Nixot
Nowits
Posts: 243
Registered: 06-09 |
Thanks for your feedback. I decided to break it down into parts.
Super Jamie: "Your rooms are too small, it's really quite difficult to dodge and move around to get to the weapons and ammo."
This really pisses me orff. Somehow, I always manage to end up with rooms either A) tiny or B) horrendously big. What do you think is a good room size (in map pixels)?
"Weapon and ammo placement is generally poor. Shooting demons with the pistol is boring. There's no point running the player out of ammo then putting heaps of bullets in an alcove behind a fat cacodemon with an Archvile in a monster closet behind you, nor any point putting the SSG behind the Archie. Give the player a chance based on skill, not where the pseudorandom number generator decides the monster will run."
Aww, you played in UV didn't you? I had to try about 20 times before I got it. Next time I will focus on bigger rooms and less cacodemons and more supplies. I will make the room with the cacodemons bigger to make it sort of an arena battle.
"You seem to have focused on detailing the floors and forgotten the walls. Tiles and grates but entire bare rooms with an item in them? Don't just leave the key in the corner of the Baron closet, stick it in an alcove with some lighting, make it seem important. It's supposed to be a reward for a battle, not just an afterthought that was left lying around."
OK, how about a room with a raised bit with the key on? And lights coming from it? I really don't want to overdo it.
"Also, self-referencing slime seems weird when I can sink down in it, but monsters can't."
WHAT! Grrrr! I might have to take that out! I knew items don't clip with it, but monsters?!
"I again repeat that as a beginning mapper, you should put your maps up here for gameplay and design testing, rather than waste space with another mediocre (or worse) map on idgames. Do you want to actually improve or just get crap reviews?"
Hey, it's not a waste of space. What about all the other beginning maps? I read the reviews on there and will gladly upload the next one to here, rather than at /idgames, to make it even better. In fact, I got some pretty good reviews (along with the crap ones).
arrrgh: "About the deep slime thing, if you're fine with using Boom you can use it's deep water feauture which works a lot better."
Hmm, I wanted to make it Vanilla compatible.
Krispavera: "I think the finite detailing on the floor looks kind of weird next to the ultimately empty/bland rooms. Focus less on cutting hexagon tiles out of the ground and more on making an engaging environment."
That's a good idea, missing tiles is alright, but looking around on my map again I see blandness and emptiness. There needs to be supports, nukage poury bits and more sparkly bits to look at.
Super Jamie: "Hexagon tiles are the new illusio-pit."
-.- Very funny. No really, I did laugh at that. At least there isn't a wicked HOM and a cyberdemon inside.
Kyka: "I would change the floor in this screenie. The oval shapes don't fit very well. I think a brown/tan floor would probably look better, but that is personal choice."
I quite like that floor, but maybe I should switch to something a little less choppy. Or not. I'll think over that one.
Jodwin: "As long as you don't get your panties in a knot for possibly nasty reviews, there's nothing wrong with uploading worse maps."
I always accept constructive criticism, I ignore the reviews that say "OMG THIS SUX DELETE!!!!11!11!1111111!1!1!111!111oneone"
Super Jamie: "I guess I'm just saying this map had potential, but falls short with some simple things that anyone here would have picked up on a first playtest. This could have been a good release, rather than just another example of someone's learning path."
But it is my learning path, that's the point. Do you mean I should upload a link here next time?
Ixnatifual: "Was decent to play through. I played on HMP and found there was enough ammo to deal with the baddies. However to echo some of the criticism, the areas are too tight, making it difficult to move around to avoid shots. I finished with just 9 health."
9?! On HMP! I thought HMP was a breeze and UV was insanely hard... Maybe it was because I knew the map. Ah well. Those areas are definitely way too small.
"The medikit mid-way was a welcome sight, but those Hell Knights firing into the cramped hallways very nearly did me in."
Heh, I had many problems with them too.
"I also felt there was too much switch-pushing, although due to the linearity and size of the map it was no trouble finding out the consequence of flipping the switches, and I didn't feel like I was being made to run across the same areas endlessly for the amusement of the author."
I wouldn't do that! I always make my switches open doors audible from your position!
"Architecture generally looks alright. It's not too detailed, but the detail there is generally used in a tasteful manner. I didn't manage to find many secrets, but then I didn't really spend time searching for them as I was always busy taking care of the next baddie."
Hmm, you think? Looking back, some walls are ultimately bare. There are two secrets and they are discretely hidden.
"Overall I thought it was short but enjoyable. As you seem to take criticism well, I expect to see increasingly good maps from you."
Of course. My next map is a lot bigger and will have less monsters or more ammo in them.
"If I were to make a request, it would be that your next map be larger in scope, with less cramped areas and at least one occasion where the player has a choice to the order in which he visits two areas just to break up the linearity a bit."
My next map also has many parts to it, with multiple doors to go off in all directions. It doesn't matter, because they all connect up soon.
Now a question: should I fix this map or continue with my next map?
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07-07-09 19:29 
