For the Doom 2 episode "Enigma" by Jim Flynn

File required: enigma.wad
Download link: http://home.pacbell.net/jflynn/enigma.zip

Map04 - Gulch

Skill: Nightmare!

Kills        31%
Items        11%
Secrets      11% and Time 1:34

Recorded with PrBoom 2.2.3 (-complevel 1). Also plays back with Doom2.exe (v. 1.9).
PrBoom download link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/prboom

Description: I don't think I need to elaborate too much on the difficulty here - I'll let the demo speak for itself. (Actually, it's not *that* difficult a run - every so often, you get lucky, and then it is a case of not screwing up.) You might notice that I pause a little before the blue key, and the time wasted almost costs me dearly at the end. Well, in a previous run (the first, and only other one where I reached that point with enough invulnerability left to have any chance of exiting) I missed the key and teleported without it. >:(((

This was my 200th attempt (wow, a 0.5% exit rate, cool). Most ended with a failed jump, and most of those where the jump went OK were finished with a cyberdemon rocket up the backside when attempting to squeeze past the monsters in the passage behind.

It's funny that the big jump looks like an archie jump, but in fact it isn't. I graze against a ledge and this gives me the extra height needed to reach the target area. The archie doesn't in fact contribute anything useful (in this lmp, at least; there may have been others where it did help). While recording, I didn't realize this, which probably explains why the "AV jump" kept going wrong for reasons that I didn't understand. :) I doubt that this form of jump would help with the UV run - I think you need to clear the imps so as to get a good enough run-up and to be heading in the right direction, and this probably costs as much time as it saves.

Possible improvements: don't get blocked as much; near the end, get an AV jump over the part of the staircase that lowers. If you try, good luck!

Still one of my favourite maps, despite all the disasters I experienced along the way to nailing this demo. :) What next, UV -fast Max? I think that would involve a different route from the start (getting an invul a.s.a.p.).

Graham "Grazza" Burgess
GKBurgess@compuserve.com
