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TOUHOU DOOM: POST-MORTEM
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Holy hell, it's been three years. I started this project in 2016, as a proof of concept.
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And now here we are.
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If I do another Doom Mod (possible, but I'm definitely taking a break for now),
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I'll probably try to be a lot more open about things. I was going to stream
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the development of certain segments of this mod, but in the end I felt that
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I wanted to keep things under wraps. Certain features are best experienced blind.
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As a result, rather than publicly posting progress as it happened,
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I have instead detailed it within this large post-mortem.
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NOTE: As of V1.2, a few new things have been added. Notes on what was added during the 1.1-1.2 stretch are in there.
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If a note says "V1.2", it means somewhere in the 1.1-1.2 stretch, as I don't remember exactly what each version added.
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SPOILER ALERT, obviously. If you haven't beaten Touhou Doom, go do that first.
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This'll be split into three segments: Terminology, History, Map/Boss commentary.
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/////////////////////////
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// PART 0: TERMINOLOGY //
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/////////////////////////
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[ Danmaku and Touhou terminology ]
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Danmaku: literally 'curtain fire', it's used to describe large numbers of projectiles
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being thrown around in large patterns. Also called 'Bullet Hell'.
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Streaming: Dodging large numbers of bullets aimed directly at you with small tap-dodges.
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It's a very useful skill to learn, especially on higher difficulties.
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Spellcard: Bosses in Touhou often use very flashy named attacks. Generally speaking,
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spellcards have heavier patterns, and often utilize some form of gimmick, with some fights.
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Noncard: Boss phases that aren't spellcards.
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Often are generic, many bosses will have multiple noncard phases share the same attacks.
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Bomb: In most danmaku games, there's a 'Bomb' which is a tool that clears bullets,
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and typically makes you invincible for a short time. It's a tool to buy time if you're
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getting into trouble.
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EoSD: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, the 6th Touhou game.
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PCB: Perfect Cherry Blossom, the 7th Touhou game
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SWR: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, the 10.5th Touhou game. One of the fighting games.
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SA: Subterranean Animism, the 11th Touhou game.
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[ ZDoom and FPS terminology ]
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FPS: First-Person Shooter. A style of game where you play from the perspective of the
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player character, in 3D. Or psuedo 3D, depending on the era of the FPS in question.
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SSG: Super Shotgun. A powerful close-range weapon from Doom, and one of the most
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iconic FPS shotguns ever made. Generally all-around awesome weapon, but it lacks range.
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BFG: The Big F-ing Gun 9000. It's VERY powerful, and has a very weird way of dealing damage.
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Console: accessible with the ` or ~, it's a console you can input commands into.
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CVar: Console Variable. Something you can set in the console.
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Slaughtermap: A style of map which consists of killing HUGE hordes of demons,
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typically with the BFG 9000.
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[ Touhou Doom terminology ]
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Danmaku Weapons: The Hakurei Amulet Rifle and the Hakkero Star Cannon.
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These weapons are both based on shot types from the actual touhou games;
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they're very versatile. Most of them function at semi-long range.
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System Card: Basically a generic tool for buying time. Three exist:
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-Spirit Barrier: Also known as 'Bomb'. Clears bullets around you. Buys you some time.
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-Life Regenerator: Slowly regenerates health, up to 100.
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-Spell Amplifier: For 5 seconds, any other cards you cast will be amplified, except spirit barrier.
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Player Spellcard: Hey, bosses aren't the only ones that can use these!
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Each of these are unique. They are VERY flashy effects that generally do LOTS of damage.
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In general, unless the target is immune to bombs, this will eliminate the phase you use it on.
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As a result of their power, they are very rare, so save them for emergency use!
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touhou_doomweapons: A CVar that swaps out the Danmaku Weapons for conventional Doom weapons.
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touhou_nospellcards: A CVar that removes spellcards and replaces them with extra health pickups.
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/////////////////////
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// PART 1: HISTORY //
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/////////////////////
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===============================
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[ PART 1-0: How I got started ]
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===============================
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So, the actual long story behind the entire mod is kind of funny.
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I'm friends with another modder that I quite respect, who goes by 'TerminusEst13'.
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He's a good modder. He also livestreams on occasion. One of these streams was
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on a particular combination of mods - his DemonSteele (a great mod, you should
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check it out if you haven't already) combined with a mapset called "Touhou Doom".
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Now, this probably won't come as a shock: I'm a Touhou fan. So when I saw this,
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I knew I had to watch. And, it might not be a masterpiece, but hey, maybe it'll be good.
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It wasn't. It was...lacking in many, *many* aspects.
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So lacking was it, that after I watched it end, I knew for a fact that,
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despite not being the strongest modder in any respect, I could make something better.
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Not being one to simply sit around and complain, I hammered out a proof of concept:
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Cirno, the first Touhou Boss. She had phases, utilizing the system that is familiar
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to fans of the Touhou games: The Spellcard System.
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Once I had Cirno done (a few iterations of improving the fight later, of course),
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I decided that I had enough knowledge that I wanted to try remaking Touhou Doom.
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In its entirety. At least until eventually I got bored, or it got too hard to keep it up.
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I wasn't expecting to get as far as I did.
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======================================
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[ PART 1-1-1: The First Episode Demo ]
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======================================
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When I started Touhou Doom, I wasn't expecting to get terribly far. I wasn't planning
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to make a full project out of this. What I planned to do was replace the bosses of
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the original Touhou Doom with bosses that I poured slightly more effort into.
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That's how we got the first three bosses: Rumia, Cirno, and Meiling.
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I packed up these three bosses into replacing the original ones, and I released
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the "Demo" of Episode I, to an IRC channel that wasn't public.
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It had 4 maps: MAP01 to MAP04. None of the maps were mine.
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It wasn't my project at the time, so I couldn't make it public in good faith.
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Sure, I didn't like Dusted back then (he's gotten cooler since), but I didn't
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feel right calling his work mine.
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===============================================
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[ PART 1-1-2: The First Episode, Full Release ]
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===============================================
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So, having released the demo, I thought I'd just do the same thing for the rest of
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Episode I: replace the bosses, keep the maps. They weren't very good maps, but, well,
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I didn't know how to map at all, so it was better than a literal featureless STARTAN box.
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This plan was foiled by MAP05. In the original Touhou Doom, it's the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
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As in, all of it. It's the entire SDM, featuring three different bosses.
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This became a problem, because I needed space for Patchouli.
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Her patterns are far more complex than the first three bosses put together.
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Also, I needed more space to make a stage for her. I wanted to have *something*
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to fill the space before you met her.
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So, realizing I was kind of screwed, I decided to make a map.
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With some encouragement of TerminusEst13, as well as practice from DUMP 1 and DUMP 2
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(large collabs of newbie mappers, they're pretty neat, and the encouragement was nice),
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I made MAP05: Voile, the Magic Library. Oh, and I added Patchouli's fight at the end.
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After that, I realized I had strayed from the original path.
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This meant I had some free reign on what to do now. So I made my own stages for MAP06-MAP08.
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Then I made Sakuya, the process of which will be detailed later below.
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Then I made Remilia. That went well.
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Then I made Flandre, Which went, uh, less well. More on that in the boss section.
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===========================================
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[ PART 1-1-3: The First Episode, Bugfixes ]
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===========================================
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I handed the now finished Episode to my most valiant tester, dekw.
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He.
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Broke.
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EVERYTHING.
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By the time I had finished with all of the bugs he had found,
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I had NINE different versions of this first Episode to account for his shenanigans.
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Also fun fact: There's a varible in the ACS for MAP07 called "RemiliaAntiDekwTimer".
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He's good at what he does, and it meant that the Episode was surprisingly consistent.
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His feedback, while a pain, was very, very useful.
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I released Episode I on a mostly private Discord server. It was surprisingly well-liked.
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But with that, I took a break.
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========================
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[ PART 1-2: Episode II ]
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========================
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And then I came back. At this point, I realized something:
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I didn't know what to do with the second Episode.
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Episode I, for those unaware, follows Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.
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The entire episode is purely bosses from that game.
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But I didn't have the resources to do this again. And, to be honest,
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I didn't really want to copy an entire game again for this purpose.
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So I came to brainstorm what I wanted to do. Originally, the plot was going to be that
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you get resurrected, and then you go to a bunch of places, then go underground.
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I then swapped the order and made the underground happen before the 'bunch of places' arc.
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Episode II went a lot faster, in comparison, because I think I knew what I was doing.
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Conceptually, I decided I wanted to make some new weapons. The issue with standard
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Doom weapons is that eventually the Plasma Rifle becomes the only thing you use on bosses.
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I didn't want this. I wanted to encourage you to switch a lot more.
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So I made shot types. All based on attacks from Marisa and Reimu in the actual series.
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Not that you'd know that if you're not a Touhou fan.
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The next thing was that I knew that, as much as I liked the Touhou side of things,
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I did want to do some more Doom-related stuff. I knew that, even though this was
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a Touhou-focused wad, there's no girl in Gensokyo demonic enough to warrant making
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her the plot device that opens the gates to Hell.
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So I invented the Danmaku Demons.
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Otherwise, there's not too much to say that won't be said in the boss commentary later.
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===========================
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[ PART 1-3-1: Episode III ]
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===========================
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This is where I gave up trying to follow the standard "6 stages + extra" structure.
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In a sense, this Episode is really kind of an extension of Episode II.
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Again, I don't have much to say that won't be covered in the boss and map commentary later.
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At this point, the mod had taken on enough of it's own identity that I decided that
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I should make a public ZDoom thread about it. If you're reading this, you probably
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know about this thread, since that thread is where the download link is located.
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===================================
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[ PART 1-3-2: Episode 3.5 to 3.66 ]
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===================================
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Touhou Doom was originally planned to be 4 episodes.
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There were a lot of little things I wanted to accomplish, but in the end of things,
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I decided not to worry about them until I was closer to finishing the project.
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Only one problem: I got to the end. Suddenly, all of the little things I had in my
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"do this later" list weren't on it, because that 'later' had become 'now'.
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So I went back to those things. Finished a bunch of them.
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Fininshed so many that, actually, Episode 1 to 3 was a lot better off.
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So I sectioned off those changes and made Episode 3.5 to 3.66.
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That's how we got MAP01. The new one.
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At this point, I took another month long break.
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I didn't want to face the reality of Episode IV.
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For the longest time, I always complained about being constrained by the Touhou canon.
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But as it turns out, having the freedom to make whatever you want is kind of terrifying.
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I seriously had no idea what to do.
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========================
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[ PART 1-4: Episode IV ]
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========================
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When I started Episode IV, I knew, to a certain extent, that it was going to be very
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different from the previous three Episodes, mostly owing to the fact that we left
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Gensokyo and have now entered actual Hell.
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As a result, it plays like, well, a normal set of Doom maps,
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except for the minor fact that they exclusively use Danmaku Demons.
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To reflect this change further, I decided that for the music, rather than using Touhou,
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I would use MAP21 to MAP26 to reference other danmaku games. I picked iconic shmups
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(and one non-shmup) that have semi-iconic to iconic songs, and used them as the stage
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music. Shmups have good soundtracks. I don't know why, they just do.
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The series referenced, if you don't know:
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Gradius, Raiden, Ikaruga, Mushihimesama, DoDonPachi, and Undertale
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As for the second half, well, I'll elaborate more on that below.
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The last Episode was delayed pretty massively not by any big particularly difficult thing,
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but by the mere fact that there's a lot of maps. As mentioned, I'm not a very good mapper.
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You'll see a lot more of what I mean in the map commentary below.
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There really isn't any inspirational story, any good lesson to learn here.
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It was just one map at a time, drawing the layout, adding some textures, that kinda stuff.
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Just focus on getting one thing done at a time. There's a reason this took 3 years.
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=========================
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[ PART 1-5: Extra Story ]
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=========================
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After finishing Episode IV, I came to the realization that, in fact,
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as crazy as the ending enough, it was missing something. It wasn't...Touhou enough.
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So I decided what we needed was more bosses and more Gensokyo.
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After all, the bosses are the iconic draw of this mod (IMHO, as the creator),
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and Gensokyo is the unique setting of the Touhou series.
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Eight bosses later, this final challenge was released.
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Then I sent it off to my testers, and wrote this Post-Mortem.
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Notice how you're playing V1.1 and NOT V1.0?
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[ PART 1-6: Post Release ]
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==========================
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Notice how you're playing V1.2 and NOT V1.0?
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Yeah, there were bugs.
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A little lesson: Don't let the hype of releasing cloud your testing process.
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A lot of bugs.
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A little lesson: Don't let the hype of releasing cloud your testing process. That's why we have V1.1.
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As for V1.2, that was less 'terrible bugs' (though there were a few of those) and more along the lines of
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"Okay I should've fixed that like a year or two ago, let's actually work on that thing from way back."
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More details will provided as they become relevant in PART II, a.k.a. almost all of the post mortem.
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////////////////////////////////
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// PART 2: MAP/BOSS BREAKDOWN //
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////////////////////////////////
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+-----------+
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< EPISODE I >
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+-----------+
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========================
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[ MAP01: Warp Facility ]
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Music:
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"Alien Jungle", Stuart "forty-two" Rynn 
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========================
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Despite being the first map, this was the last map finished that's not in Episode IV or V.
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The original version of this map was very barebones.
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As in, it was just a hallway with some enemies and an exit teleporter.
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It was left that way because I didn't care enough to make a better map.
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After all, it was just a lead-in for the real meat of the wad.
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I came back to make it better because I realized that if I made this a gameplay segment
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(a.k.a. a playable map), then it should at least try to be better than a single hallway.
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That was one reason, anyway. The other thing that making this map better allowed me to do
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was that I could highlight the differences in gameplay between typical Doom and Touhou.
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It goes from cramped passages against monsters with one attack direction (aimed at you),
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to, well, everything else. See: the next map.
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Making this was pretty hard. I didn't have experience in making tech base maps, and it shows.
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A neat thing about this was that making a better map allowed me to setup a neat twist later on.
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======================
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[ MAP02: A New World ]
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Music:
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"A Soul as Red as a Ground Cherry", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
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----------------------
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In terms of when the map was made, this was the first map in the wad.
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The stage enemies are based off of EoSD stage 1. It's by far the most basic thing 
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in the mod; As what it's meant to teach you is how to do basic streaming - how to make
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small movements that dodge multiple bullets. Or maybe not, it's easy enough as is.
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The layout is taken directly from the original Touhou Doom.
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I updated some textures and decoration, and switched out the sky for a night theme.
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(To be specific: trees use a better texture, and are more detailed).
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V1.2 Update: I actually then did a second pass during post-release, detail wise -
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the forest looks a LOT more expansive than it used to be. If I did it right, then
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the forest should look a lot better in general.
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---------------
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[ BOSS: Rumia ]
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Music:
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"Apparitions Stalk the Night", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
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---------------
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Rumia's kind of a neat boss in that she's the most 'Doom-like' boss of the bunch
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in the sense that most of her attacks are relatively normal 'shoot at target' attacks.
