the big no-no's of mapping

[michbul]

so I am trying mapping again and I want to know the no-no's of map making, and if possible ways to avoid them. 

[Not Jabba]

1) Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do.

[Jayextee]

Secrets. They're absolutely the most important thing in your map, as in your map must have secrets. At least three of them. And don't forget to tag them with sector type '9' or the player won't realise that these hidden areas are, in fact, secret areas and therefore can't feel congratulated for fleshing out another number on the extended HUD or automap. Also secrets must never be locked for the player at any time, because if a player can't see the exit switch and backtrack for any missed secrets that shit is literally unplayable.

Combat, lighting, verticality, contrast, clarity, intent, flow, pacing, any of that other stuff is absolutely meaningless. Focus on your secrets.

<s>

[Decay]

it is generally frowned upon and not advisable to open someone else's map, copy paste it or a substantial chunk of it into your own map, and then claim you made it. Big no no

 

But then again,

4 minutes ago, Not Jabba said:

1) Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do.

You technically can do it, just don't expect good reception :)

[bofu]

There are very few hard and fast rules, but I'll give you a few general guidelines that I've picked up from making my own solo project:

• Don't rely only on your own playtesting. You know where all the monsters are, where all the secrets are, what enemies and goodies are coming up next, and what the intended progression is. Ask a friend to play the map blind.
• Don't make secrets mandatory to complete or enjoy the level. The first half is obvious: you should be able to clear a typical level without finding any secrets whatsoever. The second half is a little trickier. You don't want to give your player powerful weapons or items that the absence of turns the rest of the map into a slog. It doesn't matter if you give the player a secret BFG if the alternative to finding the secret is shotgunning Barons for thirty minutes.
• Don't make details get in the player's way. As much as we all appreciate Doomcute and attention to detail, if a player is constantly bouncing off of your painstakingly crafted multi-sector floor with alternating floor heights or tiny little pillars every 5 yards, they might not be having a good time. Try to stick details close to to walls, or even in the walls themselves unless there's lots of room to move around them.
• This one is personal taste, but most people agree that you shouldn't make kills or secrets permanently missable. That means that even if the player can't come back to an area after missing it because they get trapped, after they clear that area or manage to beat the rest of the map, it's common courtesy to give them a chance to backtrack.
• Don't abuse 20-damage floors. In most circumstances, it's not fun for a player to have to traverse damaging floors, especially in exploration-heavy levels.

Of course, these aren't commandments, and there are plenty of good levels that fly in the face of some of these. But when you're just starting off, it's like music theory: it's helpful to know what convention is before you start breaking it.

[Roofi]

If you put a lot of voodoo dolls on your map in order to test it, don't forget to remove them after you've finished it otherwise you risk starting in the wrong place!!!!

[michbul]

do you think this secret is too obvious or too secret. there's four cells the back wall of 3 of them is gstone1 but one of them gstlion and that one is gunfire trigger that opens a visible window that has a chainsaw in it. 

[URROVA]

14 minutes ago, Roofi said:

If you put a lot of voodoo dolls on your map in order to test it, don't forget to remove them after you've finished it otherwise you risk starting in the wrong place!!!!

literally me everytime i test, then upload the map and realize the map isnt supposed to start there

is extremely easy to forget about the green square you left when testing a room

[Gothic]

Don't plagiarize and don't reference controversial topics like Columbine.

Outside of that, what Not Jabba said.

[Stupid Bunny]

20 minutes ago, Roofi said:

If you put a lot of voodoo dolls on your map in order to test it, don't forget to remove them after you've finished it otherwise you risk starting in the wrong place!!!!

 

Of course, most editors these days have a "test map at current position" function or something similar to let you start playing from the cursor location, instead of having to do this (if you use UBD then put your pointer somewhere and press Ctrl+F9).

[Stabbey]

14 minutes ago, michbul said:

do you think this secret is too obvious or too secret. there's four cells the back wall of 3 of them is gstone1 but one of them gstlion and that one is gunfire trigger that opens a visible window that has a chainsaw in it. 

 

Generally speaking, feedback like this is best given by playtesters who see the map as a whole, context matters a lot and so it can only really be answered upon seeing it for oneself. ...But that secret sounds absolutely fine. The different texture is a tell, and if players spot the tell, they'll first press use, but attacking the wall is usually the second thing they try.

[Zesiir]

Unpeg your doorways.

 

Personally one thing I keep in mind with secrets is to always show them on the automap. I don't like when linedefs are hidden. If you put a Computer Area Map in your level, always make it show the secrets areas. How to get those secrets, is up to the designer.

Edited March 9 by Zesiir

[yakfak]

don't encode your true name into the level. your enemies can use it to manipulate you

[roadworx]

1 hour ago, bofu said:

This one is personal taste, but most people agree that you shouldn't make kills or secrets permanently missable.

 

Don't abuse 20-damage floors.

incorrect. op, you should do both of these as much as possible. in fact, for the second one you should be forcing the player to pick up health in order to move around the damaging floors instead of ever giving them a radsuit :)

[stephyesterday]

9 minutes ago, roadworx said:

incorrect. op, you should do both of these as much as possible. in fact, for the second one you should be forcing the player to pick up health in order to move around the damaging floors instead of ever giving them a radsuit :)

i might be slightly insane for this but i legitimately find this way of traversing damaging floor to be fun :) you really can map for anybody! fuck rules!

