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nxGangrel

What do you look for/want in a wad

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There are countless amounts of wads and mods out there and plenty more to come, it almost can get kind of stale. Any way, when you play a Doom wad that you haven't played yet what is that you look for? Is it the level design, gameplay, or difficulty? Or do play just to simply be entertained?

Also what are your thoughts, suggestions, and/or wants for any upcoming wads? This summer I will be working on a simple 16 level megawad and I would like to here any thoughts/suggestions people would like to see done.

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Cleverness is the main thing for me. If there's an interesting mechanism or out-of-the-box thinking in a map, I'm much more likely to give it a whirl. Also cool boss battles, can't get enough of those. :P

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I look for barons in hallways, the thinner the better. Bonus points if my only weapon is a pistol or single shotgun.

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Innovative Spider Mastermind battles. Someday I'm going to chainsaw one to death and it will feel satisfying.

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well, I can enjoy just about any map, even if it flattens me repeatedly, but I've noticed trends in my favourite stuff:

- usually either a city theme or else a metaphysical abstract one
- lots of button pressing, "jumping" and exploration downtime between action
- feasibility of playing most of the level with a melee weapon
- new music! and I don't just mean music lifted from ROTT, Blood or Descent, haha

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I like classic style short to medium length sets of levels with clever ideas, well implemented difficulty levels and playstyle variation. I can handle the occasion slaughter map but prefer Plutonia style difficulty in challenging maps.

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I like anything that makes me turn my head and say "woah, never seen that before", even if it is a bit shallow. For example, the recently released Antaresia Deathmatch has that "all blue" thing going on which is an interesting gimmick.

On the other hand, the stuff that keeps me coming back is generally more oldschool. I like a challenge on the same level as the hardest maps of the Doom2 iwad on UV, any harder and I find it a bit too grinding, but like with everything there are exceptions.

I'm not so huge on many modern mapping texturing styles. Custom textures, when used right, are excellent for the variety they add. However, I find there's a lot of clashing infromation as far as many "new" (last 10 years) releases go, too many colors/textures for my eyes to take in. Even if they're placed more thoughtfully than, say, a Sandy map, I still find too many colors/textures in one spot to be visual clutter. (Even great mapsets like BTSX suffer from this in certain spots, in my humble opinion.)

Despite loving E1 in a nostalgic sense, I do find it bland after all these years. On that same note, I think it's the perfect place for newcomers to start their Dooming - it gives a great first impression. I really do like they it has a unifying theme, and some color variation (blue carpets, green slime, against soft backgrounds that are white or brown) but not too much. Even with messy Sandy-esque texturing, I'm quick to forgiving it if my senses aren't being bombarded with clashing textures and colors.

I love that some E3 maps are "mostly green texures against a red sky and a dark floor" because all the tones compliment eachother well. But anyway this analysis got WAY too long..

To cut the shit, most wads are actually a lot of fun as long as they aren't riddled with bullshit traps or mapping errors like HOMs. I know I wrote a wall of text above but that's if I'm being very nitpicky.

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- cool custom midis, preferably ones I haven't heard yet
- no sad midis, they affect my mood too much (MM2 map05, megawad.wad e3m3, etc)
- new sky textures if it's a Doom 2 wad (Doom 1 ones are tolerable)
- at least some non-linearity unless you can pull off that linear adventure spirit really well
- fun varied texturing (stuff like Valiant with same texture combo used in every area of a map or even in a few maps in a row looks very boring)
- frequent and interesting but not overly gimmicky use of triggers (when in speedmapping sessions they have a theme like "lifts", most people take it way too far and the map becomes a joke)
- fair balance for pistol start playing with no saves (if this criteria isn't met, I will moan even if the author didn't intend to make their wad FDA-friendly)
- no iwad recolors or at least very careful use of them (ewwwwww most of cc4-tex, feels so unnatural), also no mixing of flats\textures for similar reasons
- no long rocky\mountain sections unless they are done in a very creative way (the most boring of all themes: draw 1000 lines, then floodfill them with one or two textures)
- challenge is good but fun is more important (e.g. PRCP25 without SSG is not fun)
- humble and\or humorous presentation (no acting like a big shot, no professional sounding descriptions as if you're trying to sell a product)
- prboom-plus compatible
etc...

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I look for fun. Appropriately challenging gameplay for my skill. Inspirative (varied, colorful, unique) architecture that doesn't get stale and boring as I keep advancing. Interesting combat setups that are fun to deal with in better ways than camping / shooting gallery / rush for luck. And the cool-ness of slaughtering demons from hell in a sci-fi setting. And of course, I prefer levels that look nice and don't contain errors.

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Take all the WAD rules you heard and break them, throw them all out. Make stuff based on your intuition and imagination. Maybe it'll suck, but then again maybe it'll be cool.

