JOOM's First Map (GZDoom), an idea I'd like to share

[LPad]

Hello everyone! I'd just like to use this space to share a map I made last year.

It's nothing much, but a few friends saw it and told me it would be nice if I shared it here, as I haven't made any progress on the rest of the maps since almost a year ago. It's actually my first finished map, and the only one I've done outside of a community project, so I hope you like it, and if you have any feedback, idea or anything really, feel free to share your thoughts ^^. I tried to make this first map with a dynamic gameplay. It has no skill settings yet, so Ultra Violence is there as default, it's not really hard, but it's certainly not easy.

The idea is just making Doom but with jeans textures. That's basically it, really. 

 

Format: GZDoom - UDMF

Tested in: GZDoom 4.7.1

 

You can use freelook if you want, but no jumping or crouching is intended. It looks better without Doom's software rendering because it limits the color pallete, so True color or Hardware Rendering is advised. 

I hope you have fun :)

 

Download: Joom Map 1.rar

 

Screenshots:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Walter confetti]

Looks cool, hope to see more of these maps!

[azerty]

It's a very weird and unique texture pack but just by looking at the screenshots it looks well implemented in the map. I might give this a look later when I have some time. 

[SyntherAugustus]

This was neat! Do we get khaki and corduroy maps as well?

[Lucius Wooding]

It's visually unique, I like the concept and the custom textures. There's definitely some potential for a charming mapset built around this theme and it works reasonably well.

 

Spoiler

-The map has too many bulky demons filling every area, and limited ammo. Not to mention it requires a ton of shotgunning enemies from revenants on up, especially the mancubi. With how annoying the snipers are through windows it's kind of important to go slowly and cut down most of the enemies. Also their placement in a lot of cases is awkward, forcing long range combat. Even with an SSG a lot of the platforms block pellets so it makes it a slog to get kills. There's enough cover so it's not like you can't take things out methodically, it just takes a long time. Some barrels or limited extra weaponry would go a long way to streamline a few places. Keep in mind that extra rockets are very helpful for this, but they wouldn't neuter the close quarters fights much since the splash damage would be a huge liability.

 

-The main ambushes are decent compared to the snipers, they have enough threats to make them interesting. In the set piece fights the heavier demons are used a lot better and aren't as much of a nuisance. However the lack of ammo can be a liability if you're caught short.

 

-The SSG is withheld way too long, especially with no rocket launcher early on. Keep in mind the SSG is more ammo efficient at short and mid range in addition to having higher DPS than the shotgun or chaingun. For the groups of pinkies and doom 2 monsters it helps a lot.

 

-With a new texture pack, especially with limited texture options, it's hard to hide secrets since the player won't know what looks off. I found the megaarmor eventually but the berserk made me actually open the map in the editor to find it. It's up to you how you want to design secrets and whether you want them to be hard but consider using more platforming or lighting cues so the player has something to look for beyond the unfamiliar textures. However this is pretty subjective.

 

 

[RED77]

REally cool. Great map and great aesthetyc

[Korp]

This is a very fun map to see and play, such bizarre aesthetics! great work as always :3

[Biodegradable]

Mama mia, that's-a spicy WAD! Good stuff, fam. :^)

 

 

[LPad]

On 8/20/2022 at 12:45 PM, Lucius Wooding said:

It's visually unique, I like the concept and the custom textures. There's definitely some potential for a charming mapset built around this theme and it works reasonably well.

 

  Hide contents

-The map has too many bulky demons filling every area, and limited ammo. Not to mention it requires a ton of shotgunning enemies from revenants on up, especially the mancubi. With how annoying the snipers are through windows it's kind of important to go slowly and cut down most of the enemies. Also their placement in a lot of cases is awkward, forcing long range combat. Even with an SSG a lot of the platforms block pellets so it makes it a slog to get kills. There's enough cover so it's not like you can't take things out methodically, it just takes a long time. Some barrels or limited extra weaponry would go a long way to streamline a few places. Keep in mind that extra rockets are very helpful for this, but they wouldn't neuter the close quarters fights much since the splash damage would be a huge liability.

 

-The main ambushes are decent compared to the snipers, they have enough threats to make them interesting. In the set piece fights the heavier demons are used a lot better and aren't as much of a nuisance. However the lack of ammo can be a liability if you're caught short.

 

-The SSG is withheld way too long, especially with no rocket launcher early on. Keep in mind the SSG is more ammo efficient at short and mid range in addition to having higher DPS than the shotgun or chaingun. For the groups of pinkies and doom 2 monsters it helps a lot.

