An idea inspired by Doom 2 In Name Only

First of all, I'll be straight. I like Doom, there were many famous wads that I have played (BTSX, AV, Stronghold, etc), but I really wish I would have the time to learn and use the Doom Builder. I know that some recent projects are maintained by the community, so I have the right to throw my ideas in the mix as well.

The inspiration and my new dream is to see a new wad in the future, one that is inspired by "Doom 2 In Name Only". The main purpose is the same as in that wad - to build levels using their names as a basis. But this time the names will be taken straight from the other games that are unrelated to Doom at all. The gimmicks is the same - you only know a level's name, and you should throw away the fact that a game with such a name already exists. Imagine a map with such a name... and think how you would bring up that imagination to life:

I don't have a complete name for the entire megawad... so I'll just call it "A Memorable Journey". I might pick up a better name for the project in the future.

So, here are 32 map names, that will be used as a basis to make a new megawad in the future. Remember, they're just names, so don't take this too seriosly! I might replace some names in the future if that won't fit in the theme.

MAP01: Call of Duty
MAP02: System Shock
MAP03: Splinter Cell
MAP04: Deus Ex
MAP05: Enemy Unknown
MAP06: Black Mesa
MAP07: Metal Gear
MAP08: Mass Effect
MAP09: Dead Space
MAP10: Bioshock
MAP11: Portal
MAP12: Fallout
MAP13: Borderlands
MAP14: Bulletstorm
MAP15: Battlefield
MAP16: Counter Strike
MAP17: Silent Hill
MAP18: Manhunt (previously F.E.A.R.)
MAP19: Resident Evil
MAP20: Tomb Raider
MAP21: Dead Rising
MAP22: Devil May Cry
MAP23: Dark Souls
MAP24: Reign of Chaos
MAP25: The Elder Scrolls
MAP26: Perfect Dark
MAP27: Painkiller
MAP28: Dante's Inferno (previously Descent)
MAP29: Diablo
MAP30: Doom
MAP31: Killzone
MAP32. Total Annihilation

Yeah, map 30 is named "Doom". That would be quite a cool name for the final map in such a megawad, right? Anyway, I have already imagined how I would see those levels if I could do then myself. But before posting my thoughts on each of those maps, I would like to aksk each of you?

How you would see and create each of those maps using their names as a basis? What would words like "Metal Gear", "Borderlands", "Painkiller" and the others would mean to you? How you would imagine finished maps with such names? Post you thoughts and ideas, and I'll eventually reveal my own as well. Who knows, maybe you can even inspire me to learn using that Doom Builder!

MAP01: Call of Duty - A generic starter map, primary weapons = shotgun + chaingun.
MAP02: System Shock - Techbase with computers.
MAP03: Splinter Cell - Map full of organic-like curves and texturing, other parts of architecture will be sharp-angled like splinters.
MAP04: Deus Ex - Computers, crushers and giant working machinery everywhere, make sure to have monsters on invisible platforms descending from the ceiling.
MAP05: Enemy Unknown - Monsters sniping you from darkness, you can't see them, gradual atmospheric progression.
MAP06: Black Mesa - A dark map with rocky terrain, outdoor.
MAP07: Metal Gear - Metallic machinery, perhaps with brown slime between them as a grease.
MAP08: Mass Effect - Inside and around a particle accelerator.
MAP09: Dead Space - Inside a silver space station.
MAP10: Bioshock - A map full of fless and jumpscares by imps popping up from invisible floors.
MAP11: Portal - Map taking place in 2 parts (1 techbase, 1 hell), connected via an impressive-looking teleporter gate.
MAP12: Fallout - Map with steep height differences, often forcing the player to jump down from high ledges as an intended strategy.
MAP13: Borderlands - An outdoor map taking place on a boundary between 2 radically different terrains.
MAP14: Bulletstorm - Generic map with chaingunners as the primary enemy, occasionally complemented by shotgunners.
MAP15: Battlefield - Large outdoor map full of boulders to hide behind and pits to hide in, full of various zombie soldiers.
MAP16: Counter Strike - A difficult slaughtermap.
MAP17: Silent Hill - Outdoor map taking place on a hill, ambient music, few but dangerous enemies.
MAP18: F.E.A.R. - Player will be chased by revenants, archviles and cyberdemons throughout the whole map, but the atmosphere shouldn't be too hectic all the time, but varying, unpredictable instead.
MAP19: Resident Evil - A hellish castle.
MAP20: Tomb Raider - Underground of a pyramid.
MAP21: Dead Rising - Town with a cemetery, zombies raising from the ground (illusio pits) or teleporting in.
MAP22: Devil May Cry - A difficult hellish slaughtermap.
MAP23: Dark Souls - Map with a depressing, atmospheric setting, and fully of revenants in sectors with 0 brightness.
MAP24: Reign of Chaos - A very chaotic slaughtermap.
MAP25: The Elder Scrolls - Generic library themed map.
MAP26: Perfect Dark - Pitch black texture everywhere, navigation will only be possibly through automap and fullbright objects in the map (candles, torches etc.).
MAP27: Painkiller - Massive slaughtermap.
MAP28: Descent - Linear descending into the underground, deeper and deeper.
MAP29: Diablo - Hellish map with archviles and a well-guarded Romero Head in the end.
MAP30: Doom - What a dumb title for a map, just make an Icon Of Sin fight.
MAP31: Killzone - Slaughtermap full of low-tier enemies.
MAP32. Total Annihilation - Slaughtermap full of cyberdemons.