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- Realisim
- Overlapping layout, does not matter if its linear or non linear as long as too much backtracking is not required. This is one thing I aimed for in Incineration and I am also aiming for in my upcoming Zdoom space station episode Doomed Space Wars. Some of my older maps had way too much backtracking like twzone.wad and twzone2.wad for example.
- Height Variations
- Must be beatable from pistol start
- Tons of secrets
- Classic Gameplay, slaughter maps can be fun but hey I prefer to blast through Knee Deep in the Dead.
- Original Music (if necessary)

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I think variety, quality and a sense of progression are the main things I look for in a wad. Especially if its a megawad. All 3 of those can apply to the visuals, gameplay and layouts, and not just to individual maps but across the whole map-set.

When I think of wads that I play over and over, they are ones that have cool visuals (either artistically or in terms of realism), non-linear routes, unpredictable fights, a sense of place and purpose and a feeling of accomplishment.

Wads that I don't tend to play again might have bland, unpolished or samey visuals, linear routes with no optional areas, predictable or repetitive fights, untested or frustrating gameplay (obscure puzzles and unfair or luck-based traps), or very little visual variety between areas or maps.

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To me, the most important thing is kinetic gameplay that makes you move around a lot. I don't really care if it's easy or hard - I just like being forced to dodge projectiles constantly.

I prefer extremely clean visuals with strong theming and motifs that carry between levels. Scythe X is probably the best example I can think of.

Catchy, upbeat music is a huge plus and it can frequently save a bad or mediocre wad, at least for me.

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-Custom MIDI
-Maps
-Linedefs
-Sidedefs
-Sectors
-Verticles
-Things
-Boom/Limit-removing compability
-Colorful texturing
-Sky
-Non-linear
-Monsters
-Player start
-Exit
-Linedef actions
-Sector effects
-Obstacles
-Lights
-Secrets
-Items
-Doom2 compability
-Weapons
-Ammunition
-Health
-Armor
-Powerups
-Keys
-City levels
-Fun

I ask for too much.

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I'm pretty easy to please. In most circumstances, id say go with hex11's advice, and make whatever it is you feel there aren't enough levels styled like, or take a style you like and push it further. Become a trendsetter really.

However, usually there are some vague key standards that I look for when playing a map.

- there should be monsters, and there should be a good bit more tools and resources than you really need to kill them.

- there should be coop starts, even if you don't intend to play the map on coop.

- there should be a weapon accessible within the first 3 rooms of a map. My go-tos are shotgun, super shotgun, chainsaw, and berserk.

- the map should have an exit that is reachable.

- put in secrets to make your map easier for people who suck.

I know that doesn't give you much inspiration, but if you follow those rules at least, I highly doubt ill hate your map.

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Pretty maps with defined colour schemes, relatively abstract architecture, and clean detailing.

Small fast maps with fluid game play.

Long, moderately easy maps with lots of secrets to explore, that create a sense of journey.

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yakfak said:

- usually either a city theme


Well ain't that just dandy ;)

When I'm not shamelessly promoting my own shit I like to see things that haven't been done before or things that are rarely done. Hint hint, I haven't seen any WADs based on the Shadow Warrior/Urban Japan theme yet

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Virtual reality readiness.

I've been playing a lot of doom on my oculus dev kit 2 over the past year since it's release... and it's absolutely breathtaking being able to feel that sense of "being there". Walking around, seeing things from another world in that perspective is just incredible. completley changes your perspective of the game... walls and rooms feel as big as they do, textures here and there you never noticed, the engineering and architect detail.


It's a immersion breaker walking around, admiring the virtual scenery and suddenly you notice a texture missing or misaligned or one that doesn't match up.

gotta start taking the next wave of immersion and interaction into wad's going forward.

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skillsaw said:

To me, the most important thing is kinetic gameplay that makes you move around a lot. I don't really care if it's easy or hard - I just like being forced to dodge projectiles constantly.

I prefer extremely clean visuals with strong theming and motifs that carry between levels. Scythe X is probably the best example I can think of.

Catchy, upbeat music is a huge plus and it can frequently save a bad or mediocre wad, at least for me.


All of this.

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hex11 said:

Take all the WAD rules you heard and break them, throw them all out. Make stuff based on your intuition and imagination. Maybe it'll suck, but then again maybe it'll be cool.

I think this is excellent advice for experienced mappers, but not so good for beginners :) You've gotta crawl before you run a marathon while juggling! (unless you're a prodigy of course)

joe-ilya said:

List of Doom stuff

Linedefs? Sectors? That's all old hat, the best Doom maps don't even exist anywhere but in the mind! It's the new wave hipster movement in Doom form. Get with the times!

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Good music and grand architecture. Also, clever use of new monsters that actually fit into Doom.

I hate the current trend for giant blocks of Imps and Hell Knights popping up with their backs to the player with ten million BFG cells and invulnerabilities. If I want to play a Fiffy map, I'll play a Fiffy map, not a modern equivalent. If I want to look at the back of ranks of troops, I'll play Warhammer.

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