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"Night Bird", while a very basic and non-noteworthy card, is a good introduction
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to the spellcard system.
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"Demarcation" is then a second wake-up call to the fact that some patterns are
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fairly complex and can feature dodges that aren't as straightforward.
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You can get some pretty good SSG hits in if you're fast.
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All in all, a very good introductory boss.
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=====================
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[ MAP03: Misty Lake ]
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Music:
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"Lunate Elf", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
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---------------------
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Second map, in creation date. Layout is also from on the original Touhou Doom.
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And again, I updated the trees and the sky - and also made the water solid, lol.
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Really, this is basically just a harder version of stage 1.
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You get a Rocket Launcher and Plasma Rifle here, but with limited ammo.
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It's to represent the power curve of your shot type in EoSD.
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Daiyousei really isn't anything notable. Her patterns are stream-based.
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V1.2 Update: Same as in the previous map, though the fog also helps mask my lack of detail.
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---------------
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[ BOSS: Cirno ]
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Music:
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"Beloved Tomboyish Girl", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
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---------------
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In terms of creation date, Cirno was the first boss I ever made.
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Touhou Doom, as elaborated above, started as a "is a proper multi-phase fight possible?"
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concept test. Cirno was the test boss.
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Then that ended up working.
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The next thing was to implement patterns that very by difficulty.
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That was tedious, but it ended up working out for the better.
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The dialogue is wholesale ripped from EoSD.
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Mostly because the "English Beef" line makes no sense and I love it.
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If Rumia was to introduce the concepts of Danmaku, Cirno was to introduce the concept
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of having three spatial dimensions in the ZDoom engine. 
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Her first card, "Icicle Fall"/"Hailstorm", utilizes a lot of the third dimension, 
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though arguably it's pretty harmless and is more a visual effect.
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Otherwise, she ain't too bad. I generally save my Plasma Rifle for her last card,
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since it's hard to close distance there.
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=========================
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[ MAP04: Scarlet Border ]
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Music:
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"Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
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-------------------------
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This is where things kick up a notch. If you haven't mastered streaming, you die now.
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The opener is the point that really kicks this into high gear. It's not hard, because
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every attack is aimed at you, meaning that you can dodge a giant 'line' of bullets...
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by tapping strafe left or strafe right precisely once.
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Of course, then you get to the next portion of the stage and I throw a bunch of
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more chaotically aimed stuff at you. It's not nearly as trivial as before.
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Midboss Meiling is notable in that she's the first midboss to have a spellcard.
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After that, you have the arena. It's pretty tricky, but really, it's nothing
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that should be terribly overwhelming if you get that far.
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V1.2: Although the more detailed forest thing applies here as well, this map got a more notable change:
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- when you get to Meiling's arena, the Scarlet Devil Mansion is actually visible behind the gateway.
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This looks a LOT better than it did previously, even though the Mansion is still pretty horribly un-detailed.
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----------------------
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[ BOSS: Hong Meiling ]
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Music:
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"Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
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----------------------
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Hong Meiling is a good deal harder than her predecessors.
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If you're on Hard or Lunatic, she has FOUR spellcards, as well as three noncards - 
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adding up to a total of 5/6/7/7 total phases on Easy/Normal/Hard/Lunatic.
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She was one of my demo bosses, and the most notable one, in my opinion.
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Originally, I was lazy and used rainbow-coloured bullets; however, when I released Episode IV
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(So this is V1.0), I was requested to use all of the individual colour bullets.
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That ended up being the right call; god, it looks so much nicer.
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===================================
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[ MAP05: Voile, The Magic Library ]
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Music:
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I'm not going to lie, the books are incredibly annoying. I wanted to make it annoying,
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because the original EoSD attack book section was absolutely beyond stupid. While
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this is equally stupid, it's at least memorization stupid, instead of RNG stupid.
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Shoot the invisible books with either the SSG or the chaingun.
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When I designed this map, I knew I had to make it grand - this was the library
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that was where the original EoSD really picked up.
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That's why I made it as hard as it was - the difficulty spike (and the protip
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warning you that you may want to turn the difficulty down) was entirely intentional.
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If you run through the map and wake everything up, it will get VERY chaotic in a hurry.
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Some amount of caution is highly advised.
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To start off, we have the initial bookshelves, with the fairy maids in between them.
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If you take it slowly, it introduces their gimmicks pretty well. Or you can take it fast,
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but you are taking a bigger risk by doing so.
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After the initial bookshelves, you have the open area. This looks impossible at first,
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but there is A: sufficient cover from the previous bookselves, and B: all of the flyers
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aim directly at you. While you don't want to stream it, you can easily dodge around the
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large mass of aimed bullets. Functionally, they're pretty harmless if you keep moving.
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Of course, the non-flyers make this harder. Take them out first, or else take cover.
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Koakuma isn't really anything to pay attention to.
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The post-Koakuma section was interesting. I knew I wanted to have a segment on the
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upper level, because it helps distinguish this from a totally generic stage, but
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in the end it made falling a very tedious affair, since you would have to go back
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and go around to the teleporter. That's why I added the teleporters that take you
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back to certain areas, to make backtracking slightly less tedious.
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Originally, the upper levels did not have any of the walkways across the bookshelves.
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I didn't realize this at first, but I'm actually a pretty good ZDoom engine parkour-er.
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So I added the ledges to give some more leniency to maneuvering on the upper level.
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This map ended up being a lot longer than I intended; some may argue it drags.
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It probably does.
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V1.2 Update: Originally, in the V1.0 release of Touhou Doom, the books were completely stupid.
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I wanted to make it annoying, but the invisible shooters thing ended up being too much.
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So I made the books visible, though a more durable to make up for it. To quote the original Post-Mortem:
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"While this is equally stupid, it's at least memorization stupid, instead of RNG stupid.
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Shoot the invisible books with either the SSG or the chaingun."
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In addition to this, I also added a bunch of decorative lamps. Looks better, but still not great.
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I think I need a better texture set to really make this map shine.
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-----------------------------
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[ BOSS: Patchouli Knowledge ]
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Music:
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"Locked Girl ~ The Girl's Secret Room", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
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-----------------------------
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Patchouli was the first boss for which I can say it was truly difficult to implement her.
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Her patterns were a tier of complexity far beyond previous bosses, utilizing sweeping lasers,
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element-themed spellcards, and some very pretty weird patterns, such as Silver Dragon.
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And that's without getting into her main gimmick, which is that
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on each playthrough she will randomly select her spellcards.
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(She has 10 total, of which she will select 2/3/4/5 on Easy/Normal/Hard/Lunatic.)
536
537
Most of them weren't too individually hard to implement, but it added up quickly.
538
539
==================================================
540
[ MAP06: An Elegant Servant for the Scarlet Moon ]
541
Music:
542
"The Maid and the Pocket Watch of Blood", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
543
--------------------------------------------------
544
After the absurdity of designing MAP05, I realized that I didn't want the rest of the maps
545
to be that large. Sure, the occasional large map was nice, but the library also drags longer
546
than I personally would like. To each their own, I suppose, but the boss fights are arguably
547
the main appeal of the wad.
548
549
So this was invented as a counter-measure. It's the first 'musical' stage in Touhou Doom.
550
551
The level is an autoscroller, essentially, at least for the first half.
552
You can tell when enemies will appear if you memorize the music cues.
553
554
Otherwise, it's a semi-recreation of EoSD stage 5.
555
556
The devils that shoot the long 'strings' of bullets are pretty evil because they don't fire the 
557
entire string at where they first aim it; meaning that if you move prematurely you still get hit.
558
559
Midboss Sakuya isn't really terribly notable.
560
561
The second half, while not an autoscroller, is quite crazy. There's no real tricks,
562
I kind of just through a bunch of stuff semi-aimlessly. It shows.
563
564
Once you're past that, all you've gotta do is take out some planned individual enemies.
565
Nothing really too special.
566
567
V1.2: Added some details to the walls of the large halls. Nothing big.
568
-----------------------
569
[ BOSS: Sakuya Izayoi ]
570
Music:
571
"Lunar Clock ~ Luna Dial", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
572
-----------------------
573
One of the things I like about Episode I is that each boss is an introduction to a concept.
574
Rumia is the introduction to danmaku.
575
Cirno is the introduction to 3D visual effects.
576
Meiling is the introduction to longer-length bosses.
577
Patchouli is the introduction to much higher complexity patterns.
578
Sakuya is the introduction to the fact that some bosses have particular...gimmicks.
579
580
Heh.
581
582
This gimmick.
583
584
THIS gimmick.
585
586
THIS FRICKIN' GIMMICK.
587
588
As you may know, Sakuya has the ability to stop time. This manifests in all three
589
of her spellcards (taken directly from EoSD), for which time literally stops, she
590
throws a bunch of knives, and then unstops time.
591
592
Getting this effect to work right was almost not worth it.
593
Sakuya caused me SO much grief that it was honestly kind of funny.
594
595
Problems that happened while I was making this boss include but are not limited to:
596
-The Knives not freezing properly.
597
-Sakuya not aiming them properly.
598
-Sakuya walking into melee range and and surrounding you with knives.
599
-Sakuya attacking WAY too much, resulting in spending the boss fight being stuck.
600
-Sakuya not attacking enough, resulting in the fight being trivially easy.
601
602
Yeah, it wasn't pretty. But it works now, and I'm so happy that it does.
603
604
Admittedly the fight is still very RNG heavy. 
605
I can beat it consistently, but often with different amounts of life left over.
606
607
Even if the gimmick is pure evil.
608
609
A possibly amusing fact: The reason why the pillars lower and the candelabras disappear
610
is that my tester, dekw, abused the hell out of them to avoid basically all of the difficulty.
611
I got rid of them to force players to learn Sakuya's patterns more legitimately.
612
613
=====================================
614
[ MAP07: Rain of Blood over Elysium ]
615
Music:
616
"The Young Descendant of Tepes", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
617
-------------------------------------
618
Basically just a recreation of EoSD stage 6. Another musical autoscroller.
619
620
In the Touhou series, most stage 6's are really just a space filler.
621
622
Just a not very notable stage leading to the midboss and final boss.
623
624
Midboss Sakuya's kind of lulzy. Welcome to random(0, 360): the spell card.
625
626
V1.2 Update: See the previous map.
627
-------------------------
628
[ BOSS: Remilia Scarlet ]
629
Music:
630
"Septette for the Dead Princess", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
631
-------------------------
632
Unlike the previous five bosses, Remilia isn't the introduction to anything.
633
Remilia is the test that says "Show the game what you've learned."
634
635
Unless you're on Easy. Then she decides that the test is unnecessary.
636
637
If you're on Lunatic, good luck. Remilia is the first truly hard fight.
638
You should know there's a soulsphere behind the throne. It's required on Lunatic.
639
640
Unlike previous bosses, Remilia's first two cards aren't from EoSD.
641
They're from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, a.k.a. one of the Touhou Fighting Games.
642
643
Otherwise, she's the longest and hardest boss so far, eventually ending with
644
what is arguably one of the hardest cards in the game: 'Red Magic', or 'Scarlet Gensokyo'.
645
646
Another fun fact: Remilia lowers the outer regions of the arena if you hide behind there
647
for too long. The variable that controls when she does this is called 'RemiliaAntiDekwTimer'.
648
649
=========================
650
[ MAP08: Eastern Lunatic ~ Sister of Scarlet ]
651
Music:
652
"The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
653
-------------------------
654
I mean, of course there's an extra stage.
655
656
It was kind of fun making you go back the way you came, except with harder enemies.
657
658
The whole stage is kind of throw-back-y to earlier stages, but it stands on its own as well.
659
660
Midboss Patchouli is an introduction to Extra Stage midbosses:
661
Namely that they are much crazier than your standard midboss.
662
663
V1.2 Update: See the previous two maps. Also, there was a softlock - 
664
if you played on easy mode and you had cutscenes enabled, you couldn't finish the episode.
665
666
As it turns out, if you never test your cutscenes, you end up with cutscene bugs.
667
-------------------------
668
[ BOSS: Flandre Scarlet ]
669
Music:
670
"U.N. Owen Was Her?", from Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
671
-------------------------
672
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
673
674
I did not have fun.
675
676
Flandre's a cool fight, honestly.
677
678
From Cranberry Trap's "oh god I'm surrounded" to Kagome Kagome's "oh god what is this"
679
to Counter Clock's "what are these literal rotating laser wheels" to the actual friggin'
680
"WAIT THERE'S A TIMEOUT CARD" moment.
681
682
The fight has so many gimmicks that are weird and, nothing else in this game is like it.
683
684
FOR GOOD REASON.
685
686
Because good GOD coding Flandre was a giant flaming garbage fire and I hate EVERYTHING.
687
688
Here's a quick list of EVERY SINGLE SPELL CARD (and she has TEN), and how 9/10 of them broke:
689
Cranberry trap: First iteration kept spawning bullets out of bound.
690
Lavaeteinn: Had a bug where the lasers could clip out of bounds, which lagged really badly.
691
Four of a kind: This was the good one
692
Kagome, Kagome: Many, MANY things, but to pick one: bullets did not despawn properly.
693
Maze of Love: Flandre, in one iteration, fired stupidly fast, making this a literal wall.
694
Starbow Break: This card looks cool, but past that it's kind of...lame.
695
Catadioptric: WELCOME TO RNG LAND, POPULATION: ANYONE WHO GETS HERE
696
Counter Clock: Oh my GOD so MANY things went wrong it's not even funny
697-
(don't ask me how double dying works.)
697+
698
Ripples of 495 Years: Originally you could stand on top of top of Flandre to cheese this.
699
700
Oh, and there's plenty more things that went totally wrong.
701
702
I would elaborate more, but I think my BURNING RAGE is enough to inform you that it was ugly.
703
704
The sheer pain of how hard this was to implement would be a 
705
major factor in how I would script later Extra stages.
706
707
=================================
708
[ MAP09: Scarlet Devil Basement ]
709
---------------------------------
710
I knew, from an early draft, that I wanted to make this plot go demonic.
711
712
This was the map of which to make that the introduction of the plot clear.
713
714
It's another throwaway map, but it does the job.
715
716
===========================
717
EPISODE I OVERALL THOUGHTS:
718
In general, this Episode was basically a tech demo for the boss spellcard system.
719
It's the weakest Episode by far, but it does help you get into the swing of things.
720
The V1.1 to V1.2 post-release stretch added a LOT of much-needed detail to this episode.
721
It could still use more IMO, but at least it doesn't looks like 90s mapping anymore.
722
===========================
723
724
+------------+
725
< EPISODE II >
726
+------------+
727
728
=======================
729
[ MAP10: Hakugyokurou ]
730
Music:
731
"Night Sakura of Dead Spirits", from Touhou 13: Ten Desires
732
-----------------------
733
So this is how Episode II begins. Not with a forest, but with a giant staircase.
