What’s a theme / setting you’d like to see in PWADs?

[Matt Eldrydge]

Brutalism is the first to come to mind. I'm sure others have toyed with the aesthetic and Brutalist Doom exists (if only as a 5 minute gag), but something about brutalism just works with Doom's overall design language based on my own attempts at that architectural style.

 

There are other things like dreamy, surreal places too, but I think that might just happen to be the default "vibe" for a lot of more modern mapping.

 

Also: Sunder has some really appealing architecture and I wish more maps with a similar aesthetic and more conventional gameplay existed. 

[SpaceCat_2001]

1 hour ago, tewgytaylor said:

I'm a real big fan of episode 2 style Hell corrupted tech bases. There's something about seeing hell seep into the 'normal' world that I've always really enjoyed.

I think you will enjoy my map10 for Amalgoom project

[OniriA]

 

43 minutes ago, SpaceCat_2001 said:

lumping Andean cultures with Brazil is the same as lumping China with Turkey, which could actually be kinda of cool idea for a wad

 

Speaking of which, I've seen mappers use Aztec textures in Egyptian settings and vice versa which always kind of makes me cringe.  

^{That's when I know for shure we got a gringo here.} 💕 ^{#JustCaucasianThings} 

[openroadracer]

DieselPunk.

[Not Jabba]

1 hour ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

- Slaughter WAD style visuals / architecture featuring relatively easy, run-and-gun gameplay (please... I'd even collab!!)

- Demonic / ancient temples on the moon! (Think... Demonastery, Bastion of Chaos, or Remnant... after having sex with Valiant's moon episode)

- Legit, bona-fide jungles (and I mean JUNGLE jungles, not vine/forest textures and tree sprites sprinkled around another theme)*

- Massive, grungy dystopian cities (inspired by the recent SPRAWL)

 

This sounds like a great 4-episode megawad!

[Master O]

Thief 1 and Thief 2-themed Doom levels.

[SpaceCat_2001]

10 minutes ago, OniriA said:

 

 

Speaking of which, I've seen mappers use Aztec textures in Egyptian settings and vice versa which always kind of makes me cringe.  

^{That's when I know for shure we got a gringo here.} 💕 ^{#JustCaucasianThings} 

It's not related to Doom, but you never seen how a lot of videogames portray my region, we either are a Islamic fundamentalist war-torn dictatorships with palms everywhere for some fucking reason or a cold desolate wasteland with bits of "top five fun facts about Central Asia", I don't know which is more sad

[Burgish]

High-ceiling forests.

 

I always love seeing how people do big trees, and how they build impassable "walls" into the level structure.  Outdoor environments in general have a really different feel depending on a few key choices by the author that I'm always interested to see.
 

 

[Amaruψ]

2 hours ago, Nikku4211 said:

This thread reminds me of another thread that used to be active a few years ago.

 

Anyways, imagine this kind of Hell in Doom:

 

Petersen's at it again, it seems.

[Matt Eldrydge]

1 minute ago, Burgish said:

High-ceiling forests.

 

Completely forgot this! One of my earliest ideas for maps before I even could map was just that, big, ominously empty forests that funnel you towards places with impassable treelines. I know they pop up every now and then, but more as setpieces or smaller parts of a map than a whole map. It would be quite a challenge, but that would be really, really cool.

[Antiquated]

40 minutes ago, Matt Eldrydge said:

Brutalism is the first to come to mind. I'm sure others have toyed with the aesthetic and Brutalist Doom exists (if only as a 5 minute gag), but something about brutalism just works with Doom's overall design language based on my own attempts at that architectural style.

 

There are other things like dreamy, surreal places too, but I think that might just happen to be the default "vibe" for a lot of more modern mapping.

 

Also: Sunder has some really appealing architecture and I wish more maps with a similar aesthetic and more conventional gameplay existed. 

 

Not DOOM, but HROT is a really good example of brutalist style architecture being used in a (modern) classic-style FPS.

[Geniraul]

I'd say space maps like Ancient Aliens' map 31 Grey Dwarf or Darkstar's map 01 Starship, but preferably with more open cosmic areas, à-la Quake II. And also these real world levels of a gigantic scale, such as DisInsector. There's an earlier post on this topic that I made in another thread.

[DoomGappy]

3 hours ago, Nikku4211 said:

This thread reminds me of another thread that used to be active a few years ago.

 

Anyways, imagine this kind of Hell in Doom:

Snazzy hell, reminds me of Ugly Americans and a specific episode of Man Seeking Woman.

[CacoKnight]

I don't like anything modern/gray/cities/tech indoor rooms and scenes or wads where everything is too red.

I love gothic and/or dark and/or brown and/or quake style (like Dimension of the Boomed), caves and/or green, mythological places (Inca, Maya, Aztec, Egypt, Roman, Greek..) etc.

[BeetBeardTheBrave]

Autumn in the mountains!

 

[Craneo]

I always found this piece of work amusing, always wondered if it could be even doable in Doom, probably not, luckily DUSK kinda did it in the Escher Labs level I guess
I'd also love to see more carnival/circus themed levels/wads for Doom too, as well as more Japan-themed wads, also more wads with a hell themed after Dante's treachery layer.

[Treehouseminis]

13 minutes ago, CacoKnight said:

I don't like anything modern/gray/cities/tech indoor rooms and scenes or wads where everything is too red.

