Your personal Doom building Bible.

What are Your preferences, do's and don'ts when you build maps, what do you try to achieve and how do you go about doing so? What are the rules that you set for yourself? What are the things you view as right and wrong when making a wad? I'm excited to see the replys, Thank you in advanced.

I'll go first. First of all I wish to make all of my maps dynamic in layout, I don't believe the map should feel like a rail shooter, there needs to be choices, rewards and concequences, and more than one way to deal with a situation. I also feel it is important to me to foreshadow traps and illuminate important threats, I wan't to make gameplay as fair as possable, even if the encounter is very hard, it needs to be fair imo. I think you should be hinted at for secrets. I also Think big fights deserve big rewards.

Hiya!

Decide on a "colour theme" for the map. By this I don't simply mean texture choices alone. I map for GZDoom and Doomsday (mostly GZDOOM), so coloured lighting is one of my main 'things' I like to play with. If I start to have too many different colours in my map...I start to see it as more and more disjointed and haphazard. That invariably leads to me giving up on it an deleting it.

Typically I'll stick with a main colour, and then add one or two complementary ones, and one contrasting (e.g., I'll pick "dark brown...with red and orange, and blue for contrast"). I then use custom textures and lighting (with custom FLATs with GLDEF's for them) to get the feeling.

Oh, and I almost never populate it with monsters. o_O Yeah...weird, I know. I mostly enjoy the creative architectural aspects combined with the artistic stuff. *shrug* Well _I_ enjoy it anyway! :)

Add some stuff that will stand out in your map. Doesn't matter if good or bad. You want to avoid creating a bland level where everything feels right and goes just as the player expects. People should experience some amusing things. In a very flat level suddenly make a 10000 units tall lift. Instead of giving the player one blue key, give him 30 blue keys in the same room just for fun. Place 10 pointless pinkies in a tight corridor - doesn't matter that they are trivial to kill, what matters is the impact they will have on the player. Make it so the exit door has blue key marks but actually requires the yellow key: some people will think that it's broken and will stop playing, but a more clever player will realize that there is a SR50 jump trick you can perform to get around the "bug". Surprise the player, make him uncomfortable, force non-standard thinking.

I said "doesn't matter if good or bad", but actually you need some bad stuff in your maps. It's just too boring when it's all good, nothing to talk about then, nothing to get pissed at.

I like to think of a setting, then think about gameplay that could be put into that setting. For example, the level I'm building now is a toxin refinery set around a big crater on the moon. One theme in the level is that the power is off and you need to find switches to turn on the lights, open doors etc. So I'm building gameplay around light and dark, pathways opening etc.

All the while I'm keeping in mind the setting and building rooms that would fit in that setting. For example, I have a landing pad with a control room, fuel room and storage facilities and I'm building gameplay around those rooms.

I like for the player to have a good idea of where they are in a level, where they've come from, and where they're going to, so whenever possible I have one area visible from the next, and as best as possible give the player a strong internal map of the layout. I want progression to be meaningful and I don't want the player to get lost, so I am very careful about making objectives clear. For example, when you enter the landing pad there is a door on your left with red flashing lights, and you can see in the control room in the distance another red flashing light. So the player should notice that those two things are connected, giving them a good idea of what they are supposed to do in that area.

As I'm working on a level I am careful to build up a consistent visual style for the level. For example, when I'm building my first door I'll spend a bit of time figuring out the rules of how big the door is, how high, which textures, how thick, how do I insert it into the wall and what are the surrounding details, how much space do I keep doors from other walls, how I light them, whether they are opened by clicking on them or with a switch, and this type of thing. Over time I will have built up a style - rules I can use to keep everything consistent.

I play my level regularly to test things. Pretty much every time I make a change I test the level to see how it looks and plays. I spend time just running around in the level to get a feel for it - how does the movement feel, how does the lighting look, how do the textures look, how are the details, is the progression path clear and logical - these types of questions.

I get a sense of what I'm trying to achieve, as far as gameplay type and speed, horror aspects, difficulty, how I reveal things (the amount of traps) etc. and then as I'm testing my level I compare what I've done with my goals. How do the encounters flow into each other? Is there enough to do here? Are the rewards adequate? Is this fair? Over time I refine things.

