Well ever since the first cavern near the end of E1m1, this has been a blast. Just finished the spider secret level. Really liking a lot of the gameplay and general vibe to it....can't quite put my finger on it, it's just fun, a lot happens to keep the player on their toes but there's always a chance.

Some nice designs too. The outdoor bits in the previous E2 map and the mini-underground waterfall to name but a couple. 

I had just wrapped up Painkiller when I started that map. The influence was more then subconscious.

As a team member, I knew that E2 was going to be a big hit as it kept impressing me with the size, artful construction, imagination and intense but not unfair gameplay. That and good secrets too. Throughout, level-to-level transitions were made to create a continuous journey feel whether or not you found the secret mini-episode (and you owe it to yourself to find it). 

- generaly I liked the music (except some glitchy hissy stuff in map 2/3), but the monster sounds in it were annoying, i.e. e1m4 had lots of Vores, and there was the Vore wakeup sound in the music, same goes for other maps...

- Monsters: the new Deathknight is great, but I hated the cheating spiders, reminded me a lot in behaviour of the Stalkers in one of the Q2 missionpacks, they dodge grenades right when you fire etc.
Azoth seemed a bit rough in behaviour, too slow, and for a boss monster his attacks were too weak (same goes for the �berScrag). But I liked how the final fight stretched across two maps, that was new and different.

- Maps: E1M2/3 reminded me a lot of Unreal (as someone already mentioned) in their epic appearance, Episode II maps are just awesome, what more can be said :D
Negike�s secret levels were fun to play, but the Spider map seemed too repetitive in style; very confusing to navigate, everything looked the same.

- Gameplay: the difficulty could have been higher, as I was able to finish a good number of maps on the first try on nightmare, with cautious play.
Given the linearity of most maps, harder gameplay (skill settings ftw) would have increased the replay value; i.e. more daring stuff like in E1M4 with Vores in open spaces (hard but not as unfair as it seemed at first). Also, it was nice to include the Riot controller from Zerst�rer, but it seemed overpowered.
Overall an instant classic with good gameplay, fun secrets and easter-eggs ;)

- Demos:
E1M2: http://shub-hub.com/files/demos_singleplayer/qte1m2_sw1535.dz
E1M4: http://shub-hub.com/files/demos_singleplayer/qte1m4_sw1853.dz
E2M1: http://shub-hub.com/files/demos_singleplayer/qte2m1_sw1915.dz
E2M2: http://shub-hub.com/files/demos_singleplayer/qte2m2_sw1708.dz
E2M4: http://shub-hub.com/files/demos_singleplayer/qte2m4_sw559.dz
E2M5: http://shub-hub.com/files/demos_singleplayer/qte2m5_sw1342.dz
FIN1: http://shub-hub.com/files/demos_singleplayer/qtfin1_sw841.dz
FIN3: http://shub-hub.com/files/demos_singleplayer/qtfin3_sw528.dz 

... is THE demo maker ;) 

hehe i always forget to record at first try :p, i�m always more interresed on waste all the bad guys 

THE demo maker

nah, some SDA guys like Stubgaard et al are THE demo makers, thanks though, hope you all enjoy them :-) 

it seem so easy, although you were dangerously low on health in many areas ...

Btw, if some zombies get stuck on ground, you can still kill them in a one-second "window" every five seconds when they try to get up. 

Had plenty of stuck zombies in warp on curves and slopes, mainly in Bile Plant - didn't know that.

Will watch the demos when my Quake window comes around again. 

Thanks for the demos. Some entertaining and sometimes pretty close-to-demise action. 

...picture me tipping my hat (rasta beanie). I so like the way you push forward in a level then bring the action back, sweet! Thanks for only exposing one Easter Egg...gotta leave something for the other punters :) 

...picture me tipping my hat (rasta beanie)

I must of met you the other day on a street corner. I was the one who did a old timey Gold Prospector's jig to your rendition of Get Up, Stand up 

And I was the one who told you to get a job. 

Sorry but I can't collect my thoughts to write anything sensible about it. No carefully thought out constructive criticism.

What I can say is I really enjoyed it, once I got past the first map. Good varied mapping, good varied gameplay, lots of interest. I found a lot of fun in the gameplay, it was well balanced and had some great action moments, although it did get a bit easy at the end. I liked some the designs and mapping styles too, from the early semi-real stuff (although sometimes a bit random) to the later Quake fantasy styles. Some of the highlights being the spider caverns and the outdoor areas with rounded rocks and stuff. I can't really remember, it was good.

