So Doom’s 16th birthday has come and gone. I was gonna celebrate by playing some Episode 1 while eating some cake, but I was too busy most of the day (I did play a little bit…no cake though 
). For you Doom-heads out there, I’m sure you caught this year’s Cacowards. It’s been a really great year for releases and quite the busy one for me. Of the wads that won awards, I really enjoyed and highly recommend Harmony by Thomas van der Velden, Mapgame by Ravage, Plutonia 2, and UDMX by UniDoom. I’ve still got to play though some of the other awarded maps, but those that I listed are definitely my favorites this year. (I’ve heard very good things about Demons of Problematique 2 and Legacy of Suffering). But the biggest surprise of all…I won the award for the year’s best mapper!! Wow…, I think it didn’t really hit me until today. It’s really a huge honor and I’m still kinda dumbstruck by all of it. Of course the irony in all of this now is that my popular nickname of “Lazyadon” is now more ironic than true, which I find hilarious! Anyways, as I said in a comment of Carn’s Vega post about my award, I realize that in the larger scheme of things, this is just an award from a community of a 16 year old game that most of the regular video game population pays no attention to these days. So maybe my shock and appreciation seems a bit out of place given that. But for me, I find it too awesome for words. Doom mapping…well, mapping in general, has become a significant activity in my life and I enjoy it very much. This award only shows that people truly do enjoy my efforts and work and it makes me want to stick around for the long haul and keep contributing to the community at large. And that’s most likely what I’ll do 
. So thanks to everyone who thought I deserved this award! I cannot put into words how much I appreciate it and I intended to stick around and keep mapping for a long time to come. Also congratulations to everyone who won an award and to everyone else who was nominated! I’ll be looking forward to what’s in store this coming year with much anticipation. I can’t wait to get my trophy in the mail Scuba Steve! 
….
Oh, did you think that was it? Well, it’s not. pcorf happened to mention that he would love to see a “WOS” style wad by me in the Cacoward thread at Doomworld. Incidentally, I’ve been planning just such a project for a really long time now (since IGPack release…maybe a little earlier). I wasn’t sure when I wanted to announce it to the public, but his comment made me want to just post a little snippet about it. The name of this project is “Supplice” and production officially started 6/14/2009 (around the same time I was having those computer issues and was unable to work on Vega). I’m planning on another post later on to discuss the overall goals of the project, but I’ll go ahead and say just a bit about it. It’s going to be a Boom compatible, singleplayer map set (possibly COOP compatible). Lots of my inspiration will likely come from wads like Scythe II, Suspended in Dusk, etc and from mapper’s such as Vader, Espi, esselfortium, Dutch Devil, Agent Spork, afterglow, and a few others. One big thing I want is for the majority of the content to be made by me and me alone. So things like new textures, monsters, graphics, music, sprites and maps (duh) will all be made by my own hands. Certain things I’ll probably have to outsource (like monsters sprites and, possibly, music). I want the general theme to follow closely to Doom’s theme but at the same time I want it to have it’s own feel and atmosphere. It may even have some sort of crudely written skeleton story that will stem from the Doom saga in some way. At the moment I’m doing ALL of the resources first; mapping will only start once that’s out of the way (I can only focus on one thing at a time). So far I’ve made some graphics, a bunch of textures, and some new monster behaviors but that’s it. I haven’t been able to work on it (or much else) since I’ve been working though. I’ll make another wordy, drawn-out post about it later on where I can go into more depth about the project’s goals. So let’s leave it at that for now.
However, if your reading this and your getting excited, then just get yourself unexcited 
. The biggest reason why I didn’t want to announce this was because I have no timeline set for this project. As in, I’m putting the largest majority of my free time into Project Vega first and foremost. I will only work on Supplice when I can, and I have no idea how often that will be. And given the project’s scope and size, it’s likely it will take a very long time before anything of interest is presentable. But I can atleast say this; I plan on working on it and finishing it as long as I’m able. So if you are truly interested, keep your eye’s peeled for my official announcement post sometime in the future.
