4 megawad ideas

Since megawads based on certain parameters are pretty popular these days, I've dreamt up some good ones.

Idea 1: Musical Megawad

I always thought that music played an important role in the mood of a map. For example, a cave or a dungeon themed map would need slow spooky music say like the music from Heretic or Gothic DM. Upbeat rock music would be used in E1 style maps. Kinda get what I mean? good because I dunno how to explain it any better without posting up links to midis. The idea would be for one person (namely me) to post up a list of 32 .mids that people can listen to. Each mid will have varying sounds and themes. Any interested mappers could pick a music they like, and design a map specifically inspired by that music.

Idea 2: Constant Threat Megawad

Dead Simple Map07 of Doom 2 is undoubtedly one of the most memorable and inspiring maps of this genre. The non linearity, smallness, and abundance of weapons and ammo make it an excellent deathmatch map. But on the other hand, with little cover and rough monsters busting at the seams of it's small confines, make the entire single player battle against monsters a constant threat. The idea of this wad would be to make a ton of nonlinear deathmatch maps, designed intentionally with Deathmatch in mind, and stuffing them with monsters, keeping the player on his toes at all times.

Idea 3: Boss Battle Megawad

When I look back at Doom 2, I'm a little dissapointed in the rather boring appearances of the new monsters. Especially monsters such as the Revenant, Pain Elemental, and Archvile. The idea of this wad, kinda similar to that of 1 monster megawad. would be for any interested mappers to pick out their favorite monster, that must also be pretty dangerous, and would suffice as a reasonable "boss" (I guess DECORATE monsters should be allowed for this too) and make a map that gives that monster the excellent appearance it deserves. The boss monster does not have to be the only monster in the level, and for the Doom 2 monsters that would generally be considered easy in todays standards, I suppose those maps could be designed to make the player be forced to fight the monster with a chaingun or shotgun, or maybe be surrounded by damaging floor, or simply a small room to fight in.

Which of these ideas do you think is best? Would you help make one of these megawads?

If I had to vote for my LEAST favorite I'd choose number 3. But the first two ideas I really like, especially the Musical wad.

I like the concept of the second option, but I don't like how you made it seem it should be designed for deathmatch with monsters and weapons randomly thrown in. Some thought should be put into it, methinks.

The first two ideas seem pretty good. The musical megawad actually sounds pretty fun to me :P

Constant threat is a great general design idea and the most interesting to me. Just one caco by itself as a boss would be pointlessly easy. Maybe a room full of 50 of them as a boss or something. But then 50 cacos spread throughout the level, instead of grouped together in a boss-like mass somehow, would be like the 1monster wad instead of a 'boss'. The music idea isn't exactly very restricting; it'd just be a bunch of random maps with new music. Usually a wad compiled by multiple authors result in levels I want to skip anyway. Like I think hell revealed 2 would be much better released as only the wads made by the team leader even if there were a lot less levels.

Am I the only one who imagined imps on broadway after reading "Musical Megawad"?

Yep :(

how about making a megawad that is consistant?

well, one idea i had but didnt want to say until i got more free time for mapping was continueing the gothic tradition and make gothic 3. but, gameplay would be the main focus. and of course the theme of the maps would be gothic. and there would be much detail.

as for the idea of yours that i like the most, id probably say that the musical megawad would be the best idea, but i like that constant threat/deathmatch idea for some reason.

Wouldn't it seem much better if you mixed 1 and 2?

I find mixing 1 and 2 would come with better results, and of course though, you can make seperate maps with a diff style (Musical or Constant) then a few that is both together.

"Constant Threat" sounds the best, as it has potential for good maps with good gameplay. You can do a lot with the premise. A constant threat could mean something like Dead Simple, Cat and Mouse from Doom 64, or something like the first few levels in Half-Life 2 where you are constantly chased.

The "Musical" wad sounds interesting, but would ultimately boil down to "just another map collection" with new music.

The last one, the "Boss" wad, could be promising if the premise was better explained. Perhaps a "Boss Map" wad, where each author does their own interpretation of what a Doom "Boss" map should be? For instance, my idea for a new version of Phobos Anomaly would be based on an ant colony. You first enter a barren dead zone filled with dead monsters and corpses, setting the mood for the bleak map by showing that very few creatures dare to enter the Barons' lair. Then, as you enter the nest, you battle a horde of Hell Knights (and maybe a similar but lesser monster if a port like GZDoom was allowed), then their "masters", a pair of Barons. Something like this could be very cool and atmospheric if done properly. :)

I voted for "Constant Threat", because it's the most visceral option when it comes to Doom and FPSes in general. Thinking of Doom you think of gore, then you think of large amounts of enemies, then you think of this "Constant Threat".

