EANB

Generally I make maps that I would want to play. Which means short and straightforward maps. Most of the time they start with a single idea and then it's a stream of consciousness to fill it out into a level. I try to think of interesting and challenging monster compositions. You're unlikely to find a permutation that has never been used before but hey if I haven't used them before that's what matters. And sometimes I'll see something cool in another map and be like "I want to do that". This might be controversial, but it feels like good game design if you can minimize the use of teleports. Finding clever ways of hiding enemies within the accessible level instead of relying on teleporters can make the map feel more like a real space, and gives you more opportunities for placing secrets and map progression. And I prefer to find ways of looping the map on itself physically instead of using teleporters to reset your position. That's just my preference (and I frequently don't follow it), and there are of course many clever ways of using teleporters.

I’ve taken two 5 year breaks from Doom (was just busy with other stuff in life) but I always feel the itch to make maps again.

My first map posted to the forums was hosted on an ephemeral mid 2000s upload site and is now lost. It wasn’t good, but I got some constructive feedback that put me on the right track. Its biggest crime was a single sector room with a strobe light stuffed to the brim with Revenants and Barons that was very unpleasant to traverse. It was otherwise a bunch of irregular rooms connected by a teleport or single door with wildly different themes. Typical beginner stuff. I remade that map as BHOUSE shortly after. It’s better, but still not good. Way too many barons and a little cramped, but I at least had the basics down of how to construct Doom like environments. It got reasonably positive reviews on idgames and newstuff but it definitely doesn’t hold up. 5 years later I remade that map again as Journey to Erebus, this time split into 3 maps. Better still, but not great and there’s plenty about it I would do differently today. It’s been 12 years since then (!!!) so maybe I’ll do a 3rd remake sometime.

I've meaning to get into vanilla mapping, so I figured as a bit of practice I would try converting this set to be fully vanilla/chocolate compatible. This isn't replacing the original version, I'm just putting this here as a curio or for anyone who prefers playing in chocolate doom. midnightV.zip It was an interesting exercise. Most maps only required a few nips and tucks, and I think sometimes having less detail looks less 'busy' and possibly better. I tried to avoid just putting up big blocking walls but sometimes it couldn't be avoided. Map 4 needed considerable renovations because of its more open plan - the opening view alone had 1325 segs and 165 visplanes, which was slashed down to 237 and 65. I was able to keep almost all the fights the same, though much of the gradient lighting was sacrificed. In spite of that, I think most of the atmosphere carries through.

Did not expect Glaive 3 to be a runner-up when there were countless quality releases this year! Thanks so much! Reading these is always an inspiration to keep on mapping.

Lately I've had a habit of using mid texture wires and railings to fill out ceiling space. Works nicely with a hanging light.

Dutch Devil’s maps were a big inspiration to me when I started mapping so it would be nice to see more modern stuff from him.

Played up through map 11, enjoyed it a lot. It starts off very cosy but the castle maps ramped it up quite a bit, while still being relatively conservative with monster counts and boss monsters. Excited to finish the rest. Encountered a soft lock on map 11, in the dark room with the lowering pillars the switches at the top are not functional under cl2 because the linedefs are facing the wrong way.

Final version now on idgames: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/m-o/midnight

Thanks for all the playthroughs, I took the time to watch as many demos and videos as I could. I updated the download with some very minor fixes which should be the final version I'll put on the archives. Just to clarify, in map 4 it is intentionally possible to run up the gravestone to the mancubus platform or to strafejump to the switch from the other building. I wasn't sure how clear progression to the blue key was, so I left in a few extra ways for players to hopefully stumble into it (though activating the lift switch from the low ground was not intentional, which I've fixed).

Thanks for playing. I tend to like putting a few running jumps in my maps to increase the pace (though if vanilla 3D bridges were less of pain to make I would use those instead...). Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the demos. It's tuned a bit lower for sure, but I'm happy it caught you out a few times.

You are right! I had thought the blood was looking more grainy than I remembered, but chalked it up to the dim lighting. I want to keep the palette vanilla, so I'll just remove the modified flats.

This is a fun project. unfinishedeanb.zip Map Name: The Docks Author: EANB Resources: CC4 Format: Boom Comments: This is the unfinished 4th map of Starshine. There's no real exit, no purpose for the keys or any kind of natural flow, the fights are unbalanced, there are some HOMs and you can fall into the abyss in a couple of places but it's surprisingly presentable. I wanted to end this with you getting into some kind of spaceship but my attempts at modeling one were feeble. I'll add a disclaimer that the Cyberdemon and Spiderdemon fights here were heavily remodeled and cannibalized for map 10 of Glaive 3, but most of the map is unseen (if this isn't okay, I have a couple of other maps I could submit). I've only added an exit linedef after the yellow door (there's unfortunately no purpose to the entire left side of the map), a way back onto the level if you fall off, and an invulnerability and a bunch of cells so you can reasonably kill everything in the map. Screenshots:

Thanks for the feedback! Oops, that happens when you don't pick up the yellow key first. I've updated and fixed this. I also made a few tweaks to the difficulty on UV in later maps. 4 megaspheres on map 7 was a little too generous in retrospect.

Download here: midnight.zip Or from idgames: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/m-o/midnight Alternative fully vanilla compatible version: midnightV.zip Have you ever wanted to explore an abstract prison-town in the dead of night? Now you can! Midnight features 7 maps of Doom action with a dark backdrop. Each map is relatively short and aims to present fun and challenging encounters with small numbers of monsters (every map has less than 120 enemies). Despite the theming, it's not a horror wad and you typically won't have visibility issues. Difficulty scales up to be around Plutonia level, I think (maybe a bit easier than Glaive 3). Visually, I took a lot of inspiration from Doom 2 in Spain Only. I acknowledge I've used a lot of brown here, but I've tried to insert some red, green, and white where appropriate. Map 4 was particularly inspired by Nostalgia map 16. All the music comes from the Raven Midi Pack. Info: Difficulty levels are supported. Compatibility: limit-removing, Doom 2 (cl2). Tested in DSDA and GZDoom. Please let me know if there is a port it doesn't work in. Designed for pistol starts, but play how you want. Continuous play will just be easier. No jumping, please. Co-op is supported but untested. Screenshots: Changelog: Download: midnight.zip