My first ever Doom WAD

I just made my first Doom II WAD, it's a short experimental map, I just wanted to share it here.

Tested with GZDoom, IWAD: Doom II. I made this using Doom Builder 2 in aproximattely (I don't know how to spell that word) 2 hours (given I am a complete noob at Doom mapping, it took me almost a full hour to figure out what the hecc I was doing). Give your thoughts please so I can maybe improve a little bit.

roebloz_first_attempt.zip

This is actually p. good. Works properly in Eternity and Crispy Doom despite the 'tested in GZDoom' handicap (lots of 'vanilla' maps 'tested in GZDoom' don't work properly in vanilla ports because ZDoom is way more forgiving of badly set up doors), there's some texture and even lighting and height variation. Gameplay's very basic, as expected, but the layout's a little more interesting than 'room-corridor-room'. Well done, much better first map than mine (which I didn't release) or plenty of others I've seen.

There's some dodgy texturing -- please inset your doors -- and the final pinky doesn't seem to be able to escape the exit switch room, so be careful with the decorations.

For your next wad I recommend: add some stairs to climb, monsters on plinths, and a monster closet to ambush the player. Oh and please do test your vanilla wads in a proper vanilla/limit-removing port like Crispy, just in case.

11 minutes ago, dmdr said:

This is actually p. good. Works properly in Eternity and Crispy Doom despite the 'tested in GZDoom' handicap (lots of 'vanilla' maps 'tested in GZDoom' don't work properly in vanilla ports because ZDoom is way more forgiving of badly set up doors), there's some texture and even lighting and height variation. Gameplay's very basic, as expected, but the layout's a little more interesting than 'room-corridor-room'. Well done, much better first map than mine (which I didn't release) or plenty of others I've seen.

There's some dodgy texturing -- please inset your doors -- and the final pinky doesn't seem to be able to escape the exit switch room, so be careful with the decorations.

 

For your next wad I recommend: add some stairs to climb, monsters on plinths, and a monster closet to ambush the player. Oh and please do test your vanilla wads in a proper vanilla/limit-removing port like Crispy, just in case.

Well thanks! I will be careful with the decorations and probably add all the latter things you mentioned. Ill look about insetting doors, I'm not sure what's that.

Well, I opened my editor and made a few little changes to your level so you'll be able to see for yourself.

I changed the sectors a bit to add a bit more lighting variation in the rooms and lowered  the ceiling heights a bit so the door textures aren't a bit too tall -- basically 'insetting' means to make a very small room of a different height to put something in -- and inset the torches that indicate key colours as well so the pinkie can escape and you can blow him up with a barrel. I was too lazy to align the textures but you get the idea.

roebloz-rework.zip

Just tested this map out for myself and I am very impressed! As dmdr said this is a lot better than most first attempts that I have seen (as well as my own), I think it shows a good amount of creativity. My personal suggestion would be to expand the map size a little and focus on the layout of the map and ignore the temptation of adding lots of decorations around until after the map has a good flow.

I also think I might hold the fastest time on this at 23 seconds ;)

Keep up the good work!

I think some of the decorations obstruct the player too much, and it's not that clear you need the keys to open certain doors even withe colored flame decorations, but I find it very good.

7 hours ago, Spooky_Skeletons said:

Just tested this map out for myself and I am very impressed! As dmdr said this is a lot better than most first attempts that I have seen (as well as my own), I think it shows a good amount of creativity. My personal suggestion would be to expand the map size a little and focus on the layout of the map and ignore the temptation of adding lots of decorations around until after the map has a good flow.

 

I also think I might hold the fastest time on this at 23 seconds ;)

 

Keep up the good work!

Thanks and wow congrats on 23 seconds! My record is like 33 seconds.

Hey, this is pretty good for a first attempt. I have two thoughts; decorative torches right in from of doors or lamps in the middle of the room look a bit odd I think. And you should mark the blue key door with with the appropriate texture.

Looking forward to your future work.

This map has lots of questionable texture alignment and wacky geometry. I would suggest taking a look at John Romero's design rules .

I played the Wad. It could be good as first map in a set. There are some bad texture allignments and you have to improve map's geometry. I think that take damage as you open the first door because of a demon with hitscan isn't so good but that's my opinion ;)

These are some issues:

cut exit

You could put a door mark to help player see what key he must use.

Please change ceiling's texture.

cut texture

Super cut texture

That pinky can't escape

2 hours ago, Bidoof Slayer said:

I played the Wad. It could be good as first map in a set. There are some bad texture allignments and you have to improve map's geometry. I think that take damage as you open the first door because of a demon with hitscan isn't so good but that's my opinion ;)

These are some issues:

 

cut exit

You could put a door mark to help player see what key he must use.

Please change ceiling's texture.

 

cut texture

 

Super cut texture

 

 

That pinky can't escape

 

I am going to be more careful in my upcoming WAD, don't worry.

20 minutes ago, Roebloz said:

I am going to be more careful in my upcoming WAD, don't worry.

don't worry ;) It's only an advice because I'm a mapper too

It's pretty good actually, short and simple, just like a Doom mapper should start

I'd love to give you some advice tho. First, quoting a comment up there, take a look at John Romero's design rules, I think the video by chubzdoomer is way more explanatory thanks to the clips put there

Also, you could try to add more height variance, it's not necessary when you're starting, as you need to get more comfortable with the engine and editing tools, but it's always nice to understand a bit about height differences and how they can make a map more fun or challenging

That's it lad! You got a nice start here

Works great! You're on your way :) The videos quoted above all give great advice about making good maps. Definitely have a go at introducing more height variation within rooms, experiment with more switches and actions, and so on.