my new wad the temple is out!

[pop13lolol]

this is a wad that took me about a month to make. in this wad you are exploring an ancient, demon filled temple. 

Let me know on doomworld what you think of it and if you find any errors please let me know! 

this wad is to be run with doom 2!

enjoy!

also to make this wad look its best with its cool lighting please run it with open GL. if you cant dont worry it will work regardless!

the temple.zip

[reflex17]

I played your map on Ultra-Violence, it took me about half an hour or so. I killed most of the monsters and found zero secrets.

(maybe too well hidden hehe. Secrets are called that for a reason though and can add some replayability too). 

 

It was a fun level! I can see your skills of map-making improve even as I progressed along, which is a nice thing to see. GL lights were turned on. I used freelook and had jumping/crouching enabled, but I didn't use them too much.

 

The following spoiler is my review, divided into positive/negative sides.  

 

Cool avatar btw lol.

 

+positive aspects

____________________________

Spoiler

 

 

- The level "works" - nothing is broken, like no crashes or weird effects that can stop the gameplay as far as I could see.

- Choice of multiple ways to go at the start were good, even if two of those lifts led to key doors and some items.

- I liked the texture choices mostly. Vines on the outside, bricks and lava underneath. Just by texturing it felt like I was going further along into a temple. 

- Map detailing was done nicely, things like the skull piles, gargoyle faces and fire cages fit well and looked interesting.

- The gameplay geometry was also cool, there was a few parts I felt like Indiana Jones or something like that, running across pillars. I like platforming but some others don't. The amount here is just fine imo. I also don't mind instant-death pits but a lot of players find it frustrating to find somewhere with no lift/teleport to escape.

- The traps/monster closets and the general monster mix were nice. Traps were all at appropriate parts and didn't feel unbalanced. 

- I liked how there were a few traps at first, and then when I picked up the first key a door opened, but it was not a trap. In most maps keys open ambushes, that is usually the "standard" way. By doing traps first, and then having a situation like a key that opens a door which is not a trap, it messes with the player's expectation, and confusing what the average player expects can make for a more interesting level.

 

 

-negative aspects

____________________________

Spoiler

 

 

- Some minor misalignments and other places where door textures aren't centered or lined up, keeping an eye on this stuff only happens with experience and repeated testing. Nothing major considering how everything was set up. When you have a decoration like the flame cages in the red brick rooms, you can try upper/lower unpegging the 2-sided line to help with alignment with the walls. 

 

- The "non-gameplay" geometry is all mostly straight lines and rectangular rooms. That's fine here and there, but in a completely visual sense much of the same geometry for the 'outer walls' of the areas is repeated. Boxy rooms aren't a problem to gameplay as it is, but different angles and shapes can make your map more visually unique and open possibilities for cool interconnections etc. Most of this map was moving in straight lines, additional side areas or even impassable windows with decoration would benefit the map, I think. Mappers often suggest playing a lot of other levels for inspiration/ideas. A tech-base can be a temple if the wallpaper gets changed. 

 

- Along with the geometry I thought there were too many torches/candelbras that blocked the player and attacks. Pillars/walls to break up an area are fine, and they can have some lighting objects inset, or on raised sectors, so there is much less interference with movement. With this many torches it can be difficult to tell where the edges are and get tangled up or use ammo needlessly.

 

- Although the enemy mixes and encounters were mostly good, some spots could use work. For example I noticed a Pinkie across the first pit I think, which makes the enemy totally ineffective. Most players would recommend that enemies should be placed where they can be some threat to the player. Again, designing the map to flow in more than one direction can help to add unpredictability to the combat as well. Generally speaking though, enemy types were placed here fairly well. The second-to-last fight in the "grand hall" was a little tight on movement, some of the skull piles could be reduced to allow more freedom, and the Arachnotrons could attack from the sides more so they are more threatening, imo.

 

- There's a bit too much health in the level, this can be a tough balance to strike because small changes can have a large impact. Since I played on UV and saw a bit too much, I would say maybe remove some, or set to appear only on easier difficulties. 

 

- Early on there was a bit too much ammo, the starting area is fine though because the player goes through multiple times to beat the level. I mean after the first teleporter mostly. On the other hand, much later when I got to the fight with many barons on a bridge I had not enough ammo to deal with the situation. Back-tracking can be fine but as a level designer you generally don't want the player running too far away from major planned encounters. There might have been enough ammo in the map but at that point it was tough to feel like backtracking. Arch-viles surrounded by lots of high-health enemies can require a lot of resources to defeat, so somewhere in the last half of the map I could've used a backpack item and/or more shells and plasma ammo/rockets. 

 

- One thing I personally don't like most of the time is when items are placed where it's mandatory that the player has to pick them up. In almost all cases items should be optional imo, even single armor bonuses for example, because the player might not need or want them. Either the player is nearly full on something, or who knows, they could be doing a "pistol only" challenge run or some crazy thing. More "interactive" item placement can add replayability to the map at least, and also give you new ideas on how to think about the gameplay areas. Every situation requires different consideration of course, so this topic is very subjective.

 

- There is one spot where the path splits into two red hallways - on one side is a fireblu closet, the other side raises up a hell knight and baron to attack the player. Both traps are fine but if the player runs ahead on the side that doesn't trigger the barons, they can activate and walk off their platforms, wandering in the pit down below which makes them very difficult to fight. You can solve this by making the 3 sides of both platforms that are not connected to the main walkway set to block monsters, this way they will not wander but can still get out when their trap is set off.

 

NOTE: Just because there is more text for "minus" points, please don't think I review this as a bad map!

I try to give as much detailed feedback as I can, so every level can possibly improve over the one before it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As always these are only suggestions, the best thing to do is follow your own style and experiment with different things. Overall I would say it was a good map and if you continue on it, or make others, I wish you good luck. 

 

If you have any questions or want clarification in regards to this post, feel free to quote part of it or @ me, I will do my best to respond.

[pop13lolol]

thank you very much for this great feedback! Ive never gotten such a long review of a map before XD. Anyway i will defiantly use the stuff in the negative section for feedback for my next wad. anyway thanks again i'm glad you liked it!

[kknot5889]

Here's my playthrough with commentary:

 

 

Hope all that helps. Thanks for sharing!

[DavidN]

Decent work - you're getting the hang of things :) reflex17's feedback above is very insightful, and I got the same feeling of unease from that door springing open when picking up the first key! The layout is a very straight shot at first but begins to vary as you go - it turns the map into something unconventional, like a string of individual challenges on a set of paths.

 

Here's my own first playthrough!

 

This video was sponsored by the Send Lawyers to Hell appeal! Playing Doom WADs to raise money for RAICES.

http://bit.ly/sendlawyers
https://streamlabs.com/davidxn/v2