There is a lot to consider when convert existing maps to AD, breakables, fog, new monsters, a couple of extra areas and more testing. I think my time would be better spent remixing new maps, maybe more from the E2 series. They have such lovely flow about them and I really like non linear designs more nowadays.

oh, I've got it. Can't wait for your following rmx map(s) 

I really enjoy the breakables. At first I was a little miffed that EVERY secret seemed to use a breakable of some sort, but I found that it really depended on the map. The one secret type that really annoyed me was where you shot a board to have a goodie fall down, usually in my face ha! But like the projectile shotties they grew on me. It became a very satisfying action. I feel as though my maps are less full of character without the breakables.

What did you all think of them? Were they overused? It really is a nice system that sock has coded up. Should all future Q1SP's use breakables now? Or would that be to much like half-life. 

Breakables, spinning stuff, 3 barrel SG and Lost Souls are mandatory to me from now on. 

Here's the shots:
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screen_shots/ad_floor_nearest.png

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screen_shots/ad_floor_linear.png 

i see. 

I really enjoy the breakables, What did you all think of them?
For me the breakables are about how the monsters can interact with them. If the player hides behind or if the monster is blocked by a breakable, it will attack/jump its way through to the player.

The map ad_test1 has plenty of good examples, different materials, multi stages and surprise encounters bursting through walls with special monster animations. The secret to breakables is the angle key, placing them in locations that the player will not expect and making the environment feel alive through change.

Should all future Q1SP's use breakables now?
There are plenty of styles and ideas that can still be made with classic Quake. The mod does have all the source files (QC) included so anyone can create their own variant if they want, just pick and mix the stuff you like and throw away the rest! 

I played some AD maps one more time recently on normal to find more secrets and to enjoy the atmosphere.

I must say that ad_mountain has impressed me much more on the second playthrough: the knight that guides you through (unmarked) secrets from the very beginning adds a lot to the overall atmosphere of the map. I managed to find the knight story secret this time and I can say it was amazing!
It's so great when map has different story layers that may be revealed to players that look for them.

I'm not a big fan of quake maps that force some story directly to the player during the usual playthrough, but this kind of storytelling is really great in quake - if player wants more than just interesting combat encounters in beautiful locations then the map can provide it to him, just give some subtle clues that it exists.

Also the colored lighting was amazing in this map.

Great job, Sock!

PS I'll post some more feedback as long as I progress thru other maps one more time. 

Love it! Awesome super secret! 

Playing the Hanger remake while listening to this in the background is a very enriching experience. You should try it out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q657rEkgfKs 

@PuLSaR, thanks for the feedback. Firetop Mountain is certainly an odd map, if the player does not discover the knights tale the map will appear to be just a mediocre stroll downwards to an often made boss battle. Its certainly a risk to make the true nature of the map a secret, but I had always hoped that when someone discovers the story they will be grinning from ear to ear at finding something special.

@Qmaster, AD_E2M2 has two super secrets, one dedicated to Scampie and the other to OTP who told me about an unusual way to play Zendar!

I rather hoped there would be more demo's of E2M2 because it is such a good non linear layout. The demo's I have seen so far were awesome to watch, thank you Daz and Skacky. Such a shame the Quake community is so quiet nowadays, oh well, ce la vie! 

They are awesome.

Scampie's one had great detailing and lighting. Short and sweet. Didn't find any secret tho. Will come back to it later.

E2M2 was an amazing experience despire evil z aware ogres. Great flow, exploration and visual language. The only thing I don't get is why all secrets are unmarked (the same goes to ad_mountain). For me every secret is an achivement and I want to know how many secrets are left for me to find.
I've spent >20 minutes wandering around and discovering secrets after the exit had been open. Found quite a lot, including Scampie ledge. I've got 87/96 kills but I still haven't found the way to get into the underground section. Will come back and find it later.

Great work, guys! Keep making new AD maps. 

E2M2 has way too many secrets to mark. 

I felt guilty after reading the above post and still not having posted my demos, so I went to Quaketastic and discovered that I've already uploaded them in December, but forgot to post here :(

Better late than never I suppose.

