Mapping mind-set, creative stimulation, time management, etc.

[tomatoKetchup]

Hello mappers of all experience. You are all welcome to read this thread and comment on it/answer my questions.

I know there's already been dozens of threads about these questions, but here I'll try to be thorough and approach all the direct and surrounding aspects to take into account when mapping.

The reason why I created this thread is because I reached a really decisive point in my mapping experience and don't know what to do. I am one of those numerous people that are always excited about trying something new but never get to finish anything, and keep moving on to the next thing, leaving half-done works behind themselves. I had happen to me with music composition before, and is about to happen again with Doom mapping.

I am in a point when I am literally torn in between a strong desire to pursue the wad I'm working on and another desire to throw everything doom-related in the bin of my computer just to free my mind. I started mapping about 2 years ago, and have been working on this wad about a year ago. I have an overall idea of what this wad will be, but I'm struggling on the actual content.

Since I started this project, I have been oscillating between periods of creative inspiration, sometimes so overwhelming that they keep me awake whole nights because ideas tumble out of my saturated mind and I can't stop thinking of "what to do next on my map" ; and periods of no inspiration whatsoever, leading to frustration, resulting in more sleepless nights. Lately those periods of frustration took over my creativity, becoming so powerful that they turned into real depression, and the mental block I am right now experiencing, afraid to even open Doom Builder because of all the psychological pain it eventually gives me. I came to think that the only solution now is to throw everything away to stop the suffering. So this thread is like a ultimate attempt to help me turn this whole mental bedlam inside my f#cked up head into something sensible and maybe come up with a more healthy way to tackle my mapping experience.

TL;DR, I'd like to have your experience of mapping, especially the prolific mappers around here. How do you keep coming back at it, how do you progress through it and keep your head fresh and away from overdriving?

Also, an important aspect that is not often brought up is time management. How often do you map a day? A week? How do you manage your time between mapping and the rest of your life (job, studies, family, etc.)? Do you give yourself some restriction in the amount of time you spend mapping per day or week?

At last, do you have any tips about keeping the flow of ideas coming at a steady rate and avoid either saturation (to much coming at once) or scarcity? If you also have links to any articles on the internet talking about mapping/level design processes and mind-setting, I'd be happy to have a read at them.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

[pming]

Hiya.

Dude, you are *not* alone! :) I think in all my years...er...decades? (since "DCK" was new...meaning, a LONG time ago)... ...in all my years I think I've actually completed, ready for this? THREE. Count 'em. THREE maps. That's roughly one complete map per 7 or so *years*. Oh, and one of those maps was an entry for the "Ten-Sector WAD Contest"...so, it wasn't too complicated.

Anyway...yeah. I get a cool image in my head of some particular area/room in DOOM (or Heretic, or even Hexen), or I see something cool that another mapper has made and think to myself "I could improve that...", and then I fire up Doombuilder, play around for 10 minutes to a few hours, then leave it. I think "I'll get back to that later tonight". That only happens on very rare occasion. I'll fire up DB again, and then hit "New Map". o_O No...brain...I don't know why you just did that, but whatever. Lets just 'doodle' for a bit, then open the "real" map to keep working on it.

*sigh*

Maybe there is some kind of new DOOM related ADD psychology going on here. The only think that has kept me sane is just accepting that I like mapping for mapping sake and artistic expression. I have no illusions; I'll probably never finish a 'full map' again...or at least, not without someone pushing me to do it (e.g., being in a team or entering a mapping contest). I now liken my map-making to "Tibetan Sand Mandala". It's actually very liberating to take this sort of approach to just about everything in your life...especially DOOM mapping. :) Now, I work on a map, and if I don't work on it for more than a couple days...I delete it. Sometimes I'll work on a map for a few hours, look at it, think "That's pretty cool..."...then close it and delete it.

So, my advice: Don't fret about trying to complete anything. Just map for fun. If a map is starting to annoy you for whatever reason (creative block, technical hurdle, whatever), just delete it and start something new. You're doing this for fun, right? So, if you aren't having fun...stop, close, delete. Then, "New Map".

Oh, and go play other games. When I'm getting bleary-eyed when making a map, I stop. Then I open another game...lately, State of Decay: Year One Edition. I kill zombies, hunt for resources, and try and keep track of the social and emotional drama going on between the characters...and kill more zombies.

...hmmm...."State of Decay Meets DOOM"... ;)

[kuchitsu]

What I'm currently trying to do is to learn to be less serious and passionate about my mapping. When I keep my projects in my head all day, I quickly get mentally exhausted and frustrated, I start hating everything, I want to get away from them, etc. But if I approach mapping as just a little side hobby to spend time on once in a while, maybe I can stop overthinking everything so much and start having some real fun with it. I'd say it's kind of working for me, it's too early to be sure, but yeah... perhaps I'm slowly getting there...

So I guess my advice is: don't let your passion take over your mind. YOU are in charge, you decide what's gonna happen. Sometimes you just need to tell your passion and your worries to go screw themselves, and that's completely fine.

