first_map

Drum · July 7, 2023

First map I made! This is my first one so don't expect anything crazy.

This is a Doom II map that runs with the GZDoom source port.

Just unzip the provided ZIP file, and run the WAD file inside with GZDoom.

RED77 · July 7, 2023

Well, It's a good start.
It feels very wolf3d. I'll recommend trying to play more with verticality.
nothing remarkable, but a cool first step.

TheNoob_Gamer · July 7, 2023

I was going to comment inside the footage itself (hence the console flashing), but realized I better write out everything here.

First off, welcome to Doomworld, and congrats for publishing your first level!

I have to get it off the bat that this level has a lot of myfirstmap trappings - the visuals, the height variance, etc. Fortunately, you can avoid those altogether with practice, and with that said, the gameplay was quite fun and sufficiently paced (There's also no texture misalignment, so that's good too)! If you want specific feedback/random commentary on certain parts of your level, click the spoilers:

Spoiler

- Generally speaking, it is not a good idea to not mark your key doors, as it can make progression frustrating, particularly in larger scale maps. You should always mark your locked doors with some sort of indicator.

- Similarly, door textures should be used with approrpriate heights. The unmarked blue key door is good example of this, the spawn door is not.

- I like the scattered lights, they help set a strange atmosphere.

- The major pickups (keys) could have been introduced with more fanfare - like putting them on a pedestal or something.

GermanPeter · July 7, 2023

Ah, a classic level design theme. I really should do something like this eventually :p
I love the twist that happens half-way through, and the abstract section. Really awesome trip. Even after reaching the airport section I'm not sure I've seen everything, heh.

Okay, jokes aside, this is pretty cute. Gives me a lot of Doom 1 vibes, even a bit of Refueling Plant from Doom 2, which is good.
You're a bit very stingy when it comes to health, armor and ammo though. Granted, it's a teensy weensy map, but I feel it could use a bit more. I'd recommend adding a few more optional rooms, just for those types of items. And play around with height variations too perhaps! Imps are really effective when they throw fireballs at you from above while Pinkies harass you from below. Oh, and Pinkies also can't travel through those narrow hallways, by the way. Looked a bit wonky.

netcurse2000 · July 8, 2023

Not bad for a first map.

But there are a few notes:

Quite a lot of empty space in some rooms.

Doors with keys are not marked with color markers.

Mizuki_Jun10 · July 9, 2023

I am a beginner at DOOM Mapping just like you, but I have done a few levels, so maybe I have some more experience.

I edited your level, and wanted to know what you thought.

It is even good that you learn from my changes...

1° The first change was more obvious, because the texturing was too simple, so I put in a lot of new textures, it is always very important to vary the colors.

2° I put metallic textures on the first walls, they looked interesting.

3° I don't remember if it was all the doors, but one of them seemed totally misaligned and out of place, I had quite a problem with this, good times, I just created a section in the front and lowered the roof.

4° Through John Romero's tips, I realized that it is cool to separate textures from time to time in order to put a brake on the alignment of the textures and even allow you to change textures between separations.

5° I would never have adopted this with me during level development if it wasn't for @Chubzdoomer's video about doors, never forget to put the doortrak texture and setting the lower unpegged flag on them when making doors.

6°

I also always had this problem with the enemies, I found it a bit strange to fire a single shot with the pistol and all the monsters on the map come after me, add the flag "Ambush Players" on them, so that they only come to you when they see you.

And only do it with enemies that you don't want to see ahead of time.

7°

I found it impressive and perfect to see, how good you are at creating a good flow of rooms, a room here, a room there, a locked door here, a locked door there, but it is the same thing, everything looks the same and confusing, none of the rooms have anything different except the enemies.

So I couldn't resist, and I put in the biggest room of all, a natural and open-air environment, it was wonderful, you allowed me to do that, very nice!

8°

I quite liked the claustrophobic corridors, however some of them seemed too cramped, so I expanded some of them.

9°

I am a learner like you, so I am learning to use the magic of windows, look how good it is to abuse them.

10°

Abuse the terror of brightness, I added fake lights, putting sectors around the lamps you placed and put high brightness, and around them, I put low brightness to add terror, with enemies moving in the dark.

11°

You may not have realized it, but putting in too easy enemies only, can make the level too fast and forgettable, so use a lot of the game's arsenal and monsters.

I hope I didn't go too far with their positioning, but I even put a revenant in the flashing light, it was creepy!

12°

Not only how to put in windows, but how to put in many, many secrets, I mean, I am kidding of course, you don't need that many secrets, you decide actually, but never forget them, and remember that the more obvious they are, the more fun the level is, put in some windows revealing part of them.

This way the player keeps drooling to find them and wish for them.

And put clues on them, otherwise it will be impossible to find them, put a misaligned texture, a similar texture, a blinking light, so secret ones will always have their charm.

13°

I try not to copy the original DOOM levels, but I try to decorate the rooms as much as possible to make them recognizable and unique, I loved putting a blue carpet over flashing red lights in the two demons' room.

The four pillars are identical to the E1M1 from the original DOOM, but that's just between us lol.

14°

Oh and as Romero said, never forget to change the elevation of the rooms, sometimes I put floors a little lower, and I loved decorating the demon room with stairs, they were cute.

15°

I know I already talked about using DOOM's arsenal well throughout the levels, but remember not to take too long with the pistol in the player's hand, believe me, it's not that fun to use it for a long time, and don't forget to put enough ammunition!

16°

If possible, try to reveal the exit as soon as possible, it's not mandatory, I know, in fact nothing I say is mandatory, but it's good to make it easier for our friend DOOMguy.

17°

Always remember that there are players worse than you, or better than you, never forget to put different difficulty settings, even if it's ultra scary like an archville at the end of the level for example lol.

18°

Oh and never forget to put upper unpegged on a lowered ceiling and lower unpegged on a raised floor, to have more consistently aligned textures.

And that's it!

Loved contributing to your first project!

I made a better level than it already is to give you a good example for you to be even better, and never give up on improving your level design, I'm trying hard.

A big hug Drum <3.