Unexplored Themes?

[Doom_Dude]

3 hours ago, Misty said:

Old greek/roman/mesopotamic themes are kind not used in doom mapping.

Underwater bases/ruins could see more love.

 

I love the ancient Greek theme and have a level in progress..

 

I also had this idea for a Sumerian temple or ruin. It would require building a texture set sometime.

 

 

 

 

[Sergeant_Mark_IV]

Urban areas.

[Artman2004]

Post-apocalyptic cities.

[Eric Claus]

2 hours ago, Mr. Freeze said:

Alternative versions of Hell. I know doing the classic Fire and Brimstone Hell in Doom is super easy, but I'd love to see more of Doom 3's "Void Hell" or incredibly bleak and dark Hell or something. 

 

It's an abstract kind of hell!  But really I agree I like different interpretations of hell and I think there is plenty of room to emphasize the instability of such a place.

[Mr.S Retro]

The artic mars shown in doom 2016 

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/P3uF1dXbLI8

This I have rarely if ever seen in a wad and I think it's a pretty cool concept.

[Chip]

I feel like more WADs could be based off of films. The huge ones are Aliens and Star Wars, but it would be cool to get a WAD based on a film like Harry Potter or something (there probably is, but I mean one with a lot of attention, like the Aliens TC)

[DNSKILL5]

I’d like to see levels that are not only fun to play, but are disturbing as well through the imagery of the map. Everyone obsesses over the kill kill kill power trip stuff but seem to sleep on the horror elements that existed in the original game, some even going as far as dismissing that aspect of the game entirely from their view of the game and series as a whole. So basically, I’d like to shit my pants a few more times before I die and be able to blame it on a Doom WAD. 
 

the only WAD I’ve played in the past 10 or so years that actually gave me a shock was in one of ZBlood’s exclusive maps. There was a dark area where a Phantasm appears out of nowhere and it really got me. 
 

Obviously I can’t claim to have played every release in existence since then, but I don’t really see much that feels like it takes advantage of the horror elements of the game and instead seem to focus primarily only on the action aspects. I’d like to see this intense action mixed in with the darker elements of the game more often is really what I’m getting at here. 

[SiMpLeToNiUm]

6 hours ago, Gaia74 said:

Heaven

This. I have something planned in order to make use of OTEX's heaven set later down the line.

My contribution to the discussion would be walking sims and puzzlers or maps that take a storytelling approach first and foremost. This could really encompass a lot of things, but my main feeling is there aren't enough maps/sets that really capture the feel of a solo adventure that has place and setting along with great worldbuilding. It's ambitious, yes, but it's also never done; likely for a reason but the thought remains.

I have it in the back of my mind to do something like this as well as incorporating the style of gameplay and sense of wonder and mystery you'd have felt playing old 90's/early 2000's point n clicks but with actual 3d space. Think Myst but you're able to walk off the predefined path. Not quite sure how monsters and actual gameplay would fit in, but yeah. I never see people do this stuff.

I don't see many invasion maps anymore either. 

[fufu]

Anything that isn't techbase, hell or a mix of the two.

[Hurricaine Jr.]

9 hours ago, Thorogrimm said:

What Doom map themes don't you guys see very often, or think would be cool to see more of?

 

Loneliness. Heartbreak. Being a homeless veteran living in america.

Real answer: Jungles. Aztec temples. Snow based levels. Sure there are great examples of each, but compared to tech bases and castles it's nothing.
 

[Chip]

2 minutes ago, Hurricaine Jr. said:

but compared to tech bases and castles it's nothing

In that case, every map that aren't these 2 things (and probably Hell levels) are rare. But I'd say Tech Bases, Hell levels, and castles only take up about 25% of maps. Even the original DOOMs didn't have a lot of castle and Tech Base levels. Especially DOOM 2. DOOM 1 was mostly hell levels.

[Eric Claus]

2 hours ago, Gerolf said:

I’d like to see levels that are not only fun to play, but are disturbing as well through the imagery of the map. Everyone obsesses over the kill kill kill power trip stuff but seem to sleep on the horror elements that existed in the original game, some even going as far as dismissing that aspect of the game entirely from their view of the game and series as a whole. So basically, I’d like to shit my pants a few more times before I die and be able to blame it on a Doom WAD. 
 

the only WAD I’ve played in the past 10 or so years that actually gave me a shock was in one of ZBlood’s exclusive maps. There was a dark area where a Phantasm appears out of nowhere and it really got me. 
 

