[DOOM] Sandy Petersen's Level Design

[@SandyofCthulhu]

Whoa! I'm humbled and embarrassed a bit by this. But thanks a million. You correctly call out that I was not an artist, but a designer, hence my less-gorgeous levels. But when I started, there was no such thing as a "level designer". I guess I was one of the first ever.

[@IDontReadReplies42069]

well well well, if isn't THE MAN himself. Thanks for helping shape my child hood Mr. Peterson :)

[@SandyofCthulhu]

@@IDontReadReplies42069 You are forgiven for spelling my last name wrong. I hope my effect on your childhood was positive.

[@sargentd6780]

Sandy of Cthulhu i want to thank you, Romero and John carrack but mostly you for creating my favorite game of all time I love doom and the community and the levels you designed are some of my favorite and I just can’t stop thanking you man your a god damn legend I love your vids and I love DOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!! Your a legend man🤟

[@SandyofCthulhu]

@@sargentd6780 it was a team effort.

[@greenrangerbeatdown6913]

Thanks for your excellent work. You helped make a very fond period of my childhood gaming exploring these expertly crafted demonic labyrinths. I really missed your design philosophy with DOOM Eternal which 80 percent of the time is hallway> battle arena> cross invisible trigger> entrance seals> demons spawn in = repetitive battle arena gameplay. I miss the old days of old school level design.

[@petardjordjevic7714]

The fake exit was genuinely one of the scariest moments I've experience playing a video game. That was brilliant.

[@i-evi-l]

Ive been replaying the Dooms for the first time in 15 years. That level had me yelling obscenities.

[@SuperLlama42]

>MAP24: The Chasm *the sound of a hundred angry speedrunners in the distance*

[@steeveedee8478]

Tightrope Doom!

[@MasterBuller]

Sandy Petersen God dammit!

[@soursugar4867]

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of speedrunners suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

[@DuringDark]

Heh, around the time of your post Looper got the first sub 18:00 WR on doom 2 UV. His split for it is called the Ebola

[@marscaleb]

BAH! I say! Map24 speedruns are the BEST! That's the kind of speedrun that gets people excited to see records broken! Go watch Karl Jobst's video on that maps's speedrun history; it's amazing to see what people were doing!

[@WAcrobat19]

It's ironic that the media said that Doom promotes satanism, but Sandy Peterson is a Mormon who did most of the hell levels lmao

[@UnchainedEruption]

Slayer are christians and Black Sabbath wrote pro-Christianity lyrics in "Master of Reality." Image isn't everything.

[@JohnSWeekley]

@@UnchainedEruption Well, Tom Araya is Catholic. King is extremely atheist. Not sure about the others in Slayer.

[@tankerd1847]

I still don't see how ravaging Hell and slaying demons is pro-satanism.

[@MissourHanzai]

The demons are the bad guys.

[@rautamiekka]

@@tankerd1847 I guess it's got to do with showing all the symbols and shit. But those ppl are morons, like a lot of religious ppl are.

[@eggboy9126]

Sandy Petersen is one of the most influential mappers of all time, and is still heavily criticized despite having half the game's maps dumped on him. I think it's actually extremely impressive he made so many memorable maps (especially in Doom 2) in spite of the time and amount of work he was given. Excellent video, thanks for the Sandy Petersen love!

[@majamystic256]

Since Romero made a new set of levels for Doom called Sigil We should ask Petersen if he could make a set of new levels for Doom 2 if he wants to I kinda would like to play that

[@Chubzdoomer]

Sadly, it'll probably never happen. From a Reddit AMA he did several years ago: [Makhauser ] "Hi, Sandy, thanks for all the stuff you have created. Haven't you thought about making a level/wad for DooM as JR did some time ago? Your levels were rather remarkable, admire playing them even now." [SandyPetersen] "Thank you so much for the praise! There are so many levels for Doom out there - and so many excellent fan-based ones. I'm not sure that my input is particularly needed." Here's the link if you want to check it out (I originally said it was in the video description, but it turns out this is a different AMA): www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/50j8k4/iama_sandy_petersen_a_professional_game_designer

[@Gebora]

@@Chubzdoomer modest of him to say but not true, im sure you can find levels better designed than romeros but that was never the point, as a very long time doom fan i enjoy their classic ways of making levels. his input would be more than welcome, i can just imagine what he could create today.

