Best starting maps

[Sotenga]

Simple topic popped into my mind today: What are some of the best first maps in episode sets or megawads? Not too many designers put their best foot forward right out the gate, but sometimes, you get an exceptional map to entice you into playing the rest. Here are some on my mind:

 

Castle Entryway from Scythe II: Tearing through demons in a gothic castle set to "Temple of Love" by Sisters of Mercy is always a mood I like to be in.

 

On Hell's Horizon from Hellcore (2.0): This one really gives off a mood of an abandoned city where something went deeply wrong. Dig the music too.

 

The Ancient Navajo Wolf Warp from Ancient Aliens: Possibly the only time outside of Cyberdreams when placing a Cyberdemon into the first stage is somehow acceptable!

 

Uprising from TNT Revilution: The awesome remix of "Into the Beast's Belly" with some Tool influence is an amazing soundtrack set to an intro level that pulls no punches but doesn't overwhelm you too much yet... unless you find the hidden Arch-Vile.

 

Subway Sandwich from Heartland: Yeah, another Skillsaw, but come on, those moving trains are impressive. It's a tough but fair first map with an excellent Stewboy track set to it, kicking off an amazing journey.

[PeterMoro]

I always thought that Eviternity's first map Inauguration, was a fantastic starting map. Just small enough and just simple enough, but well enough detailled and great visuals too. Short, simple and fun maps like this are difficult to make IMO.

[Dragonfly]

Going Down's opener is great, and that feels even stronger of an opening once you beat the megawad and see it's conclusion.

[Egg Boy]

Arrival has one of my favorite map01’s. It doesn’t waste your time and opens with an engaging map with fun combat.

[GarrettChan]

I really need someone to make a mapset where Map01 is the hardest and Map30 is the easiest and completely ignore whatever it is about difficulty progression.

 

There won't be any best starting map to me until the mapset I mentioned shows up.

[NuMetalManiak]

Evilution MAP01, always love a free berserk.

[Silhouette 03]

Plutonia Map01: Congo. Gives you an exact indication of the pain and sadism to follow.

[garudave]

1 hour ago, Sotenga said:

Uprising from TNT Revilution: The awesome remix of "Into the Beast's Belly" with some Tool influence is an amazing soundtrack set to an intro level that pulls no punches but doesn't overwhelm you too much yet... unless you find the hidden Arch-Vile.

 

Haven't played many wads yet but I'm making my way through TNTR right now and I can easily say Uprising tops my list so far.  The action is so kinetic while limiting your arsenal to just a few weapons.  The aesthetics are on point and a great introduction to the megawad's techbase textures.  Gotta agree about the midi too, it's one of my all-timers.

[cannonball]

Map01s don’t always have to be short, but if they are not they need to completely sell what the wad is about. So a few other suggestions;

 

Hell Ground (Werewolf Moon) - Eternal’s biggest strength as a mapper was to build tonnes of atmosphere into his maps. This lengthy opener really sums up what this wad is all about (Excluding the occasional plutonia-esque interlude). 
 

Back to Saturn X E1 (BTSX radio report) - tougher, longer than most openers and full of surprises for those with a keen eye. An excellent showcase of what the texture set can do. It also nearly introduces some of the unique quirks and qualities this megawad has, including the hub section you revisit multiple times during your journey. Whilst I was never sold on the whole package, this opening map is very, very good.

Perhaps more controversial;

Doom 2- In Name Only (Entryway) - Whilst the megawad was more miss than hit, there were some very good efforts within. Processing control’s opener is perhaps the best example of popcorn flick gameplay you can get for a map01 - Grab the chain gun and go wild. A very satisfying couple of minutes.

 

I do agree with some of the choices above though, Skillsaw for instance has a knack for building good opening maps (Valiant/AA/Heartland are all excellent), Going Down also sets the scene excellently.

[Deadwing]

BTSX series are really good regarding openers.

Same goes for Valiant and Ancient Aliens.

Also mentioned, Congo is a really strong opener that prepares the player for what's coming.

 

Another remarkable one: 25 Years on Earth has a pretty fun opener, especially with the invisible line joke

Edited July 1, 2021 by Deadwing

[Doomkid]

Dwango5 Map01 was an amazing opener, that "new" MIDI (as in, when you first hear it) really got me pumped for some frags and it was an almost perfect DM version of Entryway.

 

Scythe Map01 lets you know straight away what you're in for and is a great hook imo. By the time you're halfway through the wad it's obvious the difficulty is ramping up exponentially. A great opener that leads into a damn good difficulty curve.

 

Alien Vendetta was a badass one as well. Great lighting and architecture for vanilla ~20 years ago, and that badass unused/unheard Carmageddon MIDI finally got its chance to shine. I always felt like it was the "opening theme" for AV, suits the map perfectly and gets you reeled right in.

[whybmonotacrab]

Look, I feel weird tooting the horn of 2 people already in this thread, but Exomoon has a great opener, as does Thy Flesh Turned into a Draft-Excluder. Neither pull punches and let you know what you're in for. 

 

 Sunlust's opener is one of the most fun levels I've played. It looks gorgeous and that Flashback Midi is A+.

 

 Deus Vult 2's opener is so gloriously fast paced and over the top you can't help but love it. That bit where you mow down a ton of zombiemen with an upgraded mini game is one of the greatest power trips in Doom.

 

I love A2Rob's opening map in Nova 3. That's a map I'm down to play any day of the week.

 

 Also, echoing what others have said with Valiant, Ancient Aliens, Heartlands, Alien Vendetta, Eviternity, Scythe 2, Arrival, and Hell Ground.  

