I'm Also Looking to Play and Record Your Maps

[HAK3180]

@Zolgia108

Download the .zip

 

It’s a short opener with a desert vibe to it. I don’t like that everything is hidden from the automap. I don’t like the grenade/rocket launching disappearing monster. I don’t like the little bit of switch hunt. I really don’t like much about this map except the final effect with the whole thing lowering to the exit. Visually, it’s pretty bland. But we’ll give it a pass for being the Map 01 and because of its brevity.

 

Bottom line: It’s short, so that’s good. Hopefully the next maps are better.

 

Also, Zolgia108, you say you get resources from all over the web. Have you sufficiently credited them? I did not see a text file anywhere...

Edited July 19, 2018 by HAK3180 : Added link to wad

[Zolgia108]

I am really sorry for the general dislike of the opener, i hope it will go on better.

As for the credits, as i said it is the first time i publish a map and up until now only my brother played them, so i didn't really know i had to do that, for now i guess i will just delete the post and create a credit text file and then in case send it to you via pm and if needed publish it again, thanks for telling me. Sorry again, to all the community, i really didnt think it was needed. Sincerely

@HAK3180 I've added a credits text file on the link, hope it's fine!

 

Edited July 19, 2018 by Zolgia108

[HAK3180]

@sincity2100

 

Doomworld download page

 

It’s a little different, and rightly so, being Map 31. I like the start area with the big mansion, but the different areas seem somewhat randomly put together. The mansion is pretty much empty, which is unfortunate; I think a lot more could have happened there. Same with the beach area. It was massive and empty and you were only there for a little bit. The bulk of the action was in the marble area, which was nice architecturally, but a little bit bland. It had some good fights, but nothing quite as epic as the map seemed to be trying to suggest. It’s weird. There was also a little bit of switch confusion and some ammo shortage. I was pretty much entirely saved by a secret at one point.

 

Bottom line: The different parts don’t always seem to fit together, but it’s still a pretty fun map.

[HAK3180]

@Marlamir

 

link to download the .wad

 

This map has a great layout and flow and also looks really good. You start in a linear part with more brick textures and stuff. Then you go outside and enter a huge tech facility with lots to explore and lots of nice detailing while always remaining thematic. I really like some of the touches like the busted up walls and floors. The gameplay is pretty cool. It starts very linear and turns very exploratory, but it’s really not easy to get lost. “Go where you haven’t been yet” doesn’t always work in large, nonlinear maps, but it certainly does here. The combat is good in many places, not too difficult and usually not boring or grindy. But I felt I was stuck with the shotgun a little too long. It also would have been nice to have a few cells and/or rockets to play around with throughout the map.

 

Bottom line: Minor combat issues are not enough to take away from a great experience made by a stellar map design

[HAK3180]

@Zemini

 

Doomworld forum topic

working download link

 

Pretty good looking map with an interesting progression that sees you revisit the same areas multiple times but without too much backtracking. Well done. Unfortunately, I felt the problems with combat in this wad were intensified in this map. A lot of it is opening narrow doors to reveal many monsters. You just back up and hold down fire with pretty much any weapon and you don’t have a problem. The hell knight/arachnotron room was also too easy. Too much space and too much ammo. On top of it all, the secret stamina upgrades are not that hard to find and they are essentially megaspheres, so you never have to worry about doing a fight well. As long as you survive at all, you’ll probably be fine.

 

Bottom line: Another good map for design, layout, and detail, but again, the gameplay itself doesn’t quite match those efforts.

Edited July 24, 2018 by HAK3180

[Zemini]

Looks like I have my work cut out for me in the monster encounter department.  My least favorite part about making maps is placing Things!  Thanks for playing again.  I am really worried about E1M6 ...  the placement there is better, but it is kinda a "fuck you" level.  When I first designed it, I always felt that Hell should be ... Hell but nobody likes to play a level that leaves a player frustrated and unhappy.  Your going to love it!  /sarcasm

 

FYI my other hell levels E2M6 and E3M6 seems to be everyone's favorites.

