===========================================================================
                    (Doom 2 Minor Sprite Fix Recommended)
===========================================================================
Version                 : v1.3
Advanced engine needed  : Doom.exe (Version 1.666) or compatible ports
Primary purpose         : Single
===========================================================================
Title                   : RUST: Jaws of the Earth (Episode 2)
Filename                : RUST2.WAD, RUST2.DEH, CODEX.EXE
Release date            : 4/15/2025
Author                  : Arsinikk
Email Address           : me@andrikpowell.com
Other Files By Author   : RUST: The Infernal Machine,
                          Line Massacre Series (with NinjaDelphox),
                          Hellcinerator (Corruption),
                          Hell Revealations,
                          Boxcutter,
                          Purple Rain
Misc. Author Info       : Arsinikk is an expert at petting llamas.

Description             : RUST is a 90s and Scythe-inspired project that
                          aims to combine the early wad aesthetics of D!Zone
                          style wads with the modern progression and fast-paced
                          as wads like Scythe.

                          The WAD has been designed to work with Doom 1 version
                          1.666 (with DeHackEd). It is NOT compatible with the
                          Ultimate Doom EXE, as it relies on multiple "bossdeaths"
                          on E1M8.

                          *****  USE [-COMPLEVEL 1] TO PLAY RUST  *****
                          ************  SOFTWARE RENDERING  ***********

                          It is designed primarily for singleplayer.
                          All skills are implemented. A "New Game Plus" difficulty
                          is included that uses UV Coop placement. It is NOT
                          recommended for a first playthrough.

                          There is a super secret non-secret weapon in
                          every map! (5th weapon for episode 1, 6th weapon for
                          episode 2)

                          Jaws of the Earth is the second episode, with the final
                          episode coming soon...


===========================================================================

* Credits *

Mapping                 : Arsinikk
                          Large Cat (E2MX)

Playtesting and         : finnks13
quality control	          Large Cat
                          NinjaDelphox
                          Cacodemon187
                          galileo31dos01
                          FrancisT218


Graphics, Palette       : Arsinikk

DeHackEd                : Arsinikk

CODEX.exe               : Arsinikk
                          
===========================================================================

* What is included *

New levels              : 18
Sounds                  : Yes
Music                   : Yes
Graphics                : Yes
Dehacked/BEX Patch      : Yes
Demos                   : Yes
Other                   : No
Other files required    : No (use both RUST2.WAD and RUST2.DEH
                          for Vanilla/Chocolate Doom)


* Play Information *

Game                    : Doom
Map #                   : E1M1-E2M9
Single Player           : Designed for
Cooperative 2-4 Player  : Not Designed for
Deathmatch 2-4 Player   : No
Other game styles       : Speedrunning
Other mods              : No
Difficulty Settings     : Yes


* Construction *

Base                    : New from scratch

Build Time              : Fourth months for the maps and dehacked. Three weeks for CODEX programming and design.

Editor(s) used          : Ultimate Doom Builder, Slade3, Adobe Photoshop,
                          WhackEd4, Dehacked, Game Maker 8.1

Known Bugs              : - E1M7, E1M8, E2M6 will cause a crash when saving in Vanilla (Savegame Buffer Overflow).
                          - E1M8, E2M8 will have full volume sounds throughout the whole level in Vanilla (This is intentional Bugged Behaviour)
                          - "New Game Plus" ignores some Vanilla limits such as the sprite limit and savegame buffer.
                          - Woof-based ports will mostly work with RUST under complevel 2.
                          - DSDA-Doom and Woof are demo-incompatible due to Weapon Behaviour being inconsistent with Vanilla.
                          - Only for GZDoom 4.12 and up. Previous versions are NOT supported.
                          - E1M7 and E2M2 do not look correct in GZDoom when using Hardware Acceleration.
                              It's recommended to use the Doom Software Renderer.
Tested With             : Nyan Doom, Vanilla Doom v1.666 (DOS), Chocolate Doom, Crispy Doom,
                          DSDA Doom (-complevel 1), PRBoom Plus (-complevel 1),
                          GZDoom 4.12+, Zandronum, ZDoom, Eternity Engine (Dev Build),
                          Woof (complevel 2)


* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors MAY NOT use the contents of this file as a base for modification or
reuse unless they ask the author directly. This will most likely change when
RUST finally releases as a full megawad. Permissions have been obtained from
original authors for any of their resources modified or included in this file.

You MAY distribute this file, provided you include this text file, with no
modifications.  You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS,
Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact.  I have
received permission from the original authors of any modified or included
content in this file to allow further distribution.

* Where to get the file that this text file describes *

The Usual: ftp://archives.3dgamers.com/pub/idgames/ and mirrors


===========================================================================


===========================================================================


                       ____   __  __ _____ ______ 
                      / __ \ / / / // ___//_  __/
                     / /_/ // / / / \__ \  / /
                    / _, _// /_/ / ___/ / / /
                   /_/ |_| \____/ /____/ /_/

--------------------BY ARSINIKK (ANDRIK POWELL)--------------------


=================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
=================

1.  INTRODUCTION            6.  EPISODE I INSPIRATION
                         
2.  COMPATIBILITY           7.  EPISODE II INSPIRATION

3.  STORY / CODEX           8.  LEVEL INFORMATION / COMMENTARY

4.  INSTALLATION            9.  CREDITS

5.  NEW GAME PLUS          10.  KNOWN BUGS



================
[1] INTRODUCTION
================

  RUST is a 90s and Scythe-inspired project that
  aims to combine the early wad aesthetics of D!Zone
  style wads with the modern progression and fast-paced
  as wads like Scythe.

  It is designed primarily for singleplayer.
  All skills are implemented. A "New Game Plus" difficulty
  is included that uses UV Coop placement. It is NOT
  recommended for a first playthrough.

  There is a super secret non-secret weapon in
  every map:
    - E1: hidden 5th weapon
    - E2: hidden 6th weapon

  "Jaws of the Earth" is the second episode, with the
  final episode coming soon...


=================
[2] COMPATIBILITY
=================

  The WAD has been designed to work with Doom 1 version 1.666 (with DeHackEd).
  It is NOT compatible with the Ultimate Doom EXE, as it relies on E1M8
  behaviour that's since patched in the Ultimate Doom.

  The Ultimate Doom IWAD however is compatible with modern source ports,
  just as long as you run it with the -complevel 1 command.

  RUST was developed using "Nyan Doom", but was tested in DOS Doom v1.666.

  RUST will work in GZDoom 4.12 and up. Older GZDoom versions are NOT supported.
  Older ZDoom ports and Eternity Engine should also work.

  ZDaemon does not currently work due some font graphics being replaced.


=================
[3] STORY / CODEX
=================

   RUST comes with a complimentary LORE CODEX EXE that includes a bunch of
   story and lore about the world or RUST.

   Note that a riddle / meta game must be completed to find the passcode to
   open the Codex. This riddle / meta game can be solved by playing through
   RUST and viewing the "Read This!"

   A second riddle / meta game must be solved to unlock "level 2 access" in
   the Codex application. A hint is given in the CODEX once it is unlocked.


================
[4] INSTALLATION
================

Recommended source port:     - Nyan Doom (developed by the wad author)

For source ports:            - RUST2.wad (-complevel 1). DEHACKED is directly
		   	       embedded in the wad file.

                             - RUST2MUS.WAD is optional for those who are concerned
                               about copyright (mostly YouTubers. Streamers should be ok)

For Chocolate/Crispy Doom:   - Use RUST2.WAD (-gameversion 1.666). DEHACKED is directly
		   	       embedded in the wad file, but you can also use RUST2.DEH.
			  			  
For Vanilla Doom/MS-DOS:     - You must patch your own doomhack.exe yourself
			       with Dehacked - RUST2.DEH (version 1.666 of Doom.exe is required)


=================
[5] NEW GAME PLUS
=================

  RUST comes with a "New Game Plus" difficulty.
  To access "New Game Plus", just use (-coop_spawns) or (-solonet) on the Ultra-Violence skill.

  Nyan Doom and GZDoom have "New Game Plus" available in the difficulty select.

  Note that "New Game Plus" is NOT recommended for a first playthrough. It relies on previous
  knowledge of how the maps work and it is extremely difficult on purpose. It has however been
  tested and is possible to beat.



=======================
[6] EPISODE I INSPIRATION
=======================

  I've always been enamored from early Doom WADs from the 90s. Back then, Doom WADs didn't really have
  the standards and expectations that they have now. The standards part can really be a mixed bag, with
  some maps are fun to play... while others being very painful. The expectations part though... I think
  there's alot of interesting perspectives to see in early Doom WADs, that you just don't see in the
  modern Doom landscape. Some obscure progression or interesting mapping tricks and encounters can often
  be found in early WADs. I thought it would be interesting to tap into that, while also bringing a modern
  spin for the combat.

  I came across the YouTube channel Spectere (https://www.youtube.com/@Spectere), a few months ago with his
  D!ZONE'D series. And the most interesting part of it was that some of the maps had some really cool and
  interesting ideas. Early WADs often had alot of baggage with them; occasionally boring combat, obscure
  progression or design, etc. But there were defintiely some ideas that felt untapped. So for RUST, I thought
  I would take some of these interesting scenarios and bring them up to modern gameplay standards.

