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Here's my very first complete original level ever. It's episode 2
level 1. It was created using DEU 5.0, and the bsp11x nodes-builder.
It has only had a few hours of play-testing.
These days I think deathmatch is the only game to play, and I
think this level is a lot of fun in a deathmatch.
Most of you will not consider this level to be very difficult
in single player or cooperative play. The level's not large, but it's
larger than the typical level-1. There aren't many monsters.
This level is not especially aesthetic, either. It's my first
level, and I was messing around more with function than appearance,
i.e. there's plenty of STARTAN3, and there aren't a lot of
decorations. But at least the mechanisms all work like I wanted them
to.
I like secrets, so there are 7 of them, most of them worth
finding. The level can be solved without finding any of them. Some
have visual clues. The best weapons are secret.
There were a few places where I had to diddle for hours with
textures and X and Y offsets and such, just to make some secrets
disappear. I'm disappointed with the failure of the 'Secret' linedef
flag to work in all the cases I'd like it to.
There aren't any instant-death threats; I don't believe in
them. There's one lock-you-in-forever threat, though. I left it in
because it's awfully easy to avoid, and I've seen it have quite an
entertaining effect during a deathmatch. And id did it to me once, so
I can do it to you. :-)
I tried to follow a few rules for making a good deathmatch level.
There is always more than one exit from a room, usually obvious,
but sometimes secret. There are some doors that are superfluous for
single player as a result, but I noticed that id's levels have a few
of these extra openings as well.
Even though I think putting in a lot of expendables is a waste in
a deathmatch level, I was a bit generous with armor and medikits.
When you've just fragged your buddy in a shootout and you're down to
8%, but now he's resurrected and up to 100%, I think there should be a
place to go to get a boost, for a while, anyway. Of course, he may
anticipate this and meet you there. Heh heh.
If you move around at all, and he's close enough, you'll generally
make enough noise to clue your opponent to your location.
There's one good sniper spot, and several good ambush spots.
Since I don't have a good feel for the various skill levels, I
didn't put much effort into that.
Two players must cooperate to exit in multi-player mode. I did
this as an experiment, based on a suggestion I read in
alt.games.doom. The exit can also be reached in single player mode.
I'm interested to hear other methods of doing this than the one I
used.
Well, anyway, hope you get some enjoyment form this. Have
fun!
Richard Krehbiel
richk@netcom.com
