Old school map editors for a classic FPS, am I insane?

[pegsat]

As you are all aware, I am working on an FPS Metroidvania.

I'm starting to experiment with level design, and I'm thinking about utilizing Hammer or Doom Builder to create a preliminary plan.

I'm considering doing so since 1) I'm quite familiar with both tools after decades of use, and 2) I admire their quick development 3) I want the game to look like an old-school first-person shooter.

I contemplated utilizing Pro Builder, however the texture mapping is difficult and has a significant impact on performance.

I absolutely don't want my game to feel like a series of props like the new Shadow Warrior games, so I really want that BSP feel to it.

Am I insane?

Is there another approach that anyone can suggest?

The fact that I can have all of my textures set out clearly at build time and adjust them really quickly is the most compelling reason for utilizing hammer or db.

And both allow you to export maps as a model.

The one issue I've had with db is that the models don't always join all of the seams properly.

Any advice or thoughts?

[Darkcrafter]

Let me be arrogant, here are some points:

- I'm not aware who you are;
- I don't know what Metroidvania is;
- Use GZDoom Builder or Ultimate Doom Builder, it's super easy to create levels this way and they both allow exporting levels to OBJ (use 20% vertical scale up, since it's aspect ration correct, always) and with 2D top-view plans it's much easier to glue up these layouts into a true 3d space in a 3d editor and thus use it as a skelton for your game further;

- you want it to look like an old-school fps, please define, exactly what you want, there are many of such "old-school" ones:

a) be it Doom Vanilla look;
b) GZDoom look;
c) Quake 1 or 2 - '96-'98;
d) Early BF/COD games;
e) Counter-Strike;

Here is what I'd expect from a modern Doom clone:

- full hd resolution available;
- hi-res textures but with quality selector;
- 320x200/640x400 resolutions available with aspect ratio correction and good CRT + sharpness + chromatic aberration shaders like lottes or mattias;
- good polygonal models, I mean having more polygons than Quake 1996 so they could depict as much details as Doom sprites do but be 3D and fast enough (1-4k poly per model);
- good animation system, I must feel it moves and shoots, it's exactly why I prefer smooth doom and brutal doom, as there is some response;

If you come up with glued prototype geometry then it will get easier for you to draw the geometry with modern tools as you have the guide right before your eyes in a modern 3D level editor.

[pegsat]

Hello, thanks for replying. I learned some useful information through your answer. The problemcoreball has been resolved.