Lesser evil.

[h0lx]

Hi. You might remember me from posting my first WAD, attempt to remake Doom E1-E3, with 2 levels done. Haven't had the time to do any editing for a long time, but now I have made the first part of my planned 2 level WAD. The title is pretty random.

http://hc4.dmgamez.pri.ee/lesserevil.wad

Oh and comments and critique are very velcome, as I am still a beginner. I tested it out multiple times on different difficulties(not nightmare, only beaten it once on it, I'm a doom fan, but not a hardcore doomer) too. Oh and sry, no pictures, I run it on Doom95 and screenshots have their colors messed up, if I take them.

[Illdo]

Okay...
- Why is the title longer than 8 letters? (This can cause problems with runnin the wad ya know.)
- Why is it on MAP19 instead of, oh let's say, MAP01?
- The architecture is quite bare.

[Nomad]

In addition to what Illdo said, I found that it was a little annoying to hit switches and not quite be sure what happened. That's usually OK when you have the switch trigger something obvious that the player has already seen, but in the "non-linear" patter like the one you have in the first one, that's not always so easy to do.

Also, in the second, I found myself with not anywhere near enough ammo in the Cyberdemon/Spider Mastermind room, though I forgot that I could just let them shoot each other, so that's partially my fault (although it would probably be a good idea to let the player do it either way they like; either the hard or easy way), and there was one teleporter that brings you back nearly to the beginning which was very annoying.

Those are just my gripes, though. Otherwise, I suppose it's not bad for an early mapping attempt. Just keep at it.

[Ninja_of_DooM]

yeah i remember you from a while back. Ok, let's see:

You've got the basics of mapping nailed down and well presented.

The pace of gameplay is consistent throughout.

Simple and straightforward to play.


Niggles I have with the level:

Set the map to map01, not 19. If you want to change the music for map01, this can be done easily, but you'll learn how to do that later.

Suffers from a few typical newbie flaws in design, such as tight winding corridors, but this is your first real attempt. The bareness of the architecture is hardly an issue at your level. At least it was more playable and eye-pleasing than my first level.:p Like I said, you have the basics nailed. That's a good start. :)

[h0lx]

- Why is the title longer than 8 letters? (This can cause problems with runnin the wad ya know.)
It can? ok, I will change that.

Set the map to map01, not 19. If you want to change the music for map01, this can be done easily, but you'll learn how to do that later.
OK, but how do I rename the map numbers, once set to MAP19? Did not find a place to do that, saving in a new wad won't help, I tried.
- The architecture is quite bare.
True, I am trying though
Also, in the second, I found myself with not anywhere near enough ammo in the Cyberdemon/Spider Mastermind room
The gotcha level is an original Doom II level, which was supposed to be replaced by another level(currently in progress).

Oh and thank you for your feedback. Critique taken into account, Will remember the points, while designing the second level, trying to fix the first one.

EDIT: also, did you get all the secrets?

[Ninja_of_DooM]

Ok, for changing the music; Do you have XWE? if you do, use it to open the wad and look for the entry 'MAP19.' rename it to 'MAP01' and you're done.

Once that's done, take the MIDI file that you want to use for the levels music and rename it to 'D_RUNNIN' and stick it in the wad with XWE. Job done. ;)

[Nomad]

The gotcha level is an original Doom II level, which was supposed to be replaced by another level(currently in progress).

Wow, shows how often I've played Doom II. I hate those maps so badly, I must have forced that one out of my mind. Holy shit that was awful.

[Mr.Person]

Thats an alright mod, it lacks alot of detail, but I cant give much of a rating on that since I havent modded since I got a runtime error in Doombuilder.I run it on Doom95 Dude get a good port like zdoom (http://zdoom.org/Download) or Doomsday (http://www.doomsdayhq.com/) or maybe Legacy (http://sourceforge.net/projects/doomlegacy) *bliss*

[h0lx]

Give me one reason, why any of the source ports is better than the original? Exept taking screenshots, hehe.

