DARK HALLS
Overview
Half-Life Eternal was a mapping competition hosted by Source modding community Map Labs. The aim was to create a level in Half-Life 2 inspired by the Doom series.
Dark Halls was completed from concept to finalized design in about 20 days. Initially we started from an old top down sketch and slowly expanded upon the layout after various playtest sessions.
Our goal was to create a faithful gameplay experience that felt like a early doom level, while still maintaining that Half-Life 2 feel. We planned to have three keys you would need to collect in order to progress through new sections of the level, until finally reaching the end and triggering the ending sequence.
At the end of the competition, we ended up placing third with overwhelming positive reviews and constructive feedback.
“Dark Halls was also another great tribute from HL to Doom. The textures were great, the combat was hardcore as expected and you have to fetch cards old-school style while shooting tons of ammo at a bunch of enemies. Yeah, I guess it was a worthy tribute.” - Hec on RTSL.com
“Very nice "Doom-like" textures and atmosphere, especially the outdoor. I would have appreciated more varied enemies and perhaps a bit longer gameplay, but it is good as it is already. Banger music.” - Maestra Fenix on Map Labs
We definitely nailed the Doom feel with card hunting, cramped combat arenas and secrets to explore. The combat was important to get right considering it’s a staple in both Doom and Half-Life, and players had fun with it. Though I’m not a environment artist, we did receive praise for how the map looked, on top of it playing well.
Fast iteration helped us nail the pacing and flow down for the level, as we wanted to make sure we had an even break between fighting and exploring. Players rarely became lost while navigating the space and often enjoyed the combat arenas.
Something that definitely helped up achieve that “Doom feel” was considering design choices the original Doom developers considered while working on the game. The biggest resources were “John Romero’s Level Design Rules” and “Sandy Petersen’s Level Design“.
What went right
What went wrong
One of the biggest issues was there wasn’t much thought put into the final room. After getting the final key, you unlock the exit room and are swarmed with enemies who are pretty weak, letting the player just blaze through them and reach the exit with no issue. In hindsight, it would’ve been beneficial to either create a boss sequence for this last room, or even just create tougher enemies with a more interesting layout.
There wasn’t enough exploration, leading the player to go from arena to arena with only short breaks in pacing between, meaning we failed in achieving one of our objectives. The upside to this was we didn’t receive any complaints about the combat specifically, so in the end it wasn’t a huge issue but just something to keep in mind for the future.