[@rekius328]

@@Gebora i dont think his levels can beat romeros at all

[@MySocksAreOnFire-b4c]

@@Chubzdoomer I would love to play a new SP map. Too bad all the whiny "SANDY PETERSIN IZ BAYUD MAPPEAR" plebs most likely drove him away from doing so. Heck, he could make one and send it to me privately if he wants, I'd be most grateful!

[@SandyofCthulhu]

@@MySocksAreOnFire-b4c check out my new board game Planet Apocalypse which is literally about soldiers killing demons. Even has a spider rmastermind

[@ericschuster2680]

This guy is responsible for over 50% of all Doom I and II content. You may criticize him for his maps artdesign, but he sure wasn't lazy... While John Romero enjoyed being a rockstar during Doom II development, Petersen just sat down and got back to work! Absolute Chad move if you ask me...

[@Chubzdoomer]

Yeah, it's really impressive how many levels he managed to churn out in such a short amount of time. I watched one interview (I think it was a "Matt Chat" episode) where he said he just really wanted to impress everyone at id with his work ethic. *EDIT: It turns out it was actually an interview he did with Jason Lamb (link below). For some reason I thought it was a video interview, but it seems I was wrong. That being said, the "Matt Chat" interviews here on KZbin are still worth checking out!* jasonlamb.org/sandy-petersen-an-interview-about-doom-quake-and-aoe/

[@xjyo]

He also wrote the intermissions screens, named all the monsters, named all the levels, defined in which order they would appear, defined how much damage the weapons would deal. That's huge. Sadly he only known as a level designer.

[@sean5419]

Petersen watches his son play Doom Eternal on his channel: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gp22k2SbqKunZqM

[@SandyofCthulhu]

@@sean5419 since the word "level designer" didn't exist, I thought I was just a designer. So I did lots of design work too. Some of the game's programming was per my requests of course. Carmack would ask me what I needed and I'd tell him.

[@RMMLz]

He also had a very short span of time available to make all of these maps. A few weeks to release, and about 15 maps to make.

[@GTXDash]

The thing that people need to understand is that Petersen is actually a really good level designer. But the poor man only had 3 months! 3 months to not only learn how to build 3D levels for the first time in his life on the most unique and advanced game engine up to that point, but also be required to build the majority of the levels! That's why he used many of Tom Hall's levels as a launch pad to help speed up the process. Even though he had more time to work on the levels for Doom II, the amount however were still about the same as before and this time he would have to make all of them from scratch. So the question is this: What if he only needed to worry about building a small handful of levels in a larger space of time? Like...lets say: 7 levels over 7 months? Well, he did. He made 7 levels for episode 4 in Quake 1, which are not only some of the best levels in that game in terms of design and also in art style (proving that he can indeed make levels that aren't always ugly), but some of the best levels to ever come from id Software in my opinion.

[@FeelingShred]

I just posted about Episode 4, those maps are mind-blowing, definitely a must play. Only to be surpassed by the ones in Scourge of Armagon expansion pack. (by the same guys who later on designed the maps on Sin)

[@SandyofCthulhu]

I started on Doom in August 1993. Man there was a lot of work to do.

[@GTXDash]

@@SandyofCthulhu Holy Cow! It's Sandy! :D

[@SandyofCthulhu]

@@GTXDash and Dash!

[@projectgoatse]

As someone who first played Doom and Doom II on release, and not knowing anything about the development team, I never once thought "Man, these Petersen levels suck ass". Instead, every episode of the game had its own unique look and feel, which in my opinion mirrored the development of Super Mario Bros 3 in terms of offering diversity in environments and new spins on gameplay even though the fundamental mechanics stayed the same. It's a masterpiece of design and there's a reason why so many people are still playing Doom to this day. You feel like there's a natural progression to the game and there isn't the feeling of being dropped into a soulless sandbox where everything looks procedurally generated like the games of today.

[@Allstin]

Map 28 The Spirit World is my favorite - and the music rocks, too! Sandy also basically redesigned how the BFG functioned, from a spastic plasma rifle to its new design! Arguably a good one that’s actually pretty complicated

[@SandyofCthulhu]

it's true. The original BFG plan was to spew a billion plasma balls. It's flaw was that it almost never killed anything except at super close range. I worked with Carmack to turn it into what amounted to a Defender-like "smart bomb".

[@autistichades5552]

@@SandyofCthulhu And a legend was born...THE BIG...[RETACTED] GUN!

