"Inconsistent, poor brushwork, too many monsters, unnecessarily easy, and worst of all I release a new version of my map that, contrary to my statements that it will be improved, are often worse than the original level."

The one difference is my maps are unnecessarily hard instead hahaha, but that last thing did happen when I released the Arcanum demo people thought the house map was fine, but then when I released the final version of the same map in the episode people hated it lol. Another difference is that I never cancel projects ever, I just take years to finish them. Oh and also I tend to listen to more metal-ish stuff. But keep at it, mapping is fun and interesting. 

http://www.moddb.com/mods/team-fortress/downloads/tf-bot-version-8

Only three of the waypoint files work and even then the bots are MEH. 

TF takes a lot of work to play on Quake even with humans. Configs etc. I personally wouldn't bother. Team Fortress Classic and 2 were more fun IMO. There was a GREAT Quake 3 version but no bots IIRC. 

I always keep a copy installed on the off chance people happen to be playing, which is incredibly rare. 

http://imgur.com/a/vExCe

Something that I started months ago but lost steam on. Hoping to finish it...someday.

Inspired by Neuschwanstein Castle 

Go back to that one! Looks promising. 

Looks real cool. 

really? Then how come it looks more middle-eastern than bavarian? 

 

Don't go all sock on us. Just come back to it later or start a new one in a different theme. Just remember, have fun with it. 

Your loss of steam is the surprising moment of the observer!

I had a hard bite on FourFeather castle too.

Your map has a shadely athmosphere, looks promissing!
Map on!
:P 

 

I'll start a map in a new theme. I already created a outdoors Japanese shrine-themed map before saying this (as of now it's only 1 brush), but I've paused work on that one because people expect me to take a mapping block or start a level in a new theme. I chose the "new theme" route because I wanted to release another map in this year. It's gonna be an indoors Japanese castle map. 

I'm not gonna do that "indoors Japanese castle" theme yet.

I'm just gonna do a map in a new theme, that being something I never quite used before. After I release that map, I'll take a 3 month break from mapping, then I'll do that "outdoors Japanese shrine" map and that "indoors Japanese castle" map. ( 

Have fun with whatever. Don't place any worries of expectations on us. We'll play whatever you make, whenever. I've got 4 maps I have been working off and on for 5+ years and no one has given me crap about taking too long or whatever. Take your time. Have fun! 

Okay, I'll "have fun with whatever" as you say! 

Yes it is possible:
http://imgur.com/P1IN2yX

Being playing around with the alpha key and simple glass textures and came up with this little hourglass / sands of time thingy. Making it illusionary allows for the sand to be seen inside.

The alpha key is one of the coolest features available, thanks to whoever implemented it. I'm not sure if all engines support it though. I was thinking with alpha, and maybe a blue glass texture one could make ice cubes and a frozen castle style map... Lots of possibilities. 

I don't see the glass, only sand in a very dark corner.

But yes, my tech map makes use of alpha for lots of things such as glass. 

Imgur seems to have really destroyed that other shot. This one its easier to see the glass in. Never sure how dark things are going to be...

http://imgur.com/5stxjNF 

If you post screenshots, it's good to know to tune up the gamma 200%.
It's hard to keep up with the thin blue gamma colour.
Nice done!

I was working at something simmilar static entity.
And statics have no transparents.
sandbox. 

Now I see it. Subtle but well done I think. 

Thanks for the tip. I like how easy Imgur works but I'm not to happy with the way screens look on there. I increased the brightness and made the alpha higher in the second screen.

Your model looks really cool too. You are certainly the master of Quake modelling. I would like to learn some modelling after I finish my current map, but it seems very challenging. 

shader/brush rain

An alternative to DP's rain that has virtually zero impact on performance, even with very, very low-end hardware.

Next is snow, which will be a little more tricky. 

isn't there a fillrate cost in areas with long sight lines? 

I'm certain it *technically* has a performance impact, but in my tests (so far) it isn't appreciable.