It was about time
The ZDoom Community Map Project Take 1 was one ofthe most successful community projects in the history of ZDoom, it won a Cacoward and has earned a lot of positive reviews, received great feedback. Unfortunately the second part has never been released due to the lack of interest, the lack of guides and the lack of a good concept. Though, after several years and a necessary pause it's about time to go for it again.

What made the ZDCMP1 that good?
After reading through various reviews and analyzing the whole project, you can describe it as map that was linear but still very varying in terms of gameplay, puzzles, combat, atmosphere. It didn't get boring as every new area was different. Many of the latest ZDoom features have been incorporated that made people say "How did they do that?", a lot of custom resources have been added, not randomly chosen but enhancing what is already delivered by Doom2. And not to forget: All the funny and interesting easter eggs we placed here and there. It was a community effort, and that's what it is supposed to be again, with all the crazy freedom and possibilites we have now.

The development chain
In this thread you will have the chance to sign up for the development chain. You can choose a specified amount of days to work on your map before you have to pass it to the next mapper. We will have a total of three phases, the first one being the main phase where mappers create their layout, add their custom content and finish what they can finish so far. The second phase will be the detailing phase for any kind of visual fine tuning, also making sure that there is a certain design consistency. The third phase will be for adjusting the gameplay and fixing bugs. Then: Release!

The rules

• You are allowed to add new actors (items, props, gimmicks but no weapons, monsters)
• You are allowed to add new textures (TX_ markers)
• You are allowed to add new sounds (ambience, action sounds, sequences)
• You are encouraged to add a reference of yours to your area (easteregg, screen with your avatar, actor, message, ...)
• You must stick to the theme (abandoned techbase, hellish influence, vegetation outside)
• You must NOT use or add any special effects altering original stuff (like smoother weapon anims, replacing stock sounds, adding sfx to stock projectiles or monsters)
• Map format is UDMF (finally a good opportunity to showcase that)

The guidelines

• No Realm667 repo mayhem - even though new textures and custom actors are allowed (what includes monsters and amory), do not go overboard and start adding everything you find at the Realm667. If it is really useful and necessary, go for it but ask yourself: "Is it needed AND do others also take advantage of that?", original content is preferred
• No super areas - the first try for a second ZDCMP failed because of too large areas with too many places scattered around. Do not go overboard with your plans, keep them ambitious but simple, make sure you can actually finish what you want to do.
• No unfinished stuff - the worst thing that might happen for every mapper is to finish someone elses work as it directly draws time from what you have planned for your own areas. Use the time given as efficient as possible, but do not leave a mess for those who come after you.
• No road to nowhere - the big plus of ZDCMP1 was the fact that you actually visited places twice, it added a lot of interconnectivity and consistency. If you have the chance, lead the player back to places where he has already been, transform already created areas to something larger, or add windows or corridors where the player already can see "Ah, this is where I will end up later or this is where I need to go as well" at the very beginning. Icytux has put up a very good thread concerning this, please read it!
• Showcase what's new - the ZDCMP1 featured a lot of totally new ZDoom/GZDoom features which made the whole thing so surprisingly fresh, like puzzle items, mean traps and special tricks of all kinds. Try to add things that go beyond the borders of regular Doom mapping, things that will surprise players.
• Make revisiting areas interesting - Interconnectivity is a very very very important thing. To keep things interesting, think about script-based changes to already visited places (e.g. UAC areas get destroyed or corrupted by hell and evil) and stuff like that so revisiting a place is a surprise and the player doesn't feel save.
• Make your area unige - make sure, it's visually unique, add things to it that makes the player easily remember where he was. Create architecture, traps, gameplay-stuff or whatever you have in mind that hasn't been done in the map already so it is also easier to maneuvre and find your way through as a player.

The theme of the map
is going to be an abandoned techbase. The deeper you get into it, the more hellish influence you will find. The outside vegetation though is green, living and desert/jungle like, so even some vines can be found near the outside areas. Mappers who take slots should also take care of this visual and atmospherical progress.

