First Time .WAD

Hello everyone,

Just uploading my first .WAD for everyone to play/enjoy (Hopefully both).

When I say it's my first .WAD, I mean it's the first one that I have made which I'm not totally ashamed of. Less than two days to make this one.

Tested in Zdoom, GZdoom, GLBoom+ and worked just fine. Tested and works very poorly in Chocolate Doom. Required Doom2.wad to play.

Theme would be 'Hell-ish' I guess - My mapping strategy was a mixture of "I think this might be cool, lets see how it goes" along with "I wonder how people do this - Lets find out".

Let me know how you find it!

Loop of Destruction.zip

I've completed your map on UV in 7.57 minutes, with 87% kills, 100% items and 0% secret.

The map was a short but quite hard hellish map, with a really low supply of resources and a maybe too much overwhelming start.

But starting with the visuals:

the map was quite underdetailed. There were some pillars but they were in reality not at all decorations, having that they were enemy closets most of the time. 

There were also some weird texture changes, like in the chaingunners/arachnotrons area, where the ashwall and the rocky wall meet. It's a good idea to place a pillar, a decoration or something to make this transition smoother. 

There were a good variety of textures, it is only a pity that they are all separated by teleporters (unexpected teleporters).

The rooms were a little bit too squared for my tastes.

Thing placement:

I really gave up killing every enemy when I realised that the cacos and the Hell knights where supposed to infight each other in orther to kill them all. I used all my ammo in that room and I was forced to dodge the knights while pressing the switch. Also I was forced to punch the two demons in the crate room and I didn't kill the cyberdemon because I'm not able to kill one with only 2 BFG shots (sorry about that), so I simply rushed to the exit, having that nothing stopped me.

Maybe you should consider the idea to lock the player in a room when trying to make a bossfight (or a large fight like in the cacos room) and provide a little bit more ammo. I understand that I've played your map in UV, so things are supposed to be hard, but I always prefer to fight more enemies with sufficient ammo than a bunch of enemies with counted ammo.

I liked the revenant big fight. It is not an hard fight, the ammo is more than sufficient and the idea is interesting (have you copied it from SF2012?)

General design:

I don't like the idea of being teleported every few minutes without a specific reason. I mean, your map is quite disconnected. Also I don't understand the function of the blue key. I enter a room only to reach a blue key in order to exit the same room...it's quite strange. Maybe the blue key should have another purpose (raising a stair, opening another path...I don't know).

Lastly, I founded the crate room a little bit complicated. I've raised a bridge but I still don't know how (I think I've triggered a line near the brown crate).

Overall a medium-quality first map. I liked some of the fights, and I found the start a good challenge (but I can totally understand someone who says that it's really too much umbalanced), but the rest of the map was a bland low-ammo "slaughtermap". Good start but there is space to improve

10 minutes ago, Simomarchi said:

I've completed your map on UV in 7.57 minutes, with 87% kills, 100% items and 0% secret.

 

The map was a short but quite hard hellish map, with a really low supply of resources and a maybe too much overwhelming start.

 

But starting with the visuals:

the map was quite underdetailed. There were some pillars but they were in reality not at all decorations, having that they were enemy closets most of the time. 

There were also some weird texture changes, like in the chaingunners/arachnotrons area, where the ashwall and the rocky wall meet. It's a good idea to place a pillar, a decoration or something to make this transition smoother. 

There were a good variety of textures, it is only a pity that they are all separated by teleporters (unexpected teleporters).

The rooms were a little bit too squared for my tastes.

 

Thing placement:

I really gave up killing every enemy when I realised that the cacos and the Hell knights where supposed to infight each other in orther to kill them all. I used all my ammo in that room and I was forced to dodge the knights while pressing the switch. Also I was forced to punch the two demons in the crate room and I didn't kill the cyberdemon because I'm not able to kill one with only 2 BFG shots (sorry about that), so I simply rushed to the exit, having that nothing stopped me.

Maybe you should consider the idea to lock the player in a room when trying to make a bossfight (or a large fight like in the cacos room) and provide a little bit more ammo. I understand that I've played your map in UV, so things are supposed to be hard, but I always prefer to fight more enemies with sufficient ammo than a bunch of enemies with counted ammo.

