(MODS PLZ MOVE) HELLSHIP: My Level (A Documentation of the Level Creation Process)

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PLEASE MOVE THIS THREAD TO THE EDITING SUBFORUM.


This is my first Doom map, "Hellship". It's an airship level, saved in UDMF, tested using GZDoom 2.1.
It's a WIP, but I want to document it's creation here so that level making noobs like me can get a taste of what it's like, as well as receive advice as I make the level.
Don't be afraid to download and look about the level! Advice and suggestions are very welcome!

Download:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2XLVgBhkr0dWWpaZVNTb1JqVDQ

Screenshots:

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7/10/16:
More work done on engine room.
Turbine now has an open-able hatch, which needs a blue key.
The ship crashes if you shoot through the hole the turbine shaft goes into.
The engine room gently vibrates when you enter, to simulate the rumbling of the turbine.
I have found that the Revenant turret ledge is reachable via rocket jump. I will put a secret there later.
The Icon of Sin's life support machinery sure makes good "big machine" textures!

Screenshots:

Spoiler

[Fonze]

A thread 4 minutes old got an update? Sweet.

As for the screenies, try to practice giving the areas more detailing before showing them to the public. They don't look particularly nice, nor fun to play for that matter. Never mind that when I see stairs that steep I just think it'll make for a great choke point... so I guess that'll be my campy-spot if I were to ever play the map. Try out stuff like detailing in extra layers to the floors, walls, and ceilings, as well as "support/etc" textures to both provide trim and break-up the massively monotextured walls. Lighting is also critical. Look at each of those screenshots and ask yourself if you would play a wad advertised as such.

As for the idea of a "Hellship;" many people have tried and I've yet to see a genuinely cool-looking airship in Doom. You might have an easier time making a standard base, cave, or Hellish landscape.

(also, always make sure to note compatibility, or what port will run your map. I see you are running it in zDoom for the screenies. Also always note if you have built it for a port you have not tested it for, like building a vanilla map and only testing it in zDoom)

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7/11/16:

The lower set of stairs in the engine room has been made twice as long with the same mount of steps. The upper set has been kept the same due to space constraints.

The revenant's platform is now a secret area.

The engine room has been livened up, with a computer terminal on the east side that will later be scripted to turn on the elevator to the west side, making the player go through both sides of the room.

(Maybe I should make this optional, and have the terminal open something that will help in the fight on the west side?)

A sort of "transformer room" has been set up on the west side, with damaging pillars coursing with energy peppered about the small space that the player must avoid in order to reach the blue key, which they need in order to open up the turbine's casing and destroy it, disabling the ship's electrical system and completing their first objective.

On normal difficulty, this obstacle course contains a single pinky demon and a single lost soul, forcing the player ta fight smart to avoid dodging into one of the poles and getting fried. On UV, another lost soul is added to the mix. On NM, the lost souls are replaced with a pain elemental, the pinky is replaced with a spectre in a suitably sneaky hiding spot, and a revenant is thrown in, too.

(I might later add a hard-to reach switch which closes the exposed parts of the energy poles, making them safe(r) to touch. However, this removes the west side's only light sources, making the rest of the player's time spent there nearly pitch-black. This can be a real issue when there are monsters about.)

(I will add lighting after the rest of the level is complete.)

The "gentle vibration" has been removed, as it is annoying rather then immersive.

IDEAS FOR FURTHER DEV:
Perhaps when the power is turned off, the ship goes on "alert", and a troop of enemies appears at the engine room door, forcing the player into the shell of the destroyed turbine and into the lower decks of the ship, where the player fights enemies in knee-deep ballast water. The player then fights their way back up to a big fight on the main deck, and then through the boss halls of the hydrogen sac atop the ship, and finally fights the captain of the airship atop the sac, with a sunrise backdrop. After the boss is defeated, a text screen tells the player "You fly away..."(or somesuch) and then shows a picture of doomguy flying away in the kite-glider thing that came off the top of the pirate 'ship from Laputa, while the Hellship, set on fire by the burning corpse of it's captain, nosedives into the ocean in the background. This achieved with an effect similar to the level endings in ultimate doom. Doomguy's adventures can then continue in another map/wad, where he defends an island tribal nation from demonic sea monsters/fights a demonic tribal nation(Too much like TOTLM)

Screenshots:

Spoiler

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Can a moderator help a dude out and move this to the editing forum?