The e(diting)quette
One of the most important things for this project is: Respect what others have done so far! No one has the right to remove an area or work of someone else without any good reason and discussion before. Improving others work is totally fine you everyone should count with that anyway, but complete removals and recreation is not nice. If something is really bad and awkward, talk about it in the discussion area before anything is done about it.

Update notice
The list of rules and guidelines might still change until the 1st of April, so please check back in a while - at least one day before you are starting on your map - to make sure you are up to date.

Hmm. I'm not keen on the "you may add new actors" part. I'd much rather see a sizable but controlled resource wad go up first with a "best of" selection of bestiary monsters and a couple (not too many at all!) new well-balanced, non-"me-too" weapons. Not only would things likely devolve to a resource-mess, but by allowing such, it'll seriously distract people from the actual mapping task.

I wouldn't mind helping out with this a bit. Got some simple but effective weapon resources lying around to spruce things up a bit, and I'd like to see Ghastly on board with it as well to help compile a killer bestiary. There's enough stuff to work with here, IMO, to create a good resource that'll allow for plenty of freedom with new content without making it a huge free-for-all.

To summarize and clarify: I don't think mappers should be allowed to add new monsters and weapons. They're distractive and balance-distorting. New props, effects, and textures are all fine, though.

I actually agree with Xaser on this one. Monsters and weapons are really pivotal when it comes to gameplay and stuff like that should be more controlled.

I'd hate to see something like what happened with HPack go down because of random resources, and everyone has a different opinion on what "too much" is so replying on other people judgement isn't always a wise idea.

I understand that point and in this case, Xaser, if you volunteer to compile a good basic resource of weapons and monsters, I am totally okay to allow that, it's definitely the better choice. The question is only if you and Ghastly can make it in the short amount of time that's left till we are starting.

But I'd still think that adding new props, items, etc. should be fine considering the great fun we had with ZDCMP2 and all the funny things that evolved there. (0.96 ftw!)

I'd be alright with helping out, but what's the time limit? I'd definitely want to make sure the resource (monster list, at least) is done before people really start.

We are starting on April 1st

Eeeee, not a lot of time, then. I have an exam and a project due next week to work on. I'll do what I can though.

Speaking of the monster list, in addition of new monsters, are (some of) the custom monsters from the first project going to make a return in this one, or are we looking for a completely new roster here?

I hope not, the blood demon, dark imp and cacolantern are quite boring. The Hell Warrior is an annoying monster, and has since been updated, and the boss was simply an upscaled Afrit. The new weapons were kind of lame too. ZDoom has come a long way since the first Community map, hopefully the new content should reflect that?

At the very least can we keep this project a Dark Imp free environment?


I would suggest the following:

Shadow - an ever popular monster that is a good alternative to the imp for stealthy shadowy areas. Has nice original graphics too.

Scientist zombies - thematically these are great for techbase levels and the sprite edits are good. On the other hand I'm not sure if there is any real requirement for close combat zombies? I mean the Zombieman is almost a non-threat as it is. Even spamming them in massive crowds doesn't really work as one SSG blast could clear swathes of them.

Tank zombie - perhaps as a mini-boss we could have a new variant of the tank zombie similiar to the plasma tank?



Edit: as for weapons, I think we should be very careful here as well. What niches or types of weapons does doom lack? The only two that are obvious are a ranged sniper weapon, and grenades. I would suggest:

-A scoped railgun of some kind
-A grenade launcher or hand grenades, for picking off monsters round corners quake style
-A hidden joke weapon for massive lulz

Every monster should be a dark imp. Tall dark imp baron, huge cyber dark imp, flying cacodarkimps, etc. We'll call that Knee-Deep In Dark Imps.


It might be great for some sequence of mindless, non-challenging blasting fun. Like you get a rocket launcher and zomg hordes of zombies! Then you get to feel like you're in godmode for maybe twenty seconds, and then serious gameplay resumes.