I was very happy with the level I made for this, I put in more time making this level than for any level I'd made prior to this Month's competition. I had a strong vision of how I wanted to make the level look and it didn't up too far off. Having a chance to map with elements such as the switch operated walls was fantastic as I'd never done that before. To receive praise from AReyeP, and to have him say how much he loved the level and to say that He thought it was the best map in the collection was an amazing thing to hear, It didn't even worry me if I won or not after hearing that! Heres my description I wrote about my own level in Sept 2007;
Level 12 - Inner Sanctum (Dean) - This level took me about 20 hours to create fully - It still didn't fit my full vision as I ran out of sprites but it was pretty close - I made the main end section with Hans and the treasure behind switchwalls section first then the treasure room and then mapped around the rest from there - I actually mapped more backwards then forwards in this, which is rare for me. - This reminded me of a lot of AReyeP's levels when I was testing it with the layout and thought that some people may think it was his. He later said the same thing to me. - I was really wrapped to have a chance to use some of AReyep's brilliant wall designs and just HAD to use them in this.
Likes: The change up in the exe used for this really made mappers work extra hard to come up with something new and challenging, sometimes, just because you have more to work with it doesnt mean that you get a better result. It does seem that most mappers in this set have given their levels the required amount of time and effort to help produce high quality work. From a mappers point of view, the extra tools to work with made this not only a fun experience to play, but fun to map with, especially in the possibilities this openend up and the clever ways they could be used to both reward and surprise the player.
Dislikes: The start to Level 1 - I just simply don't see the sense in making something players either can't complete or will aggrivate them to such a level when playing that they no longer want to play. The end of level stats seem to be out, especially the secret level %. I believe this is caused by the switch operated walls but it would have been nice if this was more accurate, especially for those of us that like to get 100% of everything.
One of the switches to operate the moving walls.
Ratings
Dean's Score: 8/10 Difficulty: Way harder than the original (or other MotM collections) Best Level: 10 (Arielus: Pas Fantastique), 8 (AReyeP: Hot August Night) & 4 Haasboy: Cleavered Up Worst Level: 7 (Tricob: See Not Touch)
Voting Results; 1st - AReyeP: Hot August Night (9 Votes) 2nd - Arielus: Pas Fantastique (8 Votes) 3rd - Haasboy: Cleavered Up (7 Votes) 4th - Thomas: Facing Hell (6 Votes) 5th - Ack: BwahHaHaHa (3 Votes) & Dean: Inner Sanctum(3 Votes) 6th - BrotherTabk: Death Han's Way (2 Votes), Adhesive Boy: Fun With Adolf (2 Votes)&RonWolf: One Big Secret(2 Votes) 7th - Lozer_42: Siege (1 Vote)&Tricob: See Not Touch (1 Vote) 8th - Serpens: Blutbahnen (0 Votes)
Graphics were again awarded to the winning mappers.
Wrap-up: Another great community set that is both difficult but extremely entertaining to play. The levels are fairly difficult on average and there is so much to discover and play through. The additions of extra keys plus the switch operated walls have made this like no other Community set both in playability and enjoyment.
Where Can I get it?: You can download the mod HERE or by clicking on the screenshot at the top of this post.
My review of the DHW MMC for June 2007 can be read HERE. My review of the DHW MMC for July 2007 can be read HERE.
Look out for reviews of the other months of the DHW MMC coming soon!
Disclaimer: All reviews are only my opinion when playing the mod and are not intended to discredit anyone or the hard work they have put into creating their mod.
Details Title: DHW MMC July 2007 Creator: Various Released: 01/08/2007 Votes announced: 22/08/2007 (48 votes made) Length: 15 Levels Level Format: Consecutive (Players starts fresh on each level) Story: None Graphics: Original plus new walls and Doors. Sound: Original Special Features: Shading, New Statusbar, On Screen Messages, Timer, Crosshair, full screen, bouncing keys, heart beat. Dos/SDL: Dos Initial impressions: The new doors look great and really fit in well with the original wall set as does the shading. The changed Menus look great and this not only makes itself to be different from the original but a further advancement down the MMC chain of mods. Again like in the June 2007 set, the levels have been randomly placed. This doesn't seem to make much difference to the enjoyment of the set as a mod as each level starts a new and the player isn't looking at the mod as a continual entity but more a sum of it's parts. One thing I really like are the 'hidden' ingame messages when you do particular things like when try to a find a secret wall you sometimes get a message that states "If you could push it then what?", clever stuff and a nice little hidden bonus. Gameplay: The gameplay is again fast moving with a lot of thought going into guard placement and challenging scenarios. The inclusion of a Boss in most levels changed things a little as you start to expect one with each new level. Most of the levels were quite large, many with unnecessary rooms but the use of health ammo, treasures and secrets are plentiful to keep the playing going. The fact that most levels had a good amount of competition meant that the player isn't just running around with 100 health and ammo all the time. You can usually judge the amount placed in a level by how much you leave behind and still finish th level on full. Mapping: The mapping in this set is again quite good but with more mappers there is a greater variance in desgins and styles. One if the most common factors that mappers have used here is to use a Boss in their level. There are some real stand out levels here for me, AReyeP's level is again of outstanding quality, as was Arielus', but the level that I really enjoyed (perhaps becuse it was so different from the rest) was RonWolf's 'Dogs' level. This level made you think and act a whole different way that the others and really like mappers that can make the player have to do that. Again credit to Ack and also Serpens who continued to this these as a great showcase of His mapping ability, something he continued to do in other Community sets made over the years.