[@Keldor314]

Yeah, the BFG mechanic really interesting and lets players use it in unusual ways. My only complaint is that it doesn't telegraph the aftereffect mechanic very well - when I was a kid I always just thought it was a big blast effect like a rocket, only it didn't hurt the player, but in reality, it's a delayed blast super sawed off shotgun. Mind you, it's not exactly clear how you could have represented this, especially given the performance limits of the time ;-) Maybe some sort of big lightning spray on the gun sprite when the aftereffect goes off? Of course, that's suddenly a big sprite in memory and it might not look nearly as good in game as I could imagine it. Anyway, let's hear it for everyone's favorite gun!

[@bannisray3683]

E2m3 E3m3 and E3m3 Mouah 👌

[@OmarHyari2009]

@@SandyofCthulhu Like the unmaykr

[@tickleson8661]

After watching Civvie 11's videos on Doom while I do agree with most of his criticisms with Peterson's levels this video did make me appreciate him way more then I use to. I really like E2M6's paths for finding the red and yellow skull keys, it was like a treasure hunt.

[@Jackfromshack]

This Civvie guy is obnoxious. I don 't understand why people keep listening to him. He does not delve into the essence of the games he plays, remaining in the populist opinion

[@BoomiestBomb]

@@Jackfromshack that's the point, dummy.

[@magicjohnson3121]

Civvie sucks. I don’t agree with him on anything.

[@tickleson8661]

@@magicjohnson3121I personally like Civvie but he isn't the best player ever which can be infuriating so I can understand if seeing him blow up seems unjust. edit: heck I disagree with the city levels being "bad", map 17 is forgettable but I love maps 14, 15, 16, 18 and 20

[@rosievelasco7448]

@@Jackfromshack But he's "The Pinnacle of Online Entertainment"!

[@steve_en5903]

Mt Erebus is the bomb. It’s one of my top 5 doom levels

[@tickleson8661]

What I love about Mt Erebus is I always thought it was suppose to be the front cover of Doom with it's hellish wasteland aesthetic.

[@drygnfyre]

For years I had no idea how you were supposed to access the secret exit. Like, I knew where it was (or at least I deduced it because I realized that blue box at the top of the map otherwise had no purpose), but I just "cheated" and would activate the switch from the other side. It took me a long time to realize you were supposed to rocket jump. It went against my gamer instincts of doing something that is ultimately suicidal, even if the invulnerability sphere is there. I've always liked that map not just how open it is, but because it's the first time in the game you had to do something that is otherwise very contradictory to advance to another map.

[@bigtastyben5119]

"God damn it Sandy" Petersen

[@lordsquid6652]

I was hoping civvie would comment here

[@channel5980]

Ah, I see you're a man of culture!

[@will4127]

Barrels O' Fuck Off Sandy

[@zacharywhitfield4166]

Downtown fucking nowhere

[@bannisray3683]

This is gold 😂

[@0lionheart]

I may not have vibed with Sandy's maps but I have a huge amount of respect for the sheer work he put in and the creativity he brought to the table. A key part of DOOM, for sure!

[@learrus]

Wow, he basically made DOOM and DOOM II... Pretty much all my favorite levels of all time in gaming too. Way to go man... lolol You are a genius.

[@Madchris8828]

Hall's of the damned is his level? I LOVE THAT ONE! its got a lot of amazing traps, and fortress of mystery is a super fun level. Heck actually all the ones you listed are my favorites. Ha! never knew.

[@SandyofCthulhu]

thanks!

[@drygnfyre]

Romero is only credited with the original E1 maps in Doom 1. He did the first two maps of E4, IIRC. Everything else was credited to someone else. This is one of the reasons the E2 and E3 maps have a very different look and feel.

[@Guesthunter]

Sandy Peterson showed more than just a daring attitude in experimentation. He really showed of what the engine could do, as he understood very well what you could pull off with it. The lighting in the "Hall of the Damned", the endings in both "Hall of the Damned" and "Phobos Anomaly", monster infighting in "Fortress of Mystery" the puzzles in "Unholy Cathedral" and "Containment Area", the crushing floors, the slow infestation of demonic symbols in Episode 2 and the ingenious placement of secrets throughout. For me Peterson is what Doom needed to reach it's pinnacle. I would LOVE to see new levels created by him.

[@SandyofCthulhu]

wow I'm honored

[@Guesthunter]

@@SandyofCthulhu THE Man behind Age of Empires, Doom, Quake and the modern Lovecraft mythos answered to my post. You are truly a great human being. Certainly, you must be very busy, but do you have an autograph address by any chance? I would trade in my right arm for that.

