Working on my first maps. Woo.

A couple of years ago, I decided I’d give Doom mapping a go. I’d attempted, when I was younger, to make some maps. I wasn’t surprised to find that they were quite terrible, but thought that at least some of them were worth saving and redesigning.

Maps 1 – 3 are mostly complete, with 4 – 6 remaining fairly rough.

Map01:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M11.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M12.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M13.jpg
Map02:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M21.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M22.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M23.jpg
Map03:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M31.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M32.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M33.jpg
Map04:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M41.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M42.jpg
Map05:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M51.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M52.jpg
Map06:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M61.jpg

Now, my aim, at least at this point, is to create a series of strange (visually), Hell Revealed (difficulty wise) maps. (Certainly not a popular combination.)

If anyone would be willing to help edit, make, or simply test out these maps (especially those with a focus on high difficulty), that would be great – I don't think I'll finish any of these maps otherwise. :(

These look great nice work map05 impressed me the most please do finish these it will be an nice mapset for sure.

Looks like a solid map set, very doomish. Some pics remind me of Master Levels, other Evilution (and I like a lot both).

If you share me a download link (here or in PM), I'll be glad to test them all.

dutch devil said:

These look great nice work map05 impressed me the most please do finish these it will be an nice mapset for sure.

Ooo. Praise from Dutch Devil :)

Good to know they look okay, although I'm more worried about how they play.

Also, while using XWE to put in a brown version of the Blood Fall texture, I've somehow managed to make all my animated textures play in reverse. How on earth did I manage this?

Also, Vegeta, check your PM's :)

While they look pretty good, you should watch your copy-paste habits. People might be disappointed when they play it and see that half of the architecture is reused a dozen times.

Insane_Gazebo said:

Good to know they look okay, although I'm more worried about how they play.

Don't worry about that too much focus on one thing at a time first what I do is getting the map finished first but I do keep in mind to put stuff in from which I think it would improve gameplay an good interesting layout enough height difference so at this stage I'm not really focusing on gameplay yet but more on getting an interesting layout.

Usually I do one room at a time first draw the basic layout with no detail give it an nice shape add height difference, and when I'm happy with the results I'll add some detail and even that has to be interesting and I try to use that detail to improve gameplay as well I've been doing that alot lately.

About the copy and paste thing personally I don't really mind that I do it myself as well and quite a few other mappers do the same thing as well, I don't mind seeing an row of pillars for me it makes sense.

EarthQuake said:

While they look pretty good, you should watch your copy-paste habits. People might be disappointed when they play it and see that half of the architecture is reused a dozen times.

This quite honestly depends on how systematic you want your map to look. I often copy/paste a structure if I want to create a building that looks more realistic. Buildings in real life are often constructed this way for efficiency and stability. You shouldn't copy irregular areas since people would recognize it as a simple copy/paste job. Irregular areas need to look... irregular ;)

dutch devil said:

Don't worry about that too much focus on one thing at a time first what I do is getting the map finished first but I do keep in mind to put stuff in from which I think it would improve gameplay an good interesting layout enough height difference so at this stage I'm not really focusing on gameplay yet but more on getting an interesting layout.

This is where I'm feeling Map01 needs a ton of work. All it really is a bunch of excessively detailed corridors and rooms. As this was my very first attempt at mapping, I got a bit over-enthusiastic about it.
I think the editor shot really says it all:

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/Map1Ed.jpg

I know, prior to release, I'm going to have to clean that stuff up. It's going to be a nightmare :(

About the copy and paste thing personally I don't really mind that I do it myself as well and quite a few other mappers do the same thing as well, I don't mind seeing an row of pillars for me it makes sense.

Yeah. I think what Earthquake meant though, was to do it in moderation. I imagine it could be easy to get into bad habits, and given the stage it's in, Map05 does look like the great land of pillars.

Map03 looks really good. Great mapping and lighting effects. Only warning is for you to watch your copy-paste, but you seem to be doing all right with that, too.

These look great. How many maps are you aiming for? Just the six, or are you going to do some more?

I'd *******ely test (if I remember to check back here).
This forum thinks d e f i n a t e l y is a curse word or something...

gggmork said:

This forum thinks d e f i n a t e l y is a curse word or something...

That is because "d-e-f-i-n-a-t-e-l-y" is not a word. Learn to spell.

Still, a word shouldn't be censored for being misspelled.

Jim Rainer said:

Still, a word shouldn't be censored for being misspelled.

It should be if it's annoying enough. Too many people misspell "definitely," just like too many people misspell "separate" and "ridiculous." The censoring helps them realize their mistake.

Reckoner said:

These look great. How many maps are you aiming for? Just the six, or are you going to do some more?