[HAK3180]

10 hours ago, Zemini said:

Looks like I have my work cut out for me in the monster encounter department.  My least favorite part about making maps is placing Thing!

I totally get it. The gameplay itself is the most subjective part of a map and the most dynamic. You can't predict exactly how a player will handle an encounter or what supplies they will have, not to mention how skilled the player is (though difficulty settings help with that). Just know that I tend to be overly critical in these videos in the gameplay department. I'm certainly enjoying myself.

[HAK3180]

@Doomkid

 

idgames download page

 

Another really good map. Detailing is great, vanilla or not. Again I love the layout. There are plenty of subtle changes that keep the map thematic but not boring. It’s also very interconnected and you kinda loop around so that you’re always close to where you need to go next. Combat is always fun, simple “incidental” stuff and the more “featured fights.” This one does not feature a rocket launcher but you get a fair amount of plasma and even a BFG.

 

Bottom line: Terrific layout and great enemy placement.

[HAK3180]

@Zolgia108

 

download the .zip

 

The good: better than Map 01 in terms of design. More to explore. More verticality. More interesting encounters. 

The not so good: horrible start. Give that monster some more health and use it as a boss somewhere instead of in incidental combat at the start. Some puzzling progression. If that’s the goal, okay, but it’s really not super obvious to climb around a tiny wall in the dark to a custom texture that I might not recognize as a door. And then the first switch’s action was pretty far from the switch. This map was also rather open and empty, so the fights were not much of a challenge. Visually it’s okay, but I think what’s happening is that custom textures are somewhat disguising the fact that there’s not a lot of aesthetic detail.

 

Bottom line: There are certainly some faults, but this map does at least have an interesting overall aura.

[Zolgia108]

1 hour ago, HAK3180 said:

@Zolgia108

 

download the .zip

 

The good: better than Map 01 in terms of design. More to explore. More verticality. More interesting encounters. 

The not so good: horrible start. Give that monster some more health and use it as a boss somewhere instead of in incidental combat at the start. Some puzzling progression. If that’s the goal, okay, but it’s really not super obvious to climb around a tiny wall in the dark to a custom texture that I might not recognize as a door. And then the first switch’s action was pretty far from the switch. This map was also rather open and empty, so the fights were not much of a challenge. Visually it’s okay, but I think what’s happening is that custom textures are somewhat disguising the fact that there’s not a lot of aesthetic detail.

 

Bottom line: There are certainly some faults, but this map does at least have an interesting overall aura.

I am sorry about that monster, beware that it will come back in 3 and 4 but in stupid ways (you will hear his laugh and kill him instantly, no worries at all), in this it was a sort of joke that i did to my brother to scare him right at the start! Didnt imagine it would have been so annoying, i will think about deleting him for sure:)

Thanks about the advices, and thank you for playing these noobish wads, i am working to improve at it. When, and if, you will go on with them you will see more puzzling areas, especially from map04 on, and there will deadlier traps and hard encounters, this is the second map after all and when i made the whole i was planning of slowly increase challenge wad by wad. Thank you again btw, i appreciate your feed!

 

EDIT: and please play on UV cause i think it's best for you to have some challenge i guess :)  (last room would have had 7 mancubus, second room with 2 cacos and trap room with baron and hell knight for example

PS: after your comments i am changing all the music lol

Edited July 23, 2018 by Zolgia108

[HAK3180]

@sincity2100

 

This is very fitting for the Map 32 slot, in my opinion. It’s a long quest with half themed like TNT (and most of GMP) and half themed like Plutonia, with the start room being split right down the middle. I would have liked to see more of the split within a room, but the map was done well. The progression was smooth and clear, even while requiring six keys. It also has some more deliberate nods to iwad maps. It has a high monster count and in some cases they are in hordes, but this map does not feel like it’s supposed to be an epic slaughter map. I thought ammo distribution was pretty good in this map; I just felt there should have been a nonsecret BFG at some point.

 

Bottom line: Fun quest of a map with a nice progression that won’t completely wow you with its interconnectedness, but also shouldn’t confuse you.

