My First Doom Map

Hi Doomworld !

 

Map is "the Wanderer, first map of the wad I'm making that will be named...... The Wanderer.. Imagniation is such a great quality. Its also my very first Doom Map.
I decided, in addtion of making my first steps in Doom mapping, to only use Vanilla texture. they look kinda ugly, but I wad impressed by No Rest For The Living, and I want to challenge myself in trying to use the base Doom textures as effectivly.
I'm somewhat happy with my map, but I really need feedback on everything (play the map first, then check the spoilers sections below, taking no to spoil yourself secrets if you wish to find them all by yourself).

 

Link :

https://www.mediafire.com/file/lpvhtbbcf984s7f/JC%27s_The_Wanderer_v3.zip/file

 

Made with Doom Builder 2
Tested in GZDoom 442, I blindly tried my best to keep it vanilla compatible. I would appreciate testing on other source port to test compatibily.
Diffculty is implemented, don't play this on nightmare
Harder than Doom 2, easier than your average Plutonia map, it is still a though map. I wouldn't recommend going on your first blind try with a no save run, but I am nobody to tell you how to run your life =)
Only vanilla Doom 2 assets, textures, monsters, weapons, and linedefs. Also no scripting, because I suck at it. There is a dehacked file for the level names though (if you are using GZDoom, it has been loaded with Slade into the wad, so you can launch directly the wad).
Custom music

No freelook (can't align ceilling textures without moving the entire room)(If you want to, it won't be game-breaking or anything, so fell free)
No crouching
No jumping

Use the rendering you like, as long as it keep light variations.
MAP01 replacement, only one map.

Screenshots :

Asthetics

Combat

 

Secrets

 

Thank you for your time, and happy dooming =)
 

Edited December 24, 2020 by JezChrist : Map version 3, ajusted monsters numbers and Made the final fight way less optional. Map02 is the unplayable WIP map2, with no player spawn yet. May cause the game to crash.

Hey bud, think you might have forgotten to add a link?

14 minutes ago, JezChrist said:

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I cant play it right now but I'll just say I love the look of this screenshot.

Ill give this a go in a few hours when I have some time but based off the screenshots it seems very promising for a first map.

I like the texture work, the combat is also pretty fun, my favorite part was the blue key with the cacos in the dark, but I wasn't very found on the chaingunner ambush, the difficulty sometimes changes which makes me a little off (the same reason I don't like Double Impact) Unlike Double Impact, it actually looks good. I'd suggest keeping the closets to where the enemies are consistent, as they seem to be random, This

is a good start, just be less random and chaotic with the enemies. Good start!

 

i have to say this is a lot better than my first map! i only recently have been taking the sector lighting into effect. but this one is way more detailed than mine..

For a first timer this is a great showing!

 

I mean, some of its design definitely reveals that it's made by an amateur author, but it's also obvious you already have your eye turn toward some more advanced concepts as well. For example, early on there's a room where one wall is basically just the TEKGREN1 texture across the whole thing, but you had the wherewithal to at least vary up the geometry by making the wall two sectors with different heights, so it actually looks alright. That's a good instinct. A lot of inexperienced authors don't seem to realize that you use geometry and texturing in tandem to create an appealing visual aesthetic. 

 

The room at the end with the standing stones looks great! The lighting really goes a long way there, and I don't really think there's a problem with the way the ceiling looks. I guess if you wanted something to work on for the look, you might try adding in some more rock detail by using a different texture and making some smaller sectors here and there or something.

 

The encounter design is fine, although nothing about it particularly stands out. I think it's fun for a nice warmup map. The chaingunner ambush was probably the only real difficulty spike, but I think it's kind of offset by the time it takes for the room to change - the player has at least enough time to expect something, and I didn't really have much trouble with using the spectres as meat shields or taking advantage of the space in the room to get out of the crossfire. I thought the arch-vile trap was fine as well, at least for me the combo of spectres and hell knights to defend the archie made the fight interesting, especially because ammo can become a concern if you don't find the plasma gun. The rest of the battling in the map is pretty basic, but it's not boring at least.

 

Some tips to consider for the future:

• Think about how you can vary up the squareness of your rooms. Get out of a squares and rectangles mindset. Your outdoor geometry exhibits this idea, and you can also adapt to your buildings and interiors as well
• Think about how to vary up the "Room -> Door -> Room -> Door" or "Room -> Hallway -> Door -> Room" type of layout/sequencing. That design is fine if you want a very linear type of map with many INDIVIDUAL encounters, but if you're interested in making maps with larger battles or more interesting layouts to explore, you'll need to consider larger and more interconnected spaces with fewer doors.
• Think about how to unify your layout design mindset with your combat design mindset. This really almost appends to the above point. You noted that you felt most of the combat is a pushover, and this is true. It's because your map layout allows the player to take each fight head on, one at a time. By removing walls and doors, but interconnecting the different spaces, you'll open up potential for things like monsters that the player has to avoid due to resource limitations, turrets or other pressure units that challenge the player's position, and heavies like barons that are capable of chasing the player around.