734
735
Plot-wise, you died at the end of Episode I. So this is where you end up.
736
(don't ask me how double dying works, if you're asking then you vastly overestimate the consistency of this plot.)
737
738
Also plot-wise, this is our introduction to the boundary youkai.
739
Originally, she was pretty annoying. I don't find her easy to write.
740
741
To rectify this, I got dekw to re-write her character...to be even MORE annoying.
742
Alas, canon characterization is more important to me than sanity.
743
744
So NOW we have our introduction to the Danmaku Weapons, A.K.A. actual Touhou shot types.
745
Also, we have introduction to player spellcards A.K.A. bombs. Use them wisely!
746
747
If you don't want to use spellcards at all, input "touhou_nospellcards 1" in the console.
748
749
If you'd rather use conventional weapons, input "touhou_doomweapons 1" in the console.
750
As a warning, though, the game was balanced around the Danmaku Weapons.
751
752
This map is kind of lame, I'll fully admit, but it's one of the most iconic structures
753
in Touhou canon - the grand staircase of Hakugyokurou, the Netherworld.
754
755
The stage enemies are based off of Ten Desires' stage 1.
756
--------------------------
757
[ BOSS: Youmu and Yuyuko ]
758
Music:
759
"Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When?", from Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom
760
"Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossom ~ Border of Life", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
761
--------------------------
762
Youmu and Yuyuko are the two bosses of Stage 1. You get a megasphere for both of them.
763
764
So, being a stage 1 boss, both of these are an introduction to a concept.
765
766
The first concept is that some bosses will move around a lot more than usual.
767
The second concept is that Episode II will not wait as long to ramp up in difficulty.
768
769
Otherwise, I just enjoyed being able to make two iconic bosses of the series.
770
771
Plot-wise, I didn't plan on keeping you dead. You're needed in the world of the living.
772
773
======================
774
[ MAP11: Sanzu River ]
775
Music:
776
"Higan Retour ~ Riverside View", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
777
----------------------
778
I hadn't referenced Touhou 9. I wanted to rectify that.
779
780
Otherwise, there's not much notable about this stage. 
781
It's the most generic thing I've made totally from scratch.
782
-------------------------
783-
Alas, Yuugi having no easy options (her cards are both hard to design AND I had no sprites),
783+
784
Music:
785
"Higan Retour ~ Riverside View", from Touhou 9: Phantasmagoria of Flower View
786
-------------------------
787
Komachi was kind of a filler boss. Mostly added because, hey, you're crossing over the Sanzu.
788
789
The living aren't supposed to be on this side of the river, so it's her duty to stop you.
790
791
Her fight works well enough, though.
792
793
Her anti-cheese mechanism is funny, though. Don't try to run away; face her like a BOSS.
794
795
Fun fact: As of V1.2, dunking Komachi into the Sanzu River will actually defeat and eventually end her boss fight.
796
===================================
797
[ MAP12: Streets of a Former Hell ]
798
Music:
799
"Walking the Streets of a Former Hell", from Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism
800
-----------------------------------
801
The original Touhou Doom goes into the underground, so I figured,
802
"Hey, I should use the resources I have laying around the archive."
803
804
This was the first truly difficult stage to design, because the underground city of the Oni
805
is not a simple single structure, unlike previous maps.
806
807
In the end, it took a lot of slopes and 3d floors working together to produce a somewhat
808
passable version of the style of architecture that I wanted to evoke. This engine is, uh,
809
not really meant for curved surfaces, so I had to make do and try faking it.
810
811
I consider this map semi-decent; there's more I could've done, but it does the job well.
812
813
The stage itself is based off of (S)ubterranean (A)nimism's stage 1 and stage 3. 
814
Hooray for sine wave fairies!
815
---------------------
816
[ BOSS: Suika Ibuki ]
817
Music:
818
"Oni's Island in the Fairyland ~ Missing Power", from Touhou 7.5: Immaterial and Missing Power
819
---------------------
820
The original Touhou Doom went all the way to reference SA, and then:
821
A: Had no city, while *lampshading* the lack of city that should've been there, and
822
B: Had no Yuugi.
823
824
Alas, Yuugi having no easy options (her cards are all TERRIBLE to design AND I had no sprites),
825
I settled on another high tier Oni: Suika Ibuki.
826
827
At the time of implementing Suika, she had the highest number of frames of animation
828
of any boss in Touhou Doom, and would not be outdone until Episode III came along.
829
830
The hardest part in making this fight is something many players might not notice:
831
If you try to run away from Suika, she'll disperse into very fast moving mist, 
832
which will follow you throughout the city. Working the Path Nodes to make her
833
capable of doing this took quite a while, and it's a pretty bad mess of ACS.
834
835
Otherwise, I simply took three relatively easy to implement spellcards from her canon,
836
and made them into spellcards for the fight.
837
838
===============================
839-
Also, Satori informing the player that they have the wrong Hell
839+
840-
is one of my favourite lines in the entire story.
840+
841
"Heartfelt Fancy", from Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism
842
-------------------------------
843
So now we REALLY turn into SA.
844
845
This is ANOTHER musical autoscrolling stage, set up to be similar to SA stage 4.
846
847
The fairies' amulet fans are a surprisingly complex pattern for a stage enemy.
848
It can be quite surprising if you're used to stage enemies being incredibly generic.
849
850
The Window textures are taken directly from SA. I can't believe how cool they look here,
851
given we're in a completely different engine that's not designed for the FPS perspective.
852
853
It's really silly. Despite how simple this map is geometrically, it feels like a good map,
854
even though it's objectively a terrible map. It's literally just a few connected boxes.
855
------------------------
856
[ BOSS: Satori Komeiji ]
857
Music:
858
"Satori Maiden ~ 3rd eye", from Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism
859
------------------------
860
TIME FOR GIMMICK BOSS NUMBER 2!
861
862
Granted, Satori's gimmick was a lot easier to implement than Sakuya's.
863
864
Namely, because Satori's gimmick is that she just re-uses a bunch of cards from Episode I.
865
866
So, with that aside, the three picks, and why I chose them:
867-
Only took 13 or 14 maps to get one that I don't think looks like garbage. 
867+
868
	I chose this one because it's one of the first real dodge cards...
869
	unless you cheesed it by abusing terrain in Meiling's fight.
870
	If you DID do that, then you better learn to do it legit now.
871
"Luna Clock" / "The World"
872
	I chose this one because Sakuya's Time Freeze gimmick really needed to be used again.
873
	Which is to say, most people, on seeing this, will go "NOOOO!", which is intentional.
874
	Satori's trying to scare you, so this is a good pick for that purpose.
875
"Curse of Vlad Tepes" / "Vampire Illusion"
876
	I chose this one because Remilia's "I spawn bullets that then move after the fact"
877
	is one of hell of gimmick that many players find quite hard. I wanted to copy
878
	Remilia's last card, but that would've been too much to reference in this fight.
879
880
Also, Satori informing the player that they have the wrong Hell is one of my favourite lines in the entire story.
881
882
=================================
883
[ MAP14: Hellfire of Times Past ]
884
Music:
885
"Lullaby of a Deserted Hell", from Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism
886
---------------------------------
887
Now THIS was a stage gimmick I was building up towards.
888
889-
Much like in Episode I, this is kind of generic filler.
889+
890
but it does lead nicely into this stage.
891
892
The 'Danmaku Demons' were an interesting design problem, as I knew that generic demons
893
wouldn't be, well, 'Touhou' enough for my tastes. I wanted something MORE.
894
895
But at the same time, I knew that THESE danmaku demons would be re-used.
896-
But really, this map is just an arena for the boss, Utsuho.
896+
897
What does that mean? It means they can't be generically forgettable,
898
while they also need to feel 'Doom like', to avoid being totally pointless.
899
900
With that in mind, I had a lot of fun designing these monsters.
901
902
In terms of the actual map, this is the first map in the wad I'm truly happy with.
903
Unlike other maps, that basically only stand in as an excuse for the fight that uses it,
904
this map stands on its own relatively decently. I learned the tricks for detailing the
905
map from the Doom wad Community Chest 4. It's a good wad and a great texture set.
906
907
Only took 13 or 14 maps to get one that I don't think looks like garbage.
908
Ah well, I've gotta start somewhere. I only get better by making more.
909
910
I didn't really intend it to be this way, but I was surprised by how *hard* this map ended up being.
911
It's probably the hardest stage in the game to survive, up until now. At least I find it to be.
912
913
Then again, SA stage 5 was legitimately that bad, so I guess I shouldn't feel *too* bad about it.
914
-----------------------------
915
[ BOSS: Rin "Orin" Kaenbyou ]
916
Music:
917
"Corpse Voyage ~ Be of good cheer!", from Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism
918
-----------------------------
919
Everyone hated Orin in SA.
920
921
So of course, what could I do but implement the most infuriating boss of all time?
922
923
To be honest, Orin's a bit of a mixed bag. Some her stuff is cool gimmicks.
924
925
Some of it is 'Blazing Wheel'. I'm sorry for that. Kind of.
926
927
You take the good with the bad.
928
929
============================
930
[ MAP15: Dazzling Hellfire ]
931
Music:
932
"Hellfire Mantle", from Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism
933
----------------------------
934
Much like the final stage of Episode I, this is kind of generic filler.
935
936
However, I decided to make it less generic by making it so monster infighting is common.
937
It's one of the ways that Danmaku Demons differ from fairies.
938
939
Or, to quote: "Protip: Unlike fairies, demons can infight."
940
941
But really, this map is really just an arena for the boss, Utsuho.
942
-----------------------
943
[ BOSS: Utsuho Reiuji ]
944
Music:
945
"Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom ~ Nuclear Fusion", from Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism
946
-----------------------
947
<!> WARNING <!> WARNING <!> WARNING <!>
948
949
Utsuho is, from a gameplay perspective, honestly my least favourite final boss.
950
951
She stands in dead contrast to many boss fight design principles I like.
952
953
First of all, RNG's a pain in this fight. If Utsuho doesn't like your run, it's done.
954
955
Second of all, there's a lot of oneshots; if you get hit with a sun, that's usually lethal.
956
957
Third of all, there's a lot of "oh yeah you just die if you don't know this."
958
While knowledge of patterns is important, Utsuho has a lot of "you die if you don't know this."
959
Which I don't consider good design - you should be able to substitute pattern knowledge
960
for pure reading-on-the-fly dodging skill.
961
962
Then again, you can use your bombs. That's a thing you could do.
963
964
However, I'll grant Utsuho this: She's a very *impressive* boss. The Visual Spectacle
965
*almost* makes up for the gameplay flaws she does have, at least in my opinion as her designer.
966
967
Still, she's the final boss, so some over-the-topness is to be expected.
968
969-
In his first playthrough of the original Touhou Doom, TerminusEst13 cheesed the Koishi fight
969+
V1.2 Update: So it turns out if you use touhou_doomweapons in V1.0, I forgot to give you a rocket launcher.
970-
via fully charging his melee attack to a completely absurd degree and killing Koishi close
970+
Not that it matters that much (you'll be using the Plasma Rifle on this map, mostly), but my mistake!
971-
to instantly. When the original updated, Koishi had a new attack. An instant, one-shot,
971+
972-
9999999 damage attack that immediately killed term through Demonsteele's invulnerability.
972+
973-
It's only used in melee. I kept the attack as is, because Koishi: Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
973+
974
=======================================
975
[ MAP16: The Lovely Visitor From Hell ]
976-
The original Touhou Doom stole a map from Free Doom. Straight up ripped it from the wad.
976+
977-
Later, when Sgt Shivers was screwing around, he replaced the stolen map...with E1M1.
977+
978-
I then ripped E1M1 again (replacing normal demons with danmaku ones), and put it here.
978+
979
TIME FOR EXTRA STAGE NUMBER 2
980
981-
Dekw, my most valiant tester, is very good at finding bugs. He's so good at doing it
981+
982-
that I keep having to remove things because he finds ways to break the game with them.
982+
983-
Things I had to do because of him include but are not limited to: removing decorative objects,
983+
984-
Putting invisible walls everywhere you're not supposed to go, limiting the time you can spend
984+
985-
around certain pillars, and making every arena in Episode 2 onwards as boring as possible.
985+
986-
To spite him I made a card that is a featureless box, throwing basic rings that you must
986+
987-
dodge through with no strategy; There's no exploiting your way out of this one.
987+
988
------------------------
989
[ BOSS: Koishi Komeiji ]
990-
The original Touhou Doom was written for ZDoom 2.7.1, with a SINGLE use of A_SetScale.
990+
991-
Yes, exactly one. Except there were a lot of not-using-A_SetScale actors that *should*
991+
992-
have used A_SetScale. When he found out, he kinda sorta completely lost his mind.
992+
993-
This spellcard has a very simple visual effect that clearly...does not use A_SetScale.
993+
994-
Yep, I went out of my way to not use it on the obvious visual effect where it should be used!
994+
995
Okay, her merit as a legitimate extra boss is not why I chose her.
996
-----------------------------------
997-
I'm not mean enough to just mock others. I'll include myself in the list of people
997+
998-
I'm making fun of. I have a bad habit of not fully playtesting my cards. I kind of make them
998+
999-
theoretically work; e.g. I make a card on Lunatic, I copy it for the other three difficulties,
999+
1000-
make some blind bullet reductions, and yeah, it should all work. (NARRATOR: It didn't.)
1000+
1001-
I did playtest this one to make sure it didn't crash, but otherwise it's deliberately untested.
1001+
1002
I mean, yeah, it's pretty silly that you'd interrupt my theme in the middle of the figh-*WHACK*
1003
1004-
So, when TerminusEst13 streamed Touhou Doom, he did so with his mod, Demonsteele.
1004+
1005-
Demonsteele allows you to destroy decorative candelabras. In his playthrough,
1005+
1006-
he declared war on the candelabra and went out of his way in places to cut down
1006+
1007-
every single one. This card revolves hiding behind candelabras, so if you, in some
1007+
1008-
weird fringe case, cut them all down, you will be utterly screwing yourself over.
1008+
1009
1010
However, Koishi's a bit of a meme in the Touhou community, thanks to a series of custom
1011-
I needed a last card, and a joke to follow it.
1011+
1012-
Credit goes to the DUMP 3 team for designing Benellus, the god of shotguns.
1012+
1013-
I simply ripped the patterns.
1013+
1014
So I decided to make a decidedly non-canon fight.
1015
1016-
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
1016+
1017
1018
The melee attack:
1019
  In his first playthrough of the original Touhou Doom, TerminusEst13 cheesed the Koishi fight
1020
  via fully charging his melee attack to a completely absurd degree and killing Koishi close
1021
  to instantly. When the original updated, Koishi had a new attack. An instant, one-shot,
1022
  9999999 damage attack that immediately killed term through Demonsteele's invulnerability.
1023
  It's only used in melee. I kept the attack as is, because Koishi: Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
1024
1025
Shivers Sign "Original Map Do Not Steal":
1026
  The original Touhou Doom stole a map from Free Doom. Straight up ripped it from the wad.