[@karlk5801]

Crushing floors?

[@procow2274]

Wait I was supposed to make them infight in fortress of mystery not pistol start and kill all of them manually? #_#

[@drygnfyre]

There is no "wrong way" to play. Whatever works for you is fine. But yes, the "intent" was to have the enemies engage in in-fighting and then all the stragglers. This concept was used again in "Tricks & Traps," when there's a room with a cyber-demon and a lot of barons.

[@emilyz4104]

Map 13 is my all-time favorite Doom level because of the sandbox feel and needing to plan out the order you want to take out enemy snipers and nests. Map 28 is also one of the best looking hell levels ever made. I'd love to see what Petersen could do with modern level design options and maybe some Lovecraftian monsters. Like, Quake-like, but in GZDoom instead.

[@Dondlo46]

4:18 "arguably one of his greatest achievements is map 13,downtown" well when i played it first time,i was walking around for hours figuring out what to do and listening my favorite DOOM music

[@DJL3G3ND]

yeah I struggled finding my way around but I think its cool to see a city as its hell on earth after all

[@schwipsy]

haha same

[@cro-magnum7642]

@@DJL3G3ND eternal still does it better. Downtown felt empty and boring, no interesting wall textures. Less hell on earth, more abandoned city.

[@roadkill_52]

G E T G U D

[@ccdmn1557]

@@cro-magnum7642 Eternal level design are just boring linear arenas while Downtown have actual exploration. Just because you have an awful sense of direction doesn't mean the map isn't good. (inb4 "hurr durr the arrow on the floor")

[@Skronkidonk]

He made some of my Favorite levels and so did John Romero

[@UnchainedEruption]

4:26 "Downtown" The verticality in that level and others in Doom 2 is a bit of a prototype for what we'd later see in Quake. It really shows the evolution in id software's game design. I'm glad that id really doubled down on the interesting and mind-bending level design for Doom 2, with the story playing second fiddle a bit.

[@CreativeUsernameHere-r1k]

Some Sandy levels were cool, but generaly I prefer actualy NRFTL in level design because it's such a cool stylish mappack, he walked five houndred miles so Nerve software can sprint.

[@rastamangames]

Can we have similar review of American MacGee's & Tom Hall's level design? 🤔

[@Chubzdoomer]

It's possible!

[@timothy8428]

Yeah, that fake exit got me. I had the yellow key and thought beauty, don't need to find the other two. Hit the button and, well, trolled.

[@eliteplier]

Some of his levels are my abdolute favourite and others pretty mediocre. Overall he is a good level designer.

[@BoomiestBomb]

E3M9 is the coolest level in DOOM. Just such an amazing bait and switch by having you play through the first level again. I just instinctively thought there was something wrong with my game until the walls came down and realized I've been tricked. I haven't seen design that ingenious in shooters since. Genius.

[@Lizzaroro]

Unpopular opinion, but I actually liked his city maps in Doom 2. As a kid, they were the most realistic maps of a city or town in a game I had seen at the time, and they were always fun to explore.

[@danbrown6513]

So... this guy made all of my favorite doom levels, basically. "Halls of the damned" is one my most terrifyingly memorable map from any game, that fake exit is just so...cruelly hellish. Megakudos to him

[@mironmironov6444]

He also worked on Quake and gave the idea for the Lovecraftian monsters.

[@casual_villain]

“But most importantly! Make sure that whatever your designing looks NOTHING like what it’s supposed to!” Sandy’s awesome but….COME ON, still a awesome level designer and this is a awesome video

[@malcolmbojangles265]

Sandy's levels were more creative, imaginative, and fun to play.

[@LifeGrindcore]

Sandy's levels make me very nostalgic.

[@bannisray3683]

Yeppers

[@returnofbeaux]

WORD

[@weaseln_hecktorplaysgames9625]

Sandy is seriously an unrecognized genius 👏 for God sake, he has his own song!

[@Westile]

Also: The guy who made a lot of levels you hate.

[@wodensthrone5215]

I can hear civvie laughing at this video because you're praising petersen.

[@txcrix9236]

I was thinking the same thing lmao. He did so many great one-liners for Sandy's levels xD

[@gingleheimer8243]

I don't feel like civie outright hates his levels, he did state that he deserves credit due to a lack of expierence for doom 1

[@ccdmn1557]

civvie is a moron

[@RaizPodre]

Sandy work's isn't actually perfect a but he gave a doom more horror than Romero. The first episode of Doom you can see how Wolfestein style still a bit alive and Romero looks a kind of designer who don't like to frustrate the player ... just shooting and exploding enemies. Sandy start a style with several traps and less forgive moments.

