Doom levels

[Crane]

Hi everyone!

So one set of games that I design levels for, besides Lemmings, is the original Doom games, namely Doom II.  I'm still getting to grips with making levels that are beautiful to look at, as compatible as possible with the original DOS executables (and not just source ports) and are fair despite their difficulty, and not based so much on blind luck.

I've got 2 complete levels so far, although I'm still polishing them up where I can (specifically, I may need help at some point to develop some nice 'curtain' textures, since I have a placeholder for a closed curtain in MAP19 of the attached WAD below).

I would love feedback if you're up for it.  Find attached my first two levels and their supporting files (as a standard WAD file).  Note that my levels take the slots of map 6 and map 19, so you will need to type IDCLEV06 and IDCLEV19 to actually play them once you enter a game.  Enjoy!

NOTE: These levels are not easy.  Even if you've completed the original games on Ultra-Violence, I would recommend playing these on Hurt Me Plenty first (I think John Romero made the same recommendation for this recent Sigil episode).

UPDATED - SEE BELOW

[Nessy]

Finally got around to trying out these levels on Hurt Me Plenty because I'm not good Overall I enjoyed them very much Here's some more detailed feedback below:

Map 6

I really liked the idea of this one: starting out deep underground and having to battle your way through hordes of demons up a very large elevator onto the surface and leaving the level through a guarded gate which was a very nice touch aesthetic wise and concept wise. It felt very Doom 2 like with its level design (in a good way though). This is the one that I died the most on trying to figure out a good strategy to deal with all the demons that pour out. Fortunately, it wasn't frustrating and it didn't really feel unfair, as there were plenty of places to hide, move around, and many different items in order to deal with everything. The only negative I found is extremely small but maybe worth mentioning: I had a bit of trouble in the large dark room in front of the large elevator. I don't know if it's the level or just my computer's brightness but I had some trouble finding the buttons you had to push in order to set things in motion. It didn't really take that long to find them so it's a very, very small nitpick.

Map 19

This one was my favorite from the two maps! I remember watching you play this on YouTube a while back but I didn't remember the layout at all so it was pretty much blind. I absolutely loved the aesthetics and theming of this one and I really liked the non-linear nature of the level. It wasn't too convoluted, so after a while I was able to figure out where I was and where I had to go without constantly getting lost which made exploring the level very satisfying. Unfortunately, I did have one small roadblock on this level. I couldn't for the life of my figure out how to get the yellow keycard. I had to look up your playthrough of the level in order to figure it out. To be fair the things you had to shoot to get the keycard were yellow so the hint was there, but I don't know if I was just being extremely stupid which is not out of the realm of possibility Regardless it didn't sour my experience on the level at all and I still really enjoyed this one!

[Crane]

Thank you for your feedback!  I'm glad I have some potential!

Spoiler

I did try to make the yellow 'reactors' as obvious as possible, by having them yellow, animated and glowing.  The dark room of Map06 can be a bit annoying.  I think on "I'm too young to die" and "Hey, not too rough!" there's some Light Amplification Goggles somewhere, but I can't remember.  However, the button that starts the elevator is directly in front of the door you enter from.  Another thing, the Invulnerability powerups help a lot!

I can't wait to see your video playthroughs!

[Crane]

Thanks to a friend whom I commissioned to make some textures, I have updated map 19 to include them.

EXTRA UPDATE: The intermission screens now have the correct level names!