1027
  Later, when Sgt Shivers was screwing around, he replaced the stolen map...with E1M1.
1028
  I then ripped E1M1 again (replacing normal demons with danmaku ones), and put it here.
1029
1030
Dekw Sign "This is why we can't have nice things"
1031
  Dekw, my most valiant tester, is very good at finding bugs. He's so good at doing it
1032
  that I keep having to remove things because he finds ways to break the game with them.
1033
  Things I had to do because of him include but are not limited to: removing decorative objects,
1034
  Putting invisible walls everywhere you're not supposed to go, limiting the time you can spend
1035
  around certain pillars, and making every arena in Episode 2 onwards as boring as possible.
1036
  To spite him I made a card that is a featureless box, throwing basic rings that you must
1037
  dodge through with no strategy; There's no exploiting your way out of this one.
1038
1039
Yholl Sign "THEY HAD A_SETSCALE"
1040
  The original Touhou Doom was written for ZDoom 2.7.1, with a SINGLE use of A_SetScale.
1041
  Yes, exactly one. Except there were a lot of not-using-A_SetScale actors that *should*
1042
  have used A_SetScale. When he found out, he kinda sorta completely lost his mind.
1043
  This spellcard has a very simple visual effect that clearly...does not use A_SetScale.
1044
  Yep, I went out of my way to not use it on the obvious visual effect where it should be used!
1045
1046
Untitled Sign "I didn't playtest this at all"
1047
  I'm not mean enough to just mock others. I'll include myself in the list of people
1048
  I'm making fun of. I have a bad habit of not fully playtesting my cards. I kind of make them
1049
  theoretically work; e.g. I make a card on Lunatic, I copy it for the other three difficulties,
1050
  make some blind bullet reductions, and yeah, it should all work. (NARRATOR: It didn't.)
1051
  I did playtest this one to make sure it didn't crash, but otherwise it's deliberately untested.
1052
1053
Terminus Sign "Philosophy of a Hated Candelabra"
1054
  So, when TerminusEst13 streamed Touhou Doom, he did so with his mod, Demonsteele.
1055
  Demonsteele allows you to destroy decorative candelabras. In his playthrough,
1056
  he declared war on the candelabra and went out of his way in places to cut down
1057
  every single one. This card revolves hiding behind candelabras, so if you, in some
1058
  weird fringe case, cut them all down, you will be utterly screwing yourself over.
1059
1060
"PRAISE BENELLUS"
1061
  I needed a last card, and a joke to follow it.
1062
  Credit goes to the DUMP 3 team for designing Benellus, the god of shotguns.
1063
  I simply ripped the patterns.
1064
1065
Agitation "OH F***, SKELETONS"
1066
  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
1067
1068
============================
1069
EPISODE II OVERALL THOUGHTS:
1070
If Episode I was where I proved there was potential, Episode II is where
1071
I went all out on making this more-Touhou like. It's more polished, far
1072
less exploitable, and in general it just has more of an identity, having
1073
some very unique things such as the Touhou weapons, which add a lot more
1074
variety to the boss fights. The Plasma Rifle got old.
1075
1076
V1.2: If you like custom weapons but also like spellcards, well now you can mix and match!
1077
Before 1.2, touhou_doomweapons was linked to touhou_nospellcards, so there was no way to use
1078
Doom Weapons AND use spellcards. I forget why I did this, so I decoupled the two settings. Have fun!
1079
============================
1080
1081
+-------------+
1082
< EPISODE III >
1083
+-------------+
1084
1085
============================================
1086
[ MAP17: Wind Blows on the Sacred Mountain ]
1087
Music:
1088
"The Primal Scene of Japan the Girl Saw", from Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith
1089
--------------------------------------------
1090
So now we enter Episode III.
1091
1092
The stage is based off of MoF's stage 5. It's pretty basic, IMO.
1093
1094
In general, I knew that, in the end, I was limited by a variety of factors,
1095
namely boss sprites, to what locations I could feasibly represent.
1096
1097
By recognizing this fact, I could try to figure out a what locations I could visit
1098
in the limited possibility space I had. Who are 'notable' characters, really?
1099
1100
The Moriya Shrine became the obvious choice, by that metric - it's a location
1101
in three different games (10, 11, and 12.3), so it's gotten some canon looks.
1102
1103
It took me quite a while to make the shrine look at least vaguely the right shape.
1104
I hope it looks good enough so at least you can tell what it's supposed to be.
1105
1106
Story-wise, I wasn't planning on having Yukari straight-up troll you, but
1107
dekw wrote that segment. It does feel Yukari-like, though it IS annoying.
1108
1109
-----------------------
1110
[ BOSS: Sanae Kochiya ]
1111
Music:
1112
"Faith is for Transient People", from Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith
1113
-----------------------
1114
So, I elaborated on why I chose the Moriya Shrine.
1115
1116
This begs the question: Which boss is the most notable *character* of that location?
1117
1118
Sanae was a fairly obvious choice, by that metric - she's playable in four
1119
different main series games (12, 12.3, 13, and 15), and by the time I was
1120
at this point, I was confident I could implement at least some of her patterns.
1121
1122
The hardest part of the fight, design wise, was the big star spellcards.
1123-
Don't stand in the path of the giant beam. It kills you.
1123+
1124
1125
Funnily enough, despite the visuals, Sanae basically hasn't changed at all since her original beta implementation.
1126
1127
==================================
1128
[ MAP31: Skies Beyond the Clouds ]
1129
Music:
1130
"Skies Beyond the Clouds", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
1131
----------------------------------
1132
FIGHTING GAMES REPRESENT!
1133
1134
So I kind of knew I wanted a MAP31 and MAP32. I decided to go with a pair of bosses.
1135
1136
Why? Because really, Touhou Doom's most iconic feature is the very flashy boss fights.
1137
1138
However, to help distinguish these two, I took the characters from a fighting game.
1139
1140
I personally like how the silhouette of the mountain in the darkness looks.
1141
It looks much bigger than it actually is.
1142
1143
The map itself really isn't anything special. It's just a boss arena.
1144
-------------------
1145
[ BOSS: Iku Nagae ]
1146
Music:
1147
"Crimson in the Black Sea ~ Legendary Fish", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
1148
-------------------
1149
Iku's one of the most visually impressive bosses. Thank Tormentor667 for that thunder effect,
1150
it really makes the fight stand out amongst others.
1151
1152
Otherwise, Iku's nothing particularly special. She's just an alternative route;
1153
either you fight Iku and Tenshi or you fight Sanae. Either works.
1154
1155
Well, okay, actually, you'll want to learn a route so you avoid having a lightning
1156
pillar spawn on top of you during Iku's first spell card. That would be bad.
1157
1158
=============================================
1159
[ MAP32: Daughter of Heaven, Heart of Human ]
1160
Music:
1161
"Flawless Clothing of the Celestials", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
1162
---------------------------------------------
1163
This arena was harder to design; Heaven was truly not meant for a Doom map.
1164
1165
Otherwise, I think this is the first boss to be fought over two different arenas.
1166
-------------------------
1167
[ BOSS: Tenshi Hinanawi ]
1168
Music:
1169
"Catastrophe in Bhava-agra ~ Wonderful Heaven", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
1170
"Bhava-agra As Seen Through a Child's Mind", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
1171
-------------------------
1172
"Tenshi, why did Untitled let you get TWO themes?"
1173
1174
Because SWR did.
1175
1176
This fight wins the award of "closest fight to one of the fighting games".
1177
This is because Tenshi is mostly a fighting game only boss.
1178
1179
Also, try not to fall off the arena. That happens if you aren't careful.
1180
1181
I had a lot of fun designing the last card; though the instadeath lasers are a bit much.
1182
Don't stand in the path of the giant beam. It kills you. Use the sound cues to your advantage!
1183
1184
While it was fun, designing the last card was also very hard; the giant laser originally
1185
came out MUCH faster. It was pretty much impossible to avoid if you weren't already in
1186
motion when she started charging it. I added the delay later, to make it more feasible,
1187
especially on lower difficulties (Lunatic's a special beast, to say the least).
1188
1189
Which route will you choose? Sanae, or Iku + Tenshi?
1190
1191
Well, Sanae's probably the easier route, so there's that.
1192
1193
======================================
1194
[ MAP18: Soil that Holds Magic Power ]
1195
Music:
1196
"The Doll Maker of Bucuresti", from Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom
1197
--------------------------------------
1198
Back to the forest.
1199
1200
To describe the map, the process was very simple: copy-paste trees. Copy-paste a LOT of trees.
1201
1202
Then, way later, simplify the trees because you're causing too much lag. Ah well.
1203
1204
As for the gameplay gimmick...
1205
1206
Oh boy.
1207
1208
I knew, that I wanted to have at least one segment where you saw Touhou enemies fight Demons.
1209
1210
Then I realized that for the forest of magic we have Alice and Marisa and I could
1211
knock two birds out with one stone.
1212
1213
The stage itself is based around the gimmick of Alice's Dolls and the Demons fighting each other.
1214
1215
AND GETTING THIS TO WORK WAS PAIN.
1216
1217
SO MUCH PAIN.
1218
1219
As it turns out, monster AI is rather horrifically inflexible. Getting monsters to actually
1220
chaotically fight each other in the way I wanted them to was a giant pile of garbage
1221
and honestly it took me way too long to get it sorted out with WAY too many Thing_Hate calls.
1222
1223
The effect was worth it, IMO - the chaotic nature of the forest as so many projectiles
1224
start getting flung about is very hectic, and I generally like the feel of it...
1225
1226
...unless you decide to hide and let them fight. You can do that, too.
1227
--------------------------
1228
[ BOSS: Alice Margatroid ]
1229
Music:
1230
"Doll Judgment ~ The Girl Who Played with People's Shapes", from Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom
1231
--------------------------
1232
Oh, was this fun to design.
1233
1234
Alice Margatroid's main gimmick was the whole 'summoning dolls' thing.
1235
1236
I'm not terribly proud of this fight. Both of her spellcards were from the fighting games.
1237
1238
However, really, Alice is just a midboss. The real fight is...
1239
-------------------------
1240
[ BOSS: Marisa Kirisame ]
1241
Music:
1242
"Love-Coloured Master Spark", from Touhou 8: Imperishable Night
1243
"Magus Night", from Touhou 12.8: Fairy Wars
1244
-------------------------
1245
Ahahahahahahaha.
1246
1247
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
1248
1249
AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
1250
1251
So, I kind of knew, starting from the beginning, that I wanted to do a fight with Marisa.
1252
1253
I had this fight planned out from since I started Episode II. The only issue was, well,
1254
I didn't have the skills to implement it back then. That, and I liked having her fight
1255
be later in the actual game - Marisa, even if she was easier (she's not), is very...
1256
unique, shall we say. I definitely would want her to be a late fight.
1257
1258
I really did not know which of her themes to use, as she has way too many:
1259
Touhou 2, 3, 4, 7.5, 8, 9, 10.5, 12.3, 12.8, 13.5, and 14.5.
1260
1261
'Love-Colored Magic' is probably her most iconic theme, and it's remix,
1262-
But two things prevented that: Like Marisa, I wasn't good enough to design her patterns.
1262+
1263
However, 'Magus Night' more properly evokes the emotion of "OH GOD IT'S MARISA"
1264
that I wanted to go for, emotionally, as Marisa IS a main series playable character.
1265
1266
So I went with both. 'Love-Coloured Master Spark' for the more 'normal' portion, and
1267
'Magus Night' for when she decides to be Marisa Kirisame.
1268
1269
Marisa was probably the most fun I've ever had writing a character.
1270
Her motivation for fighting you is such a joke and I love it.
1271
1272
Canonically, the Hakkero, which Marisa uses to power her giant laser, Master Spark,
1273-
And, the more I think about it, the more she kind of had to be.
1273+
1274
be a Marisa fight without her firing a giant laser, so I wrote the 'backup Hakkero'
1275
joke. While this is a complete violation of canon, Marisa tends to violate known canon
1276
on a semi-regular basis in the actual series, so it's basically canon to violate canon.
1277
1278
'Blazing Star', if you're on Hard or Lunatic, is the first non-extra timeout card,
1279
because of course Marisa would just have a timeout card in a non-extra fight.
1280
1281
'Big Freaking Spark 9000' is the most ridiculous card I have ever made. I love it.
1282
There's absolutely no reason for this card to exist and that's why it has to exist.
1283
That last sentence basically is Marisa's general Modus Operandi.
1284
It was kind of a pain to design the card, but it was so worth it.
1285
1286
When I saw the first person run into this card live, he died in exactly the way I wanted him to.
1287
It was so terrible, and yet, it was also so perfect.
1288
1289
Everything about this fight really came together. I'm really happy with it.
1290
1291
==============================
1292
[ MAP19: Legendary Dreamland ]
1293
Music:
1294
"Eternal Shrine Maiden", from Touhou Album: Dolls in Psuedo Paradise
1295
------------------------------
1296
The Hakurei Shrine.
1297
1298
I knew we'd have to visit the Hakurei Shrine eventually.
1299
1300
It's one of the most iconic locations of Gensokyo. Also, in addition to that,
1301
Reimu Hakurei is THE main playable character of the series, being playable
1302
in every single main danmaku game, and all of the fighting games as well.
1303
1304
In the end, I was planning a quick fight where you fight off demons from the shrine.
1305
1306
Then I realized this felt wrong, because Reimu is the hero of her own story.
1307
She's clean up her own shrine of all the demons.
1308
1309
That's why there's no stage: Reimu already beat the stage for you.
1310
1311
If you look, the trees are less detailed here than in other maps with trees.
1312
They used to be just as detailed, but the problem is that this map was very
1313
framerate intensive, and combined with Reimu's fight, this was a serious issue.
1314
Since there's no reason to focus on the trees once the fight starts, they got the axe.
1315
The Shrine itself keeps the detail because it's the iconic visual of the map.
1316
-----------------------
1317
[ BOSS: Reimu Hakurei ]
1318
Music:
1319
"Mystic Oriental Love Consultation", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
1320
"Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Red and White", from Touhou Album: Dolls in Psuedo Paradise
1321
-----------------------
1322
So, originally, Reimu was going to be the end of Episode II boss.
1323
1324
But two things prevented that: Like Marisa, I wasn't good enough to design her patterns when I first got there.
1325
1326
And also like Marisa, I wanted her to be a later boss, because, well...
1327
1328
This fight.
1329
1330
THIS FIGHT.
1331
1332
Reimu is possibly THE fight I am the most proud of, because of many, MANY different things.
1333
1334
Let's start with the difficulty: Reimu is by FAR the hardest boss up until this point.
1335
At least on Lunatic. And, the more I think about it, the more she kind of had to be.
1336
1337
Reimu Hakurei is the main playable character of the Touhou series.
1338
Giving her anything less than a brutal fight would feel wrong.
