Ancient Temple - single map WAD

[Zion]

Ancient Temple is the second map I have ever made,  I would like to know what you guys think about it so I can do better in the future.

 

General Information:

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hM9wf_4dbGbdHtGvDrbQwncTguTdOtDX/view?usp=sharing

Source port: GZDoom

Freelook/jumping/crouching: Not allowed

Video settings: Hardware rendering

IWAD: DOOM II

 

UPDATE: made the switches more visible and fixed the door opening from above issue

Edited July 24, 2021 by Zion
updates for the WAD

[Zion]

I've uploaded a playthrough for anyone interested

 

[FEDEX]

Looks really cool ! I'll play it asap

[RDETalus]

The level design and texturing are great, there are a lot of good views that draw the player into the world and make him want to explore it further, even if the playable area isn't very big. Combining some tech elements with the temple is good. There is one room that could use a bit of work, the room with two animated screens. It looks like two TVs just plopped down in the hall. They could be integrated into the surrounding room a bit more. This is in contrast to the dark flashing room with the spiral stairs, in that room the technology looks like it belongs there.

The combat and item placement are good as well, it create nice tension because there isn't enough ammo to methodically clear out the enemies encounter-by-encounter. Putting weak enemies in the very dark spiral stairs room is nice as well, it creates credible threat without creating frustration. The last encounter is fun but it is also somewhat easy. I think it would be cool if there were something that stopped you from simply running in the circle, something you had to dodge every once in a while, maybe demon or walls that slowly rose and sunk around the rim.

 

A big annoyance I had with the map are the switch that controls the elevator and the switch that summons the cyberdemon. They are quite dark and blend right into the walls and ground. It took me a while to find them, maybe you could put candles next to them or make them glow or something. Even with the very obvious animated elevator chevron signs, I still didn't find it until I looked at your playthrough.

Edited June 29, 2021 by RDETalus

[evil_scientist]

I had to drop the difficulty to get through ("Hey, not too rough") :) It's a tough map and I'm not the fastest gun in the west. But I enjoyed the map, and particularly liked the whole floating in blood red void vibe. It reminded me a bit of certain parts of the game Clive Barker's Undying.

[TheHit_61x]

I played this map a few days ago and forgot to give feedback. I think it was a fun map, a bit short but packs a punch right from the beginning. The aesthetic was great with its Gothic/tech feel and I didn't really feel the combination was out of place anywhere on the map, My major criticism would be that anyone can just go to the final fight and miss the rocket launcher as its not mandatory to grab it before the final encounter. Probably put a red skull key (to keep the red theme going on) on the RL area and make the switch on the lift require it so there is a clear progression and nobody misses out on the very handy RL. Anyway it was a great experience and would love to see more of your work. Keep it up!.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Ancient Temple

 

Ultra-Violence || GZDoom || Vanilla

 

Status:

Deaths → 0

Saves → 1

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

This map was a challenge, but at the same time it has such an amazing atmosphere, I must admit that if I enjoyed what I have seen a lot, and without a doubt, what stands out very well here is its technical, structural and architectural section, the feeling Inside a castle or something similar is really very interesting and at the same time, really great to enjoy, and apart from that, the combat here, although at first it can be annoying just because there is not enough ammunition For the initial start, I must say that I really had fun fighting for the marine's life in the small spaces of space that there are, such as the initial room, or the part of the first bridge there is, but once we passed those narrow places, the Real fun begins outside, and even more so reaching the final area of the map, where there is a really intense battle, but with some patience and strategy you can win without much problem.

 

In conclusion, a really admirable and very entertaining Wad, despite its short duration (which depends on how each user plays) it really has a good action and does not get boring at any time, very good work here, friend, and I hope to see more of your projects in the future.