[Marlamir]

@HAK3180 Thank you for playing, im really happy you was having fun.

[HAK3180]

@Zemini

 

Doomworld forum topic

working download link

 

Decent looking hell map with some solid combat. I don’t mind the damaging teleporters. Clever idea, actually, and there was always some health by them, so that’s good. What I did mind was that many of them took you back to the start and some of them took you to switches; I didn’t see a way to tell them apart at all. I also didn’t like so much damaging floor in necessary areas, particularly in an area where you have to kill a certain monster to proceed but don’t really have a way of knowing that (a sole baron in a group like that could be a tipoff, but it’s not a strong enough one).

 

Bottom line: Some frustrating moments in here for sure, but it’s a nice challenge.

[Zemini]

Thanks for playing!

 

Baron room is a work in progress.  Originally killing it was suppose to raise the gates to a correct portal.  I agree that monsters who drop keys seems like a silly gimmick that doesn't belong.  Ill make the basement larger and change the color of the right portals to black ashwall. 

 

The Archvile Room can be walked into if you paid attention to your plasma shots.  There is plenty of goodies in there including bfg ammo.   

 

Finally, the Purple Skull is a super secret in case you wanted to know.  Easier to just look at doom builder to figure it out.  These types of secrets will eventually become the norm for finding the best weapons early and spheres.

[HAK3180]

@Doomkid

 

idgames download page

 

Another good-looking vanilla map. I liked the outside area a lot. This one has a mandatory secret, which I don’t like. I understand that “a secret is revealed” was not a thing in ’93 or Dos, but lots of folks play with it now, so you expect that to indicate something bonus, something special, not the way you need to go anyway. This map also had a severe lack of ammo early on that saw me punching a pain elemental and a couple demons, I think. It also had an early rocket secret well before a rocket launcher was available. Again, combat was good when ammo was sufficient. I thought the arch-vile was in a clever location.

 

Bottom line: some questionable spots, especially with goody placement, but overall, some nice combat and another fun layout.

[Roofi]

Here's an UD map using the slot E2M7 I've made recently. Good luck. :) It's vanilla compatible

 

DOWNLOAD

 

Infos concerning the map :

 

Spoiler

Level name : Lost
Author(s) : Roofi
Build time : 1 week
Editor(s) used : Gzdoom Builder Bug-Fix , Slade
Music track : Seiken Densetsu 3 - Political Pressure
Bugs : some misaligned textures maybe
Inspiration : The original E2M7 , grime.wad , Double impact
Author comments :  A semi-linear adventurous map , dont get lost !

 

 

Edited July 24, 2018 by Roofi

[HAK3180]

@Zolgia108

 

download the .zip

 

It’s basically a sequence of four wide corridors that look identical. The combat changes slightly but not enough. Then you get a key, backtrack, flip a switch, and go back to where you first started backtracking. The good news is that the best fights happen when the backtracking starts, so it’s not terrible. Unfortunately, though, at that point you’ve been looking at the same texture the entire map and you’d love something fresh, but instead you get to revisit the same corridors you’ve already been down. The only breath of fresh air is the arch-vile room, which was also a decent encounter. As for the secrets, they are too generous for a pretty short level. If the only plasma gun is in a secret, you can’t give me ~200 cells in the map. Then the difference between getting that secret and not getting it is too severe. There was also a soul sphere and a megasphere in secrets, so there was really a big difference.

 

Bottom line: It’s too repetitive in map design, in monster encounter, and in visual detail, but this map times 1/2 or so would perhaps have been a decent quick little experience.

[Zolgia108]

i thank you a lot for the criticizing, it will help me fixing everything i need, i am about to change many things here and there ( i already did btw, always based on your comments), from next map on,i swear, it will get different, map 04 has these texts more or less but from 05 on everythig (in appearence at least) will change. This is obv my first experience as a mapper and all these advices are really welcome, thank you for spending (probably losing at this point lol) your time for me! Please find the strenght to go on :)

Edited July 25, 2018 by Zolgia108

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

Don't want to derail, but I downloaded the mod myself and I wanted to point a couple things out to @Zolgia108.

