Is It Ever Acceptable To Have A Section Of A Map Be Flat?

[Snaxalotl]

While making my most recent map I went with the choice of having it be fairly flat. The reason for this was because its non-linear design made fights able to occur on any part of the level, especially towards the end where there is a large release of demons that can move anywhere on the map.

 

These rooms are separated by forcefields that can be turned on and off instead of normal doors (Monsters can open them too), so do you think this is okay for a short level? I found that height variation while playtesting really hurt its flow.

 

Spoiler

Here is the area that's flat (The T shape of hallways that connect to the rest)

 

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, this forum seemed like the best choice.

[Grain of Salt]

Yep

[P41R47]

Emm, i had seen a lot of modern mapsets, including Cacoward winners that have some corridors with plain flat an no height variation.

Add maybe some decoration to the wall, a little sector with detailing if it add to the atmosphere, but there is no reason to every room have tons of height variations.

Player need space to manouver and face the odds, so a lot of height variations make for a (bad) difficult as it hinders the movement.

 

Check Ancient Aliens firs map central area, aside from little details, its rather plain.

Edited December 20, 2020 by P41R47

[Snaxalotl]

4 minutes ago, P41R47 said:

Emm, i had seen a lot of modern mapsets, including Cacoward winners that have some corridors with plain flat an no height variation.

Add maybe some decoration to the wall, a little sector with detailing if it add to the atmosphere, but there is no reason to every room have tons of height variations.

Player need space to manouver and face the odds, so a lot of height variations make for a (bad) difficult as it hinders the movement.

 

Check Ancient Aliens firs map central area, aside from little details, its rather plain.

 

I just realized the top down view looks very plain, here is what it looks like from inside (The walls lower to reveal monster closets as the play progresses). And thank you, I'll check it out and probably detail these walls more.

 

Spoiler

 

[P41R47]

maybe its make you feel ''plain''  because that texture gave that effect.

Also monotexturing a room its not great idea, if you use one texture for the ceiling/walls don't use it for the floor... unless you want to achieve an specific effect.

[SilverMiner]

Everything is acceptable (if it looks and plays good of course)

Don't think of mapping rules and try to just make maps that just play and look good

[thelazyqdude]

This? This is completely fine. One map pack I saw, "Only Static from Jupiter", had an entire map flat with the exact same looking areas for 90% of it. A literal Wolfenstein 3d one. One of the most basic guidelines of doom was broken on that map; "If you can make this in Wolfenstein 3D, you've failed." 

[Gez]

Flatness is unacceptable, every sector must be sloped.

[Salmon]

When I played your map, I got the impression that the flatness of it was an intentional choice.  It helped the monsters move around and create interesting dynamics.  The cyberdemon fight in particular would be harmed by more height variation, I think.  If you feel it "looks" too flat, keep in mind you can just raise the ceiling height, add more alcoves for enemies on the side, or put them on small pedestals in central areas, that sorta thing.

 

I mean, you played my last map, and it was pretty flat too.  I was focusing on figuring out how to allow smooth movement--I just tried to "disguise" the flatness by having lots of height variation in places on the edges and other places that didn't mess with movement.

[Snaxalotl]

2 minutes ago, Salmon said:

When I played your map, I got the impression that the flatness of it was an intentional choice.  It helped the monsters move around and create interesting dynamics.  The cyberdemon fight in particular would be harmed by more height variation, I think.  If you feel it "looks" too flat, keep in mind you can just raise the ceiling height, add more alcoves for enemies on the side, or put them on small pedestals in central areas, that sorta thing.

 

I mean, you played my last map, and it was pretty flat too.  I was focusing on figuring out how to allow smooth movement--I just tried to "disguise" the flatness by having lots of height variation in places on the edges and other places that didn't mess with movement.

 

It was intentional, that cyberdemon fight and wandering monsters would have been a mess without it. And honestly I didn't even realize the flatness of your map until you just mentioned it, the free movement was essential and felt great(especially with -fast). 

 

Which now that I say that I'm answering my own question as well, 

[AtticTelephone]

Ever heard of SQUARES? That's a 90's wad that still holds up gameplay-wise, and most people love it. It's a mostly flat slaughtermap that was sort of a prequel to Deus Vult, which was a prequel to Deus Vult II. Cool, right?

So anyways, flatness is ok, maybe even a large area could be entirely flat and you could still have fun.

[seed]

2 hours ago, Gez said:

Flatness is unacceptable, every sector must be sloped.

 

Then rounded.

[Sergeant_Mark_IV]

55 minutes ago, seed said:

 

Then rounded.

Rounded, sloped, 3D, sectors. The entire map!

[Dark Pulse]

Can I just pop in and say that from the images I saw, I don't give a crap how flat the map is and would like to play it anyway?

Edited December 20, 2020 by Dark Pulse

[Snaxalotl]

4 minutes ago, Dark Pulse said:

Can I just pop in and say that from the images I saw, I don't give a crap how flat the map is and would like to play it anyway?

 

Its available here: 

 

 

I'm currently touching up some of the rooms slightly but its 100% playable and functionally complete.

 

 

[Doomkid]

Flat Floors > Bumpy Floor Syndrome

[Nine Inch Heels]

Any minute spent thinking about what's acceptable is a minute not spent thinking about what's fun...

[Murdoch]

It depends on two things - size and theme. Too much flatness over too big of an area is visually boring, regardless of your intended theme. But you could get away with more flatness inside of a building of some description than a natural outdoor area. Flatness in the former makes sense. In the latter, not so much.

[HQDefault]

In order to minimize flatness, every room must be like one of those flesh wave machines in E2M3