Hexagon based community level

[Melon]

WildWeasel said:

I've yet to see a Doom map designed as a honeycomb structure (lots of interlocking hexagonal rooms).

The above post in the ideas thread gave me a nice idea. There have been community levels before where people each make a 1024x1024 square and then they are all pasted together into one big level. How about we take that concept and use hexagons instead of squares? It adds more connectivity between areas that you need to consider, and should hopefully be a bit more interesting than the 1024 squares that have been done to death.

Here's my plan on how it would all work out. Most of these rules are solely for organisational reasons, they may be a bit strict and limiting but they should hopefully prevent people from having to edit their maps and make the whole thing fit together more easily. If this community level is a success, then the next one could give a bit more freedom if somebody is willing to organise it.

RULES

1) Below is a map of how the sections fit together. Anybody who wishes to join in should choose a map slot. I thought I'd get the ball rolling and choose a starting map in the centre. Please note that you can choose any other map slot you like provided it's connected to an already taken map slot, my starting position does not have to be in the centre (e.g. all the other map slots chosen are to the north-west). I am not expecting all of the map slots to be filled.



2) I have made a map template that everyone should use. DOWNLOAD IT HERE. The map is in BOOM FORMAT and the area of the hexagon is slightly bigger than a 1024 square, although the shape is more awkward.

3) You will see in the template map that each side of the hexagon has a small linedef in the middle. This is where the maps should connect together. Please note that I will be slotting the maps directly, with no space between them, as such you must ensure that there is a small wall between your playing area and the edges of the hexagon, except at the door ways, which must be accessible. As the doorways on some of the lines are a bit wider than 128 units, making texture alignment a bit horrible, you may make your doorway narrower than the space provided, but it must fit within that space.

4) All doorways in your map must be at exactly the same height as each other and 128 units tall. This ensures that every doorway in the finished map can be put at the same height as each other (even if I have to shift the height of your entire section) so that the doorways are guaranteed to connect up. Please note that the doorways can be empty space rather than a door, but it is up to you to sort out any sound blocking and line of sight from other people's sections, assuming you want to block that. I will ensure that people's sections fit together nicely in this respect, combining doors into one if necessary.

5) Only the standard Doom2 resources are allowed, although I am looking to change the sky to something a bit nicer. A generic starry night sky perhaps? Anyone have any ideas about this? I'd also be looking for a nice music replacement.

6) You may place monster teleport sectors outside of your hexagon space to set up teleport traps, but the player may not leave the hexagon provided in the template map.

7) All tags in your map should be numbered to fit inside the range given by your map slot number*100. E.g. if you use map slot 6, then your tags should be between 600 and 699 inclusive, and the player with slot 25 should use the numbers 2500 - 2599 etc. This prevents anyone from using the same tags so I don't have a horrible tag conflict mess to sort out when combining everyone's sections.

8) You must allow, and expect, players to enter your map from any of the six sides and leave from any other. The exception to this is the map slots around the outer edge, you can completely seal off those doorways that don't connect to any other section. In the final product, any doorways that aren't connected to another section will be sealed off.

9) Please do not attempt to influence the design of any other section. The end result is expected to be a thematic mish-mash as every author does their own thing. Also be prepared for the player to enter your map with any combination of resources, your section does not have to be maxable as a standalone thing. (For example, you do not have to provide any weapons in your section). If the final product is unmaxable, then so be it (but hopefully it won't be).

10) Please include difficulty settings. I'll be adding in co-op starts, but you should design for single-player only.

SUBMITTING YOUR MAP

Please upload your completed version somewhere and then PM ME with the link. Please do not post your section in the thread, I would prefer it if we went as far as not even posting screenshots or saying what is in our sections as I would like the end result to be a nice surprise.

FINALISING THE MAP

Eventually I will start looking for an end section. I am planning to have the exit behind a doorway needing all three keys, so towards the end of the project I will ask people to make 4 sections, one for each key and an exit section. Anybody could make these, including those who have already made a section. I will then be slotting these somewhere in a remaining map slot (wherever fits best). I would ideally like these sections to be made at the end of the project.


I am aware that that is a lot of rules but I believe they are for the best. Does anyone wish to take part in this? Feel free to ask any questions, I would rather resolve potential issues before the project gets going.

