Personalia:
J
eff found the AOD-DOOM page from the Brucenet page on Yahoo. He
wrote to Stefan that he had graphics programs and experience in graphics,
and he was welcomed aboard. On February 7, 1996, Jeff first received e-mail
from Stefan, giving him the OK to do whatever 'damage' he could do to the
project.
J
eff was the additional graphics artist for the project. He created
stunning/not so stunning textures and background art as needed for the WAD.
H
e describes himself as "a freelance graphic artist, age 25, living
in Atlanta, GA, USA. I aspire to become a movie director/producer as Sam
Raimi did (except not in the same genre). I eat BAD American fast food, and
spend WAY too much time on the computer.
"I
use Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Strata Studio 3D and a
video capture program to create the graphics/textures. I work on a Quadra
660 Macintosh -- the textures were the worst part of it. The largest
'normal' texture was only 68 pixels high - less than 1 inch! It's an
artist's nightmare to work that small. Also, Doom is limited to only 256
colors. 256 'DOOM' colors. Lots of browns and reds. Blues were a pain,
because there were only a few shades of it. Had to keep everything dark.
Lotsa fun though. It was great working with the crew. Stefan was the main
man I talked to, seeing as he did a lot of the levels I did textures for."
"T
he Web gave me (all of us actually) an opportunity to work with
people we would never had met in our normal lives. This was a groundbreaking
achievement in history as far as I'm concerned. We all came together from
all walks of life and created a unique product that otherwise would have
thwarted the average man and never been made. I'd like to thank everyone
who worked on it and everyone who put up with us all as we worked. I'm sure
we were not fun to be around when we were up against the ropes near the end.
At least I know I wasn't too fun to be around, my girlfriend said so!"
[3-2] Steve Conway
Personalia:
S
teve didn't just get involved with AOD-DOOM, he started the whole
thing. He wanted to make a DOOM add-on based on his favorite movie, Army
of Darkness. So he met Stefan (through Stefan's Excalibur WAD) and asked
him to do the levels.
S
teve is one of the team leaders, Stefan being the other. He stored
the sprites, the graphics, and the sounds into the WADs. At the beginning,
he made a lot of graphics and changed a lot for the project.
"W
ell, I'm Steve Conway. I like Army of Darkness, DOOM, Heretic,
Hexen, Strife, Duke Nukem 3D, Clerks (movie) and Mallrats (also a movie.)
I draw a lot, freehand. I program web pages, and I also like playing games!"
S
teve would like to thank:
God - "we all know why"
Mom and Dad - "for having sex soo long ago"
Bruce Campbell - "for the autograph"
Kevin Smith - "for leading me to become a movie director"
[3-3] Stefan Maes
Personalia:
S
tefan was the first to be contacted by Steve, around the end of
October 1995. Steve was in need of a "level dude", and loved Stefan's
Excalibur WAD. Stefan had just started making a DOOM2 sequel, so he decided
to donate the levels to AOD-DOOM.
S
tefan built 7 of the AOD-DOOM levels, plus the final check of the
other 2. He created some textures/flats, some graphics such as the help
and credit screen (text only, graphics by Jeff Allen), and some sprites, such
as the medikit, stimpack, and invisibility powerup. He also maintained the
FTP site, the WWW site, and some P.R. stuff (fans wanted their E-mail
answered). He also made the DeHackEd patch for the cool sound things,
made the sound WAD for the sound things, and, of course, acted like a real
team leader when needed.
"I
'm a 25 year old Ph.D student at the University of Antwerp (UIA).
My research topic is crystallography. Unlike the other team members, I'm
not that big of a fan of the ED trilogy - hey, I don't think that NIN is
great either; I prefer Phil Collins & the Beatles. To me AOD is 'just'
a great movie, just like I think that 'Babe' is a great movie. I do,
however, love DOOM (and other 3D-games) with A LOT of attention to detail
(not just simple slugfests...) and the idea of doing a total DOOM conversion.
That's why I joined the AOD-DOOM team and ended up doing more levels (and
more work) that the 3 that I initially agreed to do."
"D
espite the little problems and setbacks we had, I really enjoyed
doing this total conversion. I think that it's great that people from all
over the world, of different ages and backgrounds, can create such a nice WAD
when they only had digital means of communicating."
S
tefan would like to thank id & Raven Software, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, and
the authors of the tools he used:
DEU 5.24 "with GCC and Windows compile"
DETH 2.63, "too bad it doesn't handle all my custom textures"
BSP 1.2x "is slow, but the only nodebuilder that could handle all my levels"
WinTex 3.41 "has a much better interface than 4.x"
"A
lthough I'd like to think of Aliens-TC by Justin Fisher as THE
example to follow, the original Aliens DOOM, Star Wars, Momento Mori &
TeamTNT lads and TiC also set the high standard I love to see in all WADs.
I can only hope that non-AOD fans would consider including our effort in
such a great WAD list as the one above.
"I
'd also like to thank all the other AOD team members with a special
word for Jeff Allen. He did a tremendous job making custom textures for me
with just an image size and a 2 sentence description. Without his help,
some of my levels wouldn't have turned out quite as nice. I'd also like to
thank Shonen's test crew: William "Wotcha" Heath, Adrian Cockle, Emma "beige
r' us" Perskie, Mark Hudson, and whoever Shonen forgot to tell me.
"A
lso, I'd like to thank all of the fans who sent encouraging mails
and all sorts of suggestions. Randy Best and Merlynn tied for longest
E-mail conversation, while Graham Scott and Scott Kemery learned me how awfull
a tech-support job can be.
"A
nd last and definitely not least, I'm thanking YOU, for playing
AOD-DOOM and even bothering to read this FAQ!"
[3-4] Andrew Andy Stine
Personalia:
A
ndrew Stine found the AOD-DOOM web page in January 1996. After
bugging Stefan Maes something awful, he finally let Andrew make the Pit level.
