Ancient Aliens

From DoomWiki.org

Ancient Aliens
Title screen
Author Paul DeBruyne
Port Boom-compatible
IWAD Doom II
Year 2016
Link Doomworld/idgames
Cacoward.png This mod received one of the 2016 Cacowards on Doomworld!

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

The first release candidate of the WAD was released on 8 May, 2016. 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.

In 2023, Ancient Aliens was included in Doomworld's Doot Eternal music feature for Doom's 30th anniversary.

Content[edit]

New monsters[edit]

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[edit]

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 in WADs like Intergalactic Xenology, its sequel Intergalactic Xenology 2, and Alienated.

Built-in demos[edit]

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:

Demo Level Skill Tics Length
DEMO1 MAP04: Bad Medicine Men 4 2901 1:22.89
DEMO2 MAP15: Wormhole Junction 4 7699 3:39.97
DEMO3 MAP22: Acerola-Orion 4 3891 1:51.17

Speedrunning[edit]

Current records[edit]

The DSDA episode records for Ancient Aliens are:

Run Time Player Date File Notes
UV speed episode, MAP01-MAP10 23:02 finnks13 2021-05-26 aae1-2302.zip
UV speed episode, MAP11-MAP20 23:15 Elmle 2019-05-23 aae2-2315.zip
UV speed episode, MAP21-MAP30 38:39 Elmle 2019-06-01 aae3-3839.zip
UV max episode, MAP01-MAP10 51:32 Daerik 2020-05-27 aae1uvmax-5132.zip
UV max episode, MAP11-MAP20 1:17:20 Andrea Rovenski (Cyberdemon531) 2024-01-17 aaep2-7720.zip
NoMo 100S run 50:51 SharkyChip 2021-12-04 aaD2Allos5051.zip

The data was last verified in its entirety on January 27, 2024.

Gallery[edit]

External links[edit]