how would you generalise Doom monster encounters into an comprehensive list?

how would you generalise Doom monster encounters into an comprehensive list? So far I'v come with a few scenerios of my own to catagorise, so far I'v got flanked, boil (think dead simple), pin to in which we're swarmed and backed into a corner or wall, push, to in which a large enough of threat power and not enough cover forces the player to move. Typical obstical monster as seen in Doom 1 and 2.

I don't know I'm very tired as I'v not slept, But I wish to take doom (and esssentually other shooters) Dissect them and try to understand these games at an overhead vew so to speak, I think getting a grasp on this aspect as a community would be largely helpfull to map designers and game designers in general. D you know what I'm saying?

Could you elaborate?

edit bump.

-Actively freely roaming across the map
-Passively waiting inside random rooms and corridors to be promptly killed
-Stationary turret
-Closet ambush
-Teleport ambush
-Illusio-pit ambush
-Arena fight

Is this what you had in mind?

No, as the ambushes are different from the way the player is positioned to the monsters and the kind of map position they would be in, cornerd, flanked, forced to circle strafe, I'v found some lititure I'm reading on, I'll see if it helps me refine what I'm seeking and post back, but for now I'm going to sleep.(edit) Thanks for the reply btw, I'm going to make this research my main goal right now.

https://games.soe.ucsc.edu/sites/default/files/khullett-fdg-camera-ready.pdf this is what I'm reading if anyone wants to read it as well and perhaps hasnt already.

Isolated battles and massive hordes?

Thats a bit broad, funny though XD. Typically the Nuts like moshpits are just a juiced up set up of dead simple, forcing you to move aroound the map as to not get hit, and if you stop you'll be cornered to a point where you'll die (or loose to many resources). It's why I'v personally dubbed this ecounters as a "Boiling encounter" then when we look at isolated experiences there are many ways this can be different based on who has supurior ground, what flow options you have and thus what your options are at effectivly winning the solution.

scifista42 said:

-Actively freely roaming across the map
-Passively waiting inside random rooms and corridors to be promptly killed
-Stationary turret
-Closet ambush
-Teleport ambush
-Illusio-pit ambush
-Arena fight

Is this what you had in mind?

Mm, you forgot:

Ambush to drain health, ambush to drain resources;
Ambush on player's expextations, ambush from many sources.
Pop-up ambush and pop-down ambush, ambuché du whistlin' bunghole;
Spleen splitter ambush and kill ambush, ambush of the soul.
Retreater's ambush, pacifist's ambush, ambush for skipping a fight;
Item-grab ambush, health-grab ambush, psychological-warfare ambushes feel right.
Flank ambush, back ambush, with or without the scooter stick;
Ambushes within ambushes, leading to more ambushes, until you feel sick.
Ambush that is sound-activated, ambush that is trigger-activated;
Back-up ambushes abound and are so often hated.
Ambush from unalerted mobs, ambush is mechanically locked;
Difficulty-specific ambush, on UV blocks the c***... (ed).
Ambush for playing like a dumbass, unobservance gets an ambush;
The overrated ambush flag, and to Hell with thed amnbush.
Timed ambush, ambush for fear;
Positional ambush, add a happy funbush right over here.
No-real-particular-reason ambush, another ambush is optional;
Ambush to chase the player, dear God stopitall.
Give-player-time-to-observe-area-before ambush, ambush to make the player feel more pressured;
Ambush at the exit, ambushes everywhere assured.
Slow ambush, fast ambush, fake ambushes that disappear;
Tapered ambush, insta-ambush, add some ambush to your beer.
Ambush from up close, ambush from afar;
Ambushes at home, ambush in the car.
And of course let's not forget, as we run to the bushes;
To bitch about about the author for making too many ambushes.

I call this poem "One Ambush, Two Ambush, Red Ambush, Blue Ambush" and dedicate it to my only friend, Ambersh.

No encounter list is complete without Imp Encounters and Mancubus Encounters.

Fonze said:

fake ambushes that disappear;

I've never seen that one, this post had me rollin, like, my ribs hurt XD.

Fonze said:

Mm, you forgot:
...
Positional ambush, add a happy funbush right over here.
...

Heh heh!
Ambush yer hunzbush,
unless there's a bunbush.

-Chip Damage Encounter: Generally a small group of hit-scanners. Doesn't take too much time, effort or resources to defeat but you are almost guaranteed to take a small amount of damage due to the nature of hit-scanners. Generally takes you by surprise.

-OH SHIT: Suddenly throws all sorts of difficult to handle but not inherently super-powered monsters like Revenats, Mancubi, Cacodemons and/or Arachnotron appearing and coming into your room from one general direction in large numbers.

-What Was That: Throws monsters at you in formations which make them no problem. Like having an army of imps or zombie men put directly infront of a bunch of chaingunners in such a way that all the monsters end up killing themselves and you don't have to do much. Other examples include putting a Cyberdemon in a small room with a small door such that it isn't really a threat anymore.