DM1 - First one I've played from the bunch, very fun interpretation, though towards the end it felt a little repetitive.

swampy - Second one I've played, first one I've not finished out of frustration. This is a fantastically crafted map by all accounts but I found it utterly relentless. If I already wasn't func's biggest asshole, uploading 344MB of demos where I don't even finish the map would make me one.

necro - Came here to wind down from swampy, did not disappoint. Very fun, and lots of nice little touches everywhere, though I was a bit bored by the e1m5 bit. Scampie also continues to display his skill of coming up with similar ideas as I but actually implementing them.

DM5 - Nice honeyification, though the crux illumini felt a bit iffy for me. Great display of new stuff from AD. I think I still prefer negke's dm456sp though.

crucial - Clear improvement over mfxsp17 in many ways. mfx I hope you download these demos at least if you decide not to watch me fail swampy for 344 megabytes.

firetop - Probably the least "sock" map by sock. Does a great job with setting a malicious atmosphere from the start. The super secret is genius (I didn't get it in the demos though), but by the time you reach it, you don't really need the reward anymore.

lavatomb - Ionous I respect you immensely but this map was not for me at all. :(

obd - backstein is still too fresh in my mind, so haven't played yet...

===== TIME WARP!! =====

E1M1 - Nice, felt a bit empty and sterile though whereas Quake's E1M1 was pretty lively.

E2M2 - Holy wow this was an outstanding experience. I got 100% and I'm not even sure if I found everything. The moment when everything started clicking together was brilliant. Please excuse that one bit of godmode at the end ;-) 

Wait what scampie secret?? I have all kills and secrets found but...what scampie secret? 

I found both silver keys 

<onetruepurple> i've already jizzed and i've only read the readme

<onetruepurple> fifth
<onetruepurple> fuck you for making a superior dm1sp than the one i'm working on

<@SleepwalkR> So, play AD or write TB2 docs?
<onetruepurple> play AD
<onetruepurple> and watch out for blue DK's with maces, they are complete cunts

<onetruepurple> fifth you are a fuck

<onetruepurple> so far the swampy map is reflecting the "start off as completely powerless" idea from telefragged quite well
<onetruepurple> ie i am getting fucking owned by rotfish and scrags

<FifthElephant> Btw, if you're recording demos I would heartily recommend opening up quake.rc and setting temp1 to 0.... otherwise be prepared for some interestingly large demo files.
<ericw> what does that do?
<FifthElephant> stops particles and stuff from being displayed
<onetruepurple> fuck no i want particles
<ericw> just 7zip that shit
<FifthElephant> OTP, record a demo of swampy with particles on it... I hope you have a 3 petabyte hard drive
<@voodoochopstiks> watch out for close combat with those crossbow dudes
<onetruepurple> lmo 43,5mb and im not even 10% in the mp

<onetruepurple> whatever mfxs first map was >>>>> swampy
<skacky_> are you on crack onetruepurple
<skacky_> swampy is easily one of his best
<onetruepurple> 285 monsters in and i'm still on fucking ng and like 10 shells
<skacky_> git gud
<onetruepurple> "yes otp....... this is ze experiment in obligatory secrets.................." -mfx on func once i point out how fucking unplayable this map is
<onetruepurple> and i just fucking heard a drole idle sound

<@skacky_> onetruepurple if you thought swampy was hard, firetop will be a nightmare
<@skacky_> it's really tough
<@onetruepurple> bring it SOC

<@onetruepurple> ok well
<@onetruepurple> made it out a fucking dick hard ambush with 4hp
<@onetruepurple> then a spider bit 3hp off and i fell down
<@onetruepurple> dying
<@onetruepurple> thanks santa
<@Shambler> ROFL
<@Shambler> so rekt

<@onetruepurple> ok beat firetop
<@onetruepurple> <@skacky_> onetruepurple if you thought swampy was hard, firetop will be a nightmare
<@onetruepurple> eat a dick
<@onetruepurple> swampy makes warpspasm look like e1m1
<@onetruepurple> the entirety thereof
<@skacky_> onetruepurple is bad