[Xegethra]

Yeah I just do it as I see fit. No real plan. If I have an idea I will keep ahold of it then give it a go, but more or less I just do it as it comes.

[tomatoKetchup]

Thanks guys for your feedback.

However I have to say I'm a bit disappointed that no member with long AND prolific mapping pedigree commented on their experience of the whole thing...

I am not looking to selfishly draw the attention on me here, I just thought that this topic would help all the new (and less new) mappers experiencing the same kind of frustration than me (and I'm pretty sure there loads here).

[skillsaw]

tomatoKetchup said:

However I have to say I'm a bit disappointed that no member with long AND prolific mapping pedigree commented on their experience of the whole thing...

I guess I'll throw my hat into the ring.

tomatoKetchup said:

The reason why I created this thread is because I reached a really decisive point in my mapping experience and don't know what to do. I am one of those numerous people that are always excited about trying something new but never get to finish anything, and keep moving on to the next thing, leaving half-done works behind themselves. I had happen to me with music composition before, and is about to happen again with Doom mapping.

As dumb as this is, the solution is to just not do that. I used to start projects all the time and never get any of them anywhere near completion. But I think you can repurpose that ADD approach into a productive style if you change your mental approach a bit. I don't know exactly what the project you're working on is but if it's, say, a megawad, you need to figure out a way to decompose it into smaller jobs (each map for instance could be a job) and then do those jobs in whatever period your attention lasts. For me, I try to give myself one week to do any map I start. This keeps me from losing interest in any map I start and it also forces me to get things done. A week is the sweet spot for me, although every once in a while I need more time. You might consider trying something similar to this. By starting a new map and giving yourself only a short time, you can feel like you're working on something new very frequently but since all of these maps will eventually be compiled into a larger project you're also working on something much larger.

tomatoKetchup said:

Since I started this project, I have been oscillating between periods of creative inspiration, sometimes so overwhelming that they keep me awake whole nights because ideas tumble out of my saturated mind and I can't stop thinking of "what to do next on my map" ; and periods of no inspiration whatsoever, leading to frustration, resulting in more sleepless nights. Lately those periods of frustration took over my creativity, becoming so powerful that they turned into real depression, and the mental block I am right now experiencing, afraid to even open Doom Builder because of all the psychological pain it eventually gives me. I came to think that the only solution now is to throw everything away to stop the suffering. So this thread is like a ultimate attempt to help me turn this whole mental bedlam inside my f#cked up head into something sensible and maybe come up with a more healthy way to tackle my mapping experience.

I don't think there's any magic advice for making ideas generate more quickly. The only real suggestion I can give is to open Doom Builder and experiment even if you're not feeling it. Many will probably disagree with me on that but a lot of the time I get ideas just by drawing and working on something even if it's not initially clear to me what it is going to be.

tomatoKetchup said:

I'd like to have your experience of mapping, especially the prolific mappers around here. How do you keep coming back at it, how do you progress through it and keep your head fresh and away from overdriving?

As said above: short deadlines for small jobs. Let those accumulate and before long you have a project that's way bigger than you ever thought you could do. I generally enjoy mapping so coming back to it is not a problem. I'm not sure what you mean by keeping your head fresh and away from overdriving, but I guess I can share my experience that ideas often come to me when I'm out running, when I'm reading a book, or when I'm bored at work. I keep them in a text file so if I ever need an idea I just look at it and see if any of them appear doable to me.

Anyways, there is always going to be some stress that comes from large projects: the last couple have weeks have been pretty stressful for me with the Ancient Aliens release, coordinating with testers, mappers, and making sure everything is OK to go. Dealing with this stuff has given me some new appreciation for guys like esselfortium, Xaser, and dew who did most of the coordination and behind the scenes stuff for BTSX E1/E2.

tomatoKetchup said:

Also, an important aspect that is not often brought up is time management. How often do you map a day? A week? How do you manage your time between mapping and the rest of your life (job, studies, family, etc.)? Do you give yourself some restriction in the amount of time you spend mapping per day or week?

I map as much as I feel like. Sometimes that means I spend way more time than I probably should. Sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm working on maps often enough. As far as mapping/life balance goes (I can't believe I typed that) mapping is always lower priority than things like family, friends, work, running, and household chores, but it's my highest priority leisure activity, for whatever that's worth. I don't restrict the amount of time I spend per week but it's pretty uncommon for me to spend more than 1-2 hours mapping on a weekday. If I don't have anything else going on I am willing to put in fairly long hours mapping on weekends, though.

tomatoKetchup said:

At last, do you have any tips about keeping the flow of ideas coming at a steady rate and avoid either saturation (to much coming at once) or scarcity? If you also have links to any articles on the internet talking about mapping/level design processes and mind-setting, I'd be happy to have a read at them.

Wish I could help you here (I don't have any secrets or techniques for generating ideas) but if you try to keep a reserve of them written down somewhere (as mentioned above) that can help you get through dry spells.

[Fonze]

Cool to hear your approach, skillsaw :)

To the OP on note-taking:
From what I've gathered through life (and this is just about true with everything) asking creative and successful people questions, reading interviews, and whatnot, one of the best things you can do is take and keep notes; the better your note-taking ability the better off you'll be during the dry spells.

