My first map

I finally decided to make my own Doom map.  It's very short, and probably pretty bad, but any constructive criticism is appreciated. I tested on GZDoom (3.1). I used the Doom II IWAD. Let me know what you think :).

Screenshots:

deviledmonkey's_first_map.zip

Updated Version: roomV2.zip

Cool!! Looks somewhat like Master Levels :D I'll give it a try for sure when I get free time :)

Btw which version of gzdoom you used??

okay just played it with gzdoom 3.0. For your first maps, it looks very nice. A very small map though. Here's what you can try:

1. Changing the height of the window at the beginning. It will really look better.

2. Adding some decoration items such as lamps or tech pillars or some other items.

3. I find the secret a very good one here. You can use some doortrack texture with "lower unpegged" on the secret area door to make it look better.

4. Maybe adding a little more challenges? ;)

Well that's my little suggestion :D Overall, it's very good for your first map. Playing more maps will help you make even better maps. Keep up good work ;)

Not bad. It seems you know what you're doing, at least, so that's good.

A few thoughts:

(1) In my opinion most secrets should have some sort of hint, even if it is subtle. The secret in this map would only be found by guessing/random searching, EXCEPT that the map makes it incredibly obvious. It looks like you marked that linedef as "hidden" rather than "secret." I would reverse this. Make it not obvious on the map but do something on the wall to draw a tad bit of attention to it. And you forgot to "lower unpeg" the secret walls.

(2) I found it odd that an armor was basically right next to a megasphere.

(3) Not a huge deal, but there's some misalignment on the yellow key markers.

(4) If the secret does remain relatively difficult, there may not be enough ammo. First playthrough I did miss the plasma gun and ended up punching a demon or two.

(5) Visual-wise, maybe think about adding more "stuff." You have a few pillars in the yellow key room, a nice window in the start room, and some computer texture in the revenant room. Give us some more of that. Mix up textures, throw in some decorations, etc.

My two cents. Happy mapmaking to you.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/181504446 (3rd one played, about 1:30-ish into the video)

Nasty HOM at the start in GZDoom v3.1, and the rest of the map was standard 'first time map' affair. The two Barons were a poor choice in that location; way too open a spot for them to be any threat. Much to improve upon, but at least the map was functional.

Thanks for the feedback, I've been editing the map to hopefully make it better.  Never saw that HOM error on GZDoom before, but i took out the window to be sure there are no more issues.  Hopefully the map should be a little harder and more balanced. 

roomV2.zip

Hi! Thanks for the map!

The map was not bad, but it was sloppy. Remember, just because it's first does not mean you can't use different textures. Visually the map looked boring, too many same textures were used, no variety and pretty bland in visual style. The overall enjoyability was good, the level was not dragging, however, you should try building stairs and stuff to bring more variety to your levels.

Thanks for the map and please continue to make maps, if you put enough effort in your future projects then It will be worth it.

Good luck & have fun.

EDIT: Played it on zdoom.

And my playthrough could be found here:

So I played through the map in question with GZDOOM. Things were for the most part pretty straightforward, though my main headaches came from the usual junctures (revenants and chaingunners, as well as the mancubi near the end). I did end up seeing another HOM in a sidedef under the door of one of the monster closets in the big yellow key outdoor area.

That being said, I've got a few observations and possible pointers for your next map:

• If I have to give a player a shotgun at the start of a map, the single shotty is a good choice. Only hand out the double shotty if you're planning on throwing heavy opposition like Revenants, Cacos and Hellknights at the player throughout the map, though such a weapon is also a very good way to mow down the lower-tier riffraff with one blast, and is probably the only thing that can oneshot an assmunch demon up close without messing you up.
• The first fight was fairly straightforward with imps and chaingunners. The double shotty was more than capable of killing them, though a single shotty would have done the job just as well. Though zombiemen and shotgunners would have been my choice for the first fight, it was a good way to get the chaingun for the following fights.
• The secret with the Cacos and the plasmagun was fairly tough, but once I found the button, the chaingun from the chaingunners took care of them without much of a problem. I'm personally not much of a fan of secrets with monsters in them, particularly when they give high-tier weaponry that I would have personally made a little tougher to get.
• If you want to encourage your monsters to infight, having zombies or monsters of different species is a good way to do it.
• For proper doors, I like to use a DOORTRAK texture for the sides of the door, with the sidedefs marked Lower Unpegged so that they don't do the running-up-and-down thing that the sides of the Yellow Door did in that map. For secret doors, I do much the same thing with the Lower Unpegging, but it's up to you whether you want to use the same texture as the rest of the wall.
• Make sure that all of your walls have textures -- HOM is ugly to see, no matter how small. Part of the reason I love using GZDOOM Builder's 3D mode is because I can tell at a glance which textures are missing or misaligned and take steps to correct this.
• As people have said, it's good to vary your visual style when designing a map -- stairs, raised surfaces and texture variation are a good way to keep a map from becoming too visually boring. When doing texture variation, it's a good idea to refer to John Romero's general pointers on map design.
• At the same time, if you have a general "theme" for your map, it's a good idea not to deviate from it without good reason. Most of the map was done in a pretty nice "base" style, but the final room, the one with the blood, the marble and the Mancubi, would have felt more at home in a Hell map, and the transition was just a little bit on the jarring side. If I wanted to mix a "base" and a "Hell" theme, I would look for ways to transition smoothly from one major aesthetic to another, such as using teleporters to take a player from one "world" to the other.
• I was also not too fond of how I could not get back onto the platform due to it being too high to jump and there was no way to bring it down so that I could collect what was on top and go back to the other parts of the map. Thankfully the blood wasn't a damage sector -- some wadmakers like to make blood sectors damaging, and it's good practice when doing any kind of damage sector (nukage, blood, lava) to always provide a way out.

