"Romeros' secret within a secret teaches you to use all of your senses" *repeated Doomguy grunt sounds as he humps every wall

I'd really love to see more of these aesthetic breakdowns of Doom mapping. Often you reference 'eras' and common themes across various user maps without really getting into the detail of what that means over the course of Doom modding history. It'd be a great series to pull apart the core of map making to it's fundamentals for the layman.

Dean, you’ve probably been told this many times but you SERIOUSLY need to consider writing and publishing a book on doom, you’ve got the writing chops and community knowledge to boot. I’m sure many of us would pay big bucks for this hypothetical tome; I certainly would.

Your video making is incredible, but so is your breakdown of the various flavours that the secret maps come in - there’s such a clear knowledge about of old Doom culture and expectations coupled with showcases and analysis of modern works. By now your show is a must-watch for anyone who cares about Doom wadding or Doom history/culture broadly. It’s brought to light and given a voice to so many observations that NEEDED to be made in video format. You never fail to impress with these, man. Seriously!

Babe wake up, a new MtPain27 video dropped.

While I understand where E1M9's reputation comes from, it did impress me a lot back in the day for the teleporting pinkies, as I'm pretty sure they are the earliest instance of teleportation in Doom 1 and the only teleporting monsters in the shareware episode.

Idea: Utilizing the power of UMAPINFO, a megawad could theoretically use secret exits to completely remix the map order giving returning players a change-up in pace. It would be extremely tricky to pull off, as you would pretty much need a degree in civil engineering to make sure that no one path crosses the same map twice. But since MAP01 is always the first map and MAP30 always ends the game, you pretty much have two points to build off of meaning it can be done.

These non-formulaic thought pieces are wonderful, hope there's more in the future.

Phenomenal video. I lost count of how many times I thought “I think it would be stronger if he mentioned this” only for my exact point to be brought up moments later. I do think, at least outside of the scope of including little Johnny’s first time oblige pack, that this covers all the content you could expect out of the community’s understanding of secret maps. One thing that should be said is how the existence of secret maps requires Doom’s secret system to be as good as it is. Wolfenstein demanded that players hump walls until something moved. Doom allowed for every secret exit in its original release to be vastly different: E1 tests technicality of navigation, E2 tests abilities of the renderer with the fake wall, and E3 tests the ability to understand the kinematics of rocket jumping (or at least knowing how to strafe). It’s an encouragement to unravel the world around you, and the genius of hardcoding the slots means that there isn’t an exhaustion of adventuring by the time a player makes it to the map that actually has the secret exit. That foundation is crucial to the cambrian explosion of mapping today. This is definitely amongst your best work, and your Doom cinematography foes not go unnoticed. It’s doubly cool to see some maps that received a past ribbing brought back for their strengths in visual design and mystique. Wonderful stuff.

I always felt like I was doing something illegal when that bridge raised in E1M3 (I had no idea which switch actually raised it). Sometimes I’d go to the blue door and it would be raised. Sometimes it wouldn’t be. Child me thought this horror game had a mind of its own and only wanted me to find E1M9 when it was ready. Tremendous video man.

A great video as always but I had to comment to say that I was kinda blown away by your comments on Nova 3 Map32. Thank you, and I am glad the intentions hit home. Bemused actually originally presented the base of that map as something for Abandon as it happens, before I threw the kitchen sink of secret map tropes at it. I always held some kind of disappointment for that project generally because of the mixed reception it got compared to how much work I put into getting it all together as a megawad - I thought it deserved better, there is so much great work in there - so I really do appreciate the kind words... and look forward to (hopefully) the full megawad review one day ;)

I personally consider secret levels as "Joker Cards" of wads. By breaking the ongoing rules and themes, anything can be possible with secret levels, offering special moments and unique experiences to not only the player, but also the level designer. In my case, I wanted to leave my first playable level I've ever made inside of my first full megawad. And with Ozonia, I wanted to design a level without following the predefined themes and usual monster counts, but still faithful to one of Deadwing's mapping strengths (non-linear layout, which lets the player explore the level freely) to stay together with the megawad. Thank you so much for making this video. This kind of analysis with various doom wads is surely intriguing and informative. 👍 P.S.: The first secret level I've ever played was Doom 2's MAP32, thanks to Doom95 launcher's level select function. It also gave me the very first encounter with a Cyberdemon.

