*2020 HAKAWARDS* I'm Also Looking to Play and Record Your Maps 2 *CLOSED*

Table of Contents

@Alfredo

Doomworld forum topic

This is a pretty simple map, but it has some distinct encounters. I think the BFG makes the whole thing a little too easy, so perhaps there’s a way to eliminate it and slightly weaken the triple cyberdemon fight. I like how the different areas seem to be created equal but only some of them are key paths. This level also has some decent replay value because of the lack of linearity and, in particular, the intrigue of doing fights with different weaponry.

Bottom line: a cohesive, but well varied hellscape

Remember that map I talked about with the crazy thing in it? I left it in! Feel free to use/discuss it

You talk often about lower difficulty settings, how it's good to change items rather than reducing monsters

This vaguely inspired me to make each difficulty from SCRATCH! It was a fun exercise too!

The kick is they are all hard, I know it's a tall order to play the map 3 times so I won't be disappointed if you only try one setting. But yeah each setting gives a different weapon/ monster / item experience completely - more info about the settings in my thread:

Short map really - super short and lets me play with filling in compact areas like I like

As always love your feedback and honestly - can't wait to hear you say stuff!

I've Made a map that's a recreation of the doom comic complete with traps accurate texturing accurate enemy placement and accurate enemy's! I had thought about this before but I had never gotten to doing it till now i would love to see someone put the comic dub over this 

Another for Useless:

Cat caught in a cutting cot:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/hklatt88iwyf4rd/catcaughtinacuttingcot.wad/file

I made this map trying to be the opposite of what I do regularly, it has some plutonia vibes I guess, very squareish geometry and textures I mostly avoid.

I also think it provides some challenge.

I forgot to mention I will not have any new videos up until Wednesday night or Thursday (UTC-500). Sorry for the inconvenience.

19 minutes ago, HAK3180 said:

I forgot to mention I will not have any new videos up until Wednesday night or Thursday (UTC-500). Sorry for the inconvenience.

No worries friend - this is a great thing you do and ppl shouldn't be in a rush :)

Hi, I'm looking for feedback on a level I'm hoping to work into a Doom episode.

It's fairly long, with a focus on exploration. It'sbnot slaughter-oriented (beyond a few encounters which "shake up the pace" as Biodegradable put it).

Currently have limited feedback on gameplay, so if it's to your taste I would love your feedback.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/119237-hells-farthest-shore-the-command-center-updated/?tab=comments#comment-2246223

On 1/17/2021 at 6:44 PM, HAK3180 said:

I forgot to mention I will not have any new videos up until Wednesday night or Thursday (UTC-500). Sorry for the inconvenience.

Nice to hear you're alive 😅

Might be a bit long for your taste, but just completed a 15 level megawad. Most levels are short, with a few 20 minuters here and there. If you wish.

> "I prefer (but do not require) simple/old school."

Check! Not capable of anything else at the moment. Strictly Doom II. GZDoom compatible.

> "I would prefer you give me a rough length and difficulty level so I can plan accordingly."

General consensus seems to be fairly easy combat, fairly difficult (possibly too difficult) puzzle-solving/secret-finding. Time: roughly between 40 minutes (if you know where you're going) and interminable (if you don't). Not really built for speedrunning.

> "I do not even bind crouch to a key, and I generally don't play wads that require jumping."

I don't think jumping or crouching is absolutely necessary to just finish the map - but they certainly are to do a 100% run - and there are a few spot you could find yourself in accidentally that would require these, so this could be an issue. No problem if you reject my map on this account.

Older/harder/worse(?) version in original post. Newer/easier/better(?) version in my last post:

@raviner, I'm afraid I will decline this one. I'll be more flexible on much shorter maps, but the possibility of jumping and crouching entirely changes the player mentality, and that can be very frustrating in a map of this length. I'd hate to be lost/stuck and have no idea if it's because I need(ed) to jump or crouch somewhere.

My general advice for jumping and crouching is to make it pretty central to the gameplay or don't allow it at all. Having just a few moments where it may or may not be required seems to be unnecessary limiting of audience for what amounts to little change in gameplay.

