Best way to end a wad?
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What's your personal favourite way for a wad to end (or just your personal favourite final maps)?
I think my favourite kind is where the wad tries to make a climactic map with the themes/gameplay style of the rest of the wad so far.
My personal favourite wad that's done this is Equinox, a perfect ending in my opinion. -
For me, it is a tie between a well-executed "finale boss" map (the DBP with custom bosses was a great example of this), or a story-concluding map with exposition.
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This might be reaching out a bit outside of the topic but i feel like the final maps i like the most are the ones that feel like everything's been building up to it (so, a final map supported by overall progression). This is very hard to do in megawads, which is probably why Ancient Aliens' felt a bit sudden (which i guess was intentional but oh well) and therefore a bit of a bummer for me, though Valiant and Eviternity did it pretty well with a final boss battle that actually felt like it was being built up to.
I don't think it always has to be super special though, i also really like credits maps in the DBPs and i also felt like Paradise's ending with a snowy version of the last map with a "to be continued" and a whole different atmosphere was also pretty nice, though partially also since that was a short mapset.
As for final map all by themselves though, i feel like TNT: Revilution is by far my favorite. Amazing build up, phenomenal midi, really good boss and gimmick, and overall probably the only IoS level i'd consider great.
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I like the concept of the "reward fight", basically a big battle where, instead of it being an ultimate test of skill, it's essentially an excuse for you to blow away as many enemies and do as much damage as you can without much in the way of difficulty. Something like Half Life 2's ending where you are practically invincible and are destroying everything you come across with the super gravity gun. Putting this alongside an actual ultimate fight in either order is pretty cool.
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My perfect finale would be a powertrip that culminates into an IOS with an interesting puzzle mechanic.
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One idea that I had for a time in the future when I may actually start mapping was to end a wad with a CTD.
I.e. you're done with a final boss, and then you move to certain space in a special area afterwards and - boom - you transcend and the game just terminates in a flurry of weirdly blinking colorful ascii.
Not that impossible I'm thinking now with recent advances in code injection. -
@peridot The Thing You Can't Defeat does this, actually, kinda.
"I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one."
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@segfault Wow, thanks for the spoiler - will be checking it out definitely!
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I'm a big fan of credits maps. They take a little extra work, but wrap everything up so nicely with bow and a good way for the player to wind down. They are a lot more popular recently, in general, but one of the earlier ones that stuck with me was in 50shades.wad. It has a comfy movie-theater/museum that you can walk around in, showcasing a screenshot-photo of each map with a player tag beneath it. If you pay careful attention, even, you'll notice one of the photos is a new map, and can activate it for a secret bonus map. I loved that setup.
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Its hard to end a wad properly. A lot of wads have this cool journey and build up, then theres an IOS, it blows up and CAST CALL, done. Usually leaves me feeling hollow. I dont know if a wad has ever truly left me feeling satisfied at the ending.
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@Devalaous Yeah, I agree, an IOS ending is lame and underwhelming after playing 29 maps, IOS's place nowadays, if any, should only be in the middle of the set as a mid-boss.
