Wreckreation Center

Hello everyone, I recently created my very first map for any game. It's called Wreckreation Center and you can download it here.

Mapping was never a creative outlet for me but I've recently been stifled in other endeavors, so I decided to jump in. I had a blast working on this map and at this point, I'd consider myself addicted to the point where it has almost become unhealthy. This map was largely a learning experience and you can probably tell which parts of the map were conceived first versus those that were made when I had a better idea of what I was doing in the map editor.

I have received a bit of constructive criticism elsewhere online from some very kind and helpful people who also patiently taught me the ins and outs of various Doom editors. Some of those changes were incorporated into the map but other suggestions would have warranted essentially redesigning the whole thing from scratch. Therefore, the map doesn't scale too well but I made sure to include all the tools needed to play through without inducing needless frustration. I initially wanted to go the distance with this map, adding more customizations like my own music and new graphics, but I ended up keeping it simple partly so that I could have something under my belt and move on to making something better.

Synopsis:

Screenshots:

This is a pretty story-driven map and although some demons are only in there for game play purposes, quite a few of them exist where they are for story purposes. I also had a pretty solid idea of how I wanted the map to look from the start so I had to make things work based on my initial conceptions. In the future, I will try to strike a better balance between monster variety, progression, and architecture.

Notes:

-designed around GZDoom's Doom sector light mode, otherwise looks too bright

-also works well in Risen3D

-will work in PrBoom+/GLBoom+ with the dehacked patch

-the .ded file is only needed for Doomsday Engine

Supporting as many source ports as possible was a priority so there aren't any bells and whistles, such as custom actors/objects. Just be aware that some ports might have sluggish performance with this map and those aside from GZDoom and Risen3D will have some graphical glitches that shouldn't majorly affect game play.

Cute level. I like the weird mood in maps that combine the styles of Doom 1 and Doom 2. The lighting work is very appreciated, although some dark areas seemed kinda annoying to me. Depends on the port I guess. Speaking of ports, in PrBoom+ some hanging bodies block the player, which can be fixed in dehacked. Also the wall that blocks the last lift doesn't have a texture on it or something? I got curious, came closer, and then the arch-viles ambushed me. :D

Attaching a demo of my playthrough.

wrekcntr_mem_FDA.zip

1 minute ago, Memfis said:

Speaking of ports, in PrBoom+ some hanging bodies block the player, which can be fixed in dehacked. Also the wall that blocks the last lift doesn't have a texture on it or something? I got curious, came closer, and then the arch-viles ambushed me. :D

Thanks for the demo. I really enjoy watching others play through the map as it helped me to tweak and improve certain areas.

As for the hanging bodies, yes the included dehacked patch will remove the blocking in source ports such as PrBoom+. The wall that blocks the last lift does have a texture on it but it isn't rendered properly in any source port apart from GZDoom and Risen3D. That's pretty much the main graphical glitch if you use other source ports. Thanks for checking out the map and for the feedback.

You must have missed one of the bodies, I'm pretty sure I could feel thing 66 blocking me. And there should be a software-compatible way to do what you're trying to do with that see-through wall, check e.g. Evilution Map21.

Is it in the room with the 7 point star? I can't remember if I put hanging bodies elsewhere but looking over the map, I don't see any others. I also have thing 66 as a Revenant in my editor. In the future, I should probably pick one source port and stick to it.

Yeah, that room. And I meant, like, thing index 66, which is different from thing type 66. You can find things by their index in F3 (in GZDoom Builder at least).

Awesome, thanks a lot for the tip! I've been wondering for a long time if the editor had some sort of search function. Still have a lot to learn. Funnily enough, that's the one hanging body that I did modify with the dehacked patch so I'm surprised that you're still getting stuck on it. I had someone else test with GLBoom+ as well and it worked fine so I'm not sure what I did wrong but hopefully I'll figure it out eventually. Thanks again for playing through!

Ah, silly me, I thought you included the dehacked patch in the wad file so I just didn't load it. Sorry for confusion.

No problem. I learned something really useful from you and the hanging body didn't seem to cause you any major issues even without the patch. It was cool to watch you figure things out as you went through and I was glad to see that you picked up on some things that others missed when they tested the map.

Visually pretty standard level, but not boring. Gameplay techniques make me remember the classic Doom 2. Difficulty changes dramatically, but overall without any stress. Even the final battle with 2 arch-viles not annoying. A very worthy start. Good luck in the future!

