This is my best culmination of my way of thinking in one map. Lot of secrets and unobvious/dynamic gameplay.
You can play it in SnapMap using the code below, or watch this gameplay & insights video, which also shows how a new player would react as I made the map years ago and don't remember all the surprises!
The blog below shows the key functions and logic behind some of the many different things that happen in the vid, and each section has a link to the relevant part of the video.
Highlights
Complex map, difficult not by throwing monsters at the player, but with dynamic game progression
Minigames based on varied things like Sonic and Dance Dance Revolution
Archville & other new/improved minibosses
LOTS of secrets in many clever ways
Doom (2016) SnapMap ID: NE2MDA4D
Game Start
Leaving the cylinder trigger spawns a Pinky (bull-like demon) at the top of each of the 4 stairs, simultaneously charging toward you!
The jumps in 2 of the torches can be seen. The foreground one leads to the secret area, the other one bounces you to it (just an extra way of spotting it)
Click below to jump to the relevant part(s) in the gameplay vid:
Secret Area from Jump in Torch
It sends player to the jump next to the rune on the wall, to then be sent to the launch pad destination
This above area was basically the green pillars, I built the rest to make it a player-traversible area
Demons can't traverse props (added floors etc) but I used floating demons along with normal ones in the pillar area
Top/Bottom Room (separated by a temporary floor)
The intent was to continue the red corridor have an upper section but iirc I couldn't get the Lost Soul (floating skull demon) to go that high
Would've been cool as the corridor is too narrow to strafe to avoid them!
The grey circle is the teleport when the player thinks they're dropping down to the ground, leading to the top of the minigame room in the video
These 3 pics show what happens after pressing the skull switch. 2nd pic is temporary, a jumpscare that disappears to reveal...
Next-To-Invisible Platform Room
Teleports player right under the edge of a ledge, so no immediate indication anything is above other than the yellow powerup in the corner of the roof
There's a teleport at the bottom that brings the player back to that platform (actually 3 ways, the line going downward from the Teleport To signaler is the one I'm referring to)Â
Pic2: How the secret is revealed (yellow key) after the player finds that ledge & presses the switch
Inside of the In/Out Room 1
There's a door to enter, or the container above which has the teleport destination. The zombies only spawn after the latter is taken. So that when the player ends up here the 2nd way, it's the same room but with a development
SM doesn't let the outside part be directly accessed from the inside, it needs teleporting to. Also it can't have demons there :/ But other functions work, most of the minigames I made were in new rooms in this outside part
This room was to have 3 minigames, I didn't finish the shooting one as it was just generic compared to the other 2, & due to not being able to have even the floating monsters here, couldn't do my crystal-maze inspired demon going along the glass tube as a timer/fuse!
But by doing the one minigame properly, different things are revealed in this room, which eventually let you get a prize and leave. Still a complex room
& the game's a banger, it's what I expect dance dance revolution is like, jumping on things at the right time. In this case they have hazards under them set on a delay, so it's very quick-paced
Unfortunately similar to my Doom Minesweeper map things get triggered when they shouldn't sometimes, in this case leaving multiple options as the next one instead of only one.
Back in White Door Room
lol, I ended up triggering the secret by getting the BFG from behind that pillar (shouldn't be possible but it's probably already at the edge of the map grid so can't move it further in), but I was meant to shoot at that grated area to do so. Can be tough balancing secrets with spoonfeeding XD
Pic2 shows the blue key and the jump that's revealed later on in the gameplay. Key's in sight early on when I first entered but at that distance & fighting I didn't notice it
Bottom of Top/Bottom Room
This fkn room ruined some upcoming encounters as the upper section (pic2) kept infinitely spawning demons & there's a limit of 12 demons on the map at a time.
Many things get triggered by demons dying which is shown in the behind-the-scenes part of the vid. This section explains fully why things didn't work overall:
Inside of In/Out Room 2
Accessed by the container above (door will disappear from the front of it during gameplay)
To make the most of the Mancubus (flamethrower demon) / turn it into a miniboss, the room has dynamic fire which activates when it takes damage (as mentioned some were prevented from spawning during gameplay)
I rarely do things for show alone, everything starts for a functional reason, then I may add to make it sit better with existing objects
I enter the area but since the demon didn't spawn just a quick vid of the area
The nefarious Invisible Platform Room. Spent forever here! (both making b4 & getting thru it the other day)
In the vid, when the green gas starts, is when a Cyber Mancubus (like the previous but green acid based instead of fire) spawns (spawner in pic2, bottom right. Connected above it is the On Killed signaler (the dagger object)
The demon that's visible as itself is the Revenant (jetpack demon) which would be fought in a glass cage - very tough!
Build:
Sonic minigame!
If the demons spawned, the bull demons would chase you as you try to collect coins while avoiding obstacles
I made traps like cages (blocking boxes on a timer). By getting the wrench the player can "construct" it (trigger it behind them)
Also put a jump under the spiky ball hazard (a container set to reduce health) to make the player bounce off upon contact with the hazard - just like in Sonic!
Build:
BFG Room (top of Sonic room stairs)
I couldn't get close enough to activate the switch in the gameplay, must be a placement issue. I remember spending a lot of time on that section, simply getting things to work when it's all so close together
If I had, the door to the next room would open, revealing a multi-stage process to get the BFG (Big Fkn Gun) on top of the rock column!
The Final Boss Room
The twist with mine is the Buff Stations, those areas with the grey cylinders, apply a buff to the demons that walk thru it
AI path points (green lines) ensure demons get to key places while they chase you etc
Pet Demon on your side
This room has a very Quake 3 feel, with the open parts in between you can fall through, & the clearer layout of the map as structures are free-standing
In the vid, I then check what I missed, then Behind-The-Scenes which has mostly been covered here already, apart from a few pics at the end
The Container Room. Doesn't photograph well. Very hidden way to enter, I only found it the 2nd time I was there (see vid)
It's containers pushed together in certain ways to make paths thru & around them. Quite a few secrets here, like false walls that can be walked through
Jumped around for ages trying to get thru this room, never saw the chainsaw :P
If I made it to the end of the yellow path in the Outside of In/Out R1. The nearby switch is hard to see in gameplay. That opens the door & inside if the player can climb these 2D (1px thick) classic objects to the last one, they teleport to the boss room
Ignore the text that comes up in the vid in this part, I misremembered :P