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invictius

Should I make ITYTD in my wads about as easy as an FPS?

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I've been given slots 1-4 of a SP community project, I'm thinking of making level 1 with no keys and doom/doom2 kind of "nobody could get lost here" format.  A key on level two then so on until all colors are required.  My first time on a FPS was on Jaguar Doom and I distinctly remember Command/Control being the first speed bump I hit in terms of navigation.

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Depends on the tone of the project. If it's intended to emulate the style of KDITD or something similar, then absolutely do keep it simple and think a lot about having landmarks and distinct areas.

 

Otherwise it becomes a matter of personnal preference, though the first map is always a useful oppotunity to introduce new game mechanics if the project has any.

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IMHO, I believe that all maps should have excellent flow~ even if the paths intertwine, you should never be looking too long for a switch or where to go next. When you smack a switch, make it immediately obvious what has changed. When you grab a new key, have the natural progression of the level take you back to where you need to use it. If your level requires repeated head-scratching or map consultations, something has gone wrong. Doom is supposed to fast paced as a general rule of thumb.

 

Personally, I like Map 01's to be relatively low threat as well; no more than say three dozen monsters, with Pinkys as your limit; building to around 45-70 with a couple of Hell Knights, or a Revenant by Map 4. I mean, ITYTD on Doom 1's E1M1 has literally like 3 monsters, and only gives you a shotgun if you deliberately backtrack for a secret. But then again, some players are insane and apparently like to immediately see a 300 monster slaughter including 12 Archviles and a Cyberdemon by Map 2, so you're never going to please everyone.

 

 

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I think otherwise. We've seen the standard simple, low-threat MAP01 countless times now. I'm personally looking for something different that will grab me right away and say "hey, this is going to be a different experience". Do something that people won't expect from your first map, even if it's not necessarily a huge change-up. Think of what you either haven't seen much on the first map, or haven't seen at all. This goes for early-game progression as a whole, really. It doesn't have to be all that hard, for what it's worth; there's nothing wrong with easier maps provided they're still interesting in some way.

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I agree with @Urthar, it depends on the project. Unless it's specifically emulating doom.wad or doom2.wad then I don't think you need to be so handholdy as everyone already knows how to play Doom. There should be a sense of progression in difficulty but it's not like SMB 1-1 where you need to teach players to jump on goombas, over pits etc, people already know all this.

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On 7/8/2018 at 11:04 PM, eharper256 said:

Personally, I like Map 01's to be relatively low threat as well; no more than say three dozen monsters, with Pinkys as your limit; building to around 45-70 with a couple of Hell Knights, or a Revenant by Map 4. I mean, ITYTD on Doom 1's E1M1 has literally like 3 monsters, and only gives you a shotgun if you deliberately backtrack for a secret.

 

 

Are there any megawads that stand out in your mind as following this?  I mean, ignoring projects where it was a given like KDIZD or other iwad-emulating mapsets.

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3 hours ago, invictius said:

 

Are there any megawads that stand out in your mind as following this?  I mean, ignoring projects where it was a given like KDIZD or other iwad-emulating mapsets.

 

The Original Scythe? Whispers of Satan? Echelon (Counting the first four maps)? Khorus? Zone 300?

 

Those are just off the top of my head. They're also some of my favourites because the descent into high monster madness is usually much more gradual and fair, compared the crazy nonsense of Plutonia 2 and Sunlust and the like. But generally it appears I'm in the minority here, in liking a gradual difficulty curve (shrug).

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