One example is with musicians: record everything you think of, no matter how bad it sounds. You're not releasing it to the public; it's for you later, so as long as you can get the gist of it that's all that really matters. Same goes for creative processes conveyed through words; buy a recorder (unless you write/type ridiculously fast). Art; make a quick sketch. To take that to Doom: I wouldn't be surprised to learn that all of the big names around here take notes in many different forms. But one of the keys is getting it down "on paper" (or whatever) when you think of it so you do not forget. Doesn't mean you'll ever use it, but at least you'll have something to work with later. Some great ideas are offshoots of bad ideas.

That's about the only thing useful that I have to add to this conversation, heh.

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

I can hardly call myself an accomplished map designer, but here are some thoughts on how I got from a place like yours to a place where I got a few things finished and uploaded.

First, one thing I've learned for myself personally, is don't throw work away even if right now you hate it. For years I had this thing where I would ragequit from modding and delete all the progress I'd made because "it sucks and will never amount to anything good". Nowadays, I might file something in the subfolder titled "crap" of where I keep my mod stuff, but I delete very little because sometimes a new perspective will allow it to be picked up later on with more editing knowledge or just a fresh perspective.

Also, related to what skillsaw said (but perhaps a little more severe), if you have trouble finishing stuff, try speedmapping, where you commit a short amount of time for making a map. The results aren't likely to be great (unless you're really well-versed with the map editor) but hopefully the idea is to get a map that you made which has a start, end, and hopefully a decent idea or two in the middle. It's a confidence builder, to be able to say "I made a complete map" and if you like it enough you could polish it off sometime later.

I don't know how helpful it's really been, but I also keep a big binder that I call "The Codex". I put sections for different games and whenever I have a map or mod idea or just thoughts on the game's mechanics I note it down there. If I doodle a map layout on paper, or see a scene in a movie that seems like it could become an interesting room idea, or see something I like in someone else's map, or whatever, I file it in The Codex. If I find myself stumped for ideas later, it's something I can go back and draw from.

One other thing? Remember that it's all for having fun. Don't get so obsessed with making maps that you forget that; take some time to play the game you love and not just map for it. You might come back with fresh ideas afterwards even if you've replayed it a bunch of times already. If it starts to feel like a job or a chore? It's time to take a break. Keep your work saved, keep it backed up, and know that it'll be there when you come back.

[tomatoKetchup]

Thanks for the newer feedback.

I've heard of that technique of giving yourself a certain period to finish a map and restarting from scratch at the end of it, but find very difficult to apply it.

The reason is that I generally start a map with a certain idea and then find difficult to "fill the gaps" and turn that initial idea into a full map. But I'm generally quite happy with all that I've done until the moment when I run out of inspiration, and I just can't delete the work accomplished so far.

[Crunchynut44]

I am also no mapping prodigy, but I do have a kind of 'formula' as such to always make something coherent, even if it's not that good but enough to get my by and beat mappers block. (This is a copy and paste from another thread I have posted in).....

For me, the best way to conquer mappers block is to have a 1 hour speedmapping session. Even if the map turns out to be an utter mess, it always gives me something that I can get a feel for and adjust the level accordingly, then proceed to add details and enhance the layout.

A neat trick to add content into your map without really thinking is to start by putting an upper ledge in a room, then figure out a creative way from getting from the lower sector to the higher one (avoiding things like stairs or lifts in the same room). Making a hall that leads to another room that then contains a way up to the next level that leads back to the original room is a basic concept of this. Doing this allows the map to immediately feel more interconnected, gives a sense of forewarning and can allow for more creative monster placement (avoiding the "one enemy per room" problem). Doing this multiple times throughout the map makes for an interconnected layout that gives players options of how to play the map as they have insight on what to expect later on. Additionally having all these ledges, cliffs, windows ect is a bit of a cheap way of having detail without actually doing any detailing.

Hope that helps.

[baja blast rd.]

Yeah that is a great idea, crunchynut.

One thing that I figured out is that it's quite important sometimes to try not to force the connections: sometimes it's temping to loop areas quickly, but the path from A->B should involve crossing through many intermediary areas.

It's such a fundamental thing that I do it in all of my maps here and there, but "Ovum" used it in (or between) most of the areas.

[jazzmaster9]

This is something that came naturaly to me so bear with me if my explanation is a bit fuzzy, cuz its something i find hard to explain by words. *breaths heavily* here we go.

My approach to mapping is that i chunk my ideas. I never imagine a finished map, instead I imagine sections of a map then stich them together. Doing this makes it so that im not thinking too much stuff/ideas at one time thus keeping from burning out to fast.
As long as I stick to a theme, the "rooms" (sections) wont feel disjointed from each other.
And if i ever do feel burnt out. I work on another mod.
Right now im jumping between Innocence X 2 and Mists of Karnak (Powerslave-ish TC).

Edit: I map at an average of an hour or 2 a day, but not in one sitting. i map for 30 minutes, then do what ever and then go back to mapping then Repeat.