Flesh Factory wip (short map set)

As it's forbidden to bump old threads I reopen one now I finally got time to rework on this project. I'm working on a small map set which runs on Zandronum and Zdoom (which means it's designed with freelook, jump and crouch in mind).
8 maps are available so far (the 8th one is unfinished though) including a secret one.

I think the thing is now looking good enough to introduce it here and get some constructive advices and/or criticism.
Here is a footage of the first map to check (where I display my rusty lack of skill): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IanistKJb4

Everything has been played, replayed, rererereplayed so it should be 100% functional.
Link to the wad : http://www.mediafire.com/download/r49f49rwu09u1h4/YTHoneclass.wad

These maps remind me of my own lame first maps (here they are, if you're interested). Aesthetics and level structure are very newbie-esque and imbalanced, unnecessarily spacious areas are mixed with uncomfortably cramped ones, similar thing applies about detail placement, item placement, and texturing with clashing colours and patterns. Gameplay shows a lack of empathy with players: Lots of monster spam with little thought put into it, unfair progression mechanisms that basically require preknowledge, unclear mandatory paths and general cheap chaos.

I think that a good advice for you would be to think more about the player, what he desires, what he expects, and how much tolerance and patience does he have. Also try to effectivize the level design to provide an efficient challenge while being intuitive and comfortable to move around. For example, the first map has multiple "door fights" when the player just lurks behind a door and spams shots until the monsters are dead, which is a pretty unfun, non-engaging exercise. In addition, he's supposed to grab an essential weapon that completely randomly appears behind him at one random point. Other maps feature enormous monster crowds that are best to be just outrun - keep in mind that the player wants his fun coming from fighting the monsters, but in large hordes, they'd be either impossible or overly tedious to fight - so you should better prevent it by design, to make it more appealing. And so on.

I feel the same as Scifista here, I thought a lot of it was way too cheap.

I don't mind a bit of pre-knowledge and dying before figuring things out, but only when that happens a small amount of times. I understand the need for danger and the possible loss of life...but yeah cheap monster spamming is a little too much for that.

The levels looked O.K., nice Hell theme. But their layouts were a bit of a mess, too many cramped areas with high powered enemies, like in the first level with the teleporter back and forth and such.

I know people want maps that are "hard" because they want a new challenge after the main games....but I find too many maps go for the all or nothing approach, it's fine for a handful of maps, catered to a select few people but I think a bit too many mappers try it and end up going overboard.

Thanks all for your insight! I would have some questions though :
- Did you try lower difficulty levels?
- Which maps did you play? More specifically, did you play map04, 06 and 07?

I've played all of the maps briefly and only on UV, mostly stopping to play after first death, because well, the maps gave me no motivation to even finish them (sorry). I've got the same impression from all of them, though. I tell you again, mere difficulty is not the sole factor that makes good gameplay. There's also balance, pacing, progression, and aesthetics make a part of it too. And mere presence of tough monsters doesn't always mean increased difficulty, either (it often just leads to more tedious shooting).

I've played them on all of the available difficulties, and while I got a lot further on easy mode, and managed to finish 7 of the 8 maps, I found it a lot more enjoyable...however it was still a bit clunky getting around, frequently getting stuck still and whatnot. I also had to no clip in level 2, in that bit the barons when you teleport in there..I couldn't find a way out of there for the longest time so I had to clip it back into the corridors.

I also noticed in level 3 I think it was that you made one of the platforms hurt you...not sure why. For simple confusion or was there a reason I'm missing?

But yeah, easy and medium difficulties are the better ones to go for, it's less of a hang around at the door and stand there...well in most cases, I still remember that Pinky room.

Because of this I managed to see some of the effort you had put into the maps, some nice spots to look at and some cool little bits you can move and go through, it's just a lot of it a bit too cramped and whatnot. Nice custom texture use though.

Hey there Squadallah! I played through all eight maps on Ultra Violence, and while they are certainly challenging and fun at times, there are many issues you might want to resolve.

Things to take note of:

• Is there any good reason to have a 15MB file? I only saw a bunch of custom textures, a few replacement MIDIs, and a couple custom monsters.
  
• The first and second maps are far, far harder than the rest of them. I would suggest adding more ammo and health to the first, and removing monsters from the second.
  
• The layouts can be a bit random at times. If you want to improve your abilities, I would suggest playing through (or at least looking at) some existing projects. Try to give meaning to your rooms - don't just randomly put them in there.
  
• Always ensure that the player can complete your map from a pistol start, and never have monsters instantly attack the player as soon as they spawn (in my maps, I never have monsters activate until the player fires their weapon or moves).
  
• There was one occasion where I got stuck in a circular pit due to single-use teleport linedefs.
  
• There were several occasions where I got stuck because I didn't see a door or lift. Always use obvious door/lift textures in those cases. Also, teleporters should be obvious too!
  
• Inconsistency with damaging floors (especially MAP02).
  
• New monsters are introduced poorly, especially the flying arachnotron thing which the player might not even see until it's too late.
  

Things I liked:

• Lots of BFG ammo. Maybe a little too much though?
  
• Some areas are nicely detailed.
  
• These maps require jumping, which is rarely used (please make this clearer though, I always assume that jumping isn't allowed).
  

If this is your first map pack, I would suggest holding it back until you get more experience. In its current state, it's likely to receive bad reviews. Play through some existing projects, taking note of each map's layout and monster placement. This should help you learn what makes a map fun to play. After you gain more experience, you can go back and improve these maps to make them more fun and visually appealing. Best of luck to ya!

Hi!

Sorry for the so late answer but I was without laptop for a while. Surreily, could you tell me in which map you've been stuck in a circular room?

Thanks very much for your insight it will help me a lot to improve this work! About the 15 mb, it's a reserve of custom textures, I will remove the unused stuff when I'm 100% done with the wad :).

Squadallah said:

Surreily, could you tell me in which map you've been stuck in a circular room?

It was MAP06's southernmost area. The teleporter linedefs should be set to repeatable - right now, each side of the teleporter pad can only be used once.

Oh i see which place you're talking about, my bad it's a wrong click from me I guess. I'll fix it asap, thanks! :)