Hell Port 66 My first wad

[WolfBlue]

Hi all! new to this forum and also mapping but here is my first real map Hell Port 66!

 

This map took me 3 days to complete, its called hell port cause that name was the only one really sticking to me during its creation and it seemed to have few google results.

 

The IWAD is doom 2, I tested and can confirm it works in both gzdoom and skulltag would probably work in zdoom and zandronum aswell.

 

The music is "warfare" from the command and conquer soundtrack.

 

Hope you enjoy!

Hell Port 66.rar

[WolfBlue]

Map is 01 btw

[Magicana]

Did a playthrough of your map.

 

 

Just a few things (I'm a little drunk and very tired):

 

There was way too much ammo - I ended up picking up boxes of shells when I barely needed any ammo. I was using rockets like there was no tomorrow.

 

Lot of texture misalignments (And not just for secrets). It's fairly easy to line everything up in Doombuilder, and my version at least (I use Doom Builder X) has an autoalign button (Hotkey: A) that is really helpful.

 

I also noticed there were some doortrak that weren't marked lower unpegged (Meaning they move up/down with the door) - That will tend to annoy people.

 

Lot of nice big spaces, but without the combat to suit it. Huge halls with shotgunners aren't fun. The outside area with the multitude of monsters - I enjoyed that.

 

Hope to see more from you :).

[WolfBlue]

5 hours ago, Magicana said:

Did a playthrough of your map.

 

 

Just a few things (I'm a little drunk and very tired):

 

There was way too much ammo - I ended up picking up boxes of shells when I barely needed any ammo. I was using rockets like there was no tomorrow.

 

Lot of texture misalignments (And not just for secrets). It's fairly easy to line everything up in Doombuilder, and my version at least (I use Doom Builder X) has an autoalign button (Hotkey: A) that is really helpful.

 

I also noticed there were some doortrak that weren't marked lower unpegged (Meaning they move up/down with the door) - That will tend to annoy people.

 

Lot of nice big spaces, but without the combat to suit it. Huge halls with shotgunners aren't fun. The outside area with the multitude of monsters - I enjoyed that.

 

Hope to see more from you :).

Ah thanks for the feedback! will keep in mind for my next wad!.

 

Still figuring out whats good level design and what makes a fun level

[MaishyN]

Just played through your map. A few points to add from me:
 

1. The elevator in first big room works quite oddly. If you press the switch to move it up it won't lower again so if you fall you won't go any further.

2. There are a few quite interesting fights (like the outside space mentioned above by Magicana) but some others are like a joke (like a single arch-vile after BFG pick up). There is a huge room for improvement.

3. Most areas would greatly benefit from more details.

 

Overall a good first map!

 

2 hours ago, WolfBlue said:

Ah thanks for the feedback! will keep in mind for my next wad!.

 

Still figuring out whats good level design and what makes a fun level

 

While I'm not an experienced mapper I'd say that for a good level design you need a proper mix of encounters of increasing difficulty with relaxing periods between them and ideally a climax at the end. In game design field it is called Interest Curve (https://game-studies.fandom.com/wiki/Interest_Curve).

 

To make encounters interesting I'd suggest to think about things like:

- monsters to fight, their amount, composition, placement, order in which they will appear

- resources to fight them, ammo, weapons, health, armor, pickups, crusher switches etc. (take into account the possibility of causing monster infighting)

- Architecture of the area, amount of free space, elevation, places to cover, pits, danger zones etc.

Obviously more monsters, less resources and less space make the fight harder. Try to experiment with these to find balance. Usually variety between encounters is a good thing.

 

Parts of the level between these encounters may be some easier fights, platforming areas, puzzles etc.

 

Of course everything should be well polished and visually consistent.

 

Hope it helps a bit! Good luck with your future maps!

[Suitepee]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/466810679

 

I play this at 55:54 into this playtest livestream.

[WolfBlue]

Was going to make an improved version of this wad and made alotta progress, infact it was alot harder and more engaging but I made the decision of retexturing multiple walls and it crashed and I hadn't saved.

 

So I guess this wad will permanently remain a POS god awful map and what it is is what it is forever cause now I have 0 motivation to work on it, maybe a few years in the future.

 

Oh well it'll remain a sh!t stain on my mapping career and I will go on to bigger and better things

[meapineapple]

I played through your map @WolfBlue and recorded a video. Seems like you understand there's a lot of room for improvement, though I didn't think it was bad enough to be called a sh!tstain. It was a lot like many of the first maps I've played, making the same kinds of mistakes, but not the worst of them. The map isn't particularly visually detailed, the monster placement is kind of patternless and doesn't feel like much planning went into it, there's a softlock due to the lift in the big room by spawn only ever going up and down once, and I couldn't find the red key anywhere I looked. But I liked the room with the lifts and switches, I think the overall layout of the map was decent, I think some of the encounters were only a little bit more attention away from being quite enjoyable.