In the event that you could provide a detailed list of all the places where jumping or crouching were required for progression, I would perhaps reconsider. But that's likely a tall order. And if that were an easy list to populate, again I would ask, "Then why not just get rid of those moments?"

I recently published a Vanilla-style map (the start of a planned 4-map set).  I'm relatively new to (serious) doom editing so I'm keen to get feedback and learn how I can improve.  Chocolate-Doom compatible, moderately challenging difficulty, and estimated playtime of ~20 minutes.  I'd love to hear what you think of it!

Another speedmap, but this time from RDC speedmapping event. This map managed to take the 1th place in this event, idk why.

Just short and (maybe) sweet level.

IWAD: Doom 2

Port: Prboom plus (Complevel 9)

Speedmapping theme: Tech-hell/Digital hell + Doors and Flow/Stream(rivers, conveyors, scrolling floors..etc.)

Download: IL.zip

One more for Useless

Kadaver: https://www.mediafire.com/file/j0mmxj1hkto123q/kadaver.wad/file

This is in the same vein as the last one ( cat caught in a cutting cot) textures and geometry I don't usualy use.

Tested in Zdoom "doom strict"

@Snark, I started this, but it was very familiar and eventually I remembered I had definitely played it. Which maps have I not played? 

27 minutes ago, HAK3180 said:

@Snark, I started this, but it was very familiar and eventually I remembered I had definitely played it. Which maps have I not played? 

Sorry, I forgot. You played, normally up to map 05, but I recommend redoing map 04, so play from map 04 onwards. Thanks a mil.

10 hours ago, HAK3180 said:

@raviner ... In the event that you could provide a detailed list of all the places where jumping or crouching were required for progression, I would perhaps reconsider. But that's likely a tall order. And if that were an easy list to populate, again I would ask, "Then why not just get rid of those moments?"

To my recollection, there's only two moments where jumping/crouching is actually necessary for progression, and they both relate to the same secret area (one in the secret area, and one right next to the secret - found in the room with a bunch of lifts), so chances are you might not even find yourself in this predicament. All the other jumping/crouching moments are just for acquiring random items and other secrets (there are plenty of these moments, so I guess fairly central to the gameplay).

Your points are well taken, though. And I'm sure you have enough maps to go through already - and by much more seasoned mapmakers. Again, no problem!

@purist (Unfortunately, I recorded this without my mic on, so as a penance bonus I also did Map 06, which will be up tomorrow.)

Doomworld forum topic

4

This one is a little more cookie cutter Plutonia, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The area makes sense and fits the enemy selection well. I enjoyed my liberal use of rockets finally, and getting secrets probably made a big difference. The spectral imp usage is pretty prominent, which I feel is a significant deviation from Doom in such numbers. I “talked” about how being hit by a projectile means you know you can see the monster because the only spectral monsters are melee only. Actually, I think it was Map 05 where I mentioned that. This map, or being on Hurt Me Plenty, or finding secrets, or a combination of it all translated into a noticeable change in equipment. This map saw me not only have a rocket launcher, but eventually stockpile some ammo for all guns. It was almost too great a pendulum swing that resulted in a rather relaxed second half.

5

I had a lot of fun here. The space itself reminds me of The Shores of Hell, but mostly from a geometry standpoint. I felt like I had no idea what was going on in the grand scheme, but there was always another area to explore until I was done. This was another satisfying withholding of the super shotgun. With enough rockets, you’re not doing a lot of cleanup with the shotgun, and I happened to play it perfectly so that I was just out of them when I finished the map. I think a lot of players will try to hoard them and end up shotgunning hell knights and revenants and have 20 at the exit, but hey, the opportunity is there. I liked the arch-vile crusher switch. I “mentioned” that I like when maps/wads will keep you guessing as to whether a switch or door is an immediate reward or a fight waiting to spring.

@Clippy (Unfortunately, I recorded the first video without my mic on. I had only planned to do Ultra-Violence and Hurt Me Plenty, but since it's your unlucky day, it also became your lucky day, as I decided to do easy also so you'd at least have some live commentary.)

