Computer Center
Perditions Gate Map18 – Computer Center:
I love this level for a lot of reasons, but the crowning achievement in here is the MASSIVE stair building sequence in the final room. I wanted to take Bob’s sketch design and in the final room erect an entire building right in front of the player’s eyes. I hadn’t seen anybody do that before in Doom and it tended to get a very good response from playtesters.
The trick here was to have a large number of duplicated sectors off of the map for the stair building sequence that would allow for each floor to build up only to a certain point. Not a super fancy wad trick, but effective nonetheless.
I also used a instant floor wad trick in the stair building room that often caught players off guard, since they just watched the massive stair sequence, they didn’t expect that I was going to magically make a spider mastermind a load of imps appear right in their face.
Yeah, the last room in this level is one of my favorite sequences in the entire game.
Screenshots from Computer Center (click to enlarge)
Hell Gate
Perditions Gate Map20 – Hell Gate:
The obligatory “single room level” that every 32 level Doom add-on has to have. The top down on this map always amused me since the central staircase bore a striking resemblance to the bridge section on a Klingon Bird of Prey. Yup, I’m a Star Trek geek, yes, I know…don’t hate me for it.
The Hell Gate level used a number of goofy wad tricks, the main entryway door used a transparent door trick, not something that I recall being an easy trick to do in Doom. Also lots of fast-floors in this level, where baddies just magically appear in front of the player’s eyes.
Very small map, total chaos in multiplayer.
Screenshots from Hell Gate (click to enlarge)
Bomb Facility
Perditions Gate Map29 – Bomb Facility:
This was the first and last hell level I ever built for Doom, which was a shame since I really enjoyed making this map and just never got around to building more. I was very happy with how this level turned out, the marble + support textures are always a thematic win.
I stole quite a few design elements from a level that Jimmy ‘EvilGenius’ Sieben did for Final Doom, where he built a marble gallery very similar to the one that appeared in this map.
I never had a chance to deathmatch in this level, I would expect it to be pretty fun due to the circular flow.
No fancy wad tricks in this map at all, shame on me!
Screenshots from Bomb Facility (click to enlarge)
Escape!
Perditions Gate Map30 – Escape!:
The final map in Perditions Gate was a fun, but short one. Right away, we crushed and killed a hidden Nazi dude right next to the player so when he died, his replaced death sound would say in a monotone female computer voice “Bomb detonation in two minutes, run to the nearest teleport device!” The voice for the wav file was the girlfriend (now wife) of a friend of mine, Jerry ‘Polish’ Wolski. She provided the perfect monotone style female computer voice that we needed at the end of Perditions Gate. I had originally enlisted my Mom to try and do the female computer voice, but the microphone I had was some ancient radio shack sub-par POS, so nothing we did worked.
Ahh, now, let the wad trickery begin! Right after killing the Nazi, a huge sector elsewhere on the map started rising up, after two minutes, that sector would reach the ceiling, and crush a duplicate player that would instantly kill the real player, simulating a real timer-countdown sequence. There were two demon spawners fired off right after that, and players were forced to make a run for it, only to face off with two Cyberdemons and an Archvile at the same time.
Finally, making their escape down the final hallway, barrels would start teleporting in behind the player, making it looks like the facility was actually exploding as the player made a run for the exit.
In reality, most people didn’t understand what the female voice said, always finished the level way before minutes were up, and never turned around to see the barrels exploding behind them. So yeah, this level was a good exercise in great-on-paper, sub-par on execution. Learned a lot on this one.
Screenshots from Escape! (click to enlarge)
Perdition’s Gate and Hell 2 Pay are totally awesome megawads. Interesting to know that the creators were also involved in Final Doom, most notably Evilution. It’s funny how Perdition’s Gate is said to be hard since its not as extreme as Plutonia, not to mention that parts of Hell 2 Pay reminded me of Icarus. Other than that, they are enjoyable. Kudos to you and Andy Olivera for bringing them back. Maybe you should try bringing back Master Levels for Doom 2.
Just went through this, very enjoyable!
Is there any way to play this on zDoom?
zdoom.exe -iwad doom2.wad -file perdgate.wad
Enjoyed Perdition’s Gate and Hell to Pay. Really loved the level designs on both megawads.
The site hasn’t been updated as of January 2011. I’m still waiting to listen to Tom’s midi soundtracks of Final Doom, Icarus, Perdition’s Gate, and Hell To Pay.
Sorry, but it looks like this link isn’t legal at all, and you should delete it. Perdition’s Gate isn’t freeware: I posted this link for downloading PG full on Doomworld Forums and I got banned ’cause of that. A forum mod told me this:
“This wad is not freeware, and you can’t link to it. Believe me, if it was actually rereleased as freeware by the *publishers* (note: publishers, and not an unrelated third party or in a piece of wishful thinking by one of its creators), there would be a news story at Doomworld about it.”
So, actually, your link for downloading Perdition’s Gate is considered warez.
Damn, sorry you got banned. But I won’t be taking that link down.
The company that originally published Perdition’s gate is LONG gone. The companies that bought up all the rights to the stuff have zero interest in this kind of product anymore and won’t sell or support it. At this point, it falls under Abandonware.
Feel free to mirror my statements to Doomworld admins. It’s not wishful thinking, I know what I’m talking about