Why do people make Doom maps?

[EduardoAndFriends]

Hi, attractive Doom-lovers. :) it's your old pal Edz here with a query for the community. I'm super interested personally, and I'd also like to make a video about it at some point to see different points of view and different values set upon mapping...

 

Why do people make Doom maps?

 

Why do you do it? I know why I do it (a whole variety of reasons, but mainly because it's so accessible and it's my main creative outlet since hanging up my animation hat) ... but I'd LOVE to hear back from folks about why you do it.

 

Hell, one sentence - even one word would be awesome to better understand this longstanding hobby's hold upon people. I mean, jeez, it can lead to serious work for some people. Or maybe it quietens a raging mind. I'm a big ear for your word ejaculations. 

 

Cheers. Hope everyone's doing well. 

 

-Edz xo

[Razza]

I needed some kind of creative outlet. I'm not a musician, artist, writer, or anything like that, but I've always wanted to create something for doom ever since I learned that you could make custom maps (which was like 15 years ago, holy shit). Plus, watching people play and enjoy maps I've made really makes for a special kind of happiness that I've never really felt before, it's fucking awesome. You also get to chat with and learn about some pretty cool people. Like, I never would've guessed that TheViperKiller was a fellow Aussie, and he's nice to talk to, always seems friendly and down to earth

[Wo0p]

*Splurges word ejaculate all over EduardoAndFriends* C:

My interest in Doom map making is very much like that of Razza. Always wanted to create something and I love helping people but I also have some mental issues that make actual human contact something that takes a lot of effort for me. Making maps for other people that they enjoy, get inspired by or otherwise get something out of is an easy way for me to fulfil my desire to help other people while also cutting out that difficult part of me interacting with others in real life. The accessibility of doom map making (After wrapping your head around some key aspects!) is a huge part of me joining the hobby also. 
And that helps me build up my sense of self-worth. I've had trouble keeping hobbys for more than a month at most for most of my life but for some reason, making maps in Doom is something I can just keep doing. It's an amazing feeling :)

[Johnny B. Getgoode (The Guy)]

Short version: modding Doom, and coding in general, helped me when I was in a bad place, so I mod and code to give myself purpose. 

 

Long version: 

 

Historically, I haven't been one to solve my own problems. I developed depression in middle school and trudged through high school and two semesters of college like some sort of zombie. I existed, but I didn't feel alive. It only worsened in my third semester when I suffered complete and total mental breakdown and was forced to withdraw from the school. I spent the next few years trying in vain to pick up the pieces. I went to community college and landed an AS in Computer Tech, but I still couldn't escape just how vacuous my life felt. I scraped along with shitty job after shitty job, until one day, working my shift at the local Wal-Mart, I decided I'd had enough. 

I wasn't completely oblivious to Doom modding; I had played Doom and enjoyed the likes of Brutal Doom and Russian Overkill well before I made mods myself. I also wasn't a complete novice to coding and scripting, since I'd had classes in Python in the scant college I was able to complete. But getting the two to combine? Well, that took a little spark. After I got home from that shift, I immediately flew to my computer and googled how to mod Doom. I started simple, using a tutorial on how to insert custom weapons courtesy of WildWeasel. I engorged the information, drew up some custom sprites in GIMP, and feverishly clicked my left mouse button as sloppily-drawn projectiles filled my screen from the depths of my imagination. 

And it didn't stop there! I polished up my sprites and made new ones, and gained new skills looking at ZScript tutorials and other people's mods. Along the way, I hatched a harebrained scheme to make a Doom mod patterned after a classic bullet-hell shooter called Ikaruga. With both help from the ZDoom forums and Discord, and my own ingenuity, I designed a color-swapping mechanic where the player had to change between red, green, and blue to evade certain attacks and projectiles. 4 months of development passed, and I had a completed mod, dubbed "Chromatic," and let it loose on the ZDoom forums in 2018. 

 

Now, the mod was not a big success by any means, but I was emboldened nevertheless. For the first time I could remember, I felt empowered with bona-fide proof that I could make something neat. Video game design was a passion of mine, and to be able to have an avenue to make my dreams reality enticed and excited me. Shelving Chromatic, I moved on to my next big idea, and boy was it a big one. 