Overall, you're off to a great start, and if you stick with the hobby I think you'll end up making some wonderful maps!

 

EDIT: By the way, if you feel comfortable you should share this in HAK3180's critique thread. He always has a lot of thoughtful commentary and has a lot of experience critiquing newer authors' maps.

 

 

 

Like everyone else said, this is great for a first map - your use of lighting is amazing! You can sort of see the room-corridor-room progression at the start but it gets to flow more naturally at the end (and I love the loop bringing you back to the blue door) - the final area looks great but it's very easy to run away from it. Hope that you get to expand on this :)

 

 

Pretty good challenge for a first-timer coming in hot and heavy with that first room. Your combat comes in hot from beginning to end, but it's nicely balanced with the supplies you provide. I love a map that nails that kind of balance between cruelty and generosity. Your secrets are really well-hidden because I sure as fuck didn't find any of 'em but then again I'm rubbish at finding them in general so take that with a pinch of salt lmao. Everything else is pretty solid: Map design and layout is a little standard, but has some good variation and fun combat scenarios. Your texture work is great and map progression was good too. It's a really promising effort for a beginner. Hope to see more from you in the future, dude, welcome to Doomworld.

 

 

13 hours ago, OrbitalSpaceGarbage said:

Hey bud, think you might have forgotten to add a link?

Shhhhh,
I literally added it 30 seconds later, your were early !
 

 

13 hours ago, N1ck said:

I cant play it right now but I'll just say I love the look of this screenshot.

Thank you ! Hope you can find some time to test it out and experience the fight by yourself.

 

13 hours ago, nue said:

Ill give this a go in a few hours when I have some time but based off the screenshots it seems very promising for a first map.

Its better than your average first map apparently.

 

12 hours ago, LittleDuckling said:

 I'd suggest keeping the closets to where the enemies are consistent, as they seem to be random

  Reveal hidden contents

 

What do you mean by "keeping the closets to where the ennemies are consistent" ? You mean filling them up more consitently ? Placing them more consitently ? Or both ?

Yeah.... I limited myself on the monsters I used and I wasn't very confident on the way I could use them... I knew the pinkies and specters limit the players movements, forcing him to keep moving or even use them as meatshield, and they are great blockers... so I build around that... the rest is, as you said, erratic.
Proud you liked the caco encounter ! I build it with the idea of having to wait for them to shoot before you could shoot them, and seeing their blacken corspes fell in front of the bright windows... they are somewhat easly skippable, which is a shame.

Thank you for the advice, very appreciated !

9 hours ago, LVENdead said:

For a first timer this is a great showing!

 

I mean, some of its design definitely reveals that it's made by an amateur author, but it's also obvious you already have your eye turn toward some more advanced concepts as well. For example, early on there's a room where one wall is basically just the TEKGREN1 texture across the whole thing, but you had the wherewithal to at least vary up the geometry by making the wall two sectors with different heights, so it actually looks alright. That's a good instinct. A lot of inexperienced authors don't seem to realize that you use geometry and texturing in tandem to create an appealing visual aesthetic. 

 

The room at the end with the standing stones looks great! The lighting really goes a long way there, and I don't really think there's a problem with the way the ceiling looks. I guess if you wanted something to work on for the look, you might try adding in some more rock detail by using a different texture and making some smaller sectors here and there or something.

thank you ! I had a lot of difficulties regarding  the rock textures.. I had a lot of trouble making them look good, so I relied on lighting and carving to make them interesting. I'll try and use more differents textures regarding rocks... but as the vanilla palette is very limited, I not sure I'll succed. But I'll try for sure.

 

 

9 hours ago, LVENdead said:

The encounter design is fine, although nothing about it particularly stands out. I think it's fun for a nice warmup map. The chaingunner ambush was probably the only real difficulty spike, but I think it's kind of offset by the time it takes for the room to change - the player has at least enough time to expect something, and I didn't really have much trouble with using the spectres as meat shields or taking advantage of the space in the room to get out of the crossfire. I thought the arch-vile trap was fine as well, at least for me the combo of spectres and hell knights to defend the archie made the fight interesting, especially because ammo can become a concern if you don't find the plasma gun. The rest of the battling in the map is pretty basic, but it's not boring at least.

