Verticality

[40oz]

I think height variation is important in maps, but in most of my maps my lifts are pretty short and my staircases are pretty shallow. I've been thinking of mapping outside my comfort zone and trying to make a map with pretty extreme emphasis on verticality such as MAP24: The Chasm, MAP15: Industrial Zone, or MAP09: The Pit but I'm not sure these are the best examples of verticality done right. MAP15 for example is one of my least favorite Doom 2 maps, probably because of all the scattered zombiemen. The part before the exit is my favorite but it's also the part with the least emphasis on height variation compared to the rest of the map. The Chasm is pretty good but it's also very huge and barren, looking. The Pit is good in some places such as the yellow key area or the lift puzzle but the actual pit in the start area is pretty uneventful.

I'm trying to think of ways to best utilize extreme height variation in ways that it can make a map more fun, exciting, and unique in ways that a flat or near-flat map cannot.

I think having extreme height variation can permit more detail in vanilla as it will likely free up visplanes if the floor and ceiling in many places are not visible. I also imagine that riding tall lifts, especially fighting monsters while riding on a fast moving lift could be pretty fun. Exploiting the way rocket splash damage is the same at any z height could be cool too, by shooting at a really tall wall from above and demolishing hordes of monsters below.

But there are also risks of things like placing monsters at angles that are too steep for the player to autoaim at, but the monsters can still hit you. Flying monsters would be a hideous nuisance as they bump into raised platforms and attempt to "climb" them, creating a seriously annoying hazard for the player if he is down below and infinitely tall actors are involved.

What are some other ways that extreme verticality in a map can be a good or a bad thing in Doom?

[Graf Zahl]

40oz said:

Exploiting the way rocket splash damage is the same at any z height could be cool too, by shooting at a really tall wall from above and demolishing hordes of monsters below.

Note that this won't work in all ports. ZDoom for sure changes this, there may be others as well - I can't really say.

[Aquanet]

ALT has some great uses of the vertical dimension. In the early levels, there's the crashed airplane from MAP02, the cityscape of MAP03, the high wire act that is MAP04, and the rocket launcher secret (and leadup) from MAP06. There's also the big dark space in MAP08 where you platform from pillar to pillar.

I also like dropshafts where you can't see the destination. Unfortunately, unless you use 3d floors, you can't drop someone into the middle of an open room.

[kb1]

Riding a lift, killing monsters placed at various heights around you is fun. For fairness, you can always reduce the hitscanners.

Also, you can see really tall areas from far away. Imps and barons can hurl missiles from a mile away, which can be cool to see, and fun to navigate the storm. Maybe a very long slow climb is required to actually get in the tall building.

Another idea is having to jump off a ledge at the right spot to land on the roof of various structures below. Maybe a few different areas can be accessible from the same ledge. Run and jump, vs. slowly stepping off the edge can land you in 2 separate places as well. Great for secrets.

Having enough pillars in a large room can offset monster's ability to pick you off from far above (think DV Map 02). As long as you provide *some* way to eventually kill the monsters (crusher, teleport into, alternate path/hidden stairs, etc.), I think you're ok with missile monsters. Hitscanners, though, will make quick work of you, in quantity. So leave most of them on ground level :)

[Rayziik]

I feel like I'm the only one who ever mentions Hellbound anywhere, but it has very awesome map layouts that incorporate great amount of verticality. Even if the gameplay didn't take full advantage of these maps, the beauty of them is wonderful.

When it comes to my maps, I think I can rarely bring myself to make maps that have height differences greater than maybe a couple thousand map units. The texture tiling issue is a definitely contributor to this sentiment, but I think my main issue is with the flow of gameplay and monster movement. Infinitely tallness hampers movement from high to low, and flyers can block you from out of sight way down below. It's also a chore to climb large staircases and ride tall lifts while fighting monsters that came trickling in from all kinds of weird directions.

[Nevander]

Aquanet said:

ALT has some great uses of the vertical dimension. In the early levels, there's the crashed airplane from MAP02, the cityscape of MAP03, the high wire act that is MAP04, and the rocket launcher secret (and leadup) from MAP06. There's also the big dark space in MAP08 where you platform from pillar to pillar.

I just found and downloaded ALT... holy shit.