What are some common mistakes that just completely spoil a map?

[Grazza]

If we're talking berserk, then an obvious complaint is when a map forces you or strongly encourages you to pick up the chainsaw before the berserk, as you'll then be having to double press 1 to change from gun and melee for the rest of the map. I'd forgive the map in that case only in the event of it allowing a meaningful use of this trick.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Grazza

[Samuel Slayer]

Inescapable death pits with a damaging floor, soft-locks, hidden level exits... Generally unplayable levels. Switch hunting is a double edged sword. It makes level design more stimulating and interesting, but at the risk of getting stuck, so... Depends on the designer. Sandy is king. Other than that, I don't have gripes that ruin a level for me. 

[Retro Dino]

37 minutes ago, Samuel Slayer said:

Inescapable death pits with a damaging floor, soft-locks, hidden level exits... Generally unplayable levels. Switch hunting is a double edged sword. It makes level design more stimulating and interesting, but at the risk of getting stuck, so... Depends on the designer. Sandy is king. Other than that, I don't have gripes that ruin a level for me. 

Was this directed towards me lmao (Joking).

[Samuel Slayer]

6 minutes ago, Retro Dino said:

Was this directed towards me lmao (Joking).

 Maybe, but it's been my common gripe from way before. E1M3 does this and it's something I've disliked for a long time now. I put teleporters or lifts into nukage & lava for this very reason.  

Edited February 3, 2021 by Samuel Slayer

[Biodegradable]

Stupidly-thin, narrow corridors and cramped rooms in general. They take all the fun out of the combat and trivialise most encounters. Definitely one of the most common newbie mistakes I've come across in the 7 months I've been playtesting people's maps.

[Retro Dino]

On 1/29/2021 at 7:45 PM, Xaser said:

A quick aside: if you're a new or relatively new mapper, or otherwise "in the market" for ideas on how to improve your maps, you are best off ignoring this thread (and others like it) in its entirety. You're never gonna please absolutely everyone out there, and "pet peeves" spam threads like these tend to collect a lot of strange or extremely-niche opinions that are best tossed into the bin. You'll drive yourself absolutely mad trying to use this as a checklist of "what not to do"; don't try it! Find your voice through constructive means.

I want to expand on this. This is true! I'm a relatively new mapper, and I've encountered this quickly. I've been showing off my WAD's to different people in the community and everyone has a different opinion. For example; on my map Unholy Cathedral, one person thought I had way to much ammo laying around and another thought I didn't have enough. I went back and forth trying to delete ammo/replacing ammo to please everyone. You really can't make everyone happy. Do what you feel is right, but still try to keep the player in mind. That being said, it's YOUR wad, make it enjoyable for yourself as well. (Another example; I don't like playing difficult WAD's. I've only recently been playing 'Hurt me plenty' because I've learned some tips that have helped me get a little better. I still don't like WAD's with more then one revenant at a time. (In a single room) Again, in Unholy Cathedral, I had a room that originally had an archville and two revenants. As soon as I entered the room I would get obliterated. So I got rid of the revenants, and replaced them with barons of hell. It's enough of a challenge for me to fight and focus on the archville, kill the barons, and then focus on the smaller enemies.) I did this to increase the difficulty for others, but it was just to much for me. Testing it was a pain and I wasn't having fun mapping anymore. That's another thing! Have fun! Don't feel like you have a schedule to keep or that your life is on the line. Mapping, in my opinion, is supposed to be fun. Some people take it so seriously and take it to another level. Essentially, just do you.

Also to answer the thread: What ruins a WAD for me is huge open spaces with enemies and projectiles just flying everywhere. I can't focus and I feel forced to just ignore the whole area and dash through it to find an exit. Also WAD's with single levels that are way to long or confusing, there tends to be a lot of those. I wish people would split the maps up and make them separate levels. Sometimes it feels like I'm not progressing.

[Retro Dino]

9 minutes ago, Samuel Slayer said:

 Maybe, but it's been my common gripe from way before. E1M3 does this and it's something I've disliked for a long time now. I put teleporters or lifts into nukage & lava for this very reason.  

I still like my death pit, but I'm thinking about going back and just adding an insta kill. It originally had an exit to a secret BFG, but that's like rewarding the player for messing up. Like i said above ^ I enjoy the pit so I'm keeping it mwhaha! A lot of people hate soft locking though, I get it.