 

Sometime during the development of Chromatic, trawling through the ZDoom wiki, I couldn't help but notice functions for both adjusting an object on its roll axis and changing the velocity of objects. A lightbulb went off in my head almost immediately. "If these functions exist, then perhaps I could make an aircraft in the engine..." I thought. I fired up SLADE and got to work. After a couple of days, I managed to get something working. 

 

 

Majestic! 

While it looked rough and very silly, this prototype was a huge stepping stone for me to work on a standalone flight game in GZDoom. I got to work making new 3D models, programming AI enemies, setting up mechanics and controls, and, most importantly, making a couple levels. And then what happened? 

 

Well, the rest, as they say, is history. 

So yeah. I work on Doom mods because they gave me purpose. They showed me the light when I was trapped in the dark. And for that, I'm forever grateful.

[EduardoAndFriends]

Holy crap, you guys, I’m already blown away by your answers and I’m blinking away genuine tears. Never ceases to amaze me just how powerful and life hanging Doom can be. Bloody magical. :)

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

Same reason dogs bark and birds sing. 

I'd say that creating stuff can give life meaning, no matter what, writing stories, playing music but also less conventionally artistic activities like having thoughtful discussions.. or making doom maps, speedrunning and such. Any form of creative activity you can share with others (creativity in broader sense here) is incredibly satisfying. Shooting slimy strands of your creation out for others to engage with, if you want to keep the tortured sex metaphors.

Making doom maps is satisfying on multiple levels, drawing lines, texturing, encounter design, choosing the right midi, and then having people mess around in the space you created, overcome the difficulties you set up, have them fall behind a torch without a way out and having to restart because you forgot to block it.. it's all great fun. 

 

So much can be said about design alone. Your task as a mapper is essentially to annoy people but only to a point they feel like they can manage. If the problems are too easy, they'll feel disappointed. If there too hard, they feel impossible, it's making making people give up. Horror also works with these themes of building up tension and not letting it release. Well, good horror does.. it's a dynamic not unlike s&m between the player and mapper. Build up tension as the map goes on until they finally reach the exit switch and climactically explode into a cloud of confetti. 

[Somniac]

Its something I always wanted to do but never really gave myself a chance to seriously try it before, when I had all the time in the world to do so. As the only creative outlet I have that involves purely myself, it gives me a unique satisfaction that I don't get from doing anything with others - as a musician I have to know when to compromise with other people's ideas, that's fine, but with mapping its all me, so I only have myself to rely on (and be annoyed at for procrastinating), and the satisfaction of creating something purely by myself is a different kind of experience. Basically, going from "I could never do this" to "okay, yeah I can actually" is nice. 

 

Plus seeing yourself get slowly better at something the more you do it is addictive. As a result there are times when I perhaps take it a bit seriously, but I think if you're into something then you should take it seriously. There are a lot of ups and downs (not knowing what to do next and having to walk away for a bit can be demoralising when you realise inspiration isn't linear, and there is a "zone" you need to get into sometimes), but seeing something come together makes those frustrations worth it. Now I've gotta go finish that Ultimate Doom episode I'm definitely NOT procrastinating over cause I don't like how the last map is shaping up yet :p 

[Klear]

I always liked to mess around with any editor that was available for games I had - Duke 3D, Strarcraft, Warcraft 3 (I like to think I left some mark there), Age of Mythology, Serious Sam... I always found it fun to use the stock assets in new ways to make completely new stuff, and to work around the editor constraints. Never really got into Doom mapping though. I remember trying an editor ages ago where you had to place vertices first, then create linedefs out of them, then make sectors. That just felt like too much work coming from the Build engine so I stuck with Duke. Well, there was an attempt at a DoomRL TC, but that died with my old HDD.

 

Some years ago I had an idea for a game bouncing around in my head and I was wondering what published game I could bend to my will to make it work. Then I realised I could just use a proper game engine and do it there. Found Defold and I've been using it for everything ever since. It was so liberating being able to anything. I would often ask myself "is it possible to do this thing somehow?" as I would usually do when using a map editor for another game and the answer was always "Duh!".

