What's your generally preferred monster count for a map?

[StoneMason]

Anywhere between 0-1000 is fine by me. But I couldn't vote for more than one option, so I voted 251-500, as I see those the most.

[RHhe82]

7 hours ago, Zaxxon said:

Yes, depends on the map size. I voted 100 to 250, but my prefrence is really between 50 and 300, with prefered map sizes ranging from small to no bigger than what you can see in the Doom 1 and 2. I don't mind slightly bigger stuff, as long as it's not a confusing mess that will take me more than 30 minutes to beat. I definitelly don't have the time or the patience to play super oversized levels, like map 20 of Alien Vendetta, or even crazier stuff, like Sunder. I don't see the appeal of spending 2-3 hours in one map, killing 5000 of the same monsters coming in hordes. A good map doesn't need high monster count.

 

I thought of writing some sort of meditated answer in this thread, but you already said it. I can perfectly enjoy bigger levels with lots of monsters, but only in moderation, and short/medium-sized, 50-300 monster maps are more likely to hit the spot for me.

[Bri]

5-10 minute maps with 100-200 monsters is the sweet spot for me. There's a lot of variables involved of course, but as long as the map keeps the action going and has degrees of tension involved, then it's all good fun.

[Pechudin]

I like bigger counts in medium-ish maps, but where the count comes from hordes of weaklings there mainly to be gibbed by RL.

[Kyka]

100% kills is my preferred monster count.

 

 

(Being slightly serious for a moment, I voted 250-500)

[Biodegradable]

My vote for 501-1000 is more to do with my cut-off limit rather than what I personally prefer because I've been slowly warming up to maps with those kind of numbers now rather than immediately quitting the WAD after seeing a demon count that high.

[DoomBoomer]

It depends on size of the map. Small maps with a lot of monsters is not fun. And I mean like 500 monsters in very small map. Imagine 100-150 monsters per room... Slaughter is not my thing. So I really can't give an exact number of monsters. But I voted 101-250.

[yakfak]

I like a lot of cannon fodder in a level, I love huge legions of shotgunners n stuff so my monster count requirements are high. kinda wanna play more maps with the E1M6 placement philosophy, NEIS gets there sometimes. clicked 500+

[Doom_Dude]

I'd say between 50 and 250 so I voted for 101-250.

[FEDEX]

200 or less..

[Maes]

All of them.

 

On a more serious note, the question is kinda meaningless without discussing placement and levels scale first. What if it's just one monster but it's a cyberdemon/archvile, and you're in a small room without cover? What if it's 10000 but it's NUTS.WAD and you can simply Indy500/NASCAR your way out of trouble? What if it's in the 500-1000 range but they are arranged like HORDES.WAD? Of even if they are in the 50-100 range, but the ammo/weapons are arranged like in this map (or most of the infamous Cabal maps by Sverre Andre Kvernmo, really...)

Edited February 17, 2022 by Maes

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

51-100 for me. But as I thought about it I realised that monster count has nothing to do with map size, length, nor difficulty.  

[Rymante]

In most mapsets I've played, monster counts in the 251-500 range seem about right for me, that's the point where maps start to feel pretty long (at least in the context of maps that offer fairly traditional gameplay, slaugther maps are another story entirely).

[DuckReconMajor]

Like in anything I prefer the extremes. In general I kind of groan when I see a 3 digit monster count. 

Either make it quick with just a few fights or throw 1000+ monsters at me. No in-between.

[ReaperAA]

I voted 101-250, but for most types of maps that I play and prefer, the monster count is usually between 80 and 500.

[Maes]

Perhaps a better metric would be "monster density". There are quite a lot of early vanilla maps (e.g. Deadbase, Trinity, ForgeX etc.) that have a decent-ish monster count, but they are so large that they appear sparsely populated, and no encounter is particularly challenging.

[HAK3180]

To use a formula, I would estimate that I prefer about 10 monsters, give or take, per minute of FDA play. So if my first run of a map takes me about 20 minutes and that map is my most preferred genre, then it probably has ~200 enemies. If we're talking about a speed max of a map I know, then it's probably more like 20 monsters per minute.

 

But yeah, monster count is only really used as a metric because of its convenience. Total HP is often better, or monster count + average HP.

 

 

 

[CBM]

my preferred monster count is 69 and my preferred difficulty level is that I like bikinis?

 

On a more serious note, I didn't vote since it depends on the map parameters such as size for example

[BoxY]

Anywhere between 3,000 to 10,000 is good, but beyond that point the map starts to feel a little bit like slaughter and that's bad.

[PeterMoro]

It's irrelevant to me. I just use what's best for the map. Some areas require more monsters, some areas less. Whatever makes the map work best.

[Doom-X-Machina]

666

[Stabbey]

On 2/18/2022 at 7:58 PM, PeterMoro said:

It's irrelevant to me. I just use what's best for the map. Some areas require more monsters, some areas less. Whatever makes the map work best.

 

This, precisely. When designing a map, I don't shoot for a monster count, I build the level until it feels complete, or accomplishes what I want the level to be. While I build I also put in monsters to test that it plays how I intend. Once all the rooms feel satisfying to play, then the map is done. The actual monster count doesn't matter, it's a function of what the gameplay is. Another thing which goes without needing to say is that monster composition matters far more than monster count. 

 

Of course, I do sometimes adjust things here and there with feedback.

[jerk-o]

Doom 1/2 levels of monster density is what I like.

[Krenium]

For most maps, 51-100. I don't mind up to ~350 if it's an epic megawad like Akeldama. If the map is excellent, cram as many as you want in there, though. I'm not going to knock Foursite for its monster count, for example.

Edited February 22, 2022 by Krenium

[Marisa the Magician]

Depends on the size of the room that contains them. I generally prefer to be able to move around them.

[Nefelibeta]

500-1000 maybe, below this the map usually gets a bit boring and above this I probably don't have the skills to enjoy it.

[OniriA]

Between 0 and 1