Map exits and continuation

edited 2012 Jan 9 in DOOM
This is the most on-topic place where I can post this, so here I go:

Anyone else think it is neat how some megawads like Alien Vendetta, Eternal, and Amdosia have certain levels where the physical appearance of the exit and the physical appearance of the next map's entrance are connected, as if they are one major level? It feels like nice level design that is lacking in the canon Doom games. Amdosia has a lot of that and even 4 or 5 maps connecting physically in this fashion. Then I can try to imagine that right beyond, above, or below the borders of this map is supposed to be the room from the previous map. It also gives me the "I wonder what is beyond this" feel. Especially with no swtich in the exit and you just walk in the door or jump in the pit, and when starting the next map, you can turn around and see that the beginning of the map is suppose to take place just beyond where you exited.

The opposite of this nice level design would be the teleporter exits that were at the end of every map in Plutonia and Plutonia II, which makes the level design less interesting.

Comments

  • I believe this type of level exit originated from Unreal. At least, that's the first game I saw it in. Over the past 10 years, I've worked on and off on a 32-level megawad that uses these types of exits. In addition to that, the first 7 levels are connected via a hub. You start out in a massive outdoor area surrounded by buildings in a base. Each giant building you see can be accessed in different levels. For example, map01 only allows you to access the first of 7 buildings. I'm a big fan of the continuation exit, because it gives the player a sense of distance. After a while, you feel as though you have traveled a very long way, as opposed to just completing a bunch of individual levels and hitting an end switch. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to finish my project, but maybe it will be released in some form eventually.

    For the heck of it, here is a thread I started in an Unreal forum for my project:
    http://www.unrealsp.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2222
  • Depends what you call the airlocks/doors between levels in the likes of HeXen 2 and Quake 2, or even the portals of the original HeXen.
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