1 Flat, 1 Texture - A Doom II map

[randomsounds01]

So after seeing maps like Wood5Flat5, I decided to make my own with RROCK12 as the flat and BSTONE3 as the texture. I also included the F_SKY flat and SW1BROWN for a switch texture.

 

Made for Boom format, tested using DSDA-Doom on complevel 9 for Doom II.

 

There is also a start of a MAP02, using BRICK7 and FLAT1_1.

one texture one flat.zip (Feedback appreciated)

 

Screenshots:

[DoomGappy]

Oh, wow. I wasn't expecting my map to inspire anyone. It feels good! Here is a quick run of the map. I talk about it better in the video, but here are the most important points.

Highlights
- The layout is nice! It didn't feel confusing and it felt very cool. I love "void" themed maps with their floaty aura. 

- The battles felt really nice, though I kinda scrambled a bit in the beginning. Could use a regular shotgun or rocket launcher in a secret

Improvements
- The one texture you chose to use is too busy, and also feels counter intuitive sometimes. It feels very repetitive and kinda confuses the player. From what I've seen so far, one texture maps work better if the texture is "balanced", that is, if it is clean and uniform, with not many parts that call the attention of the player too much. It feels counterintuitive because how can there be darker areas near the texture in some parts, if the texture itself is emitting light? It would have to be all uniform. I would change it to the no lights equivalent. Speaking of lights...
- One texture maps should rely more heavily on lighting tricks, since they are very limited on texture variety. How can you make things stand out? With different lighting. If you've played my map that you mentioned in the OP, you are going to see some lighting tricks applied to guide the player on what to do, without being too hand-holdy, but you're also going to see lighting used for ambiance. The area that needs the three red keys to be opened is very dark because it's in a basement-like place, whereas the other areas are more light because there are openings from where light can enter. This type of map benefits and relies much more from lighting tricks than other maps which can have more varied textures. 
- The imps mix too much with the background, I got a bit dizzy in the first fight. I suspect that using very brown enemies won't be a good idea for this map because they mix too much with the walls. 
- The techbase lamps feel out of place here. Stick to candles, firesticks, candelabra and floating skull rocks. You can add Evil eyes and burning barrels too. 

I pointed out some of these things in the video below. It was fun! I hope this feedback can help you improve the map and grow as a mapper. Seeing as you've made two maps, maybe this can be the start of a Community project of sorts. Cheers!
 

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by DoomGappy

[Riclo500]

Very cool!
 

 

[DankMetal]

Inmost dens type wad.

Gotta test it soon

[Zahid]

alright map,pretty basic not great 

fda took 2 min to complete 

[plums]

Like @DoomGappy got at, one of the fun things about seeing low-texture and especially single-texture maps is what kind of tricks the mapper does to stretch the texture use. Here you just wallpaper it over everything though, with not even a ton of lighting effects, and on top of that it's a texture that is both overly brown and overly busy with the light drawing. It seems like you used the "one texture" approach as kind of an excuse to not put effort into the texturing, more than anything else. (Sorry that sounds harsher than I mean it to, not sure how better to phrase it.)

 

I did like the void style layout, especially the floating decorations. The switch in the mancubus room that releases the revenants was a good trap too.

 

dsda 0.27.5 fda if you want to see: https://user.fm/files/v2-ec4a711bc97116f549c045745db269ef/1tex1flat-plums_01.lmp

 

[insanoflex312]

The texture choice was very busy. I did like the floating blocks with the knights, though. I think the texture worked there, but everywhere else, not so much. Very flat lighting, and if you did add darker areas, the torch would look weird. Gameplay was weird, but interesting, and I had fun. Wanted something other than the SSG but after the full playthrough, I didnt really need it. Plenty of opportunities for in-fighting. Overall a good start I think. How many levels did you have in mind for this? I can definitely see 6-10 short levels with this concept if you keep experimenting.

[DoomGappy]

I opened it in the editor to see what it looks like with Bstone2 (much better btw), and how the fuck did you make these float?

 

This is a really cool way of making light stone stair trims tho.

Edited December 9, 2023 by DoomGappy

[insanoflex312]

4 minutes ago, DoomGappy said:

and how the fuck did you make these float?

 

Just make the linedefs have the same sector definition and voila, invisible platforms. I feel like its lost technique from the olden days.

[DoomGappy]

I gotta learn how to do that, damn. 

[randomsounds01]

5 hours ago, DoomGappy said:

I gotta learn how to do that, damn. 

Yeah, if you right click on the linedefs they will have a ‘Sector index’ and you just change the back side ones to be the same as the front side.

[DoomGappy]

20 minutes ago, randomsounds01 said:

Yeah, if you right click on the linedefs they will have a ‘Sector index’ and you just change the back side ones to be the same as the front side.

Ok, thanks, just learned how to do it. Does this technique have a name?

[randomsounds01]

1 hour ago, DoomGappy said:

Ok, thanks, just learned how to do it. Does this technique have a name?

I think they're called 'Self-referencing sectors', although I just got that name from a tutorial showing how to make 3-D floors with them.