What would you like to see in a Deathmatch WAD?

[lerner]

Kind of self-explanatory, but yeah, what would you like to see in a Deathmatch WAD. The reason I'm asking this is that I'm going to be making a WAD and I need a few ideas.

[Ichor]

Moved to WADs and mods...

[Szymanski]

Llamas

[Negatronica]

Powerful weapons should require a little effort to get to.

Plenty of room to strafe.

Good design; not too big and not too plain with some vertical fighting.

[=laff=Mish]

Why doesn't someone make a wad that dissables running and has low rate of fire/high damage weapons (world war one-ish)?

[Opulent]

embedded demos

[Nmn]

Some advices? Glad to help. Some generic Death Match advices.
-nonstop action. By no means there should be no dead-ends, because a guy can run there and just sit there with his launcher. (perfect example of this bug is Q3Tourney1) The players must run constantly, no one should stop. This also applies to lifts, doors. They just slow the player down. The player is chasing, other is running, they should be like ants.
-Good weapon placement-this is a thing You must learn Yourself. Good weapon placement means that the player will get a good weapon when he needs it, but it also involves risk. Like let's say You have a large arena, in the middle is a rocket launcher. The one who grabs it rocks and can take down anyone, but he risks of getting killed by moving to the centre of the firefrange.
-Good connectivity-so there are no dead ends. Plus, all areas of Your map should see a lot of action, there shouldn't be a room where everyone has gone to, and other locations are empty. Try to make a good fighting balance.
-when sketching a layout try to focus on how the game will play. In DM, prettyness comes later. DM maps don't have to be huge, but shouldn't be smaller either.
-Good map layout-there shuold be plenty of vertical action. Lot's of firing up and down, that's fun! (no wonder The Downtown-Doom2 map13 is loved by many)
-Nice item placement-which lures the players into exploring the map, yet collecting various stuff when they need it. Items should bring players' attentions into exploring the map.
-It's not fun getting respawn-fragged while playing (so when You're running You're crossing a DM start and a spawning player gibs You)-move the DM starts off the fight zone (a Quake DM level had this done very well-was it cistern?). Make sure there are plenty of DM spots as well, even if it's a duel DM map.
I hope this helps.

[Grazza]

Opulent said:

embedded demos

heh

And SP playability. (Seriously: a lot of good DM maps just beg for an SP mode; it might also make learning the layout more fun.)

For DM: Most of my DM experience is in UT, but I think some of the same principles apply. So I'd say plenty of height variation and jumping possibilities, and make the players have to work a bit (lose time, expose themselves to danger) to get the bigger weapons. And make it look either completely surreal (totally wahooey and with unusual colours) or very realistic (i.e. like a real place).

[The Falcon]

I've always wanted to see a DM level with Halo-type architecture and gameplay...............

[Oh No Its Kyle]

Not that shit Dwango5, what a peice of crap. It was fun for about six seconds. :/

[lerner]

Well, thanks everyone. I've gotten started on my wad, and it will be unique in that the only weapons availible will be the shotgun and the super shotgun.

[=laff=Mish]

more SSG? oh man, i think everyone already has like 80% of their frags on fraglog being from the SSG. that's why i like iceage. no more SSG domination.




i miss the boomstick

[lerner]

Hmm, did you happen to read before that and see the word shotgun? Besides, ssg domination is better than bfg lamers and plasma lamers. Both of those weapons over power them all(except maybe a well place rocket). SSG, on the other hand, is a tad bit trickier to be overpowered by if you have an ok aim and a decent weapon, and you're constantly moving.

[LexiMax]

I want to see intersting layouts, more special features that add to gameplay.

I don't EVER want to see an invulnerability sphere or megasphere.

[Job]

I made a DM wad, once, that only included the chaingun (though there was a secret BFG to be had). I think it worked fairly well.

[lerner]

Don't worry, I wasn't planning on putting in any of the spheres.

About interesting layouts: The map's theme is a small valley witch on either side are some caves. It should prove for some great gameplay, especially since the caves themselves will be interlocked with tunnels and will have other goodies like collumns to duck behind for cover inside the caves, and hills to jump around and over in the valley.