My level (Level 9 - Gatekeeper) was made on the last day of submission and was one I was very happy with. It was clearly the smallest map of the set but that wads done intentionally as I wanted to try to make a tight packed, clever little challenge without over loading the map with huge guard numbers and many additional rooms just to fill the map. Just don't ask me why I included a hidden room with 8 Gold keys in it, as I sure don't have an answer today for it! After replaying the level for the first time in 4 years today, I'm still really proud of this level! Likes: Again, there seems to have been a lot of thought put into most elements of the levels. It's clear to see that the concept had caught on with even more mappers submitting maps for this month. Seeing the development of mappers is something I'm really enjoying watching as I play through these sets again. RonWolf and Serpens have especially really shown to me that I didn't credit their mapping as early as i should. It's also great to see others in the community that arent really known for their mapping, like Adam Biser, BrotherTank and CodeTech have ago at making maps also, showing they can have a lot more skills than just their coding or artwork skills. The Exe that BrotherTank created for this is excellent, with lots of little changes that enhance the mapping work of the people involved, in fact, I'm really quite surprised that these haven't been used as the base for other mods! I especially like the 'Tab-T' option which lets the player turn the wall sounds off while searching for secrets. Some of the little things like the mapping controls that allows each mapper to make the floors, ceilings, timers and onscreen messages appear in the colour of choosing plus, my favourite, the hidden messages that appear within the game when you do something. Messages such as; - Wall Pushing: "Push, push, push why so pushy!?" - Pushing a statue: "Sorry, it's not your size!" - Pushing other items: "If you could push it, then what?!"
Dislikes: All the bosses became a little repetitive (especially seeing most, including me, used the same one - Hans). Some of the levels were a litle too big, unnecessarily, there's often some merit in making levels smaller and still achieving the desired result. Plus Level 10 I thought was just ridiculous with 3 Bosses and 2 Hitler Ghosts with very little ammo supplied. The heartbeat sound, although fixed from it's distorted nature form June 2007's edition, seems to start even earlier now (somewhere in the 70%'s). I'm aware I've ben hit but this I found to be distractive, especially when in a Boss battle with other guards around and you are trying to hear and find out out where everyone is. I can simply look at either BJ's face or my health % to know whether I need to retreat for health or not, besides, when fighting a Boss, I'm expecting to get hit and lose health to some degree and I don't really need this incessant beating in my head at the same time. The weapon change speed seems to have been slowed down, this caused me more damge at times having to wait that extra time when being attacked.
Ratings
Dean's Score: 7.5/10 Difficulty: With all the Bosses, much harder then the original set. Best Level: 3 (AReyeP: Cat N' Mouse) Worst Level: 10 (RocketBoy: The Chateau)
*BrotherTank withdrew his submission when, as the project co-ordinator, further changes were made to the exe after the level submissions were made that caused some undesired asthetic changes to certain levels. I remember being one of the level makers that commented about the changes affecting my level at the time but was dissapointed that BrotherTank chose to take the action of withdrawing his level like he did, I don't believe this was anyone's intentions.
Graphics were again awarded to the winning mappers.
Wrap-up: Another great DHW Community set that had some of the Community's best mappers contributing. The levels and styles were varied but thats a main factor for me for why these are so good and still stand up today.
Where Can I get it?: You can download the mod HERE or by clicking on the screenshot at the top of this post.
You can read AReyeP's review of each level HERE also.
My review of the DHW MMC for June 2007 can be read HERE.
Look out for reviews of the other months of the DHW MMC coming soon!