I liked the revenant big fight. It is not an hard fight, the ammo is more than sufficient and the idea is interesting (have you copied it from SF2012?)

 

General design:

I don't like the idea of being teleported every few minutes without a specific reason. I mean, your map is quite disconnected. Also I don't understand the function of the blue key. I enter a room only to reach a blue key in order to exit the same room...it's quite strange. Maybe the blue key should have another purpose (raising a stair, opening another path...I don't know).

Lastly, I founded the crate room a little bit complicated. I've raised a bridge but I still don't know how (I think I've triggered a line near the brown crate).

 

Overall a medium-quality first map. I liked some of the fights, and I found the start a good challenge (but I can totally understand someone who says that it's really too much umbalanced), but the rest of the map was a bland low-ammo "slaughtermap". Good start but there is space to improve

Thanks for playing my map!

The detailing is a very good point and very good feedback. I tried to avoid square rooms, but I think I ended up just making rectangles instead. I really do want to experiment with more shapes, so definitely something to consider for my next map. Detailing isn't something that comes naturally to me yet, but I want it to be.

I find the combat interesting, because I made sure to play through a few times to make sure the ammo was well balanced - It's very tight in the first part of the map (Up until the Revenants) but after that it's fine as long as you can provoke the infighting (Which to be honest, I did rely on with balancing). There is also a secret in the Revenant room (The one remaining pillar at the end) that helps with plasma ammo. I want to say the Revenant idea was original, but I do have SF2012 in my wad folder... Which map had the similar theme if you remember - I tapped out at Map 08, so if it was in the first few, it may have been an unconscious pickup.

Point taken on the teleporting and the blue key (Although it is needed later on too). I couldn't think of a good way to flow from one room to another, so I went the easy route with the teleporting. The crate room I understand as well - you raise the bridge by using the brown crate, but not necessarily obvious unless you already know.

1 hour ago, Magicana said:

I want to say the Revenant idea was original, but I do have SF2012 in my wad folder...

I think it is in the 24-25 zone, but I can't remember well. It's in the huge map where you start on the hill, go in the lava cave and then you have to explore the enormous outside area with the three long buildings. Every building has a key and one of the key has the mechanic of being placed in this large room filled with like 200 pillars that one by one lower revealing arch-viles and revenants.

20 hours ago, Simomarchi said:

I think it is in the 24-25 zone, but I can't remember well. It's in the huge map where you start on the hill, go in the lava cave and then you have to explore the enormous outside area with the three long buildings. Every building has a key and one of the key has the mechanic of being placed in this large room filled with like 200 pillars that one by one lower revealing arch-viles and revenants.

I just went and checked it out. It was Map25 - I'd never played it before, but boy that set piece was really good.

I struggled playing this map because I cannot play slaughter-style to save my life, err doom-guy's life. On an aesthetic note you should pay attention to aligning wall textures and light levels. I like getting the shotgun from the start, that is always appreciated. The player teleport trap is not too welcome as nobody enjoys being warped unexpectedly - simply placing a teleport flat and raising it up will help alleviate this - it gives the player the impression they are under control when they expect to be teleported, a small but vital detail. Overall I like what I saw - keep up the good work!

Played in prboom-plus -complevel 9, recording attached.

beast_loop_of_destruction_fda.zip

I just played this because I'm always down to support new WAD makers. Here are some notes, which may sound very similar to what Simomarchi said. 

• The Revenant room is a pretty cool concept! I would place a couple extra rockets for the first few ammo drops, however. It was very easy to run out of rockets at first. 
• While the concept behind the Revenant room was pretty cool, the room itself was bland. Once all the pillars were down it was just a green rectangle. I would add some decoration to break up the vast green walls and ceiling.
• The red skull key was on top of the lava. While it was easy grabbing the key without taking damage, a rule of thumb I follow is to never force the player onto damaging sectors. The lava damage should be punishment for falling off the platform. I would move the red skull key onto the platform/bridge.
• The Hell Knight/Caco room is a cool concept, but the execution struggled. I would add a little bit more ammo (just in case infighting fails) and tinker with the room and monster placement so infighting is more likely to occur at an ideal time. I found I had to kill many of the Cacos myself because they chased me into the hallway. 
• A Cyberdemon fight at the end is a cool idea. I would give some more cell ammo, however. Killing a Cyberdemon in just two BFG shots can be tough without invincibility or a ton of health.
• The random teleportation is not a cool idea.
• The second room (with the chaingunners and Arachnotrons) is a little brutal. I would tone it down a little bit. Maybe replace some of the chaingunners with something else? 

i know I might have sounded harsh, but I don't mean to crush your dreams! I think it's very cool you tinkered with different concepts for such an early WAD in your map making career! Keep mapping and you'll only get better. The most important thing to remember is that regardless of what other people say, you should always map in a way that YOU enjoy. Nice job!

