negke skill 3
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/spy_xmasjam2018_negke3.rar

that was tough battle 

A Crooked Clergy and Mutagenesis by Strideh

What a way to make a mapping debut! Both very different, but also very similar maps, so I'll be commenting on both at the same time.

Really liked how both the maps started off as relatively quiet, and then kept unfolding until mayhem occured.

Some very striking visuals in both of them, specifically the contrast between cold/damp and warm/cosy of Clergy (despite using predominantly green textures), and the vivid colors of Mutagenesis. I don't think I've seen such a virulently angry looking Quake map before.

Like to see good i.e. limited use of the expanded AD bestiary as well. I was really dreading having to fight several dozen of Minotaurs every map, so not doing that was quite refreshing!

I also spy some custom textures in both maps - yes please.

Some really outstanding work! 

SECRET MAP by SECRET AUTHOR

This was quite fun, for what seems like a long abandoned scrap. Visually it held together rather well, even though I'm already sick of seeing Doom textures, and the bright yellow pit was certainly unique.

Some pretty classic [REDACTED] progression too, with the silver key door that serves purely as a shortcut, and the gold keycard hidden in a cupboard. Those pesky Ogres!

I also died once, not realising the obvious.

Good work, but would like to see more! 

It's actually a conversion of a Doom2 map I made for a 1024 event in 2006.
The key would open both the door and the switch to lower the exit bars. Originally it was supposed to be like that and the roof part a secret ("must have missed this one last time"), but then I decided to make it part of the normal progression to extend the playtime.

The tentacle pit is so bright, because the texture would look bad at anything darker than that. The Doom textures are a bit finicky on the Quake palette, they tend to have ugly pixels if it's too dark.

This was supposed to be a quick tongue-in-cheek low-effort submission, but it actually took longer than anticipated due to fixing the brushwork and touching up some of the textures.
In my view, it makes for a nice little bonus map and throwback to the 1024 theme origins..... or would have if you despicable speedjammers hadn't ruined it all shortly afterwards!!! :D 

Coal in your Socks! by Krampus

The moment I saw this filename in the zip I knew this would be a short throwaway map by somebody we already know, and yet I was still surprised!

I didn't really find it as engaging as your other past endeavors for some reason, but I still liked it, and it was obviously as well produced as usual. Obviously the visuals were top notch, as were the palace textures - glad to finally see them in Q1.

The layout was fine, but the progression through it could have been a little more interesting probably, since it's pretty much a single run and gun route like Shambler's.

The secrets and the way to access them reminded me of the stealth only passages from ITS quite a bit. Maybe bring back the "brush entity slowly fading into nothing" trick sometime in the future?

Good map! 

I'm away from home this week and couldn't wait to play these maps. So I decided I would stream and provide commentary from my work laptop :^). I've uploaded what I played so far to youtube and plan to stream some more tonight. I hope my new format is welcome. Appropriate links:

Xmasjam2018 Playlist
My Twitch Channel 

Frozen Demise by Bloodshot

Another well done map! The trademark Bloodshot good looks were here alright, both on the micro scale (snow drifts, dynamic fog, lots of destructibles) and the macro (the giant mountains looked cool, and the final arena was a proper highlight of the entire jam so far). I'm not convinced that Quake can pull off nature areas well, though this map certainly seems to make a good counterargument.

The layout was fine but I found the progression a little weird, not sure if the SK -> teleporter -> GK sequence was necessary, since there didn't need to be a SK door at all IMO, and then you could use the space above it in a more interesting way than the RL secret.

I played on skill 1 and didn't find it too challenging, despite messing up on a couple occassions - but I suppose that's fine, considering all things. I'll be replaying this on Hard for sure! 

scampie skill 0,
i gave up beating this level on skill 3

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/spy_xmasjam2018_scampie0.rar 

Mainly because I wanted to find the NM entrance myself. I have skipped reading this thread to avoid spoilers.

Fun map Negke! Makes me want to go back and play the original. 

Im stuck in Moonlit Keep by Shotro. I've pushed one button, that opened the gate with 2nd button inside, I pushed it and went outside, so the gate closed in front of me. Am I stuck? 

