Duel40

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(Redirected from Duel16)
Duel40
The selector map of Duel40The selector map of Duel40
Author Lexi Mayfield
Ports Skulltag, Zandronum
IWAD Doom II
Year 2009
Link Doomworld forums thread

Duel40 (previously also released as Duel16, Duel24 and Duel32) is a compilation megawad for the Skulltag and Zandronum source ports, assembled by Lexi Mayfield (LexiMax). It was originally unveiled to the public in March 2009, as an attempt by LexiMax to collect some of the more renowed deathmatch maps from the community that were well suited to be played on the one-versus-one duel game mode on Skulltag. Because of the inconvenience of having to toggle between multiple servers in order to play maps that are part of separate PWADs, a compilation proved a convenient way to gather both players and spectators in a single server offering several maps. A voting map (dubbed START in MAPINFO) is present to allow players to pick and choose the WAD they want to duel on with ease.

LexiMax initially envisioned Duel40 as a START map for an existing deathmatch map compilation such as Skirmish4f, but the large number of maps in the WAD made memorization and picking favorites difficult, as well as containing many maps that she felt were ill-suited for Duel. She eventually settled for a set of hand-curated 16 maps as the initial release of Duel16. In November of that year, the mod was renamed to Duel32 as the roster doubled in size, with appropriate edits done to the voting map to reflect the changes. Later, the roster would be increased once more by 8 maps, culminating in the release of Duel40 on November 27, 2015. For much of its existence, Duel40 has thus dominated the duel gamemode first on Skulltag and then Zandronum.

List of included maps[edit]

Below is a list of the included duel maps as of version 40b of the mod, listed as they appear in MAPINFO:

Some maps were taken out of the main rotation as of 40b; these are:

Random level select[edit]

The random level select has gone through several iterations throughout the course of the life of the compilation.

At first, Random Select picked a truly random map from the map pool, excluding SHOOT. Then, LexiMax introduced a more involved Random Select which gave players the ability to preview the upcoming map and gave them a choice between playing the randomly-selected map or, if both players consented, skipping the map and blindly picking a second random map. This was inspired by a system used in Halo 3.

For Duel40b, she made one final adjustment to the random selector. Now, four random levels are chosen and each player has a limited time to pick a preferred map. If both players pick the same map, that map is automatically picked. If both players each pick different maps, a virtual coin is flipped and one of the two maps is selected. This system was inspired by Mario Kart 8's random map selector.

Secret levels[edit]

Included with the various versions of the duel compilations were various secret maps. These were intended to either be curiosities or outright jokes.

  • BFGSHOOT: A version of SHOOT with the super shotguns replaced with BFGs with infinite ammo and four pillars added to the center.
  • BFG5M1: A version of DWANGO5 MAP01 with each weapon replaced with a BFG with infinite ammo.
  • British9 MAP01
  • Duel16: A version of the Duel16 start map with super shotguns added to the level.

Easter eggs[edit]

During the earlier releases of Duel24 and Duel32, there was a completely separate hidden credits area. Even earlier versions also featured an Easter egg that, when triggered, would reveal a Marathon-style terminal in the credits area, complete with a message from Durandal.

In later releases, this was downgraded to a more obvious terminal on the reverse side of the credits wall with a simple text message, and was removed completely when the secret credits area was removed. Now, the credits are handled with a simple hidden switch, with a second, similar switch that toggles the SHOOT level portal between SHOOT and the secret level.

External links[edit]

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