Alfwin

My map Dumping Ground was inspired by a song (Krieger by Null Positiv). Sometimes I'll play an IWAD level and think, "how can I improve on that idea." For example, my Production Line map has a room that was designed to take the shutters from the start of The Focus and make it a more significant part of the encounter. When I have a basic idea for the tone of the map but don't quite know how to execute it, I'll go through the Doom OST and find some music that fits that tone, then set it as the level music and start designing the level to fit the music. I find that often helps me if I'm not quite sure how to start a map. I've also borrowed one or two ideas from Arrowhead12, particularly when it comes to visual design, since their mapping style is fairly similar to mine, to begin with.

Is the ENDOOM screen this makes not the same size as the default one? I made an ENDOOM screen with ENDEDIT, but the top line is cut off, and it just overall seems larger than the standard Doom II ENDOOM screen. Here's a test ENDOOM screen I made to demonstrate: Here's how it actually displays when added to a WAD: And here's how the official Doom II ENDOOM screen displays for comparison:

Continuing my IWAD playthrough (with commentary); this time it's Unholy Cathedral and Mt Erebus.

Did a playthrough of this. Not a bad first map, although there's definitely some room for improvement. Things I didn't mention in the video: - the lifts can be made compatible with Vanilla/Chocolate Doom by making sure the switch linedefs have the same tag as the corresponding lift sector. - There isn't really a use for the chainsaw secret; there's enough ammo on the map it's not worth using. I'd suggest swapping the chainsaw for a Berserk.

I just finished MAP07 of my WIP Megawad "Below." This was my first attempt at making a Dead Simple replacement, and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. The 4 pillars will lower down to reveal the Mancubi who guard the Gate. As for what lies beyond the gate, well... you'll have to wait and see! (I'm really excited to release this WAD but I still need to make 4 more maps before Episode 1 is ready)

If you want to make the switches more visible, I'd suggest changing the textures on either side of the switch "alcove" (i.e. the textures directly adjacent to the switch) to something other than the rock wall texture, so it's noticeable from angles where you can't quite see the switch itself. I'd probably go with one of the LITE textures, since that would also justify cranking up the brightness to further make the switches 'pop'. I don't think you need to change the colour of the bars, tbh. I worked out what was going on pretty quickly. I believe it's an engine bug. On double-sided linedefs, DOOM always renders the mid texture at the height of the texture itself, even if the sector height doesn't match. If the sector is taller than the texture, there'll be a gap above it; if it's shorter, the texture "bleeds" into the floor. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of a way to fix it, other than just changing it to be a door.

Refinery playthrough: This was a fun little map. Good flow, fun encounters, left me wanting more. The "rendering error" I pointed out, I should clarify that I mainly wanted to open the map in DoomBuilder and see what was going on for my own edification more than it being an actual problem with the map. I was thinking, "I know that this happens with mid-textures that are taller than the sector on double-sided linedefs, but there's no reason for this line to be double-sided, so what else might be causing this?" and it didn't even occur to me that

Haha, now I feel slightly less guilty about stealing the metal grate over lava at the start of 'Furnace' for the map I'm currently working on. It does make me very happy to hear people are taking inspiration from my maps - especially since I'm also taking some inspiration from yours!

My playthrough of Gallows. Great stuff as usual; strong visuals & fun gameplay. Can't wait 'til I get the chance to play Refinery!

I find Ultimate Doom Builder to be the best for actually making the level, then I just use Slade to import custom MIDIs and/or sky textures.

From certain angles, the edge of this circular raised sector creates a column of pixels that aren't doing what they're supposed to. I've seen this in a couple of places in several of my maps, and I'm pretty sure it's caused by the angle of the linedefs that make up the circle (it seems to always appear on a vertex where two lines meet), but does anyone have a more detailed explanation of what causes this so I can try to avoid it in future? Screenshot taken in Chocolate Doom, but I checked, and it appears the same in vanilla (DOSBox). (Also, sneak preview of my upcoming WAD, I guess. It's gonna be a big one!)

Late to the party, but here's my playthrough. Solid vanilla map, this. I look forward to seeing what else you make.

I usually start with an idea of what I want the map's theme to be, e.g. for my Arcane Archive, the theme was supposed to be interconnectivity and a sense of being hunted. I then imagine a vague idea of the overall flow of the level - do I want branching paths, for it to loop back to the start, &c. and start putting actual rooms together. For each room, I again think what I want the general feel to be like. Is the focus going to be on hectic projectile-dodging, archvile hide-and-seek, or maybe only a few imps and a quick switch hunt/puzzle to give the player a breather from the action? I rough out the layout of the room and repeatedly run the map with no monsters, just to make sure the space feels good to move through. Once I have the basic form of the room, I start placing monsters and adding more shape to the arena (e.g. cover, obstacles), always keeping in mind what purpose everything I add serves. Large pillars can create blind spots and deny the player knowledge of where roaming monsters are, and once I've added those, some pinkies in the arena will stop the player from using the pillars as cover; that sort of thing. I'll iterate on the design of the encounter, testing it repeatedly until I'm satisfied. From one room to the next, I basically just go wherever the flow of the map takes me, but I try to maintain contrast between areas. A large open space leads to a narrow hallway. That dark hallway leads to a brightly-lit room, and so on. Once I have all the rooms, I'll go back through and adjust for balance, visual detail, &c., again testing the map frequently and iterating upon the design until I feel the map is complete.

