Post by 40oz on Mar 28, 2023 22:24:54 GMT -5
im treading a little dangerously close to the meta here so bear with me if youre willing to entertain this thought a bit.
I havent played Knee Deep in The Dead for a while, but Ive played it enough to know the maps very very well.
Having not played knee deep in the dead for some time now, i can recall in my memory a variety of mental screen shots from each map in the first episode. This might be something unique in my brain, but I generally can recall areas with blue in them with a bit more visual fidelity than i can with areas that are gray, green, brown or tan which turn up a bit muddier and with holes in comparison when recalled from memory.
e.g. blue carpets, soulsphere locations, blue lights and blue compwalls stand out (in my memory) as the clearer pictures of Knee Deep in the Dead's maps among the rest of each maps parts. Who can forget the iconic blue carpet in the starting room of E1M1?
I'm hypothesizing that blue was perhaps, unknowingly used as a navigational tool to help players find their way around the map as sort of a visual landmark. I say unknowingly because there are some maps that dont use blue very well in this regard where it might have been more helpful.
Nevermind that some maps in E1 are decidedly mazey and trickier to solve than others. I also observed that the maps in E1 that are the most confusing usually also dont have much blue in them (at least not in any parts of the map that are useful to return to or orient yourself)
E1M4 is pretty open ended. I remember getting pretty lost in this one as a kid because there isnt a lot of clear direction in it. Theres a lot of different ways to go which is most of the problem. But where is the blue? It has a soulsphere and two rooms with blue carpets in it right near the start area of the map and arent connected to anything useful, such as a key or a locked door. Beyond that youre pretty much on your own. The next blue area is the swastika room but that room is pretty much at the end of the map so it doesnt help orient the player at this point.
E1M5 is another map with very little blue in it. Theres a computer room halfway through the map but that follows the more complicated sections of the map's progression. By the time you reach this room, the rest of the map layout is a straight-shot from there, so theres no need to return to it.
in E1M6, i remember getting lost in this one a bit, but the computer room with the yellow doors attached was a pretty important landmark indicating the central hub to which the most important parts of the map derive from. I knew this place was important when i saw it, and when i eventually got the yellow key i knew this was the place to go. The branches of the map get confusing but the start area is pretty clear.
E1M7 felt confusing in its robust, mazelike design, which is also lacking in a lot of blue. I can recall the elevated center hall's blue carpet, which was pretty useful. The red and yellow key locations had blue carpet too, which were cool places but you never needed to return to them. The rest of the map, without blue felt pretty confusing to navigate without the assistance of blue rooms.
I'd say even with all the green nukage and occasional red lights, I think Dooms first episode would feel pretty devoid of color and be much harder to navigate with the blue areas substituted for gray, brown or tan. I've heard many people say they really appreciate blue in Doom maps. For a long time, I was not a fan and often gravitated towards neutral colors when texturing my maps. I often dont use the color much out of a sense of retaining a focused color pallete as an artistic design choice in my maps. but I've been rethinking its purpose as less of an aesthetic pop of color and more of an unsusoecting waypoint for indicating important areas and landmarks worth remembering. Does this resonate with anyone or just me?
I havent played Knee Deep in The Dead for a while, but Ive played it enough to know the maps very very well.
Having not played knee deep in the dead for some time now, i can recall in my memory a variety of mental screen shots from each map in the first episode. This might be something unique in my brain, but I generally can recall areas with blue in them with a bit more visual fidelity than i can with areas that are gray, green, brown or tan which turn up a bit muddier and with holes in comparison when recalled from memory.
e.g. blue carpets, soulsphere locations, blue lights and blue compwalls stand out (in my memory) as the clearer pictures of Knee Deep in the Dead's maps among the rest of each maps parts. Who can forget the iconic blue carpet in the starting room of E1M1?
I'm hypothesizing that blue was perhaps, unknowingly used as a navigational tool to help players find their way around the map as sort of a visual landmark. I say unknowingly because there are some maps that dont use blue very well in this regard where it might have been more helpful.
Nevermind that some maps in E1 are decidedly mazey and trickier to solve than others. I also observed that the maps in E1 that are the most confusing usually also dont have much blue in them (at least not in any parts of the map that are useful to return to or orient yourself)
E1M4 is pretty open ended. I remember getting pretty lost in this one as a kid because there isnt a lot of clear direction in it. Theres a lot of different ways to go which is most of the problem. But where is the blue? It has a soulsphere and two rooms with blue carpets in it right near the start area of the map and arent connected to anything useful, such as a key or a locked door. Beyond that youre pretty much on your own. The next blue area is the swastika room but that room is pretty much at the end of the map so it doesnt help orient the player at this point.
E1M5 is another map with very little blue in it. Theres a computer room halfway through the map but that follows the more complicated sections of the map's progression. By the time you reach this room, the rest of the map layout is a straight-shot from there, so theres no need to return to it.
in E1M6, i remember getting lost in this one a bit, but the computer room with the yellow doors attached was a pretty important landmark indicating the central hub to which the most important parts of the map derive from. I knew this place was important when i saw it, and when i eventually got the yellow key i knew this was the place to go. The branches of the map get confusing but the start area is pretty clear.
E1M7 felt confusing in its robust, mazelike design, which is also lacking in a lot of blue. I can recall the elevated center hall's blue carpet, which was pretty useful. The red and yellow key locations had blue carpet too, which were cool places but you never needed to return to them. The rest of the map, without blue felt pretty confusing to navigate without the assistance of blue rooms.
I'd say even with all the green nukage and occasional red lights, I think Dooms first episode would feel pretty devoid of color and be much harder to navigate with the blue areas substituted for gray, brown or tan. I've heard many people say they really appreciate blue in Doom maps. For a long time, I was not a fan and often gravitated towards neutral colors when texturing my maps. I often dont use the color much out of a sense of retaining a focused color pallete as an artistic design choice in my maps. but I've been rethinking its purpose as less of an aesthetic pop of color and more of an unsusoecting waypoint for indicating important areas and landmarks worth remembering. Does this resonate with anyone or just me?