I'm not a master of Doom fighting, and I limited my monster choice for the level, so I'm really happy that it wasn't boring at least. I'm happy that the encounter were interesting.

 

9 hours ago, LVENdead said:

Some tips to consider for the future:

• Think about how you can vary up the squareness of your rooms. Get out of a squares and rectangles mindset. Your outdoor geometry exhibits this idea, and you can also adapt to your buildings and interiors as well
• Think about how to vary up the "Room -> Door -> Room -> Door" or "Room -> Hallway -> Door -> Room" type of layout/sequencing. That design is fine if you want a very linear type of map with many INDIVIDUAL encounters, but if you're interested in making maps with larger battles or more interesting layouts to explore, you'll need to consider larger and more interconnected spaces with fewer doors.
• Think about how to unify your layout design mindset with your combat design mindset. This really almost appends to the above point. You noted that you felt most of the combat is a pushover, and this is true. It's because your map layout allows the player to take each fight head on, one at a time. By removing walls and doors, but interconnecting the different spaces, you'll open up potential for things like monsters that the player has to avoid due to resource limitations, turrets or other pressure units that challenge the player's position, and heavies like barons that are capable of chasing the player around.

Overall, you're off to a great start, and if you stick with the hobby I think you'll end up making some wonderful maps! 

Thanks for the tips, I'll consider all of this for my next maps, this kind of design I have witness in many other wads and giving this kind of freedom and pressure is what makes most of them interesting.

 

Thank you !

 

4 hours ago, DavidN said:

Like everyone else said, this is great for a first map - your use of lighting is amazing! You can sort of see the room-corridor-room progression at the start but it gets to flow more naturally at the end (and I love the loop bringing you back to the blue door) - the final area looks great but it's very easy to run away from it. Hope that you get to expand on this :)

I watched your video and its great ! You managed the blue room pretty effectivly ! The last part is ... yeah... I put an elevator so there was a separation between the exit and the fight, but you're right : its too easly accessible and the fight is indeed, kinda of optional. I should have make the exit a separate room, so its function would have been clearer, and I should have replace the lift by stairs that raises when all the summoned monsters are dead.
The path you took was in fact a secret (I should I've marked it), you can jump and run on the columns to grab the berzerk.
You could also interact with the heart in the middle of the circle to lower it... this is pretty obscure but I know that somewhere someone will try it. In addition, on repeated playthrough, it's better to just be able to grab without having to make a somewhat difficult run.

Your tip on the door was very good, I'll update the map right away.

(Everybody seems to skip the cacos TT)

Nice playthrough, thank you for playing and recording !
 

4 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

Pretty good challenge for a first-timer coming in hot and heavy with that first room. Your combat comes in hot from beginning to end, but it's nicely balanced with the supplies you provide. I love a map that nails that kind of balance between cruelty and generosity. Your secrets are really well-hidden because I sure as fuck didn't find any of 'em but then again I'm rubbish at finding them in general so take that with a pinch of salt lmao. Everything else is pretty solid: Map design and layout is a little standard, but has some good variation and fun combat scenarios. Your texture work is great and map progression was good too. It's a really promising effort for a beginner. Hope to see more from you in the future, dude, welcome to Doomworld.

Thank you ! The balance was really a focus in the map, I didn't wanted the players to be short on ammo, but I wanted them to acknowledge the fact that they add to find some nevertheless if they wanted to keep on blasting through.
Only on secret is "conventionnal" in this map and you looked at it ! You looked at it and you moved on ! All og the other secrets are a bit trickier to find, they involve shooting switches, crossing some linedefs and backtracking a bit. If you really look for them and remember the layout of the map, and the fact that you can reach everything you see, you should be able to find most of them. Also the door at the beginning is openable, all of them are.

Thank you for playing and recording, it was fun to watch !
Glad to be here, I intend on staying a while =)
 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2020 by JezChrist

What I meant was to keep the enemies the same, such as maybe only put zombies, shotgunners, or pinkies, or some system of what enemies can appear in closets. 

On 12/10/2020 at 2:30 PM, JezChrist said:

 

i love this map, its hard to image that this was your first map, it looks good and it plays good. 

6 hours ago, LittleDuckling said:

What I meant was to keep the enemies the same, such as maybe only put zombies, shotgunners, or pinkies, or some system of what enemies can appear in closets. 

 

The whole reason Doom's combat can be amazingly dynamic is BECAUSE mixing and matching the demons with their unique attacks and behaviours is what creates interesting combat scenarios. Making rooms or closets consisting of clusters of the same demon types has been proven time and time again to be really bloody boring in my experience.