Lately, I've been listening to Nine Inch Nails, Sabaton, and Eisbrecher. Although they aren't top of my list currently, Jinjer, Infected Rain, Null Positiv, and Feuerschwanz are all bands I keep coming back to.

Two episodes down, three more to go. Then I just have to play through all the other games lol

I'm currently working on a vanilla megawad, working title "Below." The plan is to have a series of bite-sized maps (average 5 minutes play time per level) themed around the descent into a dark, industrial hell. Currently, 4 maps are complete. I intend to publish episode 1 - The Factory - once all 11 maps are done.

The circles in the screenshot have a radius of 64 and 12 vertices (8 in the fixed version). Keeping the number of lines to a minimum shouldn't be a huge problem for me, since I try to keep my maps vanilla-compatible anyway, and that means not a whole lot of complex detailing regardless. Thanks for the advice!

Well, it's good to at least know what the bug is, even if there isn't a real solution. I managed to fix it in that specific area by reducing the number of vertices in the circles. Slightly less visual detail, sure, but it still looks better than the room being full of slime trails (there was at least one visible from just about every angle in that room before).

I'd definitely make the rocket launcher more visible. Put it on a pedestal, and maybe even change the section of the wall directly behind it to something that contrasts better against the dark grey of the RL (I think it's currently BROWN144, right? Maybe a little SILVER1 alcove in the corner would make it stand out better). Even when I knew to look for it, it took me a while to see it, especially with all the chaos that's going on at that point. Another thing to note about the chainsaw/berserk - and this isn't specific to this map - is that a lot of players (myself included) prefer the Berserk over the chainsaw for its higher DPS and ability to hit-and-run. It's absolutely reasonable to have the choice available - the chainsaw has its uses (it can stun-lock, which the Berserk can't), but if the player has the chainsaw, they'll have to switch to it first every time they want to use the Berserk (that's why in my video I made the deliberate effort to tag the chainsaw secret without actually picking up the chainsaw). So, as a general mapping rule of thumb, if your map has both the chainsaw and berserk, try to make sure the player can finish the map with 100% secrets without picking up the chainsaw (i.e., it it's in a secret, make the sector big enough for the player to "discover" it without touching the chainsaw itself).

Well, I UV-Maxed Command HQ. Spotted the switch for the plasma gun secret yesterday while editing the video and I suspected it might be worth investigating. What a world of difference having Plasma makes, especially in the final fight, and with the two archviles guarding the Soulsphere! I definitely think the Plasma should be easier to find, for sure. If you want to keep it a secret, but make it easier to find, my first instinct is to say "replace the chainsaw with the plasma and the current plasma gun with the BFG." imo that secret was a lot more obvious, and there isn't a great need for the chainsaw on that map since you give the player a Berserk pack right at the start.

Oh, that definitely would've helped there. I didn't see it at all, though. More accessible plasma gun and possibly secret BFG would go a long way to making some of the more overwhelming fights feel more fair, imo. I'll probably give Gallows a try either tonight or tomorrow. Looks very E4, from the screenshots.

Finally got a chance to play Command HQ. I quite liked the Knee-Deep in the Dead aesthetic. Combat was fun for the most part, and I liked the overall progression. My only real complaint was that it feels like some of the combat encounters are designed with the assumption that the player would find the plasma gun - and I didn't. Maybe later I'll try the map again and find the plasma; see how that affects the balance. And (this is more of a minor nitpick) there were several times I landed in hot water by accidentally walking through a teleporter I didn't see. Maybe I'm just blind, but it might be worth considering changing the teleporters to use the red GATE flats. That would make them a). more clearly recognizable as teleporters, and b). stand out more against the environment. (for the destination platform of the one-way teleport, maybe GATE4 instead). Overall, it's a solid map, despite it frustrating me a little in a few places.

@PeceMan Thanks for the video! I don't know if it's the recording, or your GZDoom settings, but the room with all the hitscanners behind the shutters definitely looked darker than I intended it to be. I might bump the light level there a bit. The lift out of the lava pit is only there because I don't like inescapable death pits, and I don't like zombies placed in areas where you can't get their ammo. But I've seen enough people think it's a secret that I might actually add one there. Maybe a Soulsphere, idk. I'm not going to actually update this WAD again, but I'm planning to include it in a megawad I'm working on, so any future changes will be reflected there.

This is the smallest map I've ever made. Inspired by some of the early Doom II levels (mainly The Focus and The Crusher), this factory-themed level can be beaten in around 5 minutes (my best time is 1:15). It's got action, traps, and secrets - everything you could want in a tiny Doom level! Compatibility: Doom II - Vanilla (tested with Chocolate Doom and DOSBox). Intended to be played without freelook, jumping, &c. All difficulty settings supported. Multiplayer implemented but untested. Download: Production Line.7z Screenshots:

I've realized that, out of all the Doom II monsters, the Arachnotron is the one I understand least. As a player, I don't really know the best way to engage them in combat, and as a level designer, I haven't the faintest idea how to use them to create interesting encounters. I think I've only ever used them in one map, and I'm not sure I used them to their fullest potential. So, I'd like to hear your opinions on what makes for a good Arachnotron encounter. What type of arenas do you think they work well in? What monsters should I pair them with? (I'm not trying to design a specific fight at the moment, I just want a better understanding of this enemy so I can use it in the future).