Maps that make you feel tiny

Recently I reminded myself of the game NaissanceE. It's a free game on Steam where you're left alone, exploring a giant, surreal world.

I've also been following the development of Lorn's Lure. An atmospheric extreme climbing game. Both games are vastly different to one another, but both share one thing in common. Both of them put you in a world that's so insanely big, it makes yourself feel like an ant.

I did hear a while back that the former was supposedly inspired by a manga called Blame. Personally never read it, but I did see a few location images and that makes me wonder if there's any similar map packs to be found for Doom 2.

I'm afraid I'm asking for the impossible but you never know what this community is capable of making in this engine.

Would love to hear from you folks if there's any map packs that strike this kind of feel... If there are any.

These kind of maps have already been made. Sunder is most prominent example. Some of Sunlust maps are the same. Then there is Abandon which is spiritual descendant of Sunder. Then there are also Stardates, Combat Shocks, Magnolia, Swim with the Whales, Fractured Worlds. But be warned these mapsets truly make you feel tiny and make you face overwhelming odds. 

If you want something much more accessible then there is Resurgence and Speed of Doom which are both mapsets which give you sense of space where you are playing. Some of Resurgence maps also have breathtaking sense of scale.(Warning still quite hard for someone who has just completed Plutonia)

If you want some even more liesurely then you might look at Dobu Gabu Maru's puzzle maps like The Given.

Perhaps not what you're looking for but there is a map in Intergalactic Xenology 2 that plays around becoming "tiny" for a special trip. It's an unique theme/concept I haven't seen in other wads, at least in boom.

Vela Pax is (currently) three super large maps that might give you that feeling. I personally felt like an ant trapped in its world, due to the sheer size and seemingly endless content. 

TNT3 Map 5 ofc

Sunder 32. Makes me feel like a mouse in a mansion.

Both naissance and blame are amazing examples of impossibly massive architecture. There's also a games called echo, and kairo that have a similar vibe of infinite vastness. And bunch others, I bet. It's one of my favourite themes. I've looked for a blame-themed map but didn't have much luck some time ago.

A little self promo, if i may

But also, I want to talk a bit about Jade Earth. It's a massive green tech base. Doesn't have the impossibly big feeling blame and the aforementioned games do but it sure feels surreal how large it is. 

And Bastion of Chaos for giant, hyper-detailed cathedrals. Lots and lots of intricately detailed spaces on an incredible scale. My poor potato can render it at like 20 frames but each of those frames is jaw-dropping. 

Michael Krause's maps from the 90s do a great job of making the player feel dwarfed by huge geometry. Sunder has some great moments like that too, I remember the one where you drop down a shaft into a gigantic chamber (The Foundry or something?) is especially imposing, and The Hag's Finger with the colossal tower visible at the start. There's also a great map in Curse of D'sparil for Heretic which is a massive cathedral, it was the first time for me seeing someone do that kind of supersized architecture in Heretic and it was really impressive. 

55 minutes ago, Sneezy McGlassFace said:

Both naissance and blame are amazing examples of impossibly massive architecture. There's also a games called echo, and kairo that have a similar vibe of infinite vastness. And bunch others, I bet. It's one of my favourite themes. I've looked for a blame-themed map but didn't have much luck some time ago.

A little self promo, if i may

  Hide contents

 

When rastamangames gave me 3 concrete textures to make a map with, i knew it'll have to have blame influence. But it's still very early. 

 

 

 

But also, I want to talk a bit about Jade Earth. It's a massive green tech base. Doesn't have the impossibly big feeling blame and the aforementioned games do but it sure feels surreal how large it is. 

 

And Bastion of Chaos for giant, hyper-detailed cathedrals. Lots and lots of intricately detailed spaces on an incredible scale. My poor potato can render it at like 20 frames but each of those frames is jaw-dropping. 

Gorgeous <3

Looking forward to those maps of yours.

NEVER is very inspired by Blame! as well. it's not all towering structures all the time, but it's decidedly unfriendly and unfit for humans.

4 minutes ago, msx2plus said:

NEVER is very inspired by Blame! as well. it's not all towering structures all the time, but it's decidedly unfriendly and unfit for humans. 

 

Damn, I completely forgot about NEVER! Thanks for the shout-out

Probably also not what you're thinking of, but there's a Jumpmaze map that literally makes you tiny, based on a game where you can literally become tiny.

Not sure if these examples fit, but they are pretty big for sure.

They are more like super elaborate dungeon crawl than huge grandiose adventrues like Sunder or Abandon, but the long traverse time (as in time spent running around instead of killing monsters) and the overall interconnectivity provides a unique feeling that is unfound in set-piece oriented maps where most sections are simply arenas connecting arenas.

Pictured:

01: Magnolia map03

02: Mutabor map01

03: Counter Attack map04

04: Dance on the Water map03 (sorry I can't find a good editor shot for this :((( )

Layout Porn warning (editor shots above are only showing like 30% of the maps anyway)

Are there any maps that beat out on sheer size of the map alone? This thread seems to be talking about the idea or the sense of somthing being large.

Supply Station and Planisphere 2, along with the Last Sanctuary are maps that make one feel very small indeed.

Here's a link to a similar thread.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/123904-what-are-the-largest-maps/

As somewhat of a different answer, MAP31 (Grey Dwarf) of Ancient Aliens... in the sense that you're technically "alien" there, that you're on what appears to be a 100% non-human ship. Also, the scale in some rooms is admirable (that one ambush on the ship's bridge particularly), as well as the MIDI being... different, accentuating the eerie feeling of the map. Not to mention there's an exploration factor involved and a lot of optional areas.

This is well noted about Grey Dwarf, and the cosmic skybox completes the atmosphere. The arena with the blue door and from which the space can be seen even reminds me of Quake 2's final levels (the secret one and the one with the Macron fight). As for Comm Satellite, I think Grey Dwarf has some extra similarities with it: both levels being secret, narrow corridors and larger areas with big fights, the space theme and aliens involved in the game story. At the same time, these are also the factors that make the player feel small, IMO, as just like NaZa mentioned, the map has a spirit of exploring. Another key factor I think is that the action technically takes its place in space [rhyme award], reminding the player that the universe is tremendous and the player is not :D

Anyway, a brilliant example of a map that makes the player feel tiny is a level which came out just 2 days ago, i.e. on the 2023.06.05, is DisInsector by Иван Нефедов. It really makes me think of World of Padman's maps or of those enormous-size realistic Quake 3 levels — you're a tiny character in a gigantesque world with all the rooms and corresponding real-life objects (doors, tables, cabinets, sinks, crates, walls etc.) being maxi. Have you ever seen any huge Doomcute? :) This, along with custom monsters and on-screen messages for the game story, from my point of view is what makes this WAD worth mentioning and gives it some feeling of an ARG. Personally, I've never seen this type of map make it into the Classic Doom library before.

On 6/7/2023 at 9:53 AM, Geniraul said:

 

 

Oh cool, its been a while since Ive seen a ratmap!

Just played this wad called "Shrooms" because I was fascinated by its author's maps in Nova 3, and the second to last map has the most impressively gargantuan black tower I've seen in the doom engine. The sheer implacability of its appearance, almost as if it were some sort of world pillar, serving as a stark reminder of forces that exist on a scale that makes your current struggles and conflicts seem microscopically petty by comparison. Judging by another map from that same mapper (Albertoni) that I checked out in RAMP 2021, that seems to be entirely the intent.

I remember when I played Scythe 2 before it got updated, Map 28 was just me imprisoned inside one simple metal box for eternity

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2680518

Holyhell map05, Deus vult map05…