DTWID: Project is done, check the release thread

[Reisal]

If noone's diddling about with E2M1, I could probably whip up a small map for that spot.

[Romero]

There was no selecting of sectors in DoomEd. You just clicked inside a sector anywhere and it did this:

right-click: pick up sector properties
left-click: set sector properties

There was a sector inspector panel that held sector properties and you could modify them.

Sector Inspector was my pirate handle in the 80s. I was the only one who knew my handle, lol.

[Lutz]

Romero said:

Sector Inspector was my pirate handle in the 80s. I was the only one who knew my handle, lol.

It's official -- this is now the greatest thread in internet history.

Also, John, since you are hovering -- thank you for being part of something that has brought me an incredible amount of sheer joy.

[NaturalTvventy]

ellmo said:

I've decided to end this day with an alpha release.
http://www.filefront.com/17751703/dtwid26.wad/

MAP: E2M6
NAME: Demon Cradle
STATUS: Layout completed in ~90%. No monsters placed; pickup and decoration placement limited to "critical", "important" and "I'll put it here so I don't forget later" - otherwise should be completely playable, with 5 secrets and a nice trap.

Enjoy.

Nice work Ell. It felt quite e2ish without being a rip of any specific level, which is good. You might want to considering adding 'monsters'. The original DOOM had lots of 'monsters', generally speaking. I find they add a lot of atmosphere to a level.

Ah but seriously, if I were to make a couple suggestions it would be to utilize more dramatic lighting. The who thing's pretty dark. Don't be scared to crank those wall and ceiling lights up to 255, and maybe a few rooms with a good 192 brightness or so. Speaking of rooms, I felt like this could use a few more of those. I felt an overabundance of hallways.

Keep it up homie!

NT

[Hellbent]

Mr. Chris: there is already at least one e2m1 attempt. Personally I would not at all mind seeing another one. If you do one, try to make it as original as possible--not a remake of Diemos Anomaly. I'll post a screenie of my alternate exit for your map shortly.

Ellmo: really nice layout. The map seems more of a replacement than a 'lost' level, tho; but this really only applies to the beginning area. I especially liked the exit area and exit chamber.

EDIT: Definitely agree with NT: it's all about the contrast. The exit area beyond the yellow door seemed inviting for a hidden room off of it... or some kind of secret/semi-secret area opposite of the exit door.

[ellmo]

NaturalTvventy said:

The who thing's pretty dark. Don't be scared to crank those wall and ceiling lights up to 255, and maybe a few rooms with a good 192 brightness or so.

Lightning hurts them eyes :( Lightning is not scary :(
But yeah, most of the time I'm operating on 128 / 144, which is neither really dark nor bright, but it might be mundane, I'll see to it.

Speaking of rooms, I felt like this could use a few more of those. I felt an overabundance of hallways.

There will be a couple more rooms and chambers, with optional stuff to pick up.

I'm also interested in people's opinion on secrets.

[Xaser]

Hellbent said:

Mr. Chris: there is already at least one e2m1 attempt.

Whoops -- is this counting mine? Or am I stealifying someone else's potential spot as well? :P

[EDIT] Ah, Marcaek is marked as doing something E2M1ish in the first post.

[Marcaek]

Go ahead. Im not sure if there's any massive problems with mine but I'm sure your work would be at least less STONE2 oriented. If you make a better E2M1 then you can have the slot.

Did anyone try the latest version of my E2M3?

[Xaser]

Whelp. I'm afraid I'm guilty as charged for STONE2 abuse. :P




It might look a bit too E2M1 in terms of texturing ATM, but that can probably be rectified somewhere along the line if need be. The FWATER1 is likely to be changed, at least -- it doesn't really fit alongside the blood.

And for good measure:

[NaturalTvventy]

Romero said:

There was no selecting of sectors in DoomEd. You just clicked inside a sector anywhere and it did this:

right-click: pick up sector properties
left-click: set sector properties

There was a sector inspector panel that held sector properties and you could modify them.

