A Different Kind of "Beginner's Guide to Doom Modding"

So, you're new to Doom Modding. Welcome!

 

 

I know that there are a bunch of threads out there about utilities and editors and such, but they never truly address the one thing that makes those things work, and that's YOU.

 

Yes, you! The person reading this thread!

 

You're in luck, buddy - the Doom Modding Community is a wonderful place full of cool people (not just me) that will help you out in your endeavor to become the best dang contributor we have ever seen! We've got tools for building maps, libraries for programming, and whole compendiums of nearly 30 years of community knowledge at your fingertips that I could have only dreamed of having back when I was a tiny lad and using the worst editors known to man (honestly, you have no idea how good you have it; dreams go to die in DoomCAD).

 

Now, the nice thing about making stuff for Doom is that you get out of it exactly what you put into it. Draw a rectangle, and you have a room. Write some weird code in some files someplace, and you've changed some monsters. If you want to do crazier stuff, there's always an amazing, community-supported enhanced engine out there for making lots of stuff easier, in case you don't want to do the "uber-nerd" thing and try to get stuff working in the DOS version of Doom from back in '93 - that's just for us masochistic folk.

 

 

But BEWARE, young trainee: you must exercise patience in your training, or else you'll fall victim to the pitfalls that overly-confident newbies like yourself encounter every day! 

 

Every once in a while, we get somebody coming in here with big, big plans who rushes headfirst into "Magnum Opus mode" before they even make a "Minimum Opus" to throw out there and get feedback on. From experience, I can say: do not be this person!

 

Once, I was a youngin who shot for the stars without so much as a direction or heading, but now that I'm some kind of self-styled, ancient, moss-covered ogre of the "Doom Modding Scene" who's been doing this sort of nonsense in nearly every sort of capacity for at least 25 years and counting, not only do I have a glut of experience and knowledge at my beck-and-call, but I've also got a lot of "Goodwill Equity" to squander telling you whipper-snappers what-for with some uncomfortable truths that could get a bunch of hopelessly optimistic novices angry at me and saying that I've finally become too old and out-of-touch and soon I'm gonna be whining that "it's the children who are wrong," and shaking my fist at the clouds.

 

Well, sit down for a spell - this could take a long while of your time, but if you reach the end, you'll already fare better than those that fall on their sword running out of the gate.

 

Look out, young traveler - there are a bunch of ways you could end your journey early:
 

 

1) Your Ideas are Way Too Big

 

We get it. You're new. You've got spirit. You've got gumption. You've got CHUTZPAH. You've got ideas! The Ultimate Bazillion Map Compilation and it's gonna have loads of new monsters and items crammed into it and it'll magically all work together. Surely, nobody's ever thought of that before, right?

 

Well, guess what? We have. And hoo-boy, it's not gonna be good.

 

Man, oh man, I can't tell you how many times I've scribbled down grandiose plans and fantasies of large, epic projects that I was sure would net me community love and adoration, and perhaps that coveted job at [insert prominent video game company here] way back when (well, before they all became scandalous, toxic, career-threatening deathpits). You know what all of those ideas have in common? They were "good ideas" on paper. Literally!

 

Alas, none of those ideas ever made it past the idea stage, nor were tested by implementation. Not a single map made, not a single texture drawn, not a single frame of animation for that cameo of your favorite cartoon character that will attract overzealous legal departments. And thank the Lord that those ideas never did make it, because if my early mapping work wasn't embarrassing enough, my childhood ideas would probably turn the heads of psychologists that are still busy revising the next edition of the DSM.

 

So if it makes you feel better, you're not alone, which is, unfortunately, to say that you're probably not unique.

 

So how do you combat this? Do you go on an angsty tirade and tell your friends, family members, and forum nay-sayers that they're wrong, and that they'll rue the day they said that you're biting off more than you can chew for wanting to retell the epic battle of "that time when Sephiroth invaded Equestria"?

 

No. It won't help your case any, and you aren't gonna sway any hearts and minds in your favor. Besides, if you haven't touched any tools or editors, then you'll have no frame of reference on what you can do with them or where their limits are, and you'll be eternally frustrated with yourself as you pare back your vision trying to get everything to work, rewrite after rewrite (yes, including that important, heart-rending scene where Rainbow Dash betrays your self-insert pony and the rest of Ponykind and gives Sephiroth the "Blood Materia" that summons an apocalyptically large monster that looks and sounds suspiciously like your Fifth Grade math teacher).

 

Everybody's got big ideas, but you may not be ready to make them happen, yet. You're better off swallowing your pride and quietly shelving that idea for another day, because:

 

 

2) You Haven't Made a "Good" Map Yet

 

Have you played first-person shooters? Like, really played them? What do you find fun about them? Why do you find them fun? These are important, sometimes uncomfortably introspective questions.

