How do you build motivation to make maps?

[FrogMaster]

I've been wanting to make my own maps for such a long time. I periodically go on Doom Builder X and experiment with different features, but I have never had the inspiration to really delve into something worthwhile.

 

• What do you do to plan or brainstorm ideas?
• Do you draw it out on paper, or make it as you go?
• How much time do you spend working on your maps?
• What are some tips and tricks to streamline the process?
• What are some efficient mapping techniques/tools?
  • Landmarks
  • Level Design
  • Enemy Placements/Traps
  • Scaling the Layout
  • Fine Tuning Difficulty Modes (This seems like it would be very challenging).
• Any other insight into Doom mapping as a whole such as historical perspectives and current trends. 

 

I'm just genuinely curious about the thought process that goes into the minds of many of the community when they are making levels. 

Edited December 5, 2020 by FrogMaster

[Bauul]

Everyone has a pretty different approach to creating maps, and different motivations to get there.  Personally, I enjoy the process of mapping as a way to switch my brain off after a long day.  I can just settle in and slowly plop linedefs down and see where I end up.  It means I take a long time to make maps - aside from smaller projects, I tend to average about 4-6 months per map.  It may take me three hours to finalize a single 512x512 room, but honestly, that's ok with me, because it's far more about the journey than the destination.  But the end results seem to resonate with people, so I'm happy with that!

 

In terms of your specific questions:

• My brainstorming comes from mainly from other media - films, games, books, real-life architecture.  You see something and it sparks an idea, and eventually that idea becomes a map.  For example, one map for Elementalism was literally made from me wondering "I wonder if you could make the Cube from the movie in Doom?" (it ended up looking a bit like this)
• Drawing on paper helps me conceptualize maps.  Being able to just quickly draw something without worrying about the practicalities of drawing the sectors means I can let myself get into a 'flow' of imagining how a level might progress.  I have a bunch of rough sketches that ended up becoming maps.
• I've done speedmapping in a couple of hours, but I was literally sweating at the end of it.  Typically I'm much slower.
• My two biggest tips are:
  • 1) Try to think first and foremost about the monster encounters, and build a map around those.  Don't think "I'll make a room" and then wonder about where the monsters go afterwards, but always have in mind how each combat encounter will play out.  Doom is abstract enough that you can get away with pretty contrived physical setups all in the name of providing an interesting combat experience.  It's more important that a map is fun than it looks good (although ideally you'd do both)
  • 2) When creating the map, try blocking it out first.  Meaning give everything just one texture, lock that grid to 32 or 64 units, and just draw the rough shapes in.  It'll help immensely with getting a feel for overall length and flow very quickly.  It also helps avoiding getting bogged down in detailing in certain areas and leading to an imbalanced map later on.  Some people find it more motivating to finalize one room at a time, but personally I like going on a blocking spree quite quickly over the course of a few days, and then slowly detail in the map over the next few months.

For your last bullet point, the history of Doom mapping in an art-history sense is too big to write into a single post.  Thankfully though I don't need to as Not Jabba has already done the hard work with his phenomenal essay The Roots of Doom Mapping.  If you're interested in trends and how the scene has progressed over the last 25 years, I thoroughly recommend settling in and giving it a read.

[FrogMaster]

12 minutes ago, Bauul said:

If you're interested in trends and how the scene has progressed over the last 25 years, I thoroughly recommend settling in and giving it a read.

 

Thank you for the detailed response. I definitely appreciate it! When I was younger, I use to mess around with Forge Mode in the Halo games and make levels. I always enjoyed experimenting and designing layouts, but of course, you don't get the experience with monsters and other single-player features with that. Even Far Cry's map editor was always neat to play with because they did give you the ability to place AIs. Conceptually, I'm sure they all share the same type of ideas, but the functionality is drastically different. Doom is something I would like to explore much more when it comes to map making and hopefully one day, I can release something nice for everyone to experience, even if it's a single map. 

[Simomarchi]

Having that I have not released anything special probably I'm not the best person that can answer your question, but however...

