Taking screenshots of levels for inspiration

Sometimes when I play various WADs I take screenshots of certain areas I really like or when I come across cool looking screenshots here or somewhere else I save them on my PC. When I lack inspiration for mapping I sometimes look at these screenshots to try to recreate (parts of) it. Of course I alter certain parts, textures or the general looks of it to make sure it's not a 1-on-1 copy.
In the past I've also recreated whole levels from various WADs, but this is a long time ago and I haven't done that since.

My question is however, how bad is it to do this? Is it acceptable or do people think it is a no go?

Not bad, if it helps you make good stuff and isn't really a 1-on-1 copy of existing one. All mappers take inspiration from other wads they play, anyway.

scifista42 said:

Not bad, if it helps you make good stuff and isn't really a 1-on-1 copy of existing one. All mappers take inspiration from other wads they play, anyway.

All maps come from some idea, and yours is screenshots of others maps trying to recreate parts of it. plagarizing is bad, but remaking is cool.

Please set descriptive titles for your threads in future. Thanks

It's fine as long as you don't get caught.

Voros said:

remaking is cool.

Well, I'm personally not keen on blatant homages and ripoffs of IWADs and famous wads (when the player recognizes them instantly), I strongly prefer originality and fresh-ness over remaking the same ideas again and again. But I guess the OP's idea is not on this level yet, because he remakes areas to help himself making good maps, and not to deliberately invoke player's deja-vu feelings at the expense of originality, at least I understood his description that way.

Well as long as it's not EXACTLY the same, you'll be fine. There's nothing wrong with being inspired or making little nods here and there to your favorite maps.

so...WHERE THE MAPS!?!

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i may have bumped this a bit, but yeah. don't copy them just get ideas from them.. i dont do that, i try to be original.. try to get ideas from irl places like i do :)

so...WHERE THE MAPS!?!

can original poster deliver!!!! im prety hype for play his wad!

I have a folder entitled "STEAL_THESE_IDEAS" containing (among other pics of real buildings and misc scenery) plenty of screenshots from other pwads that I found particularly interesting. Occasionally I'll rummage through and see if any of them inspire some ideas.

Personally i rip off other mappers all the time. No shame.

I usually borrow generative principles, not specific ideas. Like, instead of saying "Okay, this mapper put this texture and that texture together and it looked cool, so I'm going to do exactly that", I'll say "This mapper likes to use dark, gritty textures as a border around lighter, smooth textures, so I'll keep that technique in mind when I want to spice up my visuals". Instead of "Hey, let's make an encounter with mancs on a platform and pain elementals drifting into the windows and a cluster of imps on the ground and more imps warping in, like so-and-so did in ballsack.wad", I'll say "let's try to make an encounter where the battle vector goes 1) clear space quickly 2) deal with intermediary high-threat distraction(s) 3) clear more space, and where dangerous turret monsters must be left alive until the clean-up stage due to other priorities".

darkreaver said:

Personally i rip off other mappers all the time. No shame.

So many of my maps started off as recreations of the works of others... This is especially obvious in the first six maps or so of UR - Map03 has at least two obvious homages to WOS02. This became less and less of a crutch of mine as time went on, though.

I second scifista42's post. Long as you don't copy the area pixel by pixel, it's absolutely fine.

But you don't have to make levels based on architecture, you can even use circuitry pictures for a layout then make it into actual structures for one example.

Avoozl said:

But you don't have to make levels based on architecture, you can even use circuitry for a layout then convert it into actual structures for one example.

Please tell me how that can be achieved. I want try.

Make some adjustments - in fact, make it your own. Try working your own creative muscles instead of ripping off others. Use their inspiration as a jumping point and go in a new and better direction. Leave every idea better than you found it.

Hellslime said:

Make some adjustments - in fact, make it your own. Try working your own creative muscles instead of ripping off others. Use their inspiration as a jumping point and go in a new and better direction. Leave every idea better than you found it.

Easier said than done.

You need only one thing: a spark.

That spark could be anywhere. It could be in your home. It could be in your workplace. It could be in a memory. It could be right next to you.
It could even be in one those screenshots.

Long time ago, a guy called Bruno believed that the universe was infinite, but had no evidence to support this. Where he got this idea? A spark. From one small dream.

No. You can't find this spark. It comes to you in unexpected times. But searching for the spark can either make it quicker or slow down the spark.