[W.i.P] Classic MegaWAD [working title]

[Onslaught Six]

Handful of notes:

-It's always good to change floor heights when you change floor textures. Seeing the carpet flat cut off directly into the tan "tiled" flat looks bad, especially when it's under doors.
-Speaking of, it could use some BIGDOORs instead of all small ones. The cramped nature of the level makes it feel even smaller than it really is; IMO rooms should contrast with each other; one room might be a thin box shape with a high ceiling while the next is a low-ceiling but wide area. You could also probably do with an open area or at least something with a skylight.
-The above will also help alleviate the other issue I have-the monsters are so tightly packed together that they're more interested in killing each other most of the time than they are me. Also, fighting Imps (or any projectile-based enemy) in tiny doorways is usually annoying for me, but that could be a personal gripe.
-If the shotgun is the reward for the (not very secret) secret, you shouldn't have shotgunners in the next room; especially because for some reason I'm more inclined to grab the secret after I kill the shotgunners, instead of before.
-It could use with some more border textures, just here and there. For example, the computers in the first room, while inset a little from the wall below it, still clash a little with the wall without a thin SHAWN or SILVER piece to complete the picture.
-I'm personally never fond of using the small silver door as an actual door, but even some vanilla Doom 1/2 maps do it so I can't fault you for it. I always use it simply as a "You came from here" door. Which, the weird thing is, it seems like the level is doing that until that door opens up later to progress the level. Which mostly leaves me, the player, with the question of, "Where the hell did I come from, then?" Because if the door I start with my back facing never opens, then I can reasonably assume that I came from there. As it is, the player has no indication of where they came from. Which is, I guess, alright, but it bothers me personally.
-Also, if it were me, I would have foregone the switch and made it a key instead. But I tend to prefer keys to switches. Switchhunts bother me because you're never entirely sure where a switch is going to open a door at, whereas with keys, you know exactly where you need to go next.
-I have no idea how to get the health and ammo in the last room, on top of the computer platforms. They aren't marked secret, so...

Wow, this sounds like more than I thought I had to say.

[LedIris]

Okay, thanks for all of that Onslaught Six.
I changed the location of the player start in the first room and added a door behind him so it actually looks like he came from somewhere.
I also changed the shotgunners to zombiemen in the switch room.
The door progressing on is now a blue door and the switch opening it requires a blue key - so that the player doesn't get confused.
I also changed the computers in the first room to have FLAT20 and SILVER textures so that they don't clash
but as for the floor textures changing under doors, that's still something I'm working on.

I changed the way the secret works as well, now it lowers 8 above the stairs below it.

Also, the computer platforms at the end lower when you walk to the exit door

[LedIris]

Hey, guys -

I've pretty much lost interest in this project. Screw that rubbish. I'm back in the game!

Here's two more screenshots of MAP02:





I'm seriously knocked out of ideas though. Anyone willing to help?

[AkumaKing]

Well, this didn't last too long. Rest in pieces, potentially good wad.

What are you talkin' about? I didn't say any joke as the wad didn't die. This mod is still alive as it got resurrected by Tsirhc Susej. That sounds like a legit character, but read it backwards.

[LedIris]

There appears to have been an accident here



Gives a more 'abandoned' feel to the 'abandoned' lab

Also, unfixable texture misalignments!

[LedIris]

One more screen from MAP02.



I decided to make the lab's design as repetitive as possible. It somewhat works
As for the repetitive design, I think I'll stop there.

[AkumaKing]

I'm seriously knocked out of ideas though. Anyone willing to help?

Satanist Church. That should be a map theme.

[LedIris]

I'm seriously knocked out of ideas though. Anyone willing to help?

Satanist Church. That should be a map theme.

That's an amazing idea

I'll keep it in mind for one of the later maps!

[SoloSpaghetti]

I'm seriously knocked out of ideas though. Anyone willing to help?

Some research lab focused on teleports, with pads that teleport you in the same place but in a different dimensions (like an hellish lab, or a nazist one)..
Or if you want something more traditional I'd say go with a prison map.

[LedIris]

I'm seriously knocked out of ideas though. Anyone willing to help?

Some research lab focused on teleports, with pads that teleport you in the same place but in a different dimensions (like an hellish lab, or a nazist one)..
Or if you want something more traditional I'd say go with a prison map.

That's a pretty good idea as well

I was thinking... some kind of Outpost for MAP03?

[Onslaught Six]

Also, unfixable texture misalignments!

Select the linedef and check "upper unpegged."

If you are stuck for ideas, the best thing I've found to do is play other people's stuff, or even the default maps. When you find a room you like, rip off that idea. You don't have to make it exactly like the original, just take the basic premise and do that. "Big computer platform in the middle, stairs on the side." "Big slime pit you need to run over several times to activate things."

The other thing I've found to expand my own creativity and level design is to look into the actual features of the engine, and use them! You can be surprised how quickly you can come up with ideas when you're determined to use a certain element. Find a line special you've never used that sounds weird or interesting, like "lower floor by 32 (changes texture)" and then figure out how that works, and then how to integrate that into a level.

I also did a bunch of speedmapping recently for a 200 minute map megawad and the best advice I have is to just not stop making things. When you build a room, immediately build two or three doors off to the sides or corners, even if they don't go anywhere yet. This will always leave you with "something to do."

I also found that I don't have a lot of fun mapping if I'm trying to make a map resemble some kind of specific place. Usually I just go in and make rooms that seem visually interesting. A room with a raised platform and steps up to it, and windows. A room with windows into another room. Stuff like that. Then I just come up with the name later. If I do intend to make a map resemble anything, I intend to make it resemble another map or a "theme;" I might start at the beginning of a map and go, "This map should feel like the middle of Episode 2." "This is an E4 map." "This level could go after Tenements in Doom 2."