[Doom 1] Phobos Facility

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Replaces E1M1 in Doom/Ultimate Doom. I made it in the Boom format and tested it with GZDoom and Zandorum. It has co-op but no deathmatch support.



Would you believe that for all the years I have been in the Doom community, I have never actually made my own level, much less even touched a level editor? After Romero released his new map I thought it was high time to change that. I got GZDoom Builder and started using it wednesday last week. And apart from a simple marble room I created just to get my bearings, this is in fact my very first map and I have just been learning everything as I went along, and only checked a video tutorial for the most rudimentary basics of the editor.

Started around last friday with just the vague idea of making something E1-ish, so it took a little less than a week to create. Halfway through I started rewatching the Devs Play videos with Romero commentating through Episode 1, so I could try and apply some of the same design principles to my level. Actually ended up stripping down some of the finer details in order to preserve more of a vanilla feel. Many of the rooms used to be more distinct in their texture sets as well, which I also ended up largely homogenizing to give it more of a thematic consistency, after examining the texture distribution across the original E1 levels. I wanted to avoid the "everything and the kitchen sink" feel.

The level design throughout the map is mostly just me trying to copy some of the memorable beats from the original levels, as a means to familiarize myself with the editor and workflow. The map ended up way bigger than any of the original E1 levels, but it's still pretty linear and a seasoned player can probably beat it within 4-5 minutes. I kept myself strictly to human and imp enemies as is the case with the first few original maps. I thought about finally adding in pinky, but that was very late into the level design and I would probably have needed to heavily redesign some areas to better accomodate them. Chaingun and rocket launcher are available as secrets.

I like the first screenshot! I'll give this thing a shot for you later on. Gotta comb forums tonight anyway so I think I can justify it ;)

I gave this a go in PrBoom-plus -complevel 9 (Boom compatibility) while recording a FDA demo, but apparently you haven't avoided zdoomisms, so that the SHAWN2 lifts with tag 0 couldn't be lowered in this port and compatibility, which forced me to abort the playthrough. Keep it in mind for next time, that S1/SR/W1/WR/G1/GR (but not D1/DR) linedef actions treat tag 0 as any other tag in classic ports and compatibilities (as opposed to advanced ZDoom-based ports), so that it affects all sectors with tag 0 in the entire map rather than the sector on the linedef's back side (which only D1/DR actions do). I'll give you proper feedback once I play through the map properly in Zandronum.

cool map, even with some un-unpegged textures here and there...

scifista42 said:

I gave this a go in PrBoom-plus -complevel 9 (Boom compatibility) while recording a FDA demo, but apparently you haven't avoided zdoomisms, so that the SHAWN2 lifts with tag 0 couldn't be lowered in this port and compatibility, which forced me to abort the playthrough. Keep it in mind for next time, that S1/SR/W1/WR/G1/GR (but not D1/DR) linedef actions treat tag 0 as any other tag in classic ports and compatibilities (as opposed to advanced ZDoom-based ports), so that it affects all sectors with tag 0 in the entire map rather than the sector on the linedef's back side (which only D1/DR actions do). I'll give you proper feedback once I play through the map properly in Zandronum.

Yeah, coming in as an absolute beginner I had no clue about any of that stuff. So basically I just need to treat regular activated lifts and stuff in the same way as I treat activating things remotely using entire tagged sectors?

GeckoYamori said:

Yeah, coming in as an absolute beginner I had no clue about any of that stuff. So basically I just need to treat regular activated lifts and stuff in the same way as I treat activating things remotely using entire tagged sectors?

And get prBoom+ and test your maps there.

Alright. I applied tags to any relevant linedefs and sectors, 100%ed the map in PrBoomPlus and did not encounter any problems. I updated the OP with a download to the fixed .wad file.

Alright Gecko, I had the chance to play the map. It was a very good job for a first map! I even included it in the article for the week ^.^

To be fair, there were some spots, like the windows in the beginning past the first door, that made this apparently a first map. Aside from those types of texture misalignments, the map itself looked nice. Perhaps in your next map you could experiment with throwing in some supports to break up the long, single-textures walls and to separate the windows from the walls and eventually more complex architecture. But all of that with time; for now, there's really no reason that this shouldn't have been vanilla, unless I missed something. The level of detail was about on par with, or slightly better than, the iWads, barring the misaligned textures. That's not a bad thing, though. It worked with the numerous iWad references thrown in here and I found that the map was fun to play.

The chaingun secret could have been marked a bit better, but at the same time I figured it out and I'm a dummy so maybe it wasn't that bad after all ;p

I liked the way that the enemies were done and I think it was a smart move for you to start as you did: with a small map and a small cast of characters.

All-in-all I think you did a good job here and I hope you continue to make some more! I'd like to see what your capable of after some more practice :)

And if you have any questions you know that the community's got your back; don't hesitate to ask questions or try to recruit a tester :)

Wow I personally found this fantastic!

It's a shame you weren't mapping when DTWID was being made because this would have been damn close to fitting right in. I felt that the map overall was very reminiscent of the original levels and it invoked me with the same feeling they gave me. I adore the fact that the map is of an abundance of secrets and each one is nicely hidden and for the most part unique from each other. The map is somewhat atmospheric and lighting has been used pretty well. Monster placement and usage was nice but if this is a standalone map (I hope it isn't) then it is way too easy.

