After playing the second map first, I thought I would move on to the first map second and wow what an adventure in the Underworld! :)

The architecture feels grand as always and the choice of texture are gorgeous and consistent. The map even uses some of my techno texture set, which made me smile knowing they were used in such a classic of Q1SP mapping. It was strange at first to see the Q3 textures in the Q1 engine because it felt so D�j� vu after playing with Q3 for such a long time. The textures work really well across large surfaces and make the architecture stand out bcause they are such a bright colour palette.

The combat is still hard and intense and there is one AI that really does not fit well, the Q2 machine gunner. There was one cool moment thou when I killed a q2 machine gunner and it kept firing the blue plasma at me while it was headless. The rest of the AI was perfectly suited and the final boss type moved really damn fast and often caught me off guard. It was interesting to have the horde style combat this time broken into two areas because it helped the overall pacing better.

I still prefer the second map more because it has proper skill levels. I am not a fan of the everything approach but weaker AI health bars. I have played the map a couple of times now and each time it feels better, especially the horde moments which are just fantastic. The setup so perfectly captures the doom feeling of massive amounts of AI just running around but this time there are infighting as well. I saw so many cool moments of fiend/shambler and hknight/fiend slugging it out while the rest of the horde was going crazy.

My only nitpick is the spinning death trap with the water tunnel because it was just random luck to get it right. Sometimes I had the water bounce bug and other times I just came out of the water and instant death, total luck. The other 4 secrets were awesome and I especially like the sharpshooter one for the pentagram of protection.

I think that Kinn is a Q1SP mapping god and as much as these two maps inspire me to want to make something for Q1SP they also convince me that it is unlikely I would be able to create anything that would be better. 

U can bet sock!

This map is like the main temple of all levels of Quake ever made, hard to build such a level.

What impress me more in this map is the rocks, they are so well made that make me cry! 

You make anything, keep playing and posting - this is an... educational process. I don't have so much time to play anymore, but reading each post plays me back from when I did.

In any case, I look forward to a map from you, especially since you still call monsters ai's. That's the kind of fresh eyes I had about the game more than ten years ago, when I found the best game I'd ever played.

The more FPS games that I play, the more I think back to this one. That invented them.

Cue hairsplitting arguments about Wolf and Doom. 

It took me 10 years but I finally found how to get the secret pentagram by the zombies/rl!

Easy skill, 24:24, 303/303, 5/5. 

imagine a cross between Marcher and Zendar, that would be utterly insane. 

http://i.imgur.com/osGDyC0.png 

To be honest I'm not really gonna defend any design decisions I made in a map a decade ago.

My current map is about as linear as a Scouser's walk home after a Friday night on the lash, so there's an improvement there at least. 

yes choice of routes is a good thing, but the real problem that chart assesses is lack of interconnectivity. Marcher (or Breakfast at Twilight or, ahem, Masque) is 100% linear, but it's interconnective. The problem with lack of interconnectivity is that you have no sense of progress at all; interconnectivity within large vertical outdoor areas provides that. I think OTP misinterpreted that chart significantly.

Aka, I'll defend design decisions you made a decade ago, Kinn! (of course, choice of routes ala Zendar, e1m2, e2m2, or my old soe1m4 Autumn Citadel, etc, can be great too). 

 

It took me 10 years but I finally found how to get the secret pentagram by the zombies/rl!

Whoops, missed your post Mandel :} Glad to hear people are still playing this thing. Out of interest did you use the secret hints in the readme?

I'll defend design decisions you made a decade ago, Kinn!

Lol cheers, but it's probably best not to :} 

thanks for the respective contributions ;) 

Where you shoot the button in the roof in the room just next to it? 

"Sharp shooting short shrifts the Shuffler"

iirc 

yeah no I never did read the readme. 

 

 

...with no word wrap 

I'm in the zone with the big spin-grinder, monster count is circa 130/300, I've already pushed a rectangular stone(with runic effigy) and got that message "still one to go", I can see this other one stone protected by bars above a big room of lava.. but there's no way to reach it ! 

(There's another grinder room later with two grinding wheels.)

From the first grinder, go up the taller set of stairs, turn right, head left up another set of stairs. You're at a T hallway, to the right are some locked bars which lead to the second grinder room, the button to unlock them is up the stairs to the left.

In the second grinder room, take the exit that has stairs going down to a gate with a red rune on it (push to open). You'll find a silver key eventually, the SK opens the door to the second runic button. 

 

My undetectable instagib traps will ensure the player stays on the critical path by enforcing a tough-but-fair trial-and-error gameplay stratagem. 

"tough but fair" 

 

... 

*Gets the popcorn*