First.

This is a fun video learning about the craft of secret levels in Doom

Nova III 100% deserves its own video someday. Not only was its Map 32 made for memes, but the levels cover an absolutely insane range of quality from F to A+, and a mind-bogglingly large array of ideas that, as I was playing it, made me think it'd be a perfect candidate for study if classes were ever taught on Doom level design. Both for what it does wrong AND right... and just for what it does period with some of the levels.

i haven't even finished the video but i'm assuming somewhere near the end you'll ask if we like this kind of content, and my answer is hell yes. edit: he didn't. my point still stands.

Not really sure what other topics you would be interested in exploring, but this was a great deviation from your usual, straightforward review series, and you should do more like this! Also, waiting on the Arrival review, whether it's standalone or part of a Sawed Off WADs video!

Even to this day I would say Pharaoh is my favorite secret map in Doom history.

I came into this expecting you were going to talk about the traditions of placing secrets in doom maps (map 1-30) and was left surprised, then amazed. The amount of detail you went into this was great, and the visuals you picked for particularly "the beyond" maps were stunning. You would work well as a Doom mapping Historian as well as the Dean of Doom! I know I'd love to see a video with this much effort talking about the evolution of DOOM mapping from Origwad (Which came out before Doom II!) to 2023.

With the introduction and adoption of UMAPINFO, now a secret level can be lurking just about anywhere in neoclassical Doom mapping. I find it quite exciting. I find secret levels good places to hide challenges and aesthetic sidesteps. I didn't realise I'd been taking cues from TNT and Plutonia even though they're not my go-to wads.

The Quake 2 style rail gun in Eviternity 2's map 31 almost wants to make me play continuous. Such a good gimmick.

This video is a really good resource for everyone but especially newer fans who want to learn about doom history. Very valuable piece of media

Terrific stuff, Mr Pain. This was a fascinating detour from your main series and I hope we get to see more like it in the future. ;^)

There's one Doom secret that always stood out for me. It comes from a mod called "Winter's Fury". It's not really a secret map, more like a bonus room so this might be a little off-topic but I still wanna mention it, because I just love the idea and think it would be cool to see it more often. Winter's Fury is a pretty straight-forward mod which plays more like a story mode. There's only about 10 maps, some of them are divided into 2 parts because of boss fights / story events. There is no real secret map, but instead there's a secret area near the end that can only be entered by doing something specific. In each map, you can find a secret logbook with lore that's important to the mod, always accompanied by a blue flower near it. These are very hard to miss but if you do find them all, a hidden passage opens up in the penultimate map. It leads to a dream-like section with a house that houses (pun intended) the spirit of a lore-related person, some nice music and most importantly, this game's version of the BFG. You can't get the BFG anywhere else in the game, only if you find all of the logbooks. You can only really use it in the final map, but it's still a pretty awesome sequence. I wished something like this was in more mods but I understand that it's hard to do, because most Doom wads are just a collection of maps, and not one on-going series of levels that build on top of each other.

Finally after all the grading we get some lectures! This is great depth and exploration of a topic that I haven't seen discussed much, as opposed to something like the more general 'Roots of Doom Mapping'. Definitely all secret maps fall under your Monty Python category but I think the feelings you described originating from TNT are distinct. 'Birds Like A Feather' is one of my favorite maps ever, and I think it's entirely because if you play it in OpenGL instead of software the sky turns to a brilliantly bright earth blue sky that makes the music all the more magical.

I expected new Dean of Doom episode, but instead we all got something greater. Coincidentally, I'm working on three secret maps for three community projects and this video does a great job describing what a quirky thing Doom's secret maps are. Ironically, one of them is a tribute to TNT's Pharaoh (because it's TNT community project), and the other two is more of a challenge type maps - one for Rusty Drill CP (I like your map, by the way!) and one for Constriction 1024 (you can tell by name what kind of megawad this will be). And I gotta say, this a real challenge for a novice mapper like me since you gotta make secret maps entertaining and gimmicky at the same time. But hey, that's what Doom is about, right? Thank you, MtPain27, for guiding me to the community. I'll love Doom until the day I die.

