First speedmap

A long time ago, I used to be pretty heavy into mapping; and then one day I decided to stop. Ten years later, here I am, having never completed a single WAD since then. I've touched Doombuilder on and off over the years, but the couple projects I started I dropped almost right off the bat - so you can say my mapping experience is fairly limited.

Today I decided, heck, it's been ages, might as well actually complete a map for once. So I limited myself to a time-frame of two hours, and attempted to make a complete map. This is the result: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qyluirertznr94n/Speed1.wad?dl=1

Anyways, your criticisms are welcome, as well as speedmapping tips, if you have any. Just keep in mind that this is a speedmap (as well as my first complete map in years), so there's bound to be texture misalignment, bland map design, and an overall level of suck - so try not to go too hard on me.

Let me know what you think!

IWAD: Doom 2
Port: Zandronum

I'll look at it, but what's the port requirements/map#/iwad/textures? I'll assume just vanilla doom2 for now.

ArmouredBlood said:

I'll look at it, but what's the port requirements/map#/iwad/textures? I'll assume just vanilla doom2 for now.

Ah, my bad! It's Doom 2, and the port is Zandronum. I'll update the main post with that info.

Makazi said:

Ah, my bad! It's Doom 2, and the port is Zandronum. I'll update the main post with that info.

No problem. It's not bad for a speedmap, I can tell you spent a bit of time on the corridors after the first room to make some copy/pasteable space, but it really doesn't add much there. I'd suggest making a longer single piece, perhaps 384 length, and maybe reusing it later on. The red key corridor is kinda similar, but less obvious because of the low light levels. Speaking of light levels, your rooms could use some, just a simple 64x64 area raised 16 units or so with a light level 32 higher than surrounding would be fine for a speedmap.

I see a lot of detailing added to the hex floor with water pool room, I'd suggest staying away from that level of detail in speedmaps, it eats up a lot of time. It looks nice for a normal map though, perhaps some indented tech detail on the upper walkway would look good. Your secret area needs a secret 'tag' on a sector, it doesn't count. I'd also lower the window walls so you can see the ssg, since it's not going to be a regular room. With the large amount of demons, I might consider a second secret for a berserk pack, it'd be fun.

It was a pretty fast and fun map, I like the baron bros reference. Keep mapping!

ArmouredBlood said:

No problem. It's not bad for a speedmap, I can tell you spent a bit of time on the corridors after the first room to make some copy/pasteable space, but it really doesn't add much there. I'd suggest making a longer single piece, perhaps 384 length, and maybe reusing it later on. The red key corridor is kinda similar, but less obvious because of the low light levels. Speaking of light levels, your rooms could use some, just a simple 64x64 area raised 16 units or so with a light level 32 higher than surrounding would be fine for a speedmap.

I see a lot of detailing added to the hex floor with water pool room, I'd suggest staying away from that level of detail in speedmaps, it eats up a lot of time. It looks nice for a normal map though, perhaps some indented tech detail on the upper walkway would look good. Your secret area needs a secret 'tag' on a sector, it doesn't count. I'd also lower the window walls so you can see the ssg, since it's not going to be a regular room. With the large amount of demons, I might consider a second secret for a berserk pack, it'd be fun.

It was a pretty fast and fun map, I like the baron bros reference. Keep mapping!

Thanks for the feedback! ^^ It means a lot. I went ahead and I fixed the issue with the secret room. I'll also keep your tips in mind next time I do a speedmap.

The corridor with copy-pasted floor detail wasn't good, because the player bumps up and down as he runs along the corridor, and that's needlessly nauseating. Gameplay was extremely straightforward, easy and shooting-gallery alike, and featured dull long backtracking without combat. Try to avoid it, use monsters in ways to actually challenge the player, for example attack in greater numbers and from multiple sides and height, and take advantage of every particular monster type's traits when placing it. Player needs challenge, otherwise the map is boring. Also feel free to incorporate some meaningful height variation throughout the level, the kind of height variation that actually affects combat (ledges with monsters, staircases, free movement of both the player and monsters between different height levels during the fight). The Baron due at the end wasn't challenging at all and they took unnecessarily long time to defeat - that's another thing you should avoid, and learn to use monsters efficiently, so that they threaten the player proportionally to the time needed to defeat them. Last thing - get into the habit of setting "lower unpegged" flag to sides of doors, so that they don't raise with the door. This is basically standard in majority of maps, and it looks like an error when door sides behave otherwise.

scifista42 said:

The corridor with copy-pasted floor detail wasn't good, because the player bumps up and down as he runs along the corridor, and that's needlessly nauseating. Gameplay was extremely straightforward, easy and shooting-gallery alike, and featured dull long backtracking without combat. Try to avoid it, use monsters in ways to actually challenge the player, for example attack in greater numbers and from multiple sides and height, and take advantage of every particular monster type's traits when placing it. Player needs challenge, otherwise the map is boring. Also feel free to incorporate some meaningful height variation throughout the level, the kind of height variation that actually affects combat (ledges with monsters, staircases, free movement of both the player and monsters between different height levels during the fight). The Baron due at the end wasn't challenging at all and they took unnecessarily long time to defeat - that's another thing you should avoid, and learn to use monsters efficiently, so that they threaten the player proportionally to the time needed to defeat them. Last thing - get into the habit of setting "lower unpegged" flag to sides of doors, so that they don't raise with the door. This is basically standard in majority of maps, and it looks like an error when door sides behave otherwise.

Thanks for the feedback! I admit the balance with the monsters wasn't my primary concern; it was more actually trying to finish a map within two hours - it was a lot of panicking and throwing ideas at the wall and trying to make things work before the clock ran out. I'm new to this whole speedmapping concept, but you know, I'll get better if I keep trying. I'll keep your tips in mind for next time. ^^

not bad...