Have fun.

[C30N9]

Sounds interesting, i see if i can enter, but a question, is it ok to make vanilla map?

Oh, and when i chose a room number in the template to make, should I create it as alone map?

[Melon]

C30N9 said:

Sounds interesting, i see if i can enter, but a question, is it ok to make vanilla map?

Oh, and when i chose a room number in the template to make, should I create it as alone map?

Make your map as a standalone, and then I'll join them all together into one big map when I've got all of them.

Making it vanilla probably isn't OK, as I don't know if they'll all join together correctly if they are all different map formats. Boom format isn't really that different though, so I don't see where the problem is.

[Vermil]

The map format is independent of a port's features (certinally the features might be written for a certain map format however).

Doomsday 1 has XG, but uses the Doom map format, for instance.

[Melon]

What I meant was that if people are making their sections of the map in different formats (Boom or vanilla) what will happen when I try to put each section into the same map? Will anything break? I don't want to give someone the OK to make their part in vanilla map format if something is going to break when placed into the large combined map (which will be in Boom format).

Even then, I don't see why anyone would want to map in vanilla for this project, given that mapping for Boom is basically the same except you have more linedef actions and flags. Setting up doors and stuff isn't any different.

[Gez]

Boom format is the same as vanilla format. The only difference is that there are more values that have a meaning (more linedef types, things, sector specials, etc.); that's all.

Now, Hexen format is different because stuff is written differently. And UDMF is again different. But Doom, Boom, Heretic, Strife formats are all technically the same.


As for stuff breaking when merging all maps together, regardless of format, what you have to watch out for is tags.

You may add the requirement that all tags are in a range of a hundred given by the map "slot". So tags in slot 21 would all have to be in the 2100-2199 range. That'd avoid conflicts.

[Melon]

Gez said:

Boom format is the same as vanilla format. The only difference is that there are more values that have a meaning (more linedef types, things, sector specials, etc.); that's all.

Now, Hexen format is different because stuff is written differently. And UDMF is again different. But Doom, Boom, Heretic, Strife formats are all technically the same.


As for stuff breaking when merging all maps together, regardless of format, what you have to watch out for is tags.

You may add the requirement that all tags are in a range of a hundred given by the map "slot". So tags in slot 21 would all have to be in the 2100-2199 range. That'd avoid conflicts.

Thanks for the information. I wasn't sure if a Doom --> Boom conversion would change the meaning of some properties, but it's good to know that it won't. C30N9, you should be OK to map in vanilla format.

Also Gez, check rule 7. I've already done exactly that for the tag conflict issue.

[DeathevokatioN]

I have to be honest, this hexagon gimmick really seems to me to be more like a crutch than something that would actually make a mapset any more interesting than the next megawad. Maybe I'm biased because that Speed of DooM level "Honeycombs in Hell" is forever printed in my brain as the ONLY DooM map that ever made me physically ill though.

[Melon]

DeathevokatioN said:

I have to be honest, this hexagon gimmick really seems to me to be more like a crutch than something that would actually make a mapset any more interesting than the next megawad. Maybe I'm biased because that Speed of DooM level "Honeycombs in Hell" is forever printed in my brain as the ONLY DooM map that ever made me physically ill though.

This isn't really anything like Honeycombs of Hell though. People can map whatever they like, the only restriction is that it is placed inside a small hexagon-shaped space. They don't have to make their map entirely out of hexagons. (The hexagon-shaped space is sort of like a 1024 square, but a different shape of course)

I thought the hexagon shape areas would be more interesting for two reasons, one is that it adds a lot more interconnectivity making a very free-form level (perhaps too freeform? We'll see) and secondly that I hope it will encourage people to do more than try to cram a lot of rectangular rooms and corridors into a small space, because that won't fit as nicely.

[Quasar]

DeathevokatioN said:

I have to be honest, this hexagon gimmick really seems to me to be more like a crutch than something that would actually make a mapset any more interesting than the next megawad. Maybe I'm biased because that Speed of DooM level "Honeycombs in Hell" is forever printed in my brain as the ONLY DooM map that ever made me physically ill though.

Whatever you do, do not play the new Sunder maps ;)