  Regarding the aesthetic of RUST, I've always been a huge fan of Scythe and its short but fast paced maps.
  One thing that always stuck out to me was how poor some of the texture alignment was in Scythe. It really 
  was a speedmapping project. I do think the rain aesthetic (which is present in every map) does add a certain
  uniqueness to the project and helps it stand out.

  For RUST, I wanted to take this speedmapping idea to the next level. At first, I decided that I wasn't going
  to align any textures at all. I thought this would help me focus on making fast paced maps without bothering
  with the "baggage" of alignment and detail. This also would help give an early 90s feel to RUST, since many
  early 90s WADs didn't spend that much time aligning textures as we do now. To help with this, I actually set
  Ultimate Doom Builder to never auto-align textures, and to reset the X and Y alignment whenever there was
  a linedef split to ensure every alignment in the WAD was manual.

  Cacodemon187 eventually convinced me to do a tiny bit of texture alignment to make things looks slightly
  better. One of the big things I wanted to keep though, were the unpegged door/doortrack textures. Many 90s
  WADs had these, and tbh I actually don't mind when actually doortrack moves with the door. I remember on
  my first map "Purple Rain", everyone in the community said it was bad practice, but I do wonder if it's
  really that big of a deal if it's consistent in the WAD. (Also just wanted to mention alot of door side
  textures in this WAD are pegged on purpose besides Doortrack. This is done badly on purpose for the 90s
  aesthetic, and I do not think it is something I would do in other projects).

  For the most part in this project, every map was made in sequential order. So this means E1M1 was the first
  map made. RUST was started as a project to kinda ease my way back into the mapping spirit. Previously after
  managing "Hell Revealations", I was feeling a bit burnt out. So I thought I'd do a short little project to
  get those mapping gears moving again. Even though I'd consider RUST to be heavily inspired by Scythe, it does
  have some 90s and my own influences interspersed throughout. I'm a big fan of puzzles, and so even E1M1's
  first room's mini puzzle screams like something I'd do. Techbase is a theme that I don't usually dabble in,
  so it was a bit interesting to use that as the main focus for Episode 1.

  The other big goal with pretty much all of the maps in RUST, is I wanted the maps to be able to completed
  extremely fast. You can see this in the WAD's partimes, that many maps can be beaten in under 2 minutes,
  or often under a minute, if you know what you're doing. In addition there are fun little things to note
  about every map: 1) every map has a berserk somewhere in the map, and 2) every map has a super secret
  non-secret rocket launcher hidden in the map. Note that the super secret rocket launchers are meant to be
  very hard to find / acquire and most players will not find them on a first playthrough.



=======================
[7] EPISODE II INSPIRATION
=======================

  Around six months after the first Episode of RUST, I felt it was time to revisit the project and bring
  about Episode II. It was convenient timing too, as NanoWADMo was about to start, and so I decided to
  not waste this opportunity to get some heavy work done for RUST's next installment. Interestingly enough,
  by this point, I had a good idea of what I was envisioning for Episode II, even right down to the name:
  "Jaws of the Earth".

  The idea for Episode II was to go with more natural environments, to juxtapose against the techbase-laden
  corridors of the first episode. I really felt that a change of theme would work well to both distinguish
  the episode, as well as to tap into some of the other D!ZONE style maps. While D!ZONE maps did typically
  go with the techbase style (although let's be super real here, most 90s maps are just a bunch of themes
  thrown together :P), I wanted to embrace something more akin to some of the Spectere videos I saw of
  MEMPHIS.WAD, THE_GRID.WAD, CLIFF.WAD, and WARZONE4.WAD. With further inspiration came from 90s WADs like
  SANDSDTH.WAD (which I used some textures from :D).

  The main idea was to focus on using techbase textures such as electronic doors, and instead using things
  like marble faces to "represent" doors. Another big change was to focus more on diagonal and
  non-perpendicular lined map layouts to feel more natural and less "constructed" (although a few maps do
  kinda lean closer to the old design like E2M4, even though that's meant to be more of a "hell factory"
  rather than a techbase). Interestingly enough, I thought that Episode II was gonna look closer to E1MX's
  kind of map layout design, but it seemed to evolve into something slightly different.

  There are a couple differences between RUST E1 and E2, besides the theme change. First E2 includes a few
  new textures that stray from Doom's stock textures. During the development of E2, I had been playing a
  lot of early 90s WADs, which led me to admiring the custom textures included in those WADs. Then the
  thought occurred to me... What better way to emulate 90s textures, then to actually use those textures.
  Many of the 90s WADs, I played which gave me lots of inspiration (and perhaps a few textures) were
  Cleimos II, Aliens TC, Osiris, Obituary, Galaxia, Slaughter Until Death, Enslavement, Eye of the Beholder
  I/II, and possibly more. It's important to note that I've already played many of the classic 90s WADs
  such as Memento Mori I/II, Eternal Doom, The Rebirth, The Talosian Incident, Alien Vendetta, STRAIN, etc.
  As a result, I think that E2 is not only influenced by D!ZONE WADs, but also early 90s MEGAWADs as well.

  While some of RUST E2's maps are not as D!ZONE as E1's maps, I do think there are still some early 90s-isms
  that can be found within it. As per the rules, I did not attempt to align most textures, and if I did, it
  was done so manually. I think my favourite map showing the weird 90s progression has to be E2M2. It has the
  weirdest most awkward progression ever, and I think that sort of progression would fit perfectly amongst
  other D!ZONE maps.

  Something that I had been planning to do at the start of RUST, was to utilise Doom 1.666's access to Doom II's
  extra Dehacked states and things slots. The idea was always to use these extra Dehacked states and codepointers
  to create a whole new "strain" (lol joke) of demons. As you can see from my previous joke, it does kinda make
  RUST E2 feel a little bit more like STRAIN, with the added bestiary. Of course, I had a tiny bit of this
  showcased in E1MX of RUST E1, but that was only 1 new enemy. RUST E2 would expand this to include a whole
  new enemy roster.

  My thought process on creating new monsters is probably quite different than most doom mappers. I don't
  want to create just another enemy that players have seen before. I want to create a monster that's truly
  unique and actually contributes something to the "combat puzzle". It should be no surprise, with Scythe
  being my favourite WAD, that combat is what I consider to be the most important part of a doom map.
  It's actually one of the reasons I started RUST, as I felt that mappers and players put too much emphasis
  on a map's visuals, while de-emphasising the combat and/or level "flow".

  The hardest part of creating RUST E2's monsters, was that I wanted to avoid re-making Doom II monsters.
  What's the point of adding a new monster in Doom, if it's just a Doom II monster. At that point, it'd
  be better just to make a Doom II WAD. Working with a Doom I WAD gave me a unique opportunity to not
  have to worry about trying to keep Doom II enemies, and instead focus on creating something new and
  unique. I think my favourite new monster has to be the one in E2M3, which you'll know what monster it
  is when you get to it. I don't think I've ever seen a custom monster that behaves in that particular way.

  Another interesting thing players will learn immediately is that E2 is very much focused on introducing
  new bestiary each map. This includes the Toximp showing in many of the maps, just to cement it's place as
  a now regular enemy. E1 was very much focused on introducing an enemy for each map from the Doom roster.
  E2 is essentially doing the same thing, except that most of the enemies are unique and so players really
  don't have any idea what to expect from them. Each map usually has a fight or encounter to teach the player
  about what their new foes do, and how to fight them.

  Story-wise, it was really fun to work with E2. I loved the idea of this new bestiary not all being demons,
  but instead mutations caused by a "natural" cause. It also creates this interesting comparison between the
  mutations and demons, as the mutated monsters are almost more threatening and dangerous than the demons.
  I think it's something quite unique to Doom and I don't think we really get to see monsters that aren't
  just demons.



==================================
[8] LEVEL INFORMATION / COMMENTARY
==================================

------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------

!!! Note that the following commentary may have SPOILERS !!!

------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------


==== [E1M1: Engage] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "The Hand That Feeds" - NIN
Difficulty: Easy

Author Commentary:
For every WAD I work on, I always think it's a good idea to have some kind of difficulty curve, so it's not
surprising E1M1 would be one of the easiest. However with that said there are some interesting choices made
with this map. First off, despite the low monster count, my main goal of E1M1 was to not allow the player to
acquire a shotgun. So for the most part a pistol is all you get (if you ignore the secret berserk). Many of
the fights and encounters in E1M1 were designed knowing the fact that the player wouldn't have anything but the
pistol to deal with them. Of course for E1M1 I thought I should give some love to STARTAN, as imo it's not
used enough in Doom maps.

I find the exit progression to be a little strange, but it does sort of feel like 90s progression. Originally
the exit door had to be re-opened by shooting the wall behind the shotgunner, but I thought that may be too
cryptic and added a re-open switch where the UAC logo was. The multiple stacked secrets were just the 90s
icing on the cake :)



==== [E1M2: Venom] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "The Becoming" - NIN
Difficulty: Easy

Author Commentary:
Always been a fan of toxic themed levels. Sometimes I get surprised at how I randomly stumble across an
interesting mechanic without meaning to. I'm mostly speaking about the crusher in this map, and how it does
a surprisingly good job of keeping the map interesting. It's worth noting that I did test and see if the shotgun
at the start was grabbable at the start... and it actually is possible to item grab it, but it's pretty tricky.