 

Well, I started making a game as a COVID project and it's been coming along nicely. Ton of work went into it. It will still need a ton more, but it's really cool that it's all mine. A few months ago I hit a milestone and wanted to take a break for a bit, and at that time I was messing around in VR Doom, so I thought I'd look around for Doom maps made specifically for VR and found nothing. Fine. I'll do it myself. Well, that didn't work at all... I started making a wad that's in no way optimised for VR, for it's fun to make and I'm learning a lot about mapping in the process.

 

And I've rediscovered the magic of working under constraints. Picking Boom as my format, I just love to come up with dumb tricks and voodoo doll scripts. After a long while I once again have to ask myself "Can you do this in Doom?" and also "Can I do this in Doom?" and it feels great. A lot of the stuff I add to my maps doesn't really add much to gameplay (or it might even detract from it somewhat in some cases), but I don't care. Figuring out how to do things is the goal, not the means for me.

[heliumlamb]

assembling virtual space with relative ease

[Johnny B. Getgoode (The Guy)]

27 minutes ago, Sneezy McGlassFace said:

 

Your task as a mapper is essentially to annoy people but only to a point they feel like they can manage. If the problems are too easy, they'll feel disappointed. If there too hard, they feel impossible, it's making making people give up. 

 

God damn if that isn't the best description of game design I've ever seen. I'm gonna have to remember that one...

[Amiga Angel]

creative outlet, social interaction, life content

 

I have nothing in my life except doom and doom mapping. I used to have a ton of hobbies (rpg, mtb, it, electronics, ttwg, science, mmorpg, art, programming, computer hardware, retro computers, boardgames, card games, retro computer, doom, games, modern computer games, computer game modding in general, philosophy, math, books, hiking, friends and possibly more that I forgot to mention) but several "series of unfortunate events" has put a stop to all of them permanently.. all of them except for doom

 

I am but a pale shadow of a once great guy

 

 

[Residue]

I do it because not only is mapping extremely pleasant and always brings me joy, but also an immense feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. Being given just a grid and the tools to make it into anything you want opens up an entire new world of possibility. Whether it be one episode, one map, one sector, the satisfaction in designing and decorating whatever it is your working on to your heart's content is unmatched. Not only that, but having your work be super accessible for others to experience is also great.

 

It sounds a lot like being handed a blank canvas, the paint brush and palette, and told to make whatever you like; only then to have what you've painted be hung up in a museum for lots to see. Except anybody can hang up what they've created, and that's really the whole beauty of it. Being apart of a community making things for each other and enjoying/inspiring one another to keep making those amazing things. Whether it be maps, music, artwork, guides, etc.

 

I obviously can't speak for everybody, but I like to think that we do things to both satisfy ourselves and each other.

[Ravendesk]

To keep slaughter threads on dw going.

[SuyaSSS]

^fun.

 

[Zulk RS]

Honestly, because I want other people to experience my maps. There was probably a better way to phrase that because it might have come off as too full of myself.

 

The thing is, I like creating stuff but that is only one small part of it. Whenever I make something "Creative" (in a broad sense), be it a story, a drawing, a TTRPG system or, in this case, a Doom Map, I want people to see it, poke around in it and experience what I've made. Maybe it's shit and they say as much. That's fine. I'll take the criticism and use it to improve my next work. Maybe its good and they really like it. That makes me super happy. At the end of the day, my desire to make anything creative comes from the idea that other people will engage with it and it will give them an experience (maybe positive, negative or something in between).

 

I create Doom maps because I want people to play my maps. Ideally they'd be having fun but if not, then that's fine too. I'll make it better next time.

[Solmyr]

Some do it just for fun, others do it for fun and also as another way to interact with the community.

 

In the end we just like to pay tribute to a very old game we love.

[wxndxx]

For fun. I like when people enjoyed what i've made. I remember I was blown away when my last map has been UV-maxed, its really hard. Then the speedrunners broke into the party and I have a TAS and a demo where demonologist just flew over a 20 minute map in 40 seconds. And to improve my english while chatting and talking with someone from the community.

Edited May 5, 2023 by wxndxx

[Walter confetti]

Because it's fun?

No, really, is a simple way to use your creativity, especially with the simplicity of Doom Builder

[Roofi]

Partly for the glory as it is one of the best ways to get noticed in the community. 