[@Djent7779]

tricks and traps, and suburbs were my favourite levels

[@PedroSeidelSinger]

Doom II cities' levels are seriously my favourite in the OG Doom. Complately packed with enemies and traps, and you run and backtrack A LOT. That's my preferred Doom experience.

[@danmanx2]

Great review chubz! Sandy made some cool levels. I make boxy levels too!

[@journeytosilius1]

This was a very informational video. Of all the years of playing Doom and map packs, I never knew just how many maps Sandy was responsible for in the original games! I knew more of his maps from Quake but didn't realize so many of my favorite Doom maps were by him. Without him, Doom 1 and 2 just would have been completely different experiences. Sometimes it just takes one person to make an entire vision for a game.

[@slireth_gunman5465]

I know a lot of people really hate Petey's levels but honestly, I beg to differ. In fact i think some of his levels are honestly top notch, even surpassing Romero at some points. He's responsible for some of my favorite maps, including: Spawning Vats (my favorite id-made doom map), Command Center, Containment Area, Halls Of the Dammed, Pandemonium, Refueling Base, Monster Condo, And Many More! If the man himself is spotted here, what is one piece of advice you would give for level design.

[@chemergency]

Sandy may not have been the "best" mapper in Doom 1 and 2, but I'd argue he was by-far the most influential, and the unsung hero within id's development team that really honed all of Doom's elements together to make it special and set it apart from Wolf3D and all the clones it had spawned. Mt. Erebus is fucking awesome and one of my favorite levels in any Doom game. Tricks & Traps is also good fun.

[@Novasky2007]

Doom levels are so elegant. Puzzles, traps, tricks, fakeouts, obstacles, secrets and arenas all built into the geometry.

[@slimebuck]

sandy was not bad at level design.. but his texture work was really bad... so many misaligned textures in his levels drives me crazy!

[@olzhas1one755]

And the endless browns and greys dont give it more justice either

[@Willowisp927]

Well, there are people that find appearances more important, and there are others that find that content is what matters. The fact that he tries to innovate and not just copy/paste whatever was already created gives him an edge over every 'common' level designer though.

[@temphandle01a]

Maybe not the best looking levels, but they have a strange threatening atmosphere that I love. The abstract visuals mixed with the traps and mind games. So many areas in Sandys maps feel like places you weren't ever supposed to witness or understand as a lowly human, if we are to apply real life logic to Doom guys journey throughout Doom 1 & 2 . The Chasm is a good example. The place looks unfamiliar and the puzzles and such are kind of rude. My favorite map of Doom 2. I have no sympathy for all the "hate" this one seems to get.

[@captainfalcon8676]

For me, Peterson's levels are hit or miss. Sometimes they look too flat in comparison to most of doom 1's maps. The size of the map doesn't impress me, but it is impressive how this guy singlehandedly is responsible for making more than half of the doom 2 levels. But his levels were just big boxes and personally I'm not a fan of em. Big respect for his efforts, but i don't believe being the first to do something warrants a "you did a good job" i believe saying he did a fair job and earns mass amounts of respect for putting up with the workload is more apt.

[@FluffyNuo]

I'm not a big fan of a handful of his levels (specifically all his episode 2 maps), but I think he better found his footing in Doom 2 with the emphasis on platforming and verticality.

[@brazmann9571]

Badass. This gives new meaning to Into Sandys City

[@TheStrayHALOMAN]

I hate was happened to Quake after Quake 1, even though I do still love the games... Like Halo they are hardly like the original and might as well be treated as their own franchise.

[@JMAR_GAMES]

Halls of the Damned is the only Doom level I don’t like. It’s not too difficult, but many traps and monster closets can really mess up your day if you don’t know how to deal with them properly.

[@Zeoinx69]

Anyone else think Chub sounds like Don S. Davis at times during this video? I almost thought i was watching a SG1 review of Doom.

[@BigboiiTone]

I love city levels. This started it all!!

[@fatihzirek7440]

Tom Halls designs was better but still i liked his open world type map design .

[@Donut6975]

The Chasm is literally the entire speedrunning communities bane of existence

[@ВиториоКлиментов]

In the level the Chasm i remember room with green walls.