Stuff like this. There's no right or wrong, there's only fun and unfun.

kuchitsu said:

Add some stuff that will stand out in your map. Doesn't matter if good or bad.

Personally I try to avoid bad. Trying something and failing is not bad, but don't put your failures out for other people to play. Learn from them and do better next time.

make him uncomfortable

Discomfort is ok if you're doing it in short bursts to get an effect, like you're revealing a whole lot of enemies at once and forcing the player to run, or making a room dark to create atmosphere. But I'd be careful about making them uncomfortable for too long. You're playing the level to have fun after all.

force non-standard thinking

Encouraging the player to think in different ways can be a good thing, but you have to be careful not to just be irritating. If people think your level is broken and stop playing then what are you really achieving? I think you should try to create positive experiences for people to talk about rather than pissing them off.

I generally won't change the floor flat until it hits an elevation. Doors doesn't count. This has created some interesting design choices, believe it or not.

"If you don't have anything to share, don't bother posting about it. You'll risk yourself being [newproject]'ed."

HavoX said:

"If you don't have anything to share, don't bother posting about it. You'll risk yourself being [newproject]'ed."

I'm sorry HavoX, I don't understand what you mean. could you please explain?

Just do what you think is fun. That's it.

* Choose a theme and stick to it
* Maintain a varied but consistent texture scheme throughout the level
* Vary floor and ceiling heights often
* Pay attention to the proportions of my rooms
* Pay attention to which room height works best with the texture I'm using. For instance, the STARX textures work best on 72 or 144 high rooms.
* Try to use interesting shapes, not just rectangles and octagons
* Use light level, objects and/or texture choice to create interesting contrasts
* Never change floor or ceiling texture without changing the corresponding height
* Never use corners with angles sharper than 90 degrees
* Never change texture without a proper transition
* Almost never use 128 high BIGDOORs in 128 high rooms
* If wall thickness is apparent when going from one room to the other, make sure the wall appears *thick*, at least 32 units
* Let the level loop onto itself and avoid large gaps of void in between the different parts of the level. This makes it easier for the player to get a feel for the 3D space of the level, and it makes it easier to create interconnectivity in the layout
* Don't go overboard on detail. Not every wall has to be plastered with decorations, sometimes you have to let the wall texture speak for itself.

These may be a bit more controversial:
* I avoid using lifts as a crutch to bridge height differences. It feels a bit cheap. If possible, I will use stairs. I definitely try to avoid lifts on the main path through the level because they slow down the flow. Nobody likes to wait 4 seconds for a lift.
* I avoid using teleporters to bridge parts of a level together. It's often used when an author has painted himself into a corner, and then uses the teleporter as a cheap way to get himself out of that corner.
* I avoid making rooms that are unusually tall. If a texture tiles more than 3 times vertically, it looks really shitty in the Doom engine IMO.

janvknn said:

* Never use corners with angles sharper than 90 degrees

I agree, but tell it to Ribbiks.

janvknn said:

* If wall thickness is apparent when going from one room to the other, make sure the wall appears *thick*, at least 32 units

Nice one. I never liked this door in MM2 Map16...

- decide on a theme and then abandon it whenever you like
- hide all the heavy weapons in secret areas while treating the player to the chaingun and a melee weapon
- the best pain elemental is one that immediately retreats up a wall out of punching range
- surrounding a suit of mega-armor with armor bonuses is not only funny, it's teh law
- put either "tall green pillar", "grey hand tree" or "5 skull shishkabob" on top of as many structural elements as you can
- photos of Elon Musk make for fine wall textures
- add a secret route which trivialises the balance of the entire level no matter what
- switches that don't do anything obvious are fundamental
- text made out of sector art is double-fundamental
- most importantly, never use STAR* textures unless you're doing fake upholstery on sector sofas