Andrew worked long and hard on the level, using DEEP, ED-209, DEU, and DETH,
in that order. He also is the author of the AOD-DOOM FAQ, which you are now
currently reading.
"I
'm a 15-year-old sophomore, attending Grossmont High School in San
Diego, California. I like Army of Darkness a lot, but the other Evil Dead
movies don't interest me too much. I also like DOOM, which is obvious,
considering I worked on this project. Not DOOM 2, though. It was a little
too dark and satanic. I'm glad that AOD-DOOM replaced episode 3, because
frankly, Mr. Romero, that episode SUCKED."
"I
work on a 486DX2-50, 8 MB RAM, 420 meg HD. Although it's old and
slow, it can still play a mean game of DOOM, a pretty mean game of DUKE3D,
and a relatively tame game of Quake. To create the splendor that is the Pit
level, I first started with DEEP 7.40 (I think), which I cursed and deleted
when it informed me that I had run out of linedefs, and to please register
it to get the full version. I think anyone that makes a kick-ass level editor
that is user-friendly and easy to use, and then make you pay to use it,
deserves to be dragged out and the street and shot.
"A
nyways, after that, I tried ED-209, a home-brewed level editor. I'm
always in favor of the little guys, and hoped that ED-209 wouldn't suck as
badly as I was afraid it would. Unfortunately, it did. You know that a level
editor is in trouble when the feature it touts the most is the ability to
select more than one object at a time. I moved on."
"A
fter that, I went for DEU, which I knew from many, many testimonies
to be a great level editor. I tried it, and was immediately deterred by its
complexity. Weaned on DEEP, I was unfamiliar with sidedef tags and other
such terms, which had been hidden from me by DEEP. Slowly but surely,
however, I learned the tricks of DEU, and soon was burning out the level at
a pretty fast pace. It still irked me, however, that I was able to create
the southern wing in one night with DEEP, and it took me months to make the
other three without it."
"I
also used DETH, a DEU knockoff that had some positive traits of
its own. I especially liked the texture alignment. Unfortunately, it had
some bugs. Namely, it screwed up when I tried to highlight a lot of linedefs
or sectors and change them all at once. Also, it couldn't handle foreign
textures -- a big problem, since AOD-DOOM has many foreign textures! All in
all, however, a good level editor."
"B
esides that level (and this FAQ, of course), I didn't do much else
for this project. I made some suggestions on other levels, and reported bugs
that I found. I suggested the idea of a flaming crossbow, and also the idea
for the secret level. Well, I did my part, I guess. My only regret is not
having any graphics software or a scanner, to help with the sprites and
textures. Oh, well; Jeff Allen did a great job with that."
"T
hat's about all I have to say, except to mention: DUKE3D and Quake
look like they have really flexible level editors. What I really want in a
Deathmatch level (Quake preferred) is a highway setting, with cars burning up
the road at 70 mph. Stray in front of one, and get smeared across the
pavement. Whee. If you like the idea and make one, be sure and contact me at
andystine@aol.com with a site or whatever."
"O
h, yeah. Have fun with AOD-DOOM, and be sure and send me those Pit
LMPs and comments!"
[3-5] Stephen Shonen Angell
Personalia:
S
tephen Shonen Angell was the other European lad in the team.
He is a 25 year old Analyst/Programmer in London, working for AT&T. Under
the guise of teambuilding he instituted a Quake/DOOM fest at his work.
Now that's the way to do it!
S
honen had the previlige to play the levels first, but also the hard task of
keeping the quality of DM and Co-op play at the intended high level. Given
the layout of some levels, that was either real easy or a mountain to climb.
Next to that, he also created the alternate sound WAD and a special DM bonus
level.
"I
found the Army of Darkness DOOM web page as a link from BruceNet, (I think).
Having been involved in a previous, but unsuccessful AOD-DOOM project I was
more than eager to lend a hand in this one. I guess it comes down to '
I had a great time blowing things away for a semi-serious objective!' "
"I
am a fan of all 3 films, and my alternate sound file reflects that. I
wanted more of an environment experience, than a movie experience. I hope
you get it."
"I
develop on a lazy 486 SX50 with a Gravis Ultrasound for sampling. I have
lots of mem and run Win NT server so I can build levels in DoomEd and test
in WinDoom. It was great fun to see all the levels evolve and get other
people to see them, and have a blast generally."
"I
live in Penge in south london, have 1 girlfriend, 2 cats and a baby on the
way."
[3-6] Sparks/Suture
Personalia:
S
uture is an industrial project based in Anchorage, Alaska. As of late '94
Suture is a two person group. Just as the AOD-DOOM Team, it's members live
quite a distance from each other. Sparks (Douglas Ricketts) is a commercial
radio producer and music director for KMXS - a "hot A/C"-station - in Anchorage.
Tyson (Tyson Townsend) works in printing and lives in San Francisco. Despite
their distant locations, Sparks and Tyson continue to compose new material
via tape exchange.
S
uture was first contacted by Steve Conway around April 17, 1996 and agreed to
write MIDI music for the AOD-DOOM project. Stefan send him the single AOD MIDI
file he could find on the Net, as well as the near and not-so near finished levels
to help him with his compositions. It wasn't much, but given the lack of musical
talents of the other team members, it was all we could do. Nevertheless the first
samples we received from Sparks/Suture sounded very good. Internet connectivity
problems troubled Suture for a while, so they could only get in touch with us, just
after AOD-DOOM 1.0 was uploaded to major DOOM FTP-sites (August 1, 1996). However,
since Sparks had already composed 5 original songs for the project, he decided to
still finish the job. Around mid September the all new AOD MIDI music was ready...
S
uture has a wide range of music equipment at its disposal: BOSS drum machine with bass
and FX samples, a 5-channel mixer with two 4-way splitters, 5-band equalizer, 20-band
equalizer with surround expander, HiFi VCR, etc. Other tools include a 486/33 PC with
wavtable synthesis/16-bit digital card and music key-board, 4-track non-destructive
digital editing program, various MIDI programs, ... And as a final touch, guitars from
hell! How's that for a DOOM finishing touch?
