Can't Come Up With Any Ideas

[Starwind Amada]

What are some ways to think up a design? Should I build something focused on ranged combat? Maybe a maze-like map? Perhaps a map that has only heavy weapons and lots of armor and health but little ammo? Should the level be shaped like something (I think E1M1 from TUD is shaped like a horseshoe)? I don't know.

[Asking4Id]

I vote against a maze like map and against little ammo.

[Solmyr]

Try brainstorming for an hour, write down what you got from it, then draw some isolated rooms with different shapes and elevations in a map editor to test out and experiment with your combat ideas. 

Another sugestion, limitation often breeds creativity, that idea of a map focusing on heavy weapons only with lots of armor sounds good, a map doesn't need to have the full enemy roster and the full arsenal of weapons and ammo to be fun.

[PeterMoro]

A good way to break out of the box of square room, corridor, square room is to create rooms and corridors from letters in the alphabet. Don't actually write words, that's dumb, but use the shapes to create areas. They are simple shapes and thus easy to incorporate. I suppose the most obvious example would DoomII's Circle of Death (map 11). 

 

Try to incorporate story into your mapping in that way all areas can have a purpose story wise and so they feel natural and immersive. For example: to enter the executive's office which has the nice armour, you'll need to get the key from the guard room which is guarded by two Mancubi. There are many ways to incorporate story into your maps, just look at all the mechanical possibilities available eg. Raising / lowering stairs and lifts, finding keys, shooting switches to reach new areas, traps, dark areas that needs nightvision googles, etc. Just one concept could be the basis of an entire map. 

 

Another thing that helps me get out of mapper's block is: just doodle and scribble and don't become to strict about what you are doing (well maybe just for one day). Being too strict and critical is one of the most unproductive things you can do to yourself, creativity-wise. Don't try to be amazing, just keep doing stuff, even if it's junk it's ok as long as you just keep going and get used to being productive even when you are feeling "off". You can always scrap your work tomorrow or improve it when you are "in the zone" some other time. It's amazing how good some "junky" ideas can turn out. You might surprise yourself. 

Good luck : )

[Asking4Id]

I don't agree with dark areas being good. Some brainstorming ideas are bound to be controversial (such as this one).

[Starwind Amada]

3 hours ago, PeterMoro said:

A good way to break out of the box of square room, corridor, square room is to create rooms and corridors from letters in the alphabet. Don't actually write words, that's dumb, but use the shapes to create areas.

 

There goes my idea to make a bunch of maps that are basically curse words on the map.

 

MAP01: F**K

MAP02: S**T

MAP03: C**T

MAP04: B***H

MAP05: M***ERF***ER (this one has a Cyberdemon)

[Wereknight]

6 hours ago, Starwind Amada said:

There goes my idea to make a bunch of maps that are basically curse words on the map.

Would be a mistake and very Terry-ish.

[Horus]

On 2/16/2020 at 8:58 PM, Starwind Amada said:

What are some ways to think up a design? Should I build something focused on ranged combat? Maybe a maze-like map? Perhaps a map that has only heavy weapons and lots of armor and health but little ammo? Should the level be shaped like something (I think E1M1 from TUD is shaped like a horseshoe)? I don't know.

 

Well I've only released 3 maps so far but this is what has worked for me:

 

Think about what you like in Doom levels, and other games. Which levels did you enjoy and why? This could be combat scenarios, aesthetic, lighting, particular textures, monsters, type of gameplay (e.g. puzzle, platforming, slaughter, etc).

 

Then try and make that kind of map in your own image (without copying it outright).

 

For example, my first map (Fluidity), the idea came about through my like of the Doom liquid textures, so I made a map themed around three of them. Then the water temple from Ocarina of Time was also on my mind at the time, which is where the idea of having a frequently changing water level came from. I also enjoy platforming elements in games (I also created some platforming levels for Halo using Forge) hence I blended in some platforming sections too

 

Then my second map (64kb map: Doomfighter 63 1/3), I wanted to make a hell map, as it's one of my favourite themes. I also enjoy Tyson gameplay with low HP monsters (conversely I hate punching high HP monsters), hence that's how my map started.

 

Finally my third map (64kb map: Quite a Ride), I was inspired by the very first time I played map 15 of Plutonia (The Twilight), where I had a feeling of needing to be constantly on the run, not being safe anywhere. Hence I created a start requiring constant movement, even if the aesthetic is very different from the map I was influenced by. I was also playing Ancient Aliens at the time, and recently finished Egyptian Metaphysics, a level which had an interesting use of the blursphere in an area with a mix of loads of chaingunners (very helpful) and projectile monsters (not very helpful). So I also introduced that mechanic to my level, even though it plays out differently in my map. 

[Doom_Dude]

On 2/17/2020 at 5:33 AM, Starwind Amada said:

There goes my idea to make a bunch of maps that are basically curse words on the map.

 

There's no reason at all to not do that. I've done this myself and It's interesting to see what you can build within the letters. I haven't used curse words but I've certainly used words like DooM and various numbers. Plus you can build areas outside the letters if you want. So go for it if you want to do that. It's good to experiment.

 

 

 

[Redneckerz]

I would propose an Escher like map, not from EscherDoom, but the author M.C Escher:

 

Try to mess with projection within Doom. I am sure this has been attempted before, but its still novelty enough i feel to atleast be inspired by it :)

[unidenti7ied]

On 2/17/2020 at 5:46 AM, Solmyr said:

limitation often breeds creativity

I can fully agree with that.

Try to give yourself mapping-limitations such as 'I can only use 50 sectors' or 'I can only use 10 Textures' etc..

On 2/17/2020 at 7:05 AM, PeterMoro said:

A good way to break out of the box of square room, corridor, square room is to create rooms and corridors from letters in the alphabet.

Never thought about that, I'll definitely try it out later :)

[plums]

Try to find something that inspires you and that you can make a map, or even part of a map, around. This could be an image, a gameplay idea, or less commonly a story, piece of music (especially if you can use it as the map's music), or something else.

[Rainne]

I'm working on a mapping project inspired by a gameplay mechanic that wasn't used much in the base game. So it has its gimmick, and having a gimmick is important to be interesting. But try to also think of it as: if this gimmick were common, would these still be good maps? Then unleash such maps on a world where the gimmick isn't common.

 

So in this vein, think of something that's possible with the basic toolkit but isn't used much, and build around that. Sigil did that; the eye triggers combine a rarely-used sprite (evil eye) with a rarely-used mechanic (shootable triggers).

 

Just as an example: nukage pools that rise/lower, and you could build a whole map around adjusting water levels. Come up with two or three central uses of the mechanic, like a couple rooms and how they would work progression-wise, then come up with necessary secondary stuff like the switches that drive them, a flow of progression (the player should see the room before being able to enter it > the player should enter the room before being able to solve it > the player should be able to see the control room that has the switch), and before you know it the level practically writes itself.

[Clippy]

I never have ideas I just open doom editor and just keep adding things and eventually it all comes together ... maybe

 

:S

[RemoveUwU]

For mapping I'd say it's nice to take inspiration on images or other games, as an example, I made a map basing its layout on the sentry gun from TF2

For gameplay, I think you should consider some challenges, maybe? Things like limiting the player to a single weapon or a single monster for each level, I remember MAP01 from Community Chest.

I think it might be funny to design a map where you only go punching demons, or the only weapon you have is the chainsaw

Anyway, you should be having fun while making a map, when you do, ideas just come to you by themselves