Obviously I can’t claim to have played every release in existence since then, but I don’t really see much that feels like it takes advantage of the horror elements of the game and instead seem to focus primarily only on the action aspects. I’d like to see this intense action mixed in with the darker elements of the game more often is really what I’m getting at here. 

 

Hello fellow horror fan! I agree that some more horror would be nice and would be a good break from kill kill kill.  It seems Doom 64 managed this well imo and jadgenet has produced a couple of awesome maps if Doom 64 is your cup of tea.  I think having different colored lighting and some other effects are helpful at setting a scene, and come to think of it I think a big shortcoming of many maps is authors I think miss the importance of lighting.  This might come from the general refrain of "it's too dark!" and I can't blame authors from wanting to steer away from that, but I think you can find a middle ground in there.  In addition I think setting the scene for action is easier then setting the scene for horror and people respond well to action so there just might not be as much incentive to take some risks in that direction.

 

Edit:  Not a dig at any map authors I know setting a stage can be tricky as it is especially when handling other mapping elements.

[Maggle]

-Levels set underwater (besides Heretic's 3rd episode)

-Levels set in the sky

-Levels set atop/inside moving vehicles, like trains, jets, boats, submarines, airships, even starships

-Levels set in Asia. Anywhere in Asia. Middle East, India, China, Japan, Nepal. An entire continent has never been touched.

-Others have mentioned Cyberpunk, prehistory, ancient civilizations, etc. But now that I think about it, period-pieces/time-travel in general are an under-utilized theme unless it's Medieval Europe or Ancient Egypt.

-Heaven. I know this is Doom, and the primary antagonists are Demons, but we spend more than enough time in Hell. It's time to go upstairs to kick ass every now and then. Afaik, it's only been done for five levels in Eviternity, and that's about it. This would usually overlap with number 2, but not every culture's equivalent of Heaven is in the sky. Just like Hell, there are a lot of different themes to play with for it.

-I know there are several well-known examples one could point to, and I've played almost all of them, but I still feel like Winter is under-utilized.

-Wastelands/Post-Apocalyptic environments. The world would get massively fucked up in the event of a Demonic invasion, but every location you visit in classic Doom seems conspicuously hospitable. Even when it's strongly suggested that every single person who worked/lived there has been brutally murdered, the paint on the walls isn't even chipped. Seeing a previously lived-in location in total desolation and ruin would both serve as a refreshing visual change of pace, and well as a bleak and sudden reminder of the kind of force you're going up against.

-Other cultures' interpretations of Hell. This was the original concept for Doom 64, and it's such an amazing idea with a lot of potential, I would love to see it explored.

-Throwbacks/references to other games.

-Non-supernatural otherworlds. Stuff like Dreamscapes, voids, time-space anomalies, black holes, distorted realities, or distant alien planets.

[PeterMoro]

Sci-fi prison breakout scenarios.

 

Spoiler

(I'm working on one)

 

[NiGHTMARE]

1 hour ago, Maggle said:

-Levels set in Asia. Anywhere in Asia. Middle East, India, China, Japan, Nepal. An entire continent has never been touched.

 

There are a few existing wads set in Asia - for example, parts of Hacx takes place in China. For a continent that has possibly never been used as a wad setting, how about Australasia? Also, I don't recall ever seeing a wad set anywhere in Africa other than Egypt.

[Mystic 256]

what about a map that takes place in a Garbage Dump/Scrap Yard, i don't think i've seen one of those yet

[NiGHTMARE]

MAP01 of one of the Doomer Board Projects was set in a scrap yard - I think it may have been DBP10?

 

Also, I'm not sure if it counts but MAP01 of Daedalus: Alien Defense is the trash area of a spaceship, appropriately enough called "Trash Bay".

[AinuTheTaken]

I've only seen one outdoor space station map (well actually a very small set of maps by the same person). I'm sure you can play indoors in a lot of space maps but it's not the same experience. I prefer indoor when you're on terra firma for some reason.

[Rainne]

Magical medieval, Mesoamerican, ancient Egyptian, ancient Roman? Hexen II confirmed antithesis of Doom. 💁🏻‍♀️

[P41R47]

5 hours ago, SiMpLeToNiUm said:

This. I have something planned in order to make use of OTEX's heaven set later down the line.

My contribution to the discussion would be walking sims and puzzlers or maps that take a storytelling approach first and foremost. This could really encompass a lot of things, but my main feeling is there aren't enough maps/sets that really capture the feel of a solo adventure that has place and setting along with great worldbuilding. It's ambitious, yes, but it's also never done; likely for a reason but the thought remains.

