Making your own wads

I have no clue where to start even

From a design stand point or from a technical stand point ?

Start with making Doom 2 maps.

I started in 2009 literally asking dad to load me games that have easy and plain map editors: I had got Trackmania 2003 and United (shit and I didn't know about the best part, the Trackmania Sunrise until 2018)

Dad had downloaded Risen3d(I wondering why not Zdoom) and Doom Builder and so here is my starting point

With release of Minecraft, I abandoned Doom for a long(?) time

In 2013 I've found Minecraft Doom on ModDB and loaded it. The package contained Gzdoom 1.8.6 thanks to this mod

And I seen that there was a thing named Gzdoom Builder. I loaded version 1.14 (and I still map in it despite having DBX, DB2 and UDB)

I didn't know how to use the Builder and just edited PLUTONIA.WAD that I've found somewhere in Risen3d folders (not Doom, Doom2 or TNT because of cool looking textures)

Then I needed a WAD editor to name my maps and add stuff. In 2014 I've found a thing named XWE (use Slade, it's more comfy to use in most cases, but XWE still has some advantages over Slade)

Draw whatever you want lol, don't make unfair ambushes and inescapable death pits, always check your maps to be completable

Check out those videos for help with mapping :
 

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptHurafdCoQ

Romero gives advises
 

-https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-36gm0W-VKmfVVCGe1HTVABepUXshxjY

DavidN gives wonderful advices for beginner on how to map and how wad works

-https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgU3IUvBpyiY1yYfH8uKy9N8NQwA7G3JB

Doomkid explaining lots of very useful stuff, escpecially on slade and on wad file modification for text and music.

Don't hesitate to check out modders streaming there mapping project on youtube even, Doomkid, Dragonfly among many, have VODs on youtube for you to watch.

I'm sure you can find all the answers to your questions mapping and wad assembling wise in there =)

(Hope I correctly linked the playlist)

Download a level editor such as Ultimate Doom Builder. Keep SLADE in your back pocket; it'll be handy for adding custom music (a simple process) or assets (textures or sprites), but you don't need it immediately.

Fool around in the editor and make stuff. A good starting point, once the editor is set up, is making a brief completable map that uses various level features like doors and lifts, applies textures, has you fight monsters, and so forth. You can share it but you don't have to. Early on, try to keep a good mix of theory and practice (i.e. making stuff in the editor). Don't just try to inhale tutorials alone and expect that to give you skills passively.

Your early steps should be easygoing. Don't be intimidated by how good people are at mapping relative to you. No matter how good people are, you always have your own personal voice that can make your stuff worth sharing if you work hard on it. 

If you have any follow-up questions, feel free to ask.

(This is supposed to be a edit becuase I can't save my orignal post)

Start planning about a map..
Use a editor that you like..
Configure settings..
Choose the IWAD you want..
Choose the map format you want..
Start doodling random sectors..
Add the player.. and some monsters.. some weapons..
That's it! you created a map.

Or, you can create a mod, but that requires some scripting knowledge.
The posts above and below are more technical, I'm only giving you simple steps.

Also, just a free tip : there are 2 types of very new maps : underdetailled, and over detailled. My point being : the layout of a room must always be understable at first glance, visual noise must be avoided : one simple way to achieve that when beginning is by making differents floor height have differents floor textures, and elevated platform have differents middle textures, and (most importantly) using lightning differences to highlight an area, by making it birght, or dark.
 

Playing around with lightning gives a lot of personnality to a map... look at e1m2 by example.

Here's an awesome and thorough video by our own @DavidN on the basics of Doom mapping that should help you a lot.

4 hours ago, AvadaKedavraWithQuadDamage said:

Start with making Doom 2 maps.

Why DOOM ][ and not Ultimate DOOM?

More monsters and more intersting stuff to use...
What Doom 1 has, Doom 2 has also.... well if you use plutonia to reget the flesh&tek texture from the cybermastermind fight that got excluded from D2.

Also, not evreybody has Ultimate Doom... my version of doom was salvage from old plain discs. I still have an old version of Doom 1 without the switch in Hangar that open the outdoor area from the start.

I may have compatibility issues with Doom 1 wads. This problem doesn't exist for Doom 2, as there is only 1 iwad existing.

Edit : Not accurate, see post below.

19 minutes ago, JezChrist said:

I still have an old version of Doom 1 without the switch in Hangar that open the outdoor area from the start.

You (generic you) may upgrade for free and legally any version of Registered Doom to The Ultimate Doom.

https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Game_patch#Doom_registered

Well that something I wish I'd know earlier.
Thanks !

When you start mapping, you need to learn the editor first & then how certain actions work, what their letters mean (w1, wr, s1, sr...).

Watch tutorials you find on the net, especially on youtube.

Make a simple map & learn how to make stairs, lifts, doors, how switches work, crushers...

Shortcuts are also very good to remember.

You just need to invest time in it & have fun. After a while, you get a hang of it & make levels faster. The only obstacle can be ideas. Sometimes you'll scratch your head but don't give up.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/53-editing-tutorials/

3 hours ago, printz said:

Why DOOM ][ and not Ultimate DOOM?

Yeah, UltDoom is better to start with, even if it doesn't have the SSG, and new monsters, it has good textures and a few other things that I didn't mention.

-Make   a room

-fill it entirely with revenants

-Cacoward

The Casali's way.

Linguica's Lessons are pure gold - i don't think the concepts could possibly be explained more clearly (and i had a real hard time in figuring out the basics of mapping without understanding the concepts behind it when i tried) -  and so is that video by DXN, which i've watched recently, as i'm also planning on trying out something.  Other guides etc. mentioned on this thread are probably equally so but i haven't (yet) seen them...  Thanks to all who have gone trough the trouble of making such tutorials!

If you want to, there is a neat Doom Builder 2 tutorial series on YouTube. Otherwise, listen to these guys/girls/plants (I know almost no one uses Doom Builder 2 nowadays, but it is always a good editor to start with since it does have a fairly less complicated UI)

....I use DB2.... and not GZdoom builder.....

*hides in a bush*

Nothing wrong with DB2. Don't let anyone tell you not to use it. When I made Retribution, I needed DB2 because back then GZDoom Builder couldn't accept paste data for pasting geometry across editors but DB2 did. There's always a use for older things.

Isn't GZDoom builder now obsolete in light of its newer fork, the Ultimate Doom Builder?

But yeah DB2 is fine.

If you're making a Doom2 map, you don't have to sacrifice the cool Doom1 textures! Some legend compiled them all into one back in 94:

https://doomshack.org/uploads/DOOM1-2.WAD