The Joy of Mapping II - BETA RELEASED

[Jimmy]

This session is over and the maps are complete! Thanks so much to everyone who participated.

Download Links
Current Release: Public Beta 1
Dropbox / Powerhouse
Requires ZDoom/GZDoom/Zandronum.

The first one was a lot of fun and resulted in lots of very cool maps being made. Let's see if we can get that happening again!

I am hosting this communal mapping session via Discord and Twitch, on Saturday 27th August @ 9PM EDT / Sunday 28th 1AM GMT/9AM GMT+8. Mapping should start at this time, so please join the server early so we can prepare.

My Twitch Stream - Where it will be broadcast for general viewing. (Anyone partaking in the Discord voice chat should view the stream without its audio.)
Discord #general channel Link - For general communication before, after, and during the stream.
Discord #mapping channel Link - For the group tuition session later. PM me for link.

The Discord chat is open now, though my availability may vary over the week. I am happy to provide answers to any queries you young whippersnappers may have!

What is this?

Spoiler

• Have you heard of a thing called "Doom mapping" which is that thing a load of snobby retrophiles do for fame and glory?
  
• Have you opened up Doom Builder maybe once or twice but been utterly intimidated by the interface?
  
• Does mapping seem to you like something best left to "the professionals"?
  
• Then come along down! Myself and a couple of helpful mapping tutors shall be hosting an instructional speedmapping/tuition session for an hour or two, which will be hosted on Discord and Twitch, for the newbiest among us. We'll all come together and make a mapset.

You will learn:

Spoiler

• How to shape your map interestingly.
  
• How to maximise the flow of your map.
  
• How to use lighting and texturing to make a good-looking, memorable map.
  
• How to apply sector effects.
  
• How to use space and verticality to your advantage.
  
• The importance of thing placement.
  

How this works:

Spoiler

• Show up to the Discord #mapping channel. PM me for the link to this. You don't need Discord installed, as the web app will do just fine. Discord, for those not in the know, is a powerful communication program with text chat, voice chat, file sharing, streaming support, and all sorts of other goodies.
  
• You won't need to have voice enabled for this session, but it might help to be party to what's going on. I will be making important announcements over voice, Discord chat, and maybe Twitch chat. (Might get a bot to do these for me actually, if I can.)
  
• There will also be a Twitch stream through which I'll broadcast what's happening on my screen. You may refer to this throughout the session if you wish.
  
• We will map for an hour, maybe two. In that time, I'll be giving a set of instructions to all the participants. Every 5 minutes the mappers will receive a new thing to do with their map. It'll be a mostly general thing rather like "make a set of stairs", or "make a connecting bridge" or "place down some decorations". I'll give details on how these things are done if needed. But it's up to the mappers to implement these instructions as best they can, in whatever stylistic way they choose.
  
• At the end of the mapping session, we should all have complete maps - we'll take a while to playtest and bugfix anything. Missing textures, erroneous tags, misalignments and such will all be cleared up here.
  
• The mappers should upload their WADs to the Discord channel (or post links to them there) once they're ready to share. Your map will then enter the roster for the compilation WAD I will create out of everyone's submissions.
  

Rules for the chat:

Spoiler

• Stay on-topic please! Talk to your friends about the latest memes in private messages if you have to.
  
• Disruptive or disparaging behavior will not be tolerated. We're all here to have fun. Moderators are employed in the chat, just in case disruptions become a problem.
  
• You can check the time before the session starts by typing !timeleft, or bring up the relevant threads for this session with "!dwthread" or "!zdthread". "!joymaps1" will give you the /idgames link for the first session. (Subsequent commands will be added for future sessions.)
  
• Excessive posting of images, unless it's of your map, is discouraged. The chat will have image thumbnails enabled, so please don't spam.
  
• Don't be afraid to ask any (relevant) questions, no matter how obvious they may seem. I, a tutor, or a moderator, will likely be able to assist. Highlight me with "@Jimmy" or the "@Tutors" or "@Moderators" group.
  
• Please don't spam highlights.
  
• If you wish to be on voice chat during the session, you'll need to let me know you're participating so I can add you to the Mappers group.
  
• Please be courteous to the other students on voice chat. If you have lots of background noise going on, please enable Push-To-Talk.
  
• As already said - have fun!! On pain of death. Fun is mandatory here.
  

[Fuzzball]

!! ooooOO yes!

[TMD]

Fiiiiiine.

[Suitepee]

Glad to see this getting a second runout. I look forward to playing the finished result....

[an_mutt]

I'll be there for this. Will definitely try and help out on the whole thing placement and room shaping part of the session - hopefully I'll learn a bit more about layout and flow!

[Fonze]

I hope I can make it again! Had a lot of fun last time, looking forward to more :)

[Walter confetti]

Good luck everyone!

