Ancient Aliens

Ancient Aliens is a 32-level megawad for Boom compatible source ports, created by Paul DeBruyne (skillsaw). It is a parody of alien conspiracy theories, particularly those from the. The mapset features a large range of custom textures and a new palette, resulting in a distinct visual style. Also featured are several maps by guest level designers, mostly found in the third and final episode. The entirety of the soundtrack was composed by Stuart Rynn (stewboy), though several tracks were re-used from previous WADs.

The first release candidate of the WAD was released on 8 May, 2016. As this was just days ahead of the release of Doom (2016), the unveiling of a new high-quality megawad did not go unnoticed, and the WAD received widespread attention from gaming news sites. The final version was uploaded to the idgames archive on 19 July, 2016. It won a Cacoward that year.

Late December 2022, the AA texture pack was updated to version 1.1, with the main WAD receiving the same texture updates.

New monsters

 * Stealth plasma alien:A fast, plasma-shooting stealth trooper with 30 hit points which is only fully visible while attacking. It replaces the Wolfenstein SS and the dead lost soul.
 * Alien guardian:A floating, rotating skull-cube that launches three revenant missiles in succession. It replaces Commander Keen and the bloody mess 2.

Textures
DeBruyne created custom textures for this mapset. He also uploaded these to idgames archive as a texture pack called Ancient Aliens Textures. Often referred to as AA-tex, it has been used by other mappers.

Levels
All levels designed by Paul DeBruyne (skillsaw), except where noted otherwise.

Episode 1: One Last Vision Quest Episode 2: Applied Einstein Episode 3: You're the Alien Now
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Stuart Rynn (stewboy)
 * by Stuart Rynn (stewboy)
 * by Stuart Rynn (stewboy)
 * by Stuart Rynn (stewboy)
 * by Stuart Rynn (stewboy)
 * by Stuart Rynn (stewboy)
 * by Stuart Rynn (stewboy)
 * by Stuart Rynn (stewboy)
 * by Stuart Rynn (stewboy)
 * by Brayden Hart (AD_79)
 * by Sarah Mancuso (esselfortium)
 * by Pinchy
 * by Chris Kassap (lupinx-Kassman)
 * by Richard Frei (Tarnsman)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Richard Frei (Tarnsman)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)
 * by Josh Sealy (Joshy)

Soundtrack
All songs composed by Stuart Rynn (stewboy).
 * MAP01: Flee
 * MAP02: The Incessant Flow of Time
 * MAP03: Depth Charge (from Back to Saturn X)
 * MAP04: Desk Lamp (from Sunlust)
 * MAP05: Toejazz
 * MAP06: Roof
 * MAP07: Featherfall (from Interception)
 * MAP08: Hell Jungle
 * MAP09: The Demon's Serenade
 * MAP10: Vase
 * MAP11: Space Train (from SpaceDM9)
 * MAP12: Web of Steel
 * MAP13: Gold Rush
 * MAP14: Moonwalk
 * MAP15: Hypercube
 * MAP16: Space Jiggle
 * MAP17: Other Side of the Moon
 * MAP18: Trapeze
 * MAP31: Tribal Dance
 * MAP32: Birdsong (from Interception)
 * MAP19: Long Night
 * MAP20: 20 GOTO 10
 * MAP21: Basement (from Resurgence)
 * MAP22: The Last Dance
 * MAP23: The Greater Good (from Jenesis)
 * MAP24: Imaginarium
 * MAP25: Alien Forest
 * MAP26: Tales of Old
 * MAP27: Garden of Lost Souls
 * MAP28: Gigabridge
 * MAP29: Colliding Nebulae
 * MAP30: Yuletide
 * Title screen: Welcome to Egypt
 * Intermission screen: Concentration
 * Text screen: Martian Blues

Built-in demos
This WAD features three built-in demos. All require Doom II with a Boom-compatible v2.02 source port to view them. The demo levels are:

Current records
The DSDA episode records for Ancient Aliens are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 28, 2022.