How to do a good backtracking in my wads?

While doing my maps, i find to be very hard to make backtracking, well, to do one that works the intended way, so how to make a good backtracking? What are the technics that most mappers tend to use?

What do you mean for "intended way"?

Best way is to interlap key points of the map.

Eg : Blue key next to red door, red key next to a blue door.

Add an incentive to backtracking. Have a locked keyed door half way through the path (likely a dead end to justify backtracking) with a window revealing either a bonus item or a hint to a puzzle. Then include the appropriate key in the end of that path. This way backtracking not only would feel like it was halved before finding new content but the player can feel like he is taking the right path when backtracking.

That's one technique.

First of all, you may avoid the whole backtracking. How? You can have the key accessible by two routes through the level, so that you reach the key via a passage and leave the area with the key from another way. You can have both ways accessible so that player can choose which one to take, increasing the non-linearity of the map and maybe replay value. Or you can force the player in taking one route for the key and one leaving, but in this case you have a single loop in which somewhere there is the key.

Now on backtracking. You have your key, and you have to come back the same way you did to reach the key. How to make this interesting?
Add monsters…
… via teleport. You have something to kill in a familiar environment.
… via opening traps. This changes the design of the environment, and should be planned in advance when you design the area, in order to looks “cohesive” with the remaining of the level. The doors of the trap can let you access some smaller rooms with pickups and such.
… and change the environment. Maybe add poison areas, or turrets with enemies, or take away places where player can cover. In this way you have a new battle in a new area => a new experience for the player, which is always good to have. Open up access to bigger areas which you can explore.
… and open up some shortcut through the path which lead to the key. In which way you shorten the backtracking and add some spice to it. The extreme is to have a teleporter which takes you directly to the starting point. Fast but boring, maybe add there some monsters to wait your come back.

I just wanted to write few lines and this became a tutorial.

There are a lot of ways. One way is to make paths loop naturally. Here is an example (check out my amazing art skills).



There is a blue key on the ledge (green) and the path (purple) carries the player through a variety of areas until the key is reached. (Imagine areas are connected openly.) You can conceivably set the blue key-requiring barrier in numerous places within or adjacent to these areas. Also loops are an effective way of integrating longer optional paths with the main progression, since a detour will ultimately lead back to the mandatory route, without feeling like a separate thing.

Angry Saint brought up a good way to make backtracking itself interesting -- new fights and experiences along the way you came.

Another technique is to use proximity.



Layouts that are tightly designed, with areas packed somewhat densely and connected openly or in a variety of ways, are naturally more conducive to smooth flow and movement than stringy layouts where every area is connected in a very linear fashion with two branching points at most, maybe three.

The purple path is first, then the brown path, then the cyan path. The second layout requires the player to cover less ground, despite the areas being roughly the same size in sq. units. Visually it's more useful too -- the player will often be able to see the goal if they ever forget and are wondering where it is. Not to mention the usual benefits for gameplay.

I just tried that path loop in one test level and it felt pretty good way get around the level. Overall it made the level feel less linear.

Usually done the new fights thing and opening up some monster closets or whatever.

Angry Saint said:

… via opening traps. This changes the design of the environment, and should be planned in advance when you design the area, in order to looks “cohesive” with the remaining of the level. The doors of the trap can let you access some smaller rooms with pickups and such.

So...i already have a map, and let's say that i want the player to comeback the way he came, opening closets and traps is the way to go. But i have one issue with this, if i want to make a door/wall that will only open after the player colected the key, how do i make a linedef action that will only work with the key(or after getting the key, not necessarilly needs to be the key)without demonstrating that that's there(without any "needs certain key" message)? Apreciate all the answers, thank you all! :D

RanhDoomer said:

So...i already have a map, and let's say that i want the player to comeback the way he came, opening closets and traps is the way to go. But i have one issue with this, if i want to make a door/wall that will only open after the player colected the key, how do i make a linedef action that will only work with the key(or after getting the key, not necessarilly needs to be the key)without demonstrating that that's there(without any "needs certain key" message)? Apreciate all the answers, thank you all! :D

I'm not quite sure what you mean here, but for your origional question, I've always liked sneakily teleporting monsters into an area you know the player will backtrack to (typically, a key-requiring door area), then letting the monsters trickle along the architecture towards the players' current location. Starting the teleporting monsters behind a hidden wall (2-sided, marked to look like a 1-sided on the automap), far enough away from the player that they can't be heard seeing the player will let you create a "natural" repopulation of already traversed areas. That is, not every new encounter needs to be up-front and personal with nearby closets, out of the floor, or teleported in your face. Makes for variation in how the map plays as well, depending on how long the player spends picking up that key before backtracking. You never know exactly where your sneakily repopulated monsters will be.

Just make sure you create a map that lets monsters travel around, so they don't all congest at too-steep stairs, too-narrow doorways, monster-block lines and such.

RanhDoomer said:

So...i already have a map, and let's say that i want the player to comeback the way he came, opening closets and traps is the way to go. But i have one issue with this, if i want to make a door/wall that will only open after the player colected the key, how do i make a linedef action that will only work with the key(or after getting the key, not necessarilly needs to be the key)without demonstrating that that's there(without any "needs certain key" message)? Apreciate all the answers, thank you all! :D

You put a linedef that you have to cross in order to get the key. The linedef has an action that opens doors, walls, and so on, so that they open only after you get the key.

EDIT: But I agree with SoundBlock your description is not realy clear.