[TMD]

How long does the session last? I still plan to participate but I have an engagement 4 hours after start time.

[Fuzzball]

The last one lasted about...2/ 2 and a half hours total I think? Including fluff before and after

[Jimmy]

24 HOURS REMAIN! Hope to see you keen young folks there! o/

[Royal_Sir]

Crap, I missed it :(

EDIT: wow, i'm such a dumbass...

[Rayziik]

^^^ uhhhhh... there's still 22+ hours until it starts?...

[baja blast rd.]

Royal_Sir is traveling at a high percentage of the speed of light.

[Jimmy]

We start in 30 minutes. See you guys there.

https://www.twitch.tv/jimmybtsx/

[Jimmy]

Feedback stream imminent, courtesy of Alfonzo. We'll be playing through an internal compilation of the maps. See you there!

https://www.twitch.tv/st_alfonzo

[Jimmy]

The second Joy of Mapping compilation is now out in beta, with 19 submissions! Congratulations and well done to all the students, the tutors, and the moderators who contributed. This is nothing if not a significant improvement on the last. :)

Download Links
Dropbox / Powerhouse
Requires ZDoom/GZDoom/Zandronum.

Map list:

MAP01: Hodge-Podge Hoedown - Baratus
MAP02: Meme Factory - DoomTheRobot
MAP03: Reversi - Niwatorry
MAP04: Comm Center - SMG_Marine_
MAP05: Hall of Silence - 7Soul
MAP06: Welcoming Committee - Royal_Sir
MAP07: Minicore - Pinchy
MAP08: Procrastination Station - Breezeep
MAP09: Lights Out - ZZYZX
MAP10: Descent into Madness - Rossyrg
MAP11: Crap II: Montezuma's Revenge - Vbob
MAP12: Jolly Green Giant - NuclearPotato
MAP13: Nice 'n' Warm - MarketAnarchy
MAP14: Reckless - Fonze
MAP15: Green With Envy - temin_dump
MAP16: An Assort on the Senses - an_mutt
MAP17: John Suitepee Deleted All the Revenants - rdwpa
MAP18: A Face Made Out of the Jungle - TMD
MAP19: Mechanism Eight - Jimmy

[Suitepee]

That rdwpa map name.....brilliant! Can't wait to play that one.

I'll try to play this asap as soon as I finish Sunlust.

[Suitepee]

https://www.twitch.tv/johnsuitepee/v/89713791 = my playthrough of all 19 maps. (UV, pistol starts)

This felt more consistently better than the previous JOM.

Map 03 was my favourite of the set, followed by map 17 (for egoistical reasons if nothing else, I mean; I have a map named after me AND it was designed to have no Revenants! Best thing ever!).

Hope all the mappers enjoy this feedback, and I look forward to future JOM sessions.

[Fonze]

Hey Suite, thanks for the play through and feedback!

Couple quick things:

The final encounter is made much easier by hitting a switch to lower the bars that raise behind the player.

The rev encounter before it is made easier by not standing, cornered, by the raised bars. There is ample room to maneuver given room available and cover, as well as the ms and ss, neither of which should be necessary to complete this level on UV, but do make for a more enjoyable, casual experience.

Please play any future maps from me on HMP; I'd rather you have fun with them than try your best to barely scoot by while frustrated at a difficulty level that is as hard as the map gets. That's as much as I can throw at the player; it's not supposed to be easy for everybody. That said, I appreciate the play through and feedback, once again! Thanks you and cheers :)

[Suitepee]

Fonze said:

Please play any future maps from me on HMP; I'd rather you have fun with them than try your best to barely scoot by while frustrated at a difficulty level that is as hard as the map gets. That's as much as I can throw at the player; it's not supposed to be easy for everybody. That said, I appreciate the play through and feedback, once again! Thanks you and cheers :)

I found your level to be alright on UV in the end. If anything the tightness of the encounter and the mayhem was somewhat reminiscent of some of Ribbiks' stuff. (albeit minus the architectural grandeur, but this was a speedmap to be fair)

Just because I lowered the difficulty for Sunlust doesn't mean I'm going to do so for every challenging map; it'll only be if the map/wad on UV is persistently challenging and I'm not able to beat it within comfortable parameters (i.e. without savescumming 10291019201 times and dying a hell of a lot without understanding what to do, constantly). I don't want people to start going "play on HMP" at me the first moment I struggle with their hard map a little bit. I will be sticking to UV for the most part.

By the way, could I suggest that Joy of Mapping 3 focuses on monster placement and usage? I saw way too much dull Pinky usage throughout this wad, and aside from that I'd like to see said mapping topic given a "teaching" by Jimmy and the gang! (also an_mutt mentioned the idea in my stream chat last night when I was talking about said Pinky usage)