 

If you can't answer any of those questions honestly, then I'm afraid that the maps you make are not gonna please anybody, even yourself! And they're not gonna be "bad" in amusing, "Joke WAD" ways - they're gonna be "bad" as in "detrimental to your success as a lauded contributor" ways.

 

But don't despair - you know what the great part is? Everybody has made a "bad" map at least once in their mapping and modding career! Hell, I've made several! Even after some "good" ones (please don't look them up)!

 

Of course, that'll take you to the ultimate question, one that has been asked and answered several times over from the newcomers and the resident darlings: What makes a "good" Doom map? The only answer, my friend, is this one:

 

Nobody knows.

 

That's right. It's entirely subjective, and tastes change over time (as well as yours), and I'm afraid that you'll never please everyone at any given moment. Sounds utterly defeating, yes? Wrong. It's LIBERATING! There's always a map for somebody and an audience for every work, but the only way you'll find out what you like and what others like is to make maps.

 

Really! That's it! Make maps, and show people those maps (here's a thread full of people you can show). And for Pete's sake, STAY HUMBLE. Get feedback, but stay true to what you find fun or interesting. You'll start to understand what good firefights are or where some enemies or weapons are best used in different scenarios, and then once you learn all of that within the context of a familiar setting (usually plain-ol' clunky Doom), then and only then will you be equipped with some foundational knowledge on how to design new monsters or even new gameplay elements. And please - do not be one of those kinds of people that have debates about what map formats are "better" than others when they can't make a single, competently designed map. It does not make people happy. Especially me.

 

However, it gets trickier - I can't tell you how many times people make maps and expect players to play a certain way, and that's including experienced mappers! If you think that you are already having trouble making a map that you and others will like, players and testers will potentially outrank you in abject confusion. So, that means that your job is to not only make something fun for others, but something that won't confuse people either, and that will be even harder!

 

But you'll learn. Just keep making stuff and shoving it in people's faces, and listen to what they have to say and adjust accordingly. But while you're learning, you should start working with just yourself, because:

 

 

3) Without Experience, You Are Not Gonna Be Ready To Lead a Community Project

 

There's a pinned thread in Wads and Mods called "How (and when) to Host a Community Project" by MFG38. It's a good read. MFG is firm but charitable in his reasoning, and skews a teensy bit technical, but I'm gonna go one step further because I know that you didn't read it, yet.

 

This is probably going to be a bit of a damper on your spirits, but if you have no experience in modding and mapping, you are absolutely, 100% not gonna be ready for project management and managing other creatives.

Yeah, it's harsh, but as long as we're being realistic here, not knowing how to make a single thing that works in the Doom Engine is going be a pretty big roadblock in allowing you to direct others that are just as (if not far more) competent than you. This isn't just limited to Doom Modding, but when you're the director of a project, you are not just the go-to person for "ideas," you're the go-to for solutions on how to make your (hopefully not too ridiculously large) grand vision work, and not just in design, but the technicals! Without that know-how, you could make your collaborators angry. At worst, you could ruin their desire to make cool things ever again (which I'm sure you don't want)!

 

Part of project management is knowing exactly what you know and what you don't in terms of your medium, but good leaders are not people that know nothing. "Many hands make light work," yes, but that work is still guided. All great projects have guidance and somebody (or some people) at the helm that can figure out how to move forward, and also where the problems lie.

 

Now, I know that it's tempting to hang your name on a big project that you started that captures the hearts and minds of people everywhere, but if you don't do any tangible work, nor make it so that others can do work, you might be looking at a potential mutiny. You're already gonna be at war with your own design, so if you're a soldier in the trenches, and the others that are in there with you keep asking you to poke your head out and make some decisions, you should hope that it's because they trust your opinions and battle wisdom, and not because they are hoping that you catch a stray bullet so that the next in command has a chance to lead, ya feel me?

 

And that's just the non-personal side of it, because if you are still in that weird mindset where you want to be a part of something big really early in your "career" (especially if you start community projects without experience), then I've got worse news for you:

 

 

4) Your Attitude Towards Making Things Might Be Unhealthy

 

If you permit me to be a little philosophical (and maybe a tad more cynical in some places), let me ask you a question that even some experienced authors wrestle with: Why do you want to make things?