First, there's this missing texture in MAP02.

And the ranger enemy whatever it is that HAK's having issues with is stupid cheap, the way it's used.

I've found when it reappears on the field, it always fires a rocket, which is a major problem in tight spaces like at the end of MAP03. I wouldn't have survived that encounter had I not gotten the secret megasphere. You either need to replace it and use it elsewhere or change its behavior, this kind of thing will make players ragequit.

 

Okay, derail over.

[Zolgia108]

6 minutes ago, Aquila Chrysaetos said:

Don't want to derail, but I downloaded the mod myself and I wanted to point a couple things out to @Zolgia108.

First, there's this missing texture in MAP02.

And the ranger enemy whatever it is that HAK's having issues with is stupid cheap, the way it's used.

I've found when it reappears on the field, it always fires a rocket, which is a major problem in tight spaces like at the end of MAP03. I wouldn't have survived that encounter had I not gotten the secret megasphere. You either need to replace it and use it elsewhere or change its behavior, this kind of thing will make players ragequit.

 

Okay, derail over.

thank you for telling me about texture, and i already deleted that monster in map 03, and 04 as well, 3 days ago :) Please continue playing and tell me all the issues that you find!

[HAK3180]

@sincity2100

 

Doomworld download page

 

Excellent. We’ll start with the bad. I did not like the use of instapop enemies, but I usually don’t when it’s clear that it is instapop. I also did not like how the first cavern part was underdetailed and badly misaligned in most places. And maybe a couple too many arch-viles. But everything else is pretty much high praise. This map continues the great visuals, even with a slightly different feel to the techbaseness. And the combat here was great: no shortage of ammo, but plenty of challenge with well placed enemies and dynamic, interconnected locations.

 

Bottom line: Awesome start to the second half: visuals (besides beginning) do not let down and the gameplay is on point.

[HAK3180]

@Roofi

 

download the .wad

 

It’s pretty big and very nonlinear, so getting lost is certainly a possibility, but I think the different areas are distinct enough and sometimes connected enough that with a little help from the automap, you’re never scratching your head. I like the use of goodie closets behind keys, but that can be potentially confusing, making the player think that’s the way to progress. Perhaps those cubbies/closets could have been even more obvious that they were just there for goodies. The combat was definitely an adequate challenge, especially for Doom 1. Roofi used pretty frequent teleports to help in that regard. It got a little annoying at times, but overall the combat was good. There may have been a few too many rockets. Besides the mild annoyances already mentioned, I also did not like the one spot with almost-mandatory damage via 20% damaging floor. I Sr50ed through almost every time and still got hurt about half the time.

 

Bottom line: Very Doom 1-esque in all the right ways but with significantly more challenge. 

[HAK3180]

@Zemini

 

Doomworld forum topic

working download link

 

This map picks off where Episode 1 left off (well, besides the last map). It’s similar to E1M1 actually; you start outside and have some tech base rooms to explore. The layout is cool because you can choose your own path and it all loops around so there aren’t many dead ends. I thought the main outdoor area had a few too many hitscan monsters because there just wasn’t cover. And again in a few spots you open a narrow door and there are a bunch of monsters in front of you. So you basically camp.

 

Bottom line: it’s a solid episode opener, but perhaps a little bit safe.

[Zion]

there you go

https://www.dropbox.com/s/85yb851f4dqcl2z/Toxic.wad?dl=0

[Zemini]

EP2 and EP3 are a lot harder than EP1.  This is intentional.  Beware!

 

Changes I am considering.

 

Weapons:  I will be adding the chainsaw as a secret alternative to the knife.

Chaingun:  Uses sub machine bullets, has a higher rate of fire and use 2 bullets per shot.

Sniper rifle:  Uses rifle bullets, cost 12 bullets each shot, long reload but deals about rocket launcher worth of damage.  Going to be like the awp in CS.

