Compare your first map to your latest!

[elend]

Just want to jump in real quick here and say, that all your examples are inspiring for a newcomer like me. I don't even have my second map finished yet, but it's good to see that almost everyone starts off small (maybe except Bauul) and improvement seems inevitable if you just keep on mapping and consider constructive criticism and stay open to new things.

[Gaia74]

2 hours ago, Empyre said:

Here is the first map as it was in the late 90s (1997?) when I thought it was finished.  It was later split into 4 maps because my friend said it was too big.  All 4 maps still get tweaks now, as I continue to release new versions of my compilation, Empyrion.

  Reveal hidden contents

The overview in GZDoom Builder:

Where you spawn, in the first Doom room I ever made:

A few yards (or meters) straight ahead:

And finally, outside:

 

Here is my latest released map.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

i remember that maps xD

[Capellan]

Man, my very first map was a perfectly flat maze of 64-wide corridors with tyson gameplay.  It's pretty safe to say that the only thing from it that has survived into my latest maps is that I still actually quite like startan.

[NaturalTvventy]

Doomed

End1.wad

E2M9

Released: 1997

Spoiler

 

Boom Stick in the Mud

BoomSITM.wad

MAP01

Released: 2019

Spoiler

 

They're basically the same map. Apparently I haven't changed my style in 22 years. Similarities include...

 

Spoiler

 

An exit door requiring a yellow key:

 

Optional blue keys:

 

Extensive optional areas:

 

Fake teleport exits:

 

A big arena fight after the fake teleport exit:

 

A secret invulnerability to help get you through the arena fight:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2019 by NaturalTvventy

[joepallai]

Love this thread!

 

First map I started (1996):   

 

 

 

 

First map I completed (1996):

 

 

 

Most recently completed (2018):

 

 

 

Map currently working on (2018 - 2019):

 

 

 

 

 

You know I'm feel like I'm only starting to get good after all these years.   I know the tools better (and there's features that exist now that save so much work and heart ache -- Thank you Visplane Explorer!)  (Just need to appreciate the segs limit tool more....)  More importantly I know Doom better.

 

At the start of  my mapping career I loved the larger, more exploratory levels.   I've gone back to that but adjusted my difficulty over the years as I've gotten better at the game and have had access to some great play-testers.   Texturing is still scary and I tend to stick to one color throughout a map (or a single theme).  I still build my levels like they were a real place and I try not to do the same thing too often.  Right now I am just trying to finish the various maps that I've started before doing anything else.    (I use to start multiple maps for multiple projects; I can't do that anymore, so I focus on one thing at a time).   

 

[Snakes]

Interestingly enough, when I went back and looked at the last map I ever made (at least non-speedmap category), I found that it was a 'back to basics' kind of map for UR. Map24 to be exact. Here's the first map I ever made:

Spoiler

 

And here's the last map I made for UR:

Spoiler

 

What's really telling is two things:

 

1) Format: I never ever tried Hexen format again. When I was a new mapper, I thought it was a really exciting idea. Doom with scripting and slopes! Awesome. Turns out I hated everything about trying that and ultimately left it behind. I'm a smash-n-grab mapper by nature. I love the chaotic nature that Doom can give, and I have and will continue to dedicate myself to that style of play.

 

2) Time to create: That last UR map probably took about 4-5 hours to complete if memory serves correctly. It has a fully-functional bridge with railings, a morphing main area, and a few quirky visuals to shift things up. By contrast, that first map probably took a few days to get into a functioning, non-buggy mess. Also, if memory serves correctly, UR24 became more orthogonal as I built around it, with the easternmost corner being tacked on at the end. Kind of weird.

 

It's interesting that through all of the slight tweaks I've made to my approach and style to mapping, I always come back to the run-and-gun heart of Doom. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a good ol-fashioned cluster-fuck.

[bemused]

i like the idea of this thread :) 
I dont have pics of my first ever map anymore, but i have pics of my 2nd...

Made in early 2016, featuring groundbreaking level design such as a crate maze, car park, illogical backtracking across almost the entire map with no hints or clues, and sound tubes(!)


And the latest map im currently finishing up.. featuring..... none of those things! :D

[HAK3180]

@bemused, that first one actually looks kinda fun, haha.

[Nirvana]

My first map is lost to the sands of time I think, but I played my 2nd map on stream today and it was a real banger. Here it is:

 

This is my latest map, Entropy (shameless plug):

 

[valkiriforce]

Um well:

 

 

[SaladBadger]

Spoiler

My earliest map. for ZD. the "do not noclip" sector has a bunch of "actor enters sector" things that cause instant death if you enter it because i thought the idea of anyone cheating in my maps was utterly reprehensible and shouldn't be done ever. Even though I did it all the time. Who knows.

Spoiler

My first released map, that I remember. I was suffering from a pretty severe case of "worshipping t667-itis" at the time so I made this piece of trash with way too many borders and shit. it didn't do very well, and I would always tell people to just skip it.

Spoiler

My most recently released map, Starlight Sanctuary. why does it feel like my mapping never improved...

[Walter confetti]

First map ever made, 1997 circa:

Latest map i made, still WIP

I think that quite a lot of things changed, isn't it? Sure, mapping style is still basic, but there's quite more detail attention now...

[nrofl]

@Walter confetti The pictures arent showing up, just showing a file name right now. Is that a problem on my end?

[Walter confetti]

Pictures shows for me... Maybe it's a problem on your connection...

[nrofl]

Well never mind! Guess I just had to refresh the page and it shows :)

[Chainie]

First map(Recreation):

Latest map(WIP):

[Snikle]

I haven't ever released anything, but I know I will eventually. I did finish a map last week for an episode-sized project that I'd release someday.

 

First map from two years ago:

I may fix it up someday for some kind of "Back to the '90s" CP.

 

Spoiler

 

MAP01 for my unnamed OTEX Hell WAD:

With any luck at all, the episode will be done before the end of the year.

Spoiler

I know I've changed a lot as a mapper since then, though I do still enjoy large open areas with liquid floors. I've grown very fond of mixing natural and artificial styles, so even though the idea of both maps is similar (Large liquid area in the middle surrounded by smaller areas) they look very different. I've been greatly influenced by PWADs since I made that first map. When I did that, all I'd played was Doom II, but now I've played all the modern greats.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Snikle

[Havoc Crow]

Oldest map:

Spoiler

Naval Battle (2005)

For those interested, a detailed description is here.

 

Newest map:

Spoiler

Azazel Installation (2018)

Well both of these maps look... really orthogonal, despite the 13 years of difference.