The toxic pinky encounter can be surprisingly tricky since the player on pistol start doesn't have any armour or
shotgun (in continuous) to deal with him. Interestingly enough the way I play the toxic room, is that you are
meant to be able to mitigate damage by staying on the edges of the toxic steps. The next fight with the pinkies
and imps can be surprisingly challenging due to the rain obscuring your vision.

The lowering floor with the cacos behind is a reference to the end of the original E2M1 when a wall lowers down
and reveals a Cacodemon.



==== [E1M3: Containment] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "Head Like a Hole" - NIN
Difficulty: Easy

Author Commentary:
This is sort of an interesting map in that it actually had a bit of revisions to it. Originally it was possible
to just skip the chaingun trap altogether and go to the right and left rooms. However, my playtesters felt that
the chaingun trap was a highlight of the map, and so I ended up making it mandatory. It was a little tricky though
re-tuning that fight. The idea is that I wanted the player to be in a brief state of panic as the trap is sprung,
but at the same time, that trap can be very deadly. The invisibility sphere used to be a secret you could grab at
the start (by turning around and pressing the door), but I ended up making it mandatory, but only after you've
escaped the trap (by shooting the switches behind the shotgunners).

Another thing interesting about this map is that I was actually concerned that it was too long of a map. In one
of an earlier versions of this map, I had actually developed a system where if you took one route, the other was
blocked off and all the enemies were killed in the other section. However I eventually decided to revert that,
because it meant for speedrunning, that only one route would be taken as it would be the fastest; but also that
kind of "doom scripting" seemed a bit too advanced for the 90s feel I was going for. Plus I think the sections
weren't as long as I worried they'd be. I did think it was a really cool idea for only one section to have to be
completed for the yellow key. This really does work out because it means I can keep the puzzle area and not keep
it mandatory for progression, so players who don't like puzzles can just do the other route instead and still
beat the map. If it wasn't obvious, the puzzle section is a reference to the original E2M2 yellow key puzzle.
Regarding the dark crate maze section, I did end up adding a convenience candle lift just in case the player
fell off while jumping, they didn't need to go all the way around and escape the maze quickly.

If it wasn't obvious, the room with the barons is a quite overt reference to E1M1, with the switch on the side
and the pillars. It was a little interesting introducing Barons here, because I wanted to make sure it wasn't
tedious or slow to deal with them quite yet. And so I think the telefrag sequence works well here. Regarding the
secret exit, I think that it's simple enough, yet cryptic enough that it isn't too frustrating to find, but also
not too easy either.



==== [E1M4: Concrete] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "The Great Below" - NIN
Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Author Commentary:
So just like the original Doom, I wanted to slowly introduce enemies slowly map-by-map. For E1M4, I wanted to
introduce the lost soul. This was a little tricky because typically the lost soul isn't a very scary enemy.
So the main goal of E1M4 is to make the lost soul actually threatening and tricky to deal with. I'm aware that
the pressure that this map puts on the player is much less on continuous, but to be quite fair, that's a very
common thing with playing continuous. However, for pistol start I was very careful about how much ammo I gave
the player, to sorta force them out into the other room due to the "lost soul horde".

Regarding the intro, I think this map does a good job of switching it up with it taking a having a slower more
atmospheric start. The best part about the start is that you can actually sorta skip progression if you know where
the switch is. Fun fact, the super secret rocket launcher in this map used to be gained by shooting the poison wall
at the start, but after all my playtesters thought to do this, I decided it was too easy to find and changed how you
get the super-secret rocket launcher. Instead now you get a rad suit.

The poison room in this map is actually very interesting because it can be surprisingly more difficult than it seems.
the platforms are placed apart just enough that it's quite easy to fall off, however they are close enough that you
can actually walk on them by just moving forward. My favourite part of this map is how the transformation works. The
idea for the map is that once the "lost soul horde" is released, to try and make it up to the top switch, flip it,
then fall down, grab the invuln, and start blasting away with the chaingun. But the part that's really cool is the
fact that hitting the switch to open the final room raises all the pillars in the other room back up just in case
you missed some enemies or possibly something else (wink wink).



==== [E1M5: Siege] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "Breed" - Nirvana
Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Author Commentary:
The balls I had to take the name of the same map from Hell Revealed. But to be fair, I think it fits the map rather
well. This is actually a strange map for me, simply because it has areas you cannot access if you miss them, which
is honestly very unlike me. This is most evident by a secret lift in the lost soul ambush room. It's just a one time
lift walkover line. I'm not sure what came over me to do this.

Anyways, for the start of the map, I wanted to have a very explosive start. At the end of the last map, you finally
get a rocket launcher for progression, and so for this map I thought to create a sort of power fantasy map with the
new weapon. This map actually had me scared at first because I did the beginning encounter rather quickly and thought
it was so good, that I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep the energy of the map going. After all in just one shot
you kill almost 100 enemies all at once. But I think I did a good job keeping the energy going with the overall design
of the map focusing on being able to do the entire map with just the rocket launcher.

Rather interestingly, I had originally given the player a shotgun and chaingun at the start of the map, but decided to
cut out the chaingun entirely. I really wanted to push the player to use the rocket launcher primarily, and I found that
giving a chaingun was antithetical to the goal. I did end up keeping a shotgun, since you would pick up a shotgun later in
in the map from shotgunners anyway, and I'd rather not have the player get weapon switched the first time they randomly
picked up a shotgun.

Part of what makes this map a bit challenging in UV is the lack of health. So while you do get a bit of a power fantasy
aspect with the rocket launcher, you do have to be careful with hitscanners sniping you and not blowing up your face.
If there was any flaw in this map, I'd say it's the blue door. Interestingly enough, the door and switch didn't used to
be marked, but I decided to add blue on both to make it more clear what the switch did. Even still it can be slightly
unclear what the switch does (even if the door that it opens is technically visible from the switch). In a way though,
that part could sorta be written off as being 90s progression. Another thing to note is that if you find a certain
secret beforehand, the door is way more visible from the switch alcove.

The main reason this is one of the few maps without a NIN midi, is because I wanted the midi for this map to have a lot
of energy, which I just felt was harder to capture from the NIN midis available.



==== [E1M6: Malignant] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "Heresy" - NIN
Difficulty: Medium-Hard

Author Commentary:
I would probably consider this the hardest map of the set, especially on UV. I think the main challenge here when I
started this map was making the map difficult after getting a rocket launcher. In Doom the rocket launcher can often
be used to delete most enemies immediately. Even the Baron, while tanky, can actually go down rather quickly if you
have the rocket ammo available. And so the map start with a little game of avoid the baron, adding a baron until three
Barons are on your ass. The main goal here was to make it so you couldn't delete all three barons in continuous, and
you had to at least kite one around you.

This map also has the introduction to the Cyberdemon, which is in a very devilish spot. The main idea of this map is
to do a whole loop around the cyber solving each of the rooms until you complete the full rotation. Each time you enter
a room however, a window opens allowing for the cyber to snipe you from any room. At the same time, the cyberdemon is
also your saving grace, in that you are meant to use him to help distract the barons that are released. For the most
part, every room that you complete in the map releases more barons, and so it's often a good idea to get them distracted
before moving forward.

I think the biggest challenge of this map was making sure every room felt unique and interesting; not only in aesthetics
but also in gameplay. The start room is the kite barons room. The next room is the E1M9 exit reference room. Third room
is basically a mini maze that opens up. Fourth room, a rocket launcher claustrophobic trap. Fifth and sixth rooms are
technically kinda connected, with the fifth room being the puzzle input room and the sixth being the actual progression
forward-moving room. seventh room being a maze with some minor verticality, but with the challenge mostly being on resource
starvation from the rest of the map. And the final room being a last final zombiemen ambush, where you are finally given
a chance to delete the Cyberdemon that's been harassing you the whole map.

It's worth noting that the puzzle part of the map was specifically designed to be the simplest, easiest puzzle possible.
Since the player has pressure put on them, I didn't want the puzzle to be too one that required too much brain power.
I will say that I am aware some players may still feel overwhelmed by the puzzle and therefore it is actually possible to
get behind the spiderdemon and press the switch without doing the puzzle at all. This was actually intentional, although
you do need to distract the spiderdemon long enough to do so.

The name of the map "Malignant" is named so due to the map being so harsh. After all "malignant" means malevolent.



==== [3{7M:  AIN R   ] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "The Downward Spiral" - NIN
Difficulty: Easy-Medium

!!! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. I IMPLORE YOU TO NOT READ AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED E1M7, AS IT'S BEST EXPERIENCED BLIND. !!!

Author Commentary:
This map is unarguably the most unique map in the set. I think this is both a pro and a con. The downside to this is that
this map feels the least scythe-like among all the maps. The Pro however is that everyone who's played it has found this
map to be one of the most memorable.

