Speedmap Pack #7

[Linguica]

I've compiled and posted this week's Speedmapping pack, available now over at the Speedmapping homepage. The theme this week was to make a Episode 1-styled level, since Episode 1 is something which has been talked about a lot lately. Go check them out.

[Linguica]

E1M1: A little small but what's to be expected? It seems to me that the author wasted some time doing the rising staircase, which could have just been a lift. The level is vagely E1-ish but there's a little too much brown, and the hallway at the beginning is a little too enclosed. The blue key pedestal on the brown background clashes. Good thing placement though.

E1M2: The beginning area is very E1M5-ish, but again it's a little too brown for me. After that there's a few very plain rooms, no decoration or anything to spice them up. The placement is fine. I wish the author had used a real lift texture instead of a wall etxture.

E1M3: My map :) Steals ideas from lots of maps: E1M1, E1M2, E1M4, E1M7. I think it has decent texturing and flow. I wish I had put in some more enemies as it's too easy. Also, the rectangle room at the end is too big (I lost my sense of scale), and I wish I hadn't made that final staircase gray, a nice metal would have worked much better. The outdoors area is pretty good IMO.

E1M4: The map is VERY small but feels extremely E1-ish, so that's good. I wish I had put barrels in my map. It also uses some computer textures which is a good touch.

E1M5: Nick Baker's map, it looks like, well, a Nick Baker map. Good texturing, but it's too cramped and has too many enemies. The layout felt very Nick Baker-ish for some reason. I didn't like the Baron at the end. Walls are too curved. REALLY good texturing though. And were there any crates in E1?

E1M6: Did this person remember the theme? This map is nothing like E1: all the marble, lost souls, etc. It feels like an E3 map. However, the level is nice. It's pretty large, has lots of stuff to kill. Not Episode 1 style, though.

E1M7: Pretty good map. Nice textures. Too many monsters though. Also, the level design feels distinctly different from Episode 1 style. Lots of 90-degree corners, too many probably. Is this Tarin's map? It's probably is, it feels like it.

E1M8: Good level, nice flow. A little too tight in parts. However, it has some real E1 atmosphere. The last hallway is totally E1M6.

E1M9: Pretty nice level, feels like a real E1 level. Seems a little sprawling and underdetailed, though.

[Guest NunoC]

Nice comment about my map :)

[Guest BlackTerror]

On my E1M1, could you change the ceilings on sectors 16 and 35 to 184, sector 13's ceiling to 136, and sector 56's type to 0? Sorry about that, but it's real hard to finish the map without being able to see the switch in sector 16...

[AndrewB]

Bah, down with the vague themes. Like I said, people can just go off-track and do anything they want. E1M6 is the perfect example. You have to give mappers more restrictions. I repeat, you have to give mappers more restrictions!

[NiGHTMARE]

Telling people to make an E1 style level isn't being vague at all. Opulent just decided to ignore it :)

[Opulent]

ugh... my map is so out of place.
at least the others did the textures to emulate the episode correctly...

Andrew, you are so correct. :)
I didn't think ALL of it was totally non-episode one.... oh well.
besides, where was your map? oooooh :D

doom.exe demos this time:
http://www.goodnet.com/~opulent/dwspd7.zip

[AndrewB]

I decided not to do a map today. It wouldn't have been any fun. Say, here's an interesting fact. I've been around to participate or at least consider participating in four of the seven speedmapping sessions so far. Here are what the themes were..

While I was present: Don't use a grid, cooperative map with outdoor theme, final level, episode 1.
While I wasn't present: Lava City, Tech Base, Torture Chamber

Can anyone see the conspiracy? Ling always saves the cool themes for when I'm not around.

[AndrewB]

Most people don't have first clue how to make an Episode 1 style level. How many people actually understand what episode 1 is supposed to be about?

[Guest Excalibur_Z]

Isn't E1 about detailed maps with a tech/computer theme? Nukage pits here and there (no lava) with metal doors and startan/metal walls? The maps that make you feel like you're actually progressing?

[Guest BlackTerror]

Sure, "Episode 1 Style" is a vague theme, and I do prefer the themes of exercises 1, 3, and 4, but I still had fun making this and last week's. Exactly what do you think Episode 1 was about? Escaping Phobos alive?

[Guest Busted Corpse]

maybe a theme like "Hellpit" or "Processing Plant" Would be more successful?

Just a thought.

[Rez]

...and I thought they had the SPIRIT, if not always the look or style of Ep.1 (hell, you aren't going to get perfection in a mere 100 minutes).

To wit: Nasty maps without being clogged with big monsters, generally good flow, with a reasonable sense of being in a place the monsters built. They are all very playable and any would make a good base to build a finished level from.

I found the invisible switch in E1M1 simply because it was in the logical place -- in fact it was the first wall I tried pushing on when I was trying to get back out of the key area. Such intuitions are part of the SPIRIT of Ep.1. :)

Hot floor is on the wrong sector in one of the later maps, but it made for a wry surprise that fit the map, so even tho I suppose it's an error, it didn't seem out of place.

As I was doing E1M8, I found myself thinking "Why don't they have a speedmapping exercise where everyone starts editing from a SLIGE-generated map?" And *then* I read the textfile :)

BTW for the torment of others with minimal effort on the creator's part, I've uploaded the 2nd in my own SLIGE-built series, "Untouched By Human Hands" -- get it at http://home.earthlink.net/~thesandpit/bin/ubhh2.zip (5 maps for DOOM2, 300k) And yes, you CAN survive the first one's entryway, and from a pistol start it's the easiest entry area of this set. You've been warned. :)

[geekmarine]

Well, thanks for the nice review on E1M9. I've got to admit, I completely FREAKED when, while doing some post-contest testing, I discovered that not only did I leave the blue door open, but I also accidently made a HUGE medusa effect in the crate room. Don't play this using doom.exe, or you WILL have problems. Geez, it's a mircacle I finished on time, and when I actually sent the level, it was like 20 seconds from 21:40, and I nearly had a heart attack waiting for the "message sent" screen to appear. Too bad I'm such a slow designer, if I had worked faster I think my level would have been much better and more detailed.

[bigd]

i liked the wads! e1m3, m7, m9 stood out as great maps to me, m6 was sweet too but didn't follow the theme (who cares). some had a big number of monsters too, m5, m6, m7 i think. anyway, i liked em, cool wads!

[Guest BlackTerror]

By the way, what map had the acid floor in the wrong sector (besides my lift)?

And Ling, what did you mean by too brown? 95% of E1M9 (doom.wad, not dwspd007.wad) wall textures were brown!