How do you direct players in your maps?

[Desfar]

I'm going through the refinement period of a map or two, and I have been finding that my direction to players is not phenomenal.
So how do you guide players through your map?

[Guff dotD]

I find that Health and Armor bonuses work well as 'tidbits', which most players are inclined to follow. Players will usually pick something up if it is able to be picked up, and you can use this to your advantage.

[CatWithAComputer]

^This. You can also put enemies to guide players, i would teleport some enemies in the previous areas to guide player if the map needs backtracking

[SilverMiner]

Guide them by lighting. Players get attracted by glow in the dark

[CatWithAComputer]

7 minutes ago, SilverMiner said:

Guide them by lighting. Players get attracted by glow in the dark

Players get attracted to flashing lights more often so that

[Ennello]

I'd say enemies are the main way to guide players. Players will automatically be drawn to areas where there's more stuff to kill.

[Capellan]

It depends on the stage of the map (early, middle, late), the purpose of directing them (helping make progress obvious, obfuscating a secret, messing with them, etc), the size and complexity of the map, and the number of options the map has for progress.  e.g. my SPECTRUM maps tended medium-large in size, almost always offers multiple routes forward, and plenty of interconnections, so the methods of direction there are different to those in DOOM404, where the maps are smaller and sometimes (though definitely not always) more linear.

 

The single biggest thing I always try to stick to is "the effects of a switch should always be readily apparent; preferably actually seen when the switch is flicked".  Nothing kills forward momentum like wandering around trying to work out what a switch actually did.

[SilentD00mer]

1 hour ago, SilverMiner said:

Guide them by lighting. Players get attracted by glow in the dark

I'm not an experienced mapper, but I tend to use lighting to guide the player. It seems more natural to me, for example, if I'm in the middle of a battle, the attention seem to go to the strong lights of the environment more often. So I use lights to grab the attention of the player for doors, switches, etc. I use the SUPPORT textures a lot to highlight doors and other important elements of the map too, or any brighter texture, I guess many people do this.

[Clippy]

ARROWS 

 

Spoiler

and more arrows pointing to those ones 

 

[pcorf]

That Pain Elemental in the distance would have players keen to rip him apart ASAP.

[xScavengerWolfx]

For me it's kinda of a mix between using arrows and environment hints. Like for example in my E1 replacement map set Abandon: Shadows of darkness E1M1 i have a arrow pointing to where to go next to move forward in the map. Another example is in my community project megawad set Theme-GAWAD map 03 i had a doom cute sector that gave a hint to the final secret in the map.

 

Or another one i learned is actually from old doom wads i've been playing lately. If you see stuff on the outside, you can get it...once you figure out how too. Meaning There's always a way to get outside.

 

Edit: Hey i found my comment on this post lol

Edited March 15, 2023 by xScavengerWolfx

[Deadwing]

Lighting definitely, you will always want the important progression pieces (switches, doors, keys, passages) to be very lit so players are naturally dragged into the right direction. Luring with items (health or armor bonus being good candidates) will further orientate the player.

 

You can also use enemies, either sniping ones, or teleporting ones. Sometimes you might want to change the level geometry to make that particular door or passage easier to spot too, making it more visible to far away spots, for example.

 

Also, sometimes it's good to trap the player into an area to make sure he gets that key (or reach progress) before he leaves the area too.

 

If nothing works, arrows are a good last resource lol

 

Navigation is actually really hard to achieve, and the more detailed and/or less linear is your level, the more challenging this becomes. (It's something that I constantly fail to achieve lmao)

Edited February 8, 2023 by Deadwing

[DynamiteKaitorn]

I mean... most of my maps are linear AF so its kinda hard for the player NOT to know where to go. XD

 

With that being said, if there's ever any backtracking necessary, I will very often place enemy closets that open up as you do X objective or grab Y Item. I also like to let the player see the coloured door they need to remember ahead of time so that they can go "A-HA! I remember seeing a blue locked door earlier!"