My first time accidentally finding a secret level was in Eviternity. Not just the first secret level but BOTH of them .God help me, it was the most abruptly ball-crushing, whiplash-inducing, and unhinged experience I've had playing a Doom WAD before.

To believe this account has only around 11k subscribers is just unbelievable, the content is just too good and well put together you deserve so much more for the amount of work you've put into these doom videos and map/wad reviews

I love when mapsets decide to throw serious curveballs for their secret maps. I love the feeling of entering a secret map and being met with a *wildly* different vibe/theme. I also love when map makers decide to get a little silly with their secret maps. I don't mind Doom's darkness or tone, but it's always funny to blast demons in brightly lit, colorful locales.

Love this format. It reminds me a bit of the Alfonzo and co.’s far-too-short-lived Evolution of the Wad series, which had a particularly good ep on Dead Simple clones throughout Doom mapping history. But the Dean’s writing and analytical chops put this into a league of its own. Also nice map choices of course 😝 A couple of secret maps not mentioned here that I’ll shout out: 1) Phobus’ 25 Years on Earth has a really fun MAP31/32 where DoomGuy takes a vacation in the middle of the megawad. 2) I led this project admittedly, but I really love SuperCupcakeTactics’ secret map from DBP09: Legend of the Hidden Tech, which to me is far and away the best take on the ignominious “keep running or die!” gimmickmap

This is an excellently well-done documentary! I love the chill, introspective, almost somber vibe your videos give off. Videos like this are the reason I've continued to play Doom for all these years, around 4 or 5 as of the posting of the comment. Thanks, MtPain. Keep it up!

You are one of the few ppl who actually understands the connection between doom and arcade games. It sucks how that approach to game design has been almost totally forgotten lol. Also amazing video

that ending message was genuinely powerful, and it's given me the motive to make one of the weirdest and most out there ideas ive had for a doom map. thanks a plenty, mount pain!

Yet another banger of a video! I really like your ability to turn a seemingly pedestrian topic into something unexpected and interesting.

In a similar vein to Plutonia's secret maps forcing you to play both once the first one starts, I used to make old crappy maps that would incorporate all different difficulty levels, and use the secret levels as "mandatory playing" on UV. Simple stuff like including a fork in a path right at the end of the level, with the Secret Level side blocked by decorations on the lower level difficulty, and the Normal Exit blocked instead on UV . I don't think I've played any megawad that does something like that and think it's a pretty neat mechanic, even if the vast majority if players only play on UV anyway.

This was absolutely wonderful. My favourite video on the channel since your analysis/celebration of The Mucus Flow. Fabulous production values, well-reasoned analysis and language both poetic and precise. Great work, MtPain - I'd love to see more video essays/analyses like this from you in the future.

This was a wonderful change of pace. In a course catalog, we might call this class "Special Topics in Doom: Secret Maps."

As strange as it might seem, this format of video you do here is my favorite. I also rewatch the non-dean of doom content you do more as well. Stuff like the mucus flow video, this one, and the same scum video are exactly what I’d want to do, therefore I absolutely love it.

This is the Type of content i think you should do more of in the future. It's was also interesting getting peeks at wads, i didn't know of. Can't wait for the next wad review. Is it gonna be Nova 3? Eternal doom? Or something else

This is one of my favorite videos you’ve made on this channel. This video is a tribute to DOOM and a demonstration of passion. Your writing is eloquent and easy to follow. You provide multiple clear and concise examples of secret maps for each category you analyze. It's that Goldilocks level of writing where you can still mention obscure details that only diehard DOOM fans would know but also educate people who know nothing about the modern DOOM community. And your love of this game shines through like a beacon illuminating all who watch. This documentary is a quintessential video essay; It enters, educates, and then leaves. I would really love to see another video in this style. You hit the ball out of the park with this one, and with DOOM itself being over 30 years old now, there are definitely stories to be told. Evolutions in design, the Rise and Fall of Troll/Terry WADs, and Demonstrations of Surrealism like The Sky May Be... This game has interacted with so many people over its lifespan and influenced them to do things that perhaps they wouldn't have done had they never interacted with DOOM. When Id Software was putting the finishing touches on DOOM in November of 1993, I know nobody there had any idea of what they were creating. While it was true that they were making a game, popularity and time have morphed their creation into an engine, not a game. An engine that members of the community build upon to make games of their own, some of which aren't anywhere near the original genre or art style. In other words, Doom has transcended its original form as just a "simple" video game. Instead, it has achieved immortality.

