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Zom-B

Collaborative episode project: 666maps

Does this sound like a good project?  

27 members have voted

  1. 1. Does this sound like a good project?

    • ++ Yes!! I\'m in!
      3
    • + Interesting idea. I Wonder if it will work out.
      13
    • 0 I\'ll follow this thread and see how it works out.
      5
    • - I have some serious doubts about this. (specify in a reply)
      2
    • -- Won\'t work!
      4


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Dear level authors,

I want to create a small DOOM2 episode with the community, as a sort of collaboration project. In this project, I want to create 6 levels by 6 authors, all 6 authors working on each level but doing something totally different to it.

At first I will recruit 6 eager level authors and assign numbers to each person. All authors will open up his/her favorite wad editor and start a new level in DOOM2 mode (use DOOM2.WAD v1.9), called MAPxx (where xx is his/her assigned number), saved as 666MAPxx.wad. All authors will complete step 1 of a set of steps (described below), and post the result in this thread. (hmm maybe we need some sort of file upload place...)

After I approve of all edits, I will post the (possibly corrected) wads to the forum and the authors can go on to step 2. This is where the fun starts, because every author will take the level of the author before him/her in the list and add the changes of step 2 to this wad he/she doesn't know. This will go on until step 6 has completed and everyone has completed a different step in each level.

During each step, it is allowed (even recommended) to add your initials/logo to each level you've worked on, in the form of isolated sectors.

Of course there is the possibility that some authors will slack, bail out or disappear. In that case I'll try my best to fill in for him/her.

I hope this will be a fun project. I don't think anything like this has ever been done before, and I don't know if it will completely work out at all. So expect changes half-way during the process to compensate for things that don't go well. But what would be better to find out than to actually try it?

Regards,
Zom-B

---------------------------

Participants
1 Chrispaks
2 Nixot
3 Krispavera
4 40oz
5 ArmouredBlood
6 Doom64Marine

---------------------------

Current jobs
MAP01: Step3 for Krispavera
MAP02: Step3 for 40oz
MAP03: Step2 for 40oz
MAP04: Step4 for Butts
MAP05: Step3 for Butts
MAP06: Step2 for Butts

---------------------------

The steps are as following:

1. 2D: In this step you will design the top view of the level. You should only draw areas on a 2D basis and ignore anything else like heights, lighting, textures, etc. Don't pay too much attention to decorations, this is for another step.

2. Heights: In this step you get the 2D design of step 1 and create a heights profile. In this step it is also allowed to subdivide sectors into multiple sectors to create height gradients, stairs, doors, lifts, creative objects in the middle of the areas, etc. For the moment you may ignore texturing newly exposed upper/lower textures, this is for another step. It is not allowed to alter the outer shape of the level. While doing this, you'll have to think ahead a bit, for example to reserve space for lifts/doors, teleporters, switch rooms, computer hardware, etc. You can only hope that another author recognizes your hints and makes what you intended, or makes something totally different from it.

3. Texturing: In this step you will use your creativity to change the textures of all walls, floors and ceilings. It is not allowed to alter the shape of the level. It is allowed to split linedefs into multiple linedefs, in order to place multiple textures on one line, as long as all those lines are colinear (ie. the vertex should be on the original line). In the same way it is allowed to change the length of a linedef (as long as you don't change the angle of the linedef) to better fit textures. It is allowed to split up sectors to create different neighboring floor/ceiling flats. It is also allowed to add small sectors for objects (computers, crates) on the ground or sunken screens and windows on solid walls.

4. Lighting: In this step you will change the lighting of every sector. It is allowed to change the geometry or textures of the level in order to create that advanced lighting effect you have in mind.

5. Actions: In this step you will make all active elements of the level. You will make doors and lifts work (whether locally or remote), make push/gun switches and/or walk triggers. Clearly indicate switches with the appropriate texture. It is also allowed to change existing stairs to remotely raised stairs, change floor/ceiling heights of sectors that change the floor or ceiling height through a tagged action, create new sectors to make a 'switch stand', change lighting of sectors that have light actions tagged, change sector heights to make teleporters and making prison-bars that will open. It is allowed to place keys in the level, as long as they serve a functional and not a decorational purpose.

It is not allowed to make it unusually hard to find what a trigger triggered. This means that the sector(s) that a player triggers should be closed doors visited in the past 30s (approx) or either in audible range or visible in such a way that you can not miss it. When it is a previously visited door, change some textures so the doors are clearly different from normal doors.

You may also make secrets, and in order to do so it is allowed to slightly change the level geometry and textures to make the secret actually hard to find when unvisited. Make sure that exactly one sector per secret has the secret effect, and set the secret flags of the appropriate linedefs. Secrets should not be totally invisible, there should at least be some kind of hint, whether it be a differing texture, lighting or a thing in front.