S
[3-7] The men in the background
Because of these team member's apparent inability to answer an E-mail,
Stefan Maes has taken the opportunity to describe the help given by
the other members of the AOD-DOOM team.
Personalia:
S
cott Powers is co-founder of AOD-DOOM if you like. He and Steve got
the first ideas together and will probably continue to work together on AOD-Heretic.
Originally Scott would take care of the install routines and the DeHackEd patch.
As time passed he turned out to be more of an idea guy than an .DEH patcher. But
I'm sure those of you with less DOS/DOOM add-on experience will appreciate his
install routines.
L
awton DoubleBrrl Roberts is the proud owner of the title of faster
AOD-DOOM teammember. After getting a pretty vague idea of how we wanted the secret
level to look like, he uploaded his level only 2 days later! Add another day or
two clean up the unused DOOM II monsters and change a couple of textures and you
have your secret level. Small, but a lot of fun.
Section Two: Cheats and Spoilers
Chapter [4]: What are the AOD-DOOM cheat codes?
| God mode | - | BRUCE
|
| All weapons and keys | - | RAIMI
|
| All weapons, no keys | - | SAMR
|
| No Clipping (Doom 1) | - | IHATEWALLS
|
| No Clipping (Doom 2) | - | NOWALL
|
| New music | - | MUSIC
|
| New level | - | POTION##
|
| Invincibility | - | NAMEISASH
|
| Invisibility | - | WHERESASH
|
| Berserk | - | SWIVELARM
|
| Radiation Suit | - | POWERBOOT
|
| Computer Map | - | GIVESCROLL
|
| Light Amplification Visors | - | TORCH
|
| Allmap | - | BLOW
|
| Coordinates | - | WHERE
|
| Chainsaw | - | EVILDEAD1
|
| IDBEHOLD Menu | - | Disabled
|
Chapter [5]: Where are all the secrets?
[5-1] Level 1: Evil Dead
- In the bathroom, check the N wall just inside the bathroom. It's false.
Inside is a shield.
- Go in the SE closet in the bedroom, and check the W wall. Behind it is some
shotgun ammo.
[5-2] Level 2: Arthur's Castle
- In the bedroom area to the NE of the level start, Check the N wall of the
room with the big bed and desk.
- Along the wall connecting the SE with the 'basements', check the S wall
at the end of the first stairs down.
- Left of the church is a building with a fireplace. You can get inside
the fireplace. Face the fire and lower a tiny elevator. The passage is
narrow, but you can squeeze through. A supercharge is waiting.
- Try to get the yellow key. You'll teleport to a cage. Move forward, and
you will teleport again. Kill the Deadite, and check the N wall. Flaming
crossbow!
- Don't be too eager to get that yellow key. Check that wall behind you. Now
THAT is a nice addition to your arms collection!
[5-3] Level 3: The Pit
- The secrets in this level are arranged in a strange fashion - in almost
every case, you have to find one in order to get to the next. Keeping this
in mind, it shouldn't be too hard to find all the secrets.
- In the maze near the SE corner, you'll find a teleporter. Unfortunately,
it's sealed off by bars. In order to circumvent this little problem, you
first need to have finished the western wing of the level. Once this is
done, the western fountain will be raised. But that's not the only thing
that raised. If you fully explored the maze, then you will have found a
strange pit in the NW corner. Go back and look at it now. Hmmm, it seems
to have filled! Now you can cross the chasm, and open a door on the other
side. Here you'll find yourself on the side of the pathway in the western
wing. Collect power-ups!
- Now that you're on the ledge, look at the big stalagmite near the south
end of the western wing. See the switch on top? Now you're in a good
position to get to it! With a running start, leap across the 'chasm'
and activate the switch. Now what could this do? Oh yeah, remember the...
- ...teleporter? Go back and look at it. The front is still sealed off by
bars, but the back is opened for your convenience. Enter the teleporter,
and you'll find yourself behind the other crushing wall. Here you'll find
a supercharge, along with a flying torso when you exit this area.
- But that's not all to do behind the crushing wall. Check the walls,
especially to the right of the piston. You'll find a secret door, with
a switch inside. Where could this be useful?
- If you've already explored the northern wing and gotten the scroll, you'll
see that in the 5X5 grid, there's one spot where a room should be that
there isn't. Let me let you in on a secret: there really is a room there.
After pressing the switch behind the crushing wall, go back into the
teleport maze, and make your way to the room just north of the "invisible"
room. What's with the western teleporter? That wasn't there before!
And the number is on the side, instead of the back! Let's check it out!
Poof! You find yourself in the ultra-secret room. Kill the Deadite to
raise your kill percentage. Then look around you. What's with the
teleporter? Why is it such strange colors? Like the ones found in the
western wing? Check it out...
- You rematerialize on a ledge in the western wing, in the room at the
bottom of the lift. Nothing here to write home about, except for the
weird-looking wall over there... looks like a lift! Check it out, and
you'll find another Deadite to raise your kill %.
- In the eastern wing, check the walls leading to the first room. You'll
find a secret door, with a backpack inside. Cool, you think, and turn to
leave.
- Wait! Don't leave yet! Check the northern wall. You'll find a secret
hallway that leads to a window on the other side of the armor. This might
be useful in deathmatch...
[5-4] Level 4: Good Ash vs. Bad Ash
- There aren't many secrets in this level, and that's on purpose. We don't
want this fight to be easy!!!
- For those Ash wanna-be's who just can't move fast enough, there's an
invincibility on the opposite side of the room with the exit. I hope you
have a catapult when using it though - it won't last long enough any other
way.
[5-5] Level 5: Necronomicon Ex Mortis
- The only secret here is the whereabouts of the real Necronomicon. Since the
possibilities are limited we won't spoil the fun...