Sector Inspector was my pirate handle in the 80s. I was the only one who knew my handle, lol.

All I can say is thanks for the greatest game of all time. It has brought me endless enjoyment.

Emil Brundage

[Marcaek]

Sexy map Xaser :P The second screenshot looks kind of homage-y but I'll reserve judgement until I play it.

Honestly, the FWATER would look better as just another floor.

[Lutz]

THIS IS FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE!

No, not really, but I find myself fighting every natural mapping urge I have. At this point, I have found it most efficient to create the room I think I should, then delete 1/2 - 2/3 of the vertices. Arrgh. Anyway, kudos to all who have recently posted screenshots (and appear to be creating 4 levels a week) -- the shots look great.

You guys may not end up using it, but I suspect this will be the only level I contribute. Must...add...detail...

[Marcaek]

Add detail later, then release the detailed version seperately :P

[Hellbent]

Lutz said:

THIS IS FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE!

No, not really, but I find myself fighting every natural mapping urge I have. At this point, I have found it most efficient to create the room I think I should, then delete 1/2 - 2/3 of the vertices. Arrgh. Anyway, kudos to all who have recently posted screenshots (and appear to be creating 4 levels a week) -- the shots look great.

You guys may not end up using it, but I suspect this will be the only level I contribute. Must...add...detail...

From Facebook chat

Hellbent said:
We're actually finding it quite difficult to make maps that could be mistaken for the originals.
One thing that I am really impressed by in the originals is the lack of detail, yet the levels don't look bland.

Romero said:
really? how come? the original maps and their design is sitting right there......

The man kinda has a point... so stop bitching and start delivering!

[pcorf]

Bank said:

John Romero just made this thread his bitch.

I was a 'bitch" for dropping out and releasing my level. But hey guys, best of luck with the rest of the project and I still may do another map for it and if so it will be an Episode 1 map. But I've gotta get a few other projects out of the way such as Doom 2 Unleashed (PCCP) and my Community Chest 4 map.

[Marnetmar]

While I'm working on my E1M3 map, I'm also working on a Sandy-Petersen style hell map I'm thinking of calling the Labyrinth. At the start of the level, the player has to find his way through a maze of boiling blood before he dies. I think I'll finish this level faster because my natural style is alot like Sandy Petersen, but I love Romero's E1 maps the most.

[Reisal]

I got this done in about 3 hours..






Another map made out of fun, which makes it the third one in the past week.

[ArchitectofHell]

Man, that E2 map looks awesome.

Can I sign on for any available E4 slots that might be open? I'm creating a somewhat modified Episode 4 of my own, so it'd be good homework to study E4 maps and contribute a classic one to your very awesome project here. :)

[Csonicgo]

Romero said:

There was no selecting of sectors in DoomEd. You just clicked inside a sector anywhere and it did this:

right-click: pick up sector properties
left-click: set sector properties

There was a sector inspector panel that held sector properties and you could modify them.

You know if I ever did a map editor for speedmapping, this would be in it. That sounds so fast when I think about it.

[C30N9]

Thanks Mr.Romero for coming!

Architector: i don't think this project aims for all 4 episodes, read first page, i do love e4. However i'm not the maker of this but just telling you.

[ArchitectofHell]

Ah, you're right. Damn!

[dannebubinga]

Man, i've been really lazy on this project! I began working on a map when this project were just 2 pages long and now I feel like continuing.

I havn't done much 20% in design maybe, but I have some screenies.






I think you all will say that pic 1 is to much of a rip off on E3M3? sorry :P

[ellmo]

dannebubinga said:

I think you all will say that pic 1 is to much of a rip off on E3M3? sorry :P

A bit, but you can't really steer away from repeating some patterns if you're trying to mimic somebody's mapping style. All the shots look good and very E3-ish, and seeing as how only the first shot resembles E3M3, you have a pretty original map there. Keep it up!

[printz]

Hellbent said:

E1M4, in my mind, blends into episode 1 seamlessly as if Romero had made it himself. In fact, I keep thinking it's a Romero map, yet it is not, it was made by Petersen.

