Atmospheric Maps Discussion

So I've decided to try my hand at making a more atmospheric map for a change, and I'm not sure what exactly makes a map atmospheric.

Doom 3 had the right idea with making everything extremely dark and having scary sounds play off in the distance, and having monsters make noises in distant rooms.

I'm trying to replicate this sort of in my Doom map, but it's not going very well seeing as to how Doom 3 and Doom 1/2 are just so different in terms of gameplay...

I've gone as far as to taking sounds out of Doom 3 and putting them in Ambient Sounds(hence my recent thread) but so far this just seems more of like a clusterfuck than anything. Doom's movement is too fast for a player to truly get "into" the game this way.

But the weird thing is - Doom64 is atmopsheric as Hell but also feels very very similar to Doom 1 and 2...

I'm wondering - What are some more conventional ways of making a Doom map atmospheric? Or rather, what makes a map atmospheric?

Also here is a small clip of what I have done so far:

The blinking lights are eye-offensive, please remove or replace them with much slower and smoother glow. The map also looks really badly cramped. But the unsettling music/sounds help a lot to make it feel atmospheric.

Map is atmospheric if you make it impressive enough AND completely refrain from design choices that would make it feel "cheap" (for example cheesily arcade-y, jump-scare-alike, random (unless it's the concept), or visibly imperfect design-wise). Fitting music choice usually does half the job anyway.

I think the easiest way to create some ambience is to work with some moody lighting, gradient light works very well.
Also music, a well choosen midi, certainly fitting to the maps theme definitely compliments.

scifista42 said:

The blinking lights are eye-offensive, please remove or replace them with much slower and smoother glow. The map also looks really badly cramped. But the unsettling music/sounds help a lot to make it feel atmospheric.

Map is atmospheric if you make it impressive enough AND completely refrain from design choices that would make it feel "cheap" (for example cheesily arcade-y, jump-scare-alike, random (unless it's the concept), or visibly imperfect design-wise). Fitting music choice usually does half the job anyway.

I think I've found out why I don't make alot of open areas in my maps: It's because they're really hard to detail correctly.

In small sectors I can pack all sorts of computers and stuff in the walls, but in large areas I just don't know what to do to make the room look interesting and not plain or boring.

:c

tourniquet said:

I think the easiest way to create some ambience is to work with some moody lighting, gradient light works very well.
Also music, a well choosen midi, certainly fitting to the maps theme definitely compliments.

This.

revan1141 said:

In small sectors I can pack all sorts of computers and stuff in the walls, but in large areas I just don't know what to do to make the room look interesting and not plain or boring.

:c

Computers work better for relatively small details.
For bigger rooms/areas make some height variations and work on some architectural details: support structures, ledges/terraces and other stuff that can fit well in there (maybe pipes, machinery... but this depends on the theme of the map too).

Good atmosphere is created when you don't take the player out of the gameworld. It doesn't matter what the game mechanics are as long as the player is immersed in the gameworld.

revan1141 said:

I think I've found out why I don't make alot of open areas in my maps: It's because they're really hard to detail correctly.

In small sectors I can pack all sorts of computers and stuff in the walls, but in large areas I just don't know what to do to make the room look interesting and not plain or boring.

Always keep in mind the purpose of your rooms (or their purpose prior to demonic invasion). Ask yourself, is this large room home to a supercomputer? is it a meeting room or cafeteria? is it for storage? is it a receiving room meant to leave a good impression on visitors? a torture chamber perhaps?

That ought to help a little regardless of the room's size. Classic Doom maps were pretty abstract in architecture, but the connected areas had some sense of continuity that made them feel like they were used for something.

Taco Bell cheesy gordita cruch map? The gates of hell have been opened in the kitchen the dark forces have come spilling out craving late night munchies. Only you can feed them.

The Healer Stalks begins to play.

So I decided to go ahead and remake most of the map except for the first area, and now it's a little less cramped.

Not bad i like the atmosphere..like an abandoned space station. Another thing that could help would be a new texture pack to give it a different feel (unless you wanted vanilla textures).

Ive been working on an atmospheric map set my self for awhile now..i feel dark moody sounds really fit doom alot better than synthisized electric guitar MIDI's

I'm thinking of also trying to make a text screen play at the start of the level to help set the overall story of the level. I'm not sure how I would do that though, but I'm sure there's a way.

I really like to write things, and I would like to try using my love of writing to help flesh out Doom maps I make. Problem is most Doom wads I make kinda suck and I don't think a text screen would help much lol...

Anyways I could do maybe this...

(Also maybe with this song as the text screen's background https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9SrLeICCm0 ...Probably not though because copyright.)

You have finally done it - Months of scouring the black void of space has finally net you what the UAC has been searching for - The lost Ender Vessel. The ship was conducting teleportation trips down to the surface of an unknown planet when it suddenly lost contact. Before the ship was disconnected from the UAC network, sources indicated it was turning off course and going deep into uncharted space.

As your scout ship nears the darkened vessel, you begin to feel sick to your stomach... Something isn't right here. Your scout ship comes to a halt outside of an airlock and the umbilical connects your ship to the Ender, and you exit into a darkened room. Suddenly, the door behind you shuts and an alarm begins to play.

No amount of fiddling with the door controls opens it, and you turn your attention back to the room... It feels odd here. And you swear in the distant corners of the ship... You can hear growls...

Not the best that I've written, but I just came up with this on the spot. I also don't think it's length does it any justice. Chances are the player will just skip through it before it's even done. Plus I'm not sure if text screens have a character limit or not.

Lighting and texture choice, they are the main ingredient for any atmosphere.

So here's a video of what I have done so far

Lots of areas are really cramped and need to be changed.