<@skacky_> gonna play through firetop again I guess
<@skacky_> since I got stuck with 7 hp and no ammo
<@onetruepurple> skacky is bad

<@onetruepurple> SleepwalkR I'm sure that the default q1 monsters were made harder
<@onetruepurple> which is pretty annoying considering the amount of new content
<@onetruepurple> monsters go into pain frames definitely more rarely than in vanilla q1
<@onetruepurple> i try to axe some knights as usual and i walk away with 40hp missing

<@skacky_> crossbow knights are much much more dangerous than minotaurs for example
<@onetruepurple> crossbow knights are also BS
<@skacky_> this shouldn't be the case
<@onetruepurple> they look like the weak knights but have the health of the normal ones
<@SleepwalkR> Yeah, the crossbow seems to do a ridiculous amount of damage?`

<@Shambler> @skacky, @otp, @sleepwalkr : please give me your top recommendations of the ideal emotional state for starting AD_v1_b1_final.zip in, thanks
<@skacky_> in a sarlacc pit
<@skacky_> but emotionally
<@SleepwalkR> mentally balanced
<@Shambler> okay that's me fucked then

<@onetruepurple> lmfao mfxsp17v2_final.bsp
<@onetruepurple> i should youtube those demos
<@onetruepurple> kited the last 50 minutes to and through ranging from 2-25 HP and 0-30 shells
<@negke> crazy hard! wow, it's rude to the players

<onetruepurple> i dunno if giving all weapons to grunts and enforcers are like was a good decision
<onetruepurple> at least it's not nehahra where grunts could shoot player rockets and they'd look like every other grunt
<@Bal> well that crucial map was really dark, and often times you couldn't see what type they were before they started shooting
<@Bal> felt kind of messy
<@Bal> I like how quake enemies are not random, you can easily identify them from their silhouette, and know what to expect

<@voodoochopstiks> Shambler you play any HC?
<onetruepurple> Shambler playing anything remotely close to "difficult" = lol
<@Shambler> errrr
<@Shambler> 1. fuck you sideways up the ass otp you gibbering n00b who was crying over the AD swamp map
<@Shambler> 2. fuck playing anything with permadeath
<@negke> you mean like in quake you're permanently dead if your health runs out
<@Shambler> @negke what crack are you smoking?? if you die in quake you don't have to restart the whole game
<@Shambler> actually
<@Shambler> !kickban negke being very stupid

<@voodoochopstiks> ok I am finall un-hungover enough to play more AD

<@voodoochopstiks> nope nvm I was too hungover
<@voodoochopstiks> couldnt last 15 mins
<@voodoochopstiks> managed to finish test3 tho
<@voodoochopstiks> nice style to it 

After finishing all maps of AD, I found myself going back to play Nehahra. 

I forgot to mention, that test maps were really nice. It should be mentioned in readme that this mod has a lot of little test maps that are fun to play through.

mfx gets "recognizable style" achievement from me, cuz I thought that ad_test3 map felt like mfx map after finishing it (I supposed that all test maps were made by sock then). Then I got into readme and found that it really was mfx map. Good job!

btw ad_swampy was the most easy map on hard comparing to other entries that were really badass. 

mfx gets "recognizable style" achievement

That is true 

Swampy isn't especially hard on skill 1...

(And there was a point about 1/3rd into crucial where I ran out of ammo both on play throughs, maybe I just suck though) 

makes us all suck again. It's refreshing to be scared by an ogre. 

Just replayed Crucial Error. It's really an amazing level, and it turns into the Quake 3 Arena intro cinematic once you get the rocket launcher. Not much else one can ask for in a base map and easily on par with the RRP. 

Thanks! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x32Qvo52HE

Me doing a all secrets / monster kills run for the Hanger 16 level.

Fun! also experimenting more with my Youtube channel... 

E1M1

Very nice design / good base style / tribute to Doom E1M1

Very sparse on health and not enough ammo to finish it without secrets. Maybe partly down to awful projectile shotguns.