How I make convincing looking 90s doom maps?

[Bomberboi98]

Hey, Doomworld, how do I make maps that look like they are from the 90s? Other than adding midis from 90s bands like AIC, or something like that.

 

By the way, I want to make it/them in Ultimate Doom Builder.

Edited February 6, 2023 by Bomberboi98

[Edward850]

Using Ultimate Doom Builder may be the wrong choice for that goal. Part of what informed old map design in the 90s was the limitations and differences of the tools, enforcing a particular style of mapping. I'd suggest looking into old editors such as DeePSea, WadAuthor and WinDEU.

[LadyMistDragon]

Don't bother changing the default texturing, never correct misalignments, don't bother to lower unpeg doortrack textures, throw in a pointless and ill-fitting Cyberdemon throw in sky textures for walls for zero reason(which won't work in UDB, mind), throw down tons of health and then stuff at least a few rooms with as many monsters as they can carry.

 

More seriously, make some open-ish maps with a minimum of detail, use lots of brown, and don't pay so much attention to how large you make rooms, although you may break vanilla limits but that's ok because that stuff can be reined in fairly easily if you don't go all Drake O'Brien with your mapping. Take a closer look at Memento Mori because it's probably the most representative sample of maps from that time.

 

A

[Bomberboi98]

2 hours ago, Edward850 said:

Using Ultimate Doom Builder may be the wrong choice for that goal. Part of what informed old map design in the 90s was the limitations and differences of the tools, enforcing a particular style of mapping. I'd suggest looking into old editors such as DeePSea, WadAuthor and WinDEU.

Do I need DOS/DOSBox for that?

[Edward850]

Those three are explicitly noted to be Windows programs. Especially the one called WinDEU.

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

90s saw a lot of changes and styles in map design. 94-99 can feel like twenty years apart in Doom maps. On one end you've got big square rooms connected with rectangular hallways, all the same brightness and one texture/flat per room. No alignment, that meant calculating the offsets yourself. And just a few years down the line, people were chiselling little 32 unit hexagons off the floor to make it look like they're torn out. Simulating gradient lighting with concentric sectors, and stepping the brightness up/down. 

There are better examples but of the top of my head, Hell Revealed and Eternal Doom came out one year apart.

Which flavour of 90s do you want to emulate? 

[Capellan]

Yeah, you need to be a lot more specific about what you mean by "90s".  Maps from the latter years of that decade look nothing like those of 1994.  Heck, there was a huge variety in the quality of maps even in 94; Crossing Acheron came out that year, for instance.

 

[Professor Hastig]

On 2/6/2023 at 5:43 AM, LadyMistDragon said:

Don't bother changing the default texturing, never correct misalignments, don't bother to lower unpeg doortrack textures, throw in a pointless and ill-fitting Cyberdemon throw in sky textures for walls for zero reason(which won't work in UDB, mind), throw down tons of health and then stuff at least a few rooms with as many monsters as they can carry.

 

More seriously, make some open-ish maps with a minimum of detail, use lots of brown, and don't pay so much attention to how large you make rooms, although you may break vanilla limits but that's ok because that stuff can be reined in fairly easily if you don't go all Drake O'Brien with your mapping. Take a closer look at Memento Mori because it's probably the most representative sample of maps from that time.

 

A

 

That's not how good 90's maps would look.

Even for as early as 1994 there's WADs like Sudtic which to this day hold up remarkably well.

 

IMO the most important things to consider are map size and monster density. Back in the day large maps were rare. They existed but were not the most appealing because saving was broken on them. What is also rare in such old maps is high monster count. 150-200 monsters would have been a lot.

 

Last but not least, make sure it still runs in Doom(2).exe with an 8MB zone heap and CPU performance throttled to a system of the mid 90's. If it runs well on that you are already close.

 

2 hours ago, Capellan said:

Yeah, you need to be a lot more specific about what you mean by "90s".  Maps from the latter years of that decade look nothing like those of 1994.  Heck, there was a huge variety in the quality of maps even in 94; Crossing Acheron came out that year, for instance.

 

 

Also this. It was a time where computing capabilities were increasing at an insane pace and this logically also affected how Doom mapping evolved. At the end of the decade the systems were 10x faster than when Doom was initially released.

[Crusader No Regret]

Main thing I can think of is semi-random texture use and not restricting oneself to a unifying theme.  The Doom Hacker's Guide promoted texture alignment and that was published in 1995.  So it's not necessary to intentionally skip that step.  Maybe some gratuitous blocky DoomCute; I know I had some thoughts about recreating real world stuff back when I was playing around with a map editor.

 

Down the Drain is a recent creation that could provide some inspiration on creating a 1990's look.

[Anarkzie]

Play a bunch of maps that feature the style you're going for and base your wad off of that.

 

You could also use an older map editor so that you're mapping under the same conditions that people were back then.

[Noiser]

Sometimes I purposefuly leave a few missaligned textures just to emulate that 90's feeling (for real). That and a few orthogonal angles as well - just a few though. 90's wads are often focused on experimentation and using stuff in unusual ways - E2M4 is a good case for observation: rooms have really high ceilings (or very low), weird texturing, mazes. Architecture is often minimalist, but not necessarily flat. I disagree what people said about theming tho, you can make it very consistent by using a strict set of textures (like E1 or E4, for example). Episode 2 and 3 are more chaotic, but justified as a hellish environment. 

That said, just by sticking to vanilla limits you will have something close to "oldschool Doom" by default (At least in theory). If the visuals are "readable" on a 320x200 resolution, it's probably on the right spot in terms of detailing since that's all people had in the nineties. 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Noiser

[Dreamskull]

Basically, older maps have less complex and orderly geometry, often straightforward without anything overtly fancy about them. The bulk are limited custom jobs. The big second is not too high of a monster count. Remember, the curve for difficulty isnt high because a lot of people played arrowkeys or no keys, just mouse. Itemization is important. This includes non interactable objects scattered around for horror setpeice. Typically, there was implication that you werent the first marine to venture forth into the level and you can see the aftermath of their failure. Doom 1 wanted to really play into a horror aspect without making you helpless. Fourth, secrets play into availability of items. You might get yourself stocked up or find something earlier than you normally would have if you keep your eyes peeled. Lastly, you need to know that you should keep a lower end verticality in mind.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Dreamskull

[Bomberboi98]

On 2/6/2023 at 1:52 PM, Sneezy McGlassFace said:

90s saw a lot of changes and styles in map design. 94-99 can feel like twenty years apart in Doom maps. On one end you've got big square rooms connected with rectangular hallways, all the same brightness and one texture/flat per room. No alignment, that meant calculating the offsets yourself. And just a few years down the line, people were chiselling little 32 unit hexagons off the floor to make it look like they're torn out. Simulating gradient lighting with concentric sectors, and stepping the brightness up/down. 

There are better examples but of the top of my head, Hell Revealed and Eternal Doom came out one year apart.

Which flavour of 90s do you want to emulate? 

Just in general, or like maps like DROPDEAD or Bermuda.

[ChaseC7527]

use DeePSea, align textures by hand, use old style midis, or just default, use a lot of water. thats all i can think of.