On 10/25/2017 at 5:03 PM, Dravencour said:

So I played through the map in question with GZDOOM. Things were for the most part pretty straightforward, though my main headaches came from the usual junctures (revenants and chaingunners, as well as the mancubi near the end). I did end up seeing another HOM in a sidedef under the door of one of the monster closets in the big yellow key outdoor area.

 

That being said, I've got a few observations and possible pointers for your next map:

• If I have to give a player a shotgun at the start of a map, the single shotty is a good choice. Only hand out the double shotty if you're planning on throwing heavy opposition like Revenants, Cacos and Hellknights at the player throughout the map, though such a weapon is also a very good way to mow down the lower-tier riffraff with one blast, and is probably the only thing that can oneshot an assmunch demon up close without messing you up.
• The first fight was fairly straightforward with imps and chaingunners. The double shotty was more than capable of killing them, though a single shotty would have done the job just as well. Though zombiemen and shotgunners would have been my choice for the first fight, it was a good way to get the chaingun for the following fights.
• The secret with the Cacos and the plasmagun was fairly tough, but once I found the button, the chaingun from the chaingunners took care of them without much of a problem. I'm personally not much of a fan of secrets with monsters in them, particularly when they give high-tier weaponry that I would have personally made a little tougher to get.
• If you want to encourage your monsters to infight, having zombies or monsters of different species is a good way to do it.
• For proper doors, I like to use a DOORTRAK texture for the sides of the door, with the sidedefs marked Lower Unpegged so that they don't do the running-up-and-down thing that the sides of the Yellow Door did in that map. For secret doors, I do much the same thing with the Lower Unpegging, but it's up to you whether you want to use the same texture as the rest of the wall.
• Make sure that all of your walls have textures -- HOM is ugly to see, no matter how small. Part of the reason I love using GZDOOM Builder's 3D mode is because I can tell at a glance which textures are missing or misaligned and take steps to correct this.
• As people have said, it's good to vary your visual style when designing a map -- stairs, raised surfaces and texture variation are a good way to keep a map from becoming too visually boring. When doing texture variation, it's a good idea to refer to John Romero's general pointers on map design.
• At the same time, if you have a general "theme" for your map, it's a good idea not to deviate from it without good reason. Most of the map was done in a pretty nice "base" style, but the final room, the one with the blood, the marble and the Mancubi, would have felt more at home in a Hell map, and the transition was just a little bit on the jarring side. If I wanted to mix a "base" and a "Hell" theme, I would look for ways to transition smoothly from one major aesthetic to another, such as using teleporters to take a player from one "world" to the other.
• I was also not too fond of how I could not get back onto the platform due to it being too high to jump and there was no way to bring it down so that I could collect what was on top and go back to the other parts of the map. Thankfully the blood wasn't a damage sector -- some wadmakers like to make blood sectors damaging, and it's good practice when doing any kind of damage sector (nukage, blood, lava) to always provide a way out.

Sorry I forgot to reply, here is my long awaited final version of the map!

roomv6.zip

Well, due to the age of this thread I'm sure you don't need any more feedback regarding this map. So I'll just say, I thought it was fun for a first map, had some thought out encounters, but I thought the Baron at the end was unnecessary.

That was short, but good. However, try to put the arachnotrons as a sentry-turret instead of simple imps. 

Keep goin' ! ;)

Ok so I didn't read this thread fully before downloading the wad. But here's a UV-Max run of the V2 version :D