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I'd definitely like to encourage you to get Doom Builder 2, find out some tutorials if you want, and try out mapping yourself and continue it if you found it enjoyable. It's your best bet to ever see your ideas coming to real. Good luck!

Fragos said:

games that are unrelated to Doom at all.

MAP30: Doom

Mmm yes!

I wish you luck with this though if you do plan on it!

I think it would be funny to call the secret levels after like Pong and cribbage or something. I like for secret levels to be thematically "different" somehow.

Inspired by scifista42 his post. ;

MAP01: Call of Duty - A short introduction map preparing you for action.
MAP02: System Shock - things are shockingly worse in the tech laboratory.
MAP03: Splinter Cell - wade trough small laboratory areas.
MAP04: Deus Ex - the map turns out to be easier than expected.
MAP05: Enemy Unknown - the teleporters have been corrupted and beam in enemies.
MAP06: Black Mesa - the last laboratory map... with black panels.
MAP07: Metal Gear - Entering the factory with pistons and crushers.
MAP08: Mass Effect - the corrupted teleporters make you exit the level.
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MAP12: Fallout - a damaged chemical storage area.
MAP13: Borderlands - a desolate outside area.
MAP14: Bulletstorm - bring down hell on those former humans.
MAP15: Battlefield - exterminate the cluster of imps and former humans.
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MAP18: F.E.A.R. - a big enemy and a uncertain victory.
MAP19: Resident Evil - a fully corrupted base.
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MAP22: Devil May Cry - heavy weapons will teach them how to cry.
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MAP25: The Elder Scrolls - scrolling wall decorations. =)
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It was fun to visually imagine the maps at a glance, i hope your project idea attracts some attention.

So "Bulletstorm" would be a map with nothing but hitscanners? Make sure a couple Masterminds are there for good measure.

AD_79 said:

So "Bulletstorm" would be a map with nothing but hitscanners? Make sure a couple Masterminds are there for good measure.

In sectors you can't access or see? :D

I'd really like to see this done well, this is a neat concept and those names actually work really well as Doom maps - I mean, 28-30 are just perfect. :D

All I can request for any and all potential mappers is can we be reasonable with the map size/length as well as monster count? Don't particularly want to play a WAD filled with long slaughtermaps, regardless of how well slaughter-style gameplay would fit in a map called "Painkiller" or whatever. I understand the urge to make the maps feel or play like the games they're named after but I think it would be best to resist it in favor of short, sharp, but hectic and memorable maps. I feel a WAD very much in the style of Scythe would be perfect for this. Starts out simple, stops pulling punches around MAP20ish. Maybe one or two borderline slaughtermaps at most.

I may actually be interested in mapping for this but don't pencil me in just yet - I keep finding myself embroiled in a lot of projects these days. x(

Sounds interesting. I even already started visualizing a map named "Resident Evil" as a dark, abandoned mansion, much like the one the first RE game took place in.

Would approve this. And if we want extra challenge... Make the map reminiscent from the game.

I could do Black mesa, sounds like a simple base-outdoor map.

