Just to let you guys know that CustomGamer has made an Ivory mod review, on YouTube :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzFGXBaMgwo&feature=c4-overview&list=UU530Lsq01Ep1QWGSQ9Z_AEw 

Just watched a few of those demos in the .zip you compiled. Really glad I did because after 4 playthroughs I still hadn't found the LG, but sleepwalkr did.

The more I play the map the more genius I think it is, there are so many different ways to encounter enemies it's crazy. What I really love though is the amount of work you have put into the beams and struts of the ceilings. 

Did you explain that door in the SK mine area?? It is bugging me... 

@Fifth, I got the impression from the demo's that most people got 5 secrets on their first playthrough which is a good average. I think finding secrets is an awesome game mechanic and I always aim for everyone to find some, but not all of them straight away. I thought this map had a good balance between easy and hard secrets and a better variety.

@Shambler, originally "that door" was connected to the lift behind the wall that went up to the secret upper floor. I found in testing that it was too easy to discover and decided to create a long route instead and put the button below for activation. I left the door there because it was cool wall detail and it seemed a shame to delete because it was not obvious it was just facade. 

There are several key areas in the map where I tried to focus the players attention in a certain direction so that they notice something important. This involved making sure the player was facing the right way and looking at the right details.

* Down in the first (lower) mines is a broken floor section that shows the gold key door with the gold key in the right window. This is specially setup for the player to be standing at the bottom, facing forward and looking upwards to notice the floors above. This caused all sort of problems for the GK area because the GK door had to be in a certain location and I had to rebuild that area 3 times to make it fit.

* The broken bridge behind the blood pentagram door was designed to be viewed from below. The idea was to hint to the player that there is something interesting far above and worth exploring for. The second door was originally designed to be linked to the final arena but it was unrealistic to connect because of LOS issues.

* The GL secret was designed to get the player to look up and notice the broken floor above with a button to push. The pile of stones in the corner was designed for the player to climb and look up and notice the floor above. Unfortunately the visual language of Quake is totally broken because most players (from the demos) shot at the button. red = shoot only, anything else = touch. 

 

Idea I tested on a small map once, Vores and a shitload of zombies... gibfest! 

 

should be a crate 

Secrets should be behind key doors, the actual way to progress should be under the lift. 

And episodal secret rune door. 

should be another lift. 

 

....if I ever open an editor again I'm going to use that:

Lift "obviously" travels to the open space above the player

Player hits lift button

Player plummets 16 storeys to a very dark place

:)

Methinks a TARDIS icon would be a good addition 

The Tomb of Terror

Written by Robert Holmes 

I don't think it is Sock, I actually shot the button for the GL secret because why not try? It only costs 1 shell.
My experience from watching the demos was that a lot of people forgot about the secret by the time they reached the button.

My biggest gripe with the map is finding the way to the gold key door was very difficult. Personally I think the gold or silver key doors should be fairly easy but the key should be the objective. I think you got this literally perfect with Midnight Stalker. 

i must've found the quickest routes when i played. perhaps on my next play. 

based upon my first investigation, found 8/10 secrets and didnt watch any demos map is so interconnected wouldnt be suprised if you can skip even more, but getting a weapon on the way helps doing the end, hence no fancy ogregrenadejump:)

http://members.upc.nl/verorber/demos/ivory_orbs_er.dem 

finaly found that bitch!

brb improving that demo :) 

http://members.upc.nl/verorber/demos/ivory_orbs_ER_dot_two.dem 

(not otp review, soc!!!)

https://www.quaddicted.com/tronyn-reviews/the_ivory_tower_by_sock 

just had to get that file under 2mb :)

http://http://members.upc.nl/verorber/demos/ivory_orbs_ER_servicepack3.dem 

@dB_Audio, what do you mean by short? 10, 15 mins? Find any secrets? did you enjoy playing the map?

@Orbs! Finally you show up again at Func! phffff I create a map with loads of shortcuts and you disappear! :P Glad you enjoy the map, will check the demo's later. :)

@OTP/Tronyn, thank you for the review, glad you enjoyed yourself and did not get too lost! :D 

I just assumed that the way I went through the map was the "normal" or "default" way. I don't often read much of the map release threads before reviewing since I want to give my impression upon playing. Even though some of the people on Quaddicted complained it was too nonlinear, I didn't find it confusing, plus I like nonlinear as long as the areas are distinct enough to find your way around, I mean, isn't that why e1m2 and e1m3 are so cool? The style of stuff you do seems to have an unusually close connection to the original Quake. 

The flow of new maps has dimminished that much that i fell for an old demon again. Atlantica, geat game, horrible game(mmmorpg trap). But i did kind of stick to my initial plan to just play one month (you get some free stuff wich last a month) and quitted again

Beside that i did some IRL speedrunning, ran the marathon of amsterdam,well actualy ran the first 25k then my knees exploded and it became a struggle to just finish (took me 5h14 :P)
I just started running in may so it was rpetty short prep, maybe if my knees get stronger il try to improve next year, but atleast i made it:)