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Thelokk

Best secret maps

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Help me out, DW hivemind. What are, in your opinion, the best secret maps? More precisely, what makes for a good secret map, compared to a 'regular' one? offbeat gameplay? out of place aesthetics? maybe to you a secret map is just an extra slot you IDCLEV to?

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Let's see...

I say the best secret maps from the OG games are:

- Warrens (Doom)

- Go 2 It (Plutonia)

- Pharaoh (Evilution)

 

Also, the Wolfenstein maps in Doom 2 are a pretty neat stuff thematically.

 

From the user made maps, i must say that the Commander Keen style maps in Doom 2 the way ID did are the best secret maps I've played so far.

 

I think that a good secret map it should be something that tricks with your expectations, thematically or in gameplay format with re-using a map with a different gimmick or something else.

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My favourite official secret maps:
E1M9: Military Base
E3M9: Warrens
MAP31: Wolfenstein (Doom II)
MAP32: Go 2 It (Plutonia)

Favourite non-official secret maps:
MAP31, 32, 33 (Doom 2 the Way id Did)
MAP31 and 32 (Doom 2 in Name Only)
MAP31: Imperator (Eviternity)
MAP32: Anagnorisis (Eviternity, my favourite one on the list!)
MAP31: DejaVu (Memento Mori II)
MAP32: Dance with Demons (Memento Mori II)


A thread from 2018 has a similar idea:

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1 hour ago, Anarkzie said:

 Doom 64 in the void 

 

My choice as well. It also looks so much different than any other map, visually, and has some unique assets and props.

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Killer Colours. The way it uses monochrome colours to seperate the areas of the map is still really clever and something I don't think I've seen attempted elsewhere.

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21 hours ago, VisionThing said:

Killer Colours. The way it uses monochrome colours to seperate the areas of the map is still really clever and something I don't think I've seen attempted elsewhere.

It's been a while, but I recall Hell Ground having a similar (excellent) map.

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I think a good secret map would need to feel out of place in any other slot. This can either be accomplished by having a difference in tone, visuals, or gameplay from the rest of the WAD. The problem is that quite often mappers can end up pigeonholing themselves with these constraints and end up making maps that go outside their skillset and aren't very fun as a result. 

 

As far as what's my favorite, Cyberwar 7734 from Valiant. If we're limiting ourselves to commercial releases, Go 2 It from Plutonia.

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Club Doom hold a special place for my PSX. 

 

Another banger secret level it's the one on Going Down 31.

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Club Doom from the PSX version for obvious reasons (I wish more FPS games did maps like that)

 

Diabolus Ex Machina from Map 31 of Hellbound as it goes with an approach unusual to the middle part of the megawad at least. The structure is more akin to something from Borgeosie than anything else and it's really cool.

 

Kille Colours from Alien Vendetta. Seperate sections with bold monochrome is quite rude and I applaud and love it so much.

 

 

I haven't really come across too many secret maps that are offbeat, so I have to step back a little, see something that stands out from the megawads such maps are placed in and how they are different. Sometimes, it's just an aesthetic choice, while sometimes, the gameplay will be different. Gimmicks are nice, but there aren't too many of them, possibly because players have a certain limited preferences. I always liked the Wind Tunnel from Quake though

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Going to say the wolfenstein secret in Doom 2, only because my 8 yr old son asked me the other day why there's a level where you shoot police officers. Took me a sec to figure out what he was talking about.

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Not so much a specific map, per-se (though I do like Warrens, Wolfenstein/Grosse, and Vorticon/Well of Wishes), but I love secret maps that just go "You know what? Fuck a consistent theme, we're going straight into crazytown!", both gameplay-wise and visually.

 

On 7/8/2022 at 11:07 AM, SuperPecanMan said:

I think a good secret map would need to feel out of place in any other slot. This can either be accomplished by having a difference in tone, visuals, or gameplay from the rest of the WAD. The problem is that quite often mappers can end up pigeonholing themselves with these constraints and end up making maps that go outside their skillset and aren't very fun as a result. 

 

As far as what's my favorite, Cyberwar 7734 from Valiant. If we're limiting ourselves to commercial releases, Go 2 It from Plutonia.

Quoting this as I very much agree with this post

 

On 7/7/2022 at 7:22 AM, IcarusOfDaggers said:

one of the secret maps of microslaughter community project had 1 zombieman and bunch of lost souls. I quite liked that

Not very relevant to my post, just wanted to say that I liked that map as well! [Micro Slaughter Community Project, MAP31: Duel]

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40 minutes ago, kinker31 said:

Not very relevant to my post, just wanted to say that I liked that map as well! [Micro Slaughter Community Project, MAP31: Duel]

But relevant to the topic. Thanks.

