'Constraining order': an OuLiPo Doom project (on hold - see you at 32 maps!)

[Thelokk]

EDIT: I have received multiple feedback that there is likely to be no community interest in a 'in-progress' project, and I am more likely to get feedback / playtest once the project is at least in a beta megawad state. In light of this, weekly updates are on hold and the project will resurface once the 32 maps are assembled and ready for beta testing. At this pace I expect this to be somewhere in June-July. 

 

 

 

 

Constraining Order: an OuLiPo Doom Project

 

So, what is this all about?

 

Gibbing monsters and plopping linedefs aside, one of my other lifelong passions (and half a job, actually) is writing, particularly in the OuLiPo or 'constrained' writing vein. Experience has taught me that, more often than not, limitations rather than freedom spur forward inspiration, so I thought - why not do the same with Doom mapping?

 

For thirty-two weeks I will be posting in this thread one map per week, on a Monday through Sunday schedule. Each map will be developed according to a set of rules, some 

chosen beforehand, some selected entirely at random. IWAD will be Doom II, format will be UDMF, target port will be GZDoom.

 

Wanna know more?

 

Spoiler

 

- Each map's theme is pre-determined. I got the idea from the Theme-gawad project, in which I am taking part, and will be using a heavily modified versionof that map listing as a basis. Mind you, this little experiment of mine is *not* meant to be a competing project - the release timeframe is entirely different, andI feel the prompts are vague enough to not qualify as plagiarizing. We all know that good artist copy, great artists...

- Each week I will roll two random constraints: a DO and a DON'T, which I must follow. No rerolling unless the two clearly conflict between themselves or with the map's theme (ie. a slaughtery no-monster map). In this case I am allowed to reroll once. Constraint run from trivial to stuff I legitimately have to learn from the ground up.

- Each constraint, once used, goes on 'cooldown' for four maps, in order to foster variety.

- All textures are fair game, unless the week's constraint says otherwise.

- If I roll some constraint I haven't learned yet (ie. voodoo dolls, advanced scripting required etc) there is no rerolling. I must learn and apply.

 

Full list of constraints:

 

1. MUST / DON'T use doors
2. MUST / DON'T use keys
3. MUST / DON'T use ANY four-sided room
4. MUST / DON'T use voodoo dolls
5. MUST / DON'T use a new script I've never used
6. MUST / DON'T compose my own MIDI
7. MUST /DON'T use less than 50 monsters
8. MUST /DON'T have more monsters than secrets
9. MUST / DON'T use platforming
10. MUST / DON'T find and use a random prefab 
11. MUST / DON'T be a Tyson map
12. MUST / DON'T have a custom texture made by me used prominently 

 

The constraint are, of course, not meant to be cheesed. If I roll DON'T 8, I won't put 1 monster and 2 secrets. Trying to keep it interesting and,

most of all, playable.

 

I am using an old D&D dice to roll, in case you were wondering.

 

 

 

 

Nothing earth-shattering, as you can see ( I am *sure* someone has done this before), and I certainly don't expect to get the next Sunlust out of it. Still, as a learning mapper, I feel this will be a good exercise to get out of my comfort zone on a regular basis. If a megawad comes out of it, all the better. 

 

Have suggestions? criticism? new / harder constraints to impose on me? wanna join or match? Let me know!

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2022 by Thelokk

[Dark Pulse]

This is actually a neat-as-hell project idea. Looking forward to seeing all the results.

[ducon]

The 10 sectors and the 1024 series or 1000 lines are in this spirit.

Why not a WAD without E (including its description and texts)?

Door, acid, blood, imp, arachnotron, lift, window, OK.

Baron of hell, spider mastermind, fence, archvile, FIREBLU, not OK.

Edited February 6, 2022 by ducon

[Thelokk]

2 minutes ago, ducon said:

The 10 sectors and the 1024 series or 1000 lines are in this spirit.

Why not a WAD without E (including its description and texts)?

