Level design analysis

[DooM_RO]

Ok, I have watched the video maybe the 100th time now and I have a few interesting observations on our burning question. How is the level design. However, even if the levels are as open as they seem, what will they populate them with now that the player can get all the ammo and health they need from the monsters? Maybe that was just for demo purposes but maybe not.



Will post more soon.

[snapshot]

Probably Some of these are not accessible, you might probably die if you jump too far idk .

[DooM_RO]

It doesn't look like it, observe.



More observations from the Hell section

[NoirSuede]

It seems that the levels loop back on itself, just like Dark Souls 1/Bloodborne.

[DooM_RO]

The place in the first screenshot SEEMS to have at least 3-4 layers of verticality. If they are accessible and if they provide interesting gameplay options then maybe there's more to the level than meets the eye. I could be completely wrong though but I wish I am not.

[NoirSuede]

DooM_RO said:

http://i.imgur.com/sjfWGkg.jpg

It looks like the gap's too small for Doomguy to actually go through

[scifista42]

Some people said that the design looked linear, but I thought that id specifically tried to show that multiple paths are present, the player just didn't walk there. But how far he would actually get if he went there, and if he would encounter any combat in there or not, that's a mystery. Shamely, the demo also gave me an impression that combat zones are not everywhere, relatively lot of places seemed quiet.

[geo]

The first level they showed looked common with the assets, like I've seen it before, played it before. Just with molten beauty beneath of it. The assets look clean and sterile, even perfect in a way that big money living on Mars could do. While watching it, I did feel like a lot of it was prefab with few exceptions, then low and behold there's a prefab map maker, which I'm okay and happy with.

It felt flat except for a few places you were forced to double jump to get to. I mention flat because that was a big complaint in games at some point how flat things looked.

Seeing different walkways under your own walkway had my mind thinking.... can I jump off to the molten metal, but before I hit it, double jump into a walkway beneath? Are they invisible walls or can I get in there?

It did look like there were multiple paths as if a broad layout that let you do what you want, but there are still doors and keys, with elaborate switches that need arms.

It will suck if you find a hand lock and you're in a room full of 100 bodies in some troll map. Plus why just that guy's arm why not the chainsawed soldier's arm? Would the Super Shotguner's arm unlock a secret if you keep the arm long enough?

As for Hell, it looked Yellow, like sulpher and real rather than the Doom I knew. It also felt like a big arena full of enemies that you descend into after going through a hall.

Hell looked real, like it wasn't prefab, like someone poured their heart and soul into it without being a paint by numbers map. It looked gritty, I loved the little fires. I started to wonder... I know how imps light the torches, but how do the torches get crafted? It was cool seeing all the dead bodies around the hallway of Hell. The Hellway.

One thing I did like with both maps was what's happening above your head. Caco demons flying in hell. Trams motoring through the molten metal factory.

I know I'm stuck on the molten metal thing, but it looks really cool, feels inventive and its a way to give light.... give an almost cramped space with walkways and not hallways and yet still be completely open, bright and beautiful.

[DooM_RO]

More observations

[printz]

The steel factory reminds me of "The Hobbit" movie (during the goblin cave), with similarly gratuitous scale and eyecandy, and monsters jumping everywhere.

Actually the entire Doom preview looks like the battles from "The Hobbit", now that I think of it.

Also yikes: id has less than a year left to finish Doom. Do you think they can make it? Did they somewhat perfect the level editors so they're not so time consuming?

[DooM_RO]

The more I think about the layout, the more Doom-ish it feels to me. I just wonder what the devs will put in the optional areas now that we can get what we need from monsters...MAYBE it's like ChickenOrBeef said and we'll find rare health powerups and special ammo there which I think would be quite suitable. I still think sometimes starving the player of resources can present interesting gameplay situations.

[sab912]

on first pic: yellow "light"
on second pic: a stairs and a switch?

[DooM_RO]

I don't see what you're trying to prove there.

[sab912]

an area with switch, that open secret somwehere?

[DooM_RO]

I can't see it, it could be anything...are you pulling my leg? :D

[sab912]

i dont know what is that, just strange. You see the yellow light on the first picture?

[LANEGRACABRA]

It's just light reflecting from the surface. There's probably a light source off screen.

[DooM_RO]

Actually, it DEFINITELY looks like something when in motion and it's NOT the room where the Revenant script is triggered. Maybe it opens the door near the barrels. It feels kinda fishy to me.

[sab912]

LANEGRACABRA said:

It's just light reflecting from the surface. There's probably a light source off screen.

Yes, you're right. And whether the stairs?

[sab912]

There is a blue light..

[DooM_RO]

I don't think so. Best not go in the realm of baseless speculation.

[sab912]

That's the Revenant room, where rips the arms off an IMP.

[sab912]

bigdoor7. brilliant

[geo]

DooM_RO said:

More observations

picture of railing with arrows

That would never pass a safety inspection from that height. Someone could trip, fall and go right through that "guard rail." Doesn't anyone at UAC care?

[Koko Ricky]

printz said:

Also yikes: id has less than a year left to finish Doom. Do you think they can make it? Did they somewhat perfect the level editors so they're not so time consuming?

The reveal last year presented us with a Doom that already had several years of work behind it, and here we are almost a year later, and it'll be another eight months or so before the actual game comes out (supposedly). Don't you think that's enough time?

[geo]

Yeah a AAA game needs 2 years to come out unless its the next TES or GTA. If it takes more time then it won't be a success.

[Deleted_Account]

sab912 said:

bigdoor7. brilliant

The roots and skeletons in the scenery are a nice touch. I'll definitely be taking my time with this game admiring the scenery, after dispatching the baddies first, of course. Looks like there is going to be lots of nice little touches in the levels

[Koko Ricky]

I'm feeling good about hell. BIGDOOR7, the leafless trees and what appears to be demonic architecture admist massive, mountainous are all present. We can all remember moments in the PWAD Dooms that tried to evoke this, such as E3M2 or MAP29.

[Deleted_Account]

We've only seen a glimpse of hell just for the demo, I bet they left the biggest and best stuff out so we can see it for ourselves in the release.

[Tetzlaff]

sab912 said:

bigdoor7. brilliant

Bigdoor7 stops half the way up because the skulls are protruding...

No, seriously I really dig the hell screenshots.