For this map I really wanted to create an experience over just creating a doom map. The map really does just drip atmosphere
and later on a sort of unease. I stumbled across making text computer terminals which I think work great in a story telling
sense, as well as breaking up the map into sections. I think it goes without saying that this map's combat was not the priority
here. It's mostly just there to check the doom "has monsters" box. Although I didn't just throw together just random encounters;
they are still throughout of course.

This is one of the few maps that was less of a speedmap compared to the others. Perhaps this is because when I started working
on the map I realised I was on to something epic, and really wanted to push it as far as it can go. Interestingly the very first
part of the map designed (besides the intro sequence), was the third really corrupted area with the cyberdemon. When I started
working on the map, I knew I wanted to have the map slowly become more and more corrupted. Interestingly my first attempt to
make a corrupted section ended up being too corrupted, which actually resulted it in being the last section before the mainframe
finale part. Due to the corruption aspect of the map, I really wanted to go all in with the really strange and experimental. You
can definitely see this with the cut in half switch being two switches, or the purposeful HOM walls in the blue corridor.

I've always been a big fan of macro architecture in Doom, so doing the final area was really awesome for me. There's something so
satisfying to me, being able to create and see large structures in the distance. It really gives you a sense of scale and shows
how small you really are to the rest of your surroundings. Funny thing about the mainframe section is that I ended up creating the
vats area, and then I sorta realised I needed to make a mainframe area (LOL). So I'm not exactly sure what the vat area is meant
to be used for, but it's there next to the mainframe :P

Of course, it was very fun to just end the map with the player waking up in front of a computer. It gives you the "it was all a
dream" feeling, and it makes sense story wise, since you were in a simulation. I think there's just something so satisfying to
successfully creating an experience that slow degrades over time. It's almost similar to what it's like playing lilith.pk3, where
you start to question what is happening, and even if you are a mapper, your sanity can start to drain.

Regarding the super secret room and the skull key areas, I thought it would be fun to include parts of maps from my previous works
as sort of an easter egg. Since it's a simulation, it kinda means I can add whatever I want and it still make sense, but also it's
just cool to see how far I've made it since I've started mapping. You can learn more about the "entities" in the CODEX, but I think
I did them very well. It's funny since I'm a huge fan of horror, that I actually spooked myself getting to close to the sprites I
made. That's when you know you made something good, if you get spooked even when you know what it is. The sounds they make are
actually some sound effects I made for the release trailer of my debut Andrik Arkane Album release trailer which was a riff off the
blair witch footage style.



==== [E1M8: Killswitch] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "The Broken EP (Medley)" - NIN
Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Author Commentary:
So I actually kinda backed myself into a corner here with E1M7. You see, I think E1M7 turned out really great... However it was not
the episode ender. So now I felt with E1M8 being the finale, I needed to somehow top E1M7. I'm not exactly sure that I succeeded,
but I can say that E1M8 does have an epic quality to it, and I think it's a good episode ender. The beginning of the map is interesting
because it almost works well as a transition from E1M7 to the more action packed nature of E1M8. E1M7 compared to the rest of the wad
is a bit more slower paced, so the start of E1M8 starting slow just to pick up helps a bit with that transition.

Interestingly enough, the first idea for this map was very different from the final product. The first idea was to have a "Mancubian
Candidate" sort of set up with escorting a Baron to open up several doors while keeping him alive. If the Baron died, then a 50-ish
cybers would teleport in and kill the player.

However I ran into a couple issues with this idea. First, it's actually a little hard and kinda boring to have to escort a baron from
time to time. Second, however and probably the most troublesome, is that I thought the idea was a bit too similar to E1M6 and how it
worked. And so I ended up going in a different direction, instead designing a huge circle like arena, that did have a similar idea of
having to go on the outside, but decided to replace the Baron with a mastermind instead. The mastermind has more health than a baron
and so the main idea was that the player had to keep the mastermind alive and avoid infighting and make it to the end of the circle to
hit a "killswitch".

Ironically this also had some issues that I ran into. First the mastermind ended up taking very little damage because of it being so high
up, and the projectiles from Barons and Cacodemons ended up never reaching her. This was a huge problem obviously, because the idea was
designed with the spider death in mind leading to all the Cyberdemons teleporting in. And so my solution was to add a crusher for the
spiderdemon. This way the spiderdemon death was eventual and there was a threat of failure. While the infighting element didn't quite
work as was intended, I think the map works well with how it is now.

The spiderdemon arena was extremely difficult to get working in Vanilla. As Vanilla mappers know, Vanilla really doesn't like big open
spaces. So part of the challenge was to have as much detail as possible while also keeping things simple. Part of the sacrifices I had
to make was having a wall separating the area in half next to the spiderdemon. Although it kinda worked out with that wall becoming where
killswitch would be. Another big challenge was creating interesting encounters while being very limited on what geometry I could do without
Vanilla HOMing everywhere to do drawseg overflow. This ended up being very tricky, but I think I was able to do the best I could with
what I had. Interestingly enough due to playtester feedback saying it was too similar to another encounter, I ended up redesigning the
Cacodemon ambush, which both ended up being way more interesting but helped a bit with Vanilla limits. Another minor change toward the
end was adding a bunch of barrels in the pinky ambush, which does make things a bit more fun.

It is very unlike me to not have a backtrack teleporter, but I did feel with this map, having such a teleporter would interfere with
immersion, especially since you destroy the infernal machine at the very end. It's worth noting that there is a super cool NIN reference
in this map if you can figure out the secret progression.



==== [E1MX: Teeth] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "Sonne" - Rammstein
Difficulty: Medium

Author Commentary:
This is the secret map of the episode, obviously from finding the secret exit on E1M3. This map was actually meant to be a map from
guest mapper Large Cat; but at the time Large Cat's computer wasn't working correctly, and so I ended up making it myself. As with
secret maps, I always want them to be something special. I had the idea for this wad to have a new weapon to replace the chainsaw,
and as in Eviternity II fashion, decided to relegate it only to E1MX. Theming wise I also thought it'd be interesting to have a
different theme for the secret map. Since the rest of the mapset is very tech focuses, having a hell cavern seemed to spice it up
a bit. It also feels very scythe themed as well. Combat in this map is much harsher than most of the previous maps, as I wanted to
give a taste of what later maps in the later episodes would be like.

The new weapon, named "teeth", is essentially a railgun of sorts. Originally it was not as powerful as it is now, and it would shoot
20 bullets all at once. However based on playtester feedback, they felt that the weapon should be a bit more special and beefier, and
so I ended up replacing around 5 of the bullet shots to be shotgun shots instead (still only using 20 bullet ammo of course). I will
admit the weapon is way more satisfying to use how it is now. What was most important to me about the new weapon is to make sure that
good precision was rewarded, and adding some shotgun shots does allow for some leeway, but precision is still rewarded with the 15
other pistol shots.

Another thing I wanted to introduce in E1MX was a sneak peak at the new bestiary. For later RUST episodes, I was planning on having
an expanded dehacked bestiary, but I wanted to keep episode 1 to introducing the main Doom bestiary showing that they can be used
in Doom 1 in a fun and interesting way. However in E1MX, you meet the Toximp, which is a more powerful imp that's fast and throws
baron projectiles. I can definitely see this enemy being a bit challenging as it's much faster than the original Doom 1 monsters.
The sprites were from a 90s Jon Landis WAD called "Eye of the Beholder" and they actual function close to the same (expect maybe
slightly faster). I think the sprites have a bit of the 90s flavour to them. My main goal with the new bestiary is to not recreate
the Doom II bestiary (because that is boring), but use some of the Doom II codepointers (which are in Doom v1.666) to create new
and unique monsters.

To be quite honest, this map is mostly a showcase of the new weapon and the Toximp. So many of the level design and encounters are
designed with those in mind. You can see this very noticeable with the imps all lined up on the other side of the cliff, just so
you can line them up and use the new weapon :)



==== [E2M1: Spitfire] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "Jump in the Fire" - Metallica
Difficulty: Medium

Author Commentary:
So let's get a few thing straight. the first map of an episode (or WAD I guess) is to set the tone of what
is to come. And so with E2M1, that tone was: Episode II is gonna be tougher and meaner. I think the initial
fight sets the tone by bombarding the player with a dozen imps, with Cacos flying to greet the player.
Immediately, this tells the player that they are gonna have to think a bit more about combat, and I won't
be just sending one kind of enemies towards them. The pinky ambush with the rocket launcher also helps cement
that I'm not messing around with the gameplay department.

One thing I wanted to clarify immediately was that the Toximp is now going to be a regular enemy, and so
you meet them relatively quickly in this map. The real star of the show in this map is the new Vile. Keep
in mind, I said Vile and not Arch-Vile. Perhaps in one of the most controversial decisions, I decided to keep
the Arch-Vile, but change its attack. Instead of doing a flame hit-scan attack, it instead does a sort of
flamethrower style of attack. Don't be fooled however, the flames are very painful and can kill you quite
quickly. As a result, the Vile switches up the gameplay style a bit. It's actually a really bad idea now
to try and berserk a Vile. In fact, up close they are far more deadly than before. However from a distance,
they are no longer that big of a threat. They do however retain their resurrecting powers, which does still
keep them as a high-priority target. There is a catch though, as they now infight other demons (there is a
mechanic, as well as a story reason for this).

