[Tutorial for very beginners] Some tips to not screw your first map

[Roofi]

Hi all !

 

After reading some mapping tutorials, I want to share my tips for very beginners in order to maximize their chance to create a decent first baby map. Contrary to a real tutorial, it will not talk about technical points like how to create a door or a lift , but rather recommend or advise against certain designs.

 

Why do I want to create this "tutorial"?

 

Starting mapping is hard, even when the builder is simple like Ultimate Doombuilder. Except if you're called Huy Pham for instance, your first map will be likely dull at best and maybe full of mapping errors. Sometimes, your map will get positive feedback and it's good for your or it will be disliked and it may break your will to pursue mapping.

 

A considerable number of mappers are not confident enough to take negative feedback, and it is in their best interest that their first map is well received in order to get off to a good start on a possibly successful mapping career.

 

How is this tutorial structured?

 

This tutorial just consists to a series of advices. I'm conscious that mapping tastes are highly subjectives. This tutorial is not really for someone who dreams of imitating Ribbiks or Sunder's maps, but rather someone who doesn't have a clear idea of what he wants to do yet.

 

The only goal of my advices is just to maximise the chances of having a well received first map.

 

FYI : Advices 8 to 12 were written by Wilou-84 , I just translated them. All credits go for him.

 

So,

 

Advice n°1 : Know the game mechanics

 

Before jumping on the builder, it is important to know the monsters of Doom or the weapons. For example, how much health does a cyberdemon, an arch-vile or a revenant have? A priori, if you start mapping you are already an absolute fan of the game, but read up on it via the doomwiki for example or play more wads if you have any doubts.

 

https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Entryway

 

 

Advice n°2 : Be generous with supplies (health, armor, ammo)

 

It is true that having too much ammunition and health can turns an adventure into a walk in the park. However, running out of ammunition and health at critical moments is most of the time a source of frustration than entertainment. Keeping the fun while depriving the player of resources is a real challenge in mapping. For a first map, I recommend putting more items than needed. Even an enthusiast of hard maps will be happy to be well equipped.

 

As is often said, better too much than not enough.

 

Advice n°3 : Avoid making a difficult map.

 

Creating a hard map is extremly simple. However, keeping the level entertaining enough for the player to want to try again and again is another story. It notably requires good skills at balancing things.

 

Your first  level can and even should have some traps and tougher parts but ensure that the player always have a certain margin of error.

 

Advice n°4 : Don't make aesthetics your main priority

 

You perhaps already seen a lot of outstanding screens of doom maps with a gigantic architecture and details galore. (i.e Sunder) but remember Doom is a videogame and the main objective of a videogame is to spend a good time.

 

Also, everyone can make a fun map because it only requires to know the game mechanics (see Advice n°1), whereas creating great aesthetics require more technical skills related to the builder and which are acquired more over time.

 

Also, take into account that mapping is a time-consuming activity and spending a lot of time on visuals can quickly be discouraging, especially when you don't master the techniques to optimise the work.

 

Advice n°5 : Avoid making a long map.

 

Like the difficult maps, it is easy to create a long map. It would be enough to join a ton of rooms without coherence to create one. Nonetheless, A long map must be worth exploring, otherwise it  becomes a complete slog. If your map is full of backtracks with switches all over the place, players may get bored quickly.

 

Also, take into account that making a long map usually takes longer to create. I recommend making a small or medium sized map to get feedback fairly soon. It is likely that the first map will be full of errors. The sooner they are detected, the sooner you will learn to adopt better mapping techniques. 

 

Advice n°6  Test your map many times and in many different ways

 

To avoid failure, don't hesitate to test a load of times, on different ports if possible, in order to prevent possible problems. Adopt different routes when the map allows it, climb everywhere to find the softlocks. In short, go through your map from top to bottom.

 

Advice n°7 : Don't hesitate to have other people testing your map before you release it.

 

If you still have doubts about your testing, ask other people to test your map before its release. It's in fact not uncommon to be surprised, even for an experienced mapper! Some people have radically playing style than yours.

 

Here is a list of playtesters you can take contact :

 

 

 

Advice n°8 : Make sure you know the difference between a "training map" and a real map that deserves to be released

 

When you are new to mapping, you can for example make an attempt at a map to learn how to use the map editor, learn line actions, learn how to make doors etc. This results in a "training map", i.e. a map that has been used as a sandbox to learn the basics. These "training maps" are only used for that, and are often not meant to be played in public, as they would not be of interest to the majority of players.

 

When you're done with the training, it's better to start from scratch (i.e. make a brand new map) than to keep working on the training map and release it.
Nobody wants to play a map that starts with something very basic and ends with something better. We want to play directly to what is better.

 

Advice n°9 : Don't go straight for something very ambitious

 

Some mappers, like Huy Pham with his famous Deus Vult or skepticist with SkePLand, made a very strong impression with their first maps, which were great and had real concepts. But you have to keep in mind that these are exceptional cases, these people knew exactly what they were doing. In general, a mapper's first map is not great, because the mapper is learning the tool, because the mapper has to find his or her own style, and because the mapper doesn't yet have the maturity and technical expertise to do something really exceptional from the start.