1339
1340
I wanted to convey this fact: from your perspective Reimu is the boss of this level,
1341
but from Reimu's perspective, YOU are the boss of *her* level.
1342
1343
She's the hero of her own story. She's not just another boss.
1344
1345
She's a player. And she treats YOU like you're the boss.
1346
1347
This brings us to the first aspect of the fight: The noncards.
1348
The noncards are very notable in that you will see the Hakurei Amulet AND Persuasion Needle
1349
attacks, from their original owner. She's attacking you with the kinds of attacks that are
1350
normally what the player uses. Because, in normal Touhou, the player IS Reimu.
1351
1352
Also, Reimu can fly, canonically. Unlike other bosses, who don't really use this ability
1353
for engine-balance reasons (the ZDoom engine is not very good at going up or down), Reimu
1354
WILL often jump into the air, and continue shooting from there.
1355
1356
Actually, the fact Reimu moves so much during her noncards is pretty notable, too.
1357
It's like she's trying to dodge your bullets. Because you know, you're the boss to her.
1358
1359
The other side, of course, is the spellcards.
1360
1361
The first two spellcards are semi-typical boss material.
1362
The third, not so much, as it's meant to be something more akin to a player spellcard.
1363
Which, if you've experimented with the spellcards, you'll know that it IS one.
1364
1365-
Ran Yakumo should have more frames. But alas, she's not playable in any game.
1365+
1366
1367
'Fantasy Seal -Concentrate-' is a hell of a card.
1368
I don't think anything else in the game homes in on you like it does.
1369
Because Reimu isn't trying to give you a fair fight. She wants you GONE,
1370
so she's a bit more direct about it.
1371
1372
If you're on Hard or Lunatic, 'Fantasy Seal -Blink-' will be one hell of a trip.
1373
1374
Admittedly her last card, 'Flying Mysterious Shrine Maiden', is much more boss-like.
1375
I guess it's tradition to end with something with more visual spectacle than player punch.
1376
1377
I knew, after making Marisa, that I had to use two themes for this fight.
1378
"Mystic Oriental Love Consultation" is a very punchy theme that fits the energy of the first half.
1379
"Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly" was her extra boss theme in another game, so it's a thing here.
1380
1381
As you could hopefully guess, this was very hard to design. In particular:
1382
-Balacing the homing attacks so they weren't undodgeable, but still threatening, was very hard.
1383
-Getting Reimu's aerial attacks to work right was hard.
1384
-Oh yeah, Reimu has an entirely separate set of animation for her aerial moves. Gotta rip those.
1385
-Actually, Reimu's frames in general. She broke the frame count record when I made her.
1386
-Evil Sealing Circle was hard because monsters don't like moving that much.
1387
-Fantasy Seal -Concentrate- was a nightmare to balance, because seekers, really.
1388
-Duplex Barrier took VERY long to figure out the A_Warp parameters to make the visual effect work.
1389
-Fantasy Seal -Blink- was a very complicated set of linedef setup to make the teleports work right.
1390
-And other things not mentioned here.
1391
1392-
I do like the her quote at the end of the fight, where she mentions that
1392+
1393
1394
Reimu is the boss I am single-handedly the most proud of in the entire project.
1395
She really feels like the real character, even if that's unfortunate for you.
1396
As it was put by a friend of mine: "Reimu is, regrettably, still Reimu."
1397
1398
That's why in the end, I decided to make the fight end with Reimu getting interrupted.
1399
Because it wouldn't feel right to actually beat her. She doesn't lose if she's serious.
1400
1401
=================================
1402
[ MAP20: The Border of Gensokyo ]
1403
Music:
1404-
SOME sense that every single portion feels very deliberately put together.
1404+
1405
"Charming Domination ~ Who Done It?", from Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom
1406
---------------------------------
1407
We're not done yet. Of COURSE there's an Extra Stage.
1408
1409
Yukari's a bit of a wildcard in any scenario. 
1410
If you're annoyed at her by this point in the story, then I'll fully take responsibility...
1411
1412
By admitting it was entirely intentional. In fact, I got dekw to help make her dialogue
1413
even LESS useful than it was in earlier iterations. Because that's Yukari Yakumo for you.
1414
1415
I knew, that despite Yukari being plot relevant, that I wanted to save the reveal of
1416
what she truly is for this point of time, since most people playing this are probably
1417
more Doom players than Touhou players.
1418
1419
As far as the Extra Stage itself goes, I decided to try something completely different.
1420
1421
It's a pretty timing-faithful recreation of PCB's extra/phantasm stage.
1422
1423
Right down to not being in first person anymore. It's a literal shmup stage.
1424
1425
I was surprised by how difficult people found this. I personally think it's the easiest extra.
1426
But that might be because I played the Touhou games and thus know how you're supposed to do this.
1427
1428
Ran Yakumo should really have some more frames. But alas, she's not playable in any game.
1429
-----------------------
1430
[ BOSS: Yukari Yakumo ]
1431
Music:
1432
"Night Falls ~ Evening Star", from Touhou 7.5: Immaterial and Missing Power
1433
"Necrofantasia", from Touhou Album: Magical Astronomy (originally from PCB)
1434
-----------------------
1435
"All I am giving you is the choice. Nothing more, and nothing less."
1436
1437
Oddly enough, despite how much of an enigma Yukari's character is,
1438
her fight is arguably the most straight-forward Extra Boss there is.
1439
It's a pretty straightforward throwdown against ten different spellcards.
1440
1441
Her first six noncards are referencial to both PCB and SWR.
1442
Her last two noncards are basically her using her gaps to randomly
1443
teleport in other attacks from across time and space, including both
1444
danmaku attacks of others AND demonic attacks, because lol gap magic.
1445
1446
Out of her ten spellcards, nine of them are from PCB.
1447
1448
Yukari was probably the most painless extra boss I've ever designed.
1449
1450-
SECRET CHALLENGE I
1450+
1451
"Oh my GOD this card is SO STUPID" moments that plagued Flandre.
1452
(and Koishi too, but it was intentional there.)
1453
1454
'Border of Life and Death' is also one of my favourite spells in the entire project.
1455
If someone were to ask, "Describe Touhou Doom in one attack", it would be this card.
1456
1457
I REALLY like her quote at the end of the fight, where she mentions that
1458
"I never said at any point you had a choice with consequences."
1459
1460
Mostly because the counterpoint, "DAMMIT YUKARI!", is something of a fandom catchphrase.
1461
1462
=============================
1463
EPISODE III OVERALL THOUGHTS:
1464
This might still be my favourite Episode out of the five.
1465
It's short, but, in general, everything felt relatively cohesive and very deliberate.
1466
It's the only episode to not really have any filler sections - everything has purpose.
1467
1468
Then again, given it's only three maps + two secret bosses + extra, I guess it makes
1469
SOME sense that every single portion feels very more deliberately put together.
1470
1471
The post-release patches barely changed anything, if at all, with this episode,
1472
aside from the decoupling of Touhou_DoomWeapons and Touhou_NoSpellcards.
1473
=============================
1474
1475
+------------+
1476
< EPISODE IV >
1477
+------------+
1478
1479
========================
1480
[ MAP21: Burning Heat! ]
1481
Music:
1482
"Burning Heat! (Full Option MIX)", from Beatmania IIDX,
1483
originally from Gradius II, as the stage 1 theme.
1484
------------------------
1485
So here we are.
1486
1487
I knew, going into Episode IV, that I both needed and wanted to do something
1488
VERY different from previous maps. I mean, after all, we're not in Gensokyo anymore.
1489
1490
I chose to reference other shmups because Touhou ain't the only shmup there.
1491
The first reference was Gradius, because while it's not a danmaku game, it's
1492
the first major shmup ever made. Not giving it a shout-out seems kind of wrong.
1493
1494
The map name "Burning Heat!" refers to the soundtrack name.
1495
1496
I don't really know where I came up with the gimmick for this stage. It just kinda happened.
1497
1498
I guess it was a compromise; I wanted to go back to Doom Weapons, but I also didn't want 
1499
to just suddenly get rid of weapons that you were using for so much of the wad.
1500
1501
So you're timed. It also means that you get to see more of the weapons at lower power,
1502
since most of Episode II and all of III you're at 400 power, which is the maximum.
1503
1504
Of course, since your power is draining over the course of the level, this allowed me
1505
to introduce the level gimmick: Three main weapons (SSG, Chaingun, and Rocket Launcher)
1506
are only available by grabbing a skull key first (Blue, Red, and Yellow, respectively),
1507
which means the first thing you must do is use your limited time danmaku weapons to get
1508
the doom weapons so you can fight the rest of the level.
1509
1510
This level ended up being surprisingly hard. The timed aspect is actually pretty brutal.
1511
1512
My advice: The intended order of the keys is Blue (SSG), Red (Chaingun), then Yellow (RL)
1513
1514
Fun fact: If you use touhou_doomweapons, which removes the danmaku weapons from play,
1515-
It can be annoying, but I also like the verticality of this map.
1515+
1516
you get a limited ammo Plasma Rifle.
1517
---------------------------------------
1518
SECRET CHALLENGE I 'The Reveal of Hell'
1519
---------------------------------------
1520
Welcome to the secret challenges!
1521
1522
These are optional bonus challenges, though there IS a reward for beating them...?
1523-
SECRET CHALLENGE II
1523+
1524
The entrance to this challenge is a reference to Hell Revealed. At the start of the level,
1525
before you enter the teleporter, shoot into the dark. Immediately. The wall behind you will
1526
lower. In that lowered section, there's a Shotgun, a Backpack, and an invisible switch.
1527
1528
Press this switch to enter.
1529
1530
The challenge explains what to do when you enter.
1531
1532
The name's a reference to Hell Revealed, fairly obviously.
1533
----------------------------
1534
[ BOSS: Danmaku Cyberdemon ]
1535
Music:
1536
"Take Care!", from Gradius III. Boss theme.
1537
originally from Gradius II. Originally a boss theme.
1538
----------------------------
1539
So, referencing non-Touhou games meant that the bosses would be less phased.
1540
1541
This is an example of such. In general I avoided using the Danmaku Cyberdemon because
1542
I knew I wanted to make it a boss in Episode IV. Any Doom player knows this is coming,
1543
but seeing it for the first time is really something.
1544
1545
It's also not THAT short, due to having no plasma rifle or full power danmaku weapon.
1546
1547
This boss ALSO comes with some minions; Dark Imps are the first custom danmaku demon.
1548
As in, first danmaku demon that is not based on a vanilla Doom monster.
1549
1550
A generic boss, but it serves the purpose well. Hence why I chose a very short BGM.
1551
1552
================================
1553
[ MAP22: Thunder and Lightning ]
1554
Music:
1555
"Flap Towards the Hope", from Raiden IV. Stage 3 theme.
1556
originally from Raiden II, where it was the stage 7 theme.
1557
--------------------------------
1558
This map was inspired by a few different Doom maps:
1559
-Valiant MAP22: 'Spiraling into Nether' and MAP23: 'Genocide Motor'
1560
-TUTNT's 'The Beginning and The End'
1561
Valiant's an excellent doom wad, you should check it out if you haven't already.
1562
TUTNT's a bit more controversial, but if nothing else it looks AMAZING.
1563
1564
I decided to reference Raiden because it's also a pretty neat shmup series.
1565
Raiden's a very different kind of bullet hell, as it's more focused on fast 
1566
bullets than overly dense walls of bullets typical of the genre.
1567
1568
Also, Raiden fangame 'Raiden X' was my first shmup ever,
1569
so it holds a special place in my heart.
1570
1571
The Raiden series' music is cool. Hence why I used it.
1572
1573
The name "Thunder and Lightning" comes from what the kanji used in 'Raiden' translate to.
1574
Despite the fact that Raiden is almost ALWAYS in standard latin alphabet characters.
1575
1576
When I imported the lightning effects for Iku Nagae (MAP31), I ended up importing
1577
several different lightning colors, so I decided I should find a use for the others.
1578
1579
This map is pretty attrition heavy. The initial megasphere has to survive all the way to halfway.
1580
At least on Lunatic. It's more forgiving on easier difficulties.
1581
1582
I really didn't know what to do with this map for the longest time.
1583
I've always found drawing the map layout to be the hardest part of mapping.
1584
1585
It can be annoying sometimes, but I also like the verticality of this map.
1586
1587
In the end, the visual effect of the lightning helps carry the fact that, really, in the end,
1588
it's just a linear series of fights against Danmaku demons. I also introduce the rest of the
1589
custom monsters here: The Guardian Cube, and the Suicide Bomber, and two others.
1590
1591
I actually designed this map AFTER I made MAP23.
1592
---------------------------------------
1593
SECRET CHALLENGE II 'Become The Hunted'
1594
---------------------------------------
1595
There's a switch in the lava very close to where you start.
1596
1597
I wanted a challenge with Archviles. Lots of Archviles.
1598-
--------------------
1598+
1599-
SECRET CHALLENGE III
1599+
The name is taken from the soundtrack of Plutonia 2's MAP11: Arch-Violence.
1600-
--------------------
1600+
1601
[ BOSS: Danmaku Daedabus X 5 ]
1602
Music:
1603
"Go to Blazes!", from Raiden IV
1604-
This challenge is a reference to a secret map from DUMP 3, called "The Best Map", by
1604+
1605
------------------------------
1606
Not a terribly special fight, but it's an introduction to a new monster.
1607
1608
Really nothing special.
1609
-----------------------------------
1610
[ BOSS: Danmaku Bruiser Demon X 3 ]
1611
Music:
1612
"Metal Storm", from Raiden IV
1613
originally from Raiden II. Boss theme.
1614
-----------------------------------
1615
This thing is a bit more special. The Bruiser Demon is a custom boss monster
1616
that's been featured in a few different wads. Since I knew I needed some custom
1617
monsters, I wanted to, in the vein of the vanilla danmaku demons, make custom
1618
danmaku demons that were based off known custom monsters. The bruiser demon was,
1619
in retrospect, a fairly obvious choice, because it's flashy as hell to start with,
1620
and I could REALLY go places with the thing. Which I did.
1621
1622
Also, I really like Metal Storm. It's a cool theme.
1623
1624
=======================================
1625
[ MAP23: Trial of the Masked Hawfinch ]
1626
Music:
1627
"Faith", from Ikaruga. Stage 3 theme.
1628
---------------------------------------
1629
There's a mouthful of a name.
1630
1631
For those out of the loop, 'Ikaruga' is the name for the Japanese grosbeak, a species of bird.
1632
The Japanese grosbeak is, by another name, called the "Masked Hawfinch".
1633
1634
Ikaruga is a very notable and pretty well known bullet hell game, so yeah.
1635
1636
As for the Doom side, this map was inspired by three different maps:
1637
-Speed of Doom MAP27: Hais Temple
1638
-Deus Vult II's MAP12: Minas Morgul
1639
-And a third map I'll reveal later.
1640
Both of the first two are excellent wads, which is why I drew inspiration from them.
