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Necros20

Becoming good at mapping

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How do most mappers in the community become good at it? Do they just spend lots of time honing their skills?

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As in everything, is a complementary series between practice and natural ability. On some mappers one of both is the most important by far, on others is the other, and in most cases it's a point in the middle.
Interest in mapping and imagination are also important variables, but more as a motor the first one, and part of the abilities included in "nature ability" and that can be improved with practice.

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Everyone learns in different ways. Try looking at other people's WADs in your editor of choice to see how they do things you like. Have a look around the forums too, there are plenty of posts on this subject.
Most importantly, be patient - your first few WADs are never going to be perfect, so my advice is to churn out a bunch of maps for practice before working on an idea you're really keen on. That way you'll avoid disappointment if and when you can't satisfactorily render what's floating around in your imagination.

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Heh, there's not really an average speed. The Cacoward-winning megawad 32in24-5 was created in 24 hours and detailed in less than a week, while the megawad Crucified Dreams took quite a few years to finish.

Of course, 32in24-5 isn't nearly as impressive as Crucified Dreams, but there's not really a standard length for detailing. It depends on how quickly you can work, how dedicated you are, how much experience you have, and how tedious/complicated the detail is.

A really important thing to keep in mind is that proper texturing, architecture, and lighting are much more important to making a map look good than little details. With that said, every little bit helps, as long as it's not ugly, obtrusive, or overwhelmingly busy.

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This is just me, but I personally find it easier if I draw the map out on Graph paper before I get to the actual mapping.

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Necros20 said:

On average how long does it take to create a good well detailed map?


Ugh.. Hours. At least for me. I'm really good at imagining good maps, and I'm also pretty good at recreating them on doombuilder. But Nevertheless it takes me a long time to do it.

Something I like to do, is just make a layout of the map using boring brick textures, so that it kinda looks like a '94 map, and then modify the walls as much as I can to hide the boring flat textures. This often includes a lot of vertices.

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Be like a god. Put some linedefs there. See if it's good. If not, flood.

I have tons of trouble starting a map. Once I get in, I easily continue.

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Necros20 said:

On average how long does it take to create a good well detailed map?

It depends on your skills I guess I can make an short detailed map in 8 hours or so if the persons around me here leave me in peace that is :p

Drawing something on paper first speeds up the process also well at least for me it does.

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Necros20 said:

On average how long does it take to create a good well detailed map?


Man...everyone's replying to this :p

I haven't really started making new maps...I really began several years ago with my friend's dad. Several of the maps that he had done were rather small, but he had amde sure to put a lot of detail into them, and then he would have me test them.

Most of the time, they would take AT LEAST a few hours. He had to make sure he had gotten all of his work done before he began, because on average he'd be doing them all night.

I'd say...if you are a novice, like myself, then it might take days of trial-and-error. For Experts, like the 'masters' that have been helping me as-of-late, may only take a few hours to make it, if they set thier minds to it well enough.

I guess it matters on how prepared you are.

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I'm working on my first map for Doom now, and it's taking ages. With all my experience in mapping for Duke Nukem 3D, I think I can give you one piece of advise (that hasn't been given yet): Don't be afraid to throw away a good idea.
Sometimes: i have this idea in my head for a room or something, and I can totally picture it. in my mind it looks like the best room I've ever made. But once built, it just doesn't feel right. It doesn't look so good anymore. If I have that feeling, I delete it. Don't force yourself to make it fit into the map.

More tips:
- Drawing a rough outline on paper before starting to build works really good for me.
- For your first map, you will have lots of ideas and you will want to make a hell themed level, and a space themed level, etc. Choose. Give your map one theme and stick to it. A mixture can work well, as long as you mix it well.
- Pay attention to detail. Misalligned textures and stuff like that makes your map easily look sloppy.
- Make a room or a map and look at it the next day. With a fresh view you can quickly judge if the room still looks good or not.

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Craigs said:

This is just me, but I personally find it easier if I draw the map out on Graph paper before I get to the actual mapping.

Same there : I draw my maps before I make them (with schemes and lists).
It prevents me from being blocked with my work.

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People have given you some good tips already, but I'll just reiterate that practice is important. With EXPERIENCE, you gain a much stronger spatial sense as well as an intuition towards how parts of your level will mesh together and how the objects, players and monsters inside will move through it.

Keep it up!

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Well, one thing you can do is set a goal each time you map, and try to reach that goal, practicing for perfection, basically.

Don't worry about producing a load of crap for the first few months. We all started out like that. And after some practice, it always gets better! Don't try to push yourself too hard, though, otherwise you'll just get frustrated and never want to map again. : ]

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Accept criticism, I cannot begin to list the bad mappers who just plug their ears and go "LALALALALA MY MAP IS THA BEST" when people try to give legitimate advice.

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