I think scifista already did a good job imagining all of those maps... I don't think that anyone else would bring out their imagination now... so I'll show you what I do think myself about those maps:

MAP01: Call of Duty - standard opening map for most megawads
MAP02: System Shock - a techbase with a large number of computers hardware
MAP03: Splinter Cell - another techbase which has a plasmagun and cell ammo in secret locations
MAP04: Deus Ex - a techbase with a separate "virtual reality" area
MAP05: Enemy Unknown - harder map, involving more challenging approaches
MAP06: Black Mesa - a techbase carved inside of a brown mountain
MAP07: Metal Gear - Arena-styled map featuring "metal" monsters:Mancubi, Arachnotrons, Revenants, at least one CyberDemon and one Spiderdemon
MAP08: Mass Effect - A large techbase map that could be completed in several different ways... Actually scificta's approach is much better than mine!
MAP09: Dead Space - Takes place in a dark space station
MAP10: Bioshock - Features lots of green nukage, and requires a good presevation of biosuits
MAP11: Portal - this map is planned to feature a LOT of teleporters, and monsters will frequently teleport out of nowhere to ambush you. The exit is in the large portal gate.
MAP12: Fallout an sub-urban map where ammunition is very scarce, however chainsaw becomes availble early
MAP13: Borderlands - Large outdoor map with encounters of various difficulty
MAP14: Bulletstorm - This map is indeed planned to abuse large numbers of hitscanners, especially Chaingunners, and Spiderdemons are also set to appear in this map
MAP15: Battlefield - Slaughter-lite map. Features large numbers of enemies, though most of the time they can be managed with relative ease.
MAP16: Counter Strike - Features many challenging battles in close quarters
MAP17: Silent Hill - An ominously silent map. You won't see any monsters until you pick up the first key. Once you do that, all hell should literally break loose!
MAP18: F.E.A.R. - This map all about abusing "closet" ambushes with the pure intention to scare you out!
MAP19: Resident Evil - You start outside of a mansion. From the start, you need to immediately get inside and lock the doors in order to not be slaughtered by large number of monsters that roam outside.
MAP20: Tomb Raider - Take inspiration from AV's MAP 20, and should feature a good amount of switch puzzles. Some of then can be booby trapped.
MAP21: Dead Rising - a hard map featuring Archviles that can ressurect already dead-on-arrival monsters. Partually inspired by "Vultures" from Saturn X.
MAP22: Devil May Cry - Decently challenging map taking place in the Hell
MAP23: Dark Souls - The primary focus of this map are Lost Souls and Pain Elementals. Even without Pains, expect large number of souls charging from many directions
MAP24: Reign of Chaos - Another slaughtermap to be beaten.
MAP25: The Elder Scrolls - Takes place in and around some kind of Hellish library, and just as much challening as most other hell maps
MAP26: Perfect Dark - A very hard map in pitch black-darkness that often requires you to rely on Light Amplification Visor (or said torches) in order to survive.
MAP27: Painkiller - Another slaughermap, just in style of Painkiller
MAP28: Descent - This hard and challenging map describes you journey to the deepest bowels of Hell. The only way through is down! You can't go back up in any way in this map.
MAP29: Diablo - The penultimate slaugthermap, featuring the toughest compostion of monsters. Also might include a boss battle with a special custom monster brought with the DeHacked patch or otherwise.
MAP30: Doom - The final map of the wad! Features tough battle with large number of Barons, followed by crossfire between Cyberdemons and Spiderdemons. After that it's just one final push against the Icon of Sin!
MAP31: Killzone - Semi-arena styled map taking place over the landscape of black rock
MAP32. Total Annihilation - Should be designed as the hardest slaughtermap in this wad!

I thought about using "normal" custom monsters, in case if this project can be shifted to ZDoom (like cybruisers for Metal Gear, chaingun arachnotrons for Bulletstorm and devils for Devil May Cry), but it will up to community wherether to include then or not. But MAP29 should have a custom "boss" monster.

I'm going to change two of the map names so that they would fit better in the future wad. "Descent" and "F.E.A.R." are somewhat bland, so I decided to give MAP28 and MAP18 new names.

MAP18 now will be known as "Manhunt"
MAP28 now will be known as "Dante's Inferno"

The core designs of those maps (at least in my mind) should remain the same as before.

No "quake"?

No Duke Nukem 3D?