Yeah. I tested for hours (all difficulty modes with several playtesters) without a problem but on the final compile for the release (I changed a light value and compiled), for some reason, a trigger that requires the ax upgrade won't fire anymore. There were other minor problems but even after fixing all of them this issue still remains on the map. I am contributing to the DLC and will fix this problem but sadly this made it into the final compilation of the map before submission and passed all testing. 

Recorded some demoes for the maps on the first floor (+the secret map) on skill 1.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0rrfi5y2k6eyx9k/xmasspipper_demoes01.zip?dl=0
Excited to play through the second floor tomorrow. 

Wow, what a map! Can't wait for its extension in 2019, according to the secret room I've found.

The mail box on the roof is cool too! 

==================================================
(in my play order, taking notes as I go)

Strideh 1 (clergy): Nice gloom and good use of color. A bit hard to jump around the rafters and I got caught on some book cases where you have to jump up before the ladders, but other than that was a good layout. Liked revisiting areas.

Naitelveni: Wonderful! Only complaints are that there was only 1 secret, too short, some trim was wierdly oversized, a couple roof textures were rotated kinda funny, otherwise solid and great details. Loved the spike bars and your shelving is great!

Spipper: The best "my house" map I've ever seen. Amazing details. Hilarity. Just, great. The ending was so funny I was dying. It was brutally hard though. Had 4 health for half of it and exited with 1 health. I had to fight the wraith with an axe in the living room. Fun but sheesh a box of shells on the mezanine or something would have been nice.

JCR: Wierd theme. Well executed. Nice secrets! Didn't like how you could get behind the large teleporter on the edge of the cliff (the one that redirects to an exit) an not get back out, needed a secret and a door to get back. Took me forever to find the exit after hitting all 83 kills and 4/4 secrets...turns out the large teleporter turned into an exit...maybe should have added Exit signs that appear by it or a note body next to it.

queenjazz: Wow...cool vibes...wish it were longer. Liked all the gadgetry and the music was intriguing. Had a peppy space garden fight feel to it. Liked your buzzsaws and use of bobbing rings. Nice!

JCR2: Love the theme (wierd too but better). A bit dark in places. Could have used more health or more light. New rule, no sparks allowed above water...or sock should fix the splash noise. Your exit elevator peeps through the floor underneath. Very cool. Wished there was a prize for destroying all computers...or maybe I missed one, still couldn't find the last secret area.

Shotro: Very oldschool. Nice and tight and dark. Surprising that it fits in 1024...or does it? Secrets were great! I still missed 3!! Had to noclip past some zonked doors but figured it you'll fix it for the follow-up.

Ing: This was rather lame, just add ammo to make it work. Sneaking idea wasn't bad but without getting secrets I don't see how you could kill all the enemies which I think is a bit lame. Oh well. Interesting power failure and security breach idea though. I didn't like the insta-kill latrine, rail, or invisible forcefield.

Ionous: Excellent start. Loved the shadowaxe fight! Probably my favorite axe encounter ever! I was thinking, superb as usual at this point.... Then there was the elevator. The elevator to get down to the lower level sucked so bad...should have been a door. I got stuck fighting that stupid elevator while trying to fight the other guys. Shot like a bajillion shells into the floor between levels as the elevator went up over and over and over--that or fell in the lava 50 times. There was no floor to stand on and dodge down there! Hate that stupid corner room, terrible setup. It was downhill from there. I loved what you did at the exit switcheroo, hated fighting chthon with an axe though, not cool. Some respawning ammo would have been nice...had 0 ammo for the chthon fight and ran out halfway through the firelord fight....although I killed the firelord by jumping out the window on the top floor and axing him in the head - probably my greatest axe kill of all time but seriously WHERE. IS. THE. AMMO!

Pinchy: This was perhaps the most eerie and mysterious map I've played in a long time if ever. The whole time I was like What? What? What? Where am I? Very cool theme. Marble was nice. Love love love the extending ladder!!

Shambler: Probably the best map I've played in a long time. SOOO tight and loved every bit. Couple doors ghosting through walls but was otherwise superb and loaded with details. Did not dissapoint.

Bloodshot: Really good. Loved the usage of ice...chill out! Your mountains were great! Cool ice shattering and the rotating floor trap doors were really cool! Good setup overall.