- While making a Hell map or episode make sure everything is a mix of red rock, lava and blood. A red sky is mandatory too.
- State that your maps are strictly calibrated around pistol start then hide all the weapons behind hordes of monsters, unmarked secrets or obscure speedrunning routes. Make the player die at least 10 times trying to start your map and then follow a UV max run on youtube.
- Make sure the player is threatened from all directions at all times. Place Revenants and Mancubi on high ledges everywhere, mixed with some Chaingunners and Archviles in case the cheeky prick is good at dodging.
- Tight hallways are great for teleport traps. Once the player reaches the middle, cut the lights and spawn a combination of Barons and Spectres from both sides.
- Teleport the player on a mandatory Blur Sphere and then spawn 3 or more Cyberdemons. Randomness and unpredictability always leads to exciting encounters.
- Imps are boring and easy to fight. Take a close look at your monster variety and substitute Revenants instead of Imps until they make up at least 50% of the map's monster population.
- If you're experiencing mapper's block, consider starting the map with 100 Revenants running down a staircase with a Nightwish midi in the background.

*Following the above guarantees a Cacoward at the end of the year.

rileymartin said:

*Following the above guarantees a Cacoward at the end of the year.

Well, good luck with that.

rileymartin said:

-bunch of stuff poster don't like-

*Following the above guarantees a Cacoward at the end of the year.

The sheer bitterness on display here is astounding. I take it you played Scythe/Scythe 2 and absolutely hated them, heh.

I liked the 3 Cyb/Invisibility setup myself, it's a neat idea to keep you on your toes and actually gets some use out of the bloody pickup.

I've often thought about writing an actual Doom mapping bible, not so much to enforce a certain style of mapping (although it would probably focus on classic, Id style), but to explore the psychology of level design and share a few good habits I've learned. I think it would also be neat to have little charts concerning monster placement, like say, showing the firing pattern of a mancubus, and then showing some room types that complement that pattern, and some that don't.

My personal, very loosely defined commandments:
Thou shalt not make tuberuns,
Thou shalt not use instant, silent monster teleports,
Thou generally shalt not use inescapable death pits,
Thou shalt not confuse the player with unintuitive switches that don't do seem to do anything (unless that's the point),
Thou shalt not use key-colored trim on switches that aren't locked,
Thou shalt not use every monster and weapon on map01, which precludes the feeling of progression.

Here's some for me:

Thou shalt begin a project that is very ambitious, and complete 2/3rds of the work.

Thou shalt start another new project that is ambitious, and complete 1/3rd of the work.

Thou shalt return to the initial project, and strive to complete the remainder, while coming up with new things to be completed at a later time.

Gifty said:

Thou shalt not use key-colored trim on switches that aren't locked,

Another thing I dislike is a level that's full of obvious doors (i.e. bigdoor texture or something) that can't be activated directly but have to be opened by a switch or trigger somewhere halfway across the level.

Nothing more frustrating than going *umph* *umph* against door after door when you are trying to explore a level.

Gifty said:

1. Thou shalt not use instant, silent monster teleports,
2. Thou shalt not use every monster and weapon on map01, which precludes the feeling of progression.

1. You mean illusio pit pop-ups, ZDoom-style map spot spawning, or Boom-specific "teleport to line" actions? I don't think either of them is bad/cheap/unfair per se, but depends on the particular usage - it may be interesting after all.
2. Again, what about introducing all monster types very early, but wait until a few maps later to start efficiently taking advantage of their skills to challenge the player, and gradually increase that challenge? I think I'd be satisfied with such a feeling of progression.

@janvknn, agreed, whenever I find myself putting switch-activated doors in a map I try to stop and think of another obstacle that would make more sense to the player. Metal bars or other obvious barriers, I think, communicate "SWITCH-RELATED OBSTACLE" a lot more clearly than a standard door.

@scifista, I actually mean the instant popups, I always assumed they were teleports but I was wrong. Obviously with the right map or the right theme anything can work, but in a standard Doom-style map they just annoy the piss out of me. It's like the creator is breaking every game rule possible just to thumb his nose at you, in a way that's totally inconsistent with every other thematic or mechanical aspect of the game.

As far as monsters, any mapset with a deliberate and intelligent difficulty curve is going to be better for it, I just think starting with smaller monsters and ending with bigger ones is one of the most intuitive and effective ways to accomplish that. Again, in the right context anything is possible, but I think it takes far more time and effort to effectively use big monsters in easier levels than it does to just use monsters tailored for the difficulty you want. Mainly I'm thinking of wads like BTSX, where, even though the maps individually all work really well, as a whole there isn't much sense of progression because the wad basically starts at top gear and there's nowhere for it to go.

