For the Doom 2 episode "KILL! Zone 1: The Trek Begins" by Don Howard

File required: KZ#1.wad
Download link: ftp://3darchives.in-span.net/pub/idgames/levels/doom2/j-l/kill_z10.txt

KILL! Zone 1, Map07: Dead End

Skill: UV Speed

Kills       32%
Items       28%
Secrets     50% and Time 2:12

Plays back with Legacy 1.40.
Legacy download link: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/doomlegacy/legacy_140_win32.zip

Description: It took me a while to work out the best route (there might still be improvements, of course). This demo includes quite a number of typical speedrunning tricks: an SR50 jump (makes it possible to skip a large part of the map), pressing switches before they have risen (or "through" a monster), and a grab or two. Plasma needs to be rationed quite carefully - I had a few runs where I ran out a bit too early. I'm sure the time could be improved quite considerably. I also think NM should be quite feasible - there is an awful lot of health and ammo lying around, and you can get a BFG near the start (I reckoned it wasn't worth the time to collect it on UV).

My earlier attempts (5:04, 4:21) featured a less efficient route, and were quite entertaining, with a cybie walking around near the exit, etc. In my first attempt with this route I got a 2:17, but improving upon it turned out to be quite tricky.

KILL! Zone 1 (and its successor, "Kill Zone II: The Lust for BLOOD!") look like pretty good episodes, and I'm surprised to see that no one appears to have recorded any demos on these maps. The music should be quite familiar to anyone who has played a lot of mid-1990s wads - it got used quite a few times, but I don't know who composed it. BTW, the author of these wads, Don Howard, is an active member of TeamTNT (according to a somewhat old page on their website), and made one of the maps in the first hub of Doom2000. His text-file refers to another wad he made, called Vile-Lab, but I can't find it anywhere. If you have a copy, please let me know!

Graham "Grazza" Burgess
GKBurgess@compuserve.com
