You'll have to pay close attention to the walls and bookshelves in the map. Look out for any geometry that stick out from a wall. 

necros - clearly a tech demo but like any proper tech demo, the visuals are amazing. Or at least the outside bits which is obviously where the time went.

ionous - great map. Visuals were strong, loved the intricate brushwork and detailing, lighting could have been more moody but guessing time constraints (ditto some of the last area which seems a little unfinished). Gameplay was quite well thought and very entertaining. 

Nightmare 100�% demo on Breezeep's map:
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/breezeep100.zip

@pietretronne: 6th secret(RA) in Ionous's:
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/jam6_ionous_6th_secret.zip 

All kills demo on jam6_warrenm with several slope jumps
and a couple of rocket jumps:
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/warrenm100_paru.zip 

YES! Somebody used the slope jumps and various shortcuts.

Vindication is mine!!! :P

Cool demo, man ... 

... finally I played the pack.

So basically what others said. I loved the theme, and all the mappers made great maps.

Congrats to all :D 

I couldn't get 100% kills in Magmapolis. Noclipped to find a vore which didn't teleport in (QS 0.90.1 win-32 and QS 0.90.0 win-64).
In the start map, sometimes the centerprint doesn't appear after you select nightmare skill. Which is a pity because it's hilarious. Demo:
http://quaketastic.com/files/demos/jam6_start_nm.zip 

I think that having the rail on the left of the goldkey bridge be broken would help suggest a drop from the bridge itself. having 3m or so of railing torn off and spiralling down towards the ledge creates a point of visual interest that would lead players to look down from the bridge to the ledge below sorta like this: http://i.imgur.com/rSHYP7f.jpg

That said, I really loved your map. Great aesthetics and it flows really well, good reuse of the central area. 

I keep on believing that some level of confusion is part of the experience. Game designers shouldn't spoil the player bending to every complain. It's for their own good. 

Confusion for the sake of it isn't good, that's simply weak design which is more likely to frustrate players than interest them.

I did intend that the player would get to the gold key door and go 'oh... now where do I go?', but didn't do enough to help them answer that question. Examining the environment and seeing a broken railing totally would've helped. It wouldn't weaken the map, it enhances it by letting you be drawn further into it's world and heightening the sense of exploration. So, I really like the suggestion Danrul, I should've thought to do that, especially since I had broken railings in the foundry area that were also signaling 'hey, you can jump off here'! 

Ok, let me fix the argument:

'oh... now where do I go?'

I stand for this feeling as an important part of the experience. Two possible outcomes of a well designed solution: "I'm smart because I solved it"; "gee, it was on my face the whole time!". Like good mistery movies do. 

careful with that line of thought - it's inherently self-defensive. it's easy to create a map that makes no sense and then congratulate yourself for it because you "created mystery." 

I like exploration a lot, particularly in maps where there is more than one possible route, but nothing is more frustrating as a player than getting lost. For Something Wicked I really erred on the side of caution - I felt like I was designing a console level putting glowing arrow signs, lol, but I thought it better to err on that side than have people wandering around a foggy cavern hating me. 

I�d say one goal of good level design is to give the feeling of exploration while pulling the player on an invisible thread. You use architecture and player psychology to make them act in a certain way, which doesn�t always work out, but is important to try nonetheless. 

I think for a map like wicked, you made the right call. 

I stand for this feeling as an important part of the experience. Two possible outcomes of a well designed solution: "I'm smart because I solved it"; "gee, it was on my face the whole time!". Like good mistery movies do.

In order for you to get that "right in front of your nose" feeling, there needs to be some clue that you could have followed, and that's exactly what Danrul's suggestion adds. If he suggested an arrow on screen, constantly pointing to the next waypoint, I'd agree with you. But the clue he's suggesting isn't just something to simplify the search - it creates that connection from problem to solution. 

 

Play any negke map and see how much mystery movie you can take in a level... 

But seriously, MCE by negke is probably a very good case study for this stuff. Confused the fuck out of me for a while! 

is perfect.
Lower Forecourt is a good case study for this kind of stuff! 

Acclaimed author of:

The mappi Trilogy
(Beyond) Believe
Valhalla Rising and Descending
Only Tronyn Harrows 

@Adib - I thought that Signati could have benefited from some broke staircase/bridge bits to suggest the natural order of progression between platforms. It was already pretty to navigate but I think that would be a polish change that would help justify the concept.


Do you guys think it's relevant that the drop to the ledge below is the first time the player has to disregard the architecture of the level? All progression until that point is following the flow of the level, and then when it gets to the drop there's no obvious path forward. Another way to phrase it is that there's no 'diegetic' path to the ledge, but all progression until that point is 'diegetic'.

With that in mind, do you think that something like a sparking (obviously broken) lift down to the ledge or a ladder (even those aren't really in quake) could also help insinuate that the path to progression is below.

btw, I don't think the drop as it is that problematic, but its an interesting point of discussion. 

you forgot

Drive (Me Crazy With All This Mystery) 

It's possible. My level was roughly finished and poorly tested. Its value is some ideas shown there. Thanks for playing :D 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58150516/q1/jam6_necros_dw.zip

Normal route is more fun though, since you won't miss all the action.