Good idea for a thread!

I posted this elsewhere, but what really gets me fired up for map-making is music. If I hear an ambient piece of music that creeps me out, then the images all start flooding into my mind and the map makes itself.

As for layout, I have dealt with real-life geometry thus far (offices, corridors, etc.). I think it's a nice tease to have the exit occurring at a relatively early stage of the map, but for it to require massive security clearance. For this you'll need to 'descend to the depths' in order to find it, and hopefully make your way back alive (plenty of monster doors that open from distant linedefs, etc.).

I like to have a central hub, with many branches coming off of it. Some of them are more useful to explore than others, but each has its advantage. Also, the idea of trying to explore all of them at maximum speed resulting in your certain death is something I like - tread lightly and be careful / strategic, that's the motto in my maps!

Poormetheus said:

I like to have a central hub, with many branches coming off of it.

Such design is actually considered to be bad design by many, at least it seems so from the many posts that I've read scattered all around numerous wad reviews and mapping-related threads on this and zdoom forums (I can't recall any big thread specifically about hubs, though).

I never understood why. Probably just some guy once said it and everyone started repeating without thinking. At least they never explain.

scifista42 said:

Such design is actually considered to be bad design by many

Really? I guess I can see why, especially if the map has no forward momentum. If I think about some of my favorite maps, though, I can see something of a central hub theme. Think of 'Toxic Refinery' from DOOM, for example.

as with anything, its just a case of often its used in a boring way rather than the actual hubspoke idea itself being boring. (side note: i'm not tying boring with being bad, but most people dont like boring)

its often worth trying to explore and understand why people say a thing is good or bad, either to confirm their opinion or to try and subvert it (and "prove them wrong"). there are a ton of great maps that use traditionally boring/bad elements but just do them well so people ignore it lol.

make what you want etc.

I think the main problem with a central hub is that you are always having to come back to it, and doing that repeatedly becomes quite boring as there generally won't be anything new to see there.

Some backtracking is inevitable in maps that are not purely linear, but I think ideally it should be limited so you don't have to visit the same room more than twice.

Gifty said:

As far as monsters, any mapset with a deliberate and intelligent difficulty curve is going to be better for it, I just think starting with smaller monsters and ending with bigger ones is one of the most intuitive and effective ways to accomplish that. Again, in the right context anything is possible, but I think it takes far more time and effort to effectively use big monsters in easier levels than it does to just use monsters tailored for the difficulty you want. Mainly I'm thinking of wads like BTSX, where, even though the maps individually all work really well, as a whole there isn't much sense of progression because the wad basically starts at top gear and there's nowhere for it to go.

It's intuitive but not very effective (by effective I mean 'flexible'). Totally ignores the fact that monsters are far from the only thing that determines the difficulty of encounters. There are easy (and tense) encounters with AVs/cybers, and there are hard maps centered around weaklings and the occasional rev.

BTSX had a lot of unused difficulty headroom. E1 is on the easier side as far as modern mapsets go, and it consistently softballed some of its later fights. The fact that it used a few (non-threatening) mancs and arachnotrons and avs in the first few levels has nothing to do with that

andrewj said:

Some backtracking is inevitable in maps that are not purely linear, but I think ideally it should be limited so you don't have to visit the same room more than twice.

Yes, I couldn't agree more with that. There's central hubs, and then there's CENTRAL HUBS (the yawning kind).

- Playability. The player has to be in "control" of his fate most of the time, not the map designer.
- Some parts have to be a little puzzle /a little/. Not all switches have to open obvious doors, lifts, whatever... The player sometimes must discover what that switch has done /good or bad for the player: more ammo or more enemies/...
- Ambush! Balanced, of course, giving time the player to rest, and then next ambush. Like to give always some rooms of "suspense", not knowing the player what to expect.
-In a room or rooms like to start with a low level enemy, just one or two, get the player confident... And boom, Imps every corner.
-I like to "direct" players, like actors in a movie, sometimes I make mistakes in maps, trying madly to follow that rule of mine.