Hurt Me Plenty, then Ultra-Violence

Hey, Not Too Rough

Doomworld forum topic

I don’t know that the architecture here is quire distinct enough to get tons and tons of mileage out of changing stuff for the difficulty levels, but I applaud the effort nonetheless. As usual, it’s not the most pleasant visually, but I think it has enough scenery changes and dynamic monster setups to give you a decent time. Ammo could perhaps use some tweaking, as it seemed a little lenient, and I hardly used the stuff on the final staircase.

Bottom line: Interesting enough unfolding that you just want to see it through

@The BMFG

Doomworld forum topic

I know nothing about the Doom Comic, but this map is a series of basic, uninspired rectangular rooms filled with simplistic combat. And that’s really all there is to say.

@nicolas monti

I liked the early setup here a lot. It reminded me of xdarkmasterx, with frantic action, lots of connected paths, and minimal detail. It got a little spammy for my taste near the end, but I like the reuse of space and less of a focus on lock-ins then some of the others in this set. I did not really notice anything distracting or awkward in the texturing. If anything, it was a little cleaner than some of this mapper's other vanilla efforts, mostly by virtue of being simpler.

Bottom line: a bit spammy but a layout that allows for a lot of fun

@purist

Doomworld forum topic

This is a strong identity map for sure, but I don’t like much about it. The simple design of hub +4 with no attempt to hide it is not really my favorite, especially with teleporters – just feels a little lazy. But the arch-vile gimmick – I don’t know what was going on there, and maybe if I did, I would have enjoyed it more, but always being vulnerable to an unseen and unkillable (?) hitscan monster takes, in my opinion, more effort to make the jump from unfair/cheap to a cool and innovative idea.

Bottom line: Well, it’s memorable

13 hours ago, HAK3180 said:

@nicolas monti

 

I liked the early setup here a lot. It reminded me of xdarkmasterx, with frantic action, lots of connected paths, and minimal detail. It got a little spammy for my taste near the end, but I like the reuse of space and less of a focus on lock-ins then some of the others in this set. I did not really notice anything distracting or awkward in the texturing. If anything, it was a little cleaner than some of this mapper's other vanilla efforts, mostly by virtue of being simpler.

 

Bottom line: a bit spammy but a layout that allows for a lot of fun

Thanks a lot, the map's name is for linguistics interest sake only. I see you don't have the cot-caught merger so probably you're from the east lol.

Now on the map, you played it in a differet fashion from what I did and it still worked fine, the only problem was the premature raising of the bars when trying to rush the exit, those are to prevent the player retreating from the final encounter but yeah, at one point one can trigger the bars before the final monster release and no matter how small the gap between the lines is, the player can cheese that in a second play so I'll make a monster teleport triggered with the final ambush for those monsters that could remain behind the bars as in your play!

@HAK3180

Just my luck I get your commentary on the level you didn't like :-)

4

No high concept design here. This was just built to be a straight forward shooter with a mapflow that is fun to run around and lots of secrets, which you did a pretty good job with. That soulsphere secret you found is maybe a bit OP. I was surprised how much trouble you were having in the lower area at the start - as long as you keep an eye out for the chaingunner arriving I never find it too taxing.

5

This is one of the bigger VOH levels but you can skip most of it depending which way you go. The gimmick is the lowering vat of boiling blood at the start. The longer you stay in it the more of the level you skip. You jumped off in the middle third but you saw pretty much the whole level thanks to the invulnerability secret, which takes you back to the beginning. There is a lot of damaging floor in this level but there are rad suits dotted around if you choose the right route.

6.

This level is proving to be polarising. Funnily enough, when I shared E1 I got a lot of positive feedback for this map whereas this time, not so much. I think what you were missing was that the flame attacks originate from the red evil eyes - so basically if the eye can see you, you're at risk of a scalding. This is communicated by the eye behind the lift at the start. It is still a high concept map so will never suit everyone but once you know where the danger is coming from you can plan your cover and things are more logical. Considering you were playing as though you did not know where the fire originates from I was quite impressed how well you did.

