An Evening with Nirvana

The 40th episode of An Evening with Nirvana will be the last episode of the show due to an increased workload making it challenge to keep up with. However, I have another announcement that will hopefully interest people who enjoyed the show: a new podcast with SoBad! All Patreon subscribers will just have their bonuses apply to the new show instead, so not much change there. Hoping to create some fun content in the future.

Today I'm talking to Dragonfly. One of the most prolific Doom mappers you're likely to find, you may know him for some of his Cacoward-winning projects like Skulldash and Eviternity, or perhaps some of the many maps he's made for community projects such as Mayhem, Abyssal Speedmapping, and the Team Rocket CPs. These days you may even know him as a level designer for Prodeus. We discuss his very early beginnings, the inspiration behind Skulldash, bringing together the Eviternity team, and how he got involved in Prodeus.

Today on the podcast I'm talking to Dubzzz (or you might know him as Bdubzzz), a Doom speedrunner and mapper who is known for his numerous contributions to community projects like Slaughtermax, Mayhem Orange, the Hellforge Speedmapping sessions, NoYe, and more, as well as for his speedruns. He currently has over 2600 demos recorded on DSDA with a mix of UV Max, Pacifist and D2all runs. He is also notoriously mute. We discuss Dubz' early introduction to slaughter wads, the reason he mutes his microphone when he streams, and his year of 1,000 demos.

Today on the show I'm talking to Rayzik. Creator of maps for Slaughterfest 2012 and Slaughterfest 3, as well as the fantastic Neon Crater and the Cacoward runner up Judgment. You might also know them for their speedruns, which include Swim with the Whales, Stardate 20x6, and Swiftdeath among the nearly 300 demos they've submitted to DSDA. We talk about how speedrunning influences mapping, working on the slaughterfest wads, and the process of routing large and small maps.

Today on the podcast I am talking to American McGee. Level designer for Ultimate Doom and Doom 2, level and sound designer for Quake and Quake 2, creator of the extremely popular Alice series of games and now the designer of a unique range of plushies that we'll get into later. We discuss American's time at Id Software, the inspiration for American McGee's Alice, his move to China and the founding of Spicy Horse, new information about Alice: Asylum, and we touch on some political topics that are sure to rile up a few people.

Today on the podcast I am talking to Alfonzo. Mapper for a wide variety of community projects such as Doom the Way Id Did 1 & 2, Abyssal Speedmapping Sessions, and more, provider of midis to Mutiny and the Alfonzone and the host of Doom Radio, the Doom podcast that started it all. We discuss Alfonzo's early wad reviewing days, single player and multiplayer mapping, his process for midi making, and of course, Doom Radio.

Today I'm talking to Matt Tropiano, also known as Mtrop. A long-time community member, you'll likely know him for wads like Coffee Break and Forsaken Overlook, as well as a major contributor to the Adventures of Square 1 and 2. He's also created a number of useful tools for the community over the years including Doom Struct, WadTools and Wadmerge. We discuss Mtrop's early TNT-influenced years, his move from big maps to small maps and back to big maps again, and the creation of his various Doom utilities.

Today on the podcast we're talking speedrunning, and I am speaking with  Looper. Known primarily for his world record runs for the Doom 2 d2all category, he is also an accomplished runner for a number of other wads,  with a number of Hell Revealed 2 Nomo world records and nearly 300 demos total submitted to DSDA.   We discuss Looper's first NoMo demos, his love of Doom multiplayer, and we get into the details of the Doom 2 UV Speed d2all.

Today on the podcast I'm talking to Ukiro, perhaps best known for creating the OTEX texture pack as well as map 32 of Eviternity, but he's also a long-time community member with solo mapping projects like Tantrum and Venom and texture packs for GothicDM and The Darkening series. We take a journey through Ukiro's early 1995 mapping years, his early love of texture work, and his eventual release of OTEX.

Today on the show I'm talking to Major Arlene. She's a Doom Youtuber, a Cacoward contributing writer, and creator of GzDoom maps like Technicolour Antichrist Box, The Deep, and most recently, Break//Point//. We talk about learning UDMF mapping, Arlene's first ever map, her early influences, and newer projects like Break//Point// and Dancing in the Abyss.

