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Doomkid

DM Revival - MANAGEMENT HELP NEEDED

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The improvement is great durian, it's much more fresh with those new touches. I'm interested to see what your BFG trick will be.

I'm also glad to see people helping eachother! Thanks schwerpunk. Omega's map will be nice with all those little details and such.

joe-ilya said:

I have a good idea for a map , can I join in?


Sure, just try and get it in soon :) The deadline is May 1st.

Great stuff as always!

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I started a server on odamex if anyone wants to try out some of the levels with other people
ip is 93.167.8.70:10666
it'll be up for a while so no rush

played for a bit heres some feedback
map01 - whats with the impassable line at the exit?
map03 - ammo boxes dont respawn with standard server settings causing a lot of pistol action after the boxes have been picked up, could put another weapon somewhere or try to put even more rocket boxes
map07 - HOM, you gotta put textures on the walls
map10 - more HOM action, needs textures
map13 - I didn't like this at all and I'm not sure how this layout could work
map14 - maybe put more ssgs? one of the spawns has the player stuck in a small space with only the pistol
map16 - one of the spawns is on a hurt floor, bfg teleport only seems to work in one direction, there are two areas in the middle which are hurt floors with no way out
map17 - enormous level and very linear, you gotta make the map a lot smaller and connect different rooms to each other, I don't think the invulnerability sphere right in the middle of the level is a good idea if you put that stuff you gotta make it very hard to get, impassable line at plasma is weird
map18 - the layout isn't very good I don't like these small fenced halls, I didn't like the huge area with the ssg and the lift
map19 - could even out the ssg hallway a bit the big height difference in the floor is distracting at the moment, could remove the 2 torches next to the RL its annoying running into them and getting blocked

edit: took down the server for now

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Great feedback nub_hat, I've just forwarded it on to the Zandronum forums as well.

At the moment I'm reworking a few of the "UAC" textures to instead say "DMR". Just another little touch!

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I just took a quick look, joe - some thoughts: I guess this is a 'first draft' but for a DM map it seems far too cramped and boxy, with narrow corridors and 90 degree (or tighter) angles. So, not the best for tearing around at high speed, which is something people tend to like in a DM map. I can't imagine it being a lot of fun to play as it is.

I appreciate the thought behind the crate-stepping to the plasma - 'make it difficult to for the player to get good weapons' - but this sort of thing is both difficult and irritating. You want the former without the latter.

The detailing and texturing is a little odd. DOOM isn't at all suited to representing certain kinds 'real life' scenes and elements (esp. on a small scale) - you're better off trying to use sectors and textures in a more abstract way, to make things that are attractive and visually interesting, but that don't necessarily look like anything in particular.

The advanced features - slopes and transparency - don't really contribute much.

Item placement is all over the place - why have an automap, or light goggles (esp. given how bright you have everything)?

Suggestion: In DB, select all, and extend it by an equal amount horizontally and vertically - by like 50-100% - to increase the size, then work on the layout. Test it by seeing how easy it is to do circuits without bumping into anything.

Oh, and a walk-activated exit line is not such a good idea for a DM map.

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I'm doing some improvements to my HellDM match (map19 I believe), mainly doing the suggested improvements, but somehow you all missed a HOM I spotted on one of the lifts, I fixed that, I will provide the DL when I am done with the little things.

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Thanks for the submission joe-ilya, this is a decent map but I have similar critiques to durian. The map is nice and small which I really like, but a little expansion could be nice.

As an idea for the plasma rifle, perhaps make the player run through crushers, or have to press the switch from a remote location and have to do a difficult dash to grab it. The small crates look strange, anyway - it's a good excuse to make a fun change you'll like in your map.

mrthejoshmon said:

I'm doing some improvements to my HellDM match (map19 I believe), mainly doing the suggested improvements, but somehow you all missed a HOM I spotted on one of the lifts, I fixed that, I will provide the DL when I am done with the little things.


Cool stuff! I have missed HOMs in wads I've released before.. Unless they're huge I seem to always miss them, I'm glad you found it!

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sorry for question, but there's some room for this project?
If yes, i have in mind to do something really oldschool...

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mrthejoshmon said:

here we go...

Just took a quick look.

This is just a personal preference, but I *hate* damaging sectors in DM maps, unless they're being used carefully to enhance the difficulty of performing a particular action (e.g., exiting, grabbing BFG) - just having them surrounding some of main (narrow) pathways and combat zones would drive me bananas, especially in this case, since in some areas the only way back up is to lower a lift, effectively forcing you to pause while you wait for it to lower and raise - not good for a DM scenario, since it doesn't make for fast fluid gameplay.

In general, a fun DM map shouldn't present the player with its own additional challenges - it should guide the action with a light touch, allowing for a variety of different combat scenarios, primarily determined by weapon placement and by promoting different kinds of movement patterns. The map should challenge the player only if the player wants to gain the upper hand by grabbing very powerful items. It shouldn't also be something that the player is working against, as you effectively are if you're forced to spend a lot of time moderating your movement to avoid falling/damaging sectors (again, this is just a personal preference - your tastes may well vary).

A few smaller quibbles:
- You have a turning and corridor that leads only towards the exit, so a section of the map that isn't really marked off from the rest of it, but that - most of the time - the players have no other reason to go to.
- I'm not averse to doors in DM, but for a small map you have, what, three(?) here. Doors slow things down by enforcing pauses, which again detracts from fast fluid gameplay.
- Some irksome item/sector placement, e.g. the the impaled zombiman at the intersection of the bridges, and the four pillars surrounding the water pool - since these are in confined spaces, they really get in the way. Speaking for myself, in DM I get from A to B by strafe-running, and spend a lot of time effectively zig-zagging, and so if a map has a lot of stuff to bump into it's not so fun.

