Unfamiliar: Classic Edition

The original opening location. Believe it or not, those blocks are meant to be spacecraft. (Map: E1M1)

The iconic E1M1 starting room. (Map: E1M1)

As you can see, the older versions of Unfamiliar were more claustrophobic and primitive. (Map: E1M1)

A nasty surprise is waiting in the yard. (Map: E1M1)

The entrance to the Chemical Plant. (Map: E1M2)

Some areas didn't require much change in later revisions, and were almost perfect on the first try. (Map: E1M2)

Locations with nukage pools lack the visual punch of green lighting that arrived later. (Map: E1M2)

This was the original ending sequence of the level, with the large freight yard added much later. (Map: E1M2)

Some areas were cut entirely for lacking any distinctive identity or purpose. (Map: E1M3)

The tight corridors of this era gave way to a lot of intense close-quarters combat. (Map: E1M3)

Another cut location. (Map: E1M3)

The original opening yard of the industrial area. (Map: E1M4)

The proportions and scale of id's original levels are much more noticeable in this incarnation of the mod. (Map: E1M4)

Several connected yards here were later unified to allow for a large battle. (Map: E1M4)

The lack of coloured lighting again deprives this scene of visual flair. (Map: E1M4)

A cut interior. (Map: E1M4)

The ending sequence in this exterior canal area required little touching-up in the years to come. (Map: E1M4)

The original opening to the first of two laboratory levels. Though flatter in lighting, the corpses still show the push towards horror aesthetics in this level. (Map: E1M5)

The original nukage-filled hub, again lacking the punchiness of the later coloured lighting effects. (Map: E1M5)

This nondescript warehouse area was later replaced with a lab holding Revenants in containment. (Map: E1M5)

As in id's original level, this corridor sequence is prime time to use the Chaingun. (Map: E1M5)

The opportunity to let rip with the Rocket Launcher here was a very early idea. (Map: E1M6)

Extra yards with canals pepper the old levels in Classic Edition. Most were merged together or cut for pacing reasons. (Map: E1M6)

In some regards it is more interesting to see what hasn't changed, or what didn't need too much further work. (Map: E1M6)

Another cut yard. (Map: E1M6)

Detours like this were in retrospect unnecessary padding, but later revisions to the levels justified them when changes to the overall pacing were beginning to occur elsewhere. (Map: E1M6)

A rare occurrence of a crate barricade to spice up an otherwise bog-standard storage yard. (Map: E1M6)

Continuity in level transitions was a key part of Unfamiliar's design right from the start - in this case E1M6 and E1M7 were connected by a railway. (Map: E1M7)

The original opening location of E1M7, later cut when the level transition changed. (Map: E1M7)

Another relatively untouched exterior. (Map: E1M7)

Much like in id's original, there was a large nukage canal present that flowed between several locations. (Map: E1M7)

The giant computer core only required minor redesigning in later iterations. (Map: E1M7)

This canal area was cut when the level received a large-scale re-organisation. (Map: E1M7)

The initial ending for this level involved leaving all the infrastructure behind and venturing into the wild. (Map: E1M7)

Storming a fortified position uphill was always on the cards for E1M8's opening. (Map: E1M8)

This sequence of yards was supplanted by a treacherous bridge across lava in later revisions. (Map: E1M8)

This strange area's major change later was replacing the nukage with lava. (Map: E1M8)

This room was later scaled up slightly to allow for a battle with Revenants. (Map: E1M8)

The original Bruiser Brothers room. Brutally constrictive and later replaced with an entirely new sequence. (Map: E1M8)

The original Phobos-Deimos portal. (Map: E1M8)

Even in the early days, Episode 2 was all about darkness and horror imagery. (Map: E2M1)

As id's original level was full of disconnected rooms, I chose to unify them by putting them in a canyon very early on. The terrain was simplified in future revisions. (Map: E2M1)

Lost Souls were an annoying monster to fight but did have benefits in terms of dramatic lighting. (Map: E2M1)

Classic Doom's limited texture set meant a heavy use of the same grimy metal textures for this episode. (Map: E2M2)

The original opening to the large warehouse complex. (Map: E2M2)

