My very first level. Playtest and feedback requested.

[Zalausai]

I would like to have the map that I created rated by other players. I have posted a link and would like feedback on the effects used.

This level is very short, only having three rooms and somewhat dark. It requires the new ZDoom to run it as it has slopes.

I would like people to rate the various tricks that I used to create this map.
The tricks are
Computer terminal appearance design, lighting design, monster and ammo placement for difficulty, "broken floor" design, door track design, and lift design. Plus any additional feedback.

Keep in mind that this is my very first map, but I have playtested and beaten it on UV without cheats, so I know that it's possible to beat and that it works.

Here is the link below. I hope that it works
http://www.mediafire.com/?44**37atafo9a4g

[Zalausai]

If that link does not work, I hope that this one does. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I am new to file-like sharing.

It is named Darkspace Test

http://www.mediafire.com/#pqb0v3pydbww9

[Memfis]

Still can't download, instead I get to the file upload page.
Maybe try http://www.speedyshare.com/

[Zalausai]

Ok, how about this link?

http://speedy.sh/fxBCP/Darkspace-Test.wad

[Zalausai]

For the 2nd mediafire link, I clicked the filename and was taken to another page with a large green download button to download it there. I hope that I did this right. Feedback is important to me as this is an artistic community.

[Zalausai]

Here is the fourth and last link that I will attempt. If this all fails, I will just go back to expanding the level and making it bigger until I am again satisfied with its new state.

http://speedy.sh/pbYh8/Darkspace-Test.wad

[GreyGhost]

Memfis said:

Still can't download, instead I get to the file upload page.

The URL's got messed up somehow, try this instead - http://www.mediafire.com/?pqb0v3pydbww9

@Zalausai - I know what's gone wrong with your original MediaFire link. It contains a pair of characters that are automatically censored by the forum software, so in order to download the wad the ** characters in the URL have to be replaced with the letters x and d.

EDIT EDIT - sniped by the Duck!

[DuckReconMajor]

It gets messed up because there is an XD in the url, which gets **'d by Doomworld's censor-gone-overboard. I've run into this problem before and had to re-upload files. If you de-censor it in your URL bar the file will come up. Or copy and paste this

http://www.mediafire.com/?44XD37atafo9a4g

[Zalausai]

Thanks you for all of your help. With all the help that I've gotten on how to post something to the forums for review, it shouldn't be much of a problem now. Has anyone taken the time to review the very short level that I made? It took about 5 hours to make, with learning how to use the software and all and it is my first map.

[DuckReconMajor]

Well there's not a whole lot to go by it's short even by my standards. I do like the gradient lighting (did you do that manually?) but altogether the rooms are just too dark. Maybe if you expanded the area the lights covered. Also the final lift is barely large enough to fit into, I thought you had to do something to lift the bars up to get on it, until I realized there was nowhere else to go.

I did think the little pit you start in in the second room was nice, but I do think you could have done it just as easily with a bunch of stairs. I think you're going to be made an example of why beginners shouldn't start with ZDoom maps, and though I usually don't agree but here I do a little bit. A small change could have made this map vanilla, then everyone could play in their fav port.

But I do see you have gotten some grasp on the editor, which is great. I hope to see more fleshed out maps in the future.

GreyGhost said:

EDIT EDIT - sniped by the Duck!

sometimes the duck hunts back

[Zalausai]

Yes, the gradient lighting was done by hand. I know that if I release an actual map of this size that it will end badly, that's why I expressively made sure to let people know that it was a small test map. I appreciate your review and am glad that there aren't any real complaints about the quality of it other than the brightness (an easy fix). This ensures that I will not end up as the worst of the year in the cacowards. I'm mostly grateful that I just started and I'm already doing better than expected at my current experience level. I mean, I do only have five hours of experience, lol. :)

[Technician]

I'm going to give this a short. I'll be back.

UPDATE: Short, but you obviously know what you're doing.

[Tango]

at your age (as a mapper), your biggest obstacle is probably going to just be fully learning to be efficient with the tools (hopefully DB2?) and learning what its capabilities are. once you know the editor well enough, then moving onto producing higher quality layouts with interconnecting areas, unique room designs and height variation etc will be easier to do.

you've probably heard it before but the best way to improve is to mimic other maps. if you're still learning the tools, then trying to replicate something complex is in itself a task, but again, once you know the tools and understand how everything comes together, then the important part of mimicing other authors is to replicate their layouts, detail, etc.

i would also agree with DuckRecon in that you should really stick with the vanilla route rather than zdoom. my own discovery of zdoom's features, which came pretty soon after i started learning mapping, did more harm than good. instead of focusing so much on trying to incorporate "advanced" features (like friendly marines helping you kill monsters), that time could have been spent improving my basic design knowledge and all that.