Okay so the use of texture alignment and choice wasn't 'polished' but for what this map portrays I actually appreciate it being what it is. It helped as far as nostalgic value is concerned anyway.

Overall good job man, for your first map this is really great! I hope you make more :)

Here is my demo for the new fixed wad, recorded in PrBoom-plus -complevel 9. By the way, when testing your map in PrBoom-plus, you should specify the complevel too, because the engine behaves differently on different complevels (the default/highest one might even forgive the 0-tag errors), but speedrunners and demo-recorders use specific complevels for specific kinds of wads (2-4 for vanilla, 9 for Boom, 11 for MBF etc.).

Since I had already played part of the map, I knew everything before the silver lifts, including the shotgun secret in the start area and the 6 health bonus secret in the next room, but deliberately ignored them until later.

The map was pretty good for one's first mapping attempt. Well emulated E1 style with all its good traits, like irregular + interconnected layout / architecture, height + light + thematic variations between areas or even within the scope of one area, etc.

Good job!

I updated it again now with some additional design changes and fixes. I unpegged and fixed all the texture alignments along the outer windowed walls. The unpegging stuff was really confusing for me. In the room with the imp teleport trap, I initially had the walls by the keycard to be the stone2 texture, but for the hidden one-sided windows which sight-trigger the imps I simply could not get the upper, middle and lower textures to align correctly no matter which peg/unpeg combination I tried. I "solved" it by simply using a flat brown texture so the seams aren't very noticeable. Other than that, I fixed some other misaligned textures I noticed and also fixed some leftover inconsistencies from when I did the texture makeover pass.

I also added a peep hole to the rocket launcher room near the tech maze part which connects to it, so it's now one of those hidden-in-plain-sight secrets. I also made the secret entry to it a bit more noticeable (it's a secret room within a secret room).

Finally I reduced the number of barrels and spaced them out a bit in the first imp place separated by the nukage pit. I found that they were so numerous and tightly spaced that the imps were very liable to just blow themselves up. Dunno if I should just have kept that since it was pretty funny.

Fonze said:

The chaingun secret could have been marked a bit better, but at the same time I figured it out and I'm a dummy so maybe it wasn't that bad after all ;p

There are actually several hints towards the chaingun secret. If you look towards the elevated area where the switch is, you can also see a darkened pathway to the right of it. So I was counting on the player to deduce that the entry is in that general direction. The wall texture which opens it up was misaligned by 1 pixel, but I guess if you play at lower resolutions this won't be as noticeable. I changed the texture alignment now to be even more noticeable. It wasn't supposed to be a difficult secret anyway.

Crunchynut44 said:

Monster placement and usage was nice but if this is a standalone map (I hope it isn't) then it is way too easy.

It definitely wasn't meant to be challenging to hardcore Doom players or anything. But then, that is likely the only audience that will be exposed to this level. But I wanted to keep the difficulty level consistent with what you would find in the vanilla episode, so you can see how I feel a bit conflicted here. The easy soulsphere secret I put at the very end, which you're likely to pick up after you have killed everything, pretty much signals that the level is designed to be part of a wider progression. Maybe if I made a complete E1 replacement I could work it in somehow.

Heh. The dark hallway was the only thing that led me to that secret; but mostly that second hint you mentioned is why I made the comment. An offset by 1 pixel is very tough to notice on lower resolutions, but like I said, I found it so I guess it wasn't that bad :)

I guess I'm just not used to secrets with the "use"-able texture being unmarked any more, lol. When I first ran through I saw it but expected it to open from a switch because the back side (where the door is) looked flush to me; is it bad that I've gotten too lazy to check (use) the inconspicuous walls? Lol. But after reaching the exit and doubling back around I checked the walls and wall-humped my way to success.

This would make a nice E1M1 of a larger project, though. Then again, given the monster count (not difficulty) it might make a better E1M2/M3. But I don't see the harm in leaving this a standalone map; not everything has to be part of a giant project. Perhaps small standalone maps are the best way to begin because it's easier to view something like that as a throwaway concept meant mainly for learning, and at the same time it's easier for busy people to justify playing something to help someone when they know it'll be quick. But now I'm prattling; my apologies!

Pretty sure I want to go ahead and expand this into a multi-level wad now. I've already started sketching out a new map. I even started writing some Bobby Prince style MIDI music to complete the experience. Dunno if I would take is as far as making a full episode replacement.

Problem is that if I want to make a bunch of more levels, I wouldn't be making them as large as this one. And maybe it would feel too jarring to start out with a map of this size and then scale down the scope as you progress. Also I think if I trimmed down the size of this map I might compromise its flow and design. Dunno which area or areas I could possibly get rid of or reuse in a later level.

I enjoyed this, particularly the map's architecture and the way that the layout winds around on itself. That said, the progression was pretty linear and the secrets didn't require much thought to figure out.

Overall, 7/10.

GeckoYamori said:

Problem is that if I want to make a bunch of more levels, I wouldn't be making them as large as this one. And maybe it would feel too jarring to start out with a map of this size and then scale down the scope as you progress. Also I think if I trimmed down the size of this map I might compromise its flow and design. Dunno which area or areas I could possibly get rid of or reuse in a later level.

This map was small-to-medium sized in my view (by "popular modern standards", more like medium sized, though). I don't think you should change it. You could, however, shift it into a later mapslot and make even shorter map(s) for the mapslots before it, if you didn't want to make longer maps. All just my opinion, of course.