Rethinking my design style

[Draconio]

Well, judging by the reviews my maps got on the latest Newstuff, it's time for me to rethink how I design Doom floor plans. Anyone who wants to post some feedback on these maps or offer me any advice on layout design, please do.

[Epyo]

once i download them...

EDIT: ok i downloaded them and i think you shouldn`t put walls right in the middle in the rooms. Like in one you had a big cross shaped wall in the center that slowed me down. And maybe you could make the rooms more circular? and put some sky ceilings for some fresh air?

[Cadman]

I found it very important that you design the map with a good "flow" to it. Everyone out there in the Doom Community has an idea on how a map should look and play. You go to one review page and they rate a certain map as excellent and then you go to another review site and they say the map sucks. You just can't win at times. Remember, give yourself a good design idea and the other important factor is to have alot of patience. Like many computer related tasks, WAD-building can be simple to perform but complex to master. You can expect to spend many hours switching to and fro between your editor and the game engine, as you lay out, test, and refine your creation, until you produce something that you feel can be released to the world. Most of the rules of WAD structure and design have been formulated by amateurs working long hours, discovering things by experimentation. Here are some other basic considerations..

*Practice good texture alignment on the X & Y layout. Bad texture alignments can even make a good level suck.

*Placement/Distribution of monsters is very important! Throwing a ton of monsters in a map doesn't make it good. I've seen maps with just a few well placed monsters and they play and feel great.

*Use a good node-builder. A few editors out there have a built in node builder. Also Zennode is a good node builder.

*Have a good reject map.

*Playtest your map extensively, find the problems before you release the map. A buggy map will be found out and not downloaded! The word gets out!

*I found it very good to implement all the skill levels in whatever map you build, adjust the ammo, health, amount of monsters and the such for the particular skill level.

These are just a few words of advice and I know there are many more, just give yourself a good start. Good luck.


Cadman - Member TeamTNT

[Fredrik]

Build the map's layout like a DM level - add lots of connections. It's always more fun to play a level with more than one possible route through.

[Biffy]

From my efforts, I've decided that I have little talent for designing good architecture from scratch. If you can make a map, then get a few people to playtest it and comment, then go back and fix things up accordingly, test again, etc. you will begin to beat the thing into shape. At least, that's how I have to work.

In the end, nothing beats "good gameplay", whether it's solo play or deathmatch. Eye candy is always appreciated, as well as perfect texture alignments, but if the gameplay isn't there, your efforts are wasted. How to define good gameplay - I don't know, other than having an acceptable balance of threat, offensive supplies, places for cover and chances to recover health. Some ebb and flow, not just continuous battling.

For deathmatch, you don't usually want a map which forces the players into fixed paths, there should often be a choice of directions to approach map areas so the element of surprise and tactics can be a part of the game. The best goodies like energy weapons can be objects to fight over, putting players at risk if they choose to go after the goodies. Consider the plasma rifle in dwango5 map1, to get it you have to activate the lift and wait, allowing other players to come ambush you as you attempt the ride up or to run up the steps to the backside and nail you as you grab the plasma. If you get the plasma, you have a choice of which way to go, back down over the lift, out into the yard or back down the stairs.

Mazes are not much fun for most deathmatchers. Some of the better designs allow players to catch sight of each other across fairly large areas of the map, although they may have to navigate through some structure to engage in battle.

Use of diffences in elevation is often welcome in a map. Look at gothicdm map02, the gray castle, for an example of "genius" in a fairly small map.

[Biffy]

Fredrik said:

Build the map's layout like a DM level - add lots of connections. It's always more fun to play a level with more than one possible route through.

Amen.