[Mr.Person]

well most ports can create more editing possibilitys, such as BOOM compatibility, 3d-Floor-over-floor, better graphics, etc. I hope yo know that im not saying "get a port retard doom95 is obsolete", im just tring to say that ports can support more than doom95 can *good* also you can get ports like Skulltag (http://www.skulltag.com/download/) for online gaming

[Aliotroph?]

Ports work on my widescreen monitor. Well, Legacy 1.42 doesn't, but it's kinda broken atm anyway.

[CrazedImp]

Modern ports allow for bigger maps, better rendering, and overall better stability. If you plan to do a lot of mapping, ZDoom/GZDoom are your best bets. You could sit here all day ranting about why its better to use any modern port over Doom95, but really if you plan to do mapping of any sort, a modern port is practically a must.

[Aliotroph?]

That aside, this map was far, far too easy. It felt like the balance would have been excellent with about half as much ammo. I played it all the way through with the shotgun with no problem.

It was however, very well put together for a first map. It didn't suffer from really weird textures or glitches, which was a pleasant surprise.

Things like details and layout I'm not going to suggest specifically because everybody comes up with their own anyway. My only comments in that direction are Nomad is right about the switch thing, and if you have a place that's brighter than its surroundings it's good to have a light source there. Even if you don't do things like gradients (and you did it well in the stairs) the presence of light sources does a lot to imply the direction of the lighting and make the place somewhat believable.

Oh, and blood rivers are cool. More blood! :D

[Dutch Devil]

Fun map but way too easy cause of the ammo/health balance but I think the map was pretty good for an beginning mapper I liked the non linearity it had.

About the detail don't worry too much about that gameplay and an good layout are the first things you should stick effort in, detail only makes the map look nice thats all it does you could make and very simple map with an crap layout and then throw loads of detail in it the it and after all that effort it still is an crappy map an good map starts with an good layout.

[h0lx]

Thanks for the feedback. I will take some of the ammo away then. I like Doom95 because it has the genuine doom feeling, I tried out the jdoom, with the 3d models, nice, but it did not have the doom feeling. I will soon release the second level without things to see what you think about layout. I think I did a lot better there than on the first one.

[CrazedImp]

I have to agree with you that while jDoom does look nice, it really doesn't make the game feel like Doom anymore. It just feels too smooth, and for some reason when I play jDoom I find it harder to play the game. Maybe its just the mouth smoothing the engine uses, I dunno, but I find it easier using something like GZDoom. You should try out GZDoom, its struck a nice balance between visual upgrades and gameplay tweaks, along with special editing features you could learn as your mapping skills improve.

As to your map itself, I gave it a try, and its a good solid effort for a first map. Very much on the easy side, even on UV, so maybe adding some more monsters next time, and less ammo. But of course, don't give us not enough ammo... Its no fun running around punching things, well, when your trying to play seriously anyway. I found the health balance was alright, I'm sure if you added a few extra monsters and a couple of extra traps then it'd be an even better challenge.

And as Dutch said, don't worry so much about your level detail. Once you start getting some more length to your maps, better layouts, and people generally comment how nice your gameplay is, then you can start adding those little details to a map that make it feel nice. Just remember when you do start adding little details that cramming as many sectors as possible into a room is not detail (a good example of over-detailing can be seen in some of the later Gothic maps). A good length, decent detail map is usually around 700 sectors. I find the best way to learn detail is to study maps you think look nice in Doom Builder, at least thats how I found it easiest anyway.

But you are definitely on the right track, keep it up. :)

[h0lx]

Ok, I have completed the main layout for the second part of the wad. Tell me what to improve. haven't done anything yet to the first level, and it's still level 20, but will fix, when the wad is done. The wad is missing most of the things too, but I have plans. The big room will be filled with mancubuses, etc. Oh and the URL is the same.