Knowing when enough is enough
Aug 7, 2018 4:16:52 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2018 4:16:52 GMT -5
The good brother Tango has started a very interesting topic over on Doomworld today called How many more maps would you have released if you lowered your standards a bit? This is something us miscreants here at the Boards could discuss in the aim of productivity ourselves. I've been discussing this already with a couple of the other DB altar boys who are free of sin and hopefully discussion like this could lead to unplugging the giant stick that has been stuck in the collective Doom community arse for some time now once and for all.
I'll start: Why put a fuckload of time and effort into visuals that almost all of the playing audience will never appreciate? I'm not saying don't make that beautiful shit, of course not. How come Dragonfly can shit out well formed beauty in days? Do you think he is God's gift to mapping? No, he is just a normal cunt who loves Doom like the rest of us and knows when to stop.
That's the key. Know when to stop. That tiny 1 pixel sidedef adjustment you just took 15 minutes doing? If you ain't doing that in 15 seconds, forget that shit. Move on. That shit is mappers mapping for other mappers mostly and the general playing public does not care. They want that Rocket Launcher they can see in a secret but can't figure out how to get just yet.
Here are some facts: Doom 2's 32 maps were created in less than three months, whether from scratch or from Doom 1 scraps. E4M2 was mapped in 6 hours by the Romero. MAP19 of BTSX E1 by Tarnsman, arguably the best map of that episode, was speedmapped overnight and speed textured by essel, who is a wonderful architecture creator who can't actually play Doom that well, hence her iffy gameplay at times and reliance of people who are bad for her to give gameplay feedback. On the subject of BTSX, time to release fucken Episode 3 fucking! I hope you guys aren't waiting for something stupid like December 10th or something like that... you already pulled that shit with Episode 1. According to these Twitch streams created by Tarnsman and Alfonzo on April 19 & 22 of 2013, BTSX E2 was basically in the finished state you find it in now almost 18 months before the first E2 release, except for the MAP04 retexturing which stands out the most. WTF guys, WTF.
On the subject of playing Doom well, play Doom well. How do you use the toolbox if you don't know how to use the tools? You can have visuals like joe ilya, but if the gameplay is fun we, the playing public, don't actually give a fuck. This ain't War and Peace, it's a fucken video game. Admittedly that game is Doom, but a video game nonetheless.
Make yer long maps, yer short maps, yer beautiful maps, yer ugly maps. Just put some decent gameplay in it, push it out the door and get it done. The best creative works come off of a 5-10 minute flash of initial inspiration. Paranoid by Black Sabbath? Lyrics written by Ozzy in 5 minutes on the crapper to finish off a filler song for the album. Foo Fighters' big mainstream breakthrough song Learn To Fly that they hated but which sent them to another level? Similar story, written in 5 minutes to pad out the album. You get the point. Don't overthink stuff, run with your initial inspiration and slap a bit of progression and exit on the cunt and call it a day and move on. Keep doing that and the Stairway to Heaven epics will flow more naturally after time. What are you really getting out of a map that took 6 months of obsessing over to make? Players are gonna be done with it in 10-20 minutes, bitch about it, and forget about it 2 minutes later.
I weep knowing that Tango has a bunch of perfectly acceptable and good Tango maps laying around waiting to run wild and be free in the world. Time to call it a day Tango, those kids grow up so fast and it's time for them leave home and start their own little lives. Don't hold them back! As for the rest of you, just finish the cunting map and give the people what they want: more Doom and not linedef beastiality, sector suckology and overwrought thing placement. Once again, it's Doom. You run around, shoot shit, try not to get shot, open that door, flick that switch, lower that linedef, teleport to somewhere else... it's not fucking rocket surgery!
I'll start: Why put a fuckload of time and effort into visuals that almost all of the playing audience will never appreciate? I'm not saying don't make that beautiful shit, of course not. How come Dragonfly can shit out well formed beauty in days? Do you think he is God's gift to mapping? No, he is just a normal cunt who loves Doom like the rest of us and knows when to stop.
That's the key. Know when to stop. That tiny 1 pixel sidedef adjustment you just took 15 minutes doing? If you ain't doing that in 15 seconds, forget that shit. Move on. That shit is mappers mapping for other mappers mostly and the general playing public does not care. They want that Rocket Launcher they can see in a secret but can't figure out how to get just yet.
Here are some facts: Doom 2's 32 maps were created in less than three months, whether from scratch or from Doom 1 scraps. E4M2 was mapped in 6 hours by the Romero. MAP19 of BTSX E1 by Tarnsman, arguably the best map of that episode, was speedmapped overnight and speed textured by essel, who is a wonderful architecture creator who can't actually play Doom that well, hence her iffy gameplay at times and reliance of people who are bad for her to give gameplay feedback. On the subject of BTSX, time to release fucken Episode 3 fucking! I hope you guys aren't waiting for something stupid like December 10th or something like that... you already pulled that shit with Episode 1. According to these Twitch streams created by Tarnsman and Alfonzo on April 19 & 22 of 2013, BTSX E2 was basically in the finished state you find it in now almost 18 months before the first E2 release, except for the MAP04 retexturing which stands out the most. WTF guys, WTF.
On the subject of playing Doom well, play Doom well. How do you use the toolbox if you don't know how to use the tools? You can have visuals like joe ilya, but if the gameplay is fun we, the playing public, don't actually give a fuck. This ain't War and Peace, it's a fucken video game. Admittedly that game is Doom, but a video game nonetheless.
Make yer long maps, yer short maps, yer beautiful maps, yer ugly maps. Just put some decent gameplay in it, push it out the door and get it done. The best creative works come off of a 5-10 minute flash of initial inspiration. Paranoid by Black Sabbath? Lyrics written by Ozzy in 5 minutes on the crapper to finish off a filler song for the album. Foo Fighters' big mainstream breakthrough song Learn To Fly that they hated but which sent them to another level? Similar story, written in 5 minutes to pad out the album. You get the point. Don't overthink stuff, run with your initial inspiration and slap a bit of progression and exit on the cunt and call it a day and move on. Keep doing that and the Stairway to Heaven epics will flow more naturally after time. What are you really getting out of a map that took 6 months of obsessing over to make? Players are gonna be done with it in 10-20 minutes, bitch about it, and forget about it 2 minutes later.
I weep knowing that Tango has a bunch of perfectly acceptable and good Tango maps laying around waiting to run wild and be free in the world. Time to call it a day Tango, those kids grow up so fast and it's time for them leave home and start their own little lives. Don't hold them back! As for the rest of you, just finish the cunting map and give the people what they want: more Doom and not linedef beastiality, sector suckology and overwrought thing placement. Once again, it's Doom. You run around, shoot shit, try not to get shot, open that door, flick that switch, lower that linedef, teleport to somewhere else... it's not fucking rocket surgery!
