Do you always play the Secret Maps?

[ducon]

7 minutes ago, Nightmare2989 said:

Always it part of the doom experience and some secret maps can be awesome 

Killer colours, for example.

[Nightmare2989]

52 minutes ago, ducon said:

Killer colours, for example.

Yes mate love Alien vendetta or no gut no glory is another good secret map from AV  

[Nine Inch Heels]

I always "play" them... or at the very least I take a look at them, even if a WAD isn't quite my cup of tea in general...

 

People have been pretty creative with secret maps in the past, sometimes putting ideas there which they thought might have been too out of left field for the "mainline progression". I'm interested in maps where there's something "out of the ordinary" and those slots are where I might be able to find that...

[BigBoy91]

Secret maps are usually pretty cool, so I play em.

[Captain POLAND]

If I can't find the secret exit I will cheat to get to the secret maps.

[Doom_Dude]

I like secret maps and will play them when I find them.. It depends on the secret map. Some of them are bleaghish... I never cared for the woofenstein maps in Doom 2.

[Jayextee]

Only ever in situations where it'd be less-annoying than completing a regular map via its normal exit; so when I replay episode 2, or DOOM II you betcha I go that route.

Otherwise, and excepting a Plutonia run where I really wanna Go 2 It, nah.

[vyruss]

I go out of my way if it's a known map slot with a secret exit to scour every last little detail and get a little pissed if I miss the secret map(s).

[EngineerKappa]

I never go out of my way to look for them because some secrets can be pretty obtuse, but if I enjoy the WAD I'll definitely IDCLEV to EXM9 or MAP31/32.

[NaturalTvventy]

When a new megaproject comes out I often warp to a secret level after playing a few maps, especially if there hasn't been anything which has wowed me yet. I figure if ever there's a time to be creative it's a secret map. My usual playthrough of a megaproject is maps 1-3, map 31-32, a few random maps in the middle (11, 16), then 29. If nothing's interested me by then it's into the bin with that thing.

[Pirx]

always looking for them when playing a new megawad. it's part of the experience, and some are quite memorable.

 

i'll skip them though if i know them and they're bad, like the wolf3d maps.

[dobu gabu maru]

It's been interesting hearing how certain folks only play the secret maps if they happen to stumble upon them. As a pistol-starter, that's the kind of thing that never crosses my mind as all maps are equally accessible from IDCLEV.

[BerserkerNoir]

in the Iwads its sometimes, in PWADS its if I CAN find them.
Otherwise I just keep moving.

[invalidlain]

its pretty rare for me to play secret maps, and when i do its always on total accident.

[Mystic 256]

I like trying to go for all the secret levels whether it be Doom wads, Heretic/Hexen wads, Quake Mods, any Retro FPS / Boomershooters and their mods in general, Super Mario World Romhacks, ect

[The_SloVinator]

If I manage to find the secret exit & if it's accessible, then I go for it but if the exit has a puzzle to solve, then I'll try to solve it but if it takes too long to do then I just skip it.

 

So yea, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

[Faceman2000]

I said always, because everytime I play through a wad I make sure to find them. . . but then I realized I should've said almost always, because I never bother with Doom 2's.

[Demon of the Well]

I always find them, and I always play them at least once. Finding them is usually no big deal (and indeed, in many cases, the secret exit will purposefully be made obvious enough that it's practically begging you to take it), and in those rare cases when it *is* a big deal, most modern authors take care to make sure that the payoff is worth it, or that the search is intriguing enough in its own right to be self-justifying. I'd warrant that this is because, in most cases, the author wants the secret levels to be found, wants the search for them to be enjoyable, and wants them to be played, because all of these things are seen as a worthwhile part of the experience. If this weren't the case, why bother making them? It's hardly obligatory, after all. Myself, I enjoy looking for hidden things, and I'd remark that it's like anything else, i.e. it may seem to be a pain in the ass at first, especially if you've never really given it much thought before, but once you get some practice it soon enough becomes like second nature, and a facility that can enrich your future play experiences in ways great and small.

 

I suppose a certain kind of author may lament the alleged "death of mystery", i.e. that nothing is truly secret anymore because it's common knowledge which mapslots house the secret exits, everyone knows the cheat codes like IDDT and IDCLIP, and so on and so forth, but more and more ports are now increasingly able to break these old rules and regain a level of real 'secrecy' for secret levels by hiding exits in new ways and in places which may be unexpected. I find the prospect stimulating, and look forward to these new and less formalized hunts. Of course, if your artistic mandate is to make something no one is likely to ever find 'naturally' just for the sake of having done so, you still have the option of not flagging anything "secret", and perhaps more difficult, keeping your silence about what you've done for weeks, months, years, etc. ;)

[Devalaous]

2 hours ago, Demon of the Well said:

I suppose a certain kind of author may lament the alleged "death of mystery", i.e. that nothing is truly secret anymore because it's common knowledge which mapslots house the secret exits, everyone knows the cheat codes like IDDT and IDCLIP, and so on and so forth, but more and more ports are now increasingly able to break these old rules and regain a level of real 'secrecy' for secret levels by hiding exits in new ways and in places which may be unexpected.

 

With a huge amount of ports having some form of MAPINFO now, ive been hoping secret exits and maps would start showing up in other places, but alas, we are still too set in our ways :p Its one of the reasons I enjoy pcorf mapsets, hes almost always hiding extra maps in his wads somewhere, even as far back as Twilight Zone (although that wad's bonus maps arent even finishable, its still nice that they exist as a bonus)

[YANDOR04]

i play the secret levels sometimes when i remember it, i have a little obsession with e2m9, the level is very very easy so i make something like a speedrun for beating the level, ironically i don't know how to get to e2m9 in a normal way