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Arjak

Beware of newbies bearing gifts!

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I have been a Doom fan for many years, but I have never made a serious attempt at making a WAD of my own...until now.

Having recently discovered Doom Builder 2 and its ease of use, i have begun creating my first level! For someone new to this, I think it's coming along quite well. It's a vanilla Doom 2 level, taking place in a cave complex in the mountains, where our favorite demons have set up shop.

I've posted it on Wads In Progress, but until the entry is approved for the public, I thought I'd share a few screenshots...


Storming the entrance...


Fighting in tight spaces...


A Super Shotgun? Sitting in the middle of a big room that also has health and ammo? There's something off, here...

Please let me know what you think; if you have any constructive criticism, feel free to share it and I'll see what I can do to fix the problem.

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Nice job for a first effort. The only thing I can really complain about in these screenshots is that they are quite plain, but that's to be expected if you are just starting to make your own levels. Judging by the second and third shots, you do appear to understand the value of contrasting light levels, so that's good. I'd advise you to add some more varied architecture to give it a better sense of being a 'real' place, rather than a Doom map, though. Also, that ceiling light in the third shot would look better being recessed into or extended from the ceiling, but that might just be nitpicking.

In any case, the screenshots don't really give much indication of how fun the map would actually be to play, but when you finish it, I'll be glad to playtest it for some further critique though. :)

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Not bad, don't worry about the detail at this point. Its your first map and you should take it slow and easy. I would keep detail to a minimum and focus more on getting your first maps playable from start to finish.

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Looking forward to your first wad, as Dutch said don't worry about detailing.

I say, only make sure your textures are aligned and it will be all fine.

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Looks awesome! I don't think it looks plain either, sometimes simplicity is a good thing. Make sure to get those textures aligned properly, though.

Keep it up.

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Screw textures dude just make it fun, as i once saw someone said on here somewhere (can't remember where), make the level with the intention of making it an adventure, rewarding the player as it goes along,

look at Hell Revealed, minor detail there but muchos funos

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Looks like a nice oldschool start to mapping so far. Texturing is nice and consistent, and doesn't clash. The rooms are interestingly shaped and you've clearly put some thought into gameplay. That's a sell in my books, and the sort of mapping I aim for these days.

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The shots look nice and old school to me, and look like they'd be fun to play through. For your first maps aim for something that's fun. Get the gameplay right first IMO.

Mithran Denizen said:

I'd advise you to add some more varied architecture to give it a better sense of being a 'real' place, rather than a Doom map, though.


Disagree.

dutch devil said:

Not bad, don't worry about the detail at this point. Its your first map and you should take it slow and easy. I would keep detail to a minimum and focus more on getting your first maps playable from start to finish.


Agree.

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Status Update: March 31

The map is coming along quite well. I would say it's approximately 3/5 of the way done. I would post screenshots of the new areas, but I shouldn't spoil all the surprises, right?

I am a little concerned about difficulty. though. This is definitely NOT a level a newb (like me) should play on Ultra-Violence! There are some pretty vicious moments. It is beatable, though (so far). I have personally played through the level on Ultra-Violence all the way to the point I've made.

OK, I almost beat the whole level up to the point I've made on UV, but died near the end, broke down, and used God Mode to get back to that point quickly. I did turn it off when I got back to where I was, though.

Anyway, I have tweaked the map a little to try to add some of the recommendations you've all made. I've added a few decorations here and there, lowered the lamp over the super-shotgun, and tried to be careful about aligning textures.

Thanks for all your comments and support!

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It's probably me just sucking. I usually play Doom on "Too Young to Die" in God Mode. I'm not used to having to dodge attacks! It's probably not going to be that hard for you guys. Besides, I was mostly having trouble with just one part with a certain inconveniently placed monster. Add in the fact that I've done most of my testing on UV, with more monsters and less health power-ups, and it causes me to require quite a lot of effort to win!

It's still a lot of fun, though; in my opinion, at least. I hope you guys agree with me when it's released, which should be quite soon; there's only two major areas left to create, and then there's the playtesting process, and then it's done!

