An adventure game fan's first DOOM WAD - "One of Those Days"

[Space Quest Historian]

Hi, I'm the Space Quest Historian. I mostly play adventure games. But then I watched a fellow YouTuber play some custom DOOM WADs and decided to make a WAD of my own. I've tried making levels before, back in the days of DOS and WADED, and found the tools to be completely beyond my capabilities. Now, with Doom Builder 2, things have gotten slightly easier, and I can now present my first ever replacement episode WAD.

 

As per instructions, here are the deetz:

 

This is a DOOM 1 WAD. It does not use any replacement textures, monsters, or sounds (other than music and title/credits/intermission screens). I've only tested it with Ultimate DOOM, but as far as I can tell it doesn't use anything specific to Ultimate DOOM.

 

This is a story-driven single-player level pack. There are no deathmatch spawn points. The levels, when played together, form a cohesive story (which is very stupid).

 

There are 8 levels, not counting "level 0" which is just an introductory level with no monsters. There are no secret levels.

 

Jumping and crouching are disabled. You can reenable them if you want, but you're not supposed to.

 

Mouse-look, however, is definitely encouraged, because there are a lot of nasties hiding out in high places.

 

There are differences in difficulty levels, but haven't tested them very well. Original experience is Ultra-Violence. I myself am unable to play that because, surprise, I suck at DOOM, so have fun with that.

 

I made a bunch of beginner's mistakes, like switches that don't immediately reveal what they do, and spelling out weird shit with sectors. Be gentle. It's my first time.

 

I've only tested and run this in ZDOOM, so let's save ourselves a bunch of headache and just say it only runs in ZDOOM.

 

I did the music for it in Anvil Studio. The soundtrack is included in the zip.

 

Download v1.0 here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YnV_MX5iC2CgG-EzagoJuy4vQQKc63l6/view?usp=sharing

 

Obligatory screenshots attached that don't really reveal much about the gameplay but whatever that's cool.

[Spladam]

Cool, from what Idspi posted on twitter it looks fun. I'll check it out later this week. Balancing for UV was a safe bet, as most everyone is going to try it on UV the first time. 

[riscoloco]

Just finished my playthrough i liked the story between levels sewer level was my favourite pretty much killed everything on the levels apart from the back to earth level that was huge and the monsters were dotted around to far apart for me to care about killing them all but thats just me.thanks for sharing and looking forward to what you make next.

[Relinquished]

Hey SQH,

 

I've finished a play through of your map set and will comment on each map individually, and then afterwards I'll mention what I feel you can improve on, and also what you are doing well already. I feel its important to give honest feedback as I want to help out if I can.

E1M1: A solid opening map. It could use a few extra monsters in certain areas as it feels a little sparse at times. I liked the height changes as you progress through, and I think it was this map that has a blood pile with blood across the floor, which was a nice detail. The room with the wooden walls and the imps felt a little cramped. I liked the final red key room, although the monsters seem a little stuck when you first walk in.
E1M2: One of my favourite maps in the set. Again, you use height well to give the player a greater sense of exploration, which I appreciated. I enjoyed the cave area with the barons. Overall I really liked this one. I do have something to say about your use of switches later, but I'll get to that.
E1M3: Same as E1M2, I enjoyed playing through it. The fake exit was a nice touch and I liked the aesthetics of the map. I don't have a huge amount to say about this one.

