Since I had no prior experience with Doom map making, I wasn't even sure if I'd take part in this map making project, despite being the person who started the discussion on the DGC forums about our community creating a map pack together. I was hoping it'd be a Doom II map pack, and I had already drafted out a plan for that, but the community moved in a different direction.
From March 7th, I spent a couple of evenings experimenting with Eureka editor, to get a feel for this map making stuff. It was a slow and joyless experience, constantly getting visual glitches: hall of mirrors effects in the sky, 'middle textures' visible through the floor, and plenty of other stuff not working. I was about ready to give up.
I couldn't even remember which level E1M4 was when I was initially allocated it, with me having more of a Doom II background. I played through the original E1M4 to remind myself, while also reflecting on the name "Command Control" and how I might represent that in my own map design. If I had a clearer vision of what I wanted to make, I believed I might feel more willing to persevere.
By March 16th, I was reminded that I had just 5 more days to put a map together, having already been volunteered for the job by kdrnic. So if I was going to take part, I needed to git gud and fast. Since I don't like to disappoint, nor miss deadlines, this was going to be an accelerated learning experience as much as anything!
One of the things I like about Doom is how the levels build upon one another, gradually introducing us to the more advanced monster types and weapons, as we progress through the episode. For this reason, I wanted to limit myself to the four monster types found in the original E1M4 (Pistol Zombies, Shotgunners, Imps, Demons), as well as limiting myself to it's weapon selection (Pistol, Shotgun, Chaingun, with the Rocket Launcher in a secret area). I also intended to have a similar sized map and monster counts (85/54/21). I hoped that others would take this same approach more or less :)
There were a few areas which stood out to me in the original E1M4 that gave me inspiration:
1) There was a circular room that contained the blue key. This felt like the central hub to the level, that everything connected into.
Doom levels are often designed around hubs, that we are intended to pass through multiple times. I feel they serve three roles:
I wanted to have such a hub in my map as well, and the name 'Command Control' made me imagine a control room with computer consoles. So that vision guided the design of that room. I didn't have any plan for what would be through it's other two doors at that stage, and it consequently doesn't feel as much of a hub as I had hoped, but it is what it is.
2) In the original E1M4, there was a maze area that you accessed with the blue key, that lead to the yellow key.
I never much liked this area, finding it confusing and unpleasant to explore. Despite this, I wanted a maze area in my own map, taking some inspiration from this but leaning more towards the wet tunnel section of Doom II's map 5. I intended to make a maze that was easier to navigate, with no annoying deadends. I chose to make the 'wet' parts a point of reference, to help the player not get lost.
3) The starting area of the original E1M4 had this rectangular atrium with a hole cut in the ceiling. Three balconies looked down upon it, while three corridors connected away from it.
I wanted to create a similar starting area for my own map. This area went through several revisions: rectangular, L-shaped, dog-leg shaped, with and then without balconies. Eventually I decided to transform it into a 'shooting gallery' inspired by Doom II's map 4. This would lead through a transitional room and on into the heart of the map - the corridor section with the starbase aesthetic. I felt this would add a touch of nostalgia, while being quite fun as well. It draws on a lot of inspirations.
4) The paths leading to the balconies above the atrium had these incisions in the walls with the TEKWALL texture.
I always felt these looked cool, so I decided to use a similar aesthetic in the starting area of my map. When Voxel later showed me the first draft of his E1M2 creation, I noticed that he was also using cut-away ceilings and these TEKWALL incisions! I saw an opportunity here to bring some coherence to our map pack, by tweaking my starting area to continue the aesthetic he had developed in his map with darker floors and ceilings.
5) There was a small nuke pit taunting the player with view of the yellow key.
This room was something of a puzzle to me back in the 90s, when I was less familiar with the game. A ledge appears to lead to the yellow key, and it always tricked me into believing that was the way to go, despite never managing to get upon it from the steps. I did like the idea of a nuke pit in my map, and have a key visible on it's far side through a window. I decided to make my pit significantly bigger, and create two routes to the key - with both novelty and speed running in mind. So you can either go the long way around the platform, or jump down into the pit and through the access door.
6) Near the exit of the original E1M4 there was a blue computer room.
From quite early on, I wanted a blue computer room in my map aswell, but due to a lack of forward planning, the deadline drawing near, and my map getting pretty big already, it only made sense to build a small one off one of the keyed doors of the hub room. It became the teleportation center, home to the yellow key and a big teleporter that serves no practical function. I like to imagine it being a teleporter prototype that was in development there! The C shape of this room was inspired by the side room in Doom II's map 2, which I've always enjoyed tackling.
I put about 25 hours into the first draft of my map over those ~10 days upto the deadline. I put another 5+ hours in after that, playtesting and making small tweaks to improve balance, fixing misaligned textures, fixing tutti-frutti textures, and making the gameplay more fluid.
Despite the pain I endured with the editor, I'm quite happy with what I've ended up with. My map feels comparable in quality with the original Doom maps, and is equally fun to play through in my opinion. I might even try my hand at this map making again some day :)