Endurance speedmapping

[Jimmy]

Mapping for Doom really doesn't take long. If you know the ropes, or have done speedmapping, you'll know that given strict time constraints, you can afford to drop your inhibitions and just draw shit, and you will still have a coherent product at the end of it. My question is: Is mapping a megawad in one sitting doable?

 

"One sitting" here does allow for tea/coffee breaks, restroom breaks, and regular stretching/movement to prevent RSI and other such ailments.

 

Thinking on it at the surface level, it might not be so bad. Spend an hour apiece on each map and you're only awake for 32 hours. Allow yourself wiggle-room of a half-hour to an hour to find bugs and balance issues, and you might stretch that out to 48 hours (2 days) or 64 hours (2.66 days). Which might push the human endurance level to the limit, but I believe it's doable. I've seen the livestreamers who can stay up for great lengths of time speedrunning their favorite games - AdamAK springs to mind.

 

Some other thoughts:

- Mapping in chronological order may not be desirable as quality will surely taper off towards the end of the set as sleep deprivation sets in.

- The mapper may also require an in-depth plan of level names, settings and layout plans, and an environment in which they are comfortable and well-sustained. Plenty of food, access to water and caffeine where required, and a workstation that provides comfort.

- Livestreaming the process may assist if a sufficient audience is present to bounce ideas off of and provide morale and encouragement.

 

Such an undertaking is obviously not for the faint of heart, pushes the concept of "speedmapping" to almost fetishistic levels, and should not be attempted by anyone with physical/mental health issues, or regular sleep problems. I am not suggesting that someone definitely should try this. Let's just discuss.

[AD_79]

It would be super tough to maintain the energy needed to crank out speedmap after speedmap like that. Maybe a megawad would be too much? It's possible, I think, but an incredibly difficult and draining task (and yeah, I'd also recommend against attempting it). Then again, that's coming from my perspective, and I have a tough time staying up for even less than that, let alone actually being productive in that time, haha. I could totally see a half-megawad being doable, and hmm, the idea is both kinda appealing and appalling. Part of it depends on how much time one is willing to spend on each map, as you mentioned. Sixteen maps, two hours each? That's not bad. I can't imagine myself being too capable of doing so, but there's bound to be others who could pull it off.

Edited April 30, 2018 by AD_79

[yakfak]

the concept makes me scream

90% of my mapping activity is sitting and just looking at what i've made and thinking "why did I do that"

without the time to constantly process and reprocess the map as its concept expands in my head i'd just be drawing shapes

fair play to anyone who can focus for thirty two hours in a thirty two hour period lol i've never managed more than half an hour before my brain turns fundamentally off

Edited April 30, 2018 by yakfak

[Jaws In Space]

I remember this endurance speedmapping session that appeared right around the time I decided to join Doomworld. The results were not that great.

 

[Dragonfly]

Honestly this idea really excites me. Perhaps a team of three speedmappers could do an episode's worth of maps each? I'd be open to committing 20 hours (2 hours per map, 10 maps). Sure, it lessens the impressiveness compared to one single mapper doing it, but the idea that "3 people made 30 maps in 20 hours" is still incredibly strong.

 

I know that you (@Jimmy) are essentially a 'king of speedmapping' - and based on each Abyssal Speedmapping Session I participate in I'm getting quicker and quicker. Would you be up for teaming up with me, then looking for a third person to jump on the bandwagon? If so we could arrange a Saturday to all map together - I imagine the time-window would be a bit distorted due to timezones, but as long as each mapper was allocated 20 hours in a solid block to get their maps done I think that would 'count'. Perhaps each person gets a couple of maps in each episode so it's not 10 maps each person? That way every third map is distributed out:

 

map01 - Jimmy   //   map02 - Dragonfly   //   map03 - Some dude   //   map04 - Jimmy   //   map05 - Dragonfly   //   etc

 

I look forward to what other ideas people have regarding this concept!

[NinjaLiquidator]

12,5 hours of mapping is my top but this sounds like interesting challenge :) maybe I could do a megawad in 24h stream, if people will be interested

[Nine Inch Heels]

9 hours ago, Jimmy said:

should not be attempted by anyone with physical/mental health issues, or regular sleep problems.

To be fair, you'd have to be a little "nuts" to pull this off to begin with. ;-)

 

Personally I would think that, let's say mapping for 24 hours straight, and giving each map somewhere between 1 and 2 hours of time might be "doable". I would be surprised if nobody who ever made a map didn't put in the majority of time on a weekend to begin with. If you push a bit more you could end up with a megawad of small speed-maps for sure, but I have to wonder how things like playtesting and such would be treated (bearing in mind that with exhaustion the mapper's performance on that end will also suffer greatly). Is the idea to map like a lunatic for XY hours with no testing at all?

[baja blast rd.]

