
Make a Doom level, part 2: design - fcambus
http://eev.ee/blog/2015/12/30/you-should-make-a-doom-level-part-2/
======
TuringTest
Even if building for Doom may look outdated, this article has very solid
insight at the start about level design that can be applied to any physical
game.

The idea to look at levels as works of art, and design them using the same
principles is a nice one. This brings a lot of artsy theory baggage (regarding
storytelling, layout and aesthetics). I hand't thought applying those to the
assessment of a game level before, not explicitly.

~~~
wsc981
I haven't played Doom 2 much, so the following comment is only regarding Doom
1.

I've always found the level design of both Marathon [0] and Dark Forces [1]
much better compared to Doom 1. Both games had levels which in my opinion gave
the player much better feel that they're in environments that could be real.

Both games were released around the same time as Doom 2. I only played a
little Doom 2, because it bored me for containing so little story.

\---

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_(video_game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_\(video_game\))

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Dark_Forces](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Dark_Forces)

~~~
mcphilip
Looking for Dark Forces custom levels was my gateway drug to the QMODEM, BBS,
and news groups back in 1995. Similar to Doom's wad files, dark forces had
gobs. Eventually a dos base editor, DFUSE, was released, but I remember one
level creator (dons3d, I think) that came out with a level created without any
gui based tools. He plotted out all the X, Y, Z coordinates for the vertices,
calculated texture stitching offets, enemy locations, etc by hand. It was
amazing. Just the act of adding a door that slid open involved a special
scripting language, coordinate geometries, texture lining, etc.

That man was my hero. I learned so many technical and spacial skills by trying
and failing to make a good custom dark forces level.

Good times.

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Joof
An odd, but very enjoyable and in depth commentary of the DOOM modding
community and DOOM in general is done by Liz Ryerson in her "DOOM mixtape"
series. I think the later tapes are more interesting, but feel free to skip
around.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDeaa7aXQ8&index=1&list=PLE...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDeaa7aXQ8&index=1&list=PLEdRlER1F5rF1YMwLG66KPmMuv0h2OWiU)

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highCs
Doom2 levels are awesome. Far better than Doom 1's in my opinion. So, if you
want to play Doom, I recommend Doom2.

~~~
lotharbot
I highly recommend the "Whispers of Satan" add-on campaign [0], played through
a modern source port like Zandronum [1]. Beautiful level design [2]. Good
difficulty curve. Clever secrets. Just a great overall set that uses the
DooMII engine/monsters to maximum effect.

[0]
[http://www.paulcorfiatis.com/wos/HTML/wos_index.htm](http://www.paulcorfiatis.com/wos/HTML/wos_index.htm)

[1] [http://zandronum.com/](http://zandronum.com/)

[2]
[http://www.paulcorfiatis.com/wos/HTML/wos_screens2.htm](http://www.paulcorfiatis.com/wos/HTML/wos_screens2.htm)

~~~
highCs
Awesome, thanks.

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anthk
FreeDoom is nice too, and it works for ANY doom2 wad, even for the GZdoom
ones.

Oh, and for hardcore GNU folks, Gloome has no propietary code, it loads
freeDoom and/or brutal doom and any GZDoom game.