Today on the podcast I'm talking to Doomkid. A font of knowledge for all things Doom, a Youtube content creator , and creator of the Rowdy Rudy and Ray Mowhawk series, you may know him for any one of these things, or all of them. We discuss Doomkid's love of shovelware, creating characters to inspire level design, and building content for YouTube.

Today on the show I'm talking to SoBad. You likely know him as a friendly face on Twitch, for his Doom wad let's plays on Youtube, as well as his analytical content. You might also know him as the creator of map 5 of the Balls of Steel Community Project that came out fairly recently. We talk about SoBad's love of analysis, the testing process for Doom maps, obviously we discuss Dave, and we go on several lengthy tangents.

Today I'm talking to Tango, most well known for his popular weapon mod Supercharge and accompanying mapset Paradise. You may know him as a contributor to BTSX 1 and 2, Plutonia 2 or a number of other community projects over the years. We discuss balancing Supercharge, how Doom multiplayer could be improved, and the merits of changing up your mapping process.

Today I'm talking to Obsidian, host of the Abyssal Speedmapping Sessions, the MAYhem community project series, as well as a number of other community projects, creator of Maskimxul, Countdown to Extinction, and Candlemass, to name just a few of their projects over the years. We talk about creating atmosphere in Doom wads, features Obsidian would like to see used more, and how to run good community projects.

On today's episode of the podcast I'll be talking to Armoured Blood, one of the OGs of slaughter mapping, creator of New Gothic Movement 1 and 2, Shai'tan's Luck and a contributor to Slaughterfest 2012. We talk about building loose slaughter maps, the beginnings of New Gothic 1 and 2, and the old school slaughter scene.

Today I'm talking to 4Shockblast, one of the best known speedrunners in the Doom community, who you may know specifically for his 8 second run of E1M1 or any of his other 3000+ runs on DSDA. He's also mapped for many of the Abyssal Speedmapping Sessions, 50 Shades of Graytall, and several other projects. We talk about the differences between Nightmare and Ultra Violence runs, beating the E1M1 record, how to record a good tool-assisted Doom run, and building maps for speedrunners.

On this episode of the podcast I'm talking to Esselfortium, also known as Sarah Mancuso. She's the lead developer of the BTSX series, a contributor to Doom the Way id Did 1 and 2, as well as working on solo projects like Vaporwave for the Eternity engine, and the recently released Knee Deep in Knee-Deep in ZDoom. She's a midi composer, a creator of texture assets, and an all around staple of the Doom community. She has also composed music for a visual novel that recently came out called Please Be Happy, is working on Supplice, and has an album out that I highly recommend called Future Human.

Today on the podcast I'm talking with Xaser. A member of the Doom community for 20 years, Xaser is one of the most prolific Doom mappers out there, having worked on a huge number of solo projects like Zen Dynamics, Dead.Wire and Dead.Air, been a part of innumerable community projects like Mayhem17, Plutonia Revisited, The Zdoom Mapping Community Projects, and also working on big-ticket megawads like Eviternity and Back to Saturn X 1 and 2. We talk about atmosphere in Doom maps, working on BTSX and Eviternity, and the troubles of the Zdoom Mapping Community Projects.

Today on the podcast I'm talking to Joshy, co-creator of Speed of Doom with Darkwave, project lead for Plutonia Revisited, and creator of Resurgence. He's also had a hand in a number of big ticket projects like Ancient Aliens and BTSX, as well as contributing a map to one of my personal favourite community projects: 50 Shades of Graytall. We talk about GzDoom versus Boom mapping, working with Darkwave on Speed of Doom, the importance of community projects, and Joshy weighs in on the conspiracy theory that Darkwave and Death Destiny are the same person. Due to Joshy being profoundly deaf, we used an interpreter for this episode, so special thanks to Kerrie for helping us out!