E1M4: This map plays well and is interesting to navigate. The first room you can enter suffers from the cramped problem of E1M1, but apart from that I really like this one. The yellow key area is well done and gives you a sense hell is tearing the base apart. I also enjoyed the red key area, especially when you go outside. I did notice in the end credits that other mappers contributed to that one, and after replaying it briefly I got the sense different areas were done by different mappers, but on an initial play through it felt cohesive.
E1M5: My only issue with this map is its not obvious to the player that the grey ash textured block has a teleporter inside it you have to jump down to. I did spot it on my initial play through, but there was considerable downtime where I was running around wondering where to go. A small issue, but worth baring in mind for the future.
E1M6: I agree with riscoloco here, this is the best map in the wad in my opinion. I'll go into detail about this one in a moment. Great job!
E1M7: Unfortunately, the best is followed by my least favourite map. The main problem is the map has huge, wide open, spaces that causes a couple of issues as a result. First of these is that many of the monsters, who fire slow moving projectiles, become almost threat-less. You've got all the time in the world to dodge their projectiles, but its also a massive pain to have to run up to them from miles away, shoot them, and then repeat for another batch another mile away. Secondly, and why these kind of spaces should be mostly avoided when making maps, is that if the player is caught out in the open against the hit scanners (zombie men, sergeants, etc) there's nothing you can do about it except take the hit. In the case of this map I didn't have a problem in that regard, but I'm mentioning it as a point to take away for your future projects. Also, due to the area being so large to navigate, I honestly became bored. The fun of DooM comes from combat situations and navigating through those situations, which massive open areas tend to dissolve. This isn't to say you can't make large open maps, far from it, but you have to consider what kind of experience you want the player to have.
E1M8: Right off the bat its important to say the strobe effect at the start of this map could genuinely cause certain people problems, so I would seriously consider whether this is necessary. As it happened it was only at the start of the map, but to be honest here, I was seconds away from exiting the map. Apart from that, this one is OK. There are some missing textures on the second section as you release the barons from their lava area; specifically on the sectors that lower after you press the switch. The Cyberdeamon area is OK, although as the previous map, the overall play area feels too large for the amount of enemies that occupy the space. It means, as I mentioned before, the Cybers aren't very threatening as its easy to dodge their rockets with so much space.

 

As a general thing, but at certain times I felt there were too many switches. A good example of this is on E1M5. There is a part where you teleport over to a ledge to flick a switch, which raises a small platform, so you can flick another switch (or perhaps go through a teleporter, I can't remember 100%). Some of them seemed unnecessary as a result. As you continue to make maps you'll think of other ways to move the progression along, but again I felt it important to note. The distribution of health was off on certain maps, but this is something you'll get a handle on over time.   

I want to finish on a positive note as for a first map set this has some really good ideas! This brings me to our lovely sewer map. I would recommend replaying this map yourself and comparing it to E1M7 as a reference. The map has a great flow to it, you have to watch out for the radioactive parts, and you introduce the radioactive suits at the right time in the level. The music was great on this one as it suited the theme well I thought. The overall map space here is done well. The corridors are sizeable, which gives you room to manoeuvre, but you don't get too much room, so you have to dodge fireballs and engage more with the enemies that are presented to you. The theme of the level is cohesive throughout and feels very Knee Deep in the Dead.

 

Overall this is a good start! I look forward to seeing your future work.

[Space Quest Historian]

Oh my! Thank you for your comments, everyone.

 

I want to especially thank @Relinquished for the very detailed review. Here's a few tidbits about the levels that are in no way meant as a defense -- I loved everything you said, even the "negative" points, and I wholeheartedly take them as constructive criticism. They're just observations about where my headspace was when I made them.

 

First of all: I done goofed. Incredibly much. The 4th level is NOT the one that was co-designed with my mates DavidN and PickledDog. It is actually the 3rd level. I don't know how I managed to miscount that, but I did. To be clear: Level 3 was co-designed. All the other levels weren't. Here's a link to a video of us actually making the level.

 

E1M1: I'm glad you liked this one, as it was the first map I've ever done. :) I agree, the cramped wooden room is very cramped. It was supposed to mimic the crampedness of cubicle office hell, but replaying it myself I also think it just makes it unnecessarily hard to manoeuver. The relative lack of monsters was to try and make it more tense from a story perspective -- as in, where is everyone? why is there blood everywhere? But if you're playing it as a DOOM level expecting a DOOM style experience, it's a bit disappointing to not have more things to shoot. And yeah, it's pretty comical that the pinky demons can't climb stairs. So I probably shouldn't have put one in the altar room. But he just looks so cute. ;)

 

E1M2: I agree, this is a very switch-happy map. And actually the original version of this was even more switch-happy. Originally, you had to go up to "Toilet Tower" (the marble tower) and flip a switch to lower the barrier around the switch next to the "Pirate Ship." That made no sense 'cos you couldn't even see the "Pirate Ship" from up there. So now, "Toilet Tower" is completely optional, but has a lovely plasma gun to offer you for your troubles. Still, this is one of the maps I think of when I say I need to get better with at least showing people what the switches they flip actually do.

