Heavy Water Plant (map) now complete and released

I've made a map (my second) and I'm hoping for some feedback before I upload it to Doomworld. Download link below.

http://doom.dogsoft.net/download.php?h=67733258020c412f5aeb675eb0098d5f&f=Uploads/HWATER.zip

* Play Information *

Game : Doom 2
Map # : 1
Single Player : Designed for
Cooperative 2-4 Player : No
Deathmatch 2-4 Player : No
Other game styles : None
Difficulty Settings : Not implemented


* Construction *

Base : New from scratch
Build Time : approx. 30 hours
Editor(s) used : Doom Builder 2
Tested With : prboom-plus-2.5.1.4 and chocolate-doom

The level should run in with the classic Doom2.exe or a modern source port. Let me know if you run into any errors.

Some screenshots to wet your appetite.







I did post my first level here not long ago asking for some feedback but no one did.... So if you want to check it out it's here.

https://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/86064-hello-all-welcome-to-raums-keep/

Hi, it was a pretty good map, here's an FDA: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/attachment.php?postid=1562602

I didn't find any secrets, looked a bit but didn't spend too much effort on it.

Positives:
-Good ammo and health balance
-Fairly engaging, lots of hitscanners to keep you on your toes but nothing super unfair.
-I like how you get into higher tier monsters as the map progresses instead of just sticking with the same kind of guys you see at the start, I think a lot of maps like this wouldn't do that so much.

Negatives, you don't have to fix these here but consider them for your next map:
-Very boxy and brown, consider another highlight colour or something.
-Kind of weird layout/flow, I wasn't really sure where I was going or what I was doing half the time. I never got really lost either so I guess it's not so bad.

Some specific issues:
-You wouldn't really lose anything by making that 1st Baron a Hell Knight and then taking away one of those ammo boxes.
-Some grate textures bleed through the sector floor in software mode, you can fix this by changing the light level of one sector up by one.

Thanks for taking the time to play and critique the map!

plums said:

I didn't find any secrets, looked a bit but didn't spend too much effort on it.

I watched your FDA and found it very interesting. There are 3 secrets in total and you came so close to two of them.

plums said:

Negatives, you don't have to fix these here but consider them for your next map:
-Very boxy and brown, consider another highlight colour or something.
-Kind of weird layout/flow, I wasn't really sure where I was going or what I was doing half the time. I never got really lost either so I guess it's not so bad.

I agree that the colour palette is very brown. I was the look I was going for but maybe I went too far with it.

plums said:

Some specific issues:
-You wouldn't really lose anything by making that 1st Baron a Hell Knight and then taking away one of those ammo boxes.
-Some grate textures bleed through the sector floor in software mode, you can fix this by changing the light level of one sector up by one.
http://i.imgur.com/A8eNWd9.png

Thank you for those pointers. You are definitely right about the baron and ammo. I've swapped him out for the Hell Knight and removed one of the ammo cases. A Baron is a bit tedious if you don't have the super shotgun. Fixed the grate issue too. Both those changes will be in the final release.

prBoom+ -cl2 FDA: http://www.mediafire.com/download/6vv65ba63iytoiy/hwater_rdwpa_fda.lmp

Visuals were simple but not offensive. I liked the overall theme but felt you could use stronger lighting contrast -- the occasional bright area and light source.

I liked most of the aspects involving hitscanners; they keep you on you toes. I felt a lot of the other traps were underwhelming, however, e.g. the four reveals leading to the BK where sometimes you just face off against a trio of pinkies. I was primed for something harsher. Same thing with the whole caco/HK wing; that part could use another trap or something. I think the map ended on a good note, though; I liked the rev/PE encounter, and being able to hear the last AV got me somewhat tense.

Keep in mind that double-sided linedefs (e.g. walls for monster closets and secrets) should have a "secret" flag when you want to hide the fact that they are double-sided; I was able to predict basically every larger trap by looking at the automap.

There's a bit of repetition early on, with two separate switches revealing the same thing (some lost souls in the middle). Repetition isn't necessarily a bad thing, but maybe you could change one of those; a couple of lost souls aren't too engaging as opposition in such a big space (relatively).

There are a lot of things that look like doors that you can't actually open, which I'm not a huge fan of, because it leads to a lot of unnecessary humping. :D

One possible workaround is to create your own door textures as composites of existing textures.

(The door is made from stock textures.)

The player immediately will recognize, "Okay, these types of doors can't be opened, but I can try to open the usual doors."

Thanks for playing through the map and giving your thoughts.

rdwpa said:

I felt a lot of the other traps were underwhelming, however, e.g. the four reveals leading to the BK where sometimes you just face off against a trio of pinkies. I was primed for something harsher. Same thing with the whole caco/HK wing; that part could use another trap or something.

OK I see what your talking about. Time to change those three pinkies for something nastier. Perhaps I will also add a trap to the rising/falling water area.

rdwpa said:

Keep in mind that double-sided linedefs (e.g. walls for monster closets and secrets) should have a "secret" flag when you want to hide the fact that they are double-sided; I was able to predict basically every larger trap by looking at the automap.

I didn't know this! Thanks for the info. I will get tagging to fix this.

rdwpa said:

There's a bit of repetition early on, with two separate switches revealing the same thing (some lost souls in the middle).

I will spice up this part.

Thanks again for your constructive comments.

Very interesting. My favorite thing about it is how all the hitscanners are alerted at the start and are constantly making noise. It puts you on edge wondering where they will shoot from. On the other hand since there are so many it's hard to keep from taking damage especially when you can't see where they are. The fact that the halls are very tight makes it even harder to dodge. I think there should be some armor available close to the start or at lease some bonuses lying around to mitigate all the hitscanners.

U.O.D. said:

Very interesting. My favorite thing about it is how all the hitscanners are alerted at the start and are constantly making noise. It puts you on edge wondering where they will shoot from. On the other hand since there are so many it's hard to keep from taking damage especially when you can't see where they are. The fact that the halls are very tight makes it even harder to dodge. I think there should be some armor available close to the start or at lease some bonuses lying around to mitigate all the hitscanners.

Thanks for checking it out. Good point, I will add some armor/bonuses for the lower/mid difficulties.

The map has now been completed and the final version released here:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/g-i/hwater

I've implemented most of the suggestions. Thank you all for testing the map.

You know, I wasn't sure about this map at first. The simple/monotone textures coupled with the reasonably complex progression put me off the first playthrough. Having come back to it though there is a lot to like; I feel there's some real brilliance reminiscent of some of my favourite Quake levels.

Overall enemy design was excellent, the ambushes are very well situated and often the player is guided to points of interest by them. There is a very satisfying development to the map as bits and pieces unfold for you to explore. The sense of height and depth is also very strong, reinforced by the 'prison' section and the large drop into the pit. The secrets were just the kind I like, encouraging taking in your environment and looking for hints.

Tricky in places and you need to clear rooms well to avoid being gunned down but the difficulty was fair. There are lots of strong ideas here that belie the map's simple aesthetic.