Today on the podcast I'm talking to Dario Casali, co-creator of The Plutonia Experiment, contributor to Memento Mori, and one of the early members of Valve, where he has worked on Half Life, Half Life 2, Portal 2, the Left 4 Dead games, Team Fortress 2, Half Life Alyx and many more projects. He also has a Youtube channel where he swears at some of his old maps and also other people's. We talk about the early stages of Plutonia, competition with his brother Milo (whose name I embarrassingly mispronounce at the start of the podcast), moving to Valve and Half Life 1, why Half Life 3 never came out, Dario's favourite game to work on, and the potential of virtual reality with Half Life: Alyx.

In this episode I talk to NoReason, who you will probably know for his challenging slaughter maps, starting with his early releases Disparate Realities and Death in Excess as well as his 3 NoSp speedmapping projects and the gargantuan Cosmogenesis. We talk about the benefits and pitfalls of speedmapping, the making of a giant slaughter map, and the benefits of MBF21.

In this episode I talk to Sandy Petersen, a member of the Id team who created most of the levels with episodes two and three of Doom, and creator of 17 levels for Doom 2 and 7 of the maps for Quake. He's also worked on Civilization and as a lead designer for the Age of Empires series. We talk about the level design philosophy behind episodes two and three of Doom, the various dramas at Id Software, the trouble with balancing Age of Empires, and a Halo MMO that never was.

Today on the podcast I talk to DraQu, perhaps best known by the Doom community for his Doom Eternal and Wolfenstein speedruns, as well as his occasional casual playthroughs of custom classic pwads on his Twitch channel. We discuss what drives DraQu to run games, competitiveness in speedrunning, and DraQu drops some spicy takes about Doom 64.

In this episode I have a chat with King Dime, a speedrunner known for his multiple AGDQ appearances, his Plutonia and TNT runs, and his Twitch streams where he tackles community made content as well. We talk about his StarCraft days, modern Doom games, and the evolution of AGDQ over the years.

In this episode I talk to Cyriak Harris, known in the Doom community as Mouldy. He's the creator of Going Down, The Eye, and the recently released Overboard, as well as being a prominent animator for music videos and his own personal Youtube channel. We discuss Cyriak's penchant for micro detailing, how to make dynamic encounter design, and we touch on his surreal animation style.

My guest today is Daerik, who you will likely know as the first person to perform a d2all max of Sunlust, which is all secrets and kills on every map, played unsegmented in one sitting. He also has a number of other impressive runs, like d2all maxes of Valiant, Stardate 20x6, and Ancient Aliens. We talk about Twitch streaming, the insanity of d2alling Sunlust, and speedrunners-turned-mappers.

In this episode I talk to Bridgeburner, a well-known figure in the Doom community for his multiple roles as a Twitch streamer, Doomworld forum moderator, creator of highly elaborate GzDoom behemoths such as Slaughter Spectrum and Bastion of Chaos, and the primary developer of Age of Hell. We discuss high intensity line use, bringing the slaughter community into the GzDoom fold, and his major project, Age of Hell.

In this episode I talk to Bemused, one of the best known macro-slaughter mappers in the Doom community, creator of his early solo project Dank Midis and Linedefs, Cryogenics, and the Cacoward winning Abandon. He has also contributed to a few projects I have been a part of with maps in Flotsam and Haste. We talk about his original Dank Midis project, early inspirations, how to draw thousands of lines, and Bemused's abundance of map scraps.

In this episode I talk to Decino. He's one of the biggest Doom content creators on YouTube, creating UV saveless playthroughs of some of the toughest wads around, as well as producing analytical videos that deep-dive into some of the obscurities of Doom's code. We talk about Decino's process for creating videos, the early beginnings of his YouTube channel, as well his midi creations, and game development.

In this episode I talk to James "Jimmy" Paddock, creator of Deathless and Jenesis and project lead for the Joy of Mapping. He's also known for his midi compositions for BTSX, Plutonia 2, and the Plutonia and Alien Vendetta midi packs. We talk about Jimmy's penchant for speedmapping, working with John Romero on SIGIL, the process of creating midi, and the inception and creation of his standalone game for the GZDoom engine, The Adventures of Square.