The hub area was somewhat inspired by Tricks and Traps; start in the middle and survive each of the annexes to open the final area. Although they are initially reached by teleports, all the areas are also physically connected to the central zone if you find the secrets. In lower difficulties I may add an invulnerability in the middle so players can use it to trivialise at minimum their least favourite of the areas.

@LordEntr0py

Part 1

Part 2 

Doomworld forum topic

What a fine map this is. The architecture ranges from cool to clever to gorgeous. Occasionally it bites off a little more than it can chew, resulting in grandeur creating too much space for the encounters, but the combat is not the highlight here anyway. Between the Doom 1 bestiary in a long map and the somewhat simple encounter design, this map is about exploration and atmosphere. Still, there are a handful of solid setpieces, and the thing that really stands out to me is that I ended this map with all but two kills. The fights do not blow you away, but they don’t chase you away in boredom either. You may think the map would hardly be worse with no monsters at all, but you’re not thinking you wish it had no monsters, and I have wished that before. The only other real negative is that this map had a pretty distinct two map feel. Very early you find yourself in a large hub that you come back to numerous times. There are several vistas of most of that area in the first half. Then you hit a switch and a whole new map appears before your eyes. You never see or visit that original area again. I feel very little would be lost if that switch simply became an exit switch and the whole area after it became a subsequent map. But the “two maps” have stellar layouts in their own ways – lots of interconnections, path choices, large views, and moments where you can deduce/predict how the progression will go.

Bottom line: Visually and structurally marvelous; combat leaves a little, not a lot, to be desired

Thank you! I'm looking forward to watching these this evening. I agree with what you say about the two-map feel. And I'm going to study-up on encounter design. Several people have found the incidental combat to be "acceptable", so there's room for improvement there.

@Snark

Doomworld forum topic

5

I liked the setup, how the map forced you through a linear path while throwing wrinkles at you in the level itself unfolding and creeping you out. It’s pretty good visually, but very brown.

6

Definitely some fun combat in here and some solid attempts at doing some original stuff. Those were, unfortunately, a little to easy by virtue of the ammo supply or the small quantity of monsters. Again the space itself was fun: a lot of hallways leading to bigger rooms in nonlinear fashion and with lots of subtle and gradual height changes.

7

Very monotonous texture detail is somewhat saved by good lighting, but this works a lot less than the previous maps’ pervasive brown because this is so much grander; it stands out in its lack of detail. The gameplay really doesn’t work at all here. Too many rockets and cells, too few monsters, way, way, way too much space.

@Orcsbreath

Doomworld forum topic

I like it. The very beginning is a little slow, but then it never relents. It does the whole “everything is a trap” thing in a very tasteful way. There’s a good balance of tight and open, dark and bright, and an encounter slate that will allow you to use everything in your arsenal at some time or other. I think the ending could very easily be underwhelming if the player doesn’t jump the gun on a switch, like I did. Visually, it does plenty for vanilla. You get some detail, you get a thoughtful layout, and you get a consistent texture usage.

Bottom line: This thing is well polished in every way

@MAN_WITH_GUN

download the .zip

I don’t think I’ve ever played anything from this individual that did not claim to be a speedmap, so it’s often the same kind of writeup: great visuals, gameplay nothing stellar. The same is true here. I would never suspect only a few hours went into this based on the appearance, but the encounters do feel a little bit stock, but not in a “they’re not fun” way. It’s more that the combat just doesn’t stand out, except the dark commando / manc room; I thought that was cool.

Bottom line: good looking and moody with adequate gameplay

@nicolas monti

You get a choice at the beginning as to your starting weapon. Then you basically complete three tough, tight paths to find victory. I wonder what kind of balancing issues could be present based on the structure of the map, but I like the concept. Again, the visuals are not a focal point by any means, but the map is not an eyesore. If I had a minor complaint about the direction of this wad, I would say there are lots of distinct fights that show a good level of originality, but I wonder if the prevalence of arch-viles won’t feel a little tired by this point in the wad.

Bottom line: a very nonlinear setpiece map