Two Cacodemons relaxing in a room full of curved floor patterns that were very troublesome to get right. (Map: E2M2)

Using volcanic cracks in the ground to light the warehouse was an obvious choice. (Map: E2M2)

The chained explosive barrel sequence was an early idea. (Map: E2M2)

Initally this cave sequence was going to overlook the exterior in E2M3, but the whole thing was dropped. (Map: E2M2)

One of the better-aged corridor designs. (Map: E2M2)

This exterior was expanded upon to include an altar for sacrifices and a sniper nest for the player to take potshots from above. (Map: E2M2)

Even with heavily limited lighting effects, the classic maps are still rich with atmosphere. (Map: E2M3)

A pumping station in a large canyon exterior. (Map: E2M3)

The canyon in full. Not fun to make. (Map: E2M3)

To add more depth to the demonic invasion, I added rooms for sacrifices and torture that the demons would use in their downtime. (Map: E2M3)

The Deimos lab featured volcanic caverns in earlier drafts, which were later all cut when the level's scope was reduced. (Map: E2M4)

There were many attempts to find a home for this canal, until it was finally cut for good. (Map: E2M4)

The basic design for this teleport device was left unchanged over the years. (Map: E2M4)

More caverns, intended to contrast against the high-tech lab environments. (Map: E2M4)

The crusher room. id's original looked quite preposterous, so I had to reign it in a lot. (Map: E2M4)

The ending room still shows a lot of DNA from id's original. (Map: E2M4)

id's original E2M5 is one of my least favorite Doom levels, so re-imagining it for Unfamiliar was a challenge both welcome and troublesome. (Map: E2M5)

This curved staircase and the vista beyond were cut for being unwieldy. (Map: E2M5)

In later iterations, this nukage was replaced with blue lava which provided better visiblity. (Map: E2M5)

This storage area was later expanded to allow for an Arachnotron battle. (Map: E2M5)

Given the lack of space in this room, I played a cruel trick for pistol start players in later revisions of the map that involved a Rocket Launcher. (Map: E2M6)

The top of this cave was later removed and replaced with an open sky. (Map: E2M5)

Big swathes of this level were either cut or rearranged in the years to come. (Map: E2M6)

The demons hold a meeting about quarterly rates in a conference room. (Map: E2M6)

This cave sequence was expanded and filled with sewage in later revisions to allow for easier movement of both players and monsters alike. (Map: E2M6)

This room is obviously a trap, but what kind of monsters spilled out of the walls was always changing. (Map: E2M6)

The long corridor fight at the end felt like a natural choice given the player has plenty of Rocket and Plasma ammo by now. (Map: E2M6)

The penultimate level of Episode 2 went through very dramatic changes over the years. This iteration is much closer to id's original layout. (Map: E2M7)

In id's original level, this is where you got the Berserk + Invulnerability combo. (Map: E2M7)

id's original version of this level had corpses hanging from thin air. That had to change. (Map: E2M7)

As the player progressed further through the episode, demonic imagery had to increase more and more. (Map: E2M7)

Two Lost Souls guard their treasure. (Map: E2M8)

The early control tower was only two sections - the underground and the top - with no vertical progress inbetween. (Map: E2M8)

This is where id's original map would start. I liked to add some normal gameplay prior to the boss fights as otherwise it seemed like a waste of a level to only have one fight. (Map: E2M8)

The Cyberdemon arena only needed some visual touchups in later revisions. (Map: E2M8)

The player originally entered Hell in a low-key way, starting in a makeshift UAC base in a cave before then emerging to see the demonic fortress. (Map: E3M1)

Previous visitors. (Map: E3M1)

The demonic fortress exterior stayed generally the same over the years, though the terrain underwent drastic changes. (Map: E3M1)

Much of the fortress' interior was already acceptable, and only required changes to textures and room proportions. (Map: E3M1)

The original courtyard. Rather than contain the exit, it only ended the first half of the level. (Map: E3M1)

The holy BFG. (Map: E3M1)

The Spiderdemon's lair, much more in-line with id's original level, only heightened a bit. (Map: E3M1)