This map is actually kinda weird progression-wise. At the start of the map, to progress you must shoot a
switch to continue. This actually serves 2 purposes. 1) to wake up the imps to teleport in, and 2) to teach
the player that shooting those kind of switches results in something happening. This makes a lot more sense
once the player makes it into the building which the switch doors can only be opened by shooting them. What's
interesting about the progression here, is that technically if you kill some the barons, you can actually skip
a major fight, and basically half the map. The player will still meet the new enemy, but won't have to do my
favourite fight. I think this is an interesting choice, as it's up to the player to discover the best part
of the map for themselves. I think mappers spend so much time orchestrating parts of maps, that they feel
like they need players to experience all of it. They forget that it's really the player that's trying to have
fun, and I think the discovery of this fight, makes the map more interesting and fun. To be fair, it's not like
the fight is very hidden, it's just that a sort of weird D!ZONE / 90s WAD progression is required to get there.

So the name "Spitfire" was actually taken from a Prodigy song. Probably my favourite song off that album. While
technically a spitfire is a sort of fighter plane (I'm sorry if my over-generalization offends you :P), it
does invoke a sense of ferocity. The name itself gives a visual of literally spitting fire... which is exactly
what a Vile does... Oh wait, now the name makes sense ;). I actually did have an idea of naming all E2 maps
based on the new monsters that were being introduced, but I ended up abandoning that idea... To be honest, it
was a little hard to come up with a good name for the next map's monster.



==== [E2M2: Recoil] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "Devil's Dance" - Metallica
Difficulty: Medium

Author Commentary:
This might be my favourite map of the set... Is it because it's the best playing map? No, I don't really think so.
The reason this map is my favourite is that I think it's the most D!ZONE style of map of the entire set, and it's
all due to the map progression. What's so great about this map's progression, is that it's so unclear on how to get
the red key, that there's multiple ways to do so... And the majority of the time, the player will probably not know
what the "intended" way of getting the red key actually is. I absolutely love this, and I think this really does
speak to the early 90s / D!ZONE attitude of mappers, and players being like "what the fuck is the mapper thinking?".

This whole map is purposely weird in its triggers and progression, although it starts to get a little more normal
once you open the red "door". A fun fact about the big red skull door: you can press on it at different places to
get it to raise even faster, as it's cut into like 3-4 different open door triggers (not in ZDoom tho :/).

This map does introduce a really unique enemy: the nightmare. Imagine a lost soul, that can shift into a revenant
missile... and when it hits you, explodes like a barrel. It's truly a horrifying enemy, but also quite quick to kill.
This enemy is actually inspired by the seemingly scientient revenant missiles seen in MAP04 of Hellground, but of
course turned into an actual monster. Behind-the-scenes wise tho, this enemy was REALLY hard to get working right
via DehackEd. First off, the sprites of the monster were altered quite a bit, in order to get it to make sense for
the player. What I mean is that originally all of its sprites were just a green recoloured lost soul. The problem
here was that I needed to convey to the player that when the nightare was charging, it could move through impassible
walls (midtexs, etc). It's very important gameplay-wise to convey to the player as quick as possible how an enemy
works, and so I started working on trying to convey that. First try was by crosshatching the sprite to make it
"see-through", however this did not look very good upclose, and when a bunch of them grouped up they weren't that
see-through. My solution was to make them fully green to make them look more ghostly. I think the final solution
works out pretty well, and makes it super clear when they are in their spectral form.

Mechanically, the nightmare was also tricky to work with. The way it actually works is that it's an enemy that
fires a revenant missile... However the revenant missile looks like the lost soul charging. After firing the
missile, the monster actually disappears from the map. This actually cause a few issues. First of all, if the
Nightmare counted toward the enemy count, the enemy count doesn't actually go down unless the enemy enters a
death state... Which the Nightmare did not do. The way I fixed this was removing them from the monster count
(which I mean made alot of sense, being that lost souls aren't currently counted either). The second problem
was actually trickier and involved monster infighting logic. I found that if a monster had been infighting with
a Nightmare, after the Nightmare had "fired it's missile" and it them, that monster would still be trying to
fight the Nightmare, even when it disappeared. From this, I surmised that the infighting logic was actually tied
to a monster's death state, so a monster would only stop infighting a monster, if the other monster actually
died. This was a problem. Interestingly enough, I did find a solution however. My solution was for the nightmare
to use the Arch-Vile monster slot. If you don't know certain monster slots have special properties, and it just
so happens that the Arch-Vile slot includes "no-infighting" functionality and a "range limit". This means that
by using that slot, I could ensure that no other monster would get stuck infighting with the nightmare. It also
means as a bonus, that nightmare won't enter their missile state unless you're around a certain distance, which
I think helps in regards to balancing. The downside of course, is that the Vile can now infight other monsters,
but I think it's worth the thing slot swap.

Continuing on in the map, there a couple fun things. First there's an extremely goofy purposeful "make pinkies
get mastermind stuck" fight. I mean seriously, the goal is to force the pinkies to bite the mastermind to death
:P. Next is a really unique interesting "underwater" or "underblood" section that may seem like black magick to
some doom players/mappers. The technique involves doing a bunch of flat bleeds to simulate going under "water",
and is heavily inspired by and mechanically very similar to MAP31 of Perdition's Gate. I will admit I went a
little overboard in using multiple floor levels... sorta showcasing my mapping wizardry I guess.

Last but not least, there's a really funny key puzzle, that I could totally see in a D!ZONE map, and then a really
fun stair builder section that I think people will really enjoy. Honestly I think this map is my personal favourite
of E2, if not the whole WAD, as it's really weird and quite unique.

The name "Recoil" is kinda weird... Originally the idea was that the map had lots of spirals, "coils", and then at
the end it coils back to the start. I guess it's awkward, because recoil kinda means to go back to the start, but
usually it means to jump back in fear. I guess players will prob "recoil" in fear away from these nightmares ;)



==== [E2M3: Willow] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "My Apocolypse" - Metallica
Difficulty: Medium-Hard

Author Commentary:
While I said earlier that E2M2 was probably my favourite map of E2, I think that E2M3 is just as, if not more
memorable simply to due to the Willow Tree. I think the Willow Tree is such a unique structure and perfectly
encapsulates the strange thinking that 90s mappers back in the day, when they were trying to make something
in the Doom engine. While trees don't usually have marble brick at the top, the visual easily gets the point
across.

As for the overall map, this map takes a very different approach than the previous E2 maps, if not all the
maps that have come before. This map is very open, which I think does fit the D!ZONE open and empty vibe.
I do think that it leans more on the open, rather than empty, but it does result in some pretty tough open
combat spaces. The initial fight (especially after pressing the switch behind the berserk), really does
embrace some of the combat chaos I was hoping to add into this episode. Everything in E1 seemed much more
structured, which did fit the techbase vibe and aesthetic. While there were tough elements and traps in E1,
it still felt pretty controlled. E2 on the other hand, just like nature, embraces the uncontrolled and chaos,
as is in nature, we cannot control what happens in the environment. Nature has its own rules, and we must
now adapt to them.

Now interestingly enough, after the beginning area, the map is cut into two paths... That is if you disregard
the bonus "skull" area. I say "interestingly enough" because originally the map was gonna be closer to E1M3,
in that you could choose which path to take and then just skip the other path. However, finnks13, one of my
testers, said that he thought the map would be better if both paths were to be required and said he thought
the map was short enough. And so now both paths are required, each for a key.

The main reason finnks13 probably insisted that both paths be required was probably for the red key path,
which results in meeting a new enemy: the Medusa. I will admit that the Medusa is probably my favourite
and the most unique Doom enemy that I've seen in a while... and I think that the red key area does a
perfect job in teaching the player about it's mechanics and why it's so scary. To reiterate, the reason
the Arch-Vile attack was taken away, was for the Medusa and I think it was justified given how the monster
turned out. Imagine an enemy that doesn't actually attack you, but robs you of one of your most important
weapons in playing doom. Now you may be confused upon hearing that, as the Medusa does not actually take
away a weapon in a literal sense. When I say weapon here, I mean that the most important weapon in Doom
is movement. What I mean is your ability to dodge, run away, use cover, avoid getting melee'd to death...
All of that is dictated by your skill to move. Now the Medusa, just like the mythological creature, has
the ability to freeze you in place. While technically this doesn't seem too dangerous (unless it gets too
close to melee you), and to be honest, with one Medusa it's actually not a big deal. What is dangerous
is other enemies in combination with a Medusa. Adding a Medusa within a group of imps and/or demons, is
actually horrifying... because if you can't move, you can't run backward to avoid them coming close to you,
nor can you dodge any projectiles. This makes the Medusa the most dangerous chess piece in the combat puzzle.
I think that the red key fight perfectly introduces the mechanics and the danger that the Medusa poses,
and honestly I think it's one of the most unique Doom enemies that I haven't ever seen done before.

The yellow key route is very different, in that it doesn't rely on any new enemy. While I really like
the yellow key area, I will admit that the forest area looks waaaaay too good for a 90s / D!ZONE WAD.
I will admit I'm still impressed with how I was able to make a nice tree canopy area in vanilla,
while staying under VPO and DrawSeg limits. I'd say what makes up for the nice looking area is the
"obligatory" random raise/lower platform area. Now that is very 90s and also pretty much hogs all
of the max platform limit. :P

The "skull" area is actually influenced by a puzzle map in "Eye of the Beholder". Look I'm not gonna
sugarcoat it, that map is rough, but I did like the instant invisible crusher. While I don't usually
like instant death traps... I mean there's a giant skull that flashes in the centre... So I think
it's VERY clear that it says death. The secret sequence here does embrace 90s/D!ZONE secret tagging,
as there's literally like 18 secrets here :P

Oh yeah, also you can totally get the "Dark Teeth" weapon at the start. I thought it would be fun to
allow the player to use that weapon in other maps besides E2MX.



==== [E2M4: Sanguine] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "Reptile" - NIN
Difficulty: Hard

Author Commentary:
So this map is very mean. Like I think it makes it clear from the very first fight, but honestly that may be the
hardest fight in the episode. I am speaking of pistol-start, of course... and of course, if you don't use the secret
Invulnerability for the fight. Again I think it does fit the chaos combat theme of the episode.

I think this is where I started introducing a few new textures (from the wad Slaughter Until Death). This map is a
bit of an outlier in the episode, as it actually feels a bit closer to E1 than E2. There's a bit of a techbase vibe,
and it even reverts to using a NIN midi, instead of E2's Metallica tracks. I do think it does work, though as this
sort of techbase is hell-infested. While it has some ties to E1, I think it's different enough to stand alone from
the E1 aesthetic.

The idea for this map is that it's a "hell factory". While it does feel like E1, it does have a darker and more moody
tone. On top of that, the map is much harsher, especially the final fight. I don't have too much to say about most of
the map. The map does have slow crushers, but I think they are very obvious similar to the ones in the original Doom
E2M2.

I think the most memorable part of the map is the "drilling structure" which seems to indicate that they are extract
blood for whatever reason, and the final fight. Now there's a couple interesting things about the final fight. First
off, the final fight actually introduces two new enemies, which is a bit of switch-up, but also embraces a bit of the
chaos theme. Second, a cyberdemon, a boss monster, is introduced into a seemingly unexpected way. And Finally, the
player finally receives a new weapon: the Incinerator.

A couple fun things about the new weapon is that it was actually added late in development of E2... So this final fight
actually used to be quite a bit tougher using the regular plasma rifle. However, after playing Obituary, I fell in love
with the flamethrower weapon in that WAD, and I felt it fit better with the custom enemies of E2. The Incinerator
is an extremely over-powered weapon. You will find in E2, ammo for the weapon is a bit scarce. While the projectiles
do a ton of damage, they do have the downside of having gravity, and so they are most useful at a short-medium range.
This actually does change how the weapon is used in the episode, as the rare ammo forces you to choose when to use it,
and the shorter range forces you to get closer to larger foes such as the Cyberdemon.

Regarding the new enemies, there are two. The Skinwalker, which is essentially a melee revenant, and the Hate Elemental.
The Skinwalker is actually a bit more dangerous has it does have a faster speed, than even the Vile. I'm pretty happy
with how the sprite recolour turned out, as well as the story of the monster's origin is literally a horror story.
The Hate Elemental is actually almost more interesting, if you know about it's quirks. The Hate Elemental actually
replaces the Mastermind thing slot. This means that it actually has splash resistance. This is important when you
consider that the Hate Elemental spits out Nightmares that explode like barrels, thus the splash resistance is
crucial. You may have noticed that they don't make full volume sounds, however. This is because through Dehacked
codepointers I actually replaced their wake and death sounds so that it would happen locally instead of full volume.
I think having the Hate Elementals in a fight with the Cyberdemon is very interesting, as with them having splash damage
immunity, they don't die nearly has quickly as you'd normally expect.

Some interesting trivia you may find interesting is that the Skinwalker was almost used instead of the spectre in E1M3
for the baron reveal... But finnks13 convinced me to not have the first new enemy be a melee enemy... It's kinda weird
thinking about that now, since E1 really doesn't have many custom enemies besides the Toximp in E1MX.

The map name is probably pretty clear... Sanguine - Blood-Red



==== [E2M5: Labyrinth] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "The Call of Ktulu" - Metallica
Difficulty: Hard

Author Commentary:
I would say this is the most fleshed out map of the set so far... Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I'll
let you decide. The whole idea of this map is almost like you're entering an "abandoned" temple through a secret
entrance. I guess it kinda reminded me of the beginning of Doom Raider... Although maybe I'm getting a little ahead
of myself. The first room is sort of like a mini puzzle. I don't think it's too hard, but I could see some players
getting a little stuck. I thought it was a cool detail that behind the start, you can actually see the blood factory
from the last map (with all it's low detail glory). It was this map where I discovered I could make fun marble faces
by combining different elements... Hopefully you enjoy those :).

After exiting the first room into the open field, the door will close behind you and you'll be greeted by a Hate
Elemental and a bunch of new rocket zombies. If you're wondering why you get locked out of the first room, it's due
to VPO shenanigans (sorry). The new rocket zombies work as you would expect... except instead of dropping rockets, they
drop whole rocket launchers. I think this should be a fun surprise for players, as they may be used to rocket zombies...
But not ones that actually drop a full rocket launcher :). What results afterward is chaotic fight between Viles
resurrecting rocket zombies, which keep dying and dropping lots of rocket launcher ammo.

Like I said above, I did wanna give a feel like you had to find a way into the temple through a secret entrance,
instead of just walking through the main doorway. I feel this adds a bit more mystic, but also keeps the adds to
the curiosity and exploration aspects. The next big section is a flesh maze with a bunch of skinwalkers... which
I can see some players getting frustrated with, but I think it's good practice to learn to get around them to not
take splash damage. After that, there's probably the main hub area which results in a pretty big slaughter fight.
After that fight, the map cuts into two different paths which are distinct both in combat and visuals. Unlike with
E2M3, I decided due to the map length to only require one path to exit. However since the secret exit is found in
this map, you will have to explore everything in the map to get all three keys to get to the secret exit.

Aesthetically I went with a certain visual style. Similar to E2M1, this map does have the marble castle/temple
aesthetic with the green brick. However, I put a little twist of the visuals: for the dark / shaded areas, I used
the red brick (SP_HOT) to add some extra contrast. I think the result works pretty well in giving a both classic
yet new aesthetic. And as a bonus, to help spruce up the visuals a bit, I decided to add the Heretic torches to
really hone down the castle feel.

I think one thing this map does do well is that with a bunch of the different areas having distinct visuals, it
actually helps it feel like a classic 90s map. Most of the maps up to this point have each had a particular style
which seemed to fit the map entirely, whereas this map has a bunch of different themes, that it almost feels a bit
disjointed at times. Personally I think it works, and I think it does call back to how older 90s maps would do the
same visual swaps throughout.

There are two paths the player can take, there's the "medusa" puzzle path, and then the wood crate maze. I'd say the
wood crate maze is more straight forward, although it is a "maze" of course. Whenever I do crate mazes, I usually
prefer to add some verticality to the maze, which there are some elements of walking on certain crates and such.
I like the way this section turned out, and I think this path will be preferred by those who don't wanna solve puzzles.

The "medusa" puzzle path, is like in the name, puzzle focused. There's a medusa in the middle that you have to keep
track of, while making sure you don't die from the other ambushes. The main goal of the puzzle is to make it to the
other side, hit all the switches on perimeter (which raises a bridge in the middle), to finally hit a switch in the
centre. There's an added "time" element where you can temporarily "disable" the medusa in the middle for 30 seconds.
I tried to make this part clear, but I'm sure some players may mess this up and accidently trigger both of them :P
I think it's fun that the puzzle ends with the lava in the centre raising via a donut action.

Some trivia about the puzzle path, is that the version of the puzzle in the final WAD is actually a heavily simplified
version of the original puzzle. I'm actually much happier with the final version, as it's simpler and less confusing.
Originally there were actually no switches on the perimeter, and the goal was just to walk on these raising platforms
that would raise from the lava. The awkward part about this setup was that the platforms were slow, and it was very
easy for the player to walk over certain platforms in the lava that hadn't raised yet. Basically it was extremely
jank, and not very clear. Funny enough, the main thing that convinced me to simplify the puzzle was when I showed
my younger brother the puzzle sequence and he just responded with: "I don't know what you just did". That is when
I realized, the puzzle was probably not clear enough and should be redesigned.

The final section (besides the secret exit area), is the dark blue key area. What's cool about this area is that you
can technically get to it from the flesh room, if you wait a really long time for the entrance to open up. When
entering the flesh maze, a door starts to open and the door ceiling is so low that it easily takes several minutes
to fully open. I don't think the dark area is that interesting combat wise, but I do kinda like the idea that if you
backtrack, you could discover that a new area has opened up.

For whatever reason this map was the hardest map to name, and to be honest I'm still not super happy with the name
"Labyrinth". It does sorta fit due to the maze-like nature of the map and the many different areas that you can
explore. I just think that the name doesn't fully encapsulate the map as fully as some of the other map names.



==== [E2M6: Isolation] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "Hurt (Arsinikk's Dark Mix)" - NIN
Difficulty: Easy

Author Commentary:
Well let's just get this part over with as soon as possible. The name "Isolation" is pretty self-explanatory, as there are
very little enemies (which when playing vanilla, you wouldn't even know if there were at first) and it seems as though the
map is abandoned. The atmosphere also helps in creating a feeling of dread and the feeling of "you should not be here".

Most of the maps up to this point have been very combat focused, whereas this one is focused all on atmosphere. In some ways
this map taps into the same atmosphere as E1M7 did, but with an added taste of mystery. With the start of the map being a
forced pistol start (and well when you get the flashlight, it's almost a forced fist start), it adds an element of the player
feeling defenceless. While technically you can switch away from the flashlight, players will notice almost immediately that
the map is designed around the extra light that the flashlight provides, so you would sacrifice visibility over power... which
you don't really get any armoury for most of the map.

Unlike E1M7 which focused on the loss of control and not knowing what's happening, this map instead focuses on the fear of
being alone, or if you are actually alone, and the fear of the unknown, or when the shoe is finally going to drop. And so
E2M6 relies on suspense, and when something actually happens then that's when the action starts.

The flashlight functionality is interesting because it's actually in the SuperShotgun slot... In Doom 1. Doom version v1.666
and up is based on the Doom II engine, and so it does actually include the SuperShotgun slot and functionality. The problem
with using this slot however, is that it's hardcoded to not allow the player to switch back to the SuperShotgun slot, since
it's not in Doom 1. The player however can pick it up. With this knowledge I thought it would be cool to add a flashlight in
it's place. I already had used this in a demo for the menu, but when I made that it wasn't a real "weapon"... So for E2, I had
to rework it so that it made sense and could be used as a weapon. I decided to allow the player to punch using the flashlight,
which the beserk at the start of the map helps with. However the issue was conveying to the player that once you swapped away,
you could never switch back. I got around this by adding a lore reason that the flashlights were fragile and would break if you
switched away. Mechanically, I tweaked the "lower weapon" state to literally have the flashlight explode, to make it super clear
to the player that the weapon was unusable at that point.

The golem enemies are somewhat inspired by the moving statues trope. In that if you look away, that's when they move. Of
course, they don't work like that, since the Doom enemy logic can't really do something like that. Instead they just have
really long states where they just don't do anything. When they do move, however, they can charge at you and do massive damage.
They use the functionality of the lost soul charge, but are instead bound to the ground. While their chase speed is very slow,
their charge is very fast and very deadly. Their abruptness adds to the jumpscare-y horror aspect of their design.

Regarding the midi, this is actually the only midi that I made a remix of. With how atmosphere was king for this map, it was
important to tailor the music exactly to fit. Hurt by NIN is an amazing song, but I did feel the chorus was a little too major
key, and so I tweaked it a bit to sound a bit darker. The other minor change I made was I added extra space between the music
parts to showcase a bit more emptiness with the white noise.

I'm pretty happy with how this map turned out, and while it doesn't rely heavily on combat (except maybe for the final fight),
I'd say that the atmosphere is what makes it stand out.

If you've been lucky to find a secret compartment, all I'll say is that the rad suit is there for a reason. :)



==== [AGEYCO7IH2 :NMPG] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "The Perfect" - NIN
Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Author Commentary:
I'd like to note that after E2M6, I did take a bit of a break regarding RUST E2. I did E2M1-E2M6 all in October 2024 for
NanoWADMo, but I was having a bit of trouble starting E2M7. I think a part of it was that E1M7 was received very well, that I
I didn't wanna disappoint players for E2's E2M7. You see, like E1M7, E2M7 was supposed to focus on the concept of RUST, or on
something decaying or breaking down... perhaps shifting into another state. E1 focused on technology, and so it only made sense
for E1M7 to focus on data corruption and a system breaking down. A simulation's final moments. And so you had parts of map
seemingly breaking via HOMs or switching doing odd things. It was a sort of breaking down of sanity, but it was all technological.
For E2 the theme was on nature and chaos, so I needed to take a different approach. And so for E2M7 I focused instead on mental decay.

It's sorta similar to E1M7, except instead of textures and actions being weird, the environment starts to loop, turn upside-down, flip,
change around the player. Even some of the monsters you fight have been turned upside-down. I think this works really well as it is
a break down of sanity once again... but it feels more chaotic and real, as opposed to a technological failure. What I also like about
this idea is that it allowed me to add some really weird and strange fights and room designs similar to what you may find in some 90s/
D!ZONE maps. Stuff like using the sky for a wall texture, or the blue flashing room with weird blocking lines. Everything in this map
is weird and doesn't make much sense, and yet you never feel lost to not push through.

One of the coolest part of this map was revisiting other maps in the set, but upside-down. Actually the upside-down gimmick was heavily
inspired by MAP05 of Icarus, which is supposed to be a map upside-down (It's debatable how successful this gimmick was executed). I also
really think it's cool that the map ends in the same end corridor as E1M7... meaning that player keeps revisiting the seventh floor...
Of course this time you can see that the door to the infernal machine was since been destroyed.

Regarding the midi, I had to put a lot of work to get to work in Vanilla... Literally I reduced the midi from 84kb to 71kb, and even
reworked many of the tracks to get it working. I think the track works well for the weird and mind-bending feel of the map. Funny enough,
the beginning sequence of this room is actually an idea I had from another map I was planning to make for a project led by Scwiba (shhh,
it's a secret, and sorry this gimmick was thrown into RUST instead).

The map name can be figured out by extracting E2M7 from the name (The hint to extract this is the ":"). Once you do that, you get AGYCOIHNPG,
which can be solved being an anagram. Rearrange the letters and you get "Hypnagogic" which means "sleep-inducing" or relating to the state
immediately before falling asleep. Once you've played the map, I think you can agree that this word fits this map pretty well.



==== [E2M8: Pyre] ====

Author: Arsinikk
Music: "Battery" - Metallica
Difficulty: Medium-Hard

Author Commentary:
Funny enough, I was worried about delivering a worthy successor to E1M7, that after finishing E2M7 it was smooth sailing for this map.
I think the opening shot of this map is really cool, and I'm pretty happy for being able to create a cool visual with the cubes moving
at the start. One thing I did forget about was the full volume bug thing for E2M8, so I did have to add a few "stop moving" lines to
avoid the cubes making sound throughout the whole map.

Since it's a finale map, it's a bit straight forward when it comes to progression. I already had an idea of the final area... Basically
the idea was to do an open area with a bunch of Cybers, similar to THE_GRID.WAD from D!ZONE. I'd say this changed a little in the end,
for the sake of gameplay and Drawseg limits, but still the main inspiration was that WAD. I should say that the final arena is extremely
detailed that it took quite a bit of work to get it under Drawseg limits.

Another fun thing I discovered in this map is that I found I could combine sector actions. Now I do need to preface that this only works
for light actions, as when trying to change a floor to another effect, the effect will usually be replaced... However light sector effects
have a unique behaviour, in that they get initialised at the start of the map and can't be changed. So if you have a glow sector, and try to
make it stop glowing, it doesn't work... So I already knew some of this and was disappointed that I couldn't make a sector both a secret and
damaging... However I did discover that if you have a sector glowing at the start, and then change that sector to damaging, you could in-fact
create a new kind of sector effect: damaging + glowing. And of course, you can see that I used this effect in the beginning area and the final
arena.

Now those who find the super secret non-secret area of E2M2 will notice that the area after falling in the pit is essentially the same area.
I'll admit that usually I don't like to reuse areas in my maps, but I think that since that area in E2M2 is super-secret, and it works really
well for this map, it was fine to do so. There's something unique about the visuals that really does fit the theme of the map.

Combat-wise this map is unique. It isn't the same kind of "unique" that E2M6 was, but it instead goes into the opposite direction, dipping its
toes in slaughter. Those who have played my WADs such as 100/200 Line Massacre, or Hellcinerator would know that I am a big fan of slaughter,
but I do wonder how much of a shock it will be for some players. I do sorta see it as gearing up for the final fight and the final episode...
So I feel you'd expect the gameplay to start to escalate.

There is a big circle type room with a static cube in the centre that both builds tension, but also sets the player up for the final fight.
I like how abstract, but also ominous and strange this room is. Originally this room was just for atmosphere reasons, but later on I did use
it to make the floor of the final arena fully damaging via the glowing + damaging floor trick mentioned above.

I'm really happy with how the final fight turned out. There's a slow descent which works with the upside down detail of the arena, where you
get thrown into the lava trenches and then have to fight a bunch of Cyberdemons with the Incinerator. I feel that people would expect the
final fight to have a few Cyberdemons, with it being E2M8, but due to the trench layout and management of ammo and rad suits, it adds some
extra challenge and pressure on the player. I will admit that this map isn't really meant to be super difficult... But it's more for the
spectacle and I think it delivers.

