There originally was an extended story behind MarsWar. I thought I should write them down else they would be lost to time. The story: It is a thousand or so years in the future and you are a Martian terraformer stuck in a small station in the middle of nowhere. Since the beginning of the terraforming project, the United Organizations of Earth have been threatening to take control. They do not like the independence that Mars has gained and view Mars as a threat. The United Organizations of Earth are an accumulation of all governments, large corporations, and corporate owned governments of Earth. For over a hundred years they have tightly controlled the population of earth, at an almost microscopic level limiting what they are allowed to know and what they may do. A few months ago, a huge number of radical, highly educated people escaped UOE persecution by coming to Mars in a large space-warp capable ship they built more or less by themselves without the knowledge of the UOE. This was the last straw for the UOE. They attempted to quickly clone the space-warp technology and sent off an invasion force. Only something went wrong with their new "space-warp" capable ships... In my original idea for this story there was no outright invasion but I modified it for use with Doom. In the end the story line was too complicated and the later levels didn't really have specific points, so I ditched most of the story. MarsWar originally started off as a wad named "MacBash" where there were a handful of anti-Macintosh references. This was before anyone had to use Windows and before Microsoft was the big evil. Macbash saw all of about 7 downloads from my brothers BBS (The Library of Trantor BBS, obviously no longer in service). Around 1998 or so I was going postal over Microsoft shoving Idiot Exploiter up my ass constantly. So I brushed the dust off of these levels and made it Anti-Microsoft instead. Featuring a Bill Gates borg as the big bad guy and, and an animated BSOD wall. Levels in this WAD ------------------------------ MAP01: TERRAFORMING STATION -Big open level This has been your home for the last several years. Before that you worked in the repair shop in Alpha Base across from the medical center. You have been desperately waiting for three additional personnel. But there have been many delays so you are still stuck here all by yourself. Day in and day out it is the same thing. The only thing of note recently is the slight rise in O2 levels at the lowest levels of the nearby river. The tiny robotic insects have been busy processing and fertilizing the soil enabling certain genetically enhanced plants to grow. In preparation for the new personnel, you moved some of the larger equipment and supplies to a nearby cave. You hear about the invasion from earth (can't they just leave mars alone?) and that something has gone wrong with their ships - their warp drives were garbage and mutated everyone on board. Then the communications black out came as people began to report hideous monsters attacking. Hours later you hear an out of control transport shuttle skid to a stop outside and several bizarre deformed troops - only vaguely recognizable as UOE troops - disembark. You have a "berserk" pack and a pistol. Time to put a stop to this. Notes: This level was primarily designed as a deathmatch level. It is dead simple in single player / cooperative modes. Bugs: You can get stuck behind the rock pillars that are supposed to keep you from travailing all the way up and down stream. (so you don't see the river ends) MAP02: THETA BASE -GET THE PLASMA GUN! ----------------- Once you secure the shuttle, your first stop is Theta Base. This is where all the cool tech comes from. They supposedly have developed a plasma rifle that is powered by common energy cells, and you need to get it! You had many friends at Theta base, your last contact with them was hours ago and there has been no response since. You don't really want to think about what has happened to them, and it won't be any fun searching the base. But you know they had all kinds of goodies stashed away that might help you. Bugs: In CO-OP you can open the hanger door without the required key if one waits in the hanger and another is in the hanger control room to push the open button. MAP03: MANUFACTURING PLANT -Who's initials are those? --------------------------- Once you have some weapons in tow, your second stop is to pick up some armor at the manufacturing plant. They had just started producing that when the news of the invasion broke. You make a one way entrance through a loading dock in the back, hoping you can either get to your shuttle in the front, or grab your old personal shuttle that has been here in the shop for weeks now - if they have gotten it repaired. Notes: This is a recycled level from my Wolf3D spear of destiny hackup. Notes: The personal shuttle was original supposed to lead to a secret level. This level was originally designed for Doom 1 and E1M3 was the level that could exit to a secret level. MAP04: ALPHA BASE -The center of the project! ------------------ Finally at the central command post for Mars terreforming, you hope to determine what is going on. But everybody seems to be dead! But someone or something just locked the hanger door behind you! Bugs: it is not obvious where you are supposed to go. A few hints might help. MAP05: CRASH SIGHT -Crashed UOE ship ------------------ Your investigations turn up that one of the UOE dropships crashed near Beta base. You decided to investigate. What you find is disturbingly demonic - and whatever this is seems to be spreading. Bugs: some narrow passageways. MAP06: BETA BASE -Get the BFG! ------------------ Determined to get to the heart of the matter