Thank you so much for including Sunder map 31 at the end. It's my favorite secret map just for the opening vista and the feeling the repurposed BPRD midi evokes. I played that map before I knew about Mucus Flow or BPRD in general so it was a really impactful song to me. Kinda blew my mind when I first watched your vids about it.

Another great video, man! The strange case of secret maps being conventionally unconventional sure is a thing to ponder. My first was Fortress of Mystery, and I still maintain that the "secret exit" leading to it is easier to find than the actual exit of Command Center provided you don't luckily take the exact right turn about 10 times in a row. You'll be happy to know that this video got me to play (and _thoroughly_ enjoy) Nova III. It's absolutely insane that a project for new or recently-returning mappers (two of them, in fact, going by your opinion on Nova II) turned out better than any of the Community Chests were. There are a lot of really cool and unusual maps in that wad that would be fun to see you talk about if it ever gets the DoD treatment. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on The Ship That Wore a Mask in particular, I loved that one but I could imagine it being divisive. Same goes for Terramin, which is one of the greatest Doom cutscenes of all time.

This was a great video. MAP31 and 32 of Uprising definitely follow a "homage" and "out of this world" ethos. Probably some of the best maps i've ever made partly because of perceived freedom I felt I had compared to regular slot maps.

i was thinking this would be about secrets themselves... would watch a documentary/rating on them!!

Can i say, the more I have watched, the better your distinct flavor of writing has gotten. Just melodramatic and flowery enough to add gravitas but with a tongue lodged firmly enough in cheek to have a humorous bent. Very much can feel authorship coming from your videos which is relatively rare within videos of the doom community I give it: Finding the secret exit on E1m3 for the first time / 10

Secret maps really are a treat in the Doom community. The encouragement to go well outside the confines, to break all the rules, because these are purely optional - purely for fun - makes for some of the most wonderful experiences in the game.

This was an unexpected upload and honestly? I loved it, especially that ending line, "I promise someone, somewhere is eagerly awaiting your imagination" that really hits home when you think about it. You know MtPain, you're absolutely one of the top YT'ers I look forward to seeing upload, you keep coming out with banger after banger and each new thing you've come out with just adds more and more onto things. I really hope to see you get to the likes of Decino in the end, you really deserve it.

I hated Fireblu Palace, it just served to wind me up and make my computer run like a quadriplegic sloth which I don't appreciate at all, but I can appreciate what it was trying to do. Hearing the Mucus Flow midi at the end makes me wonder - that would have been an absolutely incredible choice for CC2's map32

Sick video man. Such a great way to showcase interesting creativity and the historical philosophy (is that even a thing? I'm making it a thing...) behind secret maps and a great shakeup to the normal DoD format. Hope to see more things like this.

I really enjoy these types of videos as well as all your content over the years. Keeping the flame of Doom alive damn near 30 years later is both a privilege and a treat whether it is in enjoying the worlds created by doom mappers or in creating videos like these to share ideas about Doom. I know I'm just a random arch-vile on the internet, but seriously, the work you do is worth it to others. We can see the heart and the dedication you put into each of your videos. The music selections and your script writing are entirely your own, and brimming with your inner light. Keep on keeping on. P.S. You were one of the inspirations to kick my butt into gear for creating a "little" video project as a gift to help celebrate 30 years of one of the best games ever made. I know you're probably busy and often deep in the code with your work for Doom, but if you ever have some spare time, feel free to check it out! If not, that's also okay. I'm eager to see what new wads or ideas you showcase in the future!

You are hands down top 10 favorite KZfaqrs MtPain. Love your deep dives, your reviews, and excellent use of diction. I strive to be anywhere close to as good as you with my videos. Excellent video sir.

Well aren't you just full of pleasant surprises!

This is maybe my favourite video you've done. I'd love more deep dives into a mapping concept to break up the usual reviews!