[lerner]

Oh how I wish Doomworld would let me edit posts. :(

Here are a few screenshots of the wad in it's current state. Note that this may change in the blink of an eye.

http://www.afreehost.org/~ler/supershot.png
This was actually taken before the most recent change, but it reflects the map pretty well.

http://www.afreehost.org/~ler/supershot2.png

http://www.afreehost.org/~ler/supershot3.png
These are from the newest version.

Oh argh. Edit button is on the bottom. :P

[Grazza]

You can edit posts - just click where it says "Edit/Delete". And I suggest you do so with your last post, and make those images into links (replace img with url).

FAQ

[Oh No Its Kyle]

Hmmm... can I suggest making those walls higher? Giving it kind of a canyon work can be more to your advantage and it can let you put in kick ass detailing.

[lerner]

Congradulations, you've decided one thing I'm going to do later when I get in a work fit enough to whip out Doom Builder.

[LexiMax]

Get in touch with some guy named EarthQuake (search forum for posts by him, then check his profile for contact information). He's probably got some real good advice on making outdoor areas.

[=laff=Mish]

lerner said:

Hmm, did you happen to read before that and see the word shotgun?

whoa, no need to get violent, meng.
i just dont think a lot of people will use the SG if the SSG is lying around
i mean, unless you can position it really well or something.
:L

why is there no canyonish outdoorsie ctf map (like the type in UT2004/2003)?

[VinceDSS]

lerner said:

Kind of self-explanatory, but yeah, what would you like to see in a Deathmatch WAD. The reason I'm asking this is that I'm going to be making a WAD and I need a few ideas.

well, add some monsters in, and make it balanced/fun for solo / coop play is always a good thing for any DM wads (like Daniel's recent megawad).

Also, be sure to make maps w/o BFG, plasma or Rocket launcher. So that the morons that complain about BFG/plasma/Rocket whoring have some maps to play :)

[lerner]

I'll just make a SP map with a similar look to this after I make this one if you really want it. I want to concentrate solely on deathmatch maps.

And of course, the map is Sg and SSg only, but I'm thinking I should add in the chaingun, as it wouldn't hurt, really.

And Mish, I'll see if I can position the shotgun and the rest of the weapons well.

[Nmn]

lerner said:

About interesting layouts: The map's theme is a small valley witch on either side are some caves. It should prove for some great gameplay, especially since the caves themselves will be interlocked with tunnels and will have other goodies like collumns to duck behind for cover inside the caves, and hills to jump around and over in the valley.

This sounds like a very good atrium design, tough Doom can't do 3d floors.
Your shots look interesting, plenty of high places, makes good for vertical action, tough I advice to reduce the large size of the opened spaces.
Also shot2 needs more light variation. I know You're into making it play good, good choice, but some nice torches that would cast off faded lighting are nice for an eye (and remember, keep them away from the players' paths so their action isn't stopped by decorations)
Shot 3 looks... :-/ Well, early stuff.
Anyway I look forward for this map. Why don't You post it on WIP?
I look forward for the SP version as well.

[lerner]

WIP?

I don't even know if I'm going to do a single-player version, but it does sound cool. As for the big open spaces, I don't really want to change that much, but there will be plenty of hills and stuff, so you can hide behind them then run over and fill your opponent with lead.

[Nmn]

Yes, WIP
Wads in Progress. Post it there if it's in making.
Yes hills are good but You mentioned about plenty of high caverns. All those player standing up there can just take the players below down with plain shotguns, campers... That's not fair.

[lerner]

You misunderstood. The caverns will only have big openings like in the screenshots, and they will have tunnels that connect the caverns, and maybe lead to the better weapons or armor.

[VinceDSS]

lerner said:

WIP?

I don't even know if I'm going to do a single-player version, but it does sound cool. As for the big open spaces, I don't really want to change that much, but there will be plenty of hills and stuff, so you can hide behind them then run over and fill your opponent with lead.

DM and solo can merged in the same map, just that monsters and keys will not be there in solo/coop. It doesnt make much difference, and it makes only one file instead of 2.

[lerner]

But the thing is that I want to make a much larger map for SP, so that it isn't just a kill monsters and exit kind of thing. Trust me, it'd make it much better.