[5-6] Level 6: In the Deal
- In one corner of the prison lies a pile of skulls and bones. Shoot it!
- In the prison, the NE pit has an escape. Fall into it, and proceed into
the "catacombs". How would someone find this, besides by accident, you
ask? Didn't you check the upper wall texture? Why'd you think that was
the only bloody one?
- In the catacombs, the stairs are built around a small room. Check the
inner wall at the section where there are lights.
- The north wall of the torture room has a secret door. It's pretty obvious.
- Forget about the DOOM engine being 2d (or 2.5d if you like). Next to the
spiral staircase outside is a huge door. You *think* it's only decoration.
There just CAN'T be a room behind it! Try it anyway. Where's the grunt
sound you expected? Take a walk around the courtyard - especially near
the exit. Notice the open door!
- If you've been in the throne room (by means of the blue key), then you've
probably seen the small room in the corner. How do you get in there? The
location of the door seems pretty obvious (check your map). However, the
second door to get in there won't open! What gives? Go back to the
bathing house. You probably noticed you can't jump off the side of the
stairs. You're wrong. Check for a strange texture change at the top. You
can get to that narrow ledge. Follow the ledge to the back of the house.
Don't you notice anything, a texture irregularity? Bingo! If you would
have shot those pesky Deadites out of the window and checked where they had
landed, you might have seen this from ground level. Press against it.
Hear a door opening? Hopefully this is the only bug left in AOD-DOOM...Go
back and check that pesky door again. It's opened! And there's a catapult
inside! Groovy!
- There are three options to deal with Bad Ash. The hard way is to battle
it out in the courtyard. I hope you can find your strafe key blindfolded.
A catapult is a nice thing to have, if you've followed the other secrets.
There are plenty of explosive arrows available, though. Although it's a
little dangerous getting them...
- If you only have explosive arrows, then it's advisable to stay inside.
The torture room is ideal. The tricky part is getting Bad Ash to stay
near the 2 windows. If he's close enough, he will only be able to send
his explosive arrows into the walls. And boy, are you glad we made thick
and solid walls :) This option is also nice when you've run out of
explosive arrows, but still have plenty of other ammo.
- The third option is so simple! But id gave us bad reflexes. Whenever you
encounter an enemy of Bad Ash's... magnitude, you'll back out and rethink
your strategy. That's a good thing to do in general, but this ain't no
ordinary game! As soon as you've opened the gate, run forward and to the
left! Just don't let him flee into the courtyard. One smashed Bad Ash
coming up! Only problem is, Ash would probably frown on such a decision.
Don't expect us to like any LMPs including this act of cowardice.
[5-7] Level 7: Let's Go
- The only secret in this level is how to get the secret level. Go through
the procedures to get the red key, and go through the red door. Go over
the bridge, and through the door. Turn right, and follow the path to the
end, where you go down a lift into a room where there are four-legged
soldiers that can just barely shoot out of windows at your feet. Look
out the left window. Across the path, you can see another window, with
flickering lights. Shoot it! Get back out, and look at the door that
opened. Shoot the switch in there, and go back out the door to the bridge.
Drop into the E river, and go in the door that has newly opened. SAVE NOW!
Due to a constraint in DOOM's programming, you will return to level 7 after
finishing the secret level. After saving, enter the teleporter, and
consequently the 21st century!
[5-8] Level 8: Shop S-Mart
- Did you really expect to find any secrets here? Ash has worked here
since who knows when! Don't you imagine he would have found any secrets
already?
[5-9] Level 9: Slept Too Long
-
In the starting room with the shotgun, look at the S wall. Push the
section of wall right behind the potion. You will be rewarded with a
Winchester.
Chapter [6]: How many shots does it take to kill each enemy?
T
he table pertains to "Hail to the King, Baby" Mode.
| |
Bullet |
Shell* |
Flaming Arrow |
Flame |
Catapult Shot |
| 4-Legged Soldier |
6 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
| Skeleton |
14 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
| Ghost |
10 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
| Flying Torso |
36 |
6 |
2 |
18 |
1 |
| Skeleton Captain |
100 |
15 |
5 |
50 |
1 |
| Little Ash |
10 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
| Bad Ash |
400 |
58 |
20 |
200 |
3 |
| Ash** |
10 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
* All buckshot hits the target.
Partially missed shots increase the number of
shots needed.
**Ash at 100% health, no armor.
Armor increases his durability.
[6-1]: Which enemies will attack each other?
A
ny projectile-shooting enemies will not turn on one another if hit.
That means that a 4-Legged Soldier will not attack another 4-Legged Soldier,
a Flying Torso won't attack another Flying Torso, Skeleton Captains won't
attack each other, and Bad Ash, if this is possible, will not attack another
Bad Ash. However, different kinds of Deadites will kill each other happily.
S
cratching and clawing attacks are hard to misdirect, but if it
happens, than enemies will go after their own kind. Also, ghosts will fight
each other if they hit each other.
Section Three: Stefan Maes's Words of Wisdom
Chapter [7]: Stefan's AOD-DOOM level History
Level 1: The Evil Dead Cabin
T
his level was supposed to be made by James Young. I found a
Deathmatch level which featured the famous Evil Dead cabin, and wanted to
use that one with single player stuff added. But after numerous requests
to upload the level were ignored (visplane overflow errors seemed to be a
major problem) I finally lost patience (and some of you may know my good will
can last very loooong!) and did it myself. The first version showed I hadn't
much gameplay inspiration, but listening to a couple of suggestions
payed off big time.
Level 2: Arthur's Castle
I
ntended as a DOOM2 sequel to my Excalibur WAD, this is by far the
best level I have made. It doesn't have any long, boring corridors like
Excalibur had, I guess it makes a difference. It was remotely based on the
abbey's layout as found in Umberto Eco's great novel, "Name Of The Rose".
I didn't include the mysterious library, because that would have made the
level too big, and at the time I hadn't the inspiration for the maze inside.
But if mazes are your thing, head forward for...