you enter the base through a crawl space access port in to the central lab. This base has been heavily mutated by whatever forces are present. You are almost too scared to proceed but you must avenge the lives that have been lost and put a stop to this infestation. Note: This was actually the first original Doom Level I ever made. Bugs: That cone thing you have to climb to get the key was kind of cool for its time, but gets annoying quick. MAP07: INFESTATION -Check out the floating stuff ------------------ This Bizarre structure appears to have popped up out of nowhere, it is full of weird monsters, and within the laws of physics seem to have taken a lunch break! Note: This is another recycled level from my Spear of Destiny hackup. MAP08: BUNKER ZERO -Clean this place out! ------------------ You only vaguely recognize this place as once having been the central waste recycling center. But many monsters still linger here and must be exterminated. Bug: With newer Doom ports you can jump through the windows to get right to the exit. Note: Because this was originally designed for Doom 1 you were supposed to go from the infestation directly to the UOE Dropship with (I think) the Transport ship as a secret level. I think it was around here somewhere I started designing for Doom 2. MAP09: DEATH MANAGEMENT -Small, fun level -------------------- Another small infested outpost that you must cleanse. You have gotten good a that so far, so why not? Note: This is a recycled level from my Spear of Destiny hackup. This was always one of my personal favorites. Bug: In newer Doom ports you can jump out of some windows that are there only for decoration - then you are stuck. Bug: Some of the hallways are really too narrow for multi-player. MAP10: TRANSPORT SHIP -HUGE Martian ship ----------------------- This ship was constructed on earth a long time ago by a person who is only remembered by the masses now as a madman with an impossible dream of making a warp drive capable ship. For decades after he died, the structure was used as a university, one of the few places on earth where people were actually allowed to learn anymore. Advanced learning had been all but abolished by the United Organizations (governments, corporations, and corporate owned governments) of Earth. Only known to a handful of people, the warp engines buried deep within this structure were almost functional and in time they were completed. Then, a few months prior, a long standing skirmish came to a head and the UOE initiated a crackdown on all who dared defy the complacency laws. Those who would publicly make statements, share information, experiment, or create were rounded up, locked up, punished, reeducated, and more often than not - put to death. A great many people fled to this structure for protection as it was very well fortified. The UOE police and armies attacked, but before the structure could be infiltrated someone, deep within the mechanical bowels of the ship, flipped a switch and the structure - thought by most to be just an odd dome shaped building - raised from the ground and flew in to the sky. And as UOE fighter plains tried to follow it, it suddenly disappeared. The warp drive worked perfectly. Around the Earth thousands of UOE troops and corporate government officials took a collective a dump in their shorts. Moments later the ship reappeared over mars and descended to the surface where it has been since. With its defenses used up the mutant invaders have just infiltrated the ship. There are very likely many survivors hiding in the old dormitories or in other places deep within the ship. With the rest of the infestation eradicated and with powerful weapons in tow you must come to their rescue. Note: parts of this level were inspired by dreams. Bug: It's not obvious where the keys are. Bug: In newer doom ports you can get to the exit without the keys by jumping over the warp core connectors. MAP11: UOE DROPSHIP -There is more to this UOE ship.. -------------------- There were many ships in the UOE fleet that attacked mars, but this last intact ship seems to have some kind of link back to earth, and to whatever caused this mutant infestation. MAP12: UOE OPERATIONS - EARTH -You find yourself on EARTH! YUCK! -------------------------- You find yourself hurled all the way to earth! Right in to the center of their main operations facility where they created their warp ships. Immediately it becomes clear by looking at their computers why they had such problems. And yes, these people are so stupid they have to label their doors as "door". There were supposed to be a few more labeled items like that but I never got around to making the graphics. MAP13: UOE WAREHOUSE -Medium sized warehouse ----------------------- Just a another spooky warehouse filled with bad guys. This level started off as an experiment with what I could make using boxes and kind of grew out of that. MAP14: UOE CIVILIAN CENTER -Exciting detailed level ------------------------ This is another level recycled from my Spear of Destiny hackup. It turned out quite a bit larger than it really needed to be. MAP15: THE FRINGES -Doom 2 conversion of MOONBASE -------------------------- I originally had another map planned for this level but it never got done so I inserted a level from a series I did called "This Old Wad" where I took crummy looking levels and made them look a little nicer. MAP16: ENLIGHTENMENT -Check out the floating toothbrush! --------------------------- Parts of this level were inspired by dreams. Other were just any weird shapes I could put in to the map editor, including a floppy disk, cassette tape, and a toothbrush. I put everything in this level including the kitchen sink! MAP17: UOE COMMERCIAL SECTOR -Totally surreal --------------------------- This level was almost entirely inspired by dreams. There is lots of weird stuff such as switches hidden in compartments in the sky, pillars you have to get on top of and run over fast to "fly" to a hidden location, and at the end a room of cool stuff you can't take with you when you wake up. MAP18: THE EDGE -Not a serious level ---------------------- This was my first Doom II level so it has most of the Doom II bad guys in there including the SS Nazis. MAP19: FOUNDATION -Deep underground level ----------------------- The idea here is you are going underground, under the city on earth. The opening part was inspired by the Alpha 0.5 level E2M1 (that is E3M7 in Doom 1.x). This level has various puzzles you have to solve from a central "teleport room" Note: To return to the "teleport room" you usually have to jump in to these large black openings. There was supposed to be some kind of circular spinning "portal" graphic in the opening, but I never got around to making a graphic for that. MAP20: LAND OF THE LAME -What i did to this level is what is so lame... -------------------------- Once again I had another map planned for this level that I never finished. So I inserted a Doomified conversion of Heritic's E1M1. My original map was supposed to be a big castle with the large boss guys fighting each other in a big pit, but it was too much like the one from Doom II and by that time I had a case of "wad authors block" so I scrapped it. MAP21: HIGHWAY TO HELL -The UOE city is consumed by hell! ----------------------- You have made it to hell and a story begins to unfold about the evil that controls the UOE and infested your peaceful planet of Mars... The story is supposed to be subtle. Towards the back of this level you have to fight your way through a maze of vacuum tubes and drum memory representing the beginnings of technology. MAP22: XEROX -Cacodemons xeroxing their butts. ------------------------- This place has some neat technology, but it looks like somebody is trying to load it all up on to their truck! Who could it be? By the time you can get down there it is all gone. Bug: This level dosn't work in cooperative mode. In multiplayer mode it assumes you have all the keys. In multiplayer mode it blocks the hallway that transforms the computer area and expects you to have the yellow key to get around that. Whoops. MAP23: THE GATES OF HELL -Level is big enough for anybody ------------------------ This tiny little level reads "640k is enough for any one!" MAP24: 83' EAST -Check out my TI/99/4A expansion unit. ----------------------- In the courtyard you can see multiple old computer systems from the 1980s including a TRS-80 model III, an Apple II and an expansion box for a TI-99/4A. They are supposed to be staring at a monolith that represents a new threat. MAP25: 1984 -Another Doom 2 conversion. ---------------------- I originally had a map for this level that was based on Apples "1984" commercial. Unfortunately I never finished it so I dropped in another level from my "This Old Wad" series. MAP26: MAXIMUM SECURITY -Bizarre computer junk yard. ----------------------- This level is intentionally non intuitive. At the start you try to go directly to the exit and the last door stalls. It features old computers such as a Mac, Next cube, a MacCharlie, and the maze from the game "MazeWar" of Xerox Alto fame. MAP27: MARKETING -Don't get your head blown off... ---------------------- Parts of this level were inspired by dreams. Also as sort of a secret I included the house where I was living at the time I made most of these levels. MAP28: DOOM USER INTERFACE -DUI! -------------------------- The theme of this level is "Tron". I also included several theoretical attempts at how doom could be used for graphing or other applications. The music I used was from Future Crew's "Unreal", I had even planned to put scrolling text weaving through the blue pillars using a scrolling midtexture, but I again I never got to making a graphic for that (and that would have been lame anyway). MAP29: CHOICES -Some choice... ------------------- In this level, things are not always what they seem. MAP30: THE HEART OF EVIL! -BILL!!!!!!! ----------------------------- In the original version of this WAD it was just the regular MAP30 with a smashed up version of the teraforming station you started in added. (it was somehow brought here to hell with you, I don't think they was any specific reason). Of course this was before Windows 95 or IE. When I made version 2.0 I it seemed appropriate to add Bill of Borg and the IE logo as the "Icon of Sin". MAP31: WOLF 3D -My old version of Wolf 3D map 1 ---------------------------- Of course this would not be complete without yet another take on the first level of Wolf 3D. I made this before Doom II came out and ID did their own. MAP32: HELL LABS -Contains a zoo. --------------------------- This started off as a kind of laboratory that I actually spent quite a bit of time in trying to discern what various sector or line defs types did. That is what the room with the silver pillars was all about. The back area was originally just a maze of hallways but I turned it in to a "zoo" where you can see each monster in its own habitat. And release them and let them shoot it out with each other. It is not obvious but the first room was made from a copy of MAP03 / The manufacturing plant when it was just the first room. This level also has a prototype bridge that I was going to use in my "1984" level that I discarded. Bug: In newer doom ports you can jump through the window by the bridge. Remember, back then space marines couldn't jump! Not a bug: There is a switch that turns out all of the lights. This was intentional.