Of course in this step you should think about a path the player should walk from begin to end through this level. Try to find the most logical starting position and place four coop player starts there. From there, plan your way though the level while maintaining a balanced degree of linearity and consistency equal to that of the original doom series. This means, not as linear as most modern FPS games, and not so many alternate paths to take that you might skip a part of the level. When appropriate, You may place teasers things in remote places to make the player visit other parts.

6. Things: In this step you will fill the entire level with things, excluding players and keys. For the moment ignore skill levels and multiplayer-only things. Do however think about deaf monsters. It is also allowed to make linedefs sound-blocking. Keep the skill level approximately equal to ultra-violence, and keep in mind that it should both be fun to play in single-player mode, and will not be too easy in a 4 player coop game.

After that, you are allowed to make small changes to anything in the level to make it more fun, more beautiful, more logical, etc. In short, polish it up.


There is also a set of basis rules that must always be respected throughout the process:

  • It should be Doom2 compatible (Don't use stuff introduced in source ports like new effects, freelook, jumping)
  • No new textures/flats/sprites/gfx/strings/sounds/music/DEH/other modifications. Only a level.
  • Textures should be optimally aligned (as best as possible, given the situation). Tip: Use shortcut keys for texture alignment in Doom Builder's 3D mode.
  • Switch textures should not span multiple linedefs (sounds obvious but I still see it on occasion in good megawads)
  • No lines longer than 1024 (split lines if necessary)
  • No 'hiding' trap holes using missing textures.
  • No 'programming' using multiple parallel action linedefs (the player might back away and trigger only part of them, possibly creating bugs)
  • No 'timers' using multiple moving floors/ceilings at different start heights and equal end heights
  • No randomization techniques using inaccuracies of the player(s)
  • The player should be able to get out of any situation, and not get stuck. (eg. every lavapit should have an escape other than dying)
  • No tag 666 or 667
  • No bosses (boss monsters allowed, as long as they are not treated as a boss). No Romero's Head.
  • No dedicated barrel-crushers
  • No multiple player1 starts etc, to exploit strange effects.
  • No ridiculous amount of weapons/ammo/powerups near the end of the level, as they might make the following level too easy
  • Only one exit per level, which is not the secret exit
  • No mandatory secrets: the level should be completable in a normal way with 0% secrets.
  • I obviously missed some rules here, so use your common sense and don't try out any crazy stuff that I might disapprove of. (of course doing some crazy stuff is encouraged, to explore techniques not widely used)
  • I might add rules later on when I find too many authors are doing the same thing I don't approve.
What I approve of is somewhat arbitrary, with the guidelines being that I want to create 'normal' levels while not using source-port-specific things and not exploiting bugs or 'features'.

I hope everything is clear (it usually isn't :P). Feel free to ask questions or criticize my decisions.

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I think you may have a problem making step 5 work with steps 1, 2 and 3.

I am not sure how you could make a 2d map without making it obvious what are doors and stairs etc, leaving the dude at step 5 stuck with doing not much more than go around tagging what the earlier designers had in mind. Whoever gets step 5 probably won't have a lot of freedom, unless he is allowed to add monster closets, teleport traps etc etc.

I kinda like the idea, but it will take a lot of work. I am not convinced it will work, but it sure is an interesting idea. :)

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Sounds kinda like a neat idea, I'd be willing to do some thing placement. During thing placement, are we allowed to add sectors outside the level for teleporting monsters?

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I'd like to do 2D map drawing.

Actions seems like a really boring job. Basically you just make doors and elevators work, and try to figure out what switches are supposed to do what.

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After re-reading the first post I'm kinda confused. Do the authors sign up exclusively for a certain task? Or does each author start a map, then switch to another map for the next step?

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Kyka said:

I think you may have a problem making step 5 work with steps 1, 2 and 3.

I am not sure how you could make a 2d map without making it obvious what are doors and stairs etc, leaving the dude at step 5 stuck with doing not much more than go around tagging what the earlier designers had in mind. Whoever gets step 5 probably won't have a lot of freedom, unless he is allowed to add monster closets, teleport traps etc etc.

I kinda like the idea, but it will take a lot of work. I am not convinced it will work, but it sure is an interesting idea. :)


I wrote in step 2 that consideration should be taken for future actions like doors and stuff.

Chrispaks said:

This is interesting. I'd like to try stuff out but I'd need a timeframe before Sept 09.


I won't expect this will be A-grade mapping. My personal direction would be to take one day to do each step, possible less or more. I think I'll assign 2-3 days per step, and one day for me to check the maps. That accounts for a total of 3-4 days per step. Of course I might be wrong in my expectation on the frequency with which people visit this forum, but I hope, and expect, that any contestant will be able to take part in this for at least one day out of every 3-4 days. This way it should be finished well before September.

Nixot said:

Sounds awesome. Can I join?