As if the first set of map names wasn't enough, I'm going to show you the second set of map names for a different wad. I only just came up with those names, so don't expect me to post my own thoughts about those maps right now! You too have a good imagination, aren't you? You can do me a good favor if you tell us how you are imagining those maps.

MAP01: Modern Warfare
MAP02: Dystopia
MAP03: Ghost Recon
MAP04: Gears of War
MAP05: Enemy Within
MAP06: Opposing Force
MAP07: Guilty Gear
MAP08: Singularity
MAP09: Faster than Light
MAP10: Crysis
MAP11: No One Lives Forever
MAP12: Saints Row
MAP13: Red Dead
MAP14: Killing Floor
MAP15: Command & Conquer
MAP16: Global Offensive
MAP17: Nightmare Creatures
MAP18: Dying Light
MAP19: Castlevania
MAP20: The Last of Us
MAP21: Don't Starve
MAP22: Darksiders
MAP23: Shadow of the Beast
MAP24: The Burning Crusade
MAP25: No More Room in Hell
MAP26: Alone in the Dark
MAP27: Hell & Damnation
MAP28: Torchlight
MAP29: Hellfire
MAP30: Resurrection of Evil
MAP31: Mortal Kombat
MAP32: Left 4 Dead

These new names are far more abstract than the first set of names was, therefore I don't think they're suitable for a wad attempting to interpret them as well as possible, based just and only on the names.

I love "Left 4 Dead" as MAP32. It better be Go 2 It style. :D

Fragos said:

MAP30: Ressurection of Evil

Resurrection. One 's', two 'r'. (Well, three 'r' if you count the first.)

You must play all these games first. :p
It will be very nice if all maps will match with their games though.

Jimmy said:

I love "Left 4 Dead" as MAP32. It better be Go 2 It style. :D

Are there any other good names in the second list that can be used in the first one instead?

Fragos said:

Are there any other goon names in the second list that can be used in the first one instead?

Killing Floor
Faster Than Light
Singularity
Modern Warfare
Alone in the Dark

MAP11: No One Lives Forever

I can see an abstract hell-themed map ending with a Romero crusher like some of the maps in scythe 2

MAP15: Command & Conquer

maybe something heavily relying on infighting?

scifista42 said:

MAP30: Doom - What a dumb title for a map, just make an Icon Of Sin fight.

Yes, abandon all the creativity of this project to shovel the mandatory IOS map that no-one will play.

cq75 said:

MAP11: No One Lives Forever

I can see an abstract hell-themed map ending with a Romero crusher like some of the maps in scythe 2

swap no one lives forever into map15, fill it with death exit damage floors that kick you to map16, provide the player with rad suits and stuff, or megasphere spam, whatever. player dies (no one lives forever), they go to map16. player makes it to the end, it's the secret exit to map31.

edit: this could also work in the map31 slot and would probably be less annoying to some players if put there.

kmxexii said:

swap no one lives forever into map15, fill it with death exit damage floors that kick you to map16, provide the player with rad suits and stuff, or megasphere spam, whatever. player dies (no one lives forever), they go to map16. player makes it to the end, it's the secret exit to map31.

End-level damagefloors automatically disable radsuits. :(

esselfortium said:

End-level damagefloors automatically disable radsuits. :(

then megasphere spam / invuls are go!

Fragos said:

As if the first set of map names wasn't enough, I'm going to show you the second set of map names for a different wad. I only just came up with those names, so don't expect me to post my own thoughts about those maps right now! You too have a good imagination, aren't you? You can do me a good favor if you tell us how you are imagining those maps.

Well, here's mine; I like this second set a lot better than the first...

MAP01: Modern Warfare
Middle East-influenced, tight urban areas. Grid-like city layout, debris everywhere, bombed out buildings, full of zombies and an occasional revenant on a rooftop.

MAP02: Dystopia
Lots of sterile white-and-silver corridors, everything clean and orderly, zombies appear wearing white jumpsuits, lots of "Everything Will Be Alright" propaganda everywhere.

MAP03: Ghost Recon
Seemingly-abandoned area, mixture of tight corridors and open courtyards with lots of Spectre ambushes.

MAP04: Gears of War
A weapons factory; conveyor belts loaded with ammo or weapons, and in a nod to Shadow Warrior level 2, player must power up the factory machinery to "manufacture" the key needed to exit the level.