[IcarusOfDaggers]

Hey, still a newbie here. Here are a couple of methods I've seen used or have used for indications:

 

1) Textures. Basically, I use a light trim or a specific texture with the switch to signal a switch has been opened. Sometimes when I hide secrets behind textures, i match the texture of the secret with the texture of the switch (or texture) activating the secret. Basically baron wall lowers a baron pillar, or skull wall trim on a switch indicates the switch raises a skull door. Important thing is to use the matching textures sparsely and consistently, so they pop out.

2) See through sectors. Basically a switch behind bars or in a cage. press the switch, and you can see from the cage that it opened a new area.

3) Lights, especially flashing lights are good for signaling progression, items, sometimes  even doors to guns.

4) Monsters. Repopulating old areas the player needs to backtrack is a good way to get the player to move into right area. Doing it correctly, especialy in Vanilla formats, is the hard part. If I use monster closets, i try to make sure they are part of the environment.

5) Items, armor and health bonus trails are great at leading the player on, as well as amp up the ambience if done in appropriate length. Too long/too spammy and it's boring. Too short or too sparse and the player may quit half way towards the objective. 

6) DavidN has put it best in his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6arDCzmhONY&t=1s&ab_channel=DavidXNewton

Edit: 7) Also, level geometry, especially with shootable switches, you want to make them look shootable. 

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by IcarusOfDaggers

[BLOODWOLF]

You should be able to see what a switch does whether outside a nearby window or create a miniature visual representation of what it did next to the switch (bar(s) with the same texture as a set of bars seen by the player previously on the map lowering/raising when the switch is activated) or the keydoor textures bordering a switch if thats what it opens and the door is not near it.

Teleporting monsters into a junction nearby to guide the players where they need to go or have monsters come out of whatever was recently opened.  Even a teleporter revealed nearby that will transport the players where they need to be to make it even more simple.

Arrows on your map make it look amateurish like you've made things too complex to understand and have had to resort to using arrows or nobody would figure it out.

One of Romero's rules is that any puzzle you make is going to be x5 harder on the players in-game who have in-game tunnel vision, aren't looking at it from a bird's eye view, don't see how everything works together since they didnt make the map and this goes for navigation as well.  More complex is not always better and the casual doomers now days have shorter and shorter attention spans.

[Dreamskull]

You dont direct players. You cant. You either bribe them with itemization or leave them lost.

[Caffeine]

Give the player something to do in the direction you want them to go.

• Monsters to kill.
• Items to pick up.
• Doors to open.
• Interesting architecture compared to its surroundings.

[SuyaSSS]

I don't. Let them suffer, HAHAHA

 

Spoiler

Seriously, I only make linear levels so it is incredibly hard to get lost in them unless you are blind. And I'm not planning on changing anytime soon. Oh yeah, Keyed Doors and being able to see what the switch did.

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by SuyaSS

[ChaseC7527]

On 2/7/2023 at 3:37 PM, CatWithAComputer said:

Players get attracted to flashing lights more often so that

jingle some keys while you're at it.

[ＤΞＬＴΛ]

Does plastering low-res femboy fox yiff on random textures around crucial parts of a map count? limbo from doom 1 and the entirety of evilution would have benifited from that.

 

English translation: Effective signposting and obvious environmental details. MAPPING TIPS FROM DBOI EVERYBODY!

[Xim]

As a player, I usually know if I'm facing enemies I'm going in the right direction. Items of course can help too. I like to explore around too so it helps when the maps have a "more obvious route", such a bigger more straight forward hallway or path, and a "more subtle route" with narrow hallways or something like that.

[StarTanned]

For my first map I just made the ways to the more important rooms more prominent, either by having their hall/door/etc be the largest, or having multiple routes obviously converge on them, or just making the side paths look more ominous and risky than the main way I wanted them to go first if they weren't adventurous. In some cases I just showed them it was the exit, or placed a key in a spot they would see quickly, but have to figure out how to reach. Giving each area a consistent color/texture/etc theme and landmarks helped too. Players can be funneled by drawing their eye to color or other contrasts, even while they're busy fighting (though safe space and space in general was probably the most important). It also helped to use a curved hall or stairs or other way for the player to not see what they're heading into, which naturally gave them more pause, and lead them away from side paths and risky or secret areas.

Edited March 16, 2023 by StarTanned