27 minutes ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

To be fair, you'd have to be a little "nuts" to pull this off to begin with. ;-)

 

Personally I would think that, let's say mapping for 24 hours straight, and giving each map somewhere between 1 and 2 hours of time might be "doable". I would be surprised if nobody who ever made a map didn't put in the majority of time on a weekend to begin with. If you push a bit more you could end up with a megawad of small speed-maps for sure, but I have to wonder how things like playtesting and such would be treated (bearing in mind that with exhaustion the mapper's performance on that end will also suffer greatly). Is the idea to map like a lunatic for XY hours with no testing at all?

In my experience from speedmapping on timescales of an hour a map or less, it makes the most sense to do as little testing as possible. The difference between 5 minutes of testing and 20-30 minutes is minuscule without critical distance. Not a problem if you are making just one 1-hour speedmap in a day, where you can even add yet more testing time until you get it right, but trying to cram in meaningful testing would add up to lots of wasted time and energy over the course of an 'endurance speedmapping' session. It's probably even better to spend that time taking a break and recharging. 

Edited April 30, 2018 by rdwpa

[Pegleg]

6 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Some other thoughts:

- Mapping in chronological order may not be desirable as quality will surely taper off towards the end of the set as sleep deprivation sets in.

It's an interesting idea, certainly.

 

The fundamental problem I have with it is that you're tacitly accepting poor quality in some chunk of maps in your megawad. You've essentially admitted that there would be a high likelihood that focus and quality would diminish at some point, which is the reason why you wouldn't want to end with either the opening maps or the ending maps. So, you end up with either a chunk of poor maps in the middle or maps that you know are lower quality scattered throughout the megawad. True, a megawad will always contain a spectrum of maps covering a range of qualities, but in this case, you know there will be a downward trend of quality in the maps and the response is basically, "sleep deprivation, meh."

 

Maybe your plan would be to go back and revise the maps (after testing them) at some later date, at which time you could fix the low quality maps that were made toward the end of the session.

[Tango]

I've experimented lately with attempting 30 minute speedmaps (which usually end up actually ranging from 40 mins to 1 hour) and really enjoy doing it. it's enough time to get a solid encounter or two planned out and implemented in a small map with some light detail. I wouldn't go for a full, sleepless marathon attempt at a megawad, but I think planning for a series of 30 minute maps in an 8 hour sitting would be probably pretty doable. any variation of the megawad sessions being proposed here would be awesome, but I think what I might enjoy most would be a period of 8-12 hours on some saturday or sunday where everyone's goal is to crank out ~15 maps, so everyone ends up with their own little half-megawad at the end of the session.

 

[Dragonfly]

@Tango I've been talking to Jimmy about this idea. I've got a weekend where I am definitely available to commit some time and was wondering if you'd want in on this. At the time of writing, Jimmy is also free. We were thinking of ideally 4 people but if it came to it I'm sure we'd be happy for even more. (The more the merrier, after all!)

 

The date I'm free to do this, 100%, is Saturday, 23rd June 2018. I can commit up to 24 hours if needed and have full intent of streaming the event and essentially being a living breathing advert for energy drinks, heh. Would you want to join in? I had the idea that we'd all go into a call on discord and share screens so that I could show what each mapper is doing on one single stream and talk about what we're doing etc. I feel it'd be pretty awesome if all goes to plan!

 

To everyone else reading this, if you're also interested, speak up! :)

[Tango]

that sound really rad. I would definitely not be able to go for 24 hours though haha. I think I'd probably cap myself at around 8 or 10. so I wouldn't want to rain on any parade if y'all would be intending for much longer. I can't be absolutely certain I'll be free that weekend though either :( probably wouldn't be able to guarantee anything till a few weeks before then I think

[Memfis]

To make it a little easier you can maybe have a monsterless hub map that the player revisits from time to time, like in Equinox or Back to Saturn X. Just thinking of some ways to cut corners.

[AD_79]

Hey Dragonfly, I have some interest in joining in as well, though I also doubt I could do so for a full day. I have no idea what my availability would be like, but I'll see if I can make sure my schedule is clear for that day.

[Walter confetti]

I was thinking about this question and i've made a pair of counts, so...

 

Yeah, it's pretty doable, even in a hour! How?

 

Making my calculations using the minutes in a hour divided by the number of levels for claiming a megawad status, and it could be done with a map every 4 minutes created. A full replacement of 5 minutes maps can be done in 3 hours, too! And maps made in 5 minutes actually exist! Sure, they're not perfect but is something that can be done!

 

But for a decent looking speedmapping made in, say, 20 / 30 minutes, it would take more time, 5 to 7 hours for 15 maps...

 

Here's a table with time and levels progression divided in episode form (8 maps), lawful megawad (15 levels) and full replacement of 32 maps: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fctUDq1xfaQut3_KRCxiRar2nIO2Y4knOyFTEiu2CFk/edit?usp=drivesdk

Edited May 3, 2018 by Walter confetti
Added a time / level table

[baja blast rd.]

I made a 10-minute speedmap. Untested but it's surely quite fun (/s). 

 

rd_10msm_01.zip

 

editing in an FDA: rd10m_rd_fda.zip

Edited May 3, 2018 by rdwpa