Wads without height variation

Recently I played a remake of Spear of Destiny for Doom II and I really enjoyed it. I liked how fast and straightforward the gameplay felt (even simpler than Doom) and how it reminded me of old DOS games with a similiar graphic style.

Are there any other wads that never use any height variation and focus on creative use of textures? I would love to play more of these.
I don`t like wolfenstein modifications that much, because the gameplay feels too tedious to me and the controls aren`t that good.

Also, I would like the idea of a community project in which everyone creates a level without different heights, but is allowed to use any texture to create diverse locations and illusions of open landscapes. I don`t believe that such a project will ever come to existance, but I would love to participate in such a project. (=

How about another n-sector then?

lots of oldschool wads have very little height variation, or at least large sections of flat areas :D

It would be a good challenge to make an interesting flat level, but I wonder how many people would try it. I might be up for one map

There was a well done Corridor 7 remake with completely flat levels. The thread is somewhere here in the forums.

The question is, would such a WAD allow for varying ceiling heights? I think, even if the walls were well-textured, the environments would invariably become quite monotonous otherwise. Making a level/WAD with all flat floors but variation in ceiling height might actually be a pretty cool idea. Counterintuitive WADs always have the potential to be good when done right, and given the emphasis of height variation in making good levels it would be interesting to see what people do with a flat-level restriction.

(If such a project happens I just might get in on it... :) )

Relatedly, it probably also should allow for varying floor heights in sectors that the player can't go into; just like the "1024" rules allow to extend the level boundaries beyond as long as the player remains constrained. For example, you could make hedge mazes this way.

I think I'd hate a wad of this nature, TBH. Height variation is one the #1 important things to me in level design and a huge tool for creating a variety in gameplay.

Being a fan of Wolf 3D, Blake Stone, Corridor 7 and ROTT, I think this has real potential. It would certainly challenge map makers to think in a different way. Some of the more recent Wolf 3D point to the potential of what could be done...

As a non-map maker (I made that term up don't you know?!) I think I'll try learning using this idea as an admittedly low goal... :)

For another variation, how about saying that the only navigable spaces by the player should be in a very small range of floor elevations, say from -8 to 8? That would allow you to show details such as pools of liquid while keeping the player on the same "level," as it were, throughout the map. You could end up with something similar to AV MAP21(?), One Flew Over the Caco's Nest, which is what I thought of the moment I saw the title of this thread.

If you were to try to do it with literally no variation in floor heights, it seems like you'd want to do something like a hellish dungeon or catacomb where you could plausibly use the same floor texture (such as a dirt texture) for nearly the entire map, because with few exceptions it seems as though trying to have varying textures on the same elevation would end up looking ugly.

Play MAP02 of The Twilight Zone if you don't want height variation. Back in late 1996 / early 1997 I was too lazy to do this.

Snakes said:

I think I'd hate a wad of this nature, TBH. Height variation is one the #1 important things to me in level design and a huge tool for creating a variety in gameplay.

I gotta agree with this. I love stairs, I like lifts, I like short walls and pits as obstacles, I like a lot of changes in ceiling heights, I dont care how many sectors and vertices you can cram into a wad, I think it would look terrible if it's all on a single plane.

Anyone remeber Chasm? The poor man's Quake? - For the very limited height variation, the levels were pretty good considering. Well textured and good implementation of props and level settings.

Hahaha, I remember Chasm. Pretty neat game.

ZPack Z2M2 might qualify.

Maybe some of Chris Wright's wads too.

Pablo Dictter made a lot of good maps around the turn of the century, but some of them might fit this description.

Not to mention overdetailed corridor syndrome. Well I suppose he was trying to make ultra detail for doom2.exe so he was a bit limited.

Costa Lappas' 1Squares.wad uses this method in some of the levels

I like WADs with lots of height variation too, and so I think do most Doomers, but I think it would at least be an interesting idea. It would be an interesting challenge for mappers to try and create varied gameplay within that restriction.

I still think that the WAD should allow for

*Varied ceiling heights, to allow for narrow corridors, large outdoor areas, etc.
*Varied floor heights in inaccessible areas, to allow for more variety in wall detailing, decorative outdoor areas, etc.
*A standard deviation of maybe 16 (-8 to 8 is a good idea) to allow for different floors in different areas, pools of liquid, etc.

You could probably use Doom 1 episode 2 (particularly E2M3) as inspiration...

StupidBunny said:

I like WADs with lots of height variation too, and so I think do most Doomers, but I think it would at least be an interesting idea. It would be an interesting challenge for mappers to try and create varied gameplay within that restriction.

I still think that the WAD should allow for

*Varied ceiling heights, to allow for narrow corridors, large outdoor areas, etc.
*Varied floor heights in inaccessible areas, to allow for more variety in wall detailing, decorative outdoor areas, etc.
*A standard deviation of maybe 16 (-8 to 8 is a good idea) to allow for different floors in different areas, pools of liquid, etc.

That sounds good to me.

BurningCadavre said:

Hahaha, I remember Chasm. Pretty neat game.

It was a great game! What didn't exist in height variations, made up for with models to look like HV.