The map would look different after conversion. The textures would be skewed. If that would not be a problem, you can simply do the conversion by hand by converting "[o x y z]" to "o" I think. 

...doesn't even begin to describe this map pack. While the first map may have been the weakest, it was still fun and clever. The rain looked a bit odd yes, but it convinced me it was rain and I just went with it. But what I liked most about the arc1 was its haunting atmosphere. The music wasn't a bother to me either, it added to the creepiness.

The next four maps, as I said, astounding. The gameplay, the lighting, the brushwork, the textures, everything was stupendous. Its hard to, because of the fast run and gun gameplay, but you really have to stop and admire all the details and interconnectivity of the maps. Some of the best I've ever seen in Quake.

This pack is no doubt a perfect 10 in my book. Congrats on a job well done :) 

Cool brushwork and layout (except those trees). Much too cramped in some places.

I turned the volume down all the way because the music was just too nihilistic to me and there was no way to switch it off ingame. Then I turned the brightness all the way up. That's when I noticed the cool brushwork. I also turned on godmode - on easy :-/

If you make it mandatory to "kill all monsters" in order to proceed, please tell the player so.

If the player presses a button, please tell them what that button did.

The exit was sort of hidden.

-> Too dark, Easy too hard, zombies/axe sucked, music not optional, not always clear where to go next / what to do next.

-> Nice brushwork and layout. Could have been highlighted better by more light.

Streams of blood: A real blood sacrifice is pretty unspectacular compared to this. :-^

-> Drake: Didn't like ported Hexen 2 monsters (use new skins at least). Found the staff a little goofy. Shotgun could have a new sound instead of what people are used to as the SSG sound (it's confusing). Axe should instagib zombies. Beheading was cool. 

Also, it would have been good to combine the start map and the first proper map of the pack, to avoid the loading screen in between. A start map only really makes sense when you have different branches. 

The music can be turned of with impulse 117. I agree the new shotgun sounds are bad (ssg sounds weak).

Since the release is going to be updated with the fullvised maps, maybe a few other changes could be made as well? Eg. counter message in arc1, a megahealth for the zombies on all difficulty levels, maybe even monsterjump them off the coffins; NO_INTERMISSION on the arcstart changelevel! And whatever else was mentioned in this thread.. 

No, a start map also makes sense if you can select the difficulty. That's the sole purpose. 

That can easily be done inside the first map of a pack, no? 

yeah, but that won't spawn/despawn monsters...

so you still need a start map. 

> The music can be turned of with impulse 117

I'm not reading the readme halfway through a map. There are maps which provide buttons for that purpose, which is a good way to do it without breaking the immersion. 

> yeah, but that won't spawn/despawn monsters... so you still need a start map.

There must be a way to do that, if you're using QC anyway? 

http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/demos/demos_arcanum.rar

first runs! 

no. the skill level entity inhibition is done by the engine, before they ever get to qc. 

I like how they appear to be in the game world, but are a contrivance for choosing your difficulty level. When you step through the exit teleporter, you get the feeling that you're /really/ entering Quake. (also, if dying in e1m1 returned you to skill selection, I think it would break immersion.) 

Its very 'Quake' - I like Guncotton by Kona as a prime example :) 

Setting all monsters to SPAWNED on all skill levels, then pointing the skill selection triggers at the relevant monsters/entities to activate the ones wanted.

> if dying in e1m1 returned you to skill selection, I think it would break immersion.

Correct, but with checkpoint triggers that'll never happen. 

But just about every skill dependant activation check is done on map load.

A groundbreaking feature of HL1 (at least in thought, if not implementation) was the ability to change skills whilst playing.

Granted it just modified the damage / health tables, but it was the germ of modifying map content on the fly that led to ideas like L4D.

Which is of itself only a proof of concept. I can see such dynamic difficulty features becoming a standard. 

