Phml
Forum Staple
Posts: 2031
Registered: 06-09 |
Here's a rule of thumb: if, when I play your level for the first time, I ever know exactly what I'll see and what I'll have to fight before I open a door or turn a corner, because I've seen it once before, you've failed in your duty as a map designer.
Two of my favorite mappers are Eternal and TimeOfDeath, even though I've played so many maps by them I more often than not know what they are going to throw at me by looking at the layout (Eternal is especially fond of throwing one little guy on each side after door openings).
Discovery is only good for the first playthrough, perhaps the second or third one to know the map fully, but a map with fun gameplay can be replayed ten, twenty, a hundred times. Once you've got all the information, the element of surprise is gone.
In an ideal world we'd get maps with unexpected things *and* great gameplay, but that's the thing ; we're not in a perfect world. We don't have an infinite amount of time. All too often, people focus on a feature as if it intrinsically makes something better, forgetting that it's the way you use it that matters.
Ironically, while it is decried as a shortcut, in many cases symmetry serves as yet another scapegoat to avoid taking the time to actually think. Does my map has sufficient detail? Is it asymmetric? Are the textures aligned? Is the layout interconnected? Is there different paths to reach the exit? Is there mathematically enough ammo to kill all the monsters? Then it's automatically great.
Things can work like that, because Doom gets the ammo balance and monster cast so right even not giving a thought to gameplay itself can end up in a decent map (it's also likely many mappers develop an instinctive sense of balance over the years, even if they feel they're just plopping down monsters randomly), but there can be so much more to it. Given the choice, I'll take a map with great gameplay and none of the above must-have features than something that plays merely decent and has it all. To be fair, I'll actually play both, but there's only one of which I'm likely to replay and keep in my Doom folder.
There's nothing wrong with designing maps with the first playthrough in mind, as that's something everyone will experience, but to establish that as one of the primary goals every mapper should have just doesn't resonate well with me.
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10-15-11 13:57 