Oh, and the Q2 Oblivion style map, that was well nice. Bit easy with the weapons from previous maps.

I liked the first two boss fights (Scrag and Enforcer bots - the latter being quite an unusual challenge). The flying minotaur thing was a bit less interesting but okay.

I liked the spiders, pretty scary and a good challenge. Hard to hit with the super shotty thingy.

I had a few issues with continuity in the episodes, particularly the second episode where it was a bit of a mish-mash of stylistic progression in places. It sometimes felt more like a collection of maps than an episode, which was a bit out of place with the general high quality.

Good stuff. Good Quake. 

Today's FTK is played on qtdm3: http://quakeworld.nu/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2216

To observe the games do "observe clanwars.xs4all.nl:28510" or start qw with "+observe clanwars.xs4all.nl:28510"

:) 

Sorry to be late, but due to holidays, mapping, office restart, I was quite busy and I didn't find time to play the final Travail release.

Well, I can just say that I loved the Travail pack. For all maps, there is a level of quality I never saw before in any other pack (well, maybe I didn't played all of them before travail): details, item placement, ammo/monster balance, are really good, and the must is the overall global architecture that is awesome.

However, I really prefered episode 2 compared to episode 1, maybe because of my preferences that go on medieval style rather than on base style.

Well, for sure Travail is THE pack of the year, not to say THE pack of these last 11 years ;)

I can't wait to see Travail 2 :P 

...a full list of both is now available on the Travail site. Also, aguirRe has supplied hi-res skins for the Travail beasties, and these are available on the download page.

http://www.quakeone.com/travail

Thanks for updating the site Spirit! 

are crazy. Find secret, go back to same secret and something changes! 

...Q2, ride the forklift round its circuit 13 times then go back to the first place you came from, wherein something has changed.

Easter eggs are always kooky :) 

Just found your sig secret for the first time. Most awesome! Should be expanded to a whole map. 

A whole map dedicated to crates in space. Could work... 

I've only completed the first three maps so far, which seem to form a coherent unit centered around the idea of a river full of dams and machinery.

I am highly impressed. I get a huge sense of satisfaction from exploring areas, and I particularly like believable, detailed mixes of manmade structures and outdoor geometry. I also really like setpieces, and buildings you can go inside of.

Even when you are not looking for secrets (some great ones btw!), the sense of exploration here exceeds anything I can recall in Q1SP maybe even since The Demon King way back in the day. I really like not being forced to follow a path, having the player "on rails" ala Doom3. Being able to find out where to go next is its own pleasure in these maps.

Key usage is good, very different from the "you're on a giant quest to get the gold key" and more like going into one building to get the key to another.

Good gameplay throughout, remarkable restraint on the monster counts, a nice change from all the mindless hordes that people such as yours truly are guilty of using, and plenty of care put into when/where monsters spawn.

Obviously, not a lot of mappers want to do this type of level design. I can tell that it took a ton of work - first of all to think of such complicated setpieces in a coherent layout, and then to actually build them. The attention to detail on the functional architecture was great. I also like how there are textures from tons of different sources, used wherever they're appropriate, rather than sticking to X.wad and having all the metal be one metal, and all the wood be one wood/etc.

So far, a unique, impressive/cool, subtle, and extremely well developed form of level design is on display here. 

...glad to see you finally getting around to it, but also wondering if you are playing with or without the soundtrack. 

And it adds to the atmosphere significantly. It contributes to the Unreal-like vibe of Episode 1.

Good boss, looked a bit weird, but the idea of some nasty female thing spewing forth reptilian growths fits perfectly with Quake (and the fleshy level).

Episode 2, just got into, nice texture set, and as other people have said the library area looks great. Good brushwork throughout, very tidy.

and btw, I don't have a problem with the ambient sounds in the soundtracks. 

Hi,

I'm going back to Quake, and I'd say this mod is very good. Nice work. I just regret the low res of the riot gun, I run Quake in 1920x1200 (fps ok ;)) and at such a resolution that weapon looks really ugly :(

Anyway : good work !

No problem with the ambient sounds in the soundtracks either. I liked the dm6-ish level ;) 

...I um'd and ah'd about reskinning the riot-controller and in the end decided that given Travail's secondary purpose as homage it was probably more important this time to keep the original "drawviewmodel" skin (ugly as it is). The model skin is actually pretty good, but if I ever use it again I'll definitely be replacing the viewmodel. Glad you enjoyed the rest!

Tronyn: did you stop playing, or just commenting? I was rather enjoying your progression.