1641
1642
I actually referenced Ikaruga itself through the map - the map is VERY visually distinct,
1643
with it being split down the middle into a red half and blue half. The map itself is, uh,
1644-
SECRET CHALLENGE IV
1644+
1645
level works FOR it rather than against it. It's one of the ways I got better at mapping:
1646
I learned to analyze my weaknesses and make scenarios where they aren't weaknesses.
1647
1648
The big hallway fight is a reference to Deus Vult II's MAP12, as mentioned above.
1649
It's not really that hard. Just keep pumping rockets into the horde and eventually
1650
all of the monsters will die.
1651
1652
The Archvile trap at the end of the hallway is one of my favourite moments in this map.
1653
The thing is, with vanilla monsters, this would be instant death - you can't dodge viles.
1654
But with danmaku demons, you can run backwards and survive - though, watch for resurrections.
1655
1656
The layout itself is more Speed of Doom's MAP27, with the key split.
1657
1658
As you could guess, you need to grab two keys: Red and Blue keys.
1659
After you grab the first one, the Cyberdemon appears in the center connecting room.
1660
I did this because I wanted to let the player know that the former boss monsters are
1661
now entirely fair game for me to use. In fact, there's two bruiser demons and a couple
1662
daedabi - monsters that were literally boss monsters one map ago! The second cyberdemon,
1663
of course, is easier than the first, owing to the fact that you have a plasma rifle. 
1664
There's also 20 lost souls accompanying it, referencing Doom's E2M8: Tower of Babel.
1665
1666
This is one of my personal favourite maps from the Episode. It works really nicely.
1667
1668
After activating both key switches, you'll get into a fight with 12 Danmaku Barons.
1669
If you know the third reference map, then you'll guess what the boss is.
1670
-----------------------------------------
1671
SECRET CHALLENGE III 'The Best Challenge'
1672
-----------------------------------------
1673
At the very start of the level, turn around. The wall behind you is a door. Open it.
1674
There's a teleporter inside the room behind you. Enter it to begin the challenge.
1675
1676
This challenge (and the name) is a reference to a secret map from DUMP 3, called "The Best Map", by
1677
TerminusEst13. It's a bunch of zombiemen shooting at you while you go back and forth
1678
pressing switches. So that's what this is, but instead it's now danmaku zombiemen.
1679
---------------------------------------
1680
[ BOSS: Danmaku Spider Mastermind X 2 ]
1681
Music:
1682
"Butsutekkai", from Ikaruga. Boss theme.
1683
---------------------------------------
1684
The big enemy is approaching at full throttle.
1685
According to the data, it is known as "SPIDER MASTERMIND"
1686
NO REFUGE
1687
1688
If the danmaku cyberdemon was a thing, of COURSE this will also be a thing.
1689
1690
The third reference map was PSX Doom's Redemption Denied, where you fight 12 Barons,
1691
followed by fighting TWO Spider Masterminds at once. Replicating that here, you must
1692
fight two danmaku masterminds at once as their introduction. Except, unlike vanilla
1693
masterminds, these things don't infight. Have fun!
1694
1695
The main reason I used the Masterminds in this map and not MAP22 is that they actually
1696
FIT in this map. Those things are giant and they get stuck EVERYWHERE. It's a pain, really.
1697
1698
=====================
1699
[ MAP24: Levi Sense ]
1700
---------------------
1701
Choose, and choose wisely.
1702
1703
Both of next maps are gimmick maps, so I decided to be nice and let the player
1704
decide which challenge to tackle. One of the things I did was that I made the
1705
path to each teleporter give a short preview of what the map behind it will be like.
1706
1707
The Red teleporter gives you a chainsaw and berserk to take out some weaker demons.
1708
1709
The Blue teleporter surrounds you with a trap that requires some quick reflexes to get out of.
1710
1711
Both this map and the two maps they lead to are references to Mushihimesama, a legendarily 
1712
difficult shmup, and also where the name "Ultra" comes from in the difficulty select screen.
1713
1714
The name is from Mushihimesama's OST. It's the boss theme, though it's not used in this map.
1715
--------------------------------------
1716
SECRET CHALLENGE IV 'Cybernetic Dream'
1717
--------------------------------------
1718
I didn't want to put secret challenge 4 in both maps, so it's here instead.
1719
1720
To get to it, just walk backwards off the platform. There's a teleporter there.
1721
If you land on it, you get teleported to a chamber with 12 cyberdemons in it.
1722
1723
This challenge is a reference to an old wad called cyberdreams, which is about
1724
dodging large numbers of cyberdemons at the player while killing them in ways
1725
that don't involve shooting them. It gets pretty crazy at times.
1726
1727
'Cyberdreams' is also where the name comes from.
1728
1729
This is the first challenge to truly require some luck to survive, though,
1730
you can come up with some strategies to make it a lot more consistent.
1731
If the AI's out for you, though, you ain't getting this.
1732
1733
Thankfully, it's short, so repeated attempts don't take much time.
1734
1735
=======================================
1736
[ MAP33: Walking on the Land of Flame ]
1737
Music:
1738
"Walking on the Land of Flame", Mushihimesama. Stage 3 theme.
1739
---------------------------------------
1740
"WHY IS THERE A TYSON MAP IN THIS?!" - most Doom wad veterans, probably.
1741
1742
A number of doom wads like to have ONE obligatory map that revolves around punching things.
1743
1744
I decided to make one. It's a simple series of fights, but getting close to danmaku demons
1745
is, uh, slightly difficult under most circumstances. It's pretty nuts, and I ended up toning
1746
this down several times. 75 monsters, and it might STILL be one of the hardest maps in the wad.
1747
Monster count is absolutely not everything here!
1748
1749
Tip of advice: You do not need to clear out the monsters on the long black and white platform.
1750
For many (arguably most) players, killing the hell nobles is more trouble than it's worth.
1751
1752
After getting past the tyson section, it then abruptly transitions to a high-tier weapons.
1753
You even get the BFG 9000, and then fight two cyberdemons at once, because yeah.
1754
-------------------------------
1755
[ BOSS: Danmaku Cybruiser X 4 ]
1756
Music:
1757
"Levi Sense", from Mushihimesama. Boss theme.
1758
-------------------------------
1759
Basically a weaker version of the Danmaku Cyberdemon.
1760
1761
These things are very versatile monsters. They have a LOT of different attacks, and often enough
1762
these things get placed in groups of up to four, making them a pretty fearsome opponent if you
1763
aren't being careful, since you can find yourself taking a lot of damage if you get careless.
1764
1765
Even with a BFG, these things have enough health that it's hard to kill them fast enough
1766
to avoid having to take cover. There's not a lot of space to dodge all four of them.
1767
1768
========================================
1769
[ MAP34: Like a Night of Falling Stars ]
1770
Music:
1771
"Like a Night of Falling Stars", from Mushihimesama. Stage 4 theme.
1772
----------------------------------------
1773
"It was lazy design this time." - Untitled (a.k.a. me, the designer of Touhou Doom)
1774
1775
I mentioned in Koishi's boss fight that the original Touhou Doom copied a map from Free Doom.
1776
1777
This was my way of mocking it while also turning that joke into something very different.
1778
1779
What do I mean? Well, this map is only *sort of* original. It's, of course, my map, but...
1780
It's my map from another project. The original map is called 'Dimensional Accelerator',
1781
and it's featured in the 3rd Doom Upstart Mapping Project, a.k.a. DUMP 3.
1782
I consider the original to be one of my best standard Doom maps I've ever made.
1783
Then again, I haven't made very many.
1784
1785
The "It was lazy design this time" is making fun of my map quote from DUMP 3,
1786
which states: "Creative idea or lazy design? You decide!"
1787
1788
Since I copied the map from DUMP 3, so obviously it was lazy design in this case.
1789
1790
The Spider Mastermind in this map is the only solo mastermind in the entire wad.
1791-
SECRET CHALLENGE V
1791+
1792
Of course, to add a twist to things, I made three major changes to the map.
1793
1794
The first is that I replaced all the standard demons with danmaku demons.
1795
The second is that you get Touhou Weapons for this. Hakkero Fire is finally useful!
1796
The third is that the last fight is, well...
1797
-------------------------------
1798
[ BOSS: Danmaku Cybruiser X 4 ]
1799
Music:
1800
"Levi Sense", from Mushihimesama. Boss theme.
1801
-------------------------------
1802
Yep, it's the same boss monster.
1803
1804
Only this time there's no BFG.
1805
1806
Good luck.
1807
1808
================================
1809
[ MAP25: A Most Blissful Death ]
1810
Music:
1811
"Taidou (Grieving Womb)", from DoDonPachi DaiOuJou. Stage 5 theme.
1812
--------------------------------
1813
The name comes from the translation of "DaiOuJou". A fitting name, I feel. Also, because
1814
I had to refernce DoDonPachi. It might be the most legendary Bullet Hell series of all time.
1815
DoDonPachi is arguably the reason that the genre of danmaku games even exists.
1816
1817
This is inspired by the following Doom maps:
1818
-DTS-T MAP29: Seven
1819
-Scythe II MAP28: Nightmare
1820
-Deus Vult II MAP23: Hell's Vendetta
1821
-Survive in Hell MAP30: Crowning Glory
1822
-A few limit slaughtermaps from Stronghold
1823
1824
If you look at the list of inspirations, four out of the five of those were slaughtermaps.
1825
That, combined with the initial monster count being well over a thousand, should tell you
1826
what kind of map you're about to play. It's a danmaku slaughtermap. And it is glorious.
1827
Besides, the BFG 9000 could really use a featured moment. It's an awesome weapon, and it 
1828
really should see at least ONE moment where it's the important weapon in your arsenal.
1829
1830
The layout is pretty simple; you need six keys to progress; 2 blue, 2 red, and 2 yellow.
1831
1832
The keycards are all based on boss fights:
1833
1834
Yellow Keycard: 4 Cyberdemons
1835
	The cyberdemon, in ordinary circumstances, is a boss monster that is generally rare.
1836
	So when a wad throws multiple cyberdemons at once, it's a clear sign that, in fact,
1837
	you are in a slaughtermap. It's not too hard though.
1838
Blue Keycard: 4 Bruiser Demons + 4 Cybruisers
1839
	This is where the BFG can REALLY shine. The enemies spawn one at a time here, so
1840
	if you're fast, you can kill every enemy before the next one spawns.
1841
	This is the intended strategy, so good luck if you let them all spawn at once.
1842
Red Keycard: 4 Spider Masterminds
1843
	I didn't really have a plan for this one. I just knew I wanted a battle with
1844
	four spider masterminds, because of the previous two keycard fights.
1845
1846
The skull keys are based on various slaughter fights.
1847
1848
Yellow Skull: Chaingunners + Revenants + Pain Elementals, referencing DTS-T MAP29's 'Wrath'.
1849
	I like this one, because the normal versions of those monsters are incredibly
1850
	ANNOYING things that drive players nuts. However, the danmaku versions, while
1851
	throwing more firepower around, are not as annoying. They're consistent.
1852
Blue Skull: Based on Deus Vult II MAP23's blue skull key room.
1853
	Like most of the skull key fights, you'll want to switch from Rocket Launcher to BFG.
1854
	I don't have much to say about this, it's just a long teleporter trap that really
1855
	showcases a lot of the danmaku demons.
1856
Red Skull: Based on Stronghold's love of occasional mass suicide bomber waves.
1857
	I had to do it. I mean, I had to. I can't have screaming suicide bombers and then
1858
	not use them in a giant mass at least once. Here, I'll summarize the experience:
1859
	AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
1860
1861
I really wanted a proper slaughtermap for the wad.
1862
1863
The slaughter helps distract from the segments that aren't as detailed.
1864
----------------------------
1865
SECRET CHALLENGE V 'Kamilia'
1866
Music:
1867
"Toa (East Asia)", from DoDonPachi DaiOuJou. Stage 1 theme. Used for all secret challenges.
1868
----------------------------
1869
To access: At the very beginning of the map, enter the gate from the other side.
1870
1871
This challenge is a reference to an entirely different genre of absurdly hardcore games:
1872
I Wanna Be The Guy Fangames. One of these, I Wanna Kill The Kamilia 3 (abbreviated to KK3),
1873
had secret challenges. That game is what inspired me to do these secret challenges.
1874
1875
This is a giant reference to the infamous incredibly stupidly difficult Secret 5 from KK3.
1876
1877
It's kind of absurd, really. I can only promise you that it IS actually possible on Lunatic.
1878
On average it takes me a couple dozen attempts before I get a successful run of it.
1879
1880
Also, KK3 is why I used 'Toa' as the secret challenge theme. It used it there, too, so actually,
1881
KK3 veterans might suspect I was going to pull a Secret 5 even before seeing, well, Secret 5.
1882
1883
However, this map is where you can discover the rewards for doing the secret challenges:
1884
When you start the map for real, the map opens with you getting ten system cards:
1885
Eight Spirit Barriers and Two Life Regenerators.
1886
1887
However, for each secret challenge you complete, two of those system cards are replaced
1888
with full-blown powerful spellcards that wipe out tons of demons with one cast.
1889
1890
Complete all five challenges? You get TEN different full-blown spellcards.
1891
1892
You may need them, though:
1893
------------------
1894
[ BOSS: The Core ]
1895
Music:
1896
"Ouryuu (Yellow Stream)", from DoDonPachi DaiOuJou. Normal Final boss theme.
1897
------------------
1898
I knew, when I pulled that twist in MAP19, at the end of Reimu's fight, that eventually
1899
Reimu was going to come back. Only this time, she'd come back as a friend instead of a foe.
1900
1901
If you thought enemy Reimu was crazy, you should meet ally Reimu. She's even more powerful.
1902
1903
I really hate it when games allow a former enemy to be on the player's side...but then make 
1904
said former enemy WAY weaker than they were as an enemy. Reimu is a player character, dammit!
1905
1906
So I made her VERY powerful. The only reason why she can't solo the fight is that it's, well...
1907
1908
The Core is an Icon of Sin fight. That means that it spawns monsters infinitely until you kill it.
1909
In this iteration, it spawns monsters VERY fast. Especially on Lunatic mode. However, Reimu will 
1910
kill those monsters pretty fast as well. It gets very chaotic because of the nature of this.
1911
1912
The 5 switches ensure that the player has to move around a fair bit. Reimu won't hit those for you.
1913
1914
After activating the switches, the core is left vulnerable. It's technically not a monster,
1915
so Reimu will never target it for you. You gotta do that yourself. However, it's exposed
1916
to the open, which means you can BFG it in melee range to kill it fairly quickly.
1917
1918
What happens next depends on how many secret challenges you've completed:
1919
2 or less: The map ends here.
1920
3 or more:
1921
------------------------------
1922
[ BOSS: Danmaku Arachnophyte ]
1923
Music:
1924
"Death Label 95-97-02", by (mostly Touhou) doujin circle COOL&CREATE.
1925
Original tracks are from Donpachi, Dodonpachi, and Dondonpachi Daioujou. All Boss themes.