 

E1M3: This is the one that was co-designed with DavidN and PickledDog. DavidN did the basics of the cave layout (the bloody river separating the two outcroppings) and the hidden monster closet where monsters teleport in when you take the yellow key. PickledDog did the fake-out exit, so I can't take credit for that one. ;)

 

E1M4: This is a very schizo map, I agree. Story-wise, you're on Earth for the first few rooms (as you say, Hell is taking over), and then you get into the bloody chunks room beyond the red door and teleport straight back to Hell (the outdoor area). In retrospect, I shouldn't have tried to do so much with just one map. Either you're in Hell or you're not. But in this one, you start out in one, and then go into another. Also, I thought the mad dash to the elevator to flip the final switch at the end would be a fun challenge, but having played it myself a few times, I realize it's actually just annoying.

 

E1M5: Hole needs to be a more obvious exit, got it. Absolutely agree. This was sort of my "E1M2 pt. 2" where I tried to do an open map with more of a structure. You've essentially got three walls that need to go down (three switches), and they're located at each end of the map, but you can do each of them in any order you choose. This was me trying to adapt an adventure game principle to DOOM -- if you've ever played Full Throttle, for instance, there's a bit at the start where you need to find three parts for your bike, and it gives you a bunch of locations where you can go pick them up in any order you choose.

 

E1M6: I never thought anyone would ever say, "The sewer level was the best part." Isn't that anathemic to 3D shooter lore? :) Thank you for saying this, though. This was the map I was the most concerned about because, initially, DavidN had a lot of trouble figuring out what to do in the big maze at the end. I simplified a couple of things as a result: Now the switch you need for the elevator is always visible (it was hidden in the floor originally), and I moved it so it's in direct line of sight with the elevator it lowers. I'm really glad you like this because this was actually the one level where I thought, "What the hell am I doing. This is awful," half-way through, and I almost scrapped it completely.

 

E1M7: This map was originally three times as big as it is now. There were three city streets, each one with a row of buildings on each side. Each one had one building that stood out (police station, bar, warehouse). DavidN said this was ludicrous. So now it's just one street. I'm not sure what I was thinking, other than, "To hell with it. Let's build a whole damn town." Now, having done it, I'm starting to see why there aren't a lot of open-world-ish maps in DOOM. Live and learn kind of thing.

Edit (addendum): Oh yeah, and the teleporter to the "Outhouse" exit was located in the blood fountain. I moved it to the front and built the weird tech-flesh structure instead so the goal was more apparent when you teleported in. Again, it's the same adventure game principle as E1M5, but not pulled off as good.

 

E1M8: This one I'm the least proud of. It plays like an afterthought and it really was. I didn't think enough in terms of playability and got very sidetracked by the admittedly very sappy message that spells out in the automap. I guess I was really done with the whole thing before I even started making this map, so it is very much an afterthought that's less interested in the player having fun and more interested in me being a dour twat.

 

Again, thank you for your comments! It will be some time before I decide to make another DOOM level, but I'm glad you had fun with this one.

 

 

[Suitepee]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/418174840

 

Played this LAST during the playtesting stream. Not bad for a first mapset, although I didn't enjoy E1M7 so much and ended up having to noclip out of the level as I couldn't find out how to progress; in my opinion, E1M7 could have been half the size.

 

For some reason I quite liked having to gradually "reveal" the text on E1M8.

[Space Quest Historian]

E1M7 is definitely a sore spot. So is E1M8, too, actually. I really should have stopped at 6, and I see that now.

 

E1M7 was an experiment more than anything. I wanted to build a whole town. And I sat down and did so. It had three streets and three times as many buildings as there are now. It was a mess. If you want to see how bad of a mess it was, have a look at @DavidN trying to play the original test version of it: