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PROJECT SUMMARY

"Duality" is a custom map made for Doom 2. Originally, I was going to make this map for a game jam from Steve Lee about nonlinearity, but I didn't have the time at that moment so I've decided to do it now.

The main idea is:

• At the beginning of the level, the player takes either the left or right path.
• Each path leads to a key and activates a trap that affects the whole map.
• No matter which order the player takes, the second path will always be harder than the first.
• Left side lowers pillars that have enemies and items.
• Right side opens vents in the ceiling and floor with enemies, items, and lava pits.

Here's the Itchio link where the map is hosted and a Youtube video showcasing a playthrough of the level:

DESIGN PROCESS

1. Brainstorming and writing ideas, possible issues, elements to use, and goals of the level.
2. Drawing a rough sketch of the initial layout.
3. First implementation in the editor. The level can already be played from start to finish.
4. Multiple iterations in the editor. Focus on getting the shapes and the overall progression right.
5. At this point, I playtest with other people and iterate based on the feedback and issues I can find by watching them play.
6. Final tweaks, polishing, and publishing the level.

1. First, I started by setting clear goals for the map and deciding the core mechanics and main concept. I also wrote all the possible ideas and issues I could think of and also describing step by step the sequence of the level as I initially imagined it.

2. With these notes in mind, I moved to Photoshop and did a quick and rough sketch. At this stage, I just want a basic top-down to translate into the editor

3 & 4 After solving some initial problems and making sure that the main mechanics were working, I focused on making that initial layout playable in the editor as soon as possible. At this stage, the enemies and items are mostly placeholders, and I'm focussing on getting the sequence and progression of the level right.

Once the level was working, I started doing some playtests first on my own and then with friends. Quickly I realized that I had three main problems focused on the left route:

1. The first time players travel through the area (yellow line) they don't pay attention to the pillars because they don't stand out as important elements.
2. The button that lowers the pillars is in the middle of a room creating an ambush. Players associated the button with that ambush in particular and didn't think of the pillars outside that room.
3. When the players go back to the previous rooms (end of the blue line) they don't understand that they have already been here. The room is not recognizable enough + they don't realize that the enemies are new due to the pillars being down.

The issue with the pillars came down to players not noticing the different textures before activating the switch + thinking that the pillars were only part of that ambush in the big room. I tried multiple things before changing the textures but it wasn't enough. I decided to redo the main room, this time with the button outside the room but with a window leading to the room so players could clearly see the effect. About the textures, I kept trying to use the same texture because it fit better with the overall visual style of the level. Still, in the end, I decided that it was best to go for something more dramatic that would surely catch the player's attention.

The issue about the confusion on the way back was easier to address. I created a new room and tried to make it stand out so it could work as an anchor in the middle of the path. To do that I created a round room with a distinct shape and visual style. The super shotgun is now placed in the middle of the room and the whole room lights when the player picks it up. The player can see a door that cannot be reached right now and on his left, the main path breaks the symmetry of the room making it easier to remember. In this path, the player will also find a secret currently inaccesible and a Cacodemon (which I'm using as a harder enemy in the level) to make it as memorable as possible for the player (it also has the bonus of leaving a corpse which will make the player realize that they were already here).

With these two things in mind, I remade the left side (while trying to throw away as little as possible) And after some final playtests and tweaks I decided it was time to stop iterating on it and called it finished.

RETROSPECTIVE

The good things:

• Overall the concept works and difficulty is adjusted to whatever order the player chooses to take on the map.
• The map is constantly teasing stuff to the player which foreshadows the changes the map is going to suffer and also gives a reason for the player to replay the level in the opposite order.

The not-so-good things:

• The effects of each path could be more unique. This is mainly because it's my first time doing a Doom map and I didn't really know the limitations and possibilities of the engine but I feel that the pillars and the vents are a bit too similar. Both change the level in a vertical way and show enemies and items. My personal opinion is that they are different enough for it to work, but I would like to explore the concept again in the future with more different challenges and more drastic ways to change the map.
• Hunting for secrets is boring. When players have played both paths and have opened the doors, if they decide to return to the first path to search for the secrets that they missed, they are going to backtrack with almost no engagement. In the best case, they are going to find a few enemies that don't really present a challenge on their own (as they were meant to be fought with the original enemies of that path).

Leaving those problems aside, one of the things that surprised me the most was how hard was to convey to the players how the left path worked. The vents on the right path are very "gamey" and obvious so all of the testers quickly understood that they were a trap. The pillars however didn't stand out at all for any of the initial testers (and even when the trap had already been activated some of them didn't fully realize that it was something general in the map). I was already aware that I was biased and that my judgment on this wasn't to be trusted, even though they looked obvious to me I knew that it was because I was already aware of how they worked. Fortunately, I could ask enough people to play the game to make multiple iterations and improve the chances of players understanding how it works and the latest playtests showed this improvement which was really great to see.

With all that said, it was really fun to work on the project and it was also very different to what I'm used to. The Doom editor was a bit weird to figure out initially, but in the end, I found myself going through the level and doing rooms at a very fast pace which was very rewarding. Now that the map is done I'll move to a different project but I may come back to Doom to make more maps in the future.