In this episode I talk to Archi, creator of Rush, a wad that has become synonymous with introductory slaughter gameplay. He has also taken part in famous Russian community projects A.L.T and Whitemare, as well as co-creating New Gothic Movement 2 with Armoured Blood. We talk about the differences between the Russian community and the English-speaking community, the origins of Rush, and the virtues of speed-mapping.

In this episode I talk to Ribbiks, the man behind cacoward winning wads like Stardate 20x6, Swim with the Whales, and Sunlust with co-author Dannebubinga. A defining mapper in the slaughter scene, Ribbiks has been a massive inspiration to a huge number of Doom community members and he continues to impress with his latest release, Jump Wad, a (somehow) MBF compatible jumping puzzle wad made with Grain of Salt. We talk about the early slaughter scene, making Sunlust with Danne, the importance of atmosphere and midi selection, and I stump him with a wad he thought he'd never talk about.

In this episode I talk to MtPain27 who you will likely know as the man behind Dean of Doom, a Youtube series where he performs thorough reviews of classic and contemporary Doom wads using his own unique scoring system. We discuss how he got his start on Youtube, the editing process for his videos, why TNT is secretly the best iwad, and everything in between.

Today on the podcast I have an appropriately long conversation with Insane Gazebo, the creator of the gargantuan slaughter spectacle Sunder, as well as a contributor to Haste, Fractured Worlds, and the upcoming Age of Hell. We discuss the early years of Macabre, the inception and process of the maps of Sunder, and his newfound love of UDMF and its lack of a line limit.

In this episode I talk to Stx-Vile. A veteran speedrunner in the Doom community, he's known for his runs of Swim with the Whales, Nightmare Iwad runs, as well as UV/Maxes of Fractured worlds. He is currently working on a d2all of Valiant, which he has been slowly earning the individual world records for on each map. We talk about his early speedruns, his old compet-n profile questionnaire, what drives him to run, as well as his procedure for routing wads and his latest Valiant Maxes.

In this episode I talk to Dannebubinga, best known as the creator of Combat Shock 1 & 2, co-creator of Sunlust, Italo Doom, and a number of Slaughterfest and other community project contributions over the years. We talk about the beginnings of Sunlust, the slaughter community's reaction to standard Doom gameplay and Danne's love for walls of perched Hellknights.

In this episode I talk to Skillsaw. With maps in BTSX 1 and 2 and a defining style of arcadey, fast-paced gameplay, Skillsaw has become one of the most beloved mappers in the Doom community, with wads like Ancient Aliens, Valiant, and Heartland to name a few. We discuss the influence of Alien Vendetta and Scythe 2 on his early works, why slaughter mappers love Vanguard, the palette work of Alien Vendetta, and get into the details of his stylistic and gameplay choices.

In this episode I talk to Tourniquet. Best known for his green behemoth and Cacoward winner Miasma, he started with a series of community projects in 2014 and 2015, one of which saw him paired up with Ribbiks to create Anaemia. We chat about his early community project output, the inspiration he drew from collaborating with Ribbiks, his take on map design and detail work, and his thoughts on constructive non-linear environments.

In this predictably lengthy episode, I talk to Megablast. You'll likely know him as a Doom streamer on Twitch (although it's been a while) and as the co-creator of Mayhem Purple's Tesseract with Mr Zzul (Killer5). We chat about streaming, game design, and some projects we've been cooking up in the background over the last few years.

In this episode I talk to Scotty, creator of Cydonia, Criticality, and Behemoth, co-creator of Abandon and someone I have collaborated with on Haste, Flotsam, and Fractured Worlds. We cover his humble beginnings as a mapper for community projects back in 2015, the trials of leading a community project of your own, and the making of gigantic maps.

In this episode I have a chat with Benjogami: creator of Toilet of the Gods, Down the Drain, and co-creator of Abandon (with Bemused and Scotty). We talk about those halcyon Doom days of the 90s, Benjo's challenges with creating the expansive maps of Abandon, and I get weird with my interpretation of his 90s throwback wad, Down the Drain.