After some tinkering with DoomBuilder, a Doom map-making tool, I’ve come up with a wee map!
For the layout, I drew a lot of influence from dungeons such as Ocarina of Time’s Forest Temple, as well as attempting to replicate the dimly lit, foreboding nature of the unknown.
I specifically aspired to build a map that was in itself behaved very much like a machine. Hidden switches and levers would have the level dynamically change itself as you play, revealing more enemies and secrets. Almost every room has traps which only reveal themselves after baiting you with some kind of upgrade or treasure. The goal for each of these rooms was to tempt the player to go towards the room’s treasure, before springing the trap. The player would then be forced to quickly grab it before utilising it to save themselves. I also placed the monsters in each room in order to make best use of the particular weapon. For example, in the Blue Keycard room, I had originally placed the Super Shotgun there, but I soon found that the rate of fire did not suit the pace of the battle. Having a firefight in a large room with hordes of Imps and Cacodemons required a more rapid-fire run-and-gun approach, and thus I swapped it out for the Plasma Gun instead.
Subsequently I felt that the Super Shotgun was a better fit for the Red KeyCard room, in which you are ambushed in a tight space by melee Demons. I also accompanied it with the Chainsaw in order to emphasise this up-close-and-personal combat, before forcing the player to run through a corridor with these weapons in near darkness.
I also made sure that any secrets were signposted to some extent, taking further cue from The Legend of Zelda games. Using anomalies in patterns, and monsters to draw the player’s attention towards particular areas.
Read on for a quick run-through of my design! Find the map file here if you’d like to play it.
A brightly lit tree up ahead draws the player forward. The odd pattern of lights on the sides draw attention to possible secrets.
Fireballs coming from the side forces the player to notice the elevator on their right.
At the top of the stairs lie some brightly-lit treasure…
Which reveals a trap! The Super Shotgun and Chainsaw arrive in time to lend you a hand.
Tight corridors give you an opportunity to mow monsters down.
Elsewhere, lamp posts guide the player along until they notice more goods through these bars…
Which was evidently a trap as well. Note the lamp post on the far side of the room to draw the player to another hallway.
The hallway is filled with Barons of Hell and Spectres. The player must navigate around the enemies to reach the Rocket Launcher, and I specifically chose to add Spectres to force the player to be wary of hurting themselves with their own rockets.
A small room between the Red Door and Blue Door offer some health, armour and brief respite.
Behind the Blue Door likes a Mancubus and some Revenants inside a tight room, making avoiding their rockets a challenge. Also a brightly lit room with a switch is hinted at in the corner of the screen.
Pressing the switch seemed to do nothing at all, until on their way out of the room, the player would notice the elevator on their left.
Amongst other goods, the player is on eye-level with the tree in the centre of the room. The presence of items there suggests that platform is reachable.
Heading back towards the hub room, the differently-textured wall brings the player’s eye down towards a switch. Hmm, that wasn’t there before…
…And pressing the switch brings up some stairs from behind the player!
On reaching the top, the player can go around the tree to grab all the items! Not before triggering yet another trap of enemies.
One last switch reveals the exit door behind you.
Freedom!