 

I can tell you why I want to make things: because I find it fun, and I want others to have fun, too. To me, making things is a form of communication with a formless audience, searching to find others that either see things the way I do or have fun the way I have fun. I admit, there may have been that moment or two where I felt like I wanted to be associated with something great, but most of the time, that was due to wanting to put the effort in to make that association as bulletproof as possible, and not due to some kind of misguided attempt to make or do a cool thing that I can use to inflate my ego or resumé.

 

And if that last part of that previous sentence sounds like you, then I'm afraid this whole section may be for you.
 

Please believe me when I say that nobody knows how their work is going to be received by an audience, nobody knows what that audience will end up being, and nobody can control an audience's perception or interpretation or use of your work. It is pointless to stop it, and pointless to fight it. What you should be, however, is thankful that they even see it or talk about it sometimes, because, most likely, your very early work may not be that great. In fact, it'll be rare that it is even "good" at all!

 

Now, I can feel that there are going to be a few people pulling away from me right now after being with me for the last three sections of pointing out the perils faced by the Doom Community Freshman Auteur, but even the most adept and experienced of modders really should be asking themselves why they make anything.

 

"Not everybody is looking for attention or validation, Matt," you'll rightfully say. "And not everybody is in it for something greater or even as some kind of stepping stone to a career path." And to you I'll say, "Fair point." Not everybody is, true, but there will still be one little nagging question on my mind:

 

Why share what we make?

 

There are plenty of us that are okay with just making things "for fun." They're not the ones throwing their work out there for all to see. The others that do? Their reasons can be many, but a few may not be good.

 

Sure, there's nothing wrong with wanting that "like" or feedback or that tiny bit of assurance that you exist. Validation isn't inherently bad. But if you are doing it for the other reasons - praise, adoration, and acceptance among your peers - then what's gonna happen if you don't get it? And maybe, and sometimes more alarmingly, what's gonna happen when you get it, and then you don't get it anymore? 

 

Not good things. We've seen it, and it's not a pretty sight.

 

But it's not all doom and gloom (okay, maybe some Doom - you know what I mean)! Sharing work is how a community thrives! We need people to share things! We need people to play things! We need people to talk about things! What we don't need, however, are people that do it for glory or clout. They don't last long.

 

Regardless of the intent or desire behind contributing, if you make anything, you are better off enjoying the process, because it will keep you from getting discouraged when audience feedback isn't what you expect (and most of the time, it won't be). But if you march on in, chest puffed out, expecting immediate acceptance, praise, and barrels of glittering E-cred because you made a map that consists of a single sector and a handful of monsters with a copyrighted MP3 chucked into it, and then you abscond in a cloud of copypasta-worthy forum posts because you didn't get that love and attention that you so rightfully "deserve," then I'm afraid that you probably never stood a chance.

 

 

5) I Should Probably Wrap This Long-Ass Post Up

 

Alright.

 

These are a lot of words from a nearly antediluvian fixture in the Doom Modding Community with less followers on Twitter than his contemporaries because he can't stay up to date on every Gen Z meme nor does he post interesting screenshots of his works-in-progress. Half of you will just be like, "Whoa, Matt made a lot of words, so I'm gonna click that soulsphere button in the lower-right corner of the post," and then move on.

 

This post is not meant to be a public flogging of newbies and optimistic dreamers looking to get into a creative scene. There's a lot of amazing untapped potential out there ready to come in and fell each crusty oligarchy of ossified tastemakers.

 

If there's one thing that would I want everybody to take away from this gigantic wall of text, is that every creative community - especially ones like these - are "Lead By Example" Communities. Everything you make as well as how you make them informs your peers and newcomers of how things are done or what things succeed. If we have grievances about work, we solve them with work. We live in an unprecedented time in which the utilities and platforms that we use are far better than what we started with and their potential power is still unrealized, and the more time that we invest in that work, the better our chances are at greatness and communal survival.
 

The work may not always be "good" or momentous or even important. Its cultural significance may be just "a cool thing I like" or "the subject of an article on a gaming blog on a slow news day to be mined parasitically for ad revenue." But it's still "work" all the same, and how that work is approached matters. We get out of our craft what we put into it, and what we get out of it are going to be different lessons. But if you stick with it long enough, you'll have the confidence to do anything that you set your mind to.

 

 

So, that's it. If you're new, stay humble, try new things, and listen to your contemporaries, but believe in yourself and keep at it if you still like doing it.

 

And one day...

 

...one glorious day...

 

...you'll make that My Little Pony ✕ Final Fantasy 7 crossover mod that you always wanted to make, and maybe others will want to help, too.

 

 

But not today. Today, you learn.

 

 

^{For those who were here before: No, this isn't Deja Vu - there was a really bad first post, here. Now it's gone. Thanks for the feedback, everybody!}

Edited December 31, 2021 by MTrop