Speedmapping, how do you do it?

How are the good speedmapping attempts possible?

I was playing a 4 level WAD with one level being a City with lot's of details and stuff and gameplay mechanics and the author said it was done in something like 4 hours iirc.

John Romero level E4M2, I read somewhere he did it in 6 hours. What?
There are probably other good examples of such excessive mapping too.

Maybe the question is dumb, maybe the answer is "with experience" but I was just curious how it's done. I tried to do one 3 hours speed mapping attempt (the results was too small but I didn't care, I wanted to release something small) and I can't imagine how some of the bigger maps are done (how about testing?). What are your techniques, or strategy when doing a speed map? Are there a tutorial video showing a person actually doing a masterpiece WAD in so few hours?

When I do a speed map it normally for DM as they are a easier to make then sp maps.

I start by drawing a large or middle sized shape as a starting point. Then I just add other areas to the base shape untill I get a good sized map. Then I place one player starts and test the map to see if i like the flow in it. If the flow is good I finish placing all the dm player starts and add some weapons around the map and test again. Then I place the rest of the ammo and items on the map and do a test again. Then finish the detail which normally ends up being rushed. Normally 2-3 hours per map (unless I add lots of fancy detail)

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/50146-axxis-dm/ most of my speed maps I do are in this wad all the map I did except map 1


If I'm doing a speed single player map I start the same way but I spend more time in the placement of things. I also spend more time on the detail as it will be noticed more then in a dm map.

and my lone single player map was a speedmap http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=15961

Once you have some experience with telling what texture combos work and what ones don't, it basically comes down to what you make and how you want to play it. If you've got a good idea how you're going to do both of those then it won't take very long to do something with only low detail (modern standards anyway) in as short as 6 hours. Most of the early maps (20-26) from my wad Sl only took 6-8 hours to do. Granted many of them aren't that impressive, but they play pretty well. And I should stop plugging that.

Another way to cut down on time, but is frowned upon, is to copy/paste big, medium-high detail architecture, usually buildings or even rooms, and only vary them slightly.

ArmouredBlood said:

Another way to cut down on time, but is frowned upon, is to copy/paste big, medium-high detail architecture, usually buildings or even rooms, and only vary them slightly.

not really as most fo the time i tryed to copy and paste my map got screwed up so I nerver copy and paste in my speedmaps. :P

Start on paper.

Bucket said:

Start on paper.

^ Most important thing, in my opinion. It's pretty easy to churn out a complete layout, along with basic traps, monster, weapon and important powerups positions in a matter of minutes on paper.

What also works for me :
- never add detail that isn't directly relevant to gameplay, unless the map is already finished and there's spare time left.
- consider at least as much time (ideally, more) should be spent on playtesting.
- copypaste often, copypaste smartly. Say you have a corridor where the player isn't likely to spend more than ten seconds, and you want some visual constrast in it. Making some wall detail and copypasting it four times is a much more efficient use of your time than spending longer to end up with four different kind of wall detail that might not even get directly looked at anyway. As for poorly done copypaste, it's harder to give clear rules and I'd rather not point fingers in an advice topic. In general, if you're copypasting something without really knowing why, it's probably going to end up poorly.
- don't be afraid to completely change plans while building and/or have backup ideas incase you simply can't make something work.

Sometimes a layout comes to my mind and I just make it.

An example:http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=15968