Improving in map design DarkMasterXbone thread

Hello and welcome to my thread where i post all my wads that i made.

I created this thread for improving my map design and
post monthly or weekly some wads to share with the community.

(Warning amateurish map design inbound)

Posted on 03.04.2016

For Doom 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download/ex1hcw2a0e6zuak/Demonic_Outpost.wad
For Doom 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download/jfdrhay466wp6o8/Watch_out_for_the_Birdie_%21%21%21.wad
For Doom 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download/aja45233hksi9yk/Train_Station_Vort.wad
For Doom 1
http://www.mediafire.com/download/246ksf4rguo6ty0/So_close_to_the_end.wad

Posted on 09.04.2016

For Doom 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download/bm588npl36i9q9v/Fancy_Tech_Base.wad
For Doom 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8b2mpe25azt1i41/Factory_Frenzy.wad
For Doom 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download/9xt2qiqw9t506ot/Mayhem.wad

Posted on 22.04.2016

For Doom 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download/oyz6bt6nbkgiv9k/Mordor.wad
For Doom 1
http://www.mediafire.com/download/62siizpx43069aq/Outpost_Sun.wad

Posted on 08.05.2016

For Doom 1
http://www.mediafire.com/download/xcpns1eux0otv52/Wooden_Hell.wad
For Doom 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download/h4gadae9kdyjyou/Breach_City.wad
For Doom 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download/ztuatythctgks45/Sky_HQ.wad

Posted on 22.05.2016
For Doom 1
http://www.mediafire.com/download/tu93r509u8kg855/Demon_Bay.wad
For Doom 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download/h0yrgq75hh8kr05/Ultimate_Death.wad

All tested with zandronum

May I know the format of the maps you've made?

Some quick notes:
1. You should learn how the "Lower Unpegged" linedef flag works. It affects middle and lower textures to be offset from the bottom, rather than being offset from the top as they are normally. It's useful for sides of doors, and NOT useful for lifts.
2. Sector brightness is uniform mostly everywhere in your maps. Adding sensible and noticeable light variations would make the maps feel better. In addition, you would hide some of the texturing ugli-ness into darkness.
3. Even height variation could be utilized in a much greater extent, making the maps feel and play more like 3D than 2D with small terrain obstacles.
4. Avoid "door fight" setups - that is, when the player opens a door (or enters a new room) and sees a horde of monsters meant to be defeated by continuous shooting into them, it's tedious, not challenging.

Jellyman1303 said:

May I know the format of the maps you've made?

Sorry for the late reply format of the maps are
Normal Doombuilder Doom 1 and Doom 2 format.

scifista42 said:

Some quick notes:
1. You should learn how the "Lower Unpegged" linedef flag works. It affects middle and lower textures to be offset from the bottom, rather than being offset from the top as they are normally. It's useful for sides of doors, and NOT useful for lifts.
2. Sector brightness is uniform mostly everywhere in your maps. Adding sensible and noticeable light variations would make the maps feel better. In addition, you would hide some of the texturing ugli-ness into darkness.
3. Even height variation could be utilized in a much greater extent, making the maps feel and play more like 3D than 2D with small terrain obstacles.
4. Avoid "door fight" setups - that is, when the player opens a door (or enters a new room) and sees a horde of monsters meant to be defeated by continuous shooting into them, it's tedious, not challenging.

Thanks for the feedback i will keep it in mind when i design maps for the future.

Back with some new short little maps i made enjoy..

Got 2 new maps longer in gameplay then my other wads.

I just played Ultimate Death. The first major flaw I noticed was the floor, and how different textures were on the same height. I suggest that you read John Romero's mapping guidelines, he would change the floor height whenever the floor texture changed, and the ceiling height whenever the ceiling texture changed, so as not to clash. Those lights you put embedded in the water should have been above the water.

The second thing I noticed was the severe lack of health pickups. When I reached the chaingunner room, I was down to 14 health. Now, if those chaingunners shot projectiles instead of hitscans, this situation could work, with the player dodging fireballs in a frantic dash to the health kits in the room. Hitscan enemies are practically impossible to dodge. If I was at 40, maybe 35 health, I could've got through that area.

The third and final flaw I saw was in the texture choices. While walking down the bridge at the start, it suddenly turned into muddy cobble. This isn't how bridges work, and this isn't what would happen in a Techbase. The wooden doors are great for Medieval, Hell, and even Urban maps, but not good for Techbase maps.

I initially played the level on UV, but completed it with ITYTD. I assume that the monster placement+population is the same on all difficulties, so try messing around with that in future maps(that sounds very hypocritical coming from me!). I recommend you play some more wads to get an idea of what works and what doesn't. All in all, its a below average map that could've been shoved into D!Zone or something.

Gran-D-Knight said:

The third and final flaw I saw was in the texture choices. While walking down the bridge at the start, it suddenly turned into muddy cobble. This isn't how bridges work, and this isn't what would happen in a Techbase. The wooden doors are great for Medieval, Hell, and even Urban maps, but not good for Techbase maps.

Feel free to ignore this advice (if you aren't looking for realism), "Ancient Aliens" (A new fresh megawad mainly made by skillsaw with high success and following) is a megawad that countlessly breaks this quote bit by bit.