Looking down on your own wads. . .?

I'm not too sure if I am the only person like this, but In the last 2 1/2 years, I have not released a single wad, but I've started at least 30+ different ones.

I can usually create a decent start, but after making about 3 small areas within the wad I say to myself "This level sucks" or "I suck at making levels", then I end up starting ANOTHER new one. Everyone I show my wads to say they are great, but I guess I just have no self esteem when it comes to mapping.

Is there anyone else that happens to have the same kind of problem, or any ideas to fix it?

I have the same problem except its been about 3 1/2 - 4 years now that I haven't finished a map. Its a pity that I have many started and 0 finished. I guess the way to fix this (I am told) is to just stay focused, finish it even if it looks like shit.

Take all the best pieces of each map and splice them together. Retexture accordingly.

I still say there should be an "unfinished ideas" megawad, where everyone's cool parts-of-levels get mashed together.

Bucket said:

Take all the best pieces of each map and splice them together. Retexture accordingly.

I still say there should be an "unfinished ideas" megawad, where everyone's cool parts-of-levels get mashed together.

And that's another thing... It just just doesn't seem right if I were to do that... even though my last released wad (MegaPhase back in early 2004), I did take parts from some different levels I had. Just doesn't seem right. but the "Unfinished Megawad" would be awesome. I got quite a few maps to add to that.

Frankenmaps are usually a mess, unless they have a consistent theme .. or you're trying to make it look like Doom 2. That said, if you at least want to have one map released, it's not a bad idea. Some people might like it.

I throw almost all my crap designs away its not worth keeping and somehow it makes me feel better knowing its gone.
I have an high reject rate only stuff that makes me go wow will stay, thats the rule I map with it has to impress me otherwise its gone.

Quit trying to impress anyone and just make it cause it's fun to make rooms and kill stuff in them. Who cares? If you can't get over yourself then take up gardening.

I wouldn't mind seeing E3M7 as a garden maze.

I have a similar problem, but it's not really an esteem issue. I'm pretty perfectionistic when it comes to mapping. If I don't like a wad or a part of a wad, then I keep doing it over and over until I'm satisfied with it. That's why I have 3 different versions of each wad I've completed :)

have confidence, finish the level and see what happens with it.

of course, i fall victim to the samething, though mine aren't complete because i come up with other ideas of other wads and never get around to finishing the others.

I suck at mapping.

i do the same thing. i have one that i've not decided to ditch, and instead just work on it once in awhile.

I've been having the same problem since I first started mapping. Who knows, maybe it's because I'm ADHD, maybe because I don't know what I want to make, or maybe it's because I'm flat out lazy(Most likely :D), but I have not been able to complete a SINGLE map. One moment, I want to make a cool tactical military style shooter set in a base. I get a bit into the project and then, hey; I wanna make a map set in a castle! So I start a new map and then, hey I wanna make a map set in the sewers!

I release them anyway.

If _you_ think they are fun, then release them. If you don't have fun playing your own wads, then work on them more.
It's very hard to go completely wrong when editing DOOM.

i also find sometimes when conceiving an idea for a map i'll have too much ambition for it, then after work begins it all slides downhill.

what works best for me i've found is to either just work spontaneously, which produces some good but inconsistent work, or to just draw everything down on paper before i begin mapping.

I used to have the same problem with starting a map then quitting soon after, but now that I've gotten a little bit faster at mapping and I draw out layouts before move onto gameplay/detail, it's no problem.

I just find it funny that people tell me "OMG ur map RULES!"... but I am never satisfied with my own.

Well, in that case maybe for you a release should be easier than for other people who might be concerned that maybe others will think badly of their maps. If you're already critical yourself, other people's criticism might not affect you negatively.

In all creative fields, you will always be your own critic - a harsh, brutal critic. I relate looking down on my own wads to my writing skills - you have to understand that what you make is not a failure. It's a mental struggle to get beyond the first 'room' (however many sectors that might be), it's a mental struggle to get beyond writing the first page (or sometimes, paragraph). So just try and go with the flow, even if it ends up sucking; always push yourself to make another 'room' in the same level, even if it looks like crap - that way, you're making progress.

There are 3 sides of level design that one has to deal with: Subjective criticism, objective criticism, and constructive critics.

I always have this problem, and as such I have tons of unfinished wads on my computer too. When I try to add on to a level and I have no ideas for it, the area comes out looking like crap, and I can it because I know its bad. To get past this sometimes, I look at some wads that have interesting archictecture (Alien Vendetta, Void, etc.) and then get some ideas off of those. Something I've actually recently started is a map where I was starting to run out of ideas, but as I thought about it on my time away from the computer, I got these great artisitic thoughts and as such I wrote them down. Now, I have it stickied on my laptop where I can see it and I work towards getting done what I had seen in my mind.