11 hours ago, beast said:

I struggled playing this map because I cannot play slaughter-style to save my life, err doom-guy's life. On an aesthetic note you should pay attention to aligning wall textures and light levels. I like getting the shotgun from the start, that is always appreciated. The player teleport trap is not too welcome as nobody enjoys being warped unexpectedly - simply placing a teleport flat and raising it up will help alleviate this - it gives the player the impression they are under control when they expect to be teleported, a small but vital detail. Overall I like what I saw - keep up the good work!

 

Played in prboom-plus -complevel 9, recording attached.

beast_loop_of_destruction_fda.zip

Watching the demo (Thank you for recording it, by the way, it gives a lot of feedback on how different people play through the map) broke my heart when you couldn't get past the red key door. There was a medkit and a green armor by the red skull pillars in the door in that Arachnatron area.

But what I am reading loud and clear is I either need to provide slightly more ammo for the early section (You ran quite low on most runs) or I need to reduce the monster count - Preferably probably one arachnatron and one chaingunner.

Alignment and detailing is definitely something I want to start focusing more on.

4 hours ago, LowGcifer said:

I just played this because I'm always down to support new WAD makers. Here are some notes, which may sound very similar to what Simomarchi said. 

• The Revenant room is a pretty cool concept! I would place a couple extra rockets for the first few ammo drops, however. It was very easy to run out of rockets at first. 
• While the concept behind the Revenant room was pretty cool, the room itself was bland. Once all the pillars were down it was just a green rectangle. I would add some decoration to break up the vast green walls and ceiling.
• The red skull key was on top of the lava. While it was easy grabbing the key without taking damage, a rule of thumb I follow is to never force the player onto damaging sectors. The lava damage should be punishment for falling off the platform. I would move the red skull key onto the platform/bridge.
• The Hell Knight/Caco room is a cool concept, but the execution struggled. I would add a little bit more ammo (just in case infighting fails) and tinker with the room and monster placement so infighting is more likely to occur at an ideal time. I found I had to kill many of the Cacos myself because they chased me into the hallway. 
• A Cyberdemon fight at the end is a cool idea. I would give some more cell ammo, however. Killing a Cyberdemon in just two BFG shots can be tough without invincibility or a ton of health.
• The random teleportation is not a cool idea.
• The second room (with the chaingunners and Arachnotrons) is a little brutal. I would tone it down a little bit. Maybe replace some of the chaingunners with something else? 

 

i know I might have sounded harsh, but I don't mean to crush your dreams! I think it's very cool you tinkered with different concepts for such an early WAD in your map making career! Keep mapping and you'll only get better. The most important thing to remember is that regardless of what other people say, you should always map in a way that YOU enjoy. Nice job!

Dreams are not crushed at all - Rome wasn't made overnight, and I know I'm not spinning out masterpieces. Yet.

Lot of good feedback in here - Detailing is a big part of it, but I'm really pleased that the concepts behind a lot of the rooms appear to be good. 

I'm reading very loud and clear about the teleports though.

I've got some ideas to fix the map up a little (Mostly to get rid of D_RUNNIN though) and then that should be done for my first playable effort.

Thank you to everyone for the feedback so far!

@Magicana Everybody makes and plays differently, so don't take my cautious-playing-style as any indication of your design. I am also learning and know how frustrating (but rewarding) the learning experience can be.

I tried again and this time got past the Arachnatrons, and got to the green armour. The revenant fight after that is pretty tough as I scraped through with <20 health. Another thing to keep in mind (for future maps at least) is supporting easier skill levels by setting the flags on the monster-things. That will help slow players like me complete the tougher parts.