Your Map Inspiration?

Hey guys,

What do you do when you are out of inspiration? You've made all these levels in the past, some of which you think are great. But you don't want to rest on your laurels, or keep copying what you did in the past. So what do you do? Do you play new mapsets? Old mapsets? Any particular mapsets or mods you go to for inspiration?
Or even as mentioned on DHW, maybe you start up Creator and try to think of something there? For me when I make maps it's often easy to get stuck with some habits of thought... That a room can only be like this, this, or this... When in fact it does not. And I've played many mapsets, and people have done a level very differently than I have. But then I get stuck in this zone where I can't come up with any different room design than what I typically do. So I find opening up other people's mapsets in Chaosedit is good to get out of that trap.

What usually happens to me is that, after a while, I recognize the well that I keep returning to and then decide to totally do it differently. There are certain shapes/scenarios you keep returning to, and it is hard to break loose from them. But recognizing them is one step towards changing things up. One thing I did was change my style: I was a very careful mapper, thinking about the placement of every object in the level. Then I decided, for a new mod, to do the placement of objects more off the cuff, and instead place the enemies more careful. So one way to get inspiration is to change your approach a bit.

You can get inspiration from other mappers. I usually get this by playing them and then see what makes a particular level work. For instance, AReyeP usually builds his level around scenarios. He takes some of the coding features and builds scenarios around them. For instance, in EoD you had a couple of scenarios where you had to take enemies out using the fireballs. Stuff like that. So perhaps a new approach for you could be to think in terms of scenarios and not be too concerned about making the level feel like a real place.

You can work with coding features to spice things up. When I mod, I usually have one mod in the works that is quite coding-heavy, and another which is lighter on coding or sometimes it's just vanilla Wolf3D. This requires different approaches to mapping, and then one style can inform the other.

Finally, there are times when I'm really stuck. And usually I just go do something else and then come back to a map. But occasionally I watch playthroughs by Balames87 to get some inspiration. He has played a lot and his commentary also shines a light on how players experience a map and what works for them.

Oh, and it's also worth playing shitty mods because they teach you what not to do. Or they use elements that are interesting but are used badly. Perhaps a different modder can improve such stuff.

When I lack inspiration, I play Schabbs 2000, Assassinate Hitler or Totengraeber and then I just rip it off as best as I can, with a dab of clinical details that look good, but don't necessarily play well, and then I play-test it, and that's it. Then I'm back on the horse. Then I make another one... And another one... And after a couple of hours I've done 4 or 5 maps, burn out and riff for a little while, and eventually start again a couple days after. Normally it works that way. But things have slowed down lately. Haven't made a map for almost 3 months.

I actually think if you are a beginner, it is best to get your inspiration from the episode 1 Wolfenstein 3D levels. I think creating different but in the same style that episode 1 levels of Wolfenstein 3D have is a great start to mapping. Episode 1 level 1 is a really basic level. A beginner can use the same style yet not make it an exact replica with wall and texture changes. I felt the need to respond to this post.

Dude.
If you wanna stay at Haven just stay at Haven, lol.

Playing others wolf 3d/sod maps. Sometimes I play my own maps and thinking what got wrong or not.

Play other mod, or even play original map.
As ronwolf1705 said about making the same thing in the map, i keep doing that too for some reason. I don't know why especially i keep doing "deaf SS around the corner trick" as he said in his review of my mod "Trilogy iLow3d" and i keep making 7x7 fancy room with some officers and SS inside (i don't now if you guys notice it). And i keep making straight forward map too, because i'm extremely lazy making optional areas for some reason.

And the last thing, i feel my creativity decreases by the time.

Ipank7000 wrote: i keep making 7x7 fancy room with some officers and SS inside (i don't now if you guys notice it).

I notice that. I used that early on too, and began to do so again - I got it from John Bucksnort mainly. I mean everybody thinks that mutants are the real deal and they slay everything, but the SS is equally useful especially if ammo is low, you haven't got a machine gun/chain gun yet (and he's placed behind a barrel, a lamp or the celebrated stove) - that's just genius.

In a way I think 7 x 7 is nowhere near big enough if you want to get your message across. It's either a small office or a storage room, perhaps a residental area... But with the advent of 128 x 128, I'd really love to make one humongous "Nazi lodge" as in Gary Ragland's Schabbs 2000 level 47 where it's almost like a camp-camp in the strongest sense; no skeletons, no offices, no bullshit, just kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms. It has to be interesting though and not just a cheap excuse to binge on kitchen utensils #2 which is a forgotten gem of a sprite lol. I want a teal soup ladle!

And my creativity decreases by time too! Oh man! It's awful. Between December and April I made 10 (!) maps and I haven't done a thing since. With the advent of Gary's new mod and the whole Wolf thing beginning to gel a lot better I think I can get back up on the horse and finish 50 more maps and get my project out there. I'd really love you all to see it, and not jump to conclusions and release a crappy tiny mod. There were days when 70 levels wasn't enough, and my latest (real) release only had 4!!

Well, you guys have created A LOT of maps, so it's not too surprising.

It's sad, though. I'd really love to just be able to churn out product, get some feedback and get back to the drawing board. I don't know... Perhaps it's time to face a challenge, e.g. do something with Spear rather than Wolf, make a mod with heavy coding such as textured floors and ceilings, a whole lot of guards, switch operated secret doors etc. etc... I don't know what it takes. I'll still try and get back to what I've been working on more or less for half a year now, one of these days.

I try to look at the maps others make and put my spin on it. It forces me to change the way I map to their way, I've never seen you say, try to emulate ack. Just to see what happens as a result.

Perhaps it's time for you to add more different enemies to your campaigns in addition to what you think you might do Thomas.

Honestly, the ol' classic colored floors and ceilings lose their touch after a while IMO. Textured floors and ceilings I've always liked because it allows you to be very creative in your maps. Makes the areas more realistic too.