Door, acid, blood, imp, arachnotron, lift, window, OK.

Baron of hell, spider mastermind, fence, archvile, not OK.

 

One idea I had at first was to make one of the constraints 'viewer's choice', but I was wary of not getting enough participation. I may actually shuffle the constraints come map 15! 

[MFG38]

Tiny bit of a heads-up: RanDoom is the name of a randomizer utility.

[ducon]

In OuLiPo, Ou means Ouvroir, Li means Littérature and Po, Potentielle. An ouvroir is a sewing room, a work room.

Thus, as it’s about Doom potentialities, we should rename it DoPoWo (Doom Potentiality Workroom) for example, OuDoPo in French.

Besides, the OuLiPo members work on constraints, not only the lipogram but many other chosen constraints. That’s why 10 sectors, 1024 and 1000 lines are totally in the spirit of the French OuXPo where X stands for any discipline, for example comics (OuBaPo, Ba for bandes dessinées) or music (OuMuPo) and so on.

Edited February 6, 2022 by ducon

[Gez]

I would suggest OuNiPo as ouvroir de niveaux potentiels, with niveau = level so workshop of potential levels.

[ducon]

Yes, but OuNiPo is not Doom-specific.

[Thelokk]

Very good suggestions :) for now I gave the thread a quick title change to avoid stomping on RanDoom's ground, I'll list the proposals and settle for a name in the coming days.

 

P.s: from map 15 onward one of the costraints will be a 'viewer's choice' so, if you have suggestions, let me know!

[Walter confetti]

Very interesting concept, good luck with it!

[RHhe82]

I love the concept, as I’m somewhat familiar with OuLiPo as well thru my secret hobbies. There are lots of strange ideas that could be tried:

 

- Level must contain only textures/flats/items/monsters that start with letter C (except for player start). Or that consist of primarily color red or …

- Level must not contain any 90° angles.

- Use only odd/even linedef actions

 

Edit: had to get off train and drive home…

 

- Each sector must have different ceiling and floor height than adjacent sectors. Maybe even flats.

- Of course, every size restriction community project already fits the bill.

- As any speedmap limit. Make it so that you must not stop while mapping, make ”stream of consciousness” map.

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by RHhe82

[ducon]

29 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

I love the concept, as I’m somewhat familiar with OuLiPo as well thru my secret hobbies.

So do I, I own (and read two years ago) a collection of books related to Oulipo and from Oulipo members (Perec, Queneau, Calvino…)

[RHhe82]

1 minute ago, ducon said:

So do I, I own (and read two years ago) a collection of books related to Oulipo and from Oulipo members (Perec, Queneau, Calvino…)

I really like Queneau’s style book, where the same story was told in 99 different styles.

 

(Some prolific mapper could make the ”same map” in 99 styles? Romero, Petersen, Hall, techbase; 1994 style, 2022 style, Skillsaw style, Ribbiks, Insane Gazebo, etc.)

[Thelokk]

50 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

I love the concept, as I’m somewhat familiar with OuLiPo as well thru my secret hobbies. There are lots of strange ideas that could be tried:

 

- Level must contain only textures/flats/items/monsters that start with letter C (except for player start). Or that consist of primarily color red or …

- Level must not contain any 90° angles.

- Use only odd/even linedef actions

 

Edit: had to get off train and drive home…

 

- Each sector must have different ceiling and floor height than adjacent sectors. Maybe even flats.

- Of course, every size restriction community project already fits the bill.

- As any speedmap limit. Make it so that you must not stop while mapping, make ”stream of consciousness” map.

 

 

Jotting these down for map16+, when the restraints will change (and get harder) if you don't mind :)

[RHhe82]

3 minutes ago, Thelokk said:

Jotting these down for map16+, when the restraints will change (and get harder) if you don't mind :)

 

Be my guest, I'm already looking forward to your maps :-D

[Thelokk]

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Edited February 17, 2022 by Thelokk

[Thelokk]

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Edited February 17, 2022 by Thelokk

[RHhe82]

Oh, I didn't realize you were already releasing these!