I have it in the back of my mind to do something like this as well as incorporating the style of gameplay and sense of wonder and mystery you'd have felt playing old 90's/early 2000's point n clicks but with actual 3d space. Think Myst but you're able to walk off the predefined path. Not quite sure how monsters and actual gameplay would fit in, but yeah. I never see people do this stuff.

 

The Talosian Incident, one of the top 100 megawads of all time, is pretty much what you described.

Its one of the few project that take the adventure and atmospheric approach as their main feature.

 

I liked it a lot, specially the music, but it doesn't receive enough attention, even when it wad awarded as one of the best.

 

On topic, i like space settings, visiting alien worlds and spaceships.

I always feel that Doom would been and awesome canvas for an Starship Trooper TC, but well.

 

Also, we need more proper joke wads as is a theme we don't see very often.

Wads like Kama Sutra, Cyb's Freaky Colonoscopy,  Mandril's Ass Project, Mars War, Unaligned, Unnecessary, Oops! All Tech Bases and possibly Cyberdreams, Absolutely Killed and Killing Adventures may fall on this category, too, are really out of the scope and offer quite a variety of challenge and creativity.

Kinda what Adventure of Square is, really goofy and simple withba lot of humor and jokes, but challenging and fun as hell. But well this is a completely new game.

 

There are no properly Wolfenstein inspired mapset, aside Blades of Agony. And i think there could be awesome mapsets with full use of height variations and a lot of dehacked trickery to made them really fun even on vanilla.

 

We need more psychological horror themed projects, too. Cold As Hell and Unloved are not enough. Happy looks good, but i can't even try it as my pc can't run the latest builds of GZDoom.

 

More satire! Not just jokes, proper satire.

The City of the Damned Children themelike is awesome.

And there are not much, i think.

 

More HACX wads, why not much love to it? Its awesome!

and cyperspace-dystopian is a great theme to exploit.

[Big Ol Billy]

Baked bean factory

Eco-socialist utopia

inside the x-rated wads section of idgames

1940s film noir-type urban setting

Evil carnival

Hell, but while a disco revival craze is sweeping the demon population

 

I may or may not have some of these kicking around as potential DBP themes...

[Zolgia108]

these days i was thinking about an Etruscan themed wad, i live in one of the oldest city in italy (Orvieto). Doing something like, though, would need hexen style weaponry, a bow instead of a pistol, custom monsters which fit the theme (basically no zombies) and some custom textures. All of this would probably be hated by the average doom player (myself included), but it would be cool cause Etruscans had an important cult of the dead, underground tunnels and the underworld as well, so demons would fit in nicely. Maybe a mix between the weaponry of hell forged plus a bow and the textures of epic II. Just random ramblings i guess.

[Doom_Dude]

Breweries and Hockey rinks.

Museums!

Doomworld's massive server facility.

Post apocalyptic alien cities.

Great Library of Alexandria before it was destroyed.

Babylonian, Celtic and Sumerian themed places.

City of Atlantis.

The Andromeda galaxy. ;)

 

 

 

 

 

[SOSU]

4 hours ago, NiGHTMARE said:

Also, I don't recall ever seeing a wad set anywhere in Africa other than Egypt.

Plutonia map01 is called "Congo" does that count?

[Rainne]

32 minutes ago, Zolgia108 said:

Doing something like, though, would need hexen style weaponry, a bow instead of a pistol, custom monsters which fit the theme (basically no zombies) and some custom textures.

So basically, as a Heretic or Hexen map instead of as a Doom project?

 

In any case, "important cult of the dead" should fit quite nicely!

[Deadwing]

One very unique scenarios from BTSX3 screenshots were Treehouses. I don't know if that was made before

[Chainie]

1 minute ago, Deadwing said:

One very unique scenarios from BTSX3 screenshots were Treehouses. I don't know if that was made before

Whitemare 2 map23 share same theme

[Deadwing]

Awesome D:

[Zolgia108]

42 minutes ago, Rainne said:

So basically, as a Heretic or Hexen map instead of as a Doom project?

 

In any case, "important cult of the dead" should fit quite nicely!

Not an Hexen map cause an hexen map has a totally different gameplay, the weaponry i am talking about (the one from hell forged) is doom style, but it fits in with a more "exotic" theme, jsut check it out to better understand what i mean cause it's hard to explain to be honest :)

[holaareola]

Supermarkets