[@roflman]

Sandy Petersen is a national treasure

[@clowcell7559]

I'm sure this has been pointed out before but I feel that Sandy's maps really have that old school d&d sensibility to them. Was not surprised at all to find out he had a long respectable history in pen and paper game design prior to doom.

[@AliJr_MetalGames_MetalGuitar]

Thanks for the mapping ideas, SP, and thanks for publicizing them more chubz

[@YourCRTube]

The open and sandbox levels are one of the greatest and in a way define Doom, making it stand out as not just corridor shooter. In a way Serious Sam was the first game that tried to recrate that when the technology was there to do it in 3D.

[@DeepFriedHugs]

I hated tricks and traps bc the exit room where the stairs descended one after another I fell into the acid multiple times and RIPd. The room with all the he'll knights and cyberdemon was kewl

[@ВиториоКлиментов]

I remember Cyberdemon and all monsters on Doom 2.

[@ZuGineeris]

SP is underrated

[@deadrock1678]

No matter how amazing the new wads have in level design, none of them feel as fun as the maps from Doom 1 and 2.

[@Marcolubus_]

You forgot E1M8, that was a good one for the Shareware version

[@YogiTheBearMan]

1:33 and also it teaches the observant player about intentional in-fighting by showing dead cacao in the hell knight room and dead hell knights in the cacao room. I immediately restarted the level after I went into the 2nd room and realized what I was supposed to do. Def some of the most memorable levels mechanically

[@drygnfyre]

E2M8 builds on this concept by showing dead barons strung up on the wall, but there are no cacodemons. This is a clue that whatever is on this map is going to be much tougher than the barons (who up until the cyber-demon are the toughest enemies in the game). There's actually a good deal of visual storytelling in Doom, more than it often gets credit for.

[@steeveedee8478]

25 years on and Doom is still my favourite game.

[@freemank8207]

3:20 this is my favorite level in Doom 2.

[@beleagueredbeluga5228]

Tbh, The Chasm just sucks though...

[@O.Shawabkeh]

Two days ago, I have started Doom II, on Ultra Violence, intend to play it for the first time in my life without cheats and level skipping like the way I used to 20-years ago. Though I wish I had a 14" crt laying around.

[@spearPYN]

I still have it... it is a beauty to play Doom on glass CRT monitor.. so much nicer than LCD.

[@RMJ1984]

I personally think that one of the main reason why Doom is so good, is that they have different map makers with different styles, it keeps it fresh. And in regards to Doom, it works in its favor, as to make levels feel strange and alien.

[@ceejaygorway5218]

Downtown is one of the weaker maps in Doom II. The only one weaker is The Factory.

[@ВиториоКлиментов]

Factory is level 12 in Doom 2.

[@sverr0r]

Great sum-up of Sandy's Doom stuff, I'm not one of those guys that instantly know the layout of a Doom map when its name and number is mentioned, so this was a great jog of memory through some of my absolute favorite Doom maps, with their author's due credit duly strengthened.

[@ERenato]

Im not entirely sure but i think The Chasm its an inspiration to the Microsoft Word secret game "the hall of lost souls". a third person game where you can only walk on thin ledges where the objective its to go to the hall with pictures of the developers. if you ask me if this it's my favorite DOOM level, definitely not. For me The Spiritual World whole design it's a work of art, and even Monster Condo in two parts: - the whole Butcher area where starts collapsing. - the teleport where it sends you to a copy/paste place full of monsters, that place causes paranoia. XD

[@aevvah_flxwer8550]

Same. The Spiritual World is one of my favorites, just because it's so cool looking (any hellish level in a DOOM game is cool looking, lol). :D

[@officialFredDurstfanclub]

I think what’s best about Sandy’s more experimental maps is just how influential and groundbreaking they are. People may hate the Chasm and find something like Nirvana and Monster Condo annoying but that kind of weird but striking design, “realistic” visuals and unique set pieces really set a precedent for map makers at the time. It showed that not everyone had to be a standard hell level or a standard tech base, etc. Some of his levels might not be my favourites, but Doom (especially Doom 2) wouldn’t be the same without them

[@Peterplayingguitar]

I'm on the fence. Mr Peterson has done GREAT work : Containment area, Deimos lab, Halls of the damned (So good!) , Mt Erebus, Refuelling base, Suburbs, The courtyard, The citadel, Icon of sin. But on the other had he has made some of the worst levels (IMO) : Fortress of mystery, Slough of despair (fucking hate that level), tricks and traps, Barrels 'o fun, The chasm (everyone's favourite, LOL)

[@janiikavalko6223]

Those levels what you hated are one of the best experiences of player expanding the abilities of doom engines to a complete new level bringing totally new gameplay, like the Chasm. It's not that hard level anyway if you're just careful, but the added dimension what it brought to gameplay was totally groundbreaking and new.

