Doom Mapping

[alien8]

I've recently been getting back to my gaming roots after purchasing the Doom collection from Steam and then getting ZDaemon and ZDoom set up. I had forgotten how much I missed the visceral thrill inherent in a game where the only strategy involved is to kill or be killed. The only downside to Doom, in my opinion, were the deathmatch maps - since the gametype was in its infancy, the developers at id didn't really have a handle on what made a great free-for-all level.

Because of this, I figured I'd give editing for Doom a shot. Since I'd never touched a wad editor before (and never gotten past room-hallway-room in any editor for any game), I decided to give another popular deathmatch map from a different series a re-imagining (de-imagining?). The only restriction that I placed on myself was that the map would not support any of the new features that many of the source port engines provided (slopes, deep water, ambient sounds, colored lighting, etc.).

I've been working on it off-and-on for the last couple of days, and I'm no where near done yet, but I thought I'd throw this out there to see how short of a time it would take before anybody could finger the original level this is based off of. So here we go:

 

[_Zd_3s_]

Deck16!!

//edit: FIRSTIES!! What do I win?!

// Also, map editing was so much fun in the old days. I remember laying out maps like that for Duke Nukem 3D; you could actually finish a map within a week or so.

 

[alien8]

Jebus, 3 minutes. Ha! You are correct, of course.

The team of engineers and builders behind the Deathmatch facility Deck 16 were but a twinkle in their father's eye when the sounds of plasma cannons and chainguns were echoing the dark chambers of Deck 1!

Here's a handful of screenshots without final texturing, lighting, and aligning:

 

[_Zd_3s_]

That's hot, alien8. So, how is DM in Doom..? I only started playing multiplayer from Duke3D and up, so I never got to experience it.

 

[Big-Al]

haha love it!

 

[PsyXandeR]

These awesome pics show that EPIC once again FAIL...

Now, perfectly serious , awesome stuff, is it possible to make SP map out of it?

 

[RoninMastaFX]

This is probably the best map I've seen for Doom in ages (and I do mean close to a decade XD)

 

[alien8]

I know that all mappers tend to say this, but I'm not really happy with how it looks yet. There's a lot of surprising lighting and geometry tricks that can be pulled off with the Doom engine, so I've got a lot of learning to do yet, but its coming along, I suppose. Going to attach a couple of pictures of what I've done this afternoon and then I'm off to a buddy's place for the rest of the day. I think I'm going to use this thread as kind of a development blog. If I know that people are reading this and expecting a finished product, it'll give me the drive to finish this. I am a lazy North American, after all.

 

[JohnDoe641]

I used to use WadAuthor, it came with this giant 200+ page book and it included thousands of 3rd party wad editing tools to muck the game up with. I used to replace the enemies with things like smiley faces and random characters that I draw in Paint.

 

[Twisted Metal]

I remember laying out maps like that for Duke Nukem 3D; you could actually finish a map within a week or so.

Yes!!! The Build editor. It was amazing! :tup:

Man I wish I saved some of the maps I built with that thing. It would be really nostalgic to play through them today.

I remember building a whole entire porno themed map with naked girls everywhere. It was great.

alien8, much respect to you for undertaking this project!

 

[Big-Al]

i've always been amazed buy the lighting in the original DOOM engine

 

[NeoNite]

This is probably the best map I've seen for Doom in ages (and I do mean close to a decade XD)

Then you've hardly seen anything yet.

Alien8, zdaemon offers much more than creating those typical cube rooms.

Here's an example :

http://forums.zdaemon.org/viewtopic.php?t=11576

Notice the stairs/ramps/lift.

 

[GeckoYamori]

Looking good so far, but AFAIK (native) Doom does not support floors on top of floors, you run into any issue concerning that yet?

 

[alien8]

Then you've hardly seen anything yet.

Alien8, zdaemon offers much more than creating those typical cube rooms.

Here's an example :

http://forums.zdaemon.org/viewtopic.php?t=11576

Notice the stairs/ramps/lift.

Oh agreed - I know that some of the source port engines offer some amazing new features, but like I said in my first post, I am restricting myself to not creating anything that the original Doom 1 engine couldn't handle.

Looking good so far, but AFAIK (native) Doom does not support floors on top of floors, you run into any issue concerning that yet?

Yeah - this level, unfortunately, isn't going to have very much Z axis fighting. If I would have made some changes to my original layout, I probably could have gotten the sniper hole in the main room to fit (and I may yet, it'll just be smaller and gotten to via a teleporter). As for the upper hallway that held the goop gun in UT, that's out.

 

[NeoNite]

D'oh, I didn't see that Alien8. My bad =)

 

[pine]

Cool beans, alien8. Please keep it up!

 

[alien8]

Had some time this morning before my wife woke up to do some more work on Deck1. I think I'm finished with the architectural design now, and the only parts from Deck16 that had to get cut were the sniper's nest in the main room and the lower level that held the jump boots and the teleport to the redeemer. Oh, and the small room where the redeemer was.

All in all, I'm pretty happy so far with the way it's turned out. The main room is going to feature some pretty great Z axis fighting after all. Now, unfortunately, is the part that I've been putting off. Texturing, lighting, and overall prettying-up.

Here's the layout picture in the meantime:

 

[Neddaf]

ohh ohhh pics of the ramp room plzzzz. nice job!

 

[alien8]

ohh ohhh pics of the ramp room plzzzz. nice job!

The ramp room is utterly hideous right now since I'm having a hell of a time trying to create a cohesive theme from the stock Doom textures. I had Epic's Deck16 textures tweaked and resized and in the map for a while, but I nixed the idea since it didn't really fall in line with my Doom-era re-envisioning of the map.

Going to keep at it, though. The more that I run around inside the level checking for misaligned textures and the like, the more I'm positive it'll be a blast to deathmatch in.

Edit:

Here's one. I know it looks like ass as of yet:

 

[leilei]

Do it in Boom format so all 3 multiplayer ports can play it

Doomworld is a great doom site for mapping help. Some of the best mappers hang out there.