I hate streamers

i'm sure i'm in the minority on this, but navigational challenges in doom are perfectly valid as those combat puzzles everyone has been raving about for a while. maybe not to the level of eternal doom or something, but it's the feeling of breaking down the level i experienced in past mapsets i'm sometimes missing when everything is overtly streamlined, doesn't matter if such a "challenge" is intentional on part of the mapper or not. and then you have icaruslives (for instance) "ironically" stating that a map should be perfectly readable when drunk, and that's objectively good design or something, you can just tell he hasn't played mars war recently (or boomer beyond vanilla for a more recent example of nonlinear map design, you don't have to go into puzzle/challenge/slaughter stuff). maybe it's a shit take, whatever

Killer5 oh it wasn't that I wished it didn't exist, only that I didn't consider it part of Zzul Bases "proper." I believe it was a response to brendon because he seemed confused I consider ZB my favorite wad but have never played the secret map all the way through.

Edit- I might have said "I just pretend it doesn't exist."

@wernergoldberg mazes and puzzles are legitimate obstacles, I'm referring at a macro level to layout/progression.

Unless figuring out the path through the maze is supposed to be part of the challenge. Certainly some games, and possibly even some Doom WADs have taken that approach to level design.

lutumlautus

I should probably mention some examples of ways you can lead the player rather than just leave an unhelpful catty comment-

Lights, certainly.
Switches and doors should be lit up. If the player opens something that isn't immediately visible, you can use flashing lights in the newly-opened doorway so the player notices it when they're near it.
Monsters
Alongside of or instead of the flashing lights in that new doorway, place some monsters set to ambush behind it. When the player enters the area, they'll hear the monsters wake up or see the projectiles and head in that direction
Layout
When the player grabs a key, you can dump them back out into a hub room facing the door that corresponds to the key. You can also give the player glimpses of a future area through windows so they know not only is there an area there, they'll be motivated to find their way in. Especially if a powerup or weapon is visible.
Item Pickups
Use armor/health bonuses as breadcrumbs to lead the player around. You don't have to overdo it, especially if you're using health bonuses as that bright blue bulb is going to be visible from a long ways off. Players just instinctively and unthinkingly go out of their way to pick these things up so it's a great way to guide them.
Landmarks
Oftentimes when I get lost in a map, it's because a lot of the rooms look so much the same. Vary the environment. You can have indoor areas contrasted with outdoor areas. Dark areas contrasted with bright areas. Put different architecture in different rooms, like arches in this room, pillars in that room, a sunken pool in another, enormous windows somewhere else, a claustrophobic hallway, et cetera. You can also use different textures in different parts of the map. Players tend to remember symmetrical areas better so you can make your hub rooms symmetrical. If your map is all outdoors, having one or more large towers visible from anywhere can help the player orient themselves in relation to these.

What I don't understand is shitting on playtesters like Biodegradable (referring to shiba's comment). Someone like that is testing your map for the purpose of helping you, they aren't doing it for attention and subscribers. He uses mods similar to Smooth Doom - so what? As long as it isn't breaking your map by overriding important assets, all it's going to do is potentially replace your status bar (assuming you made a custom one to begin with) and maybe some sound effects (if you used custom ones to begin with). I can get being annoyed by some look-at-me streamer starting up your map with an OP weapon mod and dramatically complaining that your map sucks when they didn't even give it an honest attempt, but why would you have an issue with someone who tests hundreds of maps that wouldn't have even recieved a playthrough video otherwise? On many threads, BD is the only person who recorded a playthrough. As long as it's a relatively accurate/genuine playthrough, I wouldn't complain about things like resurrecting via console.

decino is alright, i'll let him live. though how he managed to find the first level of a;z "mazy" is beyond me