How to start making Doom levels in 5 minutes (setting up Doom Builder)

[@doomlava8]

This gives me hope, one day I'll get a good PC and try making levels. I love playing too much right now. Thanks 👍🏻

[@stevelee_gamedev]

Great to hear, but also - you don't need a machine any better than the one you use to play Doom to make levels for it, fyi?

[@scrubwar]

I made a Doom 2 level on the Steam Deck so you don't need much horsepower or even a Windows machine at all in order to get started

[@polygonvvitch]

You forgot step 0: Put on some death metal.

[@Loch_Ness_Lachster]

You, my friend, are a life saver, I was so fortunate to stumble upon this video. I had no idea how to correctly configure the map for testing, I didn’t know I needed GZDoom, I got the programmed, configured the system, and was ready to test my map. Thanks a ton 😁

[@stevelee_gamedev]

Great to hear, and you're welcome!

[@VitorGuerreiroVideos]

Just reminded me that I have a complete setup environment for modding Quake1 Maps sitting in my drive and never got to play around with things again... Nice explanation for the Doom setup! Might give that a try some time.

[@miblik]

4:51 Why would you attack me like this!?

[@stevelee_gamedev]

🖤

[@andreaELmeyer]

This was so helpful. The little steps showing me how and where to install things really helped. Thanks!

[@stevelee_gamedev]

Great to hear :)

[@serhan9415]

Wonderful guide thank you

[@stevelee_gamedev]

You're welcome! 👍

[@Interkeker]

I'm amazed of how simple create smth interesting and cool for Doom and reborn old feelings. In the middle of video start thinking how to balanced fight encounters )) Thank you for Guide !

[@stevelee_gamedev]

At least one more Doom related LD video to come sometime soon(ish) ;)

[@Shrek_es_mi_pastor]

It should be noted that DSDA-Doom is another updated version that lets you place over 5000 monsters on screen at the same time without lagging at all, if that's what you wanna make, which gzdoom cannot, it's nuts

[@WildPsyduck]

Nice lil video. [old skool] Should do a dosbox one to make levels the old way, be more like 50minutes long lol. You can get a level built pretty quick in dosbox environment (once setup) then use old wad mods to randomly generate monsters and pickups. I made a lil launcher and file/folder structure pack that aims to do stuff (similar to your displayed ethos) i.e: Make things fast and easy to understand for the end user. Cool stuff.

[@kyotokid]

Inspiring, thanks!

[@stevelee_gamedev]

Great to hear, you're welcome 👍

[@michaelvicente5365]

I'd love to have your insight into level design for top down games, like how would you approach a game like fallout 1. You can't really use the methods like showing far away landmarks and points of interest, how can you lead a player on a top down env where you can't see that far etc. anyway I rarely see level design talk about it.

[@stevelee_gamedev]

Honestly, i don't know how to say how I'd approach it, beyond figuring out what works best for that game, with the mechanics it has, etc. For example I assume that UI, maps and objectives etc would play into player navigation a lot in a topdown game with a restricted view. Beyond that, I'd have to know more about the particular game to know how I'd approach it! Sorry to not have a better answer, haha :)

[@michaelvicente5365]

@@stevelee_gamedev No worries haha. That's why it's tricky, most game don't use this camera. So far the only way I found was from pillars of eternity, where they divided the levels into screen "grids", so they know what the player sees at all times depending on where they are, and would place interesting things on the corners where they want to lead the player.

[@yao_6520]

Hi Steve, I would love to see a similar video for half-life 2 mapping with hammer, since you've talked about it so much I really want to give it a try!

[@stevelee_gamedev]

Yeah it’s definitely on my list of ideas - hope to get round to it sometime 👍

[@archivalhorror]

Thanks mate.

[@stevelee_gamedev]

You're welcome 👍

[@LAVERTUEG]

yes please!" I am really interested to learn how to use the editor

[@stevelee_gamedev]

If all goes to plan, my next video will show me making an entire level from scratch, showing the whole process🤞

[@Wendelvendel]

I might have a go at this. What a great thing to share :) Can you do anything wrt the boomer shooter thing that has been happening the last few years and also any tools for the old build engine?

[@highestsettings]

You can sell games that are made using GZDoom so long as all of your assets are original. A good example of this is Hedon. Also unfortunately there aren't any tools for Build that come even remotely close to Ultimate Doom Builder. Which is a real shame if you ask me because I love the Build engine. Making maps and mods for Build engine games is almost as hard as it was to do when the game was new except you can get into maps quicker. Still if you really want to try Build engine mapping, I believe there is the tool mapster32 (the name might be different) for eduke32 and there is a separate version for Ion Fury too.

