What type of secret levels do you prefer?

[Cynical]

purist said:

Unless I read this wrong you can't do that in Vanilla. All the exits would go to MAP19

Uh, what? When I tried using a "secret exit" linedef in a non 15/31 slot, it took me to map01. A "regular" exit linedef from 14 would take you to 15, not 19.

[LexiMax]

The one thing I'm not such a huge fan of is callbacks to other games unless they're done incredibly well, and even the incredibly well done ones tend to wear thin after a while - like oh wow, you copy-pasted sprites from a 90's video game and put them in a level with 255 lighting everywhere, isn't that special.

To that end, I felt like Doom 2's secret levels were a huge missed opportunity, and they are by far my least favorite part of the IWAD.

[fraggle]

AlexMax said:

To that end, I felt like Doom 2's secret levels were a huge missed opportunity, and they are by far my least favorite part of the IWAD.

Yeah, it was a silly one-off joke that was funny only very briefly. To be honest I'm surprised they bothered making two whole levels.

I found it kind of laughable when the BFG Edition came out lately and people lost their shit over the "censored" levels, as though changing the Wolfenstein levels somehow ruined the entire game.

[Marcaek]

Most people value Doom less than the idea of Doom.

[DMPhobos]

I prefer secret maps that are funny, or like easter eggs. Kinda like the Wolfenstein secret maps on Doom 2. That's why i really liked D2TWI secret commander keen map.

[40oz]

Secret maps in Doom are a funny thing because there aren't many references to go off of. It seems like the consensus is that players want to be surprised or impressed but I guess the object of the secret is to play something that's both a surprise and fun, so its really hard for mappers to get the fuel they need to pump out a good secret map idea when almost every kind of map exists as a non-secret level already. For now on megawads stop at 30 maps.

[Aquanet]

Innocence X MAP10. Which I guess is secret; I've technically never found the exit.

A fully functioning doom dance club, and a cool horror effect that plays out in the bathroom ...

[joe-ilya]

Those which completely deviate from the non-secret maps, in terms of the theme, the gameplay and overall feel.

[Gez]

Aquanet said:

Innocence X MAP10. Which I guess is secret; I've technically never found the exit.

A fully functioning doom dance club, and a cool horror effect that plays out in the bathroom ...

http://i.imgur.com/9mAb9WF.png

That's basically Club Doom.

[riderr3]

Go 2 It, Go 4 It, Have @ It

[purist]

Cynical said:

Uh, what? When I tried using a "secret exit" linedef in a non 15/31 slot, it took me to map01. A "regular" exit linedef from 14 would take you to 15, not 19.

Yeah I read my post again and it makes no sense. Dunno if it was my phone autocorrecting or I lost the plot. It would still not work as Ichor described in the post I was quoting but the outcome would be as you've said.

[MTF Sergeant]

Okay, If it's a secret level, i would expect,

1. A ton of secrets.
2. Long map.
3. Considerable number of enemies.
4. And an awesome easter egg!

[Zed]

Graf Zahl said:

They should somehow fit in with the rest of a mod, but definitely be a bit off, be it by taking a fun approach or something you do not see that frequently.

Something like this.

For example, I love puzzle levels, but Reverie MAP31 was probably better elsewhere. And for this same reason Eternal Doom MAP31 was a bit of a disappointment.

[Devalaous]

The problem with secret levels is that thanks to hardcoded vanilla limits, and the annoying trend of vanilla mapping, everyone KNOWS there will be a secret exit on Map 15, and a second secret map connected to the first one. The sense of wonder is lost, and the normal exit will be ignored by most, because they KNOW they will miss out on two maps.

First time I played Ultimate Doom, I loved how the secret levels were all over the place, with one episode having a late secret level, another an early secret level, but these days, its just like Doom 2; you know there will be a secret level in that one map, always.

I prefer modern projects that can put a secret level anywhere, PSX Doom Lost Levels for example, has a secret level on map 2. Without the knowledge that a secret exit will always be on map 15 and map 31 or ExMx, the sense of wonder and discovery is there again.

____

As for actual secret level content? I like things to remain in-universe. Doom, TNT and Plutonia all have secret levels that might be a bit different or gimmicky, but still feel like you made a found a side-location on your journey, a hidden facility so to speak (literally with fortress of mystery). Slaughtermap secrets are technically fine, as they arent required progression, but thanks to the standard "secret level on X level", they are viewed as mandatory

[jute]

I prefer secret levels with novel themes, like the TNT secret levels, probably because I prefer novel themes in general - I have grown thoroughly tired of stock texture techbases and hellscapes. Novel gameplay concepts are fun too. I am always disappointed when a megawad's secrets are indistinguishable from its standard maps, or when the secret maps are simply incorporated into the normal sequence of levels and there are no actual secret maps.