Disclaimer: All reviews are only my opinion when playing the mod and are not intended to discredit anyone or the hard work they have put into creating their mod.
Details Title: DHW MMC June 2007 Creator: Various Released: 04/07/2007 Votes announced: 23/07/2007 (43 votes made) Length: 10 Levels Level Format: Consecutive (Players starts fresh on each level) Story: No Graphics: Original Sound: Original plus some additions Special Features: Shading, Timers, Ingame messages, Enemys bleed when shot, heart beat sounds, bouncing keys, onscreen messages, programable message colouring, cross hair. Dos/SDL: Dos Initial impressions: The additional features have been well chosen and enhance the levels without detracting from them Original walls have been used and this is actually a better look base set than the original game, in my opinion. The timers are a great idea and I just love the bouncing keys, as I do the in-game messages. The use of walls nd sprites has been done in a very appealing way by most mappres and no one has really fallen in some of the Community dislikes such as multiple Bosses and massive mazes. Gameplay: The gameplay is fast and there are a few more Bosses scattered throughout the levels. The individual thing about this Community set is that the player starts anew with each new level, meaning nothing you collect carries forth to the next level, so you might as well use everything up! This, of course, is rather an unnatural way of playing for most experienced Wolfers who have always played a lot more conservatively but this gives you a great chance to blast away a bit more recklessly! Mapping: The Mapping is of a mixed level, as you would expect in a Community mapset. Seeing this was the first of these in the series and the first Community mapset in quite a while, this is a really great result. There are fantastic levels by AReyeP, Ack, RonWolf, BrotherTank and Thomas (the more experienced mappers) but some other surprisingly good levels by others as well (Serpens especially). There are plenty of secret areas, lots of health and ammo and a good level of treasure used also. Most of the maps are larger and more difficult than the original set but most are very well done and easily replayable.
Likes: The aditional features are fantastic (except for a couple of minor side effects mentioned below) but really add something to the mod with out taking it too far away from it's original self. One really great thing that was added (for the mappers) was the ability to colour code your ingame messages, crosshair and timers. This was done by placing a certain wall number on a predetermined spot on the mapping grid and the corresponding coloured item would appear in game. Ostensibly, this game each mapper some additional control over other elements of their level. The shadeing, where used, looks great, The "bouncing" keys looked amazing and I always love in game messages, especially those hidden ones! The heat beat sound was good but I thought at 65% it was a little high to start having it come on and it became a little annoying after a while.
Dislikes: There's a couple of glitches in the coding. While I love the addition of the bleeding guards feature, what happened to me in the screenshot below is a rather unfortunate side effect. If the enemy squirts out some blood in the doorway then once the door closes, you can't reopen it, meaning you are stuck from going through that door, hence generally making it impossuble for you to proceed any further in the level. I also had some sound and graphic glitches. Generally the sounds wouldn't play through the menu and I lost them a couple of times in game, plus the heartbeat sound never quite sounded right to me either. I also got a graphic glitch where a vertical line appeared and stayed there for a few levels distorting things a bit.
Ratings
Dean's Score: 8.0/10 Difficulty: Harder than the original on most levels. Best Level: 5 (AReyeP - The Citadel) Worst Level: 7 (CodeTech84 - Luger Me Now)
Voting Results; 1st - AReyeP: The Citadel (12 Votes) 2nd - RonWolf: Secret Corridor (7 Votes) 3rd - Ack: Here goes Nuttin' (6 Votes) & BrotherTank: Deja View (6 Votes) 4th - Thomas: Out of the Blue (3 Votes) & Tricob: Paths of Peril (3 Votes) 5th - Serpens: ABandoned Dungeons (2 Votes) & MegaByte: Gun & Run (2 Votes) 6th - Adam Biser: Forbidden (1 Vote) & CodeTech84: Luger Me Now (1 Vote)
Graphic Awards were given out to the winners!
Wrap-up: A really great Community set that is fun to play. I like that the warp feature is left in so that the player can jump to any level at any time and have a look at their favourite mappers levels, or as I once did, played the levels in the order of popularity from the votes that were cast. the mappers invovled have all put in big efforts to produce quality maps and although there was fame and glory with the votes, I don't think anyone was disappointed with their level and just happy to have contributed.
Where Can I get it?: You can download the mod HERE or by clicking on the screenshot at the top of this post.
Lookout for reviews of the other months of the DHW MMC coming soon!
Disclaimer: All reviews are only my opinion when playing the mod and are not intended to discredit anyone or the hard work they have put into creating their mod.
