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                         D.O.A. : The Conspiracy
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  The Game Play
  -------------
  
   Well, since I have received NO e-mail at all regarding part 1 of this
series, I can only guess as to what people think of my work. Judging from
the reactions of people that I know, the consensus seems to be that my levels
are very tough. This is what I intended, of course, but I also intended
something else: that players will discover the tricks to beating the levels.
I suppose it comes down to the style of playing and the expectations that
players have developed from experience.

   I believe that there are two types of game play: skills-based and
strategy-based. A skills-based game is aimed at the better players and it
exercises the players' physical prowess. The average player almost always
gets toasted. A strategy-based game is aimed at players of average ability
and exercises the players' prowess at solving puzzles. Puzzles don't need to
involve switches or hidden rooms. A tricky fight can also be a puzzle.

   My levels are strategy-based but most players seem to approach them with
the expectation that they are skills-based. This is understandable since most
wads are of this type. Players tend to simply react to situations rather than
form a strategy beforehand. Of course, when you play a level for the very
first time, you can't plan any strategies. This comes after you have tested
the level and met your opponents (an easy skill setting is recommended).

   I have included a demo file called DOA1DEMO which shows how part 1 can be
beaten by the rules of the challenge. The challenge is explained in a text
file that comes with the DOA1-1 wad but I'll describe it quickly here. My
levels really are pretty easy when you find the correct strategies and the
challenge is intended for those who want to still play my levels but need
them to be tougher. I have designated a certain amount of health for each
level and the player must finish with just that amount and no more. For
example, E2M4 contains a total of 160% health but the challenge only allows a
mere 20%. The allotment increases with each level to 80% on E2M7. Yes, it is
very hard but it can be done. The demo shows this and I don't even use all of
the allowed health (10% skipped on E2M5 and E2M6).
 
   The health allotments compared to total health and monster count are:
   
   Level	Allowed		Total		Monsters
   -----	-------		-----		--------
   E2M4		20%		160%		104
   E2M5		40%		145% +berserk	137
   E2M6		60%		180%		236
   E2M7		80%		200% +berserk	300
   All		200%		685%		777
   
   Wow! There's fewer total health points than there are monsters! Tough? You
be the judge after watching the demo. I think that I come off looking like a
bit of a klutz (shooting at blank walls?) but that's the point of the demo.
An average player can beat this with some thought. But do yourself a favour.
Watch the demo only when you get really stuck. It's more fun to solve it
yourself. The demo is about 45 minutes long so make some popcorn if you do
plan to watch the whole thing.

   Note that part 2 was designed to follow part 1 since it is a four-level
series. For this reason, you may find that ammo is a bit tight. If you have
DOA1-1 then you should run the two wads together. You can also use WADCAT
(check the utilities section on cdrom.com) to combine the levels into a
single wad. Here are some tips to save ammo:

   - use the chaingun liberally but with light taps on the trigger; your
     shots will be more accurate if you pop off two bullets at a time instead
     of spraying them around the room
   - imps and lost souls are good targets when using the chainsaw; if you
     lurk around a corner and wait for them, they'll drop like flies
   - don't toss rockets at barons till they're dead; use just three or four
     rockets and finish off with the chaingun or shotgun
   - there is a lot of ammo in secret rooms; none of my beta testers has had
     a problem finding secrets so please don't use the map cheat
   - when there are too many monsters, lure some of them outside; make them
     fight and kill each other off

   If anyone can beat either DOA1-1 or DOA1-2 in UV (with or without the
challenge), I sure would like to get a demo from you. Feel free to e-mail me
with your comments, suggestions, or criticisms. I'm planning another series
which will be a partial conversion. It will have new sprites and sounds but
NO changes to the monsters or weapons. Your input can help make it better.


  Build Information 
  -----------------

   The following is only of interest to those who build their own wads (or
aspire to doing so). Others may skip this and go directly to Doom.

   This wad was built entirely with WadEd. WadAuthor was used to split the
original wad since WadEd croaks if it tries to load any wad bigger than about
230K (or less if your DOS memory is not optimized). When it comes to highly
detailed work, WadEd simply cannot be beat. It was worth the effort to split
then recombine the level. WARM was used to merge the final work into one
level and WadAuthor was good enough to finish the merge, fine tune the game
play, and make some texture readjustments.

   Attention was paid to ensuring adequate performance on slower machines
(or, for that matter, fast machines running Doom95 in hires). The amount of
detail in some parts of the level can really drag down the frame rate on my
486/33 so extensive hand optimization with the reject table was necessary.
For those who aren't familiar with what the reject table does, let's just say
that it helps to speed up the game by reducing the amount of time it takes
for Doom to figure out if monsters can see the player. The nodes table does
much the same thing for hidden line removal (that is, it helps the Doom
engine to figure out which walls are visible to the player).

   Pet peeve: a lot of wad designers don't know about or don't want to bother
with the reject table. Doom will run and even perform well without a reject
table. That does not mean that a reject table is frivolous. Not only does a
reject table boost performance on a slow machine but proper attention to this
and other aspects of wad design can improve performance in cooperative mode.
I like to play co-op and it is very frustrating when the game slows down to a
crawl because the wad designer was unaware of things like block sound lines
or the reject table.

   I have provided the .REJ file used by RMB for anyone who cares to study it
or rebuild the table after (heaven forbid!) making modifications to the wad.
Note that, even with the reject optimizations, some parts of the level still
drag on my 486. The big difference is not in the frame rate but in the mouse
response. It's a lot better with a reject table.

   The special effects will quite likely not work if the nodes table is built
by any nodes builder other than the following: WARM, BSP, or ZenNode. The 
WadAuthor nodes builder makes a big mess of it. I highly recommend WARM. I
have had problems with BSP 2.3 but I don't know if these problems are unique
to that version. I haven't tried ZenNode on my levels but it does have some
features which are useful or required for special effects (like transparent
doors).
  
   Word of warning: WARM occassionally will make a mistake when splitting
linedefs into segs. This shows up as a screwy texture alignment. It can be
hidden by flipping the linedef or fixed by plopping down a new vertex at the
point where the mistake occurs. Two of the railings in the end part of my
level had to be fixed. If you find this happening in your own level, however,
don't fix the problem right away. It can fix itself as the level develops.

   In the interest of promoting quality in Doom wads, my e-mail address is
available to anyone looking for hints or tips on wad design. Note that I am
not prepared to provide a tutorial on the basics. Check www.doomworld.com for
help first. If you still have problems then let me know.
   
   Enough. Go play some Doom.
