playable map :) Likes: The sound of the new enforcers and their interesting attack, the atmospheric generator domes and plasma details, water environs, map interconnectivity, and finale. Nice to see that mech boss again (tweaked?), though he didn't put up much of a fight - stuck on the incline against the GL. 

The build quality kicks ass. I liked the textures and architecture a lot. Fights were also very good on hard skill. The end room was too hard with too many monsters attacking at once. I died twice on hard. Can't say much about secrets because I didn't find many.
Distrans is one of my favourite mappers and this map confirms it to me more strongly.

Here are my demos:
http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/demos/ankh_qt_pre2_demos.zip 

I enjoyed it a lot. The build has a classic feeling, it's composed and evocative.

The gameplay was smooth, I had a run in normal, great fun and not at all easy.

Thanks to the not too hard gameplay, well placed entities, great architecture, I got really immersed in the atmosphere. 

I got lost big time! Maybe you'll find it interesting anyway.

http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/demos/ci475_qt_pre02.zip 

the silent, if you don't jump through the final port you can descend on the lift and jump back down, then you find a teleporter open next to GK switch, this goes back in to level. 

...I noticed that after I posted. And forgot to rectify... 

 

I agree

This map deserves to be played, and demos should be recorded, and where is Distrans? 

... on quakeOne now... As far as I understood, he had some "respect" issue with people here after Ruined Nation map... and decided to move to a less "puristic" area.... though... ask him for further details ;) 

An observation is that quite some "recent" (2 years or so?) custom maps don't give the player clear enough instructions where to go at certain points.

Tronyn's Roman map with the platform from the water that isn't clearly identified, this map which says "all security panels have opened" and thus creates the impression that you should backtrack somehow, which is misleading, and also Than's Plumbers map where some people managed to get lost in the flooded area.

Not knowing where to go is a source of frustration for me. Obviously total linearity ala Quake 4 is a bit boring, but it should always be clear where you're supposed to go, at least where the main route is.

One way to do this are cameras that show you where a door opened, or where you're supposed to go next. Basically upon triggering it, the player's view goes to the camera entity, which shows the way, then back again. Needs a custom progs.dat of course. 

i've always found cameras and cutscenes as a copout.
this map could have easily avoided the routing problem after unlocking the security barriers simply by not having the doorway in that room open.
if the door had not even been there, the player would have been forced to back track up the lift and would have run into the opened security barrier there. 

How you think about them. Sure its a personal opinion thing, but I just see a camera as a nice replacement for 'a door has opened'.

Clever use of them can hint stuff to the player as well. 

Depending on if you even include messages of course... 

Still like the cheesy 'oh, I'm playing a game' thing. 

I just see a camera as a nice replacement for 'a door has opened'.

Still it points to a weakness in the design of the gate/button puzzle if a player can't tell that the button opened the gate. There are a lot of ways to do this without a cutscene or a text message, such as:

- place the button so the players can see the gate open from their vantage point as they press the button.

- keys and locked doors -- these are nice if you can't put the button and gate near each other -- players know what a key does so that when they get one, they know what sort of gate is now accessible. "I got the silver key, now i know i can open a silver door." Works best if they already found the silver door.

- train players that buttons of type X open gates of type Y -- this requires that X and Y have a consistent visual design and function in a consistent way. This is a more general version of the key/door thing -- they pushed the button and they know which distant gate was opened (because they learned the pattern already.) Also works best if they already found the gate.

- place fresh gameplay behind the opened gate -- either new monsters or uncollected items. They function in two ways: 1. players naturally move towards and engage monsters / collect items, 2. the fact these monsters/items haven't been dealt with yet is a clue that the area is a new, unexplored part of the level. A good example of this is in e3m5 (and Antediluvian): each wind tunnel in the main hub room has an ammo/health box in it, so that when you return to the hub, you can be sure you haven't travelled through the newly opened tunnel yet since the item is still there. 

 

my thoughts on the map are here

it's a great map with only a couple of problems, thanks for the map :) 

i like the cutscene method. mexx8 was the first map i remember using it that way.

the point about it being a weakness in puzzle design is valid, but much of the time with door & button scenarios it barely consitutes a 'puzzle'; more just a way of spreading out the game-path, not necessarily requiring a great deal of thought/logic from the player 

..thoughts on the map to follow when i've played it. which i will. at some point. 

In almost all areas. Just a bit dark tho. Like everything else. 

think it could have used some more ambient sounds. it definitely put atmosphere before gameplay (not that the gameplay was bad) and that atmosphere would probably be enhanced by some subtle eerie sounds to go with the dark shadows and visceral features

the bit with the biosuit & the blood - i had to turn fullbright on just to see the tunnel! was swimming around thinking i had to get up the pipe somehow. better visual clues down there would have been nice

there was a turning up to the SKD i kept missing too (probably just me being a spanner) - resulted in me backtracking to an earlier point where i inadvertently met that tank-commander style boss thing from below and could twat it with grenades without being hit back

played on normal, managed to stay alive and only really got in the red when a spawn exploded in my face. end battle was tense but over pretty quickly. balance just about spot on throughout

nice work! no epic by any means but well worth a blast :) 

Travail soundtrack
Quake soundtrack 

 

arse 

This map feels warm and snug for me.

You say you get lost. But why do you hurry? Enjoy this place, it is friendly, don't you see? You know, sometimes I turn "notarget" and just become a wayfarer.

BTW, is it possible to reach the "Very Skilled!" secret without grenade/rocketjumping?