molten_

Doom finally has its own equivalent to Super Mario 64's B3313 Outstanding WAD.

It just dawned on me that it's been a little over 10 years since I joined the doom community. I don't know if any of you remember me, I only ever released one (very short) WAD: proto.wad (And made a few maps in Interception & 2048 Unleashed). A lot of my doom history is just unfinished projects. However, this post isn't about me. I just wanted to voice my happiness in how active the community is, and how many new faces I see on the forums today, after visiting for the first time in nearly 2 years. It makes me think of other old internet communities I used to actively participate in, such as TIGSource & MFGG ... yet this is the community that still persists today. Seeing new people still enthralled by the game I found captivating a decade ago ... it fills me with so much joy, and hope for the future. Here's to another 10 years!

I've only played the first couple of maps so far, but I love how retro this feels. Like something straight out of 1998 ... I mean that in the best way possible. Really liked the central "tower" in map02, was fun to figure out how to navigate it. Excited to play more!

Simple as Hell is a project I've been working on for forever (Upwards of 4 years now), making extremely small amounts of progress over long periods of time. Most of the slow progress is due to laziness, working full-time and other priorities; That being said, mapping has been going surprisingly smoothly lately so I'm confident in making a thread about it. I plan to release each episode 1 by 1, then release the complete wad once everything is complete. The concept: I was inspired by Doom the way Id Did, but I wanted to take things even a step further. How few linedefs/visplanes/sectors can I get away with using, while still making maps that are visually interesting and capture the same level of quality as the original maps? You'd be surprised how challenging this can be ... I use quite a few tricks to save on resources, always pushing myself to remove certain sectors or linedefs if they aren't needed. Mapping this way has made me realize a lot about what makes maps fun and interesting. The wad will be ultimate doom, vanilla compatible. Screenshots of episode 1: And since I have a fetish for automaps, here are some automap screenshots: I will try to keep this thread updated, but knowing how eclectic my schedule can be I'm not going to make any promises.

new screenshot of a nearly finished map

Hyped

@DavidN Nah I don't really have a limit, some of the stages are pretty large. I just focus on making the environment as simple as possible geometrically, if that makes any sense. @kknot5889 Thanks! Hopefully I will get the first episode done soon-ish. I'm working on finishing up the design of two maps, and monster placement for a few more.

e4m2 is definitely optional, if you catch my drift

vanilla compatible is EXTREMELY impressive. will check this out later

I'm just curious if there are any maps that do this effectively? Like, maybe a map that has two branching paths and at the end of each path is a red key, so the player is ultimately going to the same location but they're given a choice on how to reach it.

it's finally happening, armageddon is upon us

something about the way sprites look in this kinda reminds me of Hylics.

I actually kinda like this version

I feel like starting out mapping when vanilla was really popular kinda influenced my style, because even with limit removing I feel really guilty if I add a sector / linedef to my map that doesn't immediately influence the gameplay.

Lots of optional paths ... dead ends. I don't think Doom lends itself that well to linear level design; a major part of the fun for me is getting lost and "unraveling" a map, so to speak.

I may or may not be back into mapping.

Cool to see people still making vanilla-style maps. I liked this a lot, it reminded me of DTWID but if the stages were much larger and more creative liberties were taken.

you know it's a special day when linguica has to add a message for people visiting from reddit.

E4M2 is a masterpiece edit: forgot about E2M2, that map is pretty good too.

linearity. a major part of what makes doom exciting to me is the potential for branching paths, dead ends and secrets. if your map is just a straight line from start to finish I get bored fast, unless it's absurdly well paced.

I used to play on UV-only until I realized I wasn't having that much fun. ever since then I've played on lower difficulties most of the time, and it's made things much more enjoyable. doom is the kind of game where the simple act of playing it is still fun, so I don't feel too bad about being bad at the game :P

echoing going down. I'd also love a new valkiriforce megawad :)

that one secret that requires you to walk over a linedef to lower a lift halfway across the map

I try to give myself some leeway but, over the years I have developed a few habits -the critical path needs to have at least 128 units of leeway in movement (side-paths are ok to be cramped) -the player should always at least be pressured to move during combat, be it through healthpack placement, enemy placement, environment design, or some other means -lately I've found myself placing optional rooms, alternate paths and windows to later areas whenever I possibly can. I like how it makes the maps feel more complex this too :^)