Thanks for the confidence :) You're in.

Krispavera said:

Sounds kinda like a neat idea, I'd be willing to do some thing placement. During thing placement, are we allowed to add sectors outside the level for teleporting monsters?

Yes, but don't overdo it, like in scythe(2) ;) Keep in mind that as a contestant you have to do all six steps, not just things.

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Alright, I'm in. I like having a little project to focus on. I like the idea of doing all 6 steps rather than just one.

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Sounds interesting. I don't really like the restrictive nature of this project but it could produce some very interesting maps. If you can deal with me sometimes working too much on a map I'd be cool with working on this :P Should be about done with the map I'm working on when you get this all organized.

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JohnnyRancid said:

I'd like to do 2D map drawing.

Actions seems like a really boring job. Basically you just make doors and elevators work, and try to figure out what switches are supposed to do what.


You can make it as boring as you want. I can imagine doing this on a level I don't know, from an author with different motives and ideas. Here I'd have to figure out how to turn it into a nicely working map given all these restrictions. They say restrictions spark creativity.

Besides, if it is an easy step, then all 6 authors will be done quickly and we can move on to the next step earlier.

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This was originally going to be a "Play When Bored 4" but I lost interest. I added a little more detail. Hopefully the sector tags guy can locate where the traps are supposed to be.

I changed all the textures to "-", set the lighting to all sectors to 192, and and made the floor 0 and ceiling 128.

Step one.

It would be nice if we could get an 'assembly line' style of mapping to get a megawad done. Just as long as we have people who are good at the positions they are assigned to. I don't mind doing my "draw random shapes, connect with hallways, add details" style of mapping if any of the other guys here are content with it.

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I like the 'assembly line' mapping style idea. In an ideal case it would get the best talents out of every contributor. In my case, I'm bad at texturing but better at almost every other point. It would be even better if people live geographically near so they could visit each other and work on the maps simultaneously. Fortunately, a good friend of mine is another fanatic doomer/mapper (not on this or any other forum afaik), but we're already planning to do a megawad just ourselves. This doesn't mean that if someone organizes such a project that I wouldn't want to participate though :).


@JR: Looks like a good map to start with. I'll keep it until we officially start. We need one more person.

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I like the idea, id be willing to help map if that's what you need, if not let me know what you need and ill do it. I'm very good at mapping, done a few projects myself as well as just started one (skulltag 64).
This seems like something that will require a lot of team work. Btw if this is going to be a doom 2 episode, wont we need an episode name?

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Oh I meant to ask, what about sector effects? Like damaging sectors, and glowing/flashing lights? I guess actions should probably be doing that?

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Doom64Marine said:

I like the idea, id be willing to help map if that's what you need, if not let me know what you need and ill do it. I'm very good at mapping, done a few projects myself as well as just started one (skulltag 64).
This seems like something that will require a lot of team work. Btw if this is going to be a doom 2 episode, wont we need an episode name?

Welcome aboard. You're the sixth person.

JohnnyRancid said:

Oh I meant to ask, what about sector effects? Like damaging sectors, and glowing/flashing lights? I guess actions should probably be doing that?

Indeed. Although some might consider these things coupled with, say, a lava texture or the lighting procedure, doing those things in step 5 will make that step a little more interesting.

Announcement
Just to be sure, can everyone who isn't confirmed, confirm that his/her precense on this list is correct?

Place	Name	Confirmed?
1	Chrispaks	
2	Nixot 	*
3	Krispavera 	*
4	JohnnyRancid	*
5	ArmouredBlood	*
6	Doom64Marine	*

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During the texturing phase (or possibly heights), are we allowed to add small sectors for computer screens, and other effects like that?

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hahah, giving me the actions step eh :P It's fine, I've got other maps I'll be working on anyway. So once everyone's confirmed we'll start the wheels of industry?

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Hmm. you last two guys don't get it. Is it that the first post is not clear enough or did you not read it fully?

Every participating mapper has to do every step on diferent maps, like this:

        Level 1 2 3 4 5 6
        -----------------
step 1 mapper 1 2 3 4 5 6
step 2 mapper 2 3 4 5 6 1
step 3 mapper 3 4 5 6 1 2
step 4 mapper 4 5 6 1 2 3
step 5 mapper 5 6 1 2 3 4
step 6 mapper 6 1 2 3 4 5

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I guess I didn't really read what it said. Well, in any case, if someone doesn't confirm... I'm in for it.

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Butts said:

I guess I didn't really read what it said. Well, in any case, if someone doesn't confirm... I'm in for it.

Ok Butts, you go in Chrispaks' place.

Announcement
Everyone Start mapping for step 1 "2D"!

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Put the announcement on the first post.

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Alright motherfuckers. Here is the map I made. I got really hammered and just finished I think. This might be a bitch and a half to do anything to, but here it is.

Titties!!!

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