 

• Regarding the brainstorming I simply try to think about a very linear concept that can result in a good map (for example "a long map divided in 32 chapters to emulate an all-in-one magawad" or "let's make the map with the highest number of enemies in it, with a decent amount of detail"). Then I pick one texture colour and I start building the map with that theme in mind. When I feel that it starts to get boring I change the theme and eventually I start to mix them. That's the only general idea that I tend to have when building a map. I prefer to breake everything else is smaller "goals".
• I almost never draw the layouts on paper. I prefer to build the map and then "discover" a good place for a shortcut, or a secret. If a wall seems to be empty maybe it is a good idea to add another level of height in the room and so on and so on.
• There are periods where I spend 3 or 4 hours mapping, and other periods where I don't touch the editor for months. This is mainly due to the fact that I always tend to start large projects (always single maps, but however very long ones) so sooner or later I reach a point where I can't see the end of the work and that's not the most encouraging thing in the world.
• Be sure to have the motivation to complete your work. Start small if necessary, but try to create a decent work.
  Think about a simple layout, or a specific encounter/trap that you would like to see in a map and then imagine a way to place it inside your map. You don't have to have the entire map planned from the beginning. I find simpler to set a smaller goal to achieve ("ok, let's try to make a room where the player has to avoid specific spots because they are covered by archviles") than to think about the entire map.

Regarding your other questions:

• Landmarks: try to create every room in such a way that it is unique. Nobody wants to go through a serie of square, empty rooms. Even if you build your room only to fit a specific encounter try to place something that can be visually interesting. Of course the decorative process will help you immensely here.
• Level design: I prefer simple, linear maps with a clear route but that overlaps on themselves as the game continues, bringing the player in the same room again and again, but with new encounters and new routes unlocked. This doesn't mean that your map doesn't have to be interconnected. Adding windows or open areas is usually a good idea.
• Enemy placement/traps: the question here is really complicated, since fights are the core of the game. There are some really nice articles on this forum that talk about this specific topic. I will put a link to one of them at the end of this answer.
• Scaling of layout: I think I've just explained how I work when it comes to the layout of my projects, hoping that I've understood this question in the proper way.

Difficulty settings:

• HNTR: I should be able to beat the map without any deaths, playing casually and without planning anything. The map doesn't have to be challenging at all and I always have to feel comfortable about my health and ammo.
• HMP: I can die while playing the map, but only if I make an abvious mistake or in some specific harder fights. I can't waste tons of ammo and I have to at least think about health management.
• UV: Of course I can die, but there should be a way to beat every encounter. Infighting is really important and health management is crucial (taking a medkit at 98 health is a big mistake).

The difficulty part is of course synthetic

 

Here is your link to the monster placement tutorial:

 

[FrogMaster]

3 hours ago, Simomarchi said:

Having that I have not released anything special probably I'm not the best person that can answer your question, but however...

 

Thank you for the information. Breaking down the difficulty settings definitely helps me see what the goal should be per difficulty. And that monster placement tutorial is very in-depth and informative. 😀

Edited December 5, 2020 by FrogMaster

[SpaceTrash]

I tend to just watch David X Newton vids and realise that it's actually achievable to finish a map - and so I get the itch and work for a bit. 

If you're not motivated to do something like make a Doom map - I think it's important to be honest with yourself as to whether it's really something you want to do.

 

In terms of how I go about it; I'm hardly someone to crib notes from as I've never finished anything. That being said, the way that's working best for me currently is to just think about a "cool encounter" that I want to build and then I add that in. I tried just making the whole map first and then adding stuff after but the result was incredibly unsatisfying. The current map I'm building is the nicest playing one I've done so far. I've got a vague idea regarding what the "point" of the map is and I'm keeping it very spartan visually currently and using it partially as an excuse to work on my "Dev Textures for Doom" texture pack.

Edited December 11, 2020 by OrbitalSpaceGarbage

[spineapple tea]

Back then I used to plan out everything on paper. Monster placement, geometry, doors, everything was the same when mapped out from my sketch on paper. After a while of doing that, I just started to jump into maps with no plan whatsoever. Usually the inspiration for mapping comes from the weather or time of year. I've talked about this in a really old thread I made, but I tend to play certain games at different times of the year. So for example, I play more Duke Nukem in summer and more Half Life in fall. Around winter is when I start to actually map for Doom. For the inspiration for what I put in my maps, that usually comes down to "stealing" some aspects from other maps.