[Stupid Bunny]

People have lots of opinions about things that you should never, ever do.  Folks will also say "just do what you want to do" which I think is like 95% the correct answer because you really should be mapping for yourself and what you personally want a map to be like.  If you love puzzle maps, or inescapable death pits, or ammo starvation, or missable secrets, or giant maps or anything else that a lot of people will complain about, then why pander to them?

 

That being said, I think it is worth at least understanding why people hate certain things, even if you don't hate them yourself.  It doesn't mean you then have to forego all that stuff you're in the minority about, but understanding different perspectives can help your own vision by tempering some of the worst excesses of certain mapping approaches.  Like I love enormous maps, which a majority of folks here don't, but I do understand that being really, really lost inside a huge map isn't fun, including for myself.  As an example.

 

I'd definitely advise sending out your maps for playtesting before release, lots of people here will be game to check them out.  Definitely make sure you can beat it on HMP at least--I suck real bad at playing Doom, it's a challenge for me to balance UV to be appropriate for people who suck less than me but I can at least balance HMP for myself.  Of course you can balance your difficulties however you like, UV doesn't have to be Doom God level and if you do fancy yourself good at Doom then balancing UV that way will be much easier for you.

Edited March 9 by Stupid Bunny

["JL" was too short]

The biggest no-no is making a map that sucks ass.  If you find yourself making a map that sucks ass, you should stop immediately.  I hope this is helpful to you.

[eltiolavara9]

dont use doom 2 monsters

[JackDBS]

I only have 1 rule and that's to never use pain elementals. Other than that I just do whatever I want lol

[Obsidian]

Don't stop mapping for yourself.

 

Obviously it's a good idea to make something people can play and enjoy, but don't sacrifice your own enjoyment of the creating process on the altar of public acclaim. We're all here to have fun at the end of the day, mappers and players alike. 👍

[rita remton]

as a newbie mapper myself:

• never expect the player to find anything. they [will] miss the switch vital for map progression. the map should guide the player to what needs to be done (the all-essential map flow). thus hidden switches/areas but important for map progression area a big no no.
•  avoid making large battle areas but with a few monsters in them (unless such areas have other purposes such as exploration). the larger the area for a battle with few monsters, the less intense the battle would be and the more the mapper needs to embellish the place. but the area should not be too small till the player could not dodge attacks from monsters.
• unless you are making some wacky themed map (which is fine), avoid using same amounts of every colour in the palette in a single room. please do pick a colour theme. fireblu is fine.
• minimise usage of flicker lights that may trigger photosensitive epilepsy in some players. if possible, provide a warning if there are such areas in the map.
• perhaps this may be of use: [doomish den of design].

hope this helps. good luck :)

[cannonball]

If you are doing your mapping outside, wear sunscreen.

Aside from that, there are very few objective rules when it comes to mapping, only poor execution of said ideas. Just boot up the map editor of your choice and build what you want to build. The doom community is a bunch of weirdos wonderful people so there will be at least someone (If not many more) who will connect and enjoy what you make.

[NuMetalManiak]

A big one IMO is never ever underestimate how easy it is for the average player to fuck things up in your map.

[Arrowhead]

Don't be afraid to learn a new format, or a new genre of mapping!

[NecrumWarrior]

2 hours ago, jerrysheppy said:

The biggest no-no is making a map that sucks ass.  If you find yourself making a map that sucks ass, you should stop immediately.  I hope this is helpful to you.

Damn, I'm gonna have to rethink how I make maps... 

 

But for serious, it's generally a good idea to avoid inescapable death pits. And if you do use them, make sure they do the most damage possible so the player isn't waiting forever to die. In MBF21 and UDMF you can do instant kill floors thankfully, but for others just use the 20 damage floor. 

[Csucskos]

My best advice is: Don't make maps you don't enjoy playing. (Since you are the only player guaranteed to play your map.)

 

That's it. Congratulations, if you can follow this simple advice, your maps will be awesome and epic and stuff like that. Since every other opinion will only come from haters who you should not care about :D

[Shepardus]

Posting your WAD as a Google Drive link and forgetting to make the link public.

[Kappes Buur]

Don't form any preconceptions.

 

Mapping is a journey which starts out with simple layouts in the form of square boxes of various sizes and the subsequent learning of what the editor (Slade3, UDB, Deepsea, etc) can do for you.

 

Then, in time, if you enjoy making maps, add more complex structures into your map. A good map is not just about fragging every monster in sight, it is also about how to place monsters or even decorations to keep the player involved and interested to play your map.

 

If you run into problems of one sort or another then try to find a solution by researching the wikis or tutorials. If that does not help then ask questions, usually someone is willing to help.

 

 

[xScavengerWolfx]

I don't know if someone already mentioned it already but i will say it.

 

For the love that is unholy.....do NOT i repeat do NOT make fucking terry wads.

 

I mean joke wads are fine but terry wads or anything really fucked up is a super big no no.

 

Other wise just learn how to use the map editor and what ever works, works.

[michbul]

thanks for the help all