[@stevelee_gamedev]

I briefly played with making Duke Nukem levels back in the day, but can't remember anything about it to be honest, and Doom is much closer to my heart. At least one more Doom related video to come, sometime soon(ish) :)

[@paladindanse81]

Could u do an analysis of level design in souls games?

[@stevelee_gamedev]

To be honest I haven't actually played them that much, because I'm not a fan of super punishing games, losing progress a lot, trial and error, etc. I've heard great things about their level design in terms of structure and the relationships between different areas etc, but I wouldn't be the right person to make a video about it. Sorry :)

[@KorteZZ88]

Wow! Nice! :D

[@IRONSIIGHTz]

Been meaning try this editor out, is it bad I never played the original doom? 🤦‍♂️, good vid

[@stevelee_gamedev]

Yes, it is :)

[@Amessenger.]

Hi there, I'm just starting out in level design and I realise that this career dosnt really have a typical route, other entry-level LDs have told me that they made their way into level design after a year or two in QA, or straight out of uni after doing a more design-oriented course. But what route would you recommend to take to get the best results jobwise. Your insights would be invaluable. Feel free to give Additional advice. Thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts.

[@stevelee_gamedev]

Just replied to your e-mail

[@ORANOID]

Prodeus level editor is better, but I will try. +1 reason to play doom (I've played only w1l1

[@TheRunningSongs]

I can't wait to make a DOOM level and test it out on my rat neurons! (Someone made rat neurons play DOOM no joke watch the video.)

[@stevelee_gamedev]

Haha, bonkers

[@chistonebovec]

Yeah, level design in games so gross process.. and what also sucks, in head you have really great ideas, some locations, but when trying to realize... well, better not to start this. Need to earn experience, yes. Slowly thinking, learning what I can do, maybe after some months or years I can make at least short decent level with custom textures.

[@Calixj23]

Interesting and historical video, but not very relevant to today's world. I appreciate you sharing, but I honestly think its a waste of time for you to do these types of videos, given your other videos are SO, SO, SO informative and worth watching. I would respectfully ask that you go back to level building for modern 3D games. Thank you.

[@1cedragon]

What do you mean a waste of time? DOOM is the origin of a lot of the level design insight that is used in all kinds of FPS games today. Lessons that apply to DOOM will apply to more recent games too! Plus it's always good to know about what came before :)

[@Calixj23]

Hello @1cedragon, I don't disagree with you on the fact that Doom WAS the origin of today's level design arena, but that doesn't mean we need to study a Doom level anymore than having to study the Model-T, because it was the first automobile. I'm not saying people shouldn't if they find it fun, but comparing Doom to modern games is like comparing the Model-T to a Ferrari - both are cars, but they are very different. -- I really enjoy listening to Steve discuss level design. He's extremely talented, but taking us back to Doom... and making levels for a game that was nothing more than and endless array of connecting rooms through a series of hallways - REALLY? Why...??? Why not make video that discuss game beets and level design for modern games. The genre doesn't matter... all games like all movies are the same. The all have a series of "Acts" and the storyline and narrative plays out across those Acts. I'm not trying to insult your favorite game from yester-century, but let's not waste time with designing levels that no one is going to do today in the current game market. - That said, if you want to do it for fun... knock yourself out. I just think it's a waste of time to do so.

[@ChrisRussellShantz]

@@Calixj23 You can apply modern level design principles when designing Doom levels, there is nothing stopping you.

[@stevelee_gamedev]

Respectfully, please don't tell me my video is a waste of time and then tell me what to do instead

[@Calixj23]

@@stevelee_gamedev WHY...??? Why can't I voice my opinion? Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying anything about YOU...heck, I think you're an excellent contributor and have A LOT of very good things to say about Level Design, which is a topic that's vast void in the game development arena. I'm saying that making a video about DOOM, as great of a game that it was 30 years ago, isn't relevant in today's gaming world. It's like me talking about the Ford Model-T at a Ferrari convention. Sure it's an interesting topic for a little while, but it has no relevance in the current arena. Don't get offended.... but rather ask yourself, is my passion for Doom simply clouding my mind and making me waste time on topics like this? -- Listen, if viewers don't share their thoughts about your videos, you might as well be talking to yourself. Don't don't be offended... take it as a learning experience and change topics to something more relevant and interesting.