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HAK3180

When Do Your Maps Get Named?

Map Names  

80 members have voted

  1. 1. When in the mapping process do you give your map a name?

    • My maps are all called "Entryway"
      5
    • I have a map name before I do anything at all
      11
    • After some planning but before opening Doom Builder
      17
    • At some point during the "actual" mapping process
      29
    • When the map is complete or very close to complete
      18


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It's nice when people go out of their way to give their maps unique names, helps set them apart and make them more memorable. Still I don't think it's as important as the general theme and idea, a map name is something I can think of after I'm confident I won't change the map theme and ideas drastically, or else I might end up with an unfitting name, so I'd say at some point during the "actual" mapping process after I already have thought about those 2 elements and implemented them. There are times when I'm not entirely satisfied with the result so I keep changing it, that's why I generally avoid starting with a name because chances are it won't reflect what the map is by the time I'm done making it.

Edited by tempdecal.wad : to elaborate

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It varies between pre-planning (before opening GZDB) and during the mapping process.

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I come up with a name and build upon it as a concept, design decisions will naturally cause alterations in the name but generally that is how it goes.

 

Interestingly enough though they also have placeholder codenames too, for example I am working on a map named "amalgamation" but the code name is "milit" as it began life as a military base, then was merged into other maps which ditched the old name "checkpoint" and turned it into codename "Mjcast" or "castle" (because it was strapped onto a castle map) before being merged with more maps like "brn" or "baron" (a hellish mansion)... Eventually becoming "amalgamation" (a disjointedly connected mashup of ideas).

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I've always had a hard time coming up with names I like. This is honestly the main reason why Back to Saturn X's naming scheme is the way it is.

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A lot of interesting approaches. As for me, I usually don't plan a ton before Doom Building. When I can really sense the direction of the map and the aura, then usually I will give the map music and a little bit later a title.

Edited by HAK3180 : parapraxis

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I already have a list of about 50 possible wad names I've come up with that I like. Based on the theme of the map I pick one.

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I have a notepad where I have everything related to Map Ideas, stuff to do, etc.

From there, I think about the stuff for my WAD, get the main Ideas and then I can give it a name.

For example, if I called a map "The Return of the Cyber" from the start, I could get my mind to imagine every single possibility and from there make a map related to Cybers and anything else.

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I'm one of those goofuses who more often than not picks the name before I ever lay down a linedef. Most maps of mine are heavily tied to a concept, and the name is a big part of that.

 

The biggest exception, funny enough, is BTSX, 'cause for some reason I keep changing names a bunch of times before release. Two different E3 maps of mine have been called "Substitute Heaven" at some point, and neither of them have that name anymore. :P

 

Also, I feel like that poll needs a 6th option for NaturalTvventy's sake that reads "when Xaser picks the map name for him." :P

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^ myself as well. As far as the options in the OP go I'm sure I've done each of them at least once, but (what I consider to be) my best maps are usually the ones where an "identity" made itself clear very early on in the process (map name, midi, various intangibles).

 

+1 on team notepad-document-full-of-title-candidates, too

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I've realized that there are several empty folders for ideas I had for maps, but never actually started.
Three I might start working on are Flesh and Ferrite, Hellions Razing, and Auto Destruct.

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Personally I find it difficult to think of map names, and for me at least it hangs in the back of my head and distracts me from the mapping process. So I name my maps with working titles using the NATO phonetic alphabet (alpha, beta...). Admittedly drab but it helps me focus on the work.

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22 hours ago, Spectre01 said:

Any examples of such a phenomenon? As in good maps with terrible or ill-fitting names.

 

E2M8: Tower of Babel

 

The name of this map always bothered me. It still bothers me. I try to use my imagination and think, "well, this is just the top of the tower", and then it bothers me even more. Then I tell myself, "it's ok... they had severe technical limitations, they couldn't possibly make a tower, this was the best they could do, just enjoy the map and have fu-" THEN DON'T CALL THE MAP A TOWER.

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shoresofhellmap.png.a438733724095b0d6d74c1ea745e0462.png

 

 

There ain't no lift taking you up from the Spawning Vats. I'm sorry, kind sir. And I don't even want to DISCUSS the bubble/dome shape of the top of that tower in that picture... and its utter lack of flatness... which is so present... in E2M8... brain... dying... 

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20 hours ago, esselfortium said:

I've always had a hard time coming up with names I like. This is honestly the main reason why Back to Saturn X's naming scheme is the way it is.

 

I've always wondered how the Map names of the BTSX's were created because I've always loved them; they're very unique and it certainly sets them apart from all the rest. When I am playing a Doom Wad, the first thing I do when I start a new map is to pull up the name of it. Sometimes, the name can give you a little indication as to what your'e in for. You don't get that luxury with the names of the Maps in the BTSX series LOL!! (" e.g., "Postal Blowfish", "Big Chief Chinese Restaurant ", "Useless Inventions" and my fave, "Unstable Journey").

 

The names of the Maps are just *ONE* of the millions of reasons both BTSX's are still my top 2 fave WADS of all time.

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It's hard for me to start a map without a sense of what it's going to be, what sort of place it's meant to suggest, what sort of action is going to primarily take place, or what sort of visual themes are going to dominate - these are all things that can suggest a name to me, an in general I'm going to have picked at least a placeholder name for what I want to work on before I put pen to Doom Builder.  I don't often have a mental picture of what I want to build that's clear enough for me to begin work on the level without that mental picture also being clear enough to suggest a name.  Of course, as things change and develop during the creative process that placeholder name may be discarded in favour of something that better fits the theme, tone, and layout of the finished map.

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