The name "Pyre" refers to a structure for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. I think it fits this map well as lots of the
map includes damaging lava, and the entire final arena is essentially a giant pyre where the player or cybers will end up dying on.



==== [E2MX: Cryostasis] ====

Author: Large Cat
Music: "Eye" - The Smashing Pumpkins
Difficulty: Hard

Author Commentary:
It was largely my idea to create this map using only '90's tools, so I have only myself to blame for all the suffering DETH caused me.
I'm being somewhat hyperbolic, of course, but going back 30 years in editing tools really does put into perspective how much the design
standard has shifted. This has been one of my most work-intensive maps to date, and yet it might be the most humble-looking map I've
created. Mad respect to the mappers of yore for what they accomplished with the tools of the day.

You might think the big mapping crutch missing in early editors is 3D mode, but it's surprisingly easy (for me at least) to get past
the lack of visual editing when I'm able to test the map to see everything. My hang-ups are in the bit of extra work it takes to do
basic tasks like creating geometry, particularly sectors, which are much more arcane, abstract, and fragile structures than UDB would
have you believe. And of course, there's living in constant fear of VPO's which will end your testing session immediately, rather than
letting you keep playing and taking stock of overflows.

As for the map itself, Arsinikk told me I would be highlighting an arachnotron-type enemy, so the eight-"legged" Tricks and Traps
structure leapt to mind right away. The modular structure of the map nicely served the limitations under which I was mapping, keeping
each map chunk nicely contained for me to work on. Then, of course, I totally ruined my workflow by insisting on capping the map's arc
off with a big level transformation that forced me to be extra careful about how the chunks of the map interacted, both in terms of game
logic and rendering limits.

In a reversal of our usual roles, I actually made this map too ugly for Arsinikk, with essentially no unpegged textures anywhere causing
constant visual seams on every window, door, and switch. Some of that could have been avoided if I took a little more care in texture
alignment, but a part of me just wanted to probe Arsinikk's visual sensibilities: could I make something even he would look at with horror?




===========
[9] CREDITS
===========

Mapping:                 - Arsinikk  - E1M1-E1M8 (E1MX), E2M1-E2M8
                         - Large Cat - E2MX
 
Music:                   - TITLE: "Breathe" - Arsinikk
                         - INTERMISSION: "Take It Off" - Ke$ha
                         - READ ME: "Wish (Arsinikk's Slowed Mix)" - Nine Inch Nails

                         - E1M1: "The Hand That Feeds" - Nine Inch Nails
			 - E1M2: "The Becoming" - Nine Inch Nails*
			 - E1M3: "Head Like a Hole" - Nine Inch Nails*
			 - E1M4: "The Great Below" - Nine Inch Nails*
			 - E1M5: "Breed" - Nirvana
			 - E1M6: "Heresy" - Nine Inch Nails*
			 - E1M7: "The Downward Spiral" - Nine Inch Nails
			 - E1M8: "The Broken EP (Medley)"- Nine Inch Nails**
			 - E1MX: "Sonne" - Rammstein

                         - E2M1: "Jump in the Fire" - Metallica*
			 - E2M2: "Devil's Dance" - Metallica*
			 - E2M3: "My Apocalypse" - Metallica*
			 - E2M4: "Reptile" - Nine Inch Nails
			 - E2M5: "The Call of Ktulu" - Metallica***
			 - E2M6: "Hurt (Arsinikk's Dark Mix)" - Nine Inch Nails
			 - E2M7: "The Perfect Drug" - Nine Inch Nails*
			 - E2M8: "Battery"- Metallica*
			 - E2MX: "Eye" - The Smashing Pumpkins*

                            * Minor edits to mix / midis were made by Arsinikk
                           ** Medley includes "Pinion / Wish / Last / Help Me I Am In Hell"
                          *** Midi was heavily altered by Arsinikk to sound more similar to the source material


Sound:                   - Dark Teeth SFX - Realm667
                         - Toximp (Green Imp) SFX - Realm667
                         - Medusa SFX - Realm667
                         - Lock-on SFX (DSMANATK) - RTC-3057: Blue (Team Future)
                         - Nightmare Attack SFX (DSRADIO) - Heretic (Raven Software)
                         - Skinwalker Death SFX - Revenant Death SFX from Corruption
                         - Doom II SFX - id Software
                         - Dark Entity SFX (DSPESIT) - Arsinikk
                         - E1M8 Announcement - Andrea Powell
                         - Icon of Sin Pain / Death SFX - Arsinikk and id Software (base)
                         - Flashlight Break SFX (DSDBCLS) - Arsinikk
                         - E2M6 Golem SFX (DSSSSIT, DSSSDTH, DSFLAMST) - Arsinikk
                         - E2M7 Glass Break SFX (DSMANDTH) - Arsinikk


Graphics:                - Statusbar GFX, all menu GFX, Intermission / Text Screen GFX, etc. - Arsinikk
                         - "DOOM 93" Font Base for level / episode names - Jimmy
                         - Episode 1-2 Intermission map base - id Software

                          
Textures:                - Stock texture edits - Arsinikk
                         - Rain texture base - Elysion.wad by Death-Destiny
                         - SKY2 - John Krutke (from EOB2S.wad by Jon Landis)
                         - Episode 2 "EXIT" door (BIGEXTD2-3) - Chasm: The Rift
                         - E2M3 Marble Medusa - Edit by Arsinikk (Base medusa texture from Daikatana)
                         - E2M4 "EVILPENT" - SUDTIC.WAD by The Innocent Crew
                         - E2M5 "WACKLITE/WOODBOX" - Edit by Arsinikk (base from GALAXIA.WAD by Pavel Hodek)
                         - E2M6 "DARKROCK/LITEROCK/SW*LEVER" - SANDSDTH.WAD by Alberto Barsella)
                         - E2M8 "CLFENCE1" - "Cleimos II" by Rand and Steven Phares
                         - Any other textures or flats - Arsinikk
                         
                          
Sprites:                 - Rain Sprite Base - Elysion.wad by Death-Destiny
                         - Toximp (Green Imp) - EOB.wad by Jon Landis
                         - Dark Teeth Weapon Sprites - Corridor 8 (Capstone Software), Id software, KILLA DIO
                         - Dark Teeth Pickup Sprites - Corridor 8 (Base), Arsinikk (Animation)
                         - Flashlight Sprites - Alando1, osjclatchford, Eriance, id Software, 3D Realms
                         - Flashlight Break GFX - Arsinikk (with lightning GFX from Hexen by Raven Software)
			 - Dark Entity (HDB1**) - Arsinikk, Evilneck, id Software
                         - Rocket Zombie GFX - OBITUARY by The Innocent Crew
                         - 6th weapon / projectile GFX - OBITUARY by The Innocent Crew
                         - Nightmare GFX - Arsinikk
                         - Skinwalker GFX - Heavily Edited by Arsinikk (base GFX from "Melee Revenant" by 00_Zombie_00)
                         - Medusa GFX - Rolls, Raven Software
                         - Golem GFX - Edit of "Stone Imp" by Blue Shadow, Espi, Vader, MidoriMan
                         - Hate Elemental GFX - Mixed from "infernal (old)" by Amuscaria and Pain Elemental from Mordeth)
                         - Proto-drone (Arachontron) GFX - Jimmy
                         - E2M7 Cacodemon Death GFX - Arsinikk
                         - Torches - Heretic (Raven Software)
                         - Slime Trees (HDB5**) - Captain Toenail
                         - Anything else - Arsinikk


Playtesters:             - finnks13
                         - Large Cat
                         - NinjaDelphox
                         - Cacodemon187
                         - galileo31dos01
                         - FrancisT218

CODEX Application:       - Programming, graphics, and written entries - Arsinikk
                         - Intro, music, passcode success + denied SFX - Arsinikk
                         - PC Idle SFX - POND5
                         - Mouse click, Keyboard press, and Ui beeps - Motion Array
                         - Proofreading - Andrea Powell (Arsinikk's Mom) and Large Cat
                         - Codex Application developed in Game Maker 8.1 by YoYoGames



==============
[10] KNOWN BUGS
==============

- OpenGL Renderers are NOT supported (you will come across visual oddities - Use Software Rendering) [E1M7, E2M2]
- E1M7/E1M8/E2M6 will cause a crash when saving in Vanilla (Savegame Buffer Overflow).
- E1M8/E2M8 will have full volume sounds throughout the whole level in Vanilla (This is correct Vanilla Behaviour)
- "New Game Plus" ignores some Vanilla limits such as the sprite limit and savegame buffer.
- Woof-based ports will mostly work with RUST under complevel 2.
- Correct "Read This!" behaviour only works correctly in Nyan Doom, DSDA-Doom, and ZDoom-ports.
- DSDA Doom / PrBoom+ / Woof are demo-incompatible due to their weapon Behaviour being inconsistent with Vanilla/Choco (This is most evident with a new weapon). This affects all vanilla complevels 0-4.
- RUST now supports GZDoom 4.12 and up. Previous versions are NOT supported.