 

-With a new texture pack, especially with limited texture options, it's hard to hide secrets since the player won't know what looks off. I found the megaarmor eventually but the berserk made me actually open the map in the editor to find it. It's up to you how you want to design secrets and whether you want them to be hard but consider using more platforming or lighting cues so the player has something to look for beyond the unfamiliar textures. However this is pretty subjective.

 

 

 

Thank you for your feedback!! Yeah, I should probably add a bit more of ammo and health. About the rocket launcher, my mistake was putting it in a secret and then counting on it when making the rest of the level. I'll probably move it to a more visible position early on. I'm thinking of switching places the rocket launcher with the SSG and see how that works. I'd have to test that.

And yeah, about the secrets, that's something I still have to figure out. I'll find the right visual cue eventually. For now they're in places where I'm used to look for secrets, and that's it. I'll work on it, thank you!

 

13 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

Mama mia, that's-a spicy WAD! Good stuff, fam. :^)

 

 

 

Also, thanks for the gameplay!

[Clippy]

This map was AWESOME - I loved it so much - @sandwedge brought this to my attention and I can not say enough good things -- you took this theme and used it to it's maximum potential and that zipper lift OMG - this is talent buddy I am all in on whatever you make next!

 

 

[A Handsome Fridge]

Hah. Gotta have to give this a go just looking at Clippy's video thumbnail

[Clippy]

30 minutes ago, A Handsome Fridge said:

Hah. Gotta have to give this a go just looking at Clippy's video thumbnail

 

Happy to do anything I can to promote this fantastic map!!

[A Handsome Fridge]

And here's my (casual, non-commentary, non-completionist, blind) playthrough! This map is indeed as good as it looks, awesome stuff. Navigation is easy, textures are both pretty and helpful (the scrolling zippers are my favorite), the overall pacing is good. Of course I died a bunch and panicked a bit more than that was necessary, but never was it unfair. Challenging, but fair. Great looking map, cleverly designed and smart enemy placement.

The only advice I would have is: Make more Jeans maps!

[LPad]

19 hours ago, Clippy said:

This map was AWESOME - I loved it so much - @sandwedge brought this to my attention and I can not say enough good things -- you took this theme and used it to it's maximum potential and that zipper lift OMG - this is talent buddy I am all in on whatever you make next!

 

 

 

Thanks a lot for playing it!! Well, JOOM is the idea for the project I was planning. It's based on that meme of "Go set the Jable" or the "Jouch". I saw them and I was like "HmmM WhaT if DooM". And here we are. I made this project when I was a bit bored at some point in 2021. I finished this map, and a couple of months later I participated on this 30 Monsters Challenge where I submited my first maps to the community. But this is my first finished map at least. About experience, I had some experience before mapping for heretic, but never finished any map. Never went too far from starting them. I focused too much on the visuals and ended having beautiful detailed rooms but just a couple of them. 

About the textures, I edit some random textures in Krita and use them as PNG. The biggest one is like 256x1024 I think. 

The Zipper elevator sound is pretty good! I'll see what I can do about that, I'd love to implement it xD. Buttons and switches are supposed to be buttons and the part of the belt where you lock it in place. I dunno how that's called.

The enemies with Jeans are also an idea that's in stand by for the moment.

And well, I'm uploading it just now because as a novice mapper I instantly went with the idea of "I could make a whole megawad of Jeans!!". But it takes time, planning, and mostly, texture editing, which is what swamps me the most. So after having this sitting around for a lot of time, and because of a couple of friends' recommendations, I uploaded it here. But I plan to continue it when I have some time and more ideas. I have the plans of what maps are about, but just map02 and map17 are the ones I have something of for now. I was kinda wanting to see how people would see this idea, and maybe see if someone else would like to collab or contribute in a future, after I have a more worked out texture set. But that is just speculation for now, I just wanna share this for now and see what you guys think :) I really like experimenting with random ideas. I also experimented a bit in that community project I mentioned to see what people think of some ideas, and the feedback has been interesting so far. 

I'm just rambling now, I'll stop now. Thank you a lot for the playthrough and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

 

16 hours ago, A Handsome Fridge said:

And here's my (casual, non-commentary, non-completionist, blind) playthrough! This map is indeed as good as it looks, awesome stuff. Navigation is easy, textures are both pretty and helpful (the scrolling zippers are my favorite), the overall pacing is good. Of course I died a bunch and panicked a bit more than that was necessary, but never was it unfair. Challenging, but fair. Great looking map, cleverly designed and smart enemy placement.