 

With this in mind, I recommend not to start with something too ambitious for our first map. If you already have a lot of ideas, if you want to do an episode (or a megawad), that's fine, but let's wait until you've released two or three maps before you start. This will allow us to really get the hang of it, and our future episode (or megawad) will be all the better for it.

 

Advice n°10 : Do not copy and paste parts of maps made by another author

 

Doom mapping is an art, and, just like a piece of music or a book, plagiarism of one or several maps is to be absolutely forbidden. You must not copy and paste sectors or pieces of maps from someone else's work. Firstly, it will be seen (the Doom community is full of experts), and secondly, it does nothing for your personal progress as a mapper.

 

On the other hand, imitating is good. It's even recommended! 

You should imitate the mappers you like.

 

Advice n°11 : Understand that you are exposed to criticism, and be prepared for it

 

 

If we put a map out in public, it will be played, and judged. The players will give an opinion on it, good or bad, and this is quite normal. Of course, most people will be indulgent (even benevolent) towards the work of a beginner, but we must understand and integrate the fact that our work will be exposed to others, and to their criticism. If the map is appreciated, so much the better, and if it is not appreciated, we will get some more unpleasant reviews, but that is normal. That's how we move forward.

 

That's also why I recommended above not to start with something too ambitious. We risk getting our heads up by saying that our map is great, only to be disappointed if the map doesn't appeal.

 

Advice n°12 : Prepare for the fact that our first map will not be noticed

 

In addition to what I'm saying above, it's also important to understand one thing: there are a ton of Doom maps coming out all the time. As I write this, Doomer Boards released DBP 51 called Deadly Ritual, and Joshy and his team released Plutonia Revisited Community Project 2 last week.

 

That means we're completely swamped with wads. Unless you're unemployed, it's impossible to play everything, so players will prioritise what they play. And in the face of these wads made by experienced mappers, will our first map be able to stand out, fresh and dapper as it is?
Not sure...

 

So we have to be mentally prepared for the possibility that our map will not be played and will not necessarily find its audience (even if it is good!). This should not discourage us.

 

Feel free to share your advices in order to complete my post !

Edited September 4, 2022 by Roofi

[BuffyTheDoomSlayer]

27 minutes ago, Roofi said:

So we have to be mentally prepared for the possibility that our map will not be played and will not necessarily find its audience (even if it is good!). This should not discourage us.

 

Good post, a lot of things I am learning/have learned the hard way!

 

In regards to the quoted part, especially for new modders, it's better to think of yourself as the target audience. Keep a post going to log your work, but genuinely don't care or be offended if others aren't immediately interested also. Right now, your focus is making something YOU find enjoyable.

[spineapple tea]

Great stuff here. I'd really like to emphasize point number six, testing your map in different ways. It's very easy to have a 'scripted' fight or section that you could spend a ton of time on only to see someone completely cheese the whole thing just by playing a different way. Either try finding some friends to playtest and give feedback, or just actively break away from your playstyle while testing. Even something as simple as backtracking when you often don't could reveal a bug or exploit you never noticed before.

[Pegleg]

On 9/4/2022 at 3:54 PM, Roofi said:

Advice n°9 : Don't go straight for something very ambitious

 

Some mappers, like Huy Pham with his famous Deus Vult or skepticist with SkePLand, made a very strong impression with their first maps, which were great and had real concepts. But you have to keep in mind that these are exceptional cases, these people knew exactly what they were doing. In general, a mapper's first map is not great, because the mapper is learning the tool, because the mapper has to find his or her own style, and because the mapper doesn't yet have the maturity and technical expertise to do something really exceptional from the start.

 

...

 

On the other hand, imitating is good. It's even recommended! 

You should imitate the mappers you like.

 

Great pieces of advice Roofi (and @WH-Wilou84)! These are definitely things that new mappers should remember.

 

The only thing I saw missing was an extension of these two points (from No. 9 and No. 10), which is: as a new mapper, don't compare yourself to other mappers. Everyone has been there: you see something incredible and it makes you want to make a map, but when you try, your result generally doesn't look as good as the map that inspired you. As a result, you may get discouraged, and you may lament that you'll never be that good. What you need to remember about these mappers that churn out these incredible creations is:

1. They generally have loads of experience. They may not have released many maps, but they almost always have years of mapping experience.
2. They generally put a lot of effort into their maps. If you can find a stream of one of your favorite mappers making one of those incredible maps, you will find that they didn't just start a new map and then, a few hours later, saved out their masterpiece. They spent a lot of time making those maps. Are they faster than you? Probably, but that is due to their greater experience.
3. They were once just like you. Every great mapper started out in the same place that you are now, trying to figure out how to make something in the editor. With effort, and patience, they built up their abilities into what they have today.

There is no shortcut to be taken that will get you from novice to mapping master quickly. It takes time and effort. As a result, you shouldn't look at your work and negatively compare it to the latest creation from another mapper. If you look at the work of someone who has spent years at their craft and become dejected when you put it besides your own work, stop, and consider the three points above.