Need some tips for making maps with Doom

[Emotrooper02]

I have been building maps for about 9 months almost when ever I have time every day I am trying to improve myself in Doom editing. I have been watching Youtube channels that review Doom wads to see what makes these wads really good but I feel I am not improving how I would like I mean I am not gonna have the skill that some guy who has been doing this for years would have but anyways things I want tips and improvement on.

 

-Larger maps with more detail

-Maps are linear rather than the maze like appearance than what old Doom had

I have been looking at my favourite Doom maps for some inspiration such as

 

E2M1

E3M1

E3M3

E1M7

E1M9

MAP09

MAP10

MAP16

 

If anyone wants to help out you can leave a comment or text me on Discord-Ian#4378

[Kappes Buur]

Check out https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/ for inspiration galore.

[Vermil]

Looks like you prefer less linear maps in general (aside from ExM1).

[Emotrooper02]

My most recent map I am currently studying what I should work on I enjoy the IWAD design I feel my design is lacking but I'm gonna keep nitpicking myself until I make a good looking map

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/7nucb3buw4s1hzk/Stone+Of+Lucifer.zip

[Kappes Buur]

Making doors flush with walls is so 1990's style. :-)

Even small alterations to your maps can have a drastic effect on the visual appeal.

Here is my take on your E3M1 entrance to the map

 

 

 

 

E3M1.7z

[Emotrooper02]

It looks very nice I will study off this aswell for my newest maps

[Emotrooper02]

This is a rework of one of my in progress maps seeing how Kappes Buur redesigned the first room of my first 9 level wad I am gonna apply what I learned here to my newer maps like this one still far from great but I will get there if you wanna see the map it loads up in Doom 2

rework.zip

[boris]

4 hours ago, Kappes Buur said:

Making doors flush with walls is so 1990's style. :-)

Doors are so 1990's style ;)

 

@Emotrooper02 Maybe this post will help you a bit:

It's probably not exactly what you want, since t he looping design is quite some divergence from how the original maps play out most of the time, but maybe you can take something away from it anyways.

[Emotrooper02]

After what I learned from studying Kappes Buur map design on how he reworked my E3M1 I came up with a new set of designs and tests and something I tried that honestly should be a no brainer make secrets out of reach to try and get the player to explore the map but I tried to implement more lighting rather that the flat brightness level I will be putting a link of the current map when I actually put monsters in it and @boris I will check that article out.

[joepallai]

This is an excellent discussion on Level Progress diagrams and has given me great food for thought as to why I like certain maps in the originals over others.   Maybe it could help.    

 

You're on the right track with making secrets observable, leaving the player to want to find them.   

 

I would concentrate on making good smaller sized maps before worrying about doing a larger map; something that plays well for 5 to 10 minutes is so much better than something that takes 20 minutes to play and is a chore.   When you get comfortable or bored making smaller maps then tackle a larger map.  

 

Play some classics like Espi's "Back to Basics" for inspiration and really examine what's being done in the editor.   For nonlinearity try CastEvil and Hellrun (less non-linear and more branching but still excellent).

[Emotrooper02]

Here is the little update I said I would upload

test.zip