Coming up with ideas...

[sanicstudios]

I've been working on my personal megawad project ( The Slayer Project ) for about a year now. I've only managed to get 1 episode worth of levels fully finished. I keep finding myself distracted by making tweaks and adding new content based around those levels that I've lost my creativity for the next set of levels.

 

I'm having difficulties coming up with ideas for hell-themed levels without just taking the ones that I've already built and flipping some of the textures around. I'm stuck trying to finish the 4th level in the episode (MAP13) out of 9. What are your tips for coming up with level ideas? I need something to get me out of this "writer's block".

[Silhouette 03]

Try playing more megawads... 

Yes, really. Playing megawads has allowed me to gain ideas, both in terms of visuals

and combat, and turn those ideas into something original. Taking inspiration( not stealing ideas from others) from other people’s work has helped me with mappers block a few times. Hope this helps, friend.

[TheGreenZap]

I'm not a mapper, but I'm a player and if you are looking for some ideas, I just found out about the map Thunderpeak by Vader. It has some unique ideas in the map. security cameras, ducts you go through, the doors look a bit different, there's a helipad included. I just thought it might be something that would spark your creativity.

 

[YeOldeFellerNoob]

I got an idea: What about a base theme, but instead, the metal and base-styled textures look more natural. Here is what I mean: A stalagmite made out of the Door texture, and some cliffs made out of pure silver. I think that would be more original and less cliche.

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Seconding Silhou3tte's advice. I find the fastest way to build up a collection of small, random ideas that I can pull from (for both visuals, and gameplay) is to simply play stuff; single maps, full megawads, or other games in general. If you're looking for hell-themed map inspiration, just start playing through hell-themed maps/games, and the ideas will spring up seemingly out of nowhere. 

[Bridgeburner56]

Did someone say hell maps

The majority of my inspiration comes from things other than Doom or even game images these days. I'm much more driven by real world architecture and art. Don't be afraid to draw ideas from unlikely sources. One of my recent Age of Hell maps has drawn most of its inspiration from motorway and tunnel design. Things I literally drive through on the way to work each day. Sounds weird at first but when I see stuff I think "that's a cool shape, I wonder if I can make that in UDB" and away I go. If you remove the concept of "purpose" from things, everything is abstract, and then it can be repurposed to suit your needs.

Also hang out with other mappers. Talk to them, bounce ideas around, draw inspiration from their work, get feedback from them. Immersing yourself in a positive creative environment will put you in a state of mind that is more conducive to generating ideas. The Hellforge (discord server) is mecca for doom mapping, especially if you want to make hell maps ;p

[Soulless]

Just play other games, doesnt matter genre.

A silly example: I stopped mapping for almost a month, looking for a cool idea, but nothing came up,

Then I played a couple of Splinter cell games in the series, and when I went back to build something I found myself building lots of pipes interconnected with holes through rooms etc, like if I was going to make doomguy go through there like a ninja.

1 hour ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

If you remove the concept of "purpose" from things, everything is abstract, and then it can be repurposed to suit your needs.

Nailed it.