Hey there. Hope you're not too sick of fine art galleries yet, because @CreechMagoo and I have been chipping away at DOOM: The Gallery Experience's first bonus content update! Yes, I said first–what was meant to be a small QOL patch has evolved into a slightly larger content update!
Many of the upcoming features and tweaks were added in response to our observations at Dizzy Spell. We're doing everything in a way that both supplements the original experience and makes it more accessible. I'll be going over some of what you can expect to see in the gallery relatively soon.
LEVEL LAYOUT POLISHING
It's no secret that the original project was quickly put together–it was a student project made in just two weeks! We've been taking the time to go back and not only pretty things up, but also fix a lot of parity issues when compared to DOOM's E1M1. Many small details have been changed, such as level geometry fixes and adding beams to break up some of the monotony. Don't worry, oppressive white wall fans, there's still plenty left!
On top of that, we've included a few new accessibility-related tweaks of interest: we've added gallery maps to various empty corners, and closed every door!
Gallery maps help out with an issue that became glaringly obvious once people sat down and started playing on the show floor: a surprising amount of people had not played DOOM before, or even any video game for that matter! We saw a lot of people pick up the game, look around the starting room, get stuck, and leave. Maps guide you towards the next area of the level, and clue you in that there's more to explore.
Similarly speaking: doors! We watched a few people get all the way to the end of the level... and then not open the exit door. We're hoping that, combined with gallery maps, closed doors will familiarize players with opening doors earlier, while the maps hint at the areas beyond.
MENU REFACTORING
Another big change we're making is a behind-the-scenes one to make way for some new features. The way I implemented menus when the game launched worked surprisingly okay, but it was internally messy and made it hard to add or change things. That said, I'm redoing all of the menus!
Ideally, these won't feel any different to you, the player. That'll mean I'd have done my job correctly this time. Why does redoing these matter? It makes way for new menus such as...
...the controls menu! This menu will always be available for you to reference, but will also show for first-time players (or those without save data) if starting the game when not yet viewed. These aren't planned to be customizable–they're just for reference!
It was harder for some people to intuitively understand the controls at the show, because nobody had a description to guide them, like the Newgrounds upload does. Adding a dedicated menu helps the game stand on its own, regardless of where you're playing it from.
WHEN?
SOON! We're still working on some features (one of which you can spot in the images above!) and want to take a little bit more time to polish everything. After all, it's getting dangerously close to 100,000 views...