[@empirecrumbles615]

Your least favorite levels are some of my favorites and vice versa! I loved Fortress of Mystery, Tricks and traps, honestly like Barrels of fun, but my 3 least favorites are probably Suburbs, Refueling Base, and one other I can’t remember lmao

[@empirecrumbles615]

I remember now, Nirvana (ofc)

[@SandyofCthulhu]

I guess I built something for everyone.

[@SR-388]

I actually like barrel's o fun and tricks and traps lol

[@AG5_]

I'll be honest, some of Petersons maps in Doom I wasn't my favourite but in Doom II I loved basically all of them

[@RoryFrenn]

MAP13 is certain one of the most hated maps in Doom 2.

[@ВиториоКлиментов]

Map 13 on Doom 2 is Downtown.

[@refinedautodesigns]

So Romero did episode 1, and Hall did episodes 2 and 3. I remember playing the knee deep in the dead shareware and blown away. Bought the rest of the episodes and very disappointed..levels looked like trash.

[@lancebaylis3169]

Fortess Of Mystery also shows another of Sandy's talents as a designer: visual storytelling. The hint that you're supposed to use in fighting is that the Baron room is full of Cacodemon carcasses, and the Cacodemon room has got Barons chained up on the walls bleeding to death. A hint that these two enemies don't like each other, perhaps....

[@unleashthedog]

I only played Doom and Doom 2 when I was a little boy in school really, under 16 I'd say. I replayed the first few levels of Doom at some point from the Steam release possibly... I only remember I always preferred Doom to Doom 2, and now that I've watched this I wonder if the reason is because of the level design style... I guess I liked Romero's more. Still now just watching the video I can say that I am very not attracted by those big arenas that don't feel like a real level to me, as I was always interested in the exploration above everything in a video game. I should replay with adult eyes. I used to prefer Duke to Quake as well because of the realistic aspect, but I have got back into Quake and find it to have a timeless design compared to other games, including Half-Life that was always my favourite game (and the game for which I started playing with the level editor)

[@ravick007]

Despite I really dislike The Chasm, Mt Erebus was a masterpiece. Petersen's work deserves much more love from the community.

[@KippleEyes]

It's funny because Tricks and Traps is timelessly enjoyable for me as a less linear trial hub, but those open air maps like Erebos and Downtown I'd get frustratedly lost for hours in, to this day I start those maps and just lose all sense of direction; I think finding keys and key doors just halts me in my tracks because I never commit the level progression to memory.

[@ListersHatsune]

I have a lot of respect for Sandy. His work on doom was great and you can see how hard he works to make things work with Age of Empires 2's perfect balance. Great experimentor - great learner

[@AlphaZeroX96]

I feel John Romero is overrated. Petersen made great maps. The Chasm is my favorite map in Doom 2, along with Downtown.

[@alexanderhampp6467]

Turns out that my most beloved Levels of the Games are all designed by Petersen.

[@jamesmangiameli8337]

I never really paid attention to who designed what levels. But 'tricks and traps' and 'warrens' are both in my top 5. I also adore Halls of the Damned. Go sandy!

[@ezgoodnight]

Romero is like Spielberg, polished and thoughtful. Sandy is like a maniac schlocky horror director, churning out dozens of wild cult favorites. I think some of his hated maps (Chasm for instance) are actually quite good, but some of the worst maps in Doom 1 and 2 definitely go to Sandy.

[@gojithereploid7623]

Great vid dude!

[@KaijuTurtle]

The only time I’ve ever heard someone say anything positive about Slough of Despair

[@stephenhowe4107]

Sandy Petersen also designed the majority of levels for Episode 4, "The Elder World" of Quake 1 (all except the first): e4m2 The Tower of Despair e4m3 The Elder God Shrine e4m4 The Palace of Hate e4m5 Hell's Atrium e4m6 The Pain Maze e4m7 Azure Agony e4m8 The Nameless City

[@metalngames509]

Peterson gets a lot of shit for his levels but i always liked Fortress of Mystery.

[@SbsGrinth]

Though a lot was started by Hall, I always felt like Sandy's was more thematic then Romeros.

