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Royal_Sir

Introducing: A map style compass!

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OK, so I got this crazy idea to be able to typify wads based on the architecture. I thought of a single-dimensional spectrum, but that was too limited in scope. So I made it multi-dimensional, and it'll work great!

Introducing the Map Style Compass!

Current Architectural Version


Current Gameplay Version


Give a wad and rank it as position on the compass, and I'll update it. I think it'll be a great tool for people trying to find certain styled wads.

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I think it'd be better with a different font and text color, because I can barely read it. Maybe have the background white and words black, all using the same font. Also, you should put the numbers on the outside of the graph, not in the middle so they are more legible.

The characteristics you've chosen are all descriptive of the visuals, but don't reflect gameplay at all. It might be more useful to define maps by the type of gameplay in them, because that's more what people care about when deciding on what type of level to play. But it's the type of thing where it might be better to do it in a spreadsheet or something and give the levels tags like "slaughtermap", or "puzzle map". That way you could sort by tag to find the type of levels you want to play, and each level can have as many tags as necessary.

Would be a big job to go through the wads and categorize them though.

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@dew lol

@esselfortium changed.

@Quineotio changed to make more readable, and added a second graph for gameplay.

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I was 1000% sure from looking at the thread title that "slaughter" would be on here.

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Slaughter vs. Tactical is an odd opposition; slaughtermaps can be way more strategic and tactical than most other things. Of course the 'fill a room with 1000 revs and circle-strafe' variety exists, but that stereotype has jumped the shark. As far as gameplay goes, I think Easy-Hard and Small-Large, though simple, covers a lot of ground and is reasonably interesting.

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rdwpa said:

Slaughter vs. Tactical is an odd opposition; slaughtermaps can be way more strategic and tactical than most other things. Of course the 'fill a room with 1000 revs and circle-strafe' variety exists, but that stereotype has jumped the shark. As far as gameplay goes, I think Easy-Hard and Small-Large, though simple, covers a lot of ground and is reasonably interesting.

this sums up what I had to say. I wonder what all the map styles there are (at least acknoledged) within doom and the custom maps that have followed it.

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HR.WAD - GAMEPLAY (-8,7)
- VISUALS (-7,2)

MM.WAD - GAMEPLAY (5,-6)
- VISUALS (3,5)

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Mano Laikas:
Visuals: -10, -10
Gameplay: 6, 10

If I would try to define my mapping style:
Visuals: -4, -3
Gameplay: 6, -4

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I'd rather have a computer make these measurements. Detail may be easy to calculate (divide useless linedefs by important ones), but realism needs a more complex analysis.

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Slaughter and tactical aren't opposites. The opposite of slaughter would be "gentle", and the opposite of tactical would be "random".

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sheer poison: -3, -9; ?, 1 giggle

this is a cool idea but it doesn't cover all map thingies. im probably the only person who cares about this but I notice when maps don't have much in the way of side activity, like, the only time you're pressing a button is when it opens a door/raises a pillar which is directly in front of you, and that'd be -10 where 10 would be the switch puzzle from that Eternal Doom map

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scifista42 said:

Slaughter and tactical aren't opposites.

Yup, the opposite of slaughter is to have no monsters. I think the compass is a kinda interesting idea, but there's no practical application for it yet and I'm not entirely convinced of the Architectural graph yet—for instance, what does a -10, 10 level even look like?

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dobu gabu maru said:

for instance, what does a -10, 10 level even look like?

A square map with an accurate space skybox, you're stuck in a 32x32 area and it's a damaging sector.

Alternatively, you can make somewhat realistic small sand islands with just a few slopes. Just add a volley ball, call it Wilson and you got a Hollywood success.

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dobu gabu maru said:

I'm not entirely convinced of the Architectural graph yet—for instance, what does a -10, 10 level even look like?

Like Ghosts of Pingfang? (I wanted to link the wad, but it seems it was removed from /idgames.)

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Could the opposite of Slaughter be "Atmospheric"? Few enemies, mostly exploration and maybe some environmental dangers?

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^ That doesn't sound like a bad idea, but atmospheric slaughtermaps exist (see wads by Ribbiks) and wads that are neither atmospheric nor slaughtermaps also exist (generic-themed wads with sparse enemy placement).

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