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The Mansion and it's own secret level Club Doom.

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6 minutes ago, pcorf said:

The Mansion and it's own secret level Club Doom.

in retrospect, those were pretty much the replacements for the Wolfenstein and Grosse levels. I never could reach club Doom as a teenager on the real hardware though.

 

and since im quoting you, might as well remind people of the 'greatest' secret level you've ever made:

bag.png

 

I was sad this didn't make into the Death Tormention trilogy remaster :p

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ZPack's Sector.

 

The gimmick is that at the start, it's just a big empty brown box. But as soon as you start moving, the level builds itself up right in front of your eye. Rooms appear before you, with items and monsters and everything. The way you move determines in which order the level gets built. And then at the end, it unbuilds itself and returns to being a big empty brown box.

 

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On 7/12/2022 at 3:55 PM, Devalaous said:

in retrospect, those were pretty much the replacements for the Wolfenstein and Grosse levels. I never could reach club Doom as a teenager on the real hardware though.

 

and since im quoting you, might as well remind people of the 'greatest' secret level you've ever made:

bag.png

 

I was sad this didn't make into the Death Tormention trilogy remaster :p

 

I forgot about these silly maps ahh. Don't worry, you'll be getting a new Doom Odyssey eventually with the public beta release estimated for September.

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I actually added them back into the Death Tormention trilogy as E1M10, E2M11 and E3M10 via a patch, as *technically* they counted as 'lost DT maps'

 

Also, good to hear its still on track, im actually playing through the original 2002 ADO this year on and off, been playing both the original and the anniversary version.

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Doom Zero map31 Meat. The first time through it was a surreal experience and i was giggling like a child the whole way through. 

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Community Chest 4's MAP32 (Mutare). Haven't seen anything quite like it before or since, truly the work of a fascinating mind!

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On 7/14/2022 at 7:07 AM, Devalaous said:

I actually added them back into the Death Tormention trilogy as E1M10, E2M11 and E3M10 via a patch, as *technically* they counted as 'lost DT maps'

 

Also, good to hear its still on track, im actually playing through the original 2002 ADO this year on and off, been playing both the original and the anniversary version.

 

Yes only 1 map away from completion. Most bugs are squashed but there will be a public beta released first because I am sure other people will find the slightest of little issues and this allows me to take notes (not including unfixable small slimetrails). I don't want to multiple upload to idgames. And if you play in Zdoom, there will be 10 secret levels as well.

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On 7/14/2022 at 12:07 AM, Devalaous said:

I actually added them back into the Death Tormention trilogy as E1M10, E2M11 and E3M10 via a patch, as *technically* they counted as 'lost DT maps'

 

 

 

Really? And where (or when?) this patch can be found?

I'm just going to make UV-Max walkthrough of Death Tormention: The Complete Trilogy. And I'd better to find the version with 41 maps instead of 38 (or wait for it) :)

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2 hours ago, RaRu Des2122 said:

 

Really? And where (or when?) this patch can be found?

I'm just going to make UV-Max walkthrough of Death Tormention: The Complete Trilogy. And I'd better to find the version with 41 maps instead of 38 (or wait for it) :)

 

I haven't finished tweaking it, have to make sure the patches work in all the ports I wrote patch lumps for. At the moment ive written two versions though, one that adds the three DT2 supersecret maps as warp-only maps, likely how pcorf originally envisioned them, and another that integrates them into the campaign as 'rewards' for beating the regular secret maps. The three maps are pretty silly, but unlike the secret stuff in Twilight Zone, they are 'normal enough' that they totally are worth preserving

 

If uh, you consider being inside a picture of bagpipes with obnoxious bagpipe midi music blaring, with a ton of lost soul spam to be normal :D (The other two are a dark maze with barons, and a quick one on four fight with barons)

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Good secret maps should have something that clearly separates them from the rest, which in practice usually means a gameplay, design, or visual gimmick of some kind. I’ve made no secret of my love for Fortress of Mystery here, it’s the basics of what a secret map needs to be: a quirky single concept that would feel weird as a normal map but which makes an interesting detour when you find it, it’s tiny but distinctive and has a miniature narrative built in.

 

Other maps I’d call out: Pharaoh, Go 2 It, Wolfenstein (would’ve benefited from an original map, but I admire the dedication to the gimmick), the stair map from Going Down, Vorticon from Doom 2 the Way id Did

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