1926-
The boss will randomly pick the first two cards out of a bag of fourteen different cards;
1926+
1927-
two of them from Episode I, six from Episode II, and another six from Episode III.
1927+
1928-
And there's a 100% that you've seen the cards before. No optional ones were included.
1928+
1929
This thing is a flying version of the danmaku spider mastermind.
1930
1931
Except it has some deadlier attacks, and can't be interrupted mid-attack at all.
1932
1933
Also, this variant is scripted to Teleport, with the frequency increasing 
1934
depending on how much health it has left. Oh, and it's much more aggressive, 
1935
moving faster and attacking near-constantly, because why the hell not. It's a bonus boss.
1936
1937
What happens after this boss depends on how many secret challenges you've completed:
1938
3: The map ends here.
1939
4 or more:
1940
------------------------------
1941
[ BOSS: Danmaku Annihilator* ]
1942
*: There are two of them if you have completed all 5 challenges.
1943
------------------------------
1944
The Danmaku Cyberdemon needed a second arm cannon.
1945
1946
"No, it didn't!", you might say.
1947
1948
You'd be right, in a sane world.
1949
1950
This is not a sane world.
1951
1952
=====================================
1953
[ MAP26: Truth of the Warp Facility ]
1954
Music:
1955
"Here we are!", Undertale.
1956
"Core", Undertale.
1957
-------------------------------------
1958
And now for something completely different. Again.
1959
1960
Quote from the MAP01 description:
1961
"The other thing was that making the map better allowed me to setup a neat twist later on."
1962
1963
This was the later twist. MAP26's twist was to replay this map all over again, but...
1964
1965
The Fairy specimens would refuse their capture. The demons don't stand a chance.
1966
1967
Designing this map was very hard, because it represented the first time that I needed
1968
to scale back and make something more typically Doom-like: A Tech-base level. Unfortunately,
1969
I have no experience in making techbases, and I think it unfortunately shows. With that in mind,
1970
the more you map, the better you get at mapping, so any aspiring map makers reading this:
1971
Don't give up! Keep trying, and you'll make something fun.
1972
1973
This map is interesting in that it really shows why so many maps in Touhou Doom are
1974
made to be incredibly wide-open; this map is a lot of tight corridors found, in, well,
1975
more actually typical Doom wads. But the fairies are Danmaku enemies through and through -
1976
thus the contrast, as you have to dodge very dense attacks with VERY little room.
1977
1978
As a result, it's arguably one of the hardest maps in the wad.
1979
1980
And that's just getting started. Halfway through, you get the Danmaku Weapons back.
1981
1982
The 2nd half is where things get crazy. I didn't even pretend to be fair about this.
1983
The fight immediately after the music change is designed to be near unwinnable.
1984
You really should just run away from it, because you'll just get yourself killed otherwise.
1985
1986
If you want to UV-Max this (er, Lunatic Max), good luck, you WILL need it.
1987
Or have unbelievably good tactics for dealing with the fairies. Either works.
1988
1989
Because it's time to fight another Danmaku boss.
1990
-------------
1991
[ BOSS: ??? ]
1992
Music:
1993
"Battle Against a True Hero!", Undertale
1994
-------------
1995
This song was the reason I chose to reference Undertale. It's basically already a Touhou song.
1996
In addition to that, the map IS actually a large underground lab, like the True lab from Undertale.
1997
But mostly, it was this song.
1998
1999
The boss in question is basically "What if Patchouli's Gimmick met Satori's gimmick?"
2000
The boss will randomly pick the first two cards out of a bag of sixteen different cards;
2001
eight from Episode II, and another eight from Episode III. 
2002
2003
There's a 100% that you've seen the cards before. No optional ones were included.
2004
2005
Of course, that's the spellcards. The boss has noncards, too. Unfortunately for you,
2006
said noncards are a reference to Scythe II's evil marines. Welcome to Danmaku Deathmatch.
2007
2008
This lasts until you beat the second card; the boss then reveals itself more truly.
2009
2010
The third spellcard is a random pick from one of four patterns.
2011
The fourth spellcard is also a random pick from one of four patterns.
2012
2013
If you are on any difficulty aside from Easy, the last card is a timeout.
2014
Unlike the others, it is not a random pick from one of multiple patterns.
2015
2016
Designing this boss was an interesting experience, because it was the first truly original
2017
Boss I had made for Touhou Doom. I had to really think about what I wanted to accomplish with
2018
this boss slot, especially given it's the second last true boss, before the final boss fight.
2019
2020
It was honestly quite challenging. I had a lot of issues balancing this thing.
2021
Ah, well, such is the nature of RNG; it can be a real pain sometimes.
2022
2023
V1.2 Update: So originally the first two cards were picked from a bag of fourteen cards:
2024
two from Episode I, six from Episode II, and another six from Episode III. But I realized that
2025
Satori already re-collected Episode I cards, so the gimmick would be less effective.
2026
So, as of now, the first card is a recollection of a card from Episode II,
2027
and now the second card is a recollection of a card from Episode III.
2028
2029
=========================================
2030
[ MAP27: Western Apocalypse in the East ]
2031
-----------------------------------------
2032
Just when I thought MAP18 and MAP25 were crazy. We've seen nothing yet.
2033
2034
In the end, I knew that I wanted to make an All-out Gensokyo VS. Hell showdown.
2035
2036
And then I went ahead and did exactly that. Sort of.
2037
2038
So, originally I wanted all five segments of MAP27 to be one map.
2039
2040
However, it inevitably became unplayably laggy, even on my personal computer,
2041
(which is very strong by community standards), so that wasn't going to happen.
2042
------------------------------------------
2043
[ MAP27A: Western Apocalypse in the East ]
2044
Music:
2045
"Septette for the Dead Princess", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody.
2046
------------------------------------------
2047
Welcome back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion!
2048
2049
Helping you clear out the mess are former bosses Patchouli, Sakuya, and Remilia.
2050
2051
Much like with Reimu, I wanted to show off that they aren't just bosses.
2052
As a result, they're still pretty lethal. And they can use spellcards.
2053
Hey, at least Sakuya doesn't freeze time when she's your ally.
2054
2055
While the monster density is very high, your allies kill very fast.
2056
2057
And so do you, to be honest.
2058
2059
Oh, and there's a Danmaku Annihilator. It shouldn't be an issue.
2060
------------------------------------------
2061
[ MAP27B: Western Apocalypse in the East ]
2062
Music:
2063
"Faith is for Transient People", from Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith
2064
------------------------------------------
2065
And now we're back to the Moriya Shrine.
2066
2067
Aiding you at this location is Sanae, Iku, and Tenshi.
2068
2069
Weirdly enough, when you think about it, if you've only played through Episode III once,
2070
then either one or two of the bosses here are characters you haven't seen before.
2071
Which is kind of neat, IMO, it really notes that most characters aren't villains.
2072
Even if Tenshi is helping you out more out pure boredom than benevolence.
2073
2074
The scene where all of the Cacodemons fly up from below the clouds was a scene I had planned
2075
from a long time ago. I knew, when I was working on the concept of the Gensokyo VS. Hell map,
2076
that I really wanted to have this visual effect of seeing the cacodemons suddenly fly up from
2077
all around the mountain. It's pretty crazy.
2078
2079
Amongst the flyers is a Danmaku Arachnophyte. Kill it to proceed.
2080
------------------------------------------
2081
[ MAP27C: Western Apocalypse in the East ]
2082
Music:
2083
"Magus Night", from Touhou 12.8: Fairy Wars
2084
------------------------------------------
2085
Forest of Magic, round two. Only this time there's way more demons...
2086
2087
And way more powerful allies. Youmu, Yuyuko, Alice, and Marisa all join in the fun.
2088
2089
Alice continually summons more dolls, and Marisa packs kind of absurd firepower.
2090
Master Spark is no joke. Also, fun fact: If you stand directly in the path of
2091
Marisa's giant laser when it fires, that actually kills you, even though you're
2092
mostly immune to ally fire of all sorts.
2093
2094
The forest is a very large map, which is why I through a LOT more monsters here.
2095
MAP25 is absolutely put to shame by this. I throw, what, twenty cyberdemons here?
2096
It's absolutely nuts. Kill them all to proceed.
2097
------------------------------------------
2098
[ MAP27D: Western Apocalypse in the East ]
2099
Music:
2100
"Mystic Oriental Love Consultation", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
2101
------------------------------------------
2102
And now, we finally loop back around to the Hakurei Shrine. Because of course we do.
2103
2104
The Hakurei Shrine battle has Suika, and, of course, Reimu, for your allies.
2105
2106
To iterate again on how powerful ally Reimu is: It takes concentrated hell nobles,
2107
and some advanced ones at that, to keep her from slaughtering them all trivially.
2108
Also, fun fact: This is the only map to use Danmaku Belphegors...which are literally
2109
just recolored Barons. They aren't anything special at all.
2110
2111
The segment where every previous ally character comes back is completely free.
2112
Which is good, because I'm not convinced that runs at a playable framerate most people.
2113
2114
This was going to be much crazier, but framerate drops were sadly common, so
2115
I took out a lot of monsters from this to make it barely playable for people.
2116
2117
And after that, the final invasion has been foiled very spectacularly.
2118
-------------------------
2119
[ MAP27 General Remarks ]
2120
-------------------------
2121
In general, this was one of the easier maps (well, 5 maps) to make,
2122
but mostly for the obvious reason that I got to reuse a LOT of map geometry.
2123
2124
======================================
2125
[ MAP28: The One who Opens the Gates ]
2126
Music:
2127
"Into Backdoor", from Touhou 16: Into Backdoor
2128
--------------------------------------
2129
Whoa, back into shmup land.
2130
2131
I kind of wanted a throwaway stage akin to the first two Episodes, but at the same time,
2132
I didn't want the last proper stage segment to be completely forgettable. So I decided
2133
to bring back a gimmick some people may have missed from Episode III; namely because said
2134
gimmick was an extra stage exclusive. The stage is thankfully short, though, so if you
2135
don't like it, you only have to survive a minute or so.
2136
2137
Abstract space maps are fun because you don't have to detail as much for it to look nice.
2138
2139
With that out of the way:
2140
------------------------
2141
[ BOSS: Mephistopheles ]
2142
Music:
2143
"Unknown X ~ Unfound Adventure", from Touhou 12.3: Touhou Hisoutensoku
2144
"X, the Floating Objects in the Sky", from Touhou 12.3: Touhou Hisoutensoku
2145
------------------------
2146
So here we are, at the final boss. Man, was this one HELL of a journey (sorry).
2147
2148
Mephistopheles has actually been in another project, formerly of mine: SamsaraHold.
2149
Though, his boss fight there is VERY different. Also, the project is very different.
2150
2151
Like Reimu, I wanted his nonspells to depict something atypical of a Touhou-style boss.
2152
However, unlike Reimu, who's trying to be a player character, Mephistopheles is trying
2153
to be a VERY advanced Doom monster. So his abilities are ones typical of custom doom bosses:
2154
Teleportation and summoning large numbers of monsters. While also having extra danmaku.
2155
The whole 'teleporting' schtick was basically entirely from SamsaraHold, though in here
2156
it's arguably much more deadly. No running away from Mephistopheles.
2157
2158
So, if you aren't really into Touhou, you might not know this, but Touhou spellcards are
2159
generally VERY versed into various forms of mythology. Most of it is East Asian mythology,
2160
but if you look most spellcard lists on the Touhou wiki (en.touhouwiki.net), you'll see a
2161
LOT of footnotes on spellcards, because there's a lot of references to be made.
2162
2163
The thematic being based on the Four horsemen of the apocalypse was planned for a while.
2164
I knew, because I was going to make my own boss for this, I wanted to reference some actual
2165
mythology instead of just doing abstract fire based spells. I had a lot of fun designing this.
2166
2167
His first four spellcards are based on the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
2168
The Fifth and Sixth are a mix of all four of them, but in different ways.
2169
2170
The fight is also somewhat a reference to Touhou 12.3's Sanae vs. Suwako story battle.
2171
Namely, in that it ends with a timed segment where you have between 60 and 90 seconds
2172
(90/80/70/60 seconds on Easy/Normal/Hard/Lunatic) to defeat it. It even uses the same music.
2173
If you fail, then you die because the arena smashes into the ground with you still on it.
2174
2175
We're almost done here...
2176
2177
=================================
2178
[ MAP29: Decisive Determination ]
2179
---------------------------------
2180
Title is a reference to Ketsui, another legendary shmup by CAVE, who
2181
also made Mushihimesama and DoDonPachi. That company is a legend to shmup fans.
2182
2183
I knew that I wanted THIS extra boss to be very different from previous bosses.
2184
Mostly because all four extra bosses all occupy their own style.
2185
They're unique, and I actually like keeping it that way.
2186
2187
I spent a month, I think, stuck on this one map, because I knew what I wanted to do:
2188
Make a "Nine layers of Hell" themed boss. Since an Extra boss needs 10 spellcards, that's
2189
90% of the fight there if I could design it that way. And it was, but designing it was hard.
2190
------------------------
2191
[ BOSS: Mephistopheles ]
2192
Music:
2193
"Pandemonic Planet", from Touhou 15: Legacy of Lunatic Kindgom
2194
------------------------
2195
Touhou 15's OST needed more love. It's good.
2196
2197
Extra Mephistopheles is based off the Pyrodemon, another known custom monster.
2198
He's a bit hotter this time around than he was the last fight.
2199
2200
This boss in unique in that the arena is part of the fight itself,
2201
for every single segment of the fight. This is very intentional,
2202
as the first nine spellcards are all refences to Dante's inferno
2203
and the nine layers of Hell involved. It's seriously crazy that I finished this.
2204
2205
Limbo is a bit weird, but I wanted to depict the 'being lost' as best I could,
2206
while still making an arena you'd have to fight Mephistopheles in.
2207
2208
Lust is lulzy, but I wanted to depict the endless storm of which souls are blown around in.
2209
2210
Gluttony, similarly, though DTS-T MAP29 helped come up with the gimmick for the gameplay:
2211
BOMB, BOMB LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW!!!!!
2212
2213
The spell category 'Death Circle' (as opposed to fourth circle) is a common Japanese joke.
2214
Because 'shi' is the pronounciation for both 'four' and 'death'. Even though this mod is not,
2215
in fact, in Japanese, in any way, shape, or form, and probably never will be.
2216
2217
Greed is also somewhat referencial to DTS-T's greed segment, where the pickups kill you.
2218
The killer megasphere is a reference to a Touhou fan project called "Unreasonable Mechanism",
2219
which had a evil killer seeking 1-up. This megasphere's out for your blood, so run away!
2220
2221
Anger, also known as Wrath, was pretty easy: just a chaotic slaughter mess.
2222
Revenants are loud, so they're good. So are suicide bombers. Add Archviles for flavour.