[@rautamiekka]

The fake exits weren't a one-off sadly, at least in fan content. But the 1st fake exit taught to always be alert and listen to your gut regardless of whether your gut was right. And I fucking hated the extreme overuse of ambushes in particular, and popular spawncamping, and traps, in 'Final Doom'. The maps were otherwise good, but if I hadn't been LANning with a friend I'd had stopped at like 7/10 of TNT and half of Plutonia at latest.

[@retrodudez3422]

Fake exits...spooky... a level in the shape of the hand... Chubz, you just nailed it. This is my personal soapbox by the way. To me, classic Doom is all about the tension...the spooky layouts... pauses where you almost feel safe and get caught admiring the level as you are suddenly swarmed by baddies. The newer games often suffer from this lack of organic ebb and flow. I simply can't enjoy the nuances of a game when I'm constantly running and shooting to save my skin. Long live classic Doom and those that keep it alive today! And it goes without saying... Thank you Sandy Peterson!

[@ThatRetroAussie]

I find that Sandy and John fell into two different cloths of designer, John was more of aesthetic Level Designer whereas Sandy was more of a Experimental Level Designer, if My own recent and work in progress sewer mini-slaugter map is anything to go by, I am more of a Trap based level designer as I focus more so on traps that catch the player off guard, but I also seem to be something of a Prefabs and Tight Claustrophobic areas level designer.

[@RecklessFPSGuy]

True, but by far his best stages were on Quake 1 (and they were Quake 1's best stages as well for me).

[@nameless5413]

downtown is awfull level, yes i get that Sandy was probably very tight on time but its the level with arrow isnt it? not a good sigh when you have to slap down an arrow because you need player to go into some specific area. DoomII needed good 3 more level designers or more ppl actually doing levels to help everyone flesh out their visions for what some levels should be. If Romero was not death matching so much maybe he could have designed more levels, for example.

[@ccdmn1557]

A civvie drone was spotted. Can't you think by yourself or you always need e-celebs to do the job for you?

[@ccdmn1557]

"hur duurrr thee arroowww on the floooor" Pathetic.

[@rodrigoalves-cg6xv]

@@ccdmn1557 lol Civvie fans are so predictable. Next he will diss Capstone games despite not ever played them. That arrow on Downtown is not that clear on 320x200, unless you already know it's there.

[@nameless5413]

@@ccdmn1557 wow you get to have comments on videos as your job? thats nifty. regardless i am not a drone, tho my views on this particular subject align with civvie i have hated downtown ever since i played it back in the 90s - its intents are good but execution is shoddy, as mentioned above that is likely because it was rushed. MORE people designing levels would aliveate this pressure allowing more attention to be payed to this and many other levels. And since Romero was famously kicked out due to not pulling his weight in development that is who my mind goes to first. that still leaves 2 slots open for any of your suggestions in this hypothetical scenario or even all 3 if you can come up with more Id employees who were there at the time not doing much.

[@amaruqlonewolf3350]

Sandy's levels are quite interesting, and actually really enjoyable. The problem I have with them is their weird aesthetics. Texture work is rather questionable, but yeah, apart from the visuals, the levels themselves are quite fun.

[@crispypeepohole69]

While I respect the amount of work Sandy put into both DOOM games and the fact that he was trying to push forward interesting level design that tried to prove that "go here, collect keys, kill this, leave level" wasn't the only thing that the engine was capable of; I do find a lot of traps he made were down right dickish some times. However, I will say that they are mostly dickish due to the physical structor of rooms they are in and not just unfair shit being thrown at you. In other words, they're not Plutonia levels of dickish. As a side note for those of you that didn't know, Sandy was also a game designer for a few Age of Empire games as well.

[@nerdodragonnerdpl4167]

I curse Petterson for unholly CatedraXD Also...about fortress of mystery it's not true I always blast what i can from plasma and then shoot caco from doors even shotgunsniping them or i have some fun there blasting everything arround me Funny fact...this is last level in gba version where only one secret level and no bosses except first barons

[@OhNotThat]

Sandy didn't make levels to look at or be visually satisfying for screenshots, but made levels for pure gameplay and experience. A Sandy level loves to keep you on your toes, misdirect you and force you into tight spots where you need to think for just a second. Tricks and Traps imo is the quintessential Sandy level, it doesn't need to make any sense for the forces of hell to have such a building it just needs to be a challenge and fun.

[@xyz39808]

They weren't great but they were all memorable. Can an artist ask for anything more?

[@fartzerelli1385]

Sandy Peterson either made levels I totally loved, or totally hated, nothing in between!