[VoanHead]

For a second map, this stuff is tight. Very mean traps (I'm not saying this in a bad way, I loved it), the cacodemons that spawned in the bridge when you tried to approach the revenant got me. The atmosphere oozes in this map, w/ the hellish tech castle base theme I loved it so much, sense of progression was very straightforward, never felt like you got lost. Ammo was plentiful, although you are gonna have to maneuver in the beginning fast or else perish to the large wave of imps and some revenants. The end fight, while it was a little basic, it was quite intense and had you think fast of what next you have to do.

 

Now, while it is a pretty solid level, here's what I would recommend: just a lil bit more enemy variety. I love those revenants so much, I really do, but I felt like the enemies in the end could've had some more variety than just a bunch of boneheads and 1 cyberdemon. Your architecture and structure of making the map was pretty damn good, everything noticeable and never have I felt lost, but the switches could use a bit more standout to let the player know to press it, like a light or something said before. (This could just be me being an idiot for not noticing the switches near the revenant to raise the platform and right in the end before :P)

 

You have a good thing going on my guy, we'd all like to see more maps in the future.

Edited July 4, 2021 by VoanHead

[baja blast rd.]

It's impressive what newer mappers are making these days. This one reminds me of a classic gothic theme wad, mixed with the circular architecture and imposing scale of something like Tartarus or Bastion of Chaos. 

 

The smaller switches can be more visible. The RL cacos felt like the map repeating itself after the earlier cacos. With the door I keep unknowingly opening from above, you can flag "switch height check" to prevent that. Thought the last fight could do with slightly fewer revenants, because once the cyb is done, you just have to circle and clean up. 

 

 

[Astro X]

Promising stuff! I liked the aesthetics and I like bloody fights lol

 

 

[Zion]

@Astro X

I really apreciate the playthrough, did you play with GZDoom? there were a lot of things that went wrong on the map

[Astro X]

10 hours ago, Zion said:

@Astro X

I really apreciate the playthrough, did you play with GZDoom? there were a lot of things that went wrong on the map

Yea, sry... I figured as I was experimenting "bugs" that probably gzdoom was needed, but I don't have that so I sticked with what I had, hope you don't mind.

[jmac]

 I played it on ultraviolence, with 100% kills and 4 deaths. I didn't manage to find any of the secrets on this run. I'm still working on my first map, so I feel a bit scummy criticizing other people's maps, but I've also played a lot of doom, and I think I've gotten a solid understanding of what I do and don't like.

 

I'll get the negatives out of the way first. Like several others have mentioned, some of the switches were difficult to see, but I was never stuck for long looking for them.

My main critique though is of the final battle. The design of the area and the monster placement encouraged me to just run in circles until the cyberdemon died to infighting, then continue to run in circles while blasting the surviving revenants with rockets. It all felt a little too straightforward, and I actually had more difficulty with some of the earlier fights in the map.

 

That said, I had a lot of fun playing this. It's a very good map by any standards, let alone for a second attempt at mapping. The texturing is excellent, and the map as a whole had a bit of a chaotic, oppressive feel to it that I think is difficult to properly capture. I especially liked the room leading to the rocket launcher, with the flashing red lights. It was disorienting in a good way, and turned what should have been an easy encounter with a handful of shotgun zombies into something genuinely dread-inducing for me. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye out for any maps you make in the future.

 

[FireWarden1000]

I completed Ancient Temple at.WAD with GZDoom on Hurt Me Plenty, very challenging map, 78/100. I ran out of ammo after fighting the flying enemies that appear near the bridge. After taking out all of the enemies in the map, I was not sure if I would survive the last part of the map. No health or ammo left in the map, and I had to fight the flying enemies with the rocket launcher. The map design is great, and even though enemies are attacking you from the other side of the map, you actually travel to those areas until you reach the final room. My suggestions, add more health kits, and ammo/shotgun boxes to the map to balance out the difficulty. The final room, I recommend increasing the width of the circle path, because I would run into the teleporting enemies or water, and the water will slow you down. I would not survive the missile attacks.