I love gothic and/or dark and/or brown and/or quake style (like Dimension of the Boomed), caves and/or green, mythological places (Inca, Maya, Aztec, Egypt, Roman, Greek..) etc.

You might like my latest mini release B L E A K then :)  Though the first map is a techbase but the others are dark gothic, use quake textures etc. 

[OniriA]

1 hour ago, SpaceCat_2001 said:

It's not related to Doom, but you never seen how a lot of videogames portray my region, we either are a Islamic fundamentalist war-torn dictatorships with palms everywhere for some fucking reason or a cold desolate wasteland with bits of "top five fun facts about Central Asia", I don't know which is more sad

 

If it's Central Asia or Middle East you're from, then yeah I know all the cliché's about that being used in games unfortunately (extending beyond games to movies and series aswell). It's sad and also lazy but I think it's also a remnant of the post 9/11 era and it's accompanying ignorance. But I have the feeling things do change with every generation with wider and more deeper perspectives about cultures and ethnicity.

 

Mostly due to the fact people growing up from those (and other) cultures are now themselves contributing to film, games and other creative media and as a result (slowly) widening the mainstream audiences perspectives. There's still a long way to go, but we're getting there eventually. 

 

[maxmanium]

Love gothic and hell theming. I do have an appreciation for Doom's browns tho.

[Guff dotD]

51 minutes ago, Craneo said:

Love M.C. Escher.

 

I agree that wads like that would be cool, but not very feasible (under Vanilla/Limit Removing or Boom standards).

[Wo0p]

5 hours ago, SpaceCat_2001 said:

Central Asia, and specifically Kyrgyzstan (because I live here hehehehe)

And Africa is underrepresented as well, don't talk about Egypt being part of Africa, we already had shittons of wads about Egypt, there's more Africa than Egypt, an entire continent with myriad of cultures and architecture 

 

By curiosity I looked up Kyrgyzstan and ohlawd. As someone from a country as flat as a pancake, it's utterly mesmerising <3 Definitely need more WADS centered around those kinds of environments :)

[Jacek Nowak (jacnowak)]

I would like to see more postapocalyptic cities, things similar to DBP50: Emerald City or something like Ashes but with Doom enemies.

[DannyMan]

Exploring abandoned places (be it towns, cities, docks, and etc.) with a washed out landscape.

[xScavengerWolfx]

For me what theme i would like to see is basically like most people are saying. apocalyptic, jungle, ancient cities, abandon places ect ect.

 

For me personally i would love to see maps take the idea of abandon places and locations but all in hell like there was some kind of war that whipped out most of the demon population and have the sense of dread when visiting said places.

 

Like i'll give an example of what i'm talking about: Let's say in one of the levels there a village that has no demons in it what so ever and all the building are in this state of dis repair. When your exploring this place you have this feeling of dread and uneasy feeling of being watched and expecting something to happen but nothing dose.

 

Something like that as a theme would be really cool but kinda creepy at the same time 

[Firedust]

I'm down for anything that isn't arthouse bullshit.

 

You gotta love Doom's enemy roster for being so versatile in use - Demons in dilapidated cities? Yes. Demons in castles? Yeah, why not? Demons in space stations? No problemo!

If I had to pick one theme that I would like to see more of, that would be desert tech bases. Carnage Oasis was cool, and so was Valis's Mars episode. We need more of that shit. Strong Dune vibes too.

[RonnieJamesDiner]

52 minutes ago, Firedust said:

desert tech bases

 

Actually yeah, I also realized how much I loved (and wanted) this theme after playing Captain Toenail's "Dust Devil". Brilliant map and setting.

[Kwisior]

• Japanese/East Asian aesthetic
• Space stations and spaceships 
• Mesoamerican setting
• Sophisticated fleshy inside; basically something like In The Flesh from Blood, so with more variety than just meat and guts
• Mars (like in UAC Ultra or the first DBP)
• Paradise
• Snow
• Bigass mushrooms

Edited November 6, 2023 by Kwisior

[DankMetal]

A wad inspired by expressionism movies like The Cabinet of dr. Caligari, Metropolis or Nosferatu. Bizarre structures, black and white or yellow, dark skies, etc. I love this art, and seeing it translated into doom would be an interesting experience

[LadyMistDragon]

The thing is.....I don't think Congo and Aztec actually took place in the locations they were named for, it was more of a metaphorical description than anything else and I read somewhere much of the first episode took place on some imaginary moon, but it's not exactly like Evilution so maybe not.

 

Now...as to places not represented enough.

 

 

 

Dense evergreen forests, which one can kind of see like Lost Civlization

High mountain peaks, within reason, like what's in my region.

Malls.

Actual military bases

Tropical environments

Actual alien worlds, not like Ancient Aliens Episode 3 but something more akin to that of sci-fi movies or I guess like Level 5 of Turok 2 or the Truth and Reconcilitation from Doom, that kind of thing.

Restaurants. I've seen these before but there must be more, more, more!

 

[EduardoAndFriends]

7 hours ago, Lila Feuer said:

 

Very yes, Shadow Wood is my favorite Hexen hub for that very reason.

Hell yeah. I was thinking Shadow Wood crossed with the swamp boss map from Painkiller. If you can, chuck in the modded revenants that have tracking missiles that buzz like mosquitos. :)