Things in Doom Mappers Do to Annoy You

[Enjay]

Z1M3 is actually one of my favourite maps in KDiZD. I love the cavey section and I was pretty blown away by it when I first saw it. That being said, I've played the map many times and I still manage to get lost in it. I don't know what it is, but there must be something inherently confusing about the map.

[Nash]

Slow unskippable cutscenes

[ReX]

Curiously, I don't find things to be inherently annoying. Occasionally, I'll slog through a map (or parts of it), and wish I had skipped it. But I'm often willing to forgive things that seem to bother others (as outlined in the posts above). After all, maps are mostly created based on what the author enjoys or believes others enjoy.

The one thing I've noticed is that many players want to be able to play maps where they can complete them on the first try - no difficult traps, plenty of ammo, no learning curve involved. I believe that players should not be able to breeze through maps the first time, unless they are being played at low skill levels. There ought to be some challenge and some trial-and-error involved. If a path is available but not the resources to make progress along that path, then the player must learn or discover that an alternative path must first be pursued. Occasionally, the author may create a map that is deliberately complex, and, yes, confusing. This lends itself to a different type of gameplay experience in and of itself, where the intention is to create disorientation. Not everyone will enjoy this type of map, but as I said before, authors create maps that they enjoy or hope others will enjoy.

Slow unskippable cutscenes

Guilty as charged. However, in my defense, ever since it became possible to allow cut-scenes to be made skippable, I've made every effort to allow it.

[Ghastly]

Making the white door you see at the beginning of every map a secret you can open. One of the Simplicity maps did this (You had to use a flickering light that seems like an ordinary detail), and at least one Memento Mori map did it. It's REALLY annoying, because out of the hundreds of maps where it doesn't open, these mappers decided "Let's hide something there!"

[OrangePikmin33]

Too many arch-viles or enemies.
Or the level is udder shit stained on a barbecue grill.

• Teleporting monster ambushes that are impossible to anticipate without having previously played the map.
• The above, with silent teleports.
• The above, done for every stupid key you ever pick up.
• Staged arena fights.
• Doors that lock you in to staged arena fights.
• Nukage and lava pits where you're supposed to just die and restart the level if you fall in. Never not cheated around those.
• Replacing the pistol sound.
• Music files bigger than the map itself.
• Disabling jumping or crouching or both.
• Being a sequence, whether linear or branching, of staged encounters that fail to overlap or connect to each other in any meaningful way.
• Invisible barriers.

I have to agree with you.
Oh, and doors that can't be opened by one side, that can be troublesome if there is a shitload of monsters, i'm okay if there are some monsters, if its a trap in a good .wad, like Memento Mori, i'm okay with that.

[wildweasel]

Making the white door you see at the beginning of every map a secret you can open. One of the Simplicity maps did this (You had to use a flickering light that seems like an ordinary detail), and at least one Memento Mori map did it. It's REALLY annoying, because out of the hundreds of maps where it doesn't open, these mappers decided "Let's hide something there!"

Older versions of Freedoom's Map03 did this as well: the starting room consisted of the regular silver door and a large UAC (well, AGM) branded door. Guess which one actually opens and allows the map to begin? Nope, not the big door!

[MG_Man]

Making the white door you see at the beginning of every map a secret you can open. One of the Simplicity maps did this (You had to use a flickering light that seems like an ordinary detail), and at least one Memento Mori map did it. It's REALLY annoying, because out of the hundreds of maps where it doesn't open, these mappers decided "Let's hide something there!"

Never play Descent.

It doesn't even make any sense for it to be this way because it's the door you enter the map from!!

[SoulCrow]

The one thing that seriously annoys the hell out of me is Arch-Viles placed in walls right next to chaingunners or Revenants, basically resulting in sniping enemies that (for a long while) you can't get rid of. I like to be able to clear an area and move on, not have to figure out what to do next while under such a constant threat!

[Mikk-]

Inescapable lava pits of death.
Insta-kill floors with no real meaning
Archviles with no cover
wolfenstein textures/soldier in non-wolf styled maps
over-use of decoration objects, especially when they don't fit the map [floating skull rock in techbase etc.]
monsters that can hit you, but you can't hit them
more than 2 cyberdemons in one room, bonus hate-points if the room has no cover and you don't even have a decent weapon yet
large empty rooms with something insignificant [stimpack or 4 shells when I've just picked up 30 in the room before] which when near enough monsters start teleporting in.

[Gothic]

Those freaking "Vader slopes" (no offense to Vader) are annoying, Why not just make classic rock stairs and tops instead of make every sector sloped? Also, that makes the flat texture look like shit if you don't use scaling on UDMF or Hi res textures.

[Amuscaria]

1) Maps that are straight lines.
2) Maps that is a series of boring arenas.
3) Anything that tries to mimic Call of Duty.
4) Maps that require you to "jump" by being blasted by an archvile.
5) Fighting a cyberdemon in a 256x256 room.
6) Maps that are filled with monster from beginning to end with endless hordes (pretty much the later maps in Alien Vendetta).

[zrrion the insect]

#4 is okay if vile jumping is required for a secret, but not for regular progression.
I hate maps that introduce drastically new game-play mechanics, but don't adjust the difficulty curve of the level to get the player used to them. I suppose you could muck about on the lower difficulty levels, but I always assume that levels are meant to played on UV, so I tend not to ever play on lower difficulties to avoid spoiling the intended experience.

[0bsidian]

The one thing that seriously annoys the hell out of me is Arch-Viles placed in walls right next to chaingunners or Revenants, basically resulting in sniping enemies that (for a long while) you can't get rid of. I like to be able to clear an area and move on, not have to figure out what to do next while under such a constant threat!

Epic 2 MAP32 comes to mind.

Personally I never use the mouse, so maps that require mouselook are struck off my proverbial list. Sorry Void.

[Graf Zahl]

To me 'Legacy of Suffering' is the epitome of what can be done wrong in a Doom map. That abomination nearly does everything that would make me dislike a map, and does it in a way that perfectly illustrates why I don't like it. Starting with the disabled automap, to the closed-off arena fights (in square rooms to boot!) and a dull and repetetive gameplay that made me puke.

I'm curious as to how many of the people who complain about the size and complexity of KDIZD Z1M3 have ever played Eternal Doom. Z1M3 doesn't seem anywhere near as huge and confusing as some of the maps in that.

I don't get either, what's the problem with KDiZD Z1M3. Yes, it's huge, it's non-linear, the cave section may be a bit maze-y, but I never found it confusing.

Eternal Doom on the other hand, now that one had some truly confusing maps, only to be eclipsed by Chris Couleur's maps in ED4. I gave up on them because I had the feeling of never getting anywhere. Large, confusing, extremely non-linear without any guidance, and all that topped by excessive monster respawning that made it impossible to relax once in a while. Not my cup of tea.
It's not like these maps are a showcase of things done wrong but they pushed some good design ideas beyond the limits.

[Gez]

4) Maps that require you to "jump" by being blasted by an archvile.

Then this isn't for you.

(To be honest it's not for me either.)