After all, it is good to have many secret, but almost half of them should be quite easy to find, that will be my goal for each map. It is good to see from feedback/records what kind of secrets are easier to spot.

Computer room quad damage is weird one, it is not secret though.. though it should be in final version. But that one, even I forget that until I finished my map and saw intermission screen.. this moment of realization might comes to many players, which is only good thing. It is nice to hide something on intermission view, if player somehow misses it. I assume you didn't notice it on first play until intermission screen? 

I don't exactly get what you mean with that illusionary/rocket jump thing (language barrier I guess, I know english isn't your native tongue). Both secrets are not far apart but not in the same place and one doesn't lead to the other.

The timed block with the button inside would solve the problem, yes. Classic Quake way to deal with secret rooms.

I've played your map only once so far, so I did spot the quad all by myself. Honestly, it's not so hard to find, all you have to do is look around the room, and the way to access it is pretty obvious too. It really shouldn't count as a secret IMHO.

I don't think you need to make your secrets easier. They're already all easy to find if the player pays attention. I kinda suck at finding secrets but I found almost all of them. It took me a few seconds to figure out what that button behind the crates opened but it was really easy too. At any rate, you should make some secrets harder to find (but not too hard either). I missed the one in the LG room but I'm sure I would have spotted it another time. If there's no challenge in a secret, there's little satisfaction out of finding it.

If you need playtesters, a good way to find some would be to upload your map on this site as a work-in-progress. 

I mean I made another way to access this rocket jump secret, there will be illusionary path to it also, and that's why I changed its message text to "Illusionary/Rocket jump secret". Don't confuse it to silver key illusionary secret that is near the GK.

You're maybe right, maybe it's good to leave that quad damage on control center not secret, like it is now.

So you say, you even spotted last silver key behind that illusionary wall? I must be one of few who actually notice it (even though I made it very obvious, because that broken grate) and light coming through that wall a bit.

I will post shared link to my work-in-progress map, when there is more stuff than just one new area which consists one hallway and one smallish room. Also when map is starting to get bigger, there is more room for more intellectual secrets (harder secrets). I just needed to fill gaps in this smallish vision, so it felt bigger than what it really was. 

"I must be one of few who actually notice it..."
You must be*

sorry my typos >_> 

And that earlier was posted by me.. Time to go bed, let the tomorrow be better day for me. 

Oh, OK, you mean in the new version you're making.

The silver key is very easy to see, it literally shines through the grate! I think maybe you should put solid walls there instead of grates. The dark alcove surrounded by big red upward arrows is invitation enough to explore it, I believe. I don't know, can anyone else give some input on this? 

Ha ha, yeah, I think I'd remember if I had written this! OK, good night. 

So I woke up, and had awful headache* Maybe because of that Sauna.. but anyway. I have to make list of all these things needs to be done, otherwise I will forget something. Checklist: first priority -> make checklist. 

Ha ha ha! 

At least your headache doesn't impair your sense of humor. 

In game business I have even experienced that sometimes when I even talk "seriously", everyone things I'm joking or something. That is the most embarrassing feeling to experience, when you don't even get it in that situation right away that they are laughing to what you said or did* But overall, I try to be humorous just because I can, and my language-barrier makes it even funnier for some people. 

 

From Finland, the country which nobody takes seriously. 

...And you wonder why people think you're funny even when you're serious! xD I take at least one of your fellow compatriots seriously: Olivia Merilahti, lead singer of french band The Do. If you like original pop-rock, you should check them out. Their first two albums are very good, the third one a little less. 

It might match with my taste, though personally I'm not into soft beats, unless it has some good melodies or meaning behind. It feels like many bands run out of ideas when it comes to writing songs. This is one of reasons why it is impossible for me to have only one favorite band. But I guess this went to off-topic* 

Well they do have ideas. Check their first two albums, I'm sure you won't regret it. But yeah, we better stop veering off-topic if we don't want to get trashed. The rules seem pretty strict on this board. 

I'm guessing the answer is yes, but just to be sure: If I make a map in one editor, can I open it and modify it in other editors without issues? Until I switch to Windows 7 and TB 2.0, I might have to use Radiant or WC for some features lacking in TB 1.16. 

The only incompatibility is the Valve220 map format. TB2, WC, J.A.C.K, Quark support it. Radiant and TB1.x don't.

As far as I know WC/J.A.C.K can only save in 220 format so switching between those editors and TB2 should be fine, but you will probably have issues switching between WC/J.A.C.K and TB1. 

OK, I guess I'll go with Radiant if needed, then. Valve220 is for... Valve games, I suppose? I'm mapping for Q1 anyway, so it doesn't concern me. Wait, since when WC is Valve-exclusive? I remember it was once THE editor of reference for Quake. 

I don't know will this help you, but I mostly make everything on Trenchbroom 2 beta, but cylinders, spiral stairs etc. I make in J.A.C.K, it's like a radiant. I haven't received any issues so far, so I would recommend something like that - if you prefer more working on TB's 3d view but need some complex brushes too, use J.A.C.K it is quite easy to use. 

In Trenchbroom 2, there is couple bugs, but those are easy to avoid. One of bug, which might be already fixed, anyway - if you undo your events, it sometimes crashes, so remember save constantly. And also something weird happened me back then, when making brushes in J.A.C.K I have to open them in TB1 not TB2, then save it in TB1, and open it TB2. I said something wrong version.. but that way I made it to work. And again I'm not sure if these issues are already fixed. 

..then save it in TB1, and finally open it TB2. TB's console said something invalid something.. but anyway it opened in TB1 and I was able to save it. 

I prefer radiant because I like the control, albeit at a cost of speed, but as a novice that doesn't seem to have too much of an impact. However, complex multi-vert manipulation, as seen in czg's curve tut, isn't very practical/possible, unless I'm missing something.

TB seems like a very nice editor but I just prefer ortho 90% of the time. 

J.A.C.K is pretty much like Radiant. TB2 beta has ortho view also, but doesn't have much functionality - just about that grid snapping when it comes to those top, down, side views. 

I use TB 1.16 because I'm still under WinXP and apparently TB 2 doesn't like XP (I've tried).
I remember trying WC and Radiant back in the day but I quit because these programs weren't user-friendly enough for me. TB is, so I'm finally getting to it after 20 years. And now that I'm getting acquainted with the tools, I might be able to get used to Radiant.