How Do You Decide When to Can a Map?

[Turbulent]

Working on my second map and I'm thinking about stopping development. This would represent the first time I've put decent time into a doom wad and killed it. I'm not a stranger to having to cut creative projects, I know that can be difficult but I've been thinking about why in particular I might not finish this. It hasn't grown into what I imagined it to be before starting it, but that's okay with me. I'm fine with my vision changing in that sort of way. It's also still fun. There's some other quality to it, it currently lacks that I'm not sure can be changed at this point. Perhaps it's something as simple as being unhappy with the basic layout, or lacking enough of a personal style. 

 

I'm not looking for advice, just curious what other peoples thoughts are on your own projects and what makes you cancel them.

 

[Hebonky]

Usually when I play through a map, and I just despise it, that's where it dies in my eyes. Alternatively, I don't know where to take the map, and feel a lack of inspiration.

 

I haven't been able to map in a minute because of this.

 

[Somniac]

I try to never can anything completely. One of my recent maps, I made the start area over a year ago, thought it looked like shit, and shelved it. When I came back to it, I saw new potential that wasn't there before. That's a long time to wait, but it resulted in a decent map IMO.

Edited July 16, 2023 by Somniac

[prfunky]

Sometimes, I paint myself into a corner, metaphorically speaking. That will

kill a map. I've got a bunch of shit-ass maps nobody will ever see because

of this. Most of the stuff I release is my best work, though in the last year,

I've had to release 2nd versions of some of it due to mistakes I caught after

I'd already released the original.

 

Originally, I began mapping to take a break from other problems in

programming 2d gaming. Nowadays, I have multiple Doom-related

projects going on at once, so when I get tired of one, I go work on

another. This does slow down releases but I find it helps me creatively to

break from things before they turn into grindstone shitwork.

 

[SilverMiner]

I don't cancel things, I just do something else

[RataUnderground]

After spending so much time with a map I feel that I am already on a different level than when I started it. The map starts to look amateurish to my eyes, so the longer I go without finishing it the more likely I am to abandon it.