The only advice I would have is: Make more Jeans maps!

 

Thanks for your playthrough as well! I focused in making something that kept you moving. The central area is more like you would design a small arena for UT or a game like that, I think. In terms of placement, cover and that kind of stuff. It definitely needs some fixing in health and the Rocket Launcher as mentioned before, and probably some visibility too. It's got a lot of enemies for a level one, but that encourages me to find new ways to keep a good challenge in the next levels. All in all, I'm happy with the results so far! For being my first completed map and out of such a random idea of jeans, I think I can feel a bit proud about it. 

 

And yee, I will keep making some Jeans maps as soon as I have the organized time to do it ^^

Edited August 23, 2022 by LPad

[azerty]

Loved it! The only complaint I can give is that progression can be a but unclear because of the textures. It's not really clear what's a door, elevator, ... and what isn't. I messed a bit with the settings before recording and because of it there is no sound sorry about that I hope it still helps though. 

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by azerty

[Stupid Bunny]

I haven’t played the map yet, just watched clippy feat. sandwedge’s exploration of it. I have no idea what compelled you to make this but I’m glad that you did because it is absolute brilliance

 

Like seriously this texture pack is so creative, thorough, funny, well put together, seamless (lol or is it haha) and weirdly appealing to look at that I’d love to see a whole community project of jeany maps. I’d commit one myself assuming free time and all that 

 

But like even if you don’t this map perfectly showcases the whole concept all by itself. All it needs is an actual name (maybe just Denim or Levi Doom, idk I suck at names)

[A Handsome Fridge]

5 hours ago, LPad said:

 

Thanks a lot for playing it!! Well, JOOM is the idea for the project I was planning. It's based on that meme of "Go set the Jable" or the "Jouch". I saw them and I was like "HmmM WhaT if DooM". And here we are. I made this project when I was a bit bored at some point in 2021. I finished this map, and a couple of months later I participated on this 30 Monsters Challenge where I submited my first maps to the community. But this is my first finished map at least. About experience, I had some experience before mapping for heretic, but never finished any map. Never went too far from starting them. I focused too much on the visuals and ended having beautiful detailed rooms but just a couple of them. 

About the textures, I edit some random textures in Krita and use them as PNG. The biggest one is like 256x1024 I think. 

The Zipper elevator sound is pretty good! I'll see what I can do about that, I'd love to implement it xD. Buttons and switches are supposed to be buttons and the part of the belt where you lock it in place. I dunno how that's called.

The enemies with Jeans are also an idea that's in stand by for the moment.

And well, I'm uploading it just now because as a novice mapper I instantly went with the idea of "I could make a whole megawad of Jeans!!". But it takes time, planning, and mostly, texture editing, which is what swamps me the most. So after having this sitting around for a lot of time, and because of a couple of friends' recommendations, I uploaded it here. But I plan to continue it when I have some time and more ideas. I have the plans of what maps are about, but just map02 and map17 are the ones I have something of for now. I was kinda wanting to see how people would see this idea, and maybe see if someone else would like to collab or contribute in a future, after I have a more worked out texture set. But that is just speculation for now, I just wanna share this for now and see what you guys think :) I really like experimenting with random ideas. I also experimented a bit in that community project I mentioned to see what people think of some ideas, and the feedback has been interesting so far. 

I'm just rambling now, I'll stop now. Thank you a lot for the playthrough and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

 

 

Thanks for your playthrough as well! I focused in making something that kept you moving. The central area is more like you would design a small arena for UT or a game like that, I think. In terms of placement, cover and that kind of stuff. It definitely needs some fixing in health and the Rocket Launcher as mentioned before, and probably some visibility too. It's got a lot of enemies for a level one, but that encourages me to find new ways to keep a good challenge in the next levels. All in all, I'm happy with the results so far! For being my first completed map and out of such a random idea of jeans, I think I can feel a bit proud about it. 

 

And yee, I will keep making some Jeans maps as soon as I have the organized time to do it ^^

Also I would love to save you some time and collaborate in a UDMF Jeans themed project if you decide to go that route :) It's the mapping format I'm most comfortable with after all.


Also also it seems like I'm the only one who didn't get confused by the textures for some reason. Just got a bit confused by the baron (as in - yeah but when am I going to be able to get up there)

Edited August 23, 2022 by A Handsome Fridge

[Custom Longplay]

Joom Map 1 - [4K]