Strideh 2: Best new theme ever. Reminds me so much of Crusader: No Regret/No Remorse. Amazing lighting. Top notch. Did I mention the lighting was excellent. Oh the mutagenesis fluid glow was great! Also, those are best pipes I've seen in Quake yet. Incredible visuals overall. Gameplay was good, but I was able to spam the boglords from up top pretty easily, but then again it was good to have cover. The skorpions coming out of the mutagenesis fluid areas was a great way to keep with the story of the level. Best one in the pack so far for overall visuals, play, story, and everything.

Only 5 more to go... 

All of the player combat fits in the 1024^3 space... except one secret. The secrets do go outside the bounds for items and the enemies will attack from outside those bounds. I thought the 1024^3 box is pretty apparent from my perspective but it is good to hear that players are questioning it. Really wished that door wasn't broke though. A remix/fix is on its way with the DLC release in a few days. 

Got around to playing some more tonight on stream.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/349095068

Did Spipper, Strideh(1), Ionous, Qmaster, Ing, Shotro (think I broke it though!), Ish & Rhoq, JCR (2), and Nait.

Lots of cool stuff in these. 

I'm extremely new to the Quake Modding community and I have one very quick question regarding Xmas Jam 2018. Lets say I wanted to post a wall of text type review of all the maps in this jam with some links to my youtube playthroughs of said maps, would this be a good place to do it? I know Quaddicted is the review site but the jam hasn't been posted on there yet and I don't know how y'all do things around here. 

Yeah this is the place to do it.
Hopefully it should go up on Quaddicted eventually. 

Entering the City of Pale by Bal

The blueballs I got from exiting the map were a prime example as to why the 1024 limit should be more strict. I practically forgot that the map is not actually going to let me visit the rest of the city until I was about 2/3 done with it :(

Visually it's an outstanding map, obviously. Felt like some medieval version of Blade Runner actually, with the fog and the candlelit windows in the distance, and the feeling of skulking like a rat through the lowest decks of an absolutely massive city...

Really reminded me of the kind of things necros was doing in Quake before disappearing, with animated setpieces featuring unreachable enemies as actors, and vast masses of brushwork outside the playable area to increase the sense of place. The moving bridge setpiece at the start was exactly that sort of jam, and I adored it greatly.

The textures from Daikatana E3 usually don't work for me, but with the colored lighting and the hours of photoshopping spent on them, it didn't take long for the aesthetic to click for me.

So once again, it's quite a shame that we don't get to spend too much time in this dingy seashore medieval metropolis, and not only because of the 1024^3 limitation, but because the map is actually pretty short even considering its size. The Bal map from last year ran for at least twice as long, with a lot more of revisiting of areas and a tighter layout - this map, being a much less abstract affair, consequently features a visibly simpler layout. It's well designed, though, and also nicely interconnected (I liked the unlockable ladders, reminded me of Rubicon 2).

There's around 100 enemies on Normal, and while the map begins as relatively difficult (my early game misplays were punished pretty strongly), the ancient "harder to start than it is to finish" Q1SP syndrome also surfaces here, since after you get the stronger weapons, the enemies come in bigger quantities but not necessarily stronger types, which doesn't make it more threatening. I wouldn't say the map bored me, but it could have been more interesting in the middle section.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending and the apparently infinite Imps either - having monsters pop up on the intermission screens while I already had 100% kills, while also having used enemies that don't increase the counter, gave me an overall feeling of unfinished business (as if I didn't already have it, thanks to the setting).

Overall, a very well crafted map, but not quite a masterpiece. Perhaps I should just need to replay it on Hard to completely get it. 

Scampie: Really good. Nice secrets! Interesting shambler caves, was tempted to axe my way through the shambler but once there was a 2nd one I figured it best to move on.

Ish & Rhoq: Good layout, liked the room especially right above the ladder...good corner ledges. Could have done with another secret maybe. The ramps to nowhere were interesting, liked how they ended up leading somewhere by the end.