The music and the sound certainly help with setting the atmosphere, i instantly get a different vibe compared to the standard vanilla doom.

While looking at how your map is layed out in the video i seem to get this half-life (1) feeling.

The one thing i notice is the lack of contrast made with lighting, and not texturing, thus sector brightness.

I would love to link to wad with the lighting i am reffering to, but then i would have to be a moron and link to something i made...

And who am i to comment on, or advise you. :)

I would appreciate any form of criticism and advice you could give me, and I'm interested in what you mean. Could you link it anyway?

The first MAP in this wad, and it was also noted by others in the thread for its atmosphere.

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/71843-delusion-of-eternity-ex-scareware/

If you do not want to play with zdoom, unpack the pk3 with winzip / winrar / or 7zip and play the pure wad. i only jammed it into a renamed zip (to pk3) for the music

edit 1 ;
the concept only works if one actually plays the map from start to end. It is not perfect, but i was not looking to statisfy every possible person.

edit 2 ;
and i do not mean the rather (pure) dark areas in the wad, but the actual lighting like light sources, light which slightly diminishes in steps which is no problem for limit raising engines if used a lot, or by example the lighting in the generator / switch tunnel area. all things which create contrast.

tourniquet said:

I think the easiest way to create some ambience is to work with some moody lighting, gradient light works very well.
Also music, a well choosen midi, certainly fitting to the maps theme definitely compliments.

I think so too. I would only add that someone on the commentary track on one of Sergio Leone's movies said that Leone thought movies are something like 40% sound, which I think makes sense. Just imagine certain movies with different sounds &/or music. Lighting really helps in maps too, especially with Doom Builder's handy brightness gradient feature. Like Leone, a lot of the time I also pick the midi first before starting a map and then map to the music, rather than creating the map first. It seems to help with getting the right feel.

My impression: The way how you shakily move in the video makes the map feel much more unsettling than it would probably feel if I played it myself. I would rush forward fast and furiously without worries. I agree that the map's atmosphere would benefit from elaborate lighting work and also some actually threatening monster encounters here and there to increase tension and true fear. Mowing down rows of enemies without threat makes me feel strong, which is an undesired effect in an atmospheric map.

Forcing to make you go slower is an option if you want to, otherwise put some health, your map's good enough for me.

I'm happy so far with how this is turning out, especially compared to my last map.

I really wish that I had known all the stuff I know now during the making of Overrun, because with the new stuff I've found out about lighting and ambient sounds, I could have made that map SO much better.

Like instead of having ZDoom marines in pockets outside the map fighting demons, I could have just done all that through ambient sounds.

Here's a video of the new areas:

So the first fight in the area beyond the blue key door felt really like something in Doom 3, especially after you turn the alarm off and hear the imps outside spawn in and scream.

That area also has my first attempt at changing the sector color, and it looks really nice. I didn't even know you could change sector colors. That's such a badass feature.

Oh by the way about the vents:

PLEASE tell me there is a way to fix this. It looks so horrible with the floor and ceiling looking like this.

If you're mapping for Zdoom UDMF format you can align that easily using the Floor/Ceiling Align Mode.

Impboy4 said:

If you're mapping for Zdoom UDMF format you can align that easily using the Floor/Ceiling Align Mode.

Ughhhh I guess I'll have to switch the map over from Hexen to UDMF.

revan1141 said:

Ughhhh I guess I'll have to switch the map over from Hexen to UDMF.

Oh my God I just downloaded GZDoom Builder and switched my map to UDMF...

How the Hell did I live without all this stuff? So many features... My God...

So how do I access the floor/ceiling align mode thing? I can't find it.

EDIT: Got it

revan1141 said:

Here's a video of the new areas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8PuKzolRxk

I liked the Chaingunner trap (it wasn't difficult, but it was gripping at least for a brief moment). The rest was too easy to be any scary. When slaying Imps and Cacodemons inside corridors, or a Revenant on a ledge sunken into wall, or several Shotgunners behind a window, I can easily switch to my "rambo mode" instead of "cautious", which doesn't do well to the overall atmosphere. So again, I still agree (with your own notes in the video) that bigger threat and better lighting could help.

I like the layout of that small demo video you made in the OP.

I think you have the right idea. I myself will be working on an atmospheric map for my Aliens mod.

As a matter of fact, check out this single-map I made a while ago. I tried to make it as atmospheric as possible. http://www.moddb.com/members/kontra-kommando/addons/starship-konrad-aliens-themed-wad

I think what makes a map creepy and atmospheric, is giving the player plenty of room to explore dark and nearly vacant rooms (sparsely placing pick-ups). But having the most significant areas to explore, be considerably dangerous. Maybe I could be wrong, but I feel that a quintessential atmospheric map should play more like a survival horror. You should make the map sort of be like an enemy within itself. Have it force the player to leave the comfort-zone of the safe areas, and make him search into the darker corridors and passages of the map to actually make significant progress. Have the goals of the map seem so close, yet so far away. For example, you could even have the player start near the exit door, but have him search for the keys for it, all over the map. this will also help the make the map non-liner; since you're forced to explore everywhere; while returning to a familiar and memorable main area.

Last night while I was going to sleep I started thinking about restarting on the Wad completely and making it a small set of levels taking place on a ship, with each level of the ship being in a different part of it.

For instance first level is the dock,
Second level is storage bays,
Third level is the medical bays,
Fourth level is engineering,
Fifth level is the labs and offices,
And the final level is the hangar bay.


The later in the levels you go, the more apparent the infestation becomes, with parts of the ship being all warped(And I don't mean throwing in tentacle textures everywhere. I mean mixing Hell theme with Tech Base)