Wrong. E1M4 was started by Tom Hall and finished by John Romero, thus explaining why it fits so seamlessly in Episode 1.

In any case, don't forget about Tom Hall. I'm pretty sure he had a lot to say on the layout of the levels he designed (E1M4,8, E2M1-4,7, E3M3,7, MAP10). Looking at the automap, you'll see that most of them are enclosed in imaginary rectangles. They are fairly flat in design, are VERY nonlinear, and many of them have a large circular room near the middle (E1M4, E2M2 somewhat, E2M4, E3M7, MAP10).

[Reinchard666]

Maybe John can make names for all levels of this project??

[Hellbent]

Thanks for the clarification Printz. I'm sure there's all sorts of false assumptions and statements throughout this thread that if one of the makers of the game would happen to stumble upon this thread they'd notice and maybe point out. :p

Great to see you're so inspired Mr. Chris! Looks really good.

I like screenshot two Bunnebunga: looks like a rather novel area that you might have encountered in the original Doom.

About E4: I didn't want to do E4 in the beginning of this project because I didn't want to take away from people making maps for the episodes I was most interested in--the episodes with the most interesting environments and settings and texturing--since I was concerned that there wouldn't be enough contributions. That concern appears to be no longer valid. The other reason was that episode 4 came quite some time later and wasn't made as part of the original game. If enough people express interest in an Episode 4, I'd be open to having it be a stand alone episode that we could release after the original 3 episodes are done to keep with the authentic feel of the project.

For my own feeling, though, if we were to do an episode 4, I would be less concerned with adhering to the exact look of those levels: I find the monochromatic texturing per level that dominates the episode to be less interesting than the look of the other episodes. But that's just me.

EDIT: About Sheol's Spiraling Descent. As far as a concept for a level, this one seems like a pretty classic concept, yet there aren't too many levels that descend. Does anyone want to attempt this? To me it seems like it would be a late level in the episode. I have some ideas for it, but my mapping skills are rather sub-par. I think a hell level that is a progressive descent could be pretty neat if done well.

The idea that sort of popped into my mind after John mentioned the name was a series of smallish room/areas that the player drops down into; similar in size to the room in House of Pain with the two crushers and the invuln/chaingun in them. Maybe about 10 drop down areas with some other areas (many secret) branching off the drop-in rooms. So essentially a rather linear level. Each room you drop down into would be a different hellish texturing motif: snake floor/SPHOT or skintek, wood theme, gstone theme, cement/red-flat,, maybe brown96 with some skincut stuck on the walls... Each time you drop in, you are greeted by a nasty barrage of beasties. Not sure how the level would end, tho.

One more thing about difficulty: one way one could justify higher level of difficulty is that the reason the lost level(s) didn't make it into the final release is because id decided it was too hard. Anyway, just an idea. Seems to me a level with a description of "pure hellish experience" could be justified as being a little harder, anyway.

[General Rainbow Bacon]

Are there still map slots available for this? If so, I would like to try "Sheol's Spiraling Descent" as this is a concept I've actually always wanted to map for.

@Romero: What are your thoughts on the difficulty of the maps for this project? Do you think we should strive for a similar difficulty, or pump it up since all of us are Doom veterans? Also, thanks for the greatest game in the history.

[ellmo]

DoomHero85 said:

Are there still map slots available for this? If so, I would like to try "Sheol's Spiraling Descent" as this is a concept I've actually always wanted to map for.

You beat me to it. Oh well, Have to finish the E2 map first tho'
Will think of something next.

[Hellbent]

Marcaek: very original! I thought the blood area was a bit excessive as far as breadth and scope. The level also has lots of doors. Remember that most areas in Doom weren't connected by doors. Browse the E2 maps to see how rooms are connected to get some ideas. On the other hand, in defense of your doors, E2M6 was one of the few levels in Doom that had lots of doors. This is just a preliminary impression. I need to play through your level again (I died somewhere in the blood area).

[hervoheebo]

What map slots are available. I might have some time and will for this after all..