-Terry Encounter: Throwning a ton of Archviles and/or Cyberdemons with no chance of winning to troll you. Generally accompanied by irritating sounds and visuals.


-Ambush: Throws mostly low-tier enemies in small to medium numbers (10-60) at you from all sides suddenly.

-Kilo Ambush: Throws mostly mid-tier enemies in small to medium numbers (10-60) at you from all sides suddenly.

-Mega Ambush: Throws mostly low-tier and some mid-tier enemies in medium to large numbers (60-200) from all sides suddenly.

-Giga Ambush: Throws mostly low-tier and some mid-tier enemies in very large numbers (Greater than 200) from all sides suddenly.

-Boss Ambush: Throws some top-tier enemies along with medium to large numbers (60-200) of mid-tier enemies from all sides.

-Super Boss Ambush: Throws a decent amount of top-tier enemies (5-10) with very large numbers (Greater than 200) of mid-tier enemies.

-Great Damage Encounter: Teleports in mid-tier enemies very close to you so that you certainly take a decent amount of damage. Most of the time, it won't kill you instantly.

-Seeker Group: Single or groups of freely roaming enemies.

-Mini-Boss Encounter: Self-explanatory

-Boss Encounter: Also Self-explanatory

-Arcade Boss Encounter: A boss encounter but with new enemies spawning in periodically.

-Super Boss Encounter: A New monster with very high health and damage used as a boss. May or may not have new enemies spawning in periodically.

-Icon of Sin: Self-explanatory

-Cannon Fodder: Throws easy to kill and ineffective enemies to get you to use ammo.

-Terry Boss Encounter: Similar to the Terry Encounter but with a unbeatable, annoying boss and/or custom enemies.

-Mover: Monsters used to try to control the player's movement. Like luring him into a trap or forcing him to exit/enter a room.

-Guard: Monsters used to guard a key or door.

-Sniper ambush: One or more monsters attack the player from one or multiple directions while standing or moving on higher or lower ground.

-Ranged Assault: When monsters and the player fight each other while being separated by something like impassable mid-textures or deep holes.

-Healer Intervention: When one or more Archviles are spawned or teleported into an arena or room filled with dead monsters primarily to resurrect as many monsters as possible.

-Dick Move: When the mapper decides to toss in an Archvile in room with no cover and doesn't bother to give the player a BFG.

This paper illustrates how static and rudimentary modern shooters are in comparison to Doom. A modern shooter level is conceived, apparently, as a finite progression of discrete encounters in spaces whose function is strongly delineated. Combat space in Doom is usually continuous, and regions have broadly-applicable functional properties.

I think starting with the phrase "Doom monster encounters" is a little misleading, because then we start talking about what kind of monsters and how many. Modern mainstream game design appears to be very entity-oriented. Doom is much less about the entities in themselves than it is about their arrangements, and their relationship to the space.

For a start, I would divide monsters into 'loose' and 'trapped'. Trapped monsters can be either for denial or for pressure. It's often worthwhile to accept the discomfort of an imp or mancubus turret rather than spend the time and ammo completely controlling the area.

If a monster is loose, where can it follow the player? The collective aggro environment in Doom is something completely different from modern games. If a monster is trapped, how much vantage does it have? Is it applying acute pressure to or denying a very specific area, or a having weaker more general effect?

The Doom baddies are very simple in themselves, but in their placement and combination and their relationship to the architecture, the mapper is in essence imbuing them with very complex strategy and ai.

This is a very good post, thank you for contributing. I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around all of the aspects and spatial reasoning of first person shooters and their design, and wish to understand these spaces, and that in which they encompass, the strategic significance of these encounters and the ways they allow fruitful engagement. I feel understanding this information is important for diversifying encounters and having a more comprehensive sense of tension and level flow or the flow from one level to another.

I have an idea.

| Heavy Fire | where you have cover, and some chaingunners both ahead and behind. You must use cover smartly to minimize hitscan damage and shoot back using powerful and quick guns like the SSG.

yes, this is called flanking.

MrGlide said:

flanking

But isn't flanking done by... the flanks?

Your a bit different gustavo, I like that. The proper term I suppose would be flankers, as the chaingunners would be doing to the player, though this interesting conversation has made me understand that just calling an encounter a "flanking encounter" isn't really that great of a classification because of the different possabilities that are going to be available to the player, So for me to dig deeper to even find the answers to my questions (that comically I need to find the right questions to) I need to understand all the variables that go into a combat encounter, then be able to appropriate those situations in a clear to understand kind of classification. I need to do some reading on music theory, and understand fighting games zoneing and typical 2d balance to a better degree to get a clearer veiw on this. If I'm not being bombarded by thousands of pounds of metal I'll try to brainstorm at least all the different types of variables that could go into an encounter, and then proccede from there.