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The map is done for the most part, all that's left is testing. If you wish to help, please send me a PM.

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I playtested your map, and it is pretty good considering that it's your first. You made some good use of secrets, traps, lighting etc. I also appreciated that there was some freedom to seek out the keys, rather than being restricted to a single path the entire time.

I did think that it was perhaps a bit cramped overall, though you may have intended it to be this way. I only mention it because many new mappers take some time to become accustomed to making larger areas that allow some freedom of movement and more varied gameplay. Of course, if you intended to make the rooms and halls tight, then you definitely succeeded.

The monster placement wasn't particularly difficult for me, but I could tell that it had some purpose, which is good. Playing on UV, I nearly died when I met the arch-vile in the courtyard, and again when I stumbled face first into a mancubus; I'd say the biggest things that kill the difficulty are that you've (thoughtfully :P ) included a bountiful abundance of medikits, and that the player generally only faces enemies in small groups from a single direction. I missed the BFG secret on the first run, but the Spiderdemon was pretty easy to kill with the chaingun using the pillars as cover.


Aside from the gameplay aspects, I noticed a few areas that look a bit 'unpolished', though overall, the map looked alright, all things considered. I snapped three shots for you to aid in the discussion:

In this first picture, you can see this SPCDOOR3 rising straight into the oblivion above the sky, rather than into the structure. Since this looks really odd, I'd recommend indenting the doorway into the wall by placing another sector in front of it, lowering the new sector's ceiling, and giving it a ceiling flat + upper side textures.



In the second shot, the wall that was raised when grabbing the SSG is similarly raised into the sky and cut off in a way that looks weird. You could change this by indenting it like in the previous example, by fiddling with the outdoor ceiling height to make it less uncanny, or even by making the walls lower into the ground, instead of raising to the sky, when you activate the trap.



This last shot has a 'paper ceiling' above the blue armor, which is kind of goofy. This should be easily improved by lowering the ceiling to ~8 below the ceiling of the sector with the grass+sky, and adding a texture (like a STEP*, for example) to the upper side of the then-exposed lines. This would give the area a better sense of depth.




In any case, this is much better constructed than many first attempts, and it was even fun, so I applaud you for that much. :)

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I like the simplistic look, i know people like to see lots of architecture but it can get in the way of gameplay and never looks realistic anyway.

Looks good so far.

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ManCannon said:

I like the simplistic look, i know people like to see lots of architecture but it can get in the way of gameplay and never looks realistic anyway.

Looks good so far.


Agreed,

awesome map, ID-worthy

we want more

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Thanks for the feedback. I've fixed the problems you've mentioned, Denizen. Here's some pictures in Doom Builder 2:

Here's Screen 1 Redone:



Screen 2:



Screen 3:



What do you think?

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Looks good! Also, I played it and I thought it was very fun. I'd get rid of the arch-vile, however. It ended up being more of an annoyance than a challenge IMO.

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phobosdeimos1 said:

Agreed,

awesome map, ID-worthy

we want more


Thank you for the mind-blowing compliment! You want more, eh? Well, until I can get it up on the idgames archive, here it is! The whole smash! For everyone's enjoyment, here's my WAD:

http://www.mediafire.com/?fuwbb7yalsaol4s

Enjoy!

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Just to let you know, i think there is already a map called "hellcave" in the archive, so you might want to rename it. I'll check this out though. Looks good.

EDIT: Played it. It's good. You're missing lower textures on the stairs that raise to get the blue key though.

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After some technical difficulties with FileZilla, I finally tried uploading my WAD with the DOS Prompt, and I finally got it uploaded. Took me long enough.

Anyway, my WAD will now (hopefully) be unleashed upon the world. I hope mostly good comes from it.

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Thanks! I fixed the missing textures, and will try to get the file updated. I also added you to the additional credits as a playtester.

EDIT: The newest version of my level is now linked to in an earlier post and has been sent to the idgames archive.

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