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walter confalonieri said:

sorry for question, but there's some room for this project?
If yes, i have in mind to do something really oldschool...

I hate turning people with good ideas down - You're in, and the final member of the team. If I don't start turning people away this thing is going to have like 40+ maps :P It's already almost worth being 2 wads, but oh well.

Captain Toenail said:

Q3 inspired map? I really like this one, the mesh of Deimos Lab and Entryway themes is nice too. Looks really smooth, thanks for the cool map Toenail!

And mrthejoshmon, Your map is sweet and once again durian has provided better feedback than I could :)

Keep it up people, this is moving along much smoother than I had originally thought.

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No problem, in fact here's another map I made this morning. It started off as another speed map, but I decided to put a lot more effort into it. It shares similar themes to The Crusher from DoomII.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb202/CaptainToenailSkulltag/Screenshot_Doom_20130409_163342.png
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb202/CaptainToenailSkulltag/Screenshot_Doom_20130409_163329.png
http://www.mediafire.com/?f4rnfukehd1ec6n

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Nice! Looks like a fun layout :) I especially like the way you've used varying floor heights.

The player maybe has a bit too much time to get to the BFG before the door closes - I dawdled and bumped into a few things on the way, but still made it with time to spare. Maybe move the switch further away?

The texturing is nice, with a solid theme, but perhaps there's room for a bit more variation - just so distinct areas of the map are easier to quickly discriminate from one another - makes it easier for the player to instantly recognise where they are, and to keep track of their position as they move through the map (esp. since the architecture is also quite similar throughout).

It all feels very rectilinear, but I have a fetish for curves and ellipses, so perhaps my judgement isn't to be trusted here.

I wonder how it would play if the main combat zones and pathways were just a notch bigger. But again, I like things to be pretty spacious, so take with a pinch of salt.

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Walter, the SE corridor would be better without the door; connecting the two rooms together with a T intersection. Everything else looks pretty good. I like the large outdoor area to the west, though some height variation there could be nice; maybe sightline blocks either with pillars, crates, or using height variation for the same effect.

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To echo joe's point on height variation, it might be nice to vary the floor levels - by maybe 128-256 - of the small cluster of interconnected rooms. If it were me, I'd experiment with having the room in the upper right hand corner the highest, with the room to left and underneath one level below, and then one level below that - at ground level - the room in the bottom left corner. This will a) better partition the action between the distinct rooms (as it is, all the action appears to happen on one level, and could in principle cut across the rooms, reducing the impression of there being multiple combat areas) b) break up the line of sight from one room to another, so more opportunities for more exciting unexpected encounters, c) allow players to enter the outside part from different heights - I'd imagine it would be quite fun flying out of the side of the building to the outdoor area. In general, it's nice in DM to have some sense of vertical motion as you tear around the map.

Just a suggestion though :)

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Upgraded my map, took out most obstructions, lifts are now stairs, only exit has a door, corridor opened up with new entrance for flanking/retreat, damage sector removed, added hidden BFG (good luck finding it) and tested with bots, I think 4-8 players is good for this map.
DL: http://www.mediafire.com/?gw2ptgo26qxx52l

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Joshman, your map is cool, very Hellish, but I feel it is still a bit hard to navigate. My first suggestion would be to remove all the damaging floors, and just replace them with a rock or soil floor.

You could move the exit room elsewhere, then place a staircase leading down to the bottom area (green area).
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb202/CaptainToenailSkulltag/Screenshot_Doom_20130409_202738.png
Also, you could merge the purple area into one big flat raised plane, with ramps back up to where the ssg currently is. Would give the map a donut shape that makes all areas easier to access.

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mrthejoshmon said:

Upgraded my map...

Big improvement :)

The BFG was very easy to find - the remaining damaging sector was a massive hint. But it's pretty easy to get as it is - that jump isn't tricky to make.

I like CT's suggestion re. merging.

---

Done tarting up SSG room. Just the outside area, and then the various light fields to do now.

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More great stuff happening I see!

People will definitely be 'wowed' by your map, durian. A huge step up from your typical entrymake type map.

Nice improvements joshmon, the map is much better now. I like!

Walter, that nirvana MIDI is hilariously bad, certainly authentic oldschool. ** One suggestion is to remove the 4 silver pillars from the garage with the jeep, other than that, I really like it. A funny blast of oldschool.

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Currently messing around with server stuff, managed to get a brit10 brutal doom deathmatch up via Best Ever. Should be no problem to get a test server up for any demo/beta/whatever levels, but I'll be leaving the brit10 one up for now, too.

Really easy and straightforward!

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Captain Toenail said:

Map updated. Each area should be more distinct now.
http://www.mediafire.com/?t7ui7aj6gysx699


I really liked this one--it looks distinctive; blending metal and hellish textures well. There's plenty of room for movement, and the powerups seem really well used. Not a fan of the music however...(then again I usually don't play Doom with music)

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Alrighty everyone, there's been so much work in the past week that I think on the 15th another beta compilation will be made, and May 1st we will do a 3rd beta.

Even if you've already posted a link, throw another one my way so I can include it in the upcoming compilation.

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