Idea - 'Just GZDoom' Monthly Mapping Sessions.

[SyntherAugustus]

Note. ":" appears to eat up the rest of the thread title.

Crossposting from ZDF thread to gain some interest from mappers here.

Inspired by QuakeOne's mapping jams I noticed while searching for Quake maps, I was hoping to start a monthly map set by Zdoom mappers that would have "Just GZdoom" (Meaning it plays like your common boom megawad but with GZdoom's mapping features).

Anyway
The rules would be.
--A GZDoom or Zdoom map (The mapset will ultimately be for GZDoom though).
-Coop starts + compatibility.
-You may use any mapping feature introduced by GZDoom. Be sure to be creative. However, please do not assume dynamic lights are your main lighting source for the map and don't be excessive with them.
-You have one month to finish. If your level is not done by this time it'll be rejected unless a small 1 week extension is in place.
-You don't have to wait to start your map until the mapping period starts, meaning you can use an in-progress map of yours if you want.
-You may use whatever theme of textures you like. It is highly encouraged you introduce custom textures into your level and create a unique theme (Just make them in PNG format so they don't conflict).
-You may introduce new decorations. Just let me know in advance so we can assign you some DoomEd numbers that don't conflict with other mappers.
-For this session, the mapper has the option to add up to 2 monsters. These monsters must use non-conflicting DoomEd numbers so let me know in advance about it. The monsters would be ideally unique to the mapper's map only.
-You may not introduce new weapons.
-You may not make scripted cutscenes or anything that suggests it. The idea is to have Boom megawad gameplay with Zdoom features to emulate old Zdoom levels that did this (Say Dark7).

If this is successful, in feature mapping sessions I would really like to vote on a texture set theme (Say, a mapset of levels only using Chasm: The Rift textures). This would make some rather unique Doom levels. QuakeOne has some fanciness such as this as a result. http://imgur.com/KLlAEho

As my way of contributing right now, I have a mostly finished "Just GZDoom" level that I can incorporate to this levelset.

Anybody interested? The rules are going to be as is but I might make a change here or there in the long run.

[jute]

This is a good idea. i'd love to see the Chasm textures used more often, too.

I think those map jams originate from func_msgboard, not QuakeOne, though.

[scifista42]

BlackFish said:

The idea is to have Boom megawad gameplay with Zdoom features to emulate old Zdoom levels that did this.

Anybody interested?

Yes, I am, it sounds good. Let's try a change from today's standard separation between classic format maps and ZDoom mods.

I give no guarantee that I'll actually contribute a map, though.

[SyntherAugustus]

jute said:

I think those map jams originate from func_msgboard, not QuakeOne, though.

Yeah I saw the func_msgboard threads. I just noticed they were posted on QuakeOne. I just started browsing that site the other day.

[Walter confetti]

this sounds interesting...

[Andrea Rovenski]

Yes.

[Captain Toenail]

No new monsters is a bit of a bummer though. Surely you could allow 1-2 per mapper for exclusive use with their map? New monsters can really add to the game if they are done right, i.e. made to fill a niche and match Doom's aesthetic. Not nasty recolours/rips/OP bosses etc.

[SyntherAugustus]

Captain Toenail said:

No new monsters is a bit of a bummer though. Surely you could allow 1-2 per mapper for exclusive use with their map? New monsters can really add to the game if they are done right, i.e. made to fill a niche and match Doom's aesthetic. Not nasty recolours/rips/OP bosses etc.

The idea behind the no new monsters/weapons was to have capability with the player's choice of gameplay mod they might commonly use (ie Smooth Doom in my case). Perhaps 1-2 might be a fine along as it uses the same no-conflict criteria the decorations I mentioned.

I was thinking that for later sessions that a monster could be added to fit the theme of the mapset, so I'll make an edit to the rules.

No new weapons is still on the list and won't be changed though. That'll change the gameplay too much.

[Remiel]

lol you chose to represent func_mapjam2 using a staircase

[SyntherAugustus]

I was referring to the fancy key doors! But yeah I need to finish playing those maps.