Jimmy
17 Dec 2009You deserve it, mate. You’ve been a thoroughly inspirational mapper and project leader to several aspiring Doomers over the years, me included.
You sure you’re going solo with Supplice? ’cause I’d be interested into contributing to it if you decide to make it a dual-effort kinda WAD, like WOS.
Are you maybe shooting for a speedmapping-oriented kind of approach? (Oddly, I seem to map at my best in short, prescheduled time bursts :P) heh. Just throwin’ ideas out there, take ’em as you will. 
Mechadon
18 Dec 2009Thanks jimbo, I appreciate that![:]](https://mekworx.the-powerhouse.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/emot-smile.gif)
The planning stages of the project are still very up-in-the-air right now. Case in point, I think I decided that I’m going to ditch my custom Doom texture edits and use a whole new set of custom made-for-Quake textures that I’ve collected over the past two years. Mostly because I’m not terribly great at texture work and also because I want the mood and atmosphere of the wad to be different from run of the mill Doom stuff (and textures are an integral part of that aspect).
So as far as having another mapper on the project goes…well, I wouldn’t really mind it in the end. The problem I see though is that I want to work on this project at my own pace. Which could mean I might take a year off or something drastic like that, and having a partner in a situation like that wouldn’t be very fair to said partner. Also…well I guess I already indirectly answered this, but I wasn’t planning on it being much of a speedmapping sort of adventure (although that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t possibly speedmap some bare layouts!). It would just be at whatever pace I feel like working it…the freedom to do whatever I want without having to manage a bunch of contributors is another big reason for this project
. I think, for the time being, it would be best to exclude any outside mapping. But Jimbo, since you seem to be very interested in this project (yay!) you’ll be the one I’ll go to if I want to make this a joint, WOS-ish style project!
However, there are certain things that I could use help with that you could possibly fill. Music is the big one, obviously…I was planning on doing an entire new soundtrack for the project on my own (as a learning experience…plus I also really want to learn to make music someday). But considering how slow of a learner I am, that would probably tack on who knows how much time onto the development cycle. Also, at the moment, I have two new monsters implemented and fully working…but the sprites are just god awful. And I’m also planning on fitting atleast one more monster in. I would be elated to have some new sprites/sounds and possibly just plain ole new ideas for monsters! I can even send you the two monsters to take a look at if you want. And there might be a few smaller aspects that I’ll have to outsource that you may be able to help with. If your interested in that, of course
But yea, I’ll definitely keep you in mind as a potential partner! Your help is always appreciated and everything you’ve done for me in the past has been of top-notch quality
Recurracy
18 Dec 2009Well I’m one of those who thinks you deserve it. Your maps are of great quality; they look excellent and they play excellent. So that’s why you deserve it fair and square. Good job.
Jimmy
20 Dec 2009Cheers, Mek!
I’d be happy to assist with Supplice in whatever way I can. Music I can of course do (an entirely new soundtrack sounds a bit of a heavy task… but doable :P). Sprites I might be able to help you with. If you’re aiming for Boom compatibility I can’t lend you my DECORATE/ACS skills, but I’d be happy to evaluate these monsters you’ve concocted. Send ’em over when you get the chance.
Don’t you worry about work pace. I’m sure that I’d be able to fit quite snugly into whatever time frame you wish to work within for the project – in fact I think my pace is much the same as yours – whatever I feel like at the time.
I don’t think that you’ll have to do a great deal of managing when it’s only me that’ll be on the team.
Plus, any drastic changes of time planning you decide to make I believe I could quite easily accommodate, no worries.
How the project is handled is down to you, though. Feel free to ask for help if you need it, and I’ll provide it where I can.
Cheers.
Mechadon
22 Dec 2009Your help is much appreicated Mr. Jimbo! I’m gonna send you some stuff via PM @ ZDoom forums. If there’s a better way to reach you these days, let me know.
Also just a little update conc. textures – I’ll quite possibly be using esselfortuim’s hand-crafted super-textures for this project. I did some PMing with him and if I can get enough theme variation, I’ll be using them. Because they are awesome…and it saves me a ton of work too!