"Constant Threat" megawads have been made before, maybe not 100% DM, but who cares, they're the well-known Hell Revealed, Alien Vendetta and others that I haven't tried.

"Musical" megawad is a bit redundant -- there's quite a chance a wad author would look up different music suitable for his work. A "musical" megawad contest won't do much in the end.

The "Boss" megawad option is interesting, but has to be directed intelligently, not laxly. I'd like it if it contained many huge levels (what about hubs instead) which ended by intimidating "bosses".

For the Constant threat one, do you mean tagging the monsters as Multiplayer so when in DM, you are also under fire from monsters?
'cus that would be a laugh.
The musical one could be cool, but it would be too varied and inconsistant IMO. See, if the music is open to TOO MUCH interpretation, you culd end up with anything for the musics.

As for the boss battles, I immagine it like 'The Long Bridge' from Destination Unknown (I think); Just a long series of rooms or 'arenas' with bosses in each one who got more difficult with each room, and better weapons as it goes along, etc. This would be cool, but I can't see how it would work as a megawad, just one long, long level.

Clarification: because I know it's needed as Im being attacked with questions haha.

The musical megawad isn't really restricting much at all. But I'm very attracted to midi music, and in my collection I've got a whole range of them I ripped from wads. This one song from STRAIN that I have is a very steady industrial sounding track, and I couldn't imagine the music being used in any other map than a tech base factory with lots of moving machinery such as scrolling textures, crushing ceilings, and floors moving up and down. And I have another song that builds a lot of dramatic tension, and I imagined it being used in a map where you ride a slow elevator up to the top of a skyscraper, and monsters gradually warp onto the elevator. I thought if I could round up a bunch of truly unique tracks, people could make maps while listening to that music alone, then use it for the map.

I tested the idea of Constant Threat. It was to feed my hunger of Hell Revealed 2 Style maps. Though I didn't want to play through the whole thing, I really just wanted to play the first map, because it's small, hard as hell, and very illinear. Though obviously, playing the same map over and over and over again would get boring. So I recognized that it was the map is very suitable for a good deathmatch. So I loaded up Gothic DM 2, and stuffed it full of chaingun guys, shotgun guys, cacodemons, revenants, hell knights, etc. And put a soulsphere on top of every player 1 start. It was hard as hell, and there was not a moment of silence (until all the monsters were dead} Good weapons were scattered around the maps. The 100+ health at the beginning of every map made the thing virtually playable. There wasn't a whole lot of ammo, but there was enough to take on tough monsters. And if you were low on ammo, you'd have to chainsaw those imps and demons (Which in most wads, the chainsaw is never necessary) I can't fully explain how much I enjoyed it. I was just kinda getting bored of the whole doom routine where you go in room after room, fully prepared with lots of ammo and weapons and health behind you if you need it, and a door to cover yourself with, and fighting a hell knight or a couple demons at a time. The new influence I got from this wad was that I was forced to act quickly, grab some ammo and weapons, take on a whole mess of monsters coming at me from every direction, so I had to manage my health, watch ammo, and dodge attack almost all the time. It was really tense and I'd love to bring that to life. And it was Deathmatch maps that made that style possible.

And as for the boss battle Megawad, The idea was to create EXM8 style maps as a megawad, just like Boss battle maps you may see in Megawads where you're thrown in a room and forced to take out a cyberdemon to progress. Except in this wad, You skip all the imp killing and demon slaying in between, you just go directly to the "oh shit there's something big here" areas. Not exactly like so the ones in Doom if you dont want to, Like you can make a lot of dramatic tension my making the rooms really dark with flickering lights, or have a really slow elevator lift you up to the "arena" or have a giant spiral staircase descending into a cave, or you can make the boss battle a surprise by making a wall crash down and a giant boss monster come waltzing in, or even just throwing the player in the center of a giant room where there is a boss monster to fight. The focus would be for the player to get trapped in a room either full of monsters, with some monsters, or just one monster, but in any way, make it so the player is forced to fight the individual boss monster, and have the map themed so that it would be the "lair" of your boss monster. For example, I'd imagine a Pain Elemental to be in an underground tomb/cave area with lots of lost souls in the rooms following it up. And I'd imagine an Arachnatron to be the monster in a a lab with weird demonic experiments in it. Kinda get my drift?

If you need any more clarification I'd love to answer your questions.

So I loaded up Gothic DM 2, and stuffed it full of chaingun guys, shotgun guys, cacodemons, revenants, hell knights, etc. And put a soulsphere on top of every player 1 start.

