When to show your own WADs or maps to fellow Doomers

[The_SloVinator]

When is the best to show your maps or your projects?

When it's in progress of making or after you finish it?

[scifista42]

Are you talking about showing screenshots / video footage, or providing downloads to the maps themselves?

[joepallai]

earlier is better if you are looking for feedback or a playtester.   later is better if you are confident in your ability as a mapper and are looking for that final push to finish the map.   It really depends on what you are trying to achieve.

[CeeJay]

When you are confident in your work and feel it truly represents what the finished product will be. Or just wait until it's finished and release screenshots, video, etc. for the time being.

[an_mutt]

I echo what joepallai says, but I also want to expand that not only is "when" a good thing to consider in looking for feedback, but also "where" and "who" - Wads & Mods is great if you're just looking for straight-forward feedback from anybody, although you never know who you're gonna get feedback from specifically. This can be a boon, as someone might open up ideas you'd never have considered before, but you're also showing your work to people whose feedback might do little to help you, or even - god forbid - provide feedback that is counterproductive or actively bad for your work.

 

If you have one or two people who are happy to play your maps and give you more detailed feedback, then it's probably better to contact them privately for feedback. It's a great thing to have one or two specific people you can send maps to, all in the comfort of them wanting to help make your work the best it can possibly be. This narrows the scope of what kind of feedback you get, which obviously opens up the risk of your overall design becoming more narrowed as a result* though, so it's important to recognise what kind of people you're getting help from specifically.

 

* cue joke about the secret BTSX cabal here

[40oz]

I'm going to be realistic here and say that most people prefer to play things when they're done. So if you intend to post a thread for a map that you are working on, you should probably have it pretty close to a capacity that looks and plays the way you want it.

 

However, if you're unsure you are doing things right, jot down any questions you ask yourself and post them in the editing forum. Plenty people here like to discuss the good and bad things about level design, so you can get some clarification about how to be on the right track.

 

Keep in mind, that finishing a map and releasing it is often followed immediately with wanting to start a new one. Should your map get a weak review, take what you learned from it and apply it in your next one.

 

Alternatively, it can be helpful to attempt to make a friend here by sending a private message to someone who's opinions you feel you can trust. You can get very specific and direct information from people that way and sometimes trust them to play something that's terribly unfinished that you'd like their opinion on. That's generally much safer for your ego than posting incomplete stuff on a public forum where some people might not understand its not done or that you're looking specifically for feedback.

[The_SloVinator]

On 20. 5. 2017 at 9:43 AM, scifista42 said:

Are you talking about showing screenshots / video footage, or providing downloads to the maps themselves?

The former.

Edited May 22, 2017 by Soldier993

[MarketAnarchy]

"Yes" is rarely an appropriate response to a question which has an "or" in it. 

It's basically like this:

Quote

 

Which of these two are you talking about:

1. Showing screenshots/video footage; or
2. Providing downloads to the maps themselves?

Yes. That's what I mean.

 

 

See how that doesn't quite work?

Robert

[The_SloVinator]

15 hours ago, MarketAnarchy said:

"Yes" is rarely an appropriate response to a question which has an "or" in it. 

It's basically like this:

 

See how that doesn't quite work?

Robert

Thanks for notifying me.