2223
----------------------------------
2224
[ MAP29A: Decisive Determination ]
2225
[ BOSS: Mephistopheles ]
2226
Music:
2227
"Hidden Star in All Seasons", from Touhou 16: Hidden Star in Four Seasons
2228
----------------------------------
2229
Touhou 16's OST also needed more love. I really like it.
2230
2231
I ended up having to ALSO split MAP29 because it did not like my framerate.
2232
I don't really know why, I always would just start lagging when I got to Heresy.
2233
2234
Heresy within Dis: This one isn't a Dante's inferno reference as much as it's me
2235
ripping E3M8 directly from the original Doom, as the city of Dis was the sixth circle.
2236
Then I referenced Hell Revealed 2 and made you fight four masterminds instead of one.
2237
Because of course I did that. I really stopped being nice a while ago.
2238
2239
The 7th and 8th circles were by FAR the hardest things to design.
2240
Violence is a pretty typical chaotic slaughtermap, but otherwise, it's just...
2241
kind of lacking? There's really nothing that sets that circle apart.
2242
2243
Malebolge, the 8th circle, and Hell of the fraudulent, suffers from the opposite problem:
2244
It's gimmick is way too overbearing, and it's VERY non-intuitive. Really, who thinks to
2245
jump down into the dark, lethal looking pit? Especially since most pits in my maps are, uh,
2246
instantly lethal. Though, I guess the pits being occupied with spectres helps make that clearer.
2247
In general, I tried arguably too hard to make the circle actually have the design of Malebolge,
2248
with the trenches and the demons inside of them. You can get out of the trenches, of course.
2249
2250
Cocytus, the 9th circle, and the circle of traitors, is, like always, a timeout card.
2251
I wanted to depict Treason by having your allies come back to haunt you. You can kill them.
2252
And you should, because the card can get very messy very quickly if you don't handle it right.
2253
2254
I knew that I wanted to have the ice shatter when Mephistopheles re-appeared for the finale.
2255
I actually looked up online what it looks like when ice cracks from a sharp impact to make
2256
the patterns that open up look more authentic, because I'm a nerd in very weird ways, apparently.
2257
The last card is a re-make of another from Touhou 15, called "A Pristine Danmaku Hell".
2258
I renamed it to "INFERNO!", which is the name of Doom's Episode 3. It's a pretty basic
2259
read-and-dodge-everything card, with no real tricks. Hopefully you have enough health left.
2260
Or enough spellcards. Either one works.
2261
2262
Now, remember the secret challenge thing from MAP21 to MAP25? That comes back again.
2263
If you've collected all five, something weird happens: The last teleporter, rather than 
2264
ending the level, takes you to another room, with a blue and red teleporter.
2265
2266
There's one more optional fight. Take the red teleporter to face...
2267
--------------
2268
[ BOSS: DOOM ]
2269
Music:
2270
"No Remorse", from Ketsui. True Final Boss theme.
2271
--------------
2272
...Your DOOM!
2273
2274
(I am not sorry.)
2275
2276
It's common in non-Touhou Danmaku games to have a stupidly difficult secret final boss
2277
if you have met some obscene set of requirements up until that point of the game.
2278
2279
Ketsui's true final boss, DOOM, requires you beat the entire first loop of the game
2280
with no bombs and no deaths. It's hilarious, really.
2281
2282
So, I decided that, because it's literally named DOOM, I had to implement it,
2283
hidden behind a similarly ridiculous mechanic that makes it impossible to see it.
2284
2285
DOOM's last phase is completely a joke. You better have enough bombs.
2286
You ain't dodging it legit. I can't dodge it, and I implemented the pattern!
2287
2288
Literally, this boss is ripped, attack for attack, from Ketsui.
2289
And yes, it was one of those ridiculous true final bosses, from
2290
what was already one of the hardest danmaku games ever made.
2291
2292
============================
2293
EPISODE IV OVERALL THOUGHTS:
2294
On a mapping front, this is probably objectively the best Episode in the wad.
2295
On a Touhou front, this is probably objectively the worst Episode in the wad.
2296
It's so completely different from its predecessors that I was half-tempted to
2297
just end Touhou Doom at Episode III. But I decided to finish it anyway.
2298
2299
Besides, if you were disappointed that there wasn't enough Touhou in the end...
2300
============================
2301
2302
+------------------------+
2303
< EPISODE V: EXTRA STORY >
2304
+------------------------+
2305
2306
--------------------------------------------
2307
[ MAP30: Extra Story: Hakurei Shrine Party ]
2308
--------------------------------------------
2309
...Then you've got this thing.
2310
2311
The map itself is nothing special.
2312
It's just the same Hakurei Shrine you've seen three times before.
2313
2314
But I decided I wanted to make some more Touhou-themed bosses.
2315
2316
Some more extra-difficult Touhou themed bosses.
2317
2318
Why? Because I had fun making them. I made them mostly for myself,
2319
so they may be slightly completely unreasonably difficult.
2320
2321
V1.2: So you don't get essentially infinite bombs anymore unless you're on Easy Mode.
2322
--------------------------
2323
[ BOSS: Yuyuko Saigyouji ]
2324
Music:
2325
"Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossom ~ Border of Life", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
2326
--------------------------
2327
First boss. Yuyuko's pretty easy, but she's way harder than most Stage 1 bosses.
2328
Consider this your warning as for how the rest of the map will go. It does not get easier.
2329
2330
I felt kind of bad about the MAP10 fight in that Yuyuko really didn't get much feature there.
2331
So I semi-corrected that by featuring two spellcards from her Final Boss battle from Touhou 7.
2332
2333
She's the first boss because she likes to show up before the plot actually starts properly.
2334
---------------------
2335
[ BOSS: Suika Ibuki ]
2336
Music:
2337
"Oni's Island in the Fairyland ~ Missing Power", from Touhou 7.5: Immaterial and Missing Power
2338
---------------------
2339
Really, this is just a shorter but crazier version of her normal fight.
2340
2341
It's mostly here because Suika starts the plot.
2342
-----------------------
2343
[ BOSS: Sanae Kochiya ]
2344
Music:
2345
"Faith is for Transient People", from Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith
2346
-----------------------
2347
Sanae's fight from Episode III was mostly a remake of spells from her Touhou 10 fight.
2348
2349
This is mostly a remake of spells from her Touhou 11 fight. Where she's the Extra Stage Midboss.
2350
2351
'Nine Syllable Stabs', her first card, was originally way worse. I toned it down significantly.
2352
It's still hard to read, sometimes. It can be lethal due to the nature of the beams.
2353
-----------------------
2354
[ BOSS: Sakuya Izayoi ]
2355
Music:
2356
"Flowering Night", from Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
2357
-----------------------
2358
So a little fun fact: If you spend enough time not dealing with a problem that
2359
you dealt with earlier, you can forget how hard the problem was the first time.
2360
2361
Because, no, the time freeze gimmicks were not really that much easier this time around.
2362
2363
I just was more used to it, but even still, Sakuya is annoying as all Hell in implementation.
2364
2365
I chose Sakuya as a returning boss mostly because the time freeze gimmicks have a LOT of
2366
different gimmicks you can accomplish with them. You can get very creative.
2367
It's pretty wild, and I like both of the new time stop cards.
2368
-----------------------
2369
[ BOSS: Youmu Konpaku ]
2370
Music:
2371
"Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When?", from Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom
2372
-----------------------
2373
Wanna know who got shafted even harder than Yuyuko did? Youmu Konpaku.
2374
She went from Stage 5 boss to stage 1 midboss. I knew that I wanted to rectify this.
2375
2376
This is the first seriously hard fight in the extra story, both to play AND to design.
2377
2378
The notable gimmick is that Youmu slows down time before attacks.
2379
2380
This engine is not good at that, so instead I chose to just simultaneously
2381
slow the player down and slow Youmu's bullets down, while making the screen go greyscale.
2382
It's a pretty effective visual gimmick.
2383
2384
Youmu really showed me how far I've come since I started. Back when I did Episode II,
2385
I wouldn't have been able to think up a solution for Youmu's gimmick at all.
2386
2387
And then I implemented her fight in like, two days. It was crazy.
2388
2389
It gets harder, though...
2390
-----------------------
2391
[ BOSS: Yukari Yakumo ]
2392
Music:
2393
"Night Falls ~ Evening Star", from Touhou 7.5: Immaterial and Missing Power
2394
-----------------------
2395
Here we go again.
2396
2397
Yukari *already* being an extra boss meant that I didn't really do that much for her.
2398
3/4 cards are basically reused from her Extra Stage boss fight, one of them upgraded.
2399
2400
'Chen and Ran Yakumo' was kind of funny, throwing out both at once with little warning.
2401
Despite how it looks, there is a strategy to it - you do have to have faith in being able
2402
to dodge both of them when you can't see one, because often they'll be on opposite sides.
2403
2404
'Yakumo's Nest' is basically super nine syllable stabs.
2405
I still have many difficulties with it, and it feels quite hard to me,
2406
though admittedly I don't die that often to it. Or to Yukari in general.
2407
2408
Knowing the patterns (because I designed them) often helps me dodge them better,
2409
so I'm not sure I'm an unbiased source when I say I don't die often to these cards.
2410
-------------------------
2411
[ BOSS: Marisa Kirisame ]
2412
Music:
2413
"Magus Night", from Touhou 12.8: Fairy Wars
2414
-------------------------
2415
Oh god, it's her again.
2416
2417
OH GOD, IT'S HER AGAIN.
2418
2419
I mean, of frickin' course we fight Marisa a second time. Only it's even MORE ridiculous!
2420
2421
Fun fact: only one spellcard in this fight is from Touhou canon.
2422-
Wow, this Post-Mortem is over 18K words. No wonder this took so long to finish.
2422+
2423
Her first card, 'Andromeda', is making fun of 'Milky Way'. It's faster. A lot faster.
2424
2425
Her second card, 'Galactic Cannibalism', is basically two different patterns at once, 
2426
hence the name. It's a very simple spellcard, but it manages to be surprisingly difficult.
2427
I had fun designing that one.
2428
2429
Her third card, 'Double Spark', is where things get comedic. Why limit yourself to one
2430
backup Hakkero at once? What's better than one master spark? How about TWO?
2431
Weirdly enough, despite the simplicity, this might be the hardest card in the fight.
2432
It's very easy to get caught off guard and walk into another spark you didn't know she had
2433
aimed in that position, since only one of the sparks is aimed directly at you.
2434
2435
Then we jump off the deep end with 'Chaingun Spark', which looks crazy, but you can circle it.
2436
Don't EVER stop moving against it, though - Marisa fires it every single second you're in line of sight.
2437
2438
'Super Shotgun Spark' self-destructs, which finally closes that joke about 'stability issues'
2439
that she makes in MAP27C. Which is good, because 20 master sparks at once is kind of silly.
2440
I kind of wanted to make Marisa have one last attack after you've beaten her, but instead
2441
I made the opposite: Her last attack prematurely self destructs and ends the fight early.
2442
2443
However, despite everything, even Marisa gets the hell outta dodge when...
2444
-----------------------
2445
[ BOSS: Reimu Hakurei ]
2446
Music:
2447
"Dream Express ~ Red and White", from Touhou Fangame Concealed the Conclusion.
2448
It is remixed from:
2449
"Dream Express", from Touhou 5: Mystic Square
2450
"Witching Dream", from Touhou 4: Lotus Land Story
2451
"Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Red and White", from Touhou Album Dolls in Pseudo Paradise,
2452
which itself is a remix of:
2453
"Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Ancients", from Seihou.
2454
-----------------------
2455
...Reimu shows up.
2456
2457
The reason I chose a fan theme for this fight because:
2458
	A: It's an awesome remix. It's from a seriously amazing fangame.
2459
	B: It's the theme for an even-harder-than-extra Reimu from that game.
2460
	C: Using this remix allows me to reference multiple themes at once.
2461
	D: It's an awesome remix.
2462
2463
As for the fight itself...
2464
2465
Remember how you didn't actually beat Reimu in MAP19?
2466
2467
She's back. And she's even harder this time.
2468
2469
Her noncards are basically the same, so that was easy.
2470
Four of her cards are simply re-hashes of cards from her first fight, so those were easy.
2471
The other four, in order:
2472
2473
'Exorcism'/'Disaster-Repelling Prayer' was pretty fast to create. It's simple, but it's elegant.
2474
2475
'Divine Spirit Orbs': This was not simple or elegant. Worth the effort though, it's pretty.
2476
2477
'Fantasy Seal -Circle': Why limit yourself to /one/ variant of Fantasy Seal at once?
2478
2479
'Hakurei Gravity Release Barrier': People in Touhou can canonically fly. I knew, for quite a while,
2480
that I wanted a flight based spellcard. Hence the creation of this spellcard.
2481
2482
'Fantasy Nature': YOU ARE ALREADY DEA-Oh wait, it's not that version of the spellcard.
2483
This card took A LOT of thinking like a programmer. There's a lot of jump trickery to avoid
2484
absurd amount of unnecessary states. It was clever. I really like the visual effect;
2485
admittedly it looks a lot scarier than it actually is. Make sure you keep moving.
2486
2487
'The Universe': From the same fangame that the theme used in this fight is from.
2488
Welcome to what is probably the densest card in the entire game. It's pure amulet spam,
2489
going from just red to eventually covering seven different colours.
2490
2491
The last spellcard is a complete joke. It's Reimu realizing that as a player, she can do
2492
what you, as the player, should do at this point: BOMB SPAM.
2493
2494
Literally, it's Reimu bomb-spamming because she realizes you're beating her.
2495
2496
Survive this last Hell of a card, and you win!
2497
=============================
2498
EXTRA STORY OVERALL THOUGHTS:
2499
This was fun. I did this mostly for myself, and it shows.
2500
=============================
2501
2502
///////////////
2503
// AFTERWORD //
2504
///////////////
2505
2506
Wow, this Post-Mortem is over 19K words. No wonder this took so long to finish.
2507
2508
I think that the post-mortem being this long is important, though.
2509
Because a lot of projects do drop out of the blue after years of waiting.
2510
The thing is, those years aren't meaningless. It takes time for projects like this to happen.
2511
2512
I do not want people thinking that what I have done is magic. Well, in-story magic, sure,
2513
but what I do not possess is magical wizard skills that allowed me to make this project.
2514
Just some DECORATE, ACS, GZDoom Builder, and an absolutely stubborn refusal to give up.
2515
2516
The important thing about this Post-Mortem, above all, is to realize that
2517
a LOT of effort goes into making these things. Years, in some cases.
2518
2519
Touhou Doom was as much a experimental learning experience as it was a polished project.
2520
2521
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
2522
-dekw, my most valiant tester, and frequent annoyance in bugfixing
2523
-TerminusEst13, super cool dude who was very inspirational to me
2524
-the Touhou fandom for being insane in ways that were also inspirational to me
2525
-ZUN, for making the Touhou project
2526
-id software, for making Doom
2527
-And to you, who has read all the way to the bottom of this Post-Mortem.