Wonderwaste [WIP] (Boom-compatible)

I present to you, Wonderwaste!

It's a compact level I made over the past week during my free time.

I know it's a bit rough, but that's where you come in!

As of now it still needs some texture work, but I need you to test the monster encounters and make sure everything runs fine.

Record a demo if you can!

Old Pic:

...Anyway, here's Wonderwaste!

Again, I apologize for the roughness. I normally dont show off a level this early, but I was really stumped on the theme.

If you fall off of sector 3 when the platform raises to its maximum height there's no way to get back up without running over the WR lines up above. You shouldn't reasonably expect people to give valuable feedback if they can get permanently stuck 1 minute into the map. Also, the CEMENT theme is fine.

Here's part 1 in which I get stuck:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uafqhxk9a3f7hyl/waste_fda_1_benjogami.lmp?dl=1

Here's part 2 in which I get stuck later on:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/byiwenuv3dcm7tv/waste_fda_2_benjogami.lmp?dl=1

Notes:

- Seems to be a lack of ammo

- Nukage floor doesn't hurt

- Shotgunning barons isn't usually regarded as fun, but I had the most fun in that fight

- Pistoling mancs isn't fun

- That arachnotron is literally a door with health

- The moving floors and the way the player rises up at the beginning is cool, but make sure the player can't get stuck like I did

- The many, many moving floors in that one L-shaped hallway are cool

- 2 blue keys?

- Looks like that line past the blue door is facing the wrong way, which is what caused stuck #2

- Since you're consciously targeting Boom compatability, you should at least run through the map yourself in prboom+ complevel 9 to make sure that it's completable

- Nazi

As far as where to go thematically, I suggest picking a midi that you like and seeing where it takes you, but I felt the map should be darker: darker light levels, and darker textures. I felt like I was stuck in the guts of some machinery, so more stuff that suggests that as a theme might be cool.

Alright. I'll be back in a moment with an updated version.

Here's a playthrough I did an hour ago. It's for the old version. 

I think you should work on "player emphathy": learn to anticipate what the player might do and recognize that it might not be exactly what you do, or what is the maximally efficient route. For instance, if you don't enter the blue key door, you end up getting stuck later, but the first time you go in there's nothing to do, so it doesn't look like you have to enter at that point. So on a third playthrough (after getting stuck in my second playthrough), I didn't go in there, because there was no ostensible reason to, hence I got stuck. This is kind of a moot point because it shouldn't be possible for people to get stuck in your maps anyway, but it's something to work on.

Also keep in mind that any time you have a "dynamic obstruction" (not an official term lol) of ANY sort, such as a door that closes to trap the player in a room, or a floor that rises as an elevator -- any part of the map geometry that changes in any way and blocks movement -- you should think, "What happens if the player manages to retreat before they end up where they need to be?" You as the mapper wouldn't, because you know the map, but again, related to player empathy, a lot of people are going to instinctively retreat, anticipating a trap. Or just decide that, "Hey, I want to do something else first before I continue on this path." In such cases, it should be possible to get back: an elevator floor can also double as a lift, for example. I probably get stuck in every other map that fails to take this into account.  It's also possible to make sure the particular map element is triggered so far away that the player can't plausibly retreat before it finishes moving, but doing this alone is a lazy habit, I think -- it's not very multiplayer-friendly, for one thing. 

As far as gameplay goes, I agree with Benjogami. The shotgun-baron encounter is the highlight because of the relatively tight space in which you have to move carefully lest risk triggering a mess. The rest of the gameplay is largely a net minus (meaning the rooms would be better off empty, as monsters are currently placed). You have lots of one-directional fights against big hunks of meat. The low-tier monsters are all fine, I think, given the player's armament. The PE room is a creative concept but it's quite unpleasant to play, I think, unless you just try to leave ASAP. With the current ammo balance being what it is, you have to really be careful with ammo early on to kill them with the shotgun (and you'll likely end up with lots of souls to pistol/fist away). Telefragging them isn't reliable either. So mercifully, it was possible to just leave without doing much. The two vile trap is kind of silly, I think: it's sort of just a fuck-you, because there is no possible way to anticipate it.

Revised version is now up! I've expanded the column room!