It has been about three years since I last released a level for Doom (work and other things got in the way).  I had opened up the editor a few times since then and did a bit of mapping, but never actually completed anything that could be released.  In early March 2007, Sarge Baldy held a Speedmapping event in which I participated, and I made a tiny map — and this inspired me to actually make a proper-sized level and release it!  So I started work on a new level the very next day, and this turned into Stygian_Nebula — a singleplayer level for Doom II, COMING_SOON!

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MAP_DETAILS

• One small-medium sized level, replacing MAP01.  No pretensions, just a fun map to play.
• Some new textures being used, with the music tracks also getting replaced.
• Made for a limit-removing port, however, no port-specific features will be used.
• Yes, that is me in the teaser poster.  There will be a replacement TITLEPIC in a similar vein.
• I wrote a story for the map, containing some more-or-less convincing technobabble, but it isn't to be taken very seriously (hence the FUBAR reference).
• The idea was to have a good time making the map, and hopefully, it'll come through in the final product!
• The map is some 60% done at this stage.  Tentative release date?  When it's done (heh, heh).

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MAPPING_INSPIRATIONS

[ Please note that these were merely things that influenced me while I was making the map, they may not necessarily find a place in the actual finished level! ]

• The name is inspired by Saw director James Wan's first film, which was called Stygian (a location in Saw is called "Stygian St." and is a reference to this film).  Of course, Nebula is because I decided to use the starry space sky from TNT: Evilution, and the concept seemed to go well with it!
• I was listening to Nine Inch Nails songs while making this, especially the new song "Survivalism" from their dystopian future themed upcoming album, Year Zero.
• John Carpenter's theme music from his Escape from New York and Escape from L A find a place in this WAD, and the level also has a theme of "escaping" before a "doomsday device" is activated.
• The storyline is inspired by the upcoming Danny Boyle SF film Sunshine.
• Trivia: I did some reading on nebulae, and apparently these are kilo-light-years in size, so the one featured here, being just 26 parsecs wide, is very tiny.  I don't even know if it is possible for a nebula of that size to exist.

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.·: :·.

The Stygian Nebula was a diffuse nebula, located near the Hades starsystem.  Spanning a distance of about 26 parsecs, it could be considered tiny by most counts, and the UAC had built an installation at what could be considered its centre.  The Stygian Nebula was a sort of anomaly, thought to have portals leading to other dimensions at several coordinates within it.  The base was built to study these portals, and was constantly monitored for unusual activity.  Temporal and Spatial forcefields were maintained strictly at all times for safety.

Fourteen hours ago, there was a massive breakdown of all security systems within the base and the entire installation was "compromised".  A demonic influence quickly took over the base.

UAC Command decided to implement Directive 000003F, which meant complete annihilation of the anomalous region.  The base, as well as the entire Stygian Nebula would have to be destroyed.  This was the only way to counteract the demonic influence slowly spreading through the UAC subsystems.

You were part of a squad of marines sent in to the Stygian base to deploy a doomsday device — the Quantum Destructor — right into the heart of the Stygian Nebula.  When activated, the device would instantly create a "net" of millions of nano-level singularities, which would rip apart the entire nebula, and annihilate all matter within it, in microseconds.

The mission plan was simple — you and the team would teleport into the holding area of the Stygian base, and make your way to the launch portal.  There, you would launch the Quantum Destructor into the Nebula at the precise coordinates calculated by UAC Command, and activate it with a thirty-minute countdown.  You would make your way into the teleport chamber, and then return to Origin base, where you could observe the destruction of the Stygian Nebula in safety.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.

After deploying the doomsday device, you and the team made your way to the teleport chamber, only to discover that the chamber no longer existed!  The demons had "warped" the entire base.  A bloody battle ensued, and the entire squad fell prey to the demons - in between the screams and the sounds of flesh getting ripped apart, you somehow made your way to a safe area within the base, and then passed out.

.·: :·.

Consciousness returns, and also the realisation that you do not have much time left before quantum destruction happens.  Your friends are dead, and the demons want your flesh and blood.  Find a way out before it's too late.