Sock just released a new AD map on twitter:

http://www.simonoc.com/pages/design/sp/ad_grendel.htm

someone should make a post about this. Looks really good :) 

Newly compiled maps will have transparent water by default on most compilers.

If you want to add transparent water to maps for which you don't have the source, download UQMP from here and use its reVis tool. 

It's also worth noting that reVis will fix the BSP's CRC check, something that other tools usually ignore and that results in bugs in some engines. 

Thanks! Yes I know, this is mostly for older maps from back in the day. So is this another tool like vispatch? I'll give it a go. 

It's a toolkit I've made back in my Dreamcast quakedev days. It's .bat file based, so I'm not sure if it'll work in modern systems. 

I've been playing dm4jam maps on-and-off since May. My pace has been painfully slow, though, with only 3 maps played. Of course there are the typical reasons for the slow progress like working on my own map, life getting in the way etc. but then there's the review process... Sometimes it just feels such a huge chore that it makes me not want to play maps, since I feel obliged to review them afterwards.

Recording demos and commenting during gameplay isn't bad at all, but it's writing the main review that's the most time-consuming and tiresome part, which can sometimes take a lot of time with me (30+ min). Quite often I restart the map while writing the review to check if I had forgotten to mention something about the map or reassess my initial thoughts.

For example, if I had missed secrets during my first playthrough, I'd restart the map and try to find them for the review, so I could give my assessment on how the secrets affect the balance of the map etc.

I very well might have finished playing through the dm4jam maps a long time ago, if it wasn't for the tedious review process. That's why if I want to unwind after work and play something without having to think too much, Quake isn't the first game in my list, unfortunately. I might play maps that I have already reviewed, but not new maps, because I'd likely end up spending more time on writing their reviews than actually playing them.

Does anybody else get this or is it just me? 

Are you just talking about posting reviews in the func thread after a map release?

You're under no obligation to write a review or even say anything at all. Any mapper will appreciate you just saying you played it and had a good time.

The people who do write reviews (which is only a subset of those people who play the maps) do it because they like to write reviews. Don't force yourself to do something that's a chore. 

Albert Einstein once said that if his life depended on solving a problem in only one hour, he would use fifty-five minutes determining the right question to ask, “Once I know the proper question,” he said, “I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” Einstein understood that if we begin with the wrong question we will never arrive at the right answer. 

You're doing it the hardest way. Start an audio recording and comment while you play. Then simply transcribe your audio. Or even better, get Dragon and have it write the transcript while you comment.

That should bang out a good 80% of the work right there. 

Sorry for the double post. This site doesn't let me edit and I had one more idea for Esrael.

Don't review the game while YOU play it. Go watch some play-through and write your review based on that. Arrrcee (YoutTube: The Quake Grave) makes high quality play-throughs of like every map as soon as it comes out. You could just "bounce" your review off of his videos and go play all the Quake you want.

Or just stop writing reviews cause they probably can't compare to Arrrcee's already made high quality video reviews.

Just sayin'. 

which is make a video review, but just end up rambling on about tea and frozen chicken kievs instead of the map:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnRTYyQrkPA&list=PLzplQrZpMjlbiVqkKXID0JguzUTrv4V_J 

You're Clench Throckmorton! Man google has been arguing with me forever about whether I know you. And I don't but, at least I understand now where the reference is coming from.

lol @ "lil red shooty buttons" (in your video) 

^_~ 

I added your playlist to NGQ

http://www.nextgenquake.com/quake-videos/clench-throckmorton/ 

Hehe, nice one :) 

I thought I'd totally rip o...be inspired by Other Places youtube channel and do something similar for cool Quake maps : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPMH3IB6D-o

Any criticisms welcome :) 

nice work 

FOV could maybe be widened out on some shots. 

I would suggest trying to tell a story with the video. Show a path, some progression and something changing, no point having the world empty. Also experiment more with different camera movements (pans/zooms) and think about how you are connecting together each camera sequence. Maybe try to sync the music to certain shot sequences.

Here's some examples I did a while ago 1 2 3

Glad to hear you are back to your YT channel, you have/had such a strong following and an audience who still loves to see your stuff. :) 

Very cool! 

I just play maps for my own enjoyment. While I would like to review them extensively, there's not much of a point. The authors don't really care in my experience. I'd wager most people are making maps largely for their own sake and as long as they're satisfied, they won't care what others have to say whether it's good or bad.

I've raved about a lot of maps and mods that have blown me away but there's plenty of stuff that I have never reviewed or critiqued in any fashion. There are tons of maps to play and not enough time to play them to spending upwards of 30 minutes reviewing every single one could really suck the enjoyment out of the whole process.

Reviews are probably more helpful for people who are new and who are therefore looking for useful critiques. They're also good for people who might be having doubts about the quality of their mapping. In my experience, established mappers couldn't care less about what anyone has to say so no sense in worrying yourself about reviewing every map, especially in such a detailed fashion. A sentence or two about what you liked would probably suffice. 

Well I have learned that demos/recordings of initial playthroughs are priceless. In addition, I think some basic highlights suffice, in my opinion. I've really appreciated feedback both positive and negative in order to gauge what players enjoy most in a map vs what I like. In short- even brief feedback is good feedback! 

Fucking Anon Spammer 

I just compiled & ran yquake2 and it's one of the best engines around. Pretty vanilla, just works. I've been trying to play online, though, but doesn't seem to work on Linux.

I've tried joining servers, but I don't get any. I've also tried playing with myself on LAN, but my address is always 0.0.0.0 and I can't connect. Am I doing something wrong?