MAP15: Wormhole Junction (Ancient Aliens)

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Ancient Aliens maps
One Last Vision Quest

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Applied Einstein
You're the Alien Now

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

This level occupies the map slot MAP15. For other maps which occupy this slot, see Category:MAP15.

MAP15: Wormhole Junction is the fifteenth map of Ancient Aliens. It was designed by Paul DeBruyne (skillsaw) and uses the music track "Hypercube," composed by Stuart Rynn (stewboy). The par time is 7:30.

Walkthrough[edit]

Map of Wormhole Junction
Letters in italics refer to marked spots on the map. Sector, thing, and linedef numbers in boldface are secrets which count toward the end-of-level tally.

Essentials[edit]

Collect all the weapons and shoot the switch in front of you to drop the walls to either side and begin the level. Deal with the two cacodemons and a pain elemental to your right, then head towards the main area on the other side. Before you drop down, a combat armor can be found on the ledge. The main loop here will fill up with practically every enemy type, save for archviles. In the center of the loop (accessible from the south end), you should find a pillar with a switch on the back side. Pressing this will raise some light stairs to the upper floor surrounding the pit, so circle around clockwise and climb up. Follow the path and you should reach the blue key after dealing with a couple of ambushes. Drop down after grabbing the key and you will find yourself in front of two blue doors. The left will take you to the yellow key, while the right will take you to the red key. You can get these in either order.

Yellow Key

Taking the left teleporter will put you on a ledge on the south side of the map. Moving off the destination will drop the floor exposing you to imps and Hell knights, as well as teleport in some alien guardians, stealth plasma aliens, and a spider mastermind back in the main loop. Head forward and press the switch on the yellow key pillar to lower the balconies the imps were on with more monsters in waiting. This will also give you access to the outer ring with many zombiemen in the area. Circle around and press a switch out here to lower the yellow key. Head back and grab the key to trigger another ambush. After this, open the yellow door and grab the BFG9000. This will open a door on the other side of the platform which heads out onto the light stairs that lead up to the blue key.

Red Key

Taking the red teleporter will put you on a platform overlooking the north end of the loop. Turn around and press a switch to raise a bridge to the other side. Grabbing the red key will lower you onto a platform facing two mancubi and a group of chaingunners. Kill them, then shoot the switches behind where the mancubi were to activate the lift back to the upper floor. Open the red bars and deal with a small ambush before dropping back down to the main loop.

After acquiring all three keys, head to the door on the west side of the loop and take the lift up. Press a switch around the corner to trigger one more large battle. This switch also raises a second set of stairs near the red and yellow teleporters, so circle clockwise again and take the stairs up. Deal with one more trap and open the door to the normal exit. Alternatively, you can head towards the secret exit from here as well.

Other points of interest[edit]

Secrets[edit]

  1. After the three-key door, take the lift up and head north. Press on the scrolling wall with purple and orange characters to lower a wall behind you with an invulnerability and a teleporter back to the starting point. (sector 792)
  2. In the red key area, you are supposed to shoot switches to get back up to the upper floor. After shooting both switches but before heading back up, head to the far end of the ledge you are on and turn right. You can spot a switch tucked behind a wall here. Shoot this one, and head out of the area. Open the red key bars and if you turn left (east), you could spot a red teleporter. Take it to reach a new area. Here, pressing the switch causes stairs to form and you will have to fight polydrones and a mancubus. The secret exit is located in this area, although you are free to head back to the main area via a teleporter. (sector 1689)

Bugs[edit]

As a minor visual error, the blue key stays after being picked up in multiplayer and will then get raised into the air when the laser stairs to the exit are activated.

Demo files[edit]

Areas / screenshots[edit]

Speedrunning[edit]

Routes and tricks[edit]

Current records[edit]

The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

Run Time Player Date File Notes
UV speed (normal exit) 8:20.54 Billa 2021-08-28 aa15p820.zip Cross-listed from Pacifist
UV speed (secret exit) 1:11.17 NoReason 2020-09-29 aa15-111.zip
NM speed (normal exit)
NM speed (secret exit)
UV max 4:23.83 rd 2019-02-03 aa15-423.zip
NM 100S
UV -fast
UV -respawn 3:32.09 Andrea Rovenski (Cyberdemon531) 2022-11-09 aa15r332.zip
UV Tyson 45:49.63 Petyan 2023-02-16 aa15t4549.zip
UV pacifist (normal exit) 8:20.54 Billa 2021-08-28 aa15p820.zip
UV pacifist (secret exit) 3:06.43 Billa 2021-09-04 aa15sp306.zip
NoMo (normal exit) 1:02.80 Inuk 2023-07-02 aa15o102.zip
NoMo (secret exit) 0:38.20 Inuk 2022-12-16 aa15so38.zip
NoMo 100S 1:11.40 Inuk 2023-07-02 aa15sos111.zip

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 10, 2023.

Statistics[edit]

Map data[edit]

Things 740
Vertices 10045*
Linedefs 11754
Sidedefs 18094
Sectors 1733
* The vertex count without the effect of node building is 10045.

Things[edit]

This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level:

Technical information[edit]

Inspiration and development[edit]

Trivia[edit]

  • In the comment section under the playthrough of this map on decino's YouTube channel, skillsaw shared the following information about this level:
"Probably my favorite map that I did Ancient Aliens! The midi (Hypercube) is perfect for the map's arcade slaughter vibe.

I had a couple rules (for myself, only) with Ancient Aliens, mostly because I wanted to make sure it felt different to play than Vanguard and Valiant --
1) Only one three-key door per episode (people complained I used them too frequently)
2) Keep monster count under control (i.e. don't make slaughter maps)

In this map I ignored both. To me this plays almost like a lost Vanguard map - it's what dew calls "candy slaughter", heh."
―Paul DeBruyne (skillsaw) [1]

See also[edit]

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Paul DeBruyne (skillsaw) (22 May 2023). "Comment on Ancient Aliens - MAP15: Wormhole Junction (Ultra-Violence 100%)." YouTube. Retrieved 22 May 2023.