Details Title: The Garrett Game Creator: DasFooz Games Released: 31/05/2001 Length: 10 Levels (1 secret) Level Format: Episodic (Replaces Episode 1) Story: Very vague, but new Graphics: Original Wolf 3d plus new hand drawn Sound: New sounds, original music Special Features: None Dos/SDL: Dos Initial impressions: This is one of those Wold 3d mods with just terrible hand drawn sprites made in Paint. Yes, we've all seen them before - they are generally the creating of the incredibly untalented (artisticly) or the lazy. There seems to have been little care put into the hand drawn graphics with most resembling very little at all, and the new walls (as seen below) amounting to not much more than a series of squiggles and coloured patterns, with some writing. The screenshot below is the opening room of the mod, but thankfully, for my vision and my sanity, traditional Wolf walls have been used mostly throughout. All the enemies have been redrawn and my best guess for what they are meant to be are a thin, deformed midget and a snail? The creator calls this 'The Directors Cut' but I'm not sure he's aware of what this actually means. In relation to a film, where this is most commonly used, it means that the Direcror is releasing a version of the film more closely to his vision than the studio initially allowed him to release, for whatever reason. It's a little hard to imagine anything like this happened here, who knows, maybe I'm just taking things too literally...
The story is an interesting one, although I'm rather confused by it's happenings and certainly feel very sorry for the player if this was indeed to happen;
"You are Garrett. Someone has been plaguing your dreams and now you must find him/her and give him/her the ass-kicking of a lifetime!"
So, I guess the aim of the mod is to track down Him/Her and ask them to let me get a good nights sleep? :P Gameplay: The gameplay is ok, not the best but far from the worst I've played. It's not a difficult or really challenging mod, guard placement and mapping certainly don't make things any more difficult here either. The maps aren't big and run fairly linear although there's certainly no need to go into all areas as there are quite a lot of rooms, including secrets, in each level with little or nothing in them. Mapping: I'm a player that like to find 100% of everything in a mod, If the creator has gone to the lengths to put something in there then I want to try and find it. In saying that, there's nothing worse than a mapper jepoardising their own maps by making areas inaccessible. Most of the time it's bad mapping where the mapper has forgot to include a door or secret passage, and for me that's just sloppy. Unfortunately we have a case of it here in this mod as well. Play testing is something every mapper/mod maker must do exhaustively before release, the last thing you want is to have someone find something like this;
The red line shows the only connecting walls where you can access the funny looking secret man area shown above. As one can plainly see, there is no door, and there is no secret walls to access the area. Having this mistake means that the player can not only not explore the full map, and the mappers creativity, but also is unable to get 100% kills, ammo and secrets on this level, as it contains all 3, and no, there isn't a teleporter of anything like that to get in there. I just really struggle to understand how mod makers keep missing things like this... Level 2 is just a smaller version of Level 1 with different walls, this I find to be rather lazy, unless you are going for one of those 'dejavu' type things, which in this case I can't find myself giving the mapper credit for trying to do. Level 9 (Boss Level) is unchanged in design from the the original except for different wall types being used, just something to change it a little to personlize it would have been better then just using id's levels.
Overall the mapping is ok, there's some incredible laziness and sloppy mistakes but at least all the levels look fairly different and they aren't all made up of connecting same shaped rooms that are there for little or no purpose.
Likes: At least the creator has (attempted to) move away from the Nazi theme of so many Wolf 3d mods. However, to do this, you probably need to not use walls with Nazi flags or Swastika's on them, as this otherwise makes your antagonisers look like either Nazi sympathisers or are indeed Nazi's themselves. This of course, is not addressed in the incredibly expansive new storyline!
Dislikes: The sloppy mapping, there's instances of no floor codes, inaccessible ares and levels being reused. If you take the time to release your own mod, please, at least do your very best to make it as mistake free as possible! The new artwork is very poor, anyone with a rudimentary ability as Paint could make better then what's been made and use here. I encourage people to make their own sprites, but when they are so badly done that it would have been better if you'd used the others then this subtracts from your mod, not adds to it.
This is apparently the Chaingun replacement!
Ratings Dean's Score: 5.0/10 Difficulty: Easier than original Best Level: 6 - Not for any specific reason. Worst Level: 2 - Because it's just a smaller version of Level 1!
Wrap-up: Not a great game really, with some complete lack of care used here with the sprite and some wall replacements. This is one I'd highly recommend to most players
Where Can I get it?: You can download the mod HERE or by clicking on the screenshot at the top of this post.
Disclaimer: All reviews are only my opinion when playing the mod and are not intended to discredit anyone or the hard work they have put into creating their mod.
