How was your first map?

[Combinebobnt]

I thought linedefs were walls in my first map

they weren't

[Luke]

I was a map made by 3-4 rooms, I still remember it, a rhomboidal room with some walls that lowered once the player got the chainfun (first weapon) then a lava river, ashwall2 textures, on one side of the room you had a door (leading to nowhere because I didn't finish the map) on the other side a corridor with a secret backpack leading to rectangular room with some SP_HOT walls and a room-inside-room on which I spent days trying to figure out how to make the walls of the inside room raising to release some monsters. A couple of crushing ceilings, 2/3 cacos, and that's it.
Looking at it today I'd say it was a sort of sandbox where I learnt how to make every basic thing, from teleporting monsters, to secrets, doors, how to detail a room and so on. The second map was a 1-on-1 map raped by a guy who wanted to help me making it. If you search for it, it's chernobyl2.wad (he had the idea for the map name).

So yes: first learn how to make -if not everything- all the basic things (doors, teleports, elevators, room effects, monsters, spawns points, exit, and a bit of detail) creating a sort of sandbox map where you will not even bother too much about the detail, then when you will have learnt all these things you'll be ready to start a real map.

I thought linedefs were walls in my first map

they weren't

^

[katZune]

mine was a coop, i don't have it anymore since i changed PC but i uploaded it to wadhost, was basically a room 256x256 next a big door then another 256x256 sector with 6 zombies, then another door but with 64x128 (i did used the 128x texture lol) and i don't remember well but i think the next thing was a teleport to the exit, oh and another 4 zombies (i just used zombieman because i thought they were the best monster :<)

[Empyre]

My first map also had some zero-thickness walls. Then I made my second map, the castle, and learned a lot while making it. Then, i went back to my first map and fixed it, giving the walls thickness, and then I added more areas to it, which were later split into separate maps. Then I made a dungeon for the castle.
Those first 3 maps can be seen as they were in '98 or '99 or so when I thought they were finished, in my empyrion_b42a.wad. They are named OLD01, OLD02, and OLD03. If you start a single-player game, you'll find they have their own episode. They were made for vanilla Doom 2, so jumping and crouching will break them.

[jwaffe]

It might not have been my very first map, but the earliest map I remember making was a goofy Chex Quest survival map that had a Blake Stone-themed secret area (with secret exit). Filefront ate it quite a few years ago.

It had nearly impossible to find secrets (little 64 closets within closets, imagine the soulsphere/chainsaw/radsuit secret in Doom E1M5 multiplied by 10) and joke switches that didn't do anything useful and were meant to taunt the player.

I didn't understand how to get textures out of blake at the time, so I tediously took screenshots of me facing the walls I wanted in DosBOX head on and scaled them to the correct size.

[Reaku]

My first map was completely unplayable as it had no solid sectors, several leaks into the void, a bad texture job, and passages that were too small for the player to actually fit into, not to mention the damn thing wouldn't even load properly. Oh yeah, it also had a mastermind stuffed into the exit... I stopped mapping for a few months then came back with some different guidance, that wasn't Dr sleeps doom builder tutorial. Using that was a mistake, since I couldn't follow a damn thing in it.

[katZune]

My first map was completely unplayable as it had no solid sectors, several leaks into the void, a bad texture job, and passages that were too small for the player to actually fit into, not to mention the damn thing wouldn't even load properly. Oh yeah, it also had a mastermind stuffed into the exit... I stopped mapping for a few months then came back with some different guidance, that wasn't Dr sleeps doom builder tutorial. Using that was a mistake, since I couldn't follow a damn thing in it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JaundiceJaun/videos

oh talking about tutorials i find this guy pretty good for learn things, actually most of his tutorials are from Zdoom knowledge base but he explain it while he does it

http://zdoom.org/zdkb/zdkbviewer.php

[Reaku]

My first map was completely unplayable as it had no solid sectors, several leaks into the void, a bad texture job, and passages that were too small for the player to actually fit into, not to mention the damn thing wouldn't even load properly. Oh yeah, it also had a mastermind stuffed into the exit... I stopped mapping for a few months then came back with some different guidance, that wasn't Dr sleeps doom builder tutorial. Using that was a mistake, since I couldn't follow a damn thing in it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JaundiceJaun/videos

oh talking about tutorials i find this guy pretty good for learn things, actually most of his tutorials are from Zdoom knowledge base but he explain it while he does it

http://zdoom.org/zdkb/zdkbviewer.php

All of this was years ago before I even discovered Skulltag, even before I discovered what ZDoom was!

[jwaffe]

I also tried to use Dr. Sleep's tutorial at first, I was extremely confused about what it meant by a [map] "compiler" at the time.

[W1D3A55]

Mine was a bunch of lines haphazardly placed, you starting in a room with all the weapons, a whole bunch of monsters in a retartedly-shaped room, and a lift that didnt work.

[Mr.Man]

Never done a tutorial. I came past IBM5155 and he helped me through. I think i wouln't have made it this far without him.

[TheMightyHeracross]

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]
Yeah... I am still not good at all.

[Klofkac]

My first maps were heretic ones. On wadauthor. They were tiny and unplayable.
After some time I started doing hexen maps. They ususally were very small or square with some ACS hacks. (I was learning syntax (that took me 2 or 3 maps) then I experimented with different functions (alot of tiny maps). And so I learnt ACS.
My first actual doom maps were ZDOOM format and had ... tons of ACS. I haven't finished any serious map. (But I am close to finishing my invuled EW map which ironically contains little to no ACS)
EDIT: Oh wait, I forgot one jumpmaze map...

[NachtIntellect]

My first map... Well umm I had a lot of trouble figuring out the mechanics of doom, however if you've been around a while and have been on skulltag forums when it was up i created a thread for it, hope you remember well it had a maze, teleporters, acid falls, secret entrances and it was just plain lame, now i have figured out the system i have learned how to make more complex and thus better maps.

[Ænima]

[spoiler]



[/spoiler]
Yeah... I am still not good at all.

Strife ... invasion? :allears:

[Unholypimpin]

My first map was made with deepsea and it was your typical square rooms with hallways to connect them. Back then I thought they were the shit, but this was before I never knew there was a doom community and thousands of user created maps.

Once I discovered zdoom I freaked out and made soo much random shit with horrible square decorate monsters, this was before i knew you could use teal to make the background of a sprite transparent.

[NachtIntellect]

My first map was made with deepsea and it was your typical square rooms with hallways to connect them. Back then I thought they were the shit, but this was before I never knew there was a doom community and thousands of user created maps.

Once I discovered zdoom I freaked out and made soo much random shit with horrible square decorate monsters, this was before i knew you could use teal to make the background of a sprite transparent.

oh wow, surelycan'tbeasbadaswhenitriedtouseacsindoomformat.

[Slyfox]

I won't lie, I don't remember my first map because it was so atrocious I didn't bother touching doom builder for a while [still don't]
I remember ammar's though, it was a 1 textured room with a door that lead to an infinite hall of mirror rofl [hence the door jokes with ammar]

[TheMightyHeracross]

you could use teal to make the background of a sprite transparent.

NO!!! That is not the transparent color! Why does everyone think this!?

Strife ... invasion? :allears:

Yeah, what I was attempting. I can do the code but not the maps.

[ibm5155]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD4jGuszaZU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opig1RvWKZk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okaZMnMup6g

This is my first map/wad