My first was the jump in Scythe 1

This vid does making me wanna continue Doom mapping after just making one map, I always got some game ideas so maybe these will help in realizing them

Excelent summertime assignment. Thank you, Dean!

I'm very glad to see you posting again! Hope you're doing all right!

This video hits on a different level for me. It's still the Doom we all know and love, but it puts down the lens of critique and instead opts for the rambling and philosophical. A seemingly random tangent of an idea that leads into a thoughtful deconstruction and reshaping of a concept taken for granted. Who would've thought something so innocuous as secret levels in a 25+ year old video game would be a fountain of ideas, game design, and a glance into the minds of their creators. Your masterful writing glisten like gold in the sun of an Egypt-themed map, MtPain.

I already know its a good documentary when there's a cool beep boop music in the beginning

Great video! I loved seeing all the commentary about wads you haven't reviewed in Dean of Doom. The "TNT school" of secret level seems a little over-broad to me, which puts the whole categorization scheme in doubt, but you make a good argument for its validity both as a "not any of the other ones" grab bag and as an aesthetic choice in its own right, particularly with the specific examples from Nova III. I'll have to play that wad soon. The cliché of a squared-off fortress of no visual interest packed full of monsters bores me a little when compared to all the weirder, more whimsical ideas people have executed in their secret maps. Recently, I loved Cydonia's Map31 for its total rejection of the combat and visual design of all the preceding levels and its sly "Give up?" button leading to the exit to Map16. Such a direct challenge makes it feel like a total cheat to just idclev32 my way to the more conventional secret level that "actually" interests me, so I've decided not to do that until I've beaten Map31 legitimately. Big props to the Cydonia team for such a creative swerve of a level.

Secret maps are probably my favorite aspect of oldschool DOOM WADs. Every time I load one up that I haven't played before, MAP31 and MAP32 are what I look forward to the most. They're always so different from the rest of the WAD, it makes them a joy to discover. E1M9 holds a special place in my heart, since it was naturally the first secret map I discovered when playing DOOM as a kid. Hell, secrets in general always tickle some part of my brain in a pleasing way. Maybe a video about how those have evolved over time is somewhere down the MtPain pipeline? Great video, loved seeing your breakdown of iconic Secret Maps over the years, and it was nice to see those I'm very familiar with pop up. Even nicer were the ones I hadn't seen before, like Fireblu Palace. Can't believe I didn't know about that before!

If you ultimate secret adventure I would like to recommend you Uroboros. Doom mappers have always been inclined to break tradition, they helped crafted UMAPINFO which allows them to take rules into their old hands and hide secret exit on any map. I personally like the 15 secret exit ( because 15 and 16 are atomic numbers to my favorite elements and 31 and 32 are their most prevalent atomic weights). But people are deciding to break it in POOGERS, NoSp3 and many more. Uroboros is the most skilled use of UMAPINFO and you will be delighted by it.

Oh, boy! What an unexpected topic have you brought to us

This is a really cool way to make use of your knowledge earned from the normal Dean of Doom vids. The fact that TnT's atmosphere is the defining factor is something that would've stumped anyone not already a TnT fanatic. This is one of my fav videos you've released now, and maybe if you ever get tired of Dean of Doom, you could keep doing these? Apply them to other FPSs? Maybe you could call this series the Dean's Lectures! This is one of the most novel ways I've seen a person elaborate on a channel's central conceit, and I can't wait to see more of what you do!

I remember first discovering MAP31 with the idclev cheat. I don't know what made me type 31, but I was super excited to see it, especially since I played Wolfenstein 3d like crazy and knew E1M1 in it like the back of my hand so of course, I found MAP32. It took me forever to figure out how to get to MAP31 legitimately though lol. I used idclip to find the exit portal, but I had no idea how to open the hallway to get to it.

Another banger of a video MtPain, love it

damn dude, rlly interesting video! id like to see you branch off from dean of doom more, this was rlly good :)

Fantastic video as always!

Always a joy when you upload

Its good to see a new post from the Dean again that isn't just unique Doom Style music as of late and diving into Doom Map Concept Studies this is my kind of education Seriously Mr.Dean I missed your videos your voice is always so chill and intellectual it doesn't always have to be Megawad analysis and grading you talk about the great fine details of what makes Doom so timeless and great

I missed you man! thanks for making more videos!

