One player's feedback about my Doom map lighting was a real wake up call

I spent about 3 weeks on this big Doom 2 map for a community project, all dark corridors and moody shadows. Someone in the playtest thread said 'dude, I literally cannot see the imps until they are biting my face, this is not scary it's just annoying.' That hit different because I thought dark meant tense, but they were right. I went back and added subtle glow strips and flashlight-style light cones near item pickups, nothing crazy. Turns out you can keep the horror vibe while still letting players actually read the room. Now I test every map on a crappy 2004 monitor with brightness at half just to be safe. Has anyone else had a tester point out something obvious that you completely missed for weeks?

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charlesj4613h ago

You ever read that old essay about how horror games work best when you can see the monster coming, just not the exit? Sounds like you were doing the opposite. I had a similar thing with a Quake map once, I thought pitch black corners meant "scary" but a buddy called it "a guessing game." The glow strip trick is smart, it gives the eye a path without killing the mood. Testers are good for catching when your vision and their eyesight don't match up.