MAP05: Enemy Within
Using some cleverly replaced Wolfenstein SS or other Dehacked enemies, most enemies in this map appear as regular Doom marines, generally shotgunners but with an occasional red rocket marine, with plenty of opportunities for infighting with them. (Hooray for double-meanings.)

MAP06: Opposing Force
A two-fronts map, one half techbase, one half Hell fortress. Contains a mixture of the marines from the previous map and regular Doom enemies. Of course, we can't actually make them fight on sight unless we're using ZDoom features, but again with the opportunities for infighting.

MAP07: Guilty Gear
Gear-shaped motif everywhere; gear banners on walls, teleport pads contain gear insignia, map ends in an arena fight on top of a huge cogwheel. Bonus points for only featuring "augmented" enemies, i.e. mancubus, arachnotron, revenant, and both bosses.

MAP08: Singularity
A techbase-style map where large portions of the facility are flat-out missing and replaced with a solid black void that the player can fall into and die. Some sections of the map are upside-down or perspective-warped through clever use of replacement textures.

MAP09: Faster than Light
Star Trek-style starship where the objective is to knock the ship out of warp by destroying the warp core.

MAP13: Red Dead
Red (with black trim) everywhere. Red marble, red metal a la Doom 1, red carpets, lava hazard in some zones. Enemies primarily pinky demons, chaingunners, and the occasional Baron.

MAP14: Killing Floor
A night club, with a climactic arena fight on the dance floor. Guns and health behind the bar, a portion inside a commercial freezer fighting spectres to retrieve a keycard.

MAP17: Nightmare Creatures
Lots of abstract Hell architecture, no human-like enemies (so no zombies, imps, barons, knights, or cyberdemons).

MAP18: Dying Light
High-contrast lighting. Lots of zero or low-brightness sectors contrasted with near-fullbright spotlights. Spectres would be well used here.

MAP19: Castlevania
Abstract castle layout. Lots of teleports. Occasional view of the outside of the castle reveals that the "one" castle you're wandering around is in pieces hovering in a void, a la Singularity.

MAP20: The Last of Us
Inspired by the "mr. X" map from Scythe 2, this map only contains one living enemy, but it is a hard one.

MAP21: Don't Starve
This map takes place around a food manufacturing plant that has shut down, and has a severe shortage of health pickups.

MAP22: Darksiders
This map borrows a Silent Hill/Going Down map04-esque gimmick where teleporting sends you between two versions of the same location, one urban, one dark and hellish. Only zombies and mechanical enemies appear in the light side; only full demons appear in the dark side.

MAP23: Shadow of the Beast
This map is dark and has a Cyberdemon wandering and teleporting around, a la Doom 64's Cat and Mouse.

MAP24: The Burning Crusade
Medieval architecture during a siege. Lots of lava, lots of fire. One puzzle requires you to find a switch that cuts off a lavafall blocking a passageway further into the castle. For flavor, includes the banners of both sides of the Crusades of 1099.

MAP25: No More Room in Hell
A techbase with lots of Hellish "creep" everywhere. Enemies are primarily full-demon types like pinkies and knights.

MAP28: Torchlight
Outdoor, wooded area with lots of standing torches providing the only visible light. Similar to Dying Light, high contrast between lit and dark areas.

kmxexii said:

swap no one lives forever into map15, fill it with death exit damage floors that kick you to map16, provide the player with rad suits and stuff, or megasphere spam, whatever. player dies (no one lives forever), they go to map16. player makes it to the end, it's the secret exit to map31.

edit: this could also work in the map31 slot and would probably be less annoying to some players if put there.

I'd like to see this happen now on a MAP15 or MAP31... cool ideas!

Make the bonus level exit obvious but very challenging to get to, damaging (exit) floors + heavy enemy placement and no safe zones, to get to the secret level you have to find hidden, secret megaspheres, invul spheres etc. throughout the map.

You'd have to make it obvious to the player somehow that dying doesn't mean failure, though, maybe make this area like the moonbase at the end of E1 so maybe people will get the idea.

So... I tried working on the Doom Builder 2, but as I found out, creating and editing maps can be really time-cosuming process. Especially cosidering the fact that I am working 5 days in a week. So I think I should pass the baton right to the Doom community. But if you need an advise on how visually those maps should look, I'll gladly give you some!