Do you know how to create a cool map?

[Somniac]

I just wing it, basically. I wouldn't say my maps are great, but they're functional and I think I have a grasp on layout and making them look nice. I don't have the skill or patience to create huge detailed environments, I like to keep things more compact and old school with a bit of a modern flourish to the detail. 

[magicsofa]

Sometimes I have a plan, but when I don't, I don't have a plan.

Seriously though - sometimes great stuff can come seemingly out of nowhere when I feel totally blank and empty of ideas. The key is to push past the "what should I do next" thought loop and just draw something.

If it sucks, you can delete it or reform it. But you can't benefit from staring at the grid. You learn mapping by drawing sectors, not by staring at the screen.

[Shanoa]

I'm reaaaaaally good at creating cool maps...in my head.

Applying those ideas in the map editor though? Ha! I wish.

[Maximum Matt]

Sometimes you just have to work backwards.  Put a classic map into an editor (like say Innmost Dens), then rearrange the architecture, put in custom textures and sounds, and sprinkle in cyberdemons until nobody recognizes it

[Shibainumaster]

I can give some advice, you should go find and play some wads (Plutonia, Alien Vendetta, any good wad you'd find) and then get some inspiration. Maps inspired by other maps are usually the best.

[URROVA]

i dont know :(

[msx2plus]

i like to start throwing down a bunch of chaotic linedefs as quickly as i can - some straight, some with the curved drawing mode in UDB - and then try to fit interesting shapes and places within those based on what comes out. just kinda whip the mouse around and click a bunch and see what happens. divide the shape just about as randomly and see what fits in those sectors and how you could move from one to the next most naturally.

 

giving yourself a "container" like this can help when you lack ideas, but maybe more importantly, i find that not knowing where to start is because you could do anything, and that's kind of paralyzing, maybe even moreso than not knowing what to make. if you don't know what to make, a small spark can start a huge fire, but if you don't know where to start, it's like walking into an already burning forest. blocking out random shapes is kind of like putting on blinders so the preexisting fire isn't so scary or distracting.

 

additionally, if you just aren't feeling it, close your mapping tool and do something else. go for a walk. stop thinking about doom completely. something will throw you back into it eventually. nothing hurts my creative spirit more than the obligation to make something - as soon as i'm free of that, i usually want to get right back to creating though. lying to yourself about "taking a break" is a bit of a silver bullet sometimes. i know 1-2 days into my break i'm right back at it fully recharged.

Edited August 10, 2021 by msx2plus
forgot a bit

[Nikku4211]

When I lack inspiration to create a map, sometimes, I play old Doom maps from the 1990s and early 2000s, especially those for old source ports. The quirkier, the better.

 

Before the Corona hit, I also went outside and took photos for inspiration, though I never ended up feeling the same inspiration just looking at the photos as I did from actually being outside. I wonder if there's a Doom level editor for Android...

 

Of course, none of my maps are 'cool' or anything 'objectively good' like that. They're generally just meh maps that either are nothing you haven't seen before, or bring new things to the table but ultimately are so crap that it averages out to 'meh'.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Nikku4211