Ish: Interesting, liked the abyssal maze of ductwork...nice use of the theme. Very interconnected, nice! I didn't like how dark it was and I had 0 ammo for more than half the map. Of course it didn't help that it was dark and I didn't know what the ladders looked like at first...it always always takes me ages to find ladders unless they are 1. Well lit, 2. Obviously a ladder and not trim/pipes/vines/single-rope, and 3. Have a giant arrow and a sign saying Ladder or Ladder Access...seriously though a small arrow might help. It wasn't until close to the end that I found out there was a ladder litterally right where you start.

sock: Insanely awesome as usual. Trimmed to the max, skulls on books were nice. I love the stairs...the simple angled parts and how they draw you to the direction you should go. The ceilings are great too...liked how the beams don't touch the top. The angled in portions really give a solidity to the place and make it feel sturdy, cozy, and look great. Excellent ITS-type secrets...liked how you disabled the illusionaries. Amazing custom textures...figured out the oreo bit right off lol. I might use your black bricks to remake the Black Cathedral from hipnotic someday.

Bal: Tie with Sepulchre and Swampy for one of my most favorite maps of all time. You really nailed the atmosphere...skybox was ridiculously impressive. The beginning drawbridge sequence had me staring for the first minute just watching the drawbridge and taking it all in. I had fun axing all the death guards in the beginning, ramped up nicely from there. The hell knight jumping across the rooftop really took me by surprise! Nice and interconnected. Simply amazing overall. Found all super secrets. Nice mailbox. Amazing..also yes the view was nice ;) I probably spent as much time noclipping around at the end as did playing it and it was a long one. Excellent gifts at the end too. Definitely needs to be longer...I have just a taste now and now I'm starving for the rest.

negke: Ugly, confusing since it is too symetrical, didn't realize there were 2 courtyards at first. Wierd layout, not sure what was up with the transparent fiends...NO EXIT. :(

Merry Christmas All! This was great! 

Abyssal Nimiety by Ish

Arachnid Nimiety more like. I swear this map had more spiders and scorpions than all the ones I've played combined.

Felt pretty much like a sequel to your underwater jam map, with some common motifs i.e. a looped, almost DM-like layout, hardcore-bordering-on-excessive difficulty, and the textures that I don't have a single clue as to where they came from, but somehow they remind me of negke speedmaps from the mid-to-late-2000's.

I rather enjoyed the exploration based progression and the twisty layout, but I suspect I'd have more fun with more health/ammo/around around ;-) I played on skill 1, and what's there is just about acceptable for Hard.

If anything, this map helped me realise that almost 3 years in, and two dozens of maps with change later, I can truly say that I find AD gameplay more annoying than fun in principle. :(

Still, I enjoyed the map, and it makes me want to up my own layout game. Thanks for making it! 

Incredible jam you guys, really impressed with everything on show this year.

Of all the maps though I am stunned at Bals entry, truly a masterpiece of design and I hope to see another jam on this dkt texture theme.

I would have liked to see co-op spawnpoints as standard, some of these demos start with a lot of telefrags. Also the start map should have reset guns and ammo, I had to keep restarting the server and losing the progress of which maps were completed.

Anyway, here's the link to the demos for every map (90ish mb)-

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/5th_xmas2018demos.zip

Only 1 map couldn't be completed and it's due to final trigger not firing. (sorry bloodshot) 

Just letting you all know that I streamed some of the XMAS Jam earlier today and you can find that here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ovi6hDvG04

I got through close to half of the maps here, below are the ones I played through (sorry these are not in order of playthrough). Don't worry I'll get to the rest in a Part 2 and 3 if I have to.

Entering the City of Pale by Bal
Airgapped by JCR
Fully Integrated by JCR
Hall of Shards by Pinchy Skree
Aftermath by Queenjazz
A Christmas Romp by Spipper
A Crooked Clergy by Strideh
Mutagenesis by Strideh
Train Station Infiltration by Ing
And the super secret map from Negke! 

you have to cache the demos by going to the start map first. At least that's true on my machine. Also the readme tells you which engine I used and a link if they dont run on your preferred engine. 

Gift of the Boxlord and Cop Speed Gentlemen by Qmaster

I ended up playing the second map before the first map, probably the right thing to do since the first map is much better than the second.

Both decent layouts but navigation felt stunted, spent a lot of time falling through holes or climbing pipes. The fact that both are very dark didn't help matters.

The first map was nice conceptually, though the eventual Boxlord fight was hindered by the area, some more arena-like design would have been decent. I also liked the violet snow unlike some haters!

The second map didn't mesh with me very much, sorry. :( Good job on getting two maps in the pack, though!