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

Doom E1M1

[TheGreenZap]

I like openers that are fairly short for the most part.

 

Community Chest 4's opener "Renewed Faith" by William Huber is really cool. I've played this one over and over. A short map with just the right spice.

 

Sunlust's "Chasing Suns" is one of my favorite maps. Love the combat and the look of this one.

 

The newest one on my radar is "Darken" by Decay from Bourgeois Megawad. Slams you right in the middle of the action and looks terrific.

 

 

[BoxY]

I'm happy to boot up Sunlust map01 just for that joyful slap bass hook.

[Roofi]

 

I'm not mentioning this map because it's a project I was involved in but I love this one with its calm and very atmospheric feel compared to many first maps. The metroid music used is top notch as well as the colors used.

[esselfortium]

Ancient Aliens, for sure. Absolutely iconic opener.

[GarrettChan]

3 minutes ago, esselfortium said:

Ancient Aliens, for sure. Absolutely iconic opener.

Are you sure that's not an IRONIC opener? :P (JK)

 

Seriously though, I kind of like that in a way where some people react as "oh F, there's Cyberdemon on Map01? I'm not going to play this anymore".

[leodoom85]

31 minutes ago, esselfortium said:

Ancient Aliens, for sure. Absolutely iconic opener.

Cybie is a skull opener for sure... :P

[Pseudonaut]

The first map of ESP lets you know right away what kind of wad you're playing.

[ReaperAA]

2 hours ago, GarrettChan said:

I really need someone to make a mapset where Map01 is the hardest and Map30 is the easiest and completely ignore whatever it is about difficulty progression.

 

Icarus: Alien Vanguard might actually qualify. The Map01 is one of the hardest maps of that wad due to being filled with shotgunner hitscan and has very little health while Map30 is one of the (if not THE) easiest IoS map ever.

[GarrettChan]

22 minutes ago, ReaperAA said:

 

Icarus: Alien Vanguard might actually qualify. The Map01 is one of the hardest maps of that wad due to being filled with shotgunner hitscan and has very little health while Map30 is one of the (if not THE) easiest IoS map ever.

I played that before. I do admit that Map01 is probably one of the harder one in the set, but overall difficulty doesn't change that much. I kind of want a more obvious one, but in the meantime, it's hard to do.

 

I said that because "difficulty progression" is a concept that modern mapset shouldn't care too much, heh.

[Michael Jensen]

Shuttlecraft, Map 01 of Icarus: Alien Vanguard. Not only is it an amazing level, it's also a perfect set up for the rest of the wad, arguably the most important goal of any Map01. That music too... 

[LadyMistDragon]

System Control from TNT. Quite possibly the best opening music ever. Also tight and compact, yet challenging enough to give you an idea what you're in for.

 

Map 01 from Icarus is another good one. It's cool how the music ends with a "Demon's Dead" reprise.

 

A lesser-known one is Map 01 from Fragor Portum. It starts with no music, but once you find a certain switch some distance away, the music kicks in and the invasion starts!

 

Map 01 of Pour Vivre and Alien Vendetta (Sunset) both ease you into the experience, with theain introduction coming less in difficulty and more in prevalent visual themes.

 

 

[Dusty_Rhodes]

9 hours ago, Silent Wolf said:

Plutonia Map01: Congo. Gives you an exact indication of the pain and sadism to follow.

But just enough ammo and health to get through. I love it. Also, the way it starts you with a shotgun, backpack, blue armor and super shotgun in the first couple rooms really hypes me up. It tells you "it's about to get real soon". I like the looks of the map as well, camo and brown bricks.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

9 hours ago, Doomkid said:

Dwango5 Map01 was an amazing opener, that "new" MIDI (as in, when you first hear it) really got me pumped for some frags and it was an almost perfect DM version of Entryway.

 

Scythe Map01 lets you know straight away what you're in for and is a great hook imo. By the time you're halfway through the wad it's obvious the difficulty is ramping up exponentially. A great opener that leads into a damn good difficulty curve.

 

Alien Vendetta was a badass one as well. Great lighting and architecture for vanilla ~20 years ago, and that badass unused/unheard Carmageddon MIDI finally got its chance to shine. I always felt like it was the "opening theme" for AV, suits the map perfectly and gets you reeled right in.

Man you just summed up everything I wanted to say. Love Scythe map 01. 

[Doom-X-Machina]

MAP01 is always a good place to start...

[Snark]

I'll go for the first map of "Resurgence". Such a small space with so much that goes on, AND you start in hell with a fucking amazing midi.

[GarrettChan]

58 minutes ago, Dusty_Rhodes said:

But just enough ammo and health to get through. I love it. Also, the way it starts you with a shotgun, backpack, blue armor and super shotgun in the first couple rooms really hypes me up. It tells you "it's about to get real soon". I like the looks of the map as well, camo and brown bricks.

As someone tried to play this map for so many times, I would say the start is a bit annoying because it doesn't really give you a shotgun. Other than that it's fine.

 

For casual playing, the map itself is not bad. For max speedrun though, the map is kind of awful because there are so many RNG that you can't control...

[Nefelibeta]

11 hours ago, GarrettChan said:

I really need someone to make a mapset where Map01 is the hardest and Map30 is the easiest and completely ignore whatever it is about difficulty progression.

 

There won't be any best starting map to me until the mapset I mentioned shows up.

Hey, don't forget about Hurts You Plenty. (I mean the whole wad will kick your ass but that is still a brutal opener, probably not the hardest if you count Frog and Toad and Italo Doom)