 

I decided to start mapping, not only to concretize ideas I had and challenge my creativity but also to finally see my name in a project . 

 

 I was tired to be a random guy who just plays Doom.

 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Roofi

[Yousuf Anik]

1 hour ago, Amiga Angel said:

I have nothing in my life except doom and doom mapping. I used to have a ton of hobbies (rpg, mtb, it, electronics, ttwg, science, mmorpg, art, programming, computer hardware, retro computers, boardgames, card games, retro computer, doom, games, modern computer games, computer game modding in general, philosophy, math, books, hiking, friends and possibly more that I forgot to mention) but several "series of unfortunate events" has put a stop to all of them permanently.. all of them except for doom

Somewhat agree with you and I have the same thoughts. Doom is the game I played most. Now still playing this only game.

My personal opinion on why I do mapping is that I enjoy making so (though I have no long list of maps, just a few maps haha) and I want to show other people here what I make. I want to show my own creations while learning more from others. And it also makes me happy when I see people playing my maps I created, it greatly inspires me. 

[esselfortium]

Pretty much ever since I first found out you could make custom Doom levels when I was a kid, I haven't been able to stop. Doom has been my favorite game pretty much ever since I first laid eyes on it, and that seems unlikely to ever change at this point.

 

Nowadays Doom is a place where I can put a lot of my creative interests together in one place, with level design, art, and music all working together to make something greater than the sum of their parts. It's just endlessly satisfying to be able to run around in a world I created, or to watch other players make their way through a level I built. Makes the good brain chemicals happen. It's also fun finding new ways of pushing the engine to do stuff that hasn't been tried before.

 

The expanded possibilities with Quake mapping are very enticing, but I've never loved Quake the way I do with Doom, so I keep making things for Doom, and trying to turn that engine envy into creative fuel. :)

[Andrea Rovenski]

doom is magical to me because of how i was introduced to it when i was young, so for me its and endless joy to play combined with me being an artist who enjoys creativity in every aspect of my life, including my favorite video games.

 

as a demo player, i consider playing the game to be art as well, each part of a doom experience to me is extremely creative. 

[MFG38]

I make Doom maps for the following reasons:

1. It's easy.
2. It's fast.
3. It's fun.
4. It's my all-time favorite game series.
5. The game's inherently abstract design enables the exploration of a record-breaking breadth of themes without pretty much anything feeling "off".
6. I'm definitely not trying desperately to win a Cacoward one of these years it's not even a real physical trophy it's just an image file next to the title of your project and yet that's apparently an excuse to occasionally stroke your e-peen lol how i don't get it jk i actually am desperate gib cacaword pls

[IHave10Shells]

I like to make DooM maps because it's really fun and satisfying to make maps for one of my favorite games. (Even though most of them are garbage with trash gameplay. plus, I've only made ONE serious attempt at a wad.)

 

[MemeMind]

I think its fun and engaging

[cannonball]

I am not an overly good player when it comes to Doom and my first venture into this community was in the speed running community. So when I made my first map back in 2012, it felt like a revelation as I found it far more fun to create stuff that kicks other people’s butts than having my own trounced.

It is a fun hobby to have and an escape from  everything else.

[TheDanMarine]

I've made a few of my own non-doom games already (that experience is probably why my first map wasn't startan in a bunch of square rooms), but sometimes I want to make stuff without the hassle of putting together my own assets. and when that particular urge strikes, doom is a really good starting base. I also love experimenting with someone else's system for once, like how I used the berserk pack in my second map to force you into fist weapons at a really bad time. if it was my own game, I'd fix that right away, but with doom I can use it to really screw people over and feel no remorse for doing so! hahahaha

[kosmoloko]

I see a lot of people saying it's a creative outlet for them, but as for me I already have an outlet in many other things. I make music, games, art and sometimes 3d models/renders. So doom mapping for me is just more of a fun side-side hobby.

[EduardoAndFriends]

This is a gold mine, guys. It’s so affirming to read such loving words for this old game we all adore. It’s clear by the size of the community just how ardently Doom is appreciated but it hits properly when you read the experience of others. Thanks for sharing!

[Shakariki Heisenberg]

fun