 

Regular secrets will return to the game.  Items will be removed and replaced as Health orbs.  Item count has always been a pointless imo.

 

Thanks for playing!

[HAK3180]

@Doomkid

 

idgames download page

 

Some more odd stuff in here with an exit sector tagged as secret and not marked as an exit, an unmarked lift, and an unmarked door, but it’s a nice map overall. Combat-wise, probably only 1.5 questionable spots. One would be the BFG spot. The BFG is a gimme and there’s quite a bit of plasma right before it and not too much trouble right after it. And the half would be the sole baron in a huge area but at least you have some strong weapons and if you flip the switch earlier, he can be part of the previous fight. As usual, nice flow and progression and solid visuals.

 

Bottom line: a little tame for the penultimate map difficulty-wise, but another solid map all in all.

[HAK3180]

@Zolgia108

 

download the .wad

 

I did not mind the overall progress/flow of this map, but two areas were a little off. First, the little lift puzzle was just too much. They were slow and there was nothing else going on, so it was just a waste of time, really. Secondly, inside the first key area was some switch action that was just odd. You didn’t really see the key up there in the first place, so there was no way to know to go back up there (by going up a lift, flipping a switch, and then riding the other lift) a second time. Visually, I’m still waiting to see more detail. Usually, there’s one texture for exterior walls and a few details within. Combat is not too bad in this map with a couple exceptions. Toward the beginning you have to deal with four long distance commandos and it’s not really fair. They’re not gonna kill you, but it’s a cheap way to inflict some damage. Then the boss fight. Why are there two back to back? Why do they constantly teleport so that they barely shoot and you can barely get a shot off? But the rest of the gameplay was really not too bad. I kinda liked the brutal hitscanner room and how cleaning them up quickly was beneficial to maintain your invulnerability. And I don’t mind the imp fest at the end. It catches you off guard, especially if you aren’t looking at your kill count, because you think you’re pretty much done.

 

Bottom line: Innovation and fresh ideas are good, but this wad needs to take steps toward conventional, and this map has done some of that.

[Zolgia108]

Thanks! I'm surely removing the lift "puzzle" since it annoys me as well, it's kinda nonsense i totally agree with that. I know i have a huge problem with remote switches, i need to fix that issue in me but i am trying to do it in the new maps that i am making, on my defense i tried to put a clue on the only remote switch here on 04, there were 2 ankhs (same texture as the column that was protecting the key), but sadly you didn't notice that :(

I am about to delete half of the boss for sure, but i kinda liked the idea of having it to teleport around, it's annoying but otherwise it would be too easy to kill i guess, i'll think about a fix.

Anyways, i'm positive that it will go on better, from map 05 there are different textures and environment in general since you took a portal here.

Please consider that this is going to be a 32 maps so that's why it's going on progressively.

 

PS: the worm that gnaws in the night is the name of one of the "old ones" in Chtulhu myths

 

thank you again for playing... PLEASE CONTINUEEEE

 

[HAK3180]

@Zolgia108, ah, I see that now. Yeah, that's probably a little bit too subtle. But if you have those two lower when you hit the switch also, that would signal to the player that something similar happened elsewhere. That's one of the ways to handle remote switches. (this is GZDoom, so for remote actions you could also do a message or even a cutscene, but I don't think that would be called for here)

 

Another thing you could do around 11-12 minutes: at first you have two lifts, only one of which works because the other is on the switch. But instead, you could have the second lift start out at floor height (so that you can't use it) and instead of have the switch operate it (somewhat remotely), just have it raise it up to its proper height, thus making it operable. That would eliminate the need to ride a lift to hit a switch to ride a lift (more than once anyway).

[Zolgia108]

i like the thing about the two lifts, i 'll make it right now, for the boss i simply enlarged the lines in which he can tele so that he will do it anyway but rarely, i don't know if that's enough to fix, i also deleted the soulsphere in the first secret to follow your advice, and finally i made that the first switch lowers all four lifts (in first room), but just one of them has the switch to go on, i hope it's a decent fix!