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Zulk RS

Burnt out on testing.

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Has this ever happened to any of you?

While making a medium to large maps, you have to test out new doors, rooms ,scripts, linedefs and all that crap.
But when you're finally done, you sit to play the whole map from start to finish to see if it's okay, only...
You've been testing individual parts out so much that now the thought of playing the map again is repulsive.

This happens to me more often than I'd like to admit.
What do you do if and when it happens?

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Move the player start further into the map, to only playtest the newest areas. Don't forget to move it back to the intended start position once you think you're done with the map and do a final playtest to see if the map works as a whole.

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I know this feeling sooo well.

Zulk-RS said:

you have to test out new doors, rooms ,scripts, linedefs and all that crap.

I think this is your biggest mistake. No, you don't have to play your map every time you place some triggers or create another key encounter, etc. Unless you're a novice, I believe you can be sure that most of the stuff you're doing won't break horribly.

Perhaps the whole idea of testing individual parts is somewhat counterproductive. I mean, what matters is how all these parts work together, not whether a specific fight is fun or not. So this partial testing will only give you a wrong picture in my opinion. And eat a lot of your time.

Personally, nowadays I typically don't load my maps at all until they reach at least a playable beta status. It really helps me to stay excited and motivates me to finish the project because I wanna see what it's like. And when I start testing I can immediately see the full picture.

Also remember that sometimes you just need to take a break. Let some time pass, and eventually you will get excited about your work again. If you're in a state where you find it repulsive, it's probably not the best moment to test it.

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I'm actually not that confident that the scripts and linedefs won't break.
Also, the funny thing is, I still don't find the project itself repulsive. It's the testing that gets repulsive. I usually feel like working on the next map right away.

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Sorry, I forgot that you're working with ZDoom. I guess testing stuff like scripts requires a lot more effort than basic vanilla maps I'm used to making.

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Like memfis, I don't know much about scripts. For me, the part about playtesting that is exhausting is plugging away at the same monsters again and again especially if I get lazy and die a lot. If your map is a chore to play even without the monsters in it I would ask myself If the map really needs to be this big or if the scripts are adversely affecting gameplay.

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Even after having playtested a map countless times, inevitably I would miss something.
Therefore I usually delegate playtesting to others.

You must have formed some opinion about various folk here on the forum, or you may
have some friends who are into DOOM mapping. If one or two of those who you might
be able to trust not to leak your map and are willing to playtest for you, then accept their offer.
If you feel comfortable with me. I'm willing to playtest.
I have done so for Rex several times.

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My current project is more or less open.
I keep updating the link in my project thread for whoever to play.

As for IRL friends... Most of them don't play Doom and the ones that do suck so much that the best of them can't get past MAP07 of Doom 2

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Where is your project?

And who said your RL friends have to playtest? I mean, you got a whole community of experienced Doomers right here.

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I understand where you're coming from but it's morso Snapmap levels for me, as oppose to wads. The content I produce for my wads excite me enough to want to play it over and over. But I do lots of scripting which becomes painful to learn slowly on my own.

Also I never heavily populate my maps nor make many large ones so it's not really a drain.

Personally I would get tired of play testing wads over and over with vanilla doom content. Bring on modern source ports and mods!

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I think the more you test, the better it is.

If you're tired of testing, leave the project apart for some days, do something else and then come back to it refreshed.

What I also do is to playtest first with iddqd, just to see if there is the correct amount of ammo, monsters moves freely and so on. when everything is ok I playtest it again without codes to see if difficulty is balanced.

While testing I usually take notes on a notebook of things to change (move a monsters, add detail etc...)

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Angry Saint said:

While testing I usually take notes on a notebook of things to change (move a monsters, add detail etc...)


I used to do this, but these days I just keep Doom Builder open while I playtest and fix things on the fly.

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Take a break. Everything gets old if you do it too much. You don't need to keep working on something you're hating. It's not your job. Do something else and come back to it when you feel like it.

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So true.
As Soundblock said, I really, really recommend putting LOTS of new music into your WAD while it's in development.
Or don't test every change, make 9000 changes and test them all only after you finish all of them.
Testing is really tedious. You think you're testing your map, but then you realize that you're actually testing your nerves.

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scifista42 said:


The download link has just now been updated. It now has 4 complete maps.

bzzrak said:

As Soundblock said, I really, really recommend putting LOTS of new music into your WAD while it's in development.


Though I don't do this, I do run a playlist of music in the background while testing individual changes. But I can't hear the monsters over it so I turn it off during the final test(s).

As for how frequently I check everything, that depends on the nature of changes I make. Same goes for teleports and all related stuff.
If I add in scripts, I check them immediately. I check doors and floors every time I complete a room.

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Soundblock said:

I used to do this, but these days I just keep Doom Builder open while I playtest and fix things on the fly.


I prefer first to collect a list of things to change, and then review it so that I may discover that some issue goes hand with another one - I feel in this way my corrections and improvements are more "organic".

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The best thing to do is to take a break from the projects.

For me, testing wasn't a problem, more like map-blocks or as I run out of the ideas.

I suggest to make a map, then test it like if you were actually playing it & fix issues.

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Try building a map (or at least placing "things") backwards once; much easier to test/balance and gets rid of the repetition of playing the beginning of the map over and over. Moving the player start is always an option, but you run into problems (tedium) when encounters are bunched closely together in terms of progression. Still, moving backwards in increments enables you to plan the player's "needed health/ammo/weapons to carry over from the previous area to complete this area" much easier.

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