[Samuel Slayer]

6 minutes ago, Retro Dino said:

I still like my death pit, but I'm thinking about going back and just adding an insta kill. It originally had an exit to a secret BFG, but that's like rewarding the player for messing up. Like i said above ^ I enjoy the pit so I'm keeping it mwhaha! A lot of people hate soft locking though, I get it.

It's your level. You don't have to do anything I say, but I have my preferences. 

[Retro Dino]

1 minute ago, Samuel Slayer said:

It's your level. You don't have to do anything I say, but I have my preferences. 

That's my whole point, you can't make everyone happy. Also it is good to keep in mind what a general population likes. Like I mentioned, a lot of people hate soft locking (death pits). I think almost everyone can agree on something like that or they just don't have a preference on that. I'm not saying make a bs wad that only you can enjoy. I'm saying make it enjoyable for yourself, and others. That's something that is hard to master. Take your time, and don't be afraid to try new things out. Like for this comment for example. I'm directly talking to you @Samuel Slayer, but I'm keeping in mind that there's probably someone like me (Someone who is new to mapping) who is going to read this. I know that you (Samuel Slayer) know what soft locking is, but someone who is new might not. 

[Optimus]

Not many things annoy me. I don't mind fighting big monster with just the shotgun.

Few things that might annoy me but can live with:

- inescepable pits

- inconsistency in floor damage (sometimes acid/lava burns, in other places or levels doesn't. I've replayed Alien Vendetta recently (which is otherwise my favorite megawad) and at the same map, lava or acid floor would totally not hurt you, but would hurt you in other sectors, wtf? I can understand if different creators make different maps, maybe on doesn't like to put damage on certain liquid floors, but on the same level to be so incosistent?)

- When they put ammo/health bonuses right on a place you have to be forced to grab them. You are having 98 shells, but in a tight corridor where you have to pass to progress there is a shotgun shells box. Or I was playing Alien Vendetta yesterday, I got a megasphere(200-200 health/armor) and then I had to get another one just to press the only switch to progress, it was MAP25). I rather see box of shells and soul spheres and all that at the corners of bigger rooms or inside a room but placed in such a way you don't have to go over some of the stuff to pass to the other side.

- When sometimes the secret sector is a tiny sector you could miss the trigger of it even if you found the secret. Sometimes I am like "hey I found all the secrets, what's missing?" to realize I walked over a tiny box that has the rocket launcher, grabbed it, but my player didn't walked slowly exactly inside to trigger it as found.

[Deadwing]

Grindy maps for me.

if I get too much time killing enemies in the same area without any danger (or if it happens too often), I'll get bored quickly and I'll probably drop the wad.

[A Nobody]

Secrets that aren't really secrets.

[Crusader No Regret]

The few things that would spoil a map for me to the point where I'd give up on it entirely aren't that common in this day and age.  Over 20 years of shared knowledge does have that effect.  Granted, I've only played a very small portion of the many user created maps out there so grain of salt and all that.  But my short list of what readily came up:

 

- Excessive monster spam relative to the resources provided.  An example is 150 chaingunners in a featureless arena with no cover, no armor other than what you come in with, only some medikits for recovery, about 4 rockets, a loaded shotgun, and no other help.  In a similar vein, lots of monster HP to grind through relative to the weapons provided.  Gunning down 16 barons with a single shotgun is excessively tedious.  For the sake of this post, I'm assuming it is necessary to gun them down otherwise they'll infinite-height block the player later on.  Or some other setup where avoiding dealing with them isn't practical.  A large pack of monster HP where the intention is to run or fighting is optional doesn't ruin a map for me.  (Hell Ground map 4 has a pack of 20 barons or so that can be skipped by hitting some switches to open the way out.  Got to avoid being cornered by them, heh heh.

- Dull monotexturing, especially if combined with a maze.  It's mainly an issue if it's done out of laziness; monotexturing to serve a map's theme and atmosphere is a different box of ammo.

- When it's very easy to render a map uncompleteable via normal progression  Map 19 of Whitemare 2 comes to mind.  I am not talking about death traps that do have some sort of hint like some found Doom 64 for Doom 2 or Avactor.