Level 3: The Pit
L
evel made by Andy Stine and edited by me. It's a bit puzzle
oriented and includes a rather big maze. Don't be scared by it's size. If
you keep an eye on the floor, you'll find the exit without major problems.
I hope you'll enjoy your fight in the lowering pit, because I had a hard time
getting it to work (again). Oh, and in the very unlikely case of
problems in the Western cave, DO NOT report them to me. I already have one
Visplane_Overflow allergy. Thank you very much.
Level 4: The Windmill
T
his is my first attempt at a DM-level. It 'only' features the
famous windmill and the first Good Ash vs. Bad Ash fight, so good DM play
was possible. In the few, 2-player DM-games I had, pumping a rocket
into your opponent's face was the most fun to me, so I made this
level a rocket fragfest. As a level designer, I'm very proud of the windmill
itself. I needed 5 animated textures to get the wings' movement to look
right. I owe Jeff Allen a lot for providing me with the excellent textures.
Level 5: The Graveyard
T
he last level to be completed. The original design was by Steve
Conway, but it was far too simple to my liking. So I added graves and other
stuff until Andy reported a Visplane_Overflow error. Then I knew I had to stop
:( . The real challenge was getting the (timing of) the sound things right.
The only enemies you'll see here are skeletons, my favourite deadites.
Needless to say, I love this level a lot...
Level 6: Arthur's Castle
T
his is the 3rd revision of my very first WAD and which got
me involved in this project. Previously released as
Excalibur and elected
as an All-Time Best DOOM Level on DoomGate, this version finally looks like
I really wanted it to. The use of DOOM2 textures made quite a difference.
Level 7: The Cave
I
had a hard time getting this level done right. The 'water dungeons' and
the outside exit area were originally parts of 2 unfinished levels of mine.
Why didn't I finish them? Because I only had good ideas for the constructed
parts! This was the only level I made without drawing it all out on paper.
I got severely penalized for that. At one point I dumped out about a third
of the level. Then I finally got the starting area right. The attentive player
will see it was heavily inspired by my favourite DOOM2 level (MAP29) and
maybe some Hexen touches.
Level 8: S-mart
T
his was one easy level to build. It wasn't built from scratch, you
see. It was based on warhouse.wad by Mike Barker, one of the very first WADs
I downloaded and gave a permanent spot in my very selective collection of good
WADs. Maybe I put the list on my DOOM-page somewhere, but if you take a look
at the All-Time Best level list, you have about 40% of it. I like the
underground parking lot a lot. Getting the car to look decent wasn't too
though. From my scale modeling hobby, I had nice front/side/rear view pics
of that '66 Ford Thunderbird. You all know Ash's '73 Oldsmobile Delta 88 got
wrecked in AOD, so he had to buy a 'new' one. Given that I'm a Ford fan, the
choice was easy.
(Note from Andy: Sorry if we're writing history, Mr. Raimi, but it seems like
the type of car Ash would like)
Level 9: The Alternate Ending
T
he idea for this level was the last one we got, yet it was the level
that got constructed in the least amount of time. Although some buildings
are constructed in an odd way, that is my biased opinion. Lawton Roberts did
a very fine job here.
Closing
I
know some of you still have plenty of ideas, good ideas I must say, to
improve the various levels. As a wise wizard once wrote: "Do they want to have
it done or do they want to have it done RIGHT?" I guess we reached a moment
where we wanted to have it DONE. If you think you can
do better, go ahead and make the very first AOD-DOOM 3rd party add-on...
Better yet, make AOD-Quake! In the end we found the DOOM engine way too
limiting.
Chapter [8]: Project History
The Army of Darkness DOOM History
By Stefan Maes
B
ack in September 1994 I released the first WAD I ever made. I
called it Excalibur,
and it featured a nice castle. A couple of months later
version 1.1 was uploaded to the DOOM FTP-sites, and a bit later it was
elected an all-time best WAD on DoomGate. This, and my renewed interest in
DOOM after my Dark Forces and Rise of the Triad sidesteps, convinced me to
make a sequel. I still had a couple of good ideas left after Excalibur, but
not the lust to put them in a WAD. Since DOOM2 had some very nice textures
perfectly suited for medieval levels, I planned a DOOM2 mini-episode (MAP16,
secret level, and super-secret level). I wanted to use the congratulation
screens to tell the story of Excalibur 2...
I
t was early October 1995 when I finally got to build
anything. then I recieved E-Mail from Steve Conway:
"Hello. I have downloaded your WAD and enjoyed it. I'm currently working on
a DOOM WAD that has almost all sounds, graphic etc. changed to a specific
movie. It's called Army of Darkness. I was wondering if you could help me
out with the levels."
Now I had seen
all three Evil Dead movies and liked, mostly because of the humor, Army of
Darkness best. I agreed to donate an updated (using DOOM2 textures to
make it look even better) version of my castle level and the other two levels
I had planned. I thought I could still release Excalibur 2, since
we initially planned a (U)DOOM conversion only. Now, I'm not sure if I'm
going to release Excalibur 2 at all, but if anyone would ask me to contribute
my castle levels for an all castles/medieval DOOM2
levelset, I don't think I'd turn the request down...
O
n Steve's request I created a web page for the project (October 18 1996).
I should
have known then that that would greatly change my commitment to this project.
Since we had a lot of things to take care of, and we were only 4 people back then
(Steve, me, Scott Powers and BruceAODD), we thought a web page would
get us some additional help.
(Bruce AODD was initially doing the MIDI music, and had some promising
samples. Unfortunately, his hard disk crashed (March 4 1996), and everything was
lost, including his interest in the long run.)