It would be much better to have it engine side, yeah. My example is kludgy, even if you combine that with waiting triggers etc. 

ignoring whether it is possible or not, it seems kind of ill-fitting to try to deny such a classic quake staple in this very old schoolesque map pack. I do think the no_intermission would work well there though, as in the original Quake. 

The loading screen sort of bothered me, that's all. I see your point. 

I completely forgot about the no_intermission option on the changelevel. Would've made the transition effect so much smoother. Ah well, if a patch is forthcoming it's the sort of thing that can be easily changed. 

Rock. This was a stylish one. 

I enjoyed the Arcanum demo immensely when it came out, and I don't exactly like how the rest of the pack deviates from it. The first map was id sized, had plenty of small arms play, and the 'zer meets nsoe' theme was badass.

However amazing looking Pulsar's (mistaken for Tronyn's in the demos, sorry about that) map was, it was another huge, 150+ monsters, Knave-and-only-Knave affair. I liked it a lot at first, but eventually I got tired, as towards the end the map kept shoving me into a climax after a climax, while my health was low (skill 1), and my patience even lower. So I ended up godmoding my way through map 2, and felt numb when I saw a Shambler and 200+ monsters right at the start at map 3.

My 10 years old self might have been thrilled by the "EVIL MEGA SHOWDOWN waiting every next corner!!!" approach, but I've seriously grown out of it.

Sorry.

Five skill1 demos: http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/demos/otp_arcanum2.zip 

+ Nice brushwork
+ Size
+ some creative stuff

- too many buttons
- too much backtracking
- confusing layout
- eternally respawning monsters / sea of monsters
- randomly being knocked into void/off the magic bridge
- lots of areas looked the same (knave) except the end
- Easy too hard, as usual

Mixed feelings about this one. The brushwork was good, but the gameplay, although good fighting in some parts, got predictable and uncreative eventually (especially monster placement/annoying respawning/backtracking/getting lost). It felt like work. Hey, monster closets.

There were some traps and a platforming passage, but none of them overly creative. This stuff drowned in the sea of monsters as well.

It looked nice and the environment was competently done, no question. Gameplay not my cup of tea. 

Arcanum (18mb)

Arcanum Sources(8mb)

shots:
http://necros.slipgateconstruct.com/downloads/Tronyn/arcanum1.jpg
http://necros.slipgateconstruct.com/downloads/Tronyn/arcanum2.jpg
http://necros.slipgateconstruct.com/downloads/Tronyn/arcanum3.jpg
http://necros.slipgateconstruct.com/downloads/Tronyn/arcanum4.jpg
http://necros.slipgateconstruct.com/downloads/Tronyn/arcanum5.jpg
http://necros.slipgateconstruct.com/downloads/Tronyn/arcanum6.jpg
http://necros.slipgateconstruct.com/downloads/Tronyn/arcanum7.jpg 

Hi there, my first post on this board. Been lurking this board for a little while, after discovered Quaddicted a little while ago.
Anyway, enough about me lol.
Surprised to see so much hate on the first map.
if you had ever played the demo, you'd see the gameplay is much more balanced this time around in the full release.
I remember the ladder didn't even work properly on the demo, you literally had to jump up each step one at a time, which was frustrating when you wanted to get up to get away from monsters.
A lot easier to just easily climb up it this time around.
The map has some beautiful architecture too IMHO and personally I love the rain and thunderstorm going on.
Mind you, I did really enjoy the demo when it came out too, was just blown away by how it looked.

The rest of the pack was fantastic. I'd like to be able to complain about the whole not knowing where to go next problem I sometimes encountered, but honestly that happens with almost all new maps I play, and I'm sure it probably happened when I played the original Id1 levels all the way back in 1996 when I was 7-8 years old, so it's no big deal. If anything part of that challenge is figuring out that puzzle.

Honestly don't really understand a lot of the little technical details, as I've never been a mapper myself, so I'll just leave my post at this haha.