Did you save it?

The last paragraph makes sense, but maybe it would help if you created a small map that illustrates what you're talking about there, too.

The musical megawad gets my vote..

additup said:

Did you save it?

The last paragraph makes sense, but maybe it would help if you created a small map that illustrates what you're talking about there, too.

I did, but I can't release it because their not my maps. And it's clearly stated in the txt. file that the maps can't be rereleased with any changes or used as a base to make more levels.

I guess, however, that would be only fair to post some example wads for each game type. I'll get some maps up soon.

I like all three ideas actually. First two especially.

Hmm. I have another idea. This one is more of a puzzle though

Spot the HOME
Spot the Hall of Mirrors effect. Similar to Hexen, Mappers create a whole mess of Non Linear environments with monsters, ammo and health but no exit rooms. The paths dont follow any definite direction and should always evantually lead you to the same starting area. Every map map must have but one single untextured wall that creates an HOME in Software, OpenGL, and Direct3D ports. The HOME must be at least 32x32 units. The HOME wall must be visible somewhere in the map without any noclipping. The HOME must be close enough to be accesssible as a switch. (try to keep it at eye level too) And that very HOM must have the linedef tag of exiting the level. So basically the player searches the entire level to find the one untextured wall that is the exit to the level.

Admittedly the game mode looks boring for traditional doomers (such as myself) but I guess puzzle-solving hexen-lovers and bug seekers will like it. And this game mode sounds kinda fun to map for if you ask me.

It's called HOM, and that's just dumb.

I really like the Musical Megawad idea. Music is how I get the ideas for a lot of my levels nowadays. I don't like MIDI anymore, though, I prefer modules.

Music.

I like the others as well. But music strikes me most.

like pretty much everyone else, i like 1 and 2...but of course u could mix 1 and 2 together, and maybe even each has a boss battle at the end...

If i had to pick 1, i'd pick the Constant Threat, for even though music does mean a lot, game play is still a must, and that's just the kind of gameplay i love.

Also yeah, i've been gone from here quite a while, i know u guys missed me =P. I have my weapons mod that i'll be using for KillZone almost completed, just working out the bugs right now, should have it ready sometime this week.

AgentOrange said:

Also yeah, i've been gone from here quite a while, i know u guys missed me =P. I have my weapons mod that i'll be using for KillZone almost completed, just working out the bugs right now, should have it ready sometime this week.

Heh, I was wondering what happened to you and your projects.

yomoneyboat said:

It's called HOM, and that's just dumb.

I tend to remember it being referred to as a Hall of Mirrors effect. (because it is) which is why i threw in the E. And It's not dumb. It's unique. where's your megawad ideas?

I liked the first idea. I thought the other two ideas gave off a slightly stale odor, tho.

JohnnyRancid said:

[snip] where's your megawad ideas?

in the thread wad ideas (brainstorming)

JohnnyRancid said:

I tend to remember it being referred to as a Hall of Mirrors effect. (because it is) which is why i threw in the E.

http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/HOM

I'd say its HOM.

Now you have cleared that up more, I like the idea of them all.
I'd still go for constant threat, but I'd be well up for helping if the boss megawad was to go.

Are you going to actually make any of these?

either i missed something, or (insert somethin stupid/funny here)...but i could've sworn this thread was titled "4 Megawad Ideas", yet i only see 3

wut is this 4th idea?

AgentOrange said:

either i missed something, or (insert somethin stupid/funny here)...but i could've sworn this thread was titled "4 Megawad Ideas", yet i only see 3

wut is this 4th idea?

h
He mumbled something about "hunt the HOM" at some point.

JohnnyRancid said:

Hmm. I have another idea. This one is more of a puzzle though

Spot the HOME
Spot the Hall of Mirrors effect. Similar to Hexen, Mappers create a whole mess of Non Linear environments with monsters, ammo and health but no exit rooms. The paths dont follow any definite direction and should always evantually lead you to the same starting area. Every map map must have but one single untextured wall that creates an HOME in Software, OpenGL, and Direct3D ports. The HOME must be at least 32x32 units. The HOME wall must be visible somewhere in the map without any noclipping. The HOME must be close enough to be accesssible as a switch. (try to keep it at eye level too) And that very HOM must have the linedef tag of exiting the level. So basically the player searches the entire level to find the one untextured wall that is the exit to the level.

Admittedly the game mode looks boring for traditional doomers (such as myself) but I guess puzzle-solving hexen-lovers and bug seekers will like it. And this game mode sounds kinda fun to map for if you ask me.

This. Please read the thread fully instead of just the 1st post. It's not even a page long yet.