J
ames Young was the first person to respond (December 1995). He had played the Evil
Dead DM level I had listed on the web page and wanted to improve it for our
project. His list of suggestions (not limited to the level) indicated that
he was a real Evil Dead fan. He recalled that in the movie the cabin looked
more like this or like that. Stuff I couldn't possibly remember. In fact,
he wanted to implement all these ideas into the ED prologue level with so
much attention to detail that he was soon confronted with the limits of the
DOOM engine. he got really frustrated, because he couldn't find a satisfying
way around the problem. He tried again and again, sometimes taking longer
breaks to refresh his head, but still couldn't get it right.
W
hen Shonen Angell joined the team (January 30 1996), he solved an important
problem for me : multi-player testing. Except for a small bit of 2-player
DM at work via a simple null modem connection, I had no experience
with one, if not the most important, feature which made DOOM such a great
game: playing with or against your friends. Oddly, he didn't apply for this job
that you all would have liked to take care of:
"Well, I seem to be feeling a sense of deja vu here. For it was about a
year ago that myself and some guy I knew be E-mail only (unknown@privacy.com -
but his account has since expired), were doing just this... He had done two
levels, the first the cabin, the second the pit and I had done a complete
sound set and some graphics (textures and the like). But he dissapeared and I
got more involved with my work...Well I still have the sound set and the
graphics and great fun they were too, but I would love to contribute to your
conversion, not only with what I have, but with some effort of my own.
"
Since Steve already had the sound WAD done at that time, there wasn't a real
need for his sound skills. We have included his WAD as a bonus. It's an odd
sound WAD in the sense that it hardly uses any movie quotes. It's still
very nice though. Here, I would like to take the opportunity to thank the
people who joined Shonen in his Wednesday evening DOOM sessions (DM and
Co-op). In no particular order, and with the risk of forgetting some people,
thanks should go to William "Wotcha" Heath, Adrian Cockle, Emma "beige r' us"
Perskie, and Mark Hudson.
T
he next person to join our team was Jeff Allen. On February 6th I received his
help application form:
"As I was surfing the net I ran across your page via
BruceNet. Finally a project with soul. Actually lots of souls, really evil souls.
I would love to help you on your journey to find the Necronomicon and offer
my humble services/expertise to you. For the past 3 years I've worked as a
Graphic Artist for various Ad agencies in the Southeast US"
.
Now I ain't no
(complete) fool to turn professional help down and so Jeff started some sort of
'graphics on demand' service for me. At times it made me feel a little
uncomfortable. I could give him a description like "I want a 256X256 pixel
picture of windmill wings. The arms should be 64-72 pixels wide. Oh yeah,
DOOM uses this specific 256 color palette. Be sure to use only those colors",
and he'd deliver the goodies. I asked for a new
intermission screen; he did a great job. S-Mart logo, wall textures,
whatever, Jeff would do/try it. As far as I know, Jeff is the only one in
the team who works on a Macintosh. It convinced me that we should prepare
a MAC version with as many bells and whistles as possible. I found a nice
SFX trick with DeHackEd, but since that nice utility doesn't have a MAC
equivalent, I searched for a way around that problem. I found a solution
but it wasn't a really good one, so I left it out. Sorry.
A
s we gently made progress, I got more and more involved with the
project. I had to answer fanmail (I had long, but interesting conversations
with Merlynn, Randy Best and NMare5009), designate tasks to new team members,
but also make more levels than intended, maintaining the web page and a FTP
site to exchange our stuff, etc. I always had this dream of doing a complete
episode (although I felt that I would never have enough ideas to do it alone)
and when I made a list of AOD places we felt should be in our WAD, we
quickly had 6-7 level ideas. At that time I knew we would create a full
episode replacement.
S
cott and Steve made a rough version of the graveyard level, but the
4 levels that were done around this time were all by me. I and Steve weren't
too happy about the dungeon level though. When Andy Stine got on board for
the pit level :
"I do have a level in mind that starts in water with a big hole overhead, and
maybe it can lead into the dungeon. The general idea will be that the pit was
one of four circular rooms [rest deleted not to spoil the level]"
(February 17 1996) and gave me the exact critisics, I decided to redo a
large portion of that level. Steve wasn't thrilled by Andy's early
test versions, but I saw potential for a nice puzzle level, which
I happen to like. More importantly, the exit area Andy came up with was
perfect for connecting the castle & pit levels to the windmill level. In the
movie, Ash made some preparations for his quest for the Book of the Dead.
Now THAT would be a boring level...
A
nother benefit of having a new man working on this huge project was
that he brought in some fresh ideas. One thing Andy felt necessary to have
was a big, epic battle inside Arthur's castle, defending the Necronomicon
during an all or nothing battle against the Army of Darkness. As a result,
2 levels switched place in the planned level sequence. Also, we got to think
about the new monster sprites again. We had nice ghosts and flying deadites
and stuff, but we were missing one important character: the skeleton Deadite.
Andy almost got a "skeletonitis", but luckily Dave Langeliers showed up
and was willing to try and make skeleton sprites for us. (March 18 1996)
S
till, Andy wasn't short of ideas. We hadn't anything planned for
the secret level. We had 8 levels planned now, in which one, the troublesome
dungeon, didn't really fit the storyline. I believe Shonen mentioned
different movie endings to me before, but I never really thought about the
idea of turning it into a secret level. Andy did and so we did
it. Actually, Lawton Roberts did it. He is by far the fastest level builder
in the team. I work slow, because DEU&DETH don't exactly allow
fast editing. But it gives me total control, and I like that a lot. Also, I want
my rooms to look near perfect before moving on the next. Anyways, less than
two days after I sent him my ideas about how the level should more or less
look like, Lawton said, "Here it is" (April 24 1996). Although he had
applied for a level editing job, stating he could make
"killer levels",
I was impressed by his
work. No complex buildings at which you stare in amazement about the
amount of detail put in, but still a small, very enjoyable level which
perfectly matched my ideas. Groovy.
