Marceau TOURAILLES - DOOM (2016)

Introduction - Details
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I wanted to experiment on the Doom SnapMap Editor. The intentions for this map were "Find your own gear in order to progress onto the level". It's a linear map with one secret room.

• Solo Project

• Doom SnapMap

Production
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I was interested of making a narrative map, where the player begin as a prisoner, and tries to escape.

I used the visual scripting tools to make sure the player start the level with no weapons.

With my intentions in mind, I thought about a challenge equal to the power of the player. For exemple, when the slayer gets the shotgun, they have a small number of demon, before getting the next weapon. Then, they have a big challenge of three room before getting a loadout of weapons.

The two final room are a big challenge with big music, to make a grand finale for the level. I made a few playtest and the difficulty was well received, so my next step was to make sure everything was well scripted (Checkpoints, weapons, secrets..).

During the level, I added some checkpoints and drones at key points that give players health and ammo, to make sure the player is not locked.

The visual scripting tool for the player

Narrative
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The player is a prisoner wanting to escape from demons. So, the environnement is at first Hell, and will later be a human base. I added some voicelines to let the player knows his actions have consequences in the world. In the beggining of the game, the lighting is really moody, and when they gets the first weapon, the lighting is more natural, the music start, they are starting something. At the end of the level, when everything is cleared, a voice warn the player that he did something wrong for the world.

Layout of the map. The player start on the left, in hell, then arrive in mars on the right.

The lighting change after the player gets his first weapon.

When the player enters in the weaponry, a voice says " You seems to like weapons... You'll find everything you need here".

When players takes the chainsaw, the next door opens herself, to make sure they are ready for the grand finale.

If the player search for interruptor in the third room, he can open a secret room that leads to the plasma weapon and the double jump boots. Another secret weapon is hidden in the last part of the level too.

Design
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My map is often inviting players to search for interruptors, or weapons, so the field of view is not ideal. To make up for it, I used flashing light, sounds and text :

To open the first door, players need to active the skull. The skull being on their left, they can't see at first. Also, few playtests showed that it was not intuitive. To make up for it, I added blood and blood sound to draw attention in here.

To get the first weapon, players need to get it from a body, in order to open the door. To show them there is something, I added a flashing light.

For the first secret, when players activate the pannel, a text indicate that a door is unlocked.

In the same room as the secret, each doors have a different color (blue, red, yellow). In early playlists, Players kept getting lost because each doors were the same color.

Also, health and armor are hidden on each collumn. Small shields guide the player so he can get there more naturally.

The room after have a lot of scripts. I wanted to make sure the player have all the weapons before getting to the finale, otherwise the map would be too hard.

The next room have 2 waves of demons. To help the player, armor, health, ammo and explosive are being disposed all over the room. A secret weapon can also be found by the player if he search inside all the rooms.

The final room is big, and have a wave of multiple demons with 25% more health.

To make sure the player have everything, i placed some bonuses at the beggining and a lot of explosives barrels.

The wave only start when the player activate the button to open the last door. It allow the player to first see the room, then fight when they're ready.

The map has been well received by the community rating. Also, here's a little demake of this map I made using Doom 2 editor ! A really fun and instructive project for me overall.