Darryl Steffen (dobu gabu maru)

Darryl Steffen, known by his alias dobu gabu maru, is an American level designer, and host of The DWmegawad Club since its inception. He was named as the Mapper of the Year at the 2017 Cacowards, in addition to receiving a Cacoward for Saturnine Chapel and a Machaward for his monsterless puzzle map The Given.

Steffen is known for his highly idiosyncratic style, with common tropes being difficult, cruel combat setups, extravagant, richly detailed environments, ambitious concept levels, and meticulous worldbuilding. He also has a fascination with puzzle maps; besides The Given, his other levels in a similar style include Moonlight and his Exuviae levels such as MAP31: Iron Exuviae (NOVA: The Birth).

Steffen is also noted for his community project management efforts. He co-led NOVA: The Birth, and was the project lead for its sequel. In 2017, he playtested and did major mapping work for TNT: Revilution. One of the levels he retouched, his collaboration Transduction with Stupidbunny, Kyka, and Megamur, placed 90th in Doomworld's Top 100 Most Memorable Maps.

Body of work

2012

• Slaughterfest 2012 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP15: Doomherolandia (with General Rainbow Bacon and j4rio)

2013

• Pesha (Doomworld/idgames)
• 100 Lines (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP09: Exquisite Guilt (100lineN.wad)
  • MAP22: Hunter (100lineN.wad)
• WOOO (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP02: Bullies
• MAYhem 2013 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP09: Leviathan
  • MAP11: The Stone Spinneret
• Doomworld Mega Project 2013 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP12: The Manifold Fever (DMP2013L.wad)

2014

• NOVA: The Birth (Doomworld/idgames)
  • Project co-lead
  • MAP25: Vile Arterium (with mouldy and Death Egg)
  • MAP30: Megiddo (with kildeth, cannonball, mouldy, and Collin Pierce (Arjak))
  • MAP31: Iron Exuviae
• WOOO 2 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP23: Ceci n'est pas une lift
• Sweet Dreams, Suitepee (Doomworld forums thread)
• MAYhem 2048 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP28: Cold Seep
• Doomworld Mega Project 2014 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP22: Immundum

2015

• Murderbox (Doomworld forums thread)
• Sacrosanct Shithole (DSDA)
• Joe-Ilya's Birthday Night (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP09: A Sisyphean Task
• The Dime Birthday Level Collection (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP06: Bare Your Fangs
• 50 Shades of Graytall (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP14: Astral Nausea
• NOVA II: New Dawn (Doomworld/idgames)
  • Project lead
  • MAP26: Surreptitious Ichor (with cannonball)
• License to Ilya (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP16: Cyberdemon's Playground
• Hunter II (Doomworld forums thread)
• MAYhem 1500 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP04: Prayers in Stone
• Doomworld Mega Project 2015 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP24: Butcher's Kiln (DMP2015A.wad)

2016

• Carnivorous Appetite (Doomworld forums thread) (with Suitepee)
• THT: Threnody (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP08: Fightnancial Crisis at Enwrong
• Doomworld Mega Project 2016 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP09: Copper Exuviae

2017

• Saturnine Chapel (Doomworld/idgames)
• TNT: Revilution (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP06: Communications Relay (with XenoNemesis, Kyka, and Jaws in Space)
  • MAP08: Fortress of Bullets (with sincity2100)
  • MAP12: Transduction (with Stupidbunny, Kyka, and Megamur)
  • MAP16: Devil's Den
  • MAP22: Pharaoh's Claim (with Olympus and Kyka)
  • MAP30: Malignata (with James Caldwell (Obsidian))
• Confinement 256 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • CONF43: Cruel Precision
• The Given (Doomworld/idgames)
• Super MAYhem 17 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP31: Sinkysand Switchland
• The Joy of Mapping 5: Winter Weekend (Doomworld/idgames)
  • E4SECRET: Supay's Gardens

2018

• Team Rocket: Blasting Off at the Speed of Mapping (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP31: Sleep Forever
• MAYhem 2018
  • Orange edition, MAP31: Wowee
• The Joy of Mapping 6: Joy Eternal (Doomworld/idgames)
  • E3M1: Chaotic Keep
• Frozen Exuviae (Wad Archive (archived 🏛))

2019

• Moonlight (Doomworld/idgames)
• MAYhem 2019 (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP16: Madman's Vault
• Texture Extravaganza (Doomworld/idgames)
  • MAP25: Alchemist's Tower

2020

• Team Rocket 2 - Looks like we're blasting off again! (Doomworld forums thread)
  • MAP29: Self-Destruct
• Dark Scythe (Doomworld/idgames)
  • Project leader
  • MAP01: The Dark Shadow
  • MAP24: Distant Suckers
  • MAP29: Designing a Sculpture
  • MAP30: The Diorama Symposium
  • MAP34: Door Savvy
  • MAP37: Disseminator of Sin
  • MAP39: Dork Smasher
  • MAP43: Delivering Shakespeare
• Pious Simplicity (Doomworld forums thread) (with 40oz)

2023

• Ultimate Doom In Name Only (Doomworld forums thread)
  • Co-Project Lead
  • E1M4: Command Control (additional edits)
  • E1M5: Phobos Lab (additional edits)
  • E1M7: Computer Station
  • E2M1: Deimos Anomaly (additional edits)
  • E2M4: Deimos Lab (additional edits)
  • E2M6: Halls of the Damned (additional edits)
  • E2M7: Spawning Vats (additional edits)
  • E2M9: Fortress of Mystery (additional edits)
  • E3M3: Pandemonium
  • E3M4: House of Pain (additional edits)
  • E3M5: Unholy Cathedral (additional edits)
  • E3M9: Warrens
  • E4M3: Sever The Wicked
  • E4M7: And Hell Followed (additional edits)
  • E4M8: Unto The Cruel
• 10 Line Genocide (Doomworld forums thread)
  • MAP35: Demon Dance (from Episode 4)

External Links

• Twitch channel
• The Minor Bits (Steffen's blog on video games)
• Grinding Bone Into Eternity (Steffen's blog on religious texts)