M
eanwhile, Steve didn't sit completely still. He agreed with
McGarnicle to do the Bad Ash sprites (March 10 1996), and later with Suture to do the
MIDI music in place of BruceAODD (April 17 1996). But then the problems
really started! McGarnicle had a hard disk crash (May 10 1996) (sounds familiar
BruceAODD ?), losing
everything but one single, unfinished frame! We had Ray Cole take over his
job within 2 days, but even after several reminder mails I never heard
back from him. Dave wasn't very resposive in those days either and to top
all of that I lost it with James. While I could manage James' level job, I
couldn't possible handle a sprite job. And then Jeff Allen turned up to be
the saving angel! He wanted to do sprites! No kidding! (June 15 1996)
Following my
suggestions he started working on the skeleton captain. He modelled him in
3D and the result is very nice. After that, I asked him to do the skeleton
trooper sprites too. I feared Dave wouldn't produce anything for the project
as I saw on his web page that he was working on a Quake level editor. A
couple of days after Jeff finished the skeleton captain (July 2 1996)
Dave wrote all of us an apology mail (July 5 1996). He had had all sorts of
troubles with school, would be leaving for ... etc. etc. , but now I
have a hard time believing any/all of his excuses. Guess what I saw 2 days
after that on AfterShock? New Quake .MAP by ... right! To quote Jeff
"what kind of people are they to promise things and
then... Tsk. Tsk."
S
hortly after James and Dave, I also kicked Ray out of the team.
Exams can be a killer at the U (I know from experience), but they don't
continue untill July. Not in Belgium, so why should it in the US? Well,
there's this saying about 3 times and it seems that Jeff, yes him again,
likes it very much. Because when I was trying to hint a possible bad Ash
request (maybe I wasn't as subtle as I thought or ... wanted?) he was
already working on a 3D model! So, if you ever are in need of a skillfull,
dedicated person to set up your website or advertising campaign, he's your
man! Now we only needed some finishing touches here and there and Suture
to send in his MIDI music...
I
had been conducting a 'public' (mainly) level test (June 6 1996), but frankly it
was a bit of a
disappointment. With a potential test base of a hundred people, you expect more than
4-5 people to send in comments. Even if 50% is shut out because it was for DOOM
(and Ultimate DOOM without the DeHackEd path) that still way too low... Well,
better a few good testers and a whole bunch of slackers... I got quite a few bug reports
(tiny ones, but still bugs), even more level improvement ideas (some of which are
implemented, while others didn't make it because of a lack of time) and learned the
thoughness of a tech-support
job. Ultimate DOOM seems to be quite different from regular DOOM in a number of odd ways...
It was also around that time that we, well I, fixed final release dates. Since I insisted
on doing a final check-up before releasing AOD-DOOM 1.0, we had to get it out between
July 17 (the day the Bad Ash sprites would be done) and August 1. I had a long vacation
planned for the whole of August and with the Quake 0.92 shareware out there was no way
we could afford a further delay until September! Whatever didn't get done in time, would
be saved for a possible 1.1 update. That's why the promised Suture MIDI-music didn't make it
into AOD-DOOM 1.0. It's a big shame, yes, but I was sick and tired of unresponded
E-Mail and decided to make the music WAD myself (July 21 1996, Belgian's
National Day!). For the same reason the little Ashes, a statusbar with a
fully animated Ash-face and the Windows95 shell aren't included either. When
the 2 guys who started all this don't... Oh, well. What do you think of the
new web-site? Quit a bit faster now that you have the choice of two US mirror
sites... Yep, you owe that one to Jeff too. He proposed to redo the site
(July 8 1996) and so we did (together). Finally, special thanks to Guybrush7. He recorded
a few last minute movie samples...
It's out!
Army of Darkness DOOM 1.0 was released on August 2. One day later than initially planned,
because of some (Belgian) network problems. Say, what are you still doing here reading
boring tails? Go play it!
S
hortly after the release the first words of praise arrived, but also some tech problems.
Since I was in Seattle for work at that time, far away from my computer, I couldn't solve
them all (at once). It's only then I learned about the MAC-problems (see tech Q&A).
Around the 8th of August, I got E-mail of both Suture and Steve. They promised they would
still deliver the stuff they, for various reasons, hadn't done in time for the initial release.
While Sparks/Suture delivered the goods, Steve didn't. He didn't reply to any E-mail of mine
since, so still no little Ashes in AOD-DOOM. Nor will there ever by any. Maybe, some day when
someone makes AOD-Quake? Well, no hard feelings, Steve. I suppose you were terribly bussy
with other things. Hey, it even took me a month to prepare/upload the upgrade WADs once I
got all stuff ready. I suppose the easy days of my Ph.D.-carreer are over. Once you start
writing everything down, your amount of free time goes flying like dust in the wind...
Section Four: Other Stuff
Chapter [9]: AOD-DOOM Q and A
AOD-DOOM Q and A
With your host, Andy Stine
Q:
Is AOD-DOOM the best total conversion ever made, far surpassing all else in quality?
A:
Yes.
Q:
Why in the hell does the torch shoot flames? What does that have to do
with the movie?
A:
Well, what do you expect us to use for a weapon? 14th century, rapid-
firing projectile weapon, hmmm... "The Rock Slinger".
Q:
Why did you steal so many enemies from Hexen and Heretic?
A:
Hey, look, it was BORROWING, all right?
Q:
How in the world does Ash, in the movie, fire his Winchester 31 times and
reload only once?
A:
Because HE'S ASH, is why.
Q:
Why is it that The Pit is such a well-made level, while the others are
only fit for dog food?
A:
No buttkissing, please. I'm not giving out free towels or anything.
Q :
Why did you guys waste your time with this thing?
A :
1) We have no lives
2) We enjoy making superior-quality products available for download so
that the whole world can revel in our creation
3) It's Army of Darkness, for chrissake!
Q:
How is it that Ash carries a catapult around with him, with no hindrance
in speed or reload time and no evidence of any catapult in a multiplayer
game?
A:
Well, actually, the reason for that is tha$##.(@H!!}~/<^3 NO CARRIER
Q:
In the movie, there's this dude that says "You can count on my steel".
