A while ago, as you may know, I released my first released level for Doom, titled: The Five Zones. Now, I’m not looking for egotistical reinforcement of my work, or trying to get over some painfully negative feedback here. I already have gotten a good amount of the former, and done the latter easily. Just so nobody gets the wrong idea about what I’m saying. Still, the beginning of this journey is that my map had received some very low opinions on its /idgames archive posting.
On reading these I at first thought, in a haze of confusion, “Is my level truly such a muck of cruddy bits?”. Secondly I was able to reassure myself that “They’re just some haters who refuse to comprehend my artistic genius!”. For thirds I imagined “But, what if they’re right, and my level IS truly from 1994 as MajorRawne claims, because I’m actually living in 1994, and my computer is somehow connected to the internet of 20 years in the future, and I’ve never realized!” but then thankfully, fourthly I remembered that a character in a movie thought something along those lines once, so that was probably untrue, as it was not original. In such a ludo-logical loop my thoughts were stuck. In the back of my mind, though, the comment left by one Snakes dogged me persistently, which I have shared below this line for convenience and framing:
"Redundant, dull gameplay combined with orthogonal, archaic visuals creates a very uninteresting map. This map is certainly not the exception that proves the rule. There’s no real theme to speak of - there’s STAR textures, FIREBLU, and a healthy portion of computer textures as well. Just sloppy overall and I can’t possibly understand why the author would want to purposely have missing textures. Please try again."
My internal classification of this feedback slowly transcended the false dichotomy of "slanderous hater" or "rightful critic", to the point that, a few days ago, a new idea hit me at the speed of electrical impulses in my brain: what if this Snakes fulfilled neither of these roles, but rather a third possibility? Snakes, it became apparent to me, was not an acidic commenter with nothing but disdain in their heart, or a learned reviewer with a sour tongue, or even somebody who experienced my level in a mindset wholly inappropriate to understanding it. No, Snakes must be, in fact, a roaming visionary, who has become embittered over the years at their inability to bring to light their dreamed magnum opus.
Snakes is not dismantling my level as trite for what it contains, but they are in fact describing their imagined masterpiece. Snakes is frustrated that I somehow by chance embodied their main goals in The Five Zones, but mixed it around with a lot of other cruft, as if I had baked one of the greatest sponge cakes in all history, only to serve it underneath a pile of watermelons. Snakes has, due to their utter failure in conceiving their well-thought out work of art, become trapped in a tunnel vision stupor that leaves them only able to compare all experiences to the hypothetical one in their imagination.
After such contemplation on the sad display Snakes has become, I have taken it upon myself to try to make something reaching for the artistic height Snakes has previously kept completely to themselves. I do not suppose myself as able to create something equal, or even close, to Snakes' fabled work of beauty, but only a fragment, a shadow of what they greatly desire to see themselves produce in the digital flesh. So I present to you here a walkthrough of my new map, cast in the shining vision of Snakes. As I will not even humour myself as able to create a suitable name for uncreated achievement of Doom mapping by Snakes, I call my own attempt merely The Five Zones Redux.
What do I hope to get out of this? I beg for forgiveness from Snakes. I am quite sorry for having trampled over their carefully planned intentions with my own, impure ideas in The Five Zones, even if by complete mistake. I hope my "Redux" will not only atone for my Dooming sins, but that the map may some day reach the sights of Snakes themselves. Fondly I fantasize of how they might view it, how they will smile, gently, at this tribute, and maybe even have to rub their eye to rid it of a lone tear drop. Humbly, I imagine Snakes could react in this way due only to feeling a bit of warmth in their ice-encased heart by seeing another artist struggle to place a single block in the base of a towering creation unlike any we have seen on the face of the planet.
Should you be the Snakes I cry out in the middle of the night to, or just interested in trying The Five Zones Redux out for yourself, please download my map for heartfelt consumption here.