 

I played thru the first three week, although I couldn't finish the third one - got stuck in the end (?) of the cave, where there was supposed to be a raising bridge in a nukage pit. I couldn't figure out how to raise it or otherwise cross the gap.

 

I noticed a couple of bugs, at least I think they are not intentional:

 

in Garden Society, when you first see the skies in a narrow corridor, if you step on the left niche towards the pistol zombie pedestal, the skies seem to turn on and off when you wiggle the aim there. Is this supposed to happen?

 

In Tekwalled In, the switch-platform puzzle, it looks like the controllable platform can go through the sky?

 

In Angry Earth, the westernmost area in the cavern, there is a sector that looks like only a slight dip in the ground, but is in fact an inescapable pit (probably 32 pixels deep).

 

I wish that some of the lifts in Tekwalled In were faster :P Waiting close to 10 seconds for a lift to arrive isn't that fun :P

[Thelokk]

7 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

got stuck in the end (?) of the cave, where there was supposed to be a raising bridge in a nukage pit. I couldn't figure out how to raise it or otherwise cross the gap.

 

Hint: 'pray'. 

 

Solution:

Spoiler

Interact with the beating heart pedestals. Three of them in total. They will progressively raise the bridge! One more pedestal is key to a secret...

 

7 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

Is this supposed to happen?

 

Nope. Will work on a fix in a future version!

 

7 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

the controllable platform can go through the sky?

 

It can, and it's functional but... inelegant, i agree. Will figure something out.

 

7 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

an inescapable pit (probably 32 pixels deep)

 

Thanks for catching that! And thanks for the feedback! Next week it's desert time...

 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Thelokk

[RHhe82]

2 minutes ago, Thelokk said:

 

It can, and it's functional but... inelegant, i agree. Will figure something out.

 

If you're using ACS there, I think it's not very complicated to make sure the platform doesn't raise (or lower?) beyond some set limits. Of course, if such a fail-safe is done, then it has to be made sure the puzzle still works (because it looked like the raise platform would raise the platform more than the lowering switch would lower). Shouldn't be too hard... but then, I haven't done that much ACS, and my works-in-progress are all boom-maps.

[Thelokk]

Vulture Drifts

 

Aaaand here it is, a somewhat early week 4! still (and for one more map) can only use monsters up to chaingunners and weapons up to chaingun. 

This time around the theme was 'desert (earth)', and I couldn't use scripts I didn't already know... and had to use voodoo dolls!

 

And I sure did, though in a far simpler and more subdued way than the standard Sunlust disco machine XD which I love by the way. But it was the first time using voodoo shenanigans for me, so I chose to keep it simple, and use a doll to simulate a sort of 'cloud racing across the sky' lighting effect in the 'house section''s open areas. It's subtle and unobtrusive, but it's there.

 

What can I say? simple and easy map, the fact that my favorite game after Doom is Yume Nikki probably starts to show. There is one, *very simple I promise* scavenge hunt in order to progress, I thought it fit the desert theme. 

Hint:

Spoiler

look at the minimap

 

A few things I've been asked:

- These early maps are fairly short and easy because the original prompt I'm following mandates so, but also because, as I still am severely limited in the types of monsters and weapons I can use, I don't want them to overstay their welcome. Shootgunning down 100 zombieman ain't so much fun. Map length (and build time) *will* increase as I get more options.

- No difficulty setting because, if and when this becomes a full megawad, I plan to do something slightly different than usual, namely make HMP the 'continuous' path and UV the 'pistol start' path.

 

[Thelokk]

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Edited February 17, 2022 by Thelokk

[Thelokk]

In light of feedback received I am putting the 'public face' of the project on hiatus. I will resurrect this thread (or, more appropriately, start another one) once the megawad is complete and ready for beta, which I estimate to be sometimes July at the latest. Thanks for those who checked this out!