Didn't he have the funkiest haircut you have ever seen?
A:
You haven't seen this one guy at my school.
Q:
Why are bullets, shotgun shells, and explosive arrows lying around all
over the medieval landscape?
A:
Because if they weren't, it would be a very short game for Ash.
Q:
Every time I run AOD-DOOM, my computer locks up. What do you suggest?
A:
Get a new computer?
Q:
What games are AOD conversions available for?
A:
| Current |
Probable |
Wishlist |
Unlikely |
Plain Stupid |
| AOD-Doom |
AOD-Heretic |
AOD-Duke3D |
AOD Dark Forces |
AOD-Minesweeper |
| AOD-Doom2 |
AOD-Marathon |
AOD-Hexen |
AOD-Wolfenstein |
AOD-Mario |
| AOD-Ultimate Doom |
|
AOD-Quake |
AOD-System Shock |
AOD-Zork |
| AOD-MACDoom |
|
|
AOD-Descent |
AOD-Lemmings |
| AOD-Warcraft II |
AOD-The Side Scroller |
|
|
|
Q:
Oooh! Oooh! I know! How about a full three-episode conversion with
Evil Dead 1 as the first episode, Evil Dead 2 as the second, and Army of
Darkness as the third episode?
A:
Were you born stupid, or just raised that way? Three reasons why not:
1) It's stupid.
2) Two whole episodes inside a cabin? Even Ash couldn't justify that.
3) "NOW ENTERING LEVEL 5: THE BATHROOM"
Q:
In your opinion, what's the best part in Army of Darkness?
A:
The part where Ash gets beaten up.
Q:
In your opinion, what's the best part of AOD-DOOM?
A:
The flaming crossbow. Not only was it my idea, but it's so cool! Blow
stuff up! Have fun! Wheee!
Q:
How come levels 2 and 6 are both supposed to be the same castle, yet
they look completely different?
A:
Look, man, Arthur just has a very large castle.
Q:
Are all men from the future loud mouthed braggarts?
A:
Nope. Just me, baby. Just me.
Chapter [10]: AOD-DOOM Tech Q and A
By Stefan Maes
W
ell, it seems that a number of problems keep popping up in my mailbox.
To stop me from answering the same old question over and over again,
I've decided to tackle these frequently asked questions here.
Before E-mailing me your problems, make sure that you start with a
unmodified version of DOOM, Ultimate DOOM or DOOM 2. Double check that
you have version 1.9 and have all required files as stated in INSTALL.TXT
Also do follow our advise to install
into a separate directory! Do you
honestly think I wrote that stuff just for fun?!
Q:
Where are the monsters on level 1? And where's the exit?
A:
Spoiler Alert!
Don't you remember Evil Dead/the movie prologue? You first have to find the
Necronomicon. And where could you find that Book of the Dead? What about
the book case? Check it out. Now, go show your discovery to Linda?
Hmm, now where could she be? Outside? Also, did you notice the Necronomicion
is missing some pages? You have to find those too.
Q:
That's all nice and fine, but I have a MAC. I got the WADenizer tool, as
you suggested (!), and it still doesn't run.
A:
OK, I was told by the author of that particular tool, Ron Midthun, that
WADenizer 1.0.1 had a bug in it, preventing a correct install of AOD-DOOM.
The solution is simple, either download a custom AOD-version of the WADenizer
(aodtcmacfix.zip) here or get WADenizer 2.0
from Ron's
MAC-DOOM Utilities page.
Q:
I have DOOM95 only. Can I still play AOD-DOOM?
A:
Yes, you can. You have to download the MAC-DOOM(2) level files too though.
Just overwrite the AODTCLV?.WAD from the DOS-version by the one included in
the MAC-archive. Then run the following commands (no quotes):
"deusf -merge aodtcspr.wad" and "deusf -merge aodtctx1.wad".
After that you should be able to run AOD-DOOM using the command line:
"doom95 -file aodtclv?.wad aodtcsnd.wad aodtcms?.wad" or
"doom95 -file aodtclv?.wad aodtcsnd.wad aodup-m?.wad" if you upgraded
AOD-DOOM to version 1.1
Q:
I installed AOD-DOOM using my copy of DOOM 1. After the installation the
game ran just fine, after that I only get a partial conversion. What gives?
A:
A small error on my account. Just rename AOD.BAT to e.g. AODTC.BAT and run
that one. All should be fine now.
Q:
I want my original game back!!!
A:
Didn't install into a seperate directory, did you? OK, enter the command
"deusf -res doom?.wad" until you get the message that it's no longer a
modified WAd (2 times should do). Next time read all of the documentation, OK?
Q:
I have Ultimate AOD-DOOM and it crashes when entering level 4, Good Ash vs
Ad Ash. Can you help?
A:
Sorry, but I can't even reproduce the error on my machine. Sure, the intermission
screen acts a bit funny - don't know why - but no crash. Maybe it's because I
upgraded my registered DOOM to Ultimate DOOM and you actually bought Ultimate DOOM
in the store? I don't know. Use DOOM's command line options or our cheat codes
- read the FAQ! - to directly jump to and/or bypass that level.
Q:
This game is way to hard for me. Any cheats codes?
A:
Read the FAQ! Play on an lower difficulty setting. Watch the LMPs. AOD-DOOM can
be a bit hard, in particular on levels 2, 3 and 6, but it's not too difficult.
I'm no UV-player and I can beat all levels in one setting, so you should be able too.
Practise, keep an eye open for secret rooms and, most important, save your ammo
where you can. That chainsaw you've got there, it's there for a reason!
Chapter [11]: Closing
P
hew! Well, that's all I have! I hope that this FAQ has provided
a good source for AOD-DOOM information. If you have any suggestions,
additions or comments, send me E-mail at
andystine@aol.com.
Now I'll just sit back and watch as the adoring fanmail pours in...
This website designed and © 1996 Jeff Allen and Stefan Maes.
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