I'm not sure yet. As many as I can until I feel happy with them I guess. Twelve maps maybe, but if someone wanted likes what they see, and wants to help out in the mapping department, I wouldn't say no. :)

GGGMork said:

I'd definitely test (if I remember to check back here).

There's not a massive amount to test so far, but sure. (Check your PM's.)

These are all pretty neat. MAP02 and MAP03 look really interesting. I can test the maps if you want.

Insane_Gazebo said:

Map05 does look like the great land of pillars.

Reminds me of the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak which is a forest of pillars. Nothing wrong with that.



I like what I see. Add me to the list if you start running out of playtesters.

map 5 is kind of reminding me of europa 2 as far as the grand-scale gothic map full of pillars goes.
i like it.
these all look nice.

Very nice! I can't wait to give this a try. The copy and paste job for the pillar area in map05 doesn't really bother me. I can still see some pretty interesting architecture and level design underneath all of those pillars, and it looks like that one area promises to bring forth some interesting fire fights. I'm not too sure about the third screenshot for map01. That does look like it might be a bit of a problem. It looks rather cramped, and all those poles will really restrict movement.

Craigs said:

Very nice! I can't wait to give this a try. The copy and paste job for the pillar area in map05 doesn't really bother me. I can still see some pretty interesting architecture and level design underneath all of those pillars, and it looks like that one area promises to bring forth some interesting fire fights. I'm not too sure about the third screenshot for map01. That does look like it might be a bit of a problem. It looks rather cramped, and all those poles will really restrict movement.

The movement restriction is intentional: cramped quarters against a small number of enemies. (It's over quite quickly, so hopefully people won't find it frustrating.)

Insane_Gazebo said:

This is where I'm feeling Map01 needs a ton of work. All it really is a bunch of excessively detailed corridors and rooms. As this was my very first attempt at mapping, I got a bit over-enthusiastic about it.
I think the editor shot really says it all:

Ah, don't worry about it. Don't kill yourself trying to make changes. That's the style of mapping that is popular right now. Your maps look nice enough that they will be well received by the community at large.

Think of this first set of maps as practice, learning about construction and such. In your next map or set of maps try to concentrate more on gameplay and interconnectivity.

To create a forest you first need to know how to make trees :)

As for realism, don't get hung up on that. There are two kinds of realism. Real realism and Doom realism. Doom realism makes perfect sense in the context of the game itself but makes no sense at all in terms of real realism. Real realism is boring (imo) in the context of Doom.

A prime example of this is E1M7 (Computer Station) of Ultimate Doom. Such a structure would never exist in real life. Any architect submitting plans for such a building would be fired :) Yet in game terms it is an amazingly fun and coherent map with great replayability.

My thoughts:

Map01:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M11.jpg
Looks great.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M12.jpg
Looks great.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M13.jpg
Total detail overload. :p


Map02:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M21.jpg
Too much detail.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M22.jpg
Too much detail.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M23.jpg
Looks epic. Me likes. Align those bricks, though. ;)

Map03:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M31.jpg
Reminds me of The Chasm.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M32.jpg
Ditto.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M33.jpg
Looks good.

Map04:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M41.jpg
Ohh, slaughter map? Cool.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M42.jpg
Ditto.

Map05:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M51.jpg
Epic.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l73/insanegazebo/M52.jpg
More epic! :D

Overall, looking nice so far, looking forward to playing this. :)

Nuxius said:

Detail Overload! (Map1/Map2)

As I mentioned earlier, I went overboard on Maps 1 and 2. (In my defense, they were my first maps :P)
One of the final things I'll do is go back, and remove the excess detail at some point.

Nuxius said:

Reminds me of The Chasm. (Map3)

It's supposed to :)

I d e f i n i t e l y don't think the detail should be removed; its one of the reasons I like the levels (but I'm often in the minority opinion).

I also like what I see in terms of detail. I'm quite the fan of high-detial maps. So long as it doesn't interfere with gameplay, I wouldn't have a problem with it. =)

map 1 screen 3 is the only one i don't really like.
i'm not a fan of getting caught on pillars while trying to dodge fireballs/etc.
although, i am curious to see how the gameplay will be in that section.

The Lag said:

although, i am curious to see how the gameplay will be in that section.

I'm actually liking some of these levels better than many cacoward winning maps so far. There's a lot of interesting stuff and dodging the poles in that picture add to the unique gameplay of that particular area imo (its just a small cage-ish area, not excessive pole dodging or anything).

Map 5 is looking gorgeous, reminds me of the end of The Spire, but hopefully it won't be idiotically hard like that was

Most of it looks very nice, but map05 looks amazing and epic. Make sure you align that metal and don't use SUPPORT3 on horizontal surfaces, though :P

It looks fantastic so far. I'd love to se some of the outdoor areas like those in maps 4 and 5 with a higher resolution sky to really give that sense of massive proportions.

Keep up the good work!