First Demo Attempt GZDoom 2.4.0

Thanks a lot for the feedback and demo. Playing through some more custom maps, I see that I have a lot to improve upon but I'll try to step it up with my next map if I ever get around to it.

Here's a (fast-paced) casual max. Feels convincingly '90s, in a good way as far as design, so-and-so in terms of gameplay. Good parts generally involved running and gunning against monsters relatively weak compared to your arsenal, but a couple of the set pieces are a bit tedious relative to their threat level. Those are the first fight with the PE and cage imps (played straight-up, that is with the SG and CG, instead of leaving), and the baron clearance at the end of the 3v3 football match between the cybs and masterminds (lol I just got that). Imo in casual play, the first fight would play better if there were a early secret SSG or something available, and imp spectators in the stands would make a bit more sense than the four barons. Objectively those problems fit into the '90s vibe, however..

wkc_rd_cpt.zip

FDA: complevel 9 with saves in prboom

Thanks for the additional demos. I definitely agree that imp spectators would have been a much better choice. In hindsight, those barons can be a pain to kill when going for the full clear and they don't add anything that imps could have also accomplished.

Here's my FDA. bigolbilly-wreckreation-fda.zip

This was a pleasant surprise. At first, I thought all the big, sorta empty boxy spaces were a bad sign, but by the end I felt like they were actually the map's biggest asset. There were a lot of times I felt threatened, had plenty of room to maneuver, and was still dealing with just a few well-chosen monsters--and that's a really cool feeling, since it really lets you get into the mechanics. The blue key area, dark HK/manc room, and the red cyber/mastermind soccer match were the most memorable examples (though the spectres in the HK/manc room pit are a little trollish for me, since the low light, nearby rocket launcher, and autoaim make it way to easy too blow yourself up). I also had a lot of fun with the BFG, as you'll see in the demo, which led to some unique combat situations. Finally, I'm actually quite taken with how the old school visuals hit a certain blend of abstraction and "representationalism" (is that what we call it now?) so consistently. It has that old school UAC_DEAD.WAD charm but deployed with a lot more discipline than you'd find in most actual mid 90's wads.

Some minor nitpicks:

• Agree with people above that the first big trap (with the PE, imps in cages, chaingun) feels off. To me it's a difficulty spike that I'm not sure justifies itself.
• I see a bleeding flat in the HK/manc room on prBoom+ 2.5.1.4 

• It's kinda in keeping with the old school visuals, but I still would rather have the dog at the end as a sprite (maybe replace a decoration you haven't used?) rather than a texture.

Thanks a lot for the feedback. After watching all these demos and reading what everyone had to say, I will probably get around to making some changes once I stop being lazy. I appreciate all the comments about the old school feel because that was one of my goals.

Regarding the dog texture, I initially wanted to make it a sprite as you suggested but I had trouble figuring out how to do this and for some reason, I didn't feel comfortable replacing the default sprites. I'll probably look more into once I update the map though. My first idea was to incorporate an actual helper dog like in Man's Best Friend but I gave up after a few failed attempts at achieving that. I also wasn't sure whether I'd run into compatibility issues because although I ended up targeting GZDoom, I still wanted this to work in all modern source ports.

As for the bleeding texture, I couldn't figure that issue out. Unfortunately my decision to include an untextured wall at the end of the final arch-vile fight meant that there would always be graphical issues with some ports. I just liked the effect a lot in Evilution so I wanted to throw it in there, but only GZDoom and Risen properly emulate that effect.

Hopefully I'll get around to making some changes soon. I really appreciate everyone who took the time to play, post demos, and leave some feedback. I've learned a lot in the past few weeks, especially from playing maps that some of you made, so if I ever decide to make another map, it should be an improvement over this one.

---

Pending re-submission and approval on /idgames, these are the changes that have been made:

-dog is now a sprite
-dehacked patch now embedded in wad
-correct music plays in PrBoom+
-halved number of caged imps in first trap room
-Imp specatators in stadium instead of Barons
-lowered par time
-Spectres changed to Demons/Pinkies in Mancubus room
-minor texture fixes and additions

To sum it up, the first difficulty spike has been toned down and I tried to make it less likely to blow yourself up with the rocket launcher. I just tried to incorporate most of the feedback that I have been given. Also sorry to everyone who played in PrBoom+ and had to listen to D_RUNNIN. I forgot that MAPINFO doesn't apply to PrBoom and I usually tested without music.