Love your work and way to speak, man. Always inspiring and deep!

I would love to see a Dean of Doom episode on Eviternity 2, it out did the original

Great video my dude!! I think we were all hoping to see a video like this and its genuiely really good!!

this video is so gooddd, pls make more stuff of this style!

this take on documentaries is really cool! you should do more of them in the future

Great video Dean!

Golly this is a good romp through some cool maps. Thanks MtPain!

Amazing video. Your content is some of the most underrated on the site.

Always impressive. I don't always watch every episode like I used too but this is such a great channel for this community

Superb video, Mount Pain! More of these analysis videos please. 😊

This is a starkly different type of video essay talking about the idiosyncrasies of what secret levels are, and what they provide. Ultimately, Maps 31 and 32 are a blank canvas, and it's important for us to remember that. Sure, you could shove two extra levels into it that match the motif, but thinking and drawing outside the lines is what piques my interest in a secret level. Hell, I like Go 2 It simply because it changes the dynamic of Plutonia's map design and monster placement, and it's a design philosophy into itself which has created its own genre of WADs. Great work on this.

Beautiful video!

I loove your content sm, keep up the great work!!

Honestly I'm grateful that Id went with more gimmicky maps for their secret levels. The community would probably create gimmicky maps for secret levels at some point anyway, but for them to do so themselves set a tradition (just like you said) that I will always cherish. After all, if all maps were made seriously with a sort of set ruleset, I imagine the Doom Community would be just a little boring.

Your narration is always on point to what you want to express and its a very refreshing experience to hear someone use the english language so profoundly. Thanks for always producing these videos. They have inspired me to retry at making my own megawad for DooM II. Cheers!

Sometimes I like secret maps so much, I wish I could play a WAD of all of them. Guess I really just need a trippy WAD where every map feels absurd/abstract.

awesome video, love seeing a breakdown like this, its nice hearing your thoughts on this different format. hope we see more stuff like this or more stuff nothing like this! explore your creativity mtpain, were eager to see it

rly cool video Professor, would love to see more videos of this type. What I've been very interesting in seeing is pwads that to make secret maps "secret" again by placing secret exits in unexpected maps which would help intensify that feeling of trespassing into a hidden realm

Taking video essay format to a new level! Excellent content, thank you! Last secret hunt I genuinely enjoyed was that city map from Community Chest 2 with 9 hidden switches. That was kinda fun, can't say the same about the rest 90% of the WAD.

Maybe your finest work, this is the doom content I’ve been waiting for!

Strange Aeons has a secret map that recreates Myst Island in the Doom engine and is solved more or less the same way. I remember another wad that had a secret map based around the old Atari game Adventure, but I can't for the life of me remember which wad it was...

This video is a well-researched treatise on an enshrined mapping tradition. You've outdone yourself with this excellent work. Not trying to gush, but you're one of the best chroniclers of the Doom community here on KZfaq and this reiterates it. Well done.

Awesome video!

Secret maps have always been a way to increase replay value and to introduce gimmicks and oddball ideas that might be out of place in the rest of the wad. Whenever a play a new wad, finding them is always a top priority for me, I don't feel I've truly completed a wad if I miss them.

>mfw watching a MtPain video and the mucus flow theme kicks in

This is an excellent break down of why I love secret maps so much. Really enjoyed this video! Like you said, the reward of the discovery itself is even more rewarding than whatever you find in the secret. I was so excited when I found the first secret map in Doom, even though E1M9 itself didn't impress me that much. If I were to pick one favorite secret map it would probably be Map32: The Harlot's Garden from Sunder. It's one of the hardest maps I've played but its atmosphere is unmatched in the rest of the WAD, largely thanks to Tristan Clark's midi.

God bless you and your great work! Youre the man!

damn, so good. and yes, that final green cube is so good :)

Great concept for a video. As a serial secret ignorer and completion agnostic I don't often seek out secret maps or bother playing them unless stumbling upon them by accident, but its fascinating to see a through line be drawn from the IWADs to contemporary works. You could do this sort of thing with a lot of aspects of doom mapping, 90s Id laid the groundwork for the community to follow in its wake, to reinterpret in unique ways and inventive ways. Shit. 0/5. Won't map again.