[Tango]

sounds awesome! a month for a map is totally doable. I'm in :D

[Xaser]

Hmm, I was musing a few of days ago on IRC that there's been a lack of "just make a (G)ZDoom map" projects as of late. Nice timing. :P

TBH I'd rather see a more cohesive project approach (i.e. a "ZPack 2" but with testing+quality control stuffs), but it's still better than nothing, so I'll bite. Possibly.

[Clonehunter]

Chasm textures are eternally sexy.

[SyntherAugustus]

Xaser said:

Hmm, I was musing a few of days ago on IRC that there's been a lack of "just make a (G)ZDoom map" projects as of late. Nice timing. :P

TBH I'd rather see a more cohesive project approach (i.e. a "ZPack 2" but with testing+quality control stuffs), but it's still better than nothing, so I'll bite. Possibly.

What if the deadline was to have the maps in a playable beta state in a month and a small group of testers would determine testing/qc in a month period to polish said maps? So it would be 2 months in total. Would it be possible to have the testing/QC period in 2 weeks?

The idea is to have something on the table and not being in dev hell over a mapper or few. I do understand your concern about quality though.

Edit: Added two more rules per Edward850's suggestion.

[CorSair]

I endorse this idea, since my stuff for GZDoom are either dusted, waiting for motivation or it is just crawling with snail's pace. And since I am still struggling with UDMF, I could use some learning experience, via monthly sessions.

Maybe this would attract new mappers or folks try UDMF. The more the merrier, I guess...

[SyntherAugustus]

I had an idea regarding Scheduling that could use some input. I'll be posting this in the other thread on ZDF.

Project Launch would be December 1st, right after the Turkey Day holiday bonanza. A new thread will be started in Wads and Mods.
The mapper simply needs to "sign up" to say they are mapping. When they sign up, I will assign DoomED numbers to them (Say 16000-16100) for any amount of decoration for them. Up to 2 of these can go towards monsters (This round).
The mapper will need to submit a finished playable map by the second week of January. (2 weeks more than the 1 month deadline due to possible holiday interference).
The maps will go under a 2 week review session. The map testers will offer changes and bug fixes that the mappers will need to change themselves. If the map does not get modified by the end of the review period, the map submitted by the first deadline will be considered the final product.
February 1st would be the finalization deadline and release would be within that week.

There would be no quota of maps for the project. The project could end up having 2-5 maps and I'll still be happy something happened.

[Walter confetti]

ok... so this will be happening?

[SyntherAugustus]

Probably yes.

[ShadesMaster]

This is NOT an official submission; however, it is what I feel to be a nice compilation of resources with which to get started, and perhaps make universal:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/ur1niwzld92n7wj/ShadesStuff.zip

Included is the resource file, as well as 'D2again.wad' - a bunch of new critters await such as machineGun guys, Cyber Imps and more. I was thinking you could strip it down of the other extras such as additional weapons, the blood effects, and new player definitions; still, it has alot of new textures and objects as well which can already be made to be universal. It was just sitting on my hard-drive so why not? :P

MAP01, MAP02 and MAP03 are replaced; again just samples but NOT an official submission... if u like what you see, we can work on agreeing to strip it down some.

[SyntherAugustus]

If you're interested in having those in the mapping project keep this in mind.

As a mapper, you'll have up to 100 DoomED numbers to handle new decorations. Two of these can be custom monsters. I would choose the most unique monsters and have them placed in the map where they would matter in terms of gameplay.

Any new textures would be placed in .\Textures\Yourname as png format.

All the weapons, new items, effects, etc would have to be stripped. If that's ok with you we could arrange to have the three maps in this project. If I were you though, I would make a new, larger map with this mapping style rather than three small ones.

[ShadesMaster]

Agreed! I'd also reorganize the textures, but definitely keep the decorations! Remember all the resources ppl give haveta be combined, so I figured here's a start! :P

A NEW map will be made, not THESE maps. An earlier level would utilize the machineGun zombie and CyberImp, but if I were to also make a later map it would have two OTHER ones entirely....

[CorSair]

Are we going for any sort of themes, or can we make whatever we want?

[SyntherAugustus]

For this round, pick your theme. Be creative. I might go for a Chasm: The Rift textured map myself. A "Chinatown" map using Shadow Warrior resources also seems like fun.