Any tips on how to spice up my boring empty rooms?

[StarSpun5000]

One of the things I struggle the most with while trying to make a map is to figure out what unique and interesting obstacles I can put in a room. Sometimes I'll draw a room and struggle to figure out what ledges, platforms, pits, etc. I can put into it to make it more of an interesting challenge. Does anyone have any tips on how to create cool and interesting obstacles to put in a room?

[Stabbey]

 I think of an interesting combat encounter and build a room to fit it. I don't know how to make you have ideas.

 

I'll use my own Nukage Treatment Pools map as an example.

• First combat room, the overall idea was to play with Revenant rockets when there were few walls to ram them into, so the player has to keep moving to not get splattered.
• A run through a nukage trench while being attacked by enemies, while needing to pause on platforms to lower barriers.
• Have long-distance sniping Arachnotrons which cannot approach, and the player has no rocket launcher, just plasma, forcing either an inefficient plasma sniping contest, or a daring charge.
• An ambush where the player has three directions - through a large pile of weak enemies, through a handful of easy-to-dodge tanky enemies, or up against some physically weak, but high-damage enemies.
• A fight on a ledge over nukage against Mancubi on pumping platforms.
• A fight where the player is caught between a horde of pinkies and a horde of revenants and they have to run past the pinkies and turn around in order to have space to fight.
• A 30-second door where the player has to weather the assault of enemies teleporting in on a ledge, meanwhile, other enemies have appeared behind the door ready to attack once it opens.

 

That sort of thing.

[Somniac]

If you have empty space in a room, it never hurts to throw in a few crates. You can use them as cover, hide items or enemies behind them, and they can make an encounter more dynamic. Especially if some of the enemies are set to ambush, suddenly there's more going on than the player might initially have thought. The main point is that they're great for filling up otherwise empty space.

 

Though you will want to keep enough space that they don't end up becoming obstacles that make the encounter more difficult than it needs to be, even just one or two well placed crates can work. It really depends on the size of the space you're working with. Bonus points if you can climb up them to get to a item at the top, or a new part of the map. 

[TheHambourgeois]

One thing I've seen a lot of maps do very well in recent memory is having a lot of stationary enemies up on a ledge or something, and then create pillars for cover that cover all but one of the stationary groups. That speedmap, Sacre Bleu, that just got posted in wads and mods does it well. Hell-forged map 5 I also remember doing it very effectively with arachnotrons in cages at the beginning of the level.

 

Design the environment around the monsters you are using as well, don't just make a box and throw random monsters in it. Spammy enemies like Mancubi tend to work better than something like an imp or a baron if you've got a lot of open space, revenants and archviles pretty much necessitate some form of cover being available, an open area with a lot of height variation is great for cacodemons because you can lose track of them if they are up high, etc.

Think about how different monster types interact with each other too. A sea of pinkies is trivial if you know your pro doom strats. They're a lot more threatening playing anvil to an archvile's hammer, especially if they're standing between you and cover.

[NiGHTMARE]

As a kind of link in between VistionThing and TheHambourgeois suggestion, perhaps trying placing a few pillars around the room. These essentially serve the same purpose as crates (minus projectiles and enemies being able to go over them), but might inspire you to create some interesting platforms and ledges (as well as ceiling architecture) to link them to each other and the room's walls.

Edited September 26, 2022 by NiGHTMARE

[Womp the Cat]

platforms + Mid textures + impassable flag = :)