Feedback on maps

[Rambosee]

MAP CONTENTS:
Real Heck.wad (contains map in lvl 1 slot)
2mbrown.wad (texture pack)
decontex.wad (texture pack)

Since i do map editing a lot in doom builder and have great ideas for some maps, i decided to make a map. This map is very in 'Scythe' style but longer and harder(well that's how i pictured it). 2 secrets are in this level. The second one is a very high chance of being activated unnoticeably, ignored, and only found in the end, once the monsters are all ready dead. The chainsaw secret i had some fun thinking up, and is medium/hard. The second one is easier with a bit of exploring and good ears. The wad level itself is bundled in with 2 texture packs (don't worry they are small). They were not put into the wad so feel free to use them at your own free will. I hope i did well due to this being my first map being released. Please give feedback on the map about the ammo/health balance, the textures, etc.

MAP LINK: http://www.mediafire.com/?pot3vvz9ue5e6vd

[Snakes]

PrBoom+ 2.5.0.7 is giving me a texture error with 2mbrown.wad

EDIT: Ran it in Zdoom for now. I think the problem is the texture pack is incompatible with PrBoom thanks to texture heights being outside of the base-2 system (e.g. one texture is 48-height).

Anyways:

-There's a few misalignments through the map (e.g. linedefs 194 and 196), and the visuals over all are very, very rough. On top of that, texturing is a bit erratic. Computers embedded in stone looks ugly.
-On the other hand, I do like the attempt to use rough shapes as opposed to orthogonal rooms.

-Gameplay was okay, but the teleporters need to be designed to work more efficiently. They're extremely slow as is.
-It is like Scythe, but probably even shorter. It'd be good to expand a little.
-Also, this is waaaay easier than Scythe.

I think it'd be good if you looked into wads that you like and observe what makes them great to you. You seem to like Scythe, so I'd recommend that. Note that the alignment in that wad is off a lot, but the texturing is always "clean" and thus is able to look decent without being perfect. If this is the style you're going for, it'd be good to learn from. Especially the use of support, lite, and comp textures to decrease the odd appearance of the indoor area.

[Rambosee]

Snakes said:

PrBoom+ 2.5.0.7 is giving me a texture error with 2mbrown.wad

I just tested it on prboom + 2.5.0.7 and it worked fine. Attempt to play the wad on another port like gzdoom.

[elic]

I agree with all Snakes said. There are some interesting ideas in here, but it clearly is done by some who isn't a "regular" Doom mapper. However, I did like the style, and I think that if you continued mapping, you could make some pretty cool maps.

Some things that bugged me (other than what Snakes said):
-The chainsaw secret is unreachable after you drop down
-The exit isn't marked
-The spectres in the cave got stuck on the terrain and were harmless.

[Rambosee]

1) "chainsaw secret unreachable after dropping." It was originally intended to be like that actually and i agree, it's a little mean.
2) "exit not marked" Excuse me? Does that mean you can't exit? Sorry for not understanding, first map, you know...
3) "The spectres in the cave got stuck on the terrain and were harmless" What port did you test it with? I tried it with Gzdoom and it seemed that most of the time they got through, sometimes getting stuck.
4) "the visuals over all are very, very rough" well you see, before i made linear maps which had good visuals. This is actually my first attempt at a map where there is almost no linear corners.
5) "teleporters need to be designed to work more efficiently" How about after tripping a marked linedef it lifts a monster up from a small hole and then automatically teleports after taking a step out of the hole sector?
6) "I think that if you continued mapping, you could make some pretty cool maps" Thank you for the compliment, i will take what you guys have said and will use it in my future maps. Thanks a bunch!

One thing you guys forgot to mention, the ammo/health balance! I try to put ammo & health in thinking of different situations like: what if the chainsaw secret is not acquired? What if the hell knight severely damages the player? I need to know if my tactic for putting ammo & health is right.

[elic]

I think the health/ammo balance was good.
I was using ZDoom BTW.

[Rambosee]

Processingcontrol said:

I think the health/ammo balance was good.
I was using ZDoom BTW.

Thanks for the ammo/health balance feedback. Also, i was using GZdoom 1_4_08 when testing.