Definitely.

Sorry guys, I understand the amount of work that went into this, but this one just doesn't cut it for me.

Architecturally wise there are some good moments, but the overall feeling and choice of textures make me shudder... (it's just me, mind you) The ice cream cone trees I always hated (along with all "forest" maps in Quake 1, it's just the wrong game for those IMHO).

Gameplay, well... Had like 10 tries on skill 3, 2 on 1, never made it past the zombies in the first courtyard, got bored as hell and godmoded to the end. Can't say much about it, but it seems that I would have got bored in every other room as in the first...

Automatic beheading seems a little pointless, after you spent some 10 seconds hacking away at a fiend, or a Shambler... Random would be a lot more realistic. If one could behead a thing with a single slash, I suppose that would be the first...

Hmm, did something change in the dogs' attack? They seem to bite from a larger distance than before, a bit like quoth monsters unavoidable melee attack.

I'm sure the finished opus will be a whole different kind of business, but this one I did not like one bit... 

but how far off is the full thing? May as well wait if its not too distant. 

I wanted to add a light source to Quake, but I did not want a flashlight toggled via non-standard impulse like in Quoth. That meant adding either a temporary powerup or a weapon. I choose the weapon route. Then it was time to decide weapon appearance. Since a wand was easier for me to build than some handgun from space, the wand was made.

I am not too happy with the wand as implemented in the arcdemo because it is a bit too weak and toggles with the shotgun. Since there will be a third weapon that uses impulse 2, and juggling more than two weapons on one impulse is annoying, I will power up the wand to about shotgun strength (i.e., 48 or so damage per second) so that it will replace the shotgun completely, much like how the chainsaw replaces the axe for impulse 1.
* * *

The point of automatic beheading is to prevent medic monsters from resurrecting monsters that have lost their heads. There will be a few monsters capable of reviving fallen monsters as long as their bodies have not been gibbed or beheaded. This gives a reason to use the axe or chainsaw. Also, random beheadings may be more realistic and fun, but they are potentially game breaking imbalanced.
* * *

I have no idea when Arcanum will be ready. First, I need to finish my contributions to A Roman Wilderness of Pain before I can resume work on custom features for Arcanum and Unforgiven. 

Hmm, did something change in the dogs' attack? They seem to bite from a larger distance than before, a bit like quoth monsters unavoidable melee attack.

Was wondering the same, tbh. Was the dog behavior changed? 

The attack code was changed to allow dogs hit fat monsters such as dragons and miss against ghosts. Against nearly anything else, such as players, the attack range is the same as standard Quake.

That said, the arcdemo progs is a rush job ripping stuff out from the unfinished Roman/Drake mod. It is quite possible something broke along the way. 

that wand was supposed to light up the area? because it just gave of an orange glow that obscured my vision...

is there a command to change that in fitz? 

sounds like you have gl_flashblend set to 1. 

"gl_flashblend" - AKA WTF was Carmack thinking? 

perfect!
thanks! 

Added to the Quake Injector. You need to load the sky manually though.

Could someone write a short description, 1-2 sentences? I have a hard time on this. 

Could someone write a short description, 1-2 sentences? I have a hard time on this.

"Small sized palace/catacomb map with a lot of close combat and strong Zerst�rer vibes. A foretaste of an upcoming Q1SP release." 

 

I godmoded through it due to the start. Don't think I've ever had to do that with a proper map before. Not sure whose idea it was to force the player to attack zombies in h2h where there's no way to avoid their attacks, but it simply doesn't work as a gameplay mode.

The design is fine apart from the trees, I hope the gameplay is fixed for the full release. 

Zombies in h2h where there's no way to avoid their attacks ... simply doesn't work as a gameplay mode
I don't agree. The zombie/dog melee in the deluge was the highlight for me; something you don't see everyday. It probably should have been easier though, but even as it was i only died about ... five and a half times before realising you have to resort to the "save/progress/save" shuffle. Making a demo would be fairly frustrating, but at least it's at the beginning.

Trees... meh. They're ok. 

The trees were super simplistic, definitely. it kind of matched that old school vibe but maybe it went overboard - I liked it. the simplicity was almost audacious, and I've always appreciated the way that tronyn mixes incredibly technical shit with stupidly simple shit.

wow I'm just pure eloquence, aren't I?

I found the zombie combat to be way to hard as well (like all of Indian SUmmer) but I didn't die my first time through, and it has only killed me once since then.

The wand should definitely have gibb power at max voltage. it would be satisfying, though it would have a potentially big effect on gameplay 

Stevenaus, you're obviously a complete freak. No offence or anything.

>before realising you have to resort to the "save/progress/save" shuffle.

Errrr, exactly.

Even that super-hard quoth base map (whatever it was) wasn't that bad, nor was Wankspasm. 

Yeah i'll wait till the full Arcanum is released so i can enjoy it in it's full intended glory (and that zombie crap can be fixed if everyone has to godmode it).

A Roman Wilderness of Pain before, Arcanum and Unforgiven??? WICKED GUYS! Get working Patrick :D

I remembering starting Unforgiven with you Tronyn in 2001. Almost 10 yrs development? lol. That's some dedication at least!!! :D 

My problem with the beginning of Arcanum1 is not dying, but finishing that section with enough health to survive the next part. Running around with 25 or so health and no ammo afterwards is not fun. I often waste shells knocking down some zombies before running up to one to hack it down. Also, trying to jump on to some of the coffins just so the player can reach and chop up zombies is annoying. I would not mind a few grenades or a temporary damage powerup to let the shotgun gib some zombies. 

I would not mind a few grenades or a temporary damage powerup

Or just less Zombies.. 

..and thats what it is.

We are waiting for the pack,
thinking it deserves one more hack,
but in gleeful expectations of a frag....
....
blablabla...

Haha sorry, but this is IMHO great!
You did it very well, no compromises...
Cheers from the Germans!
We're waiting in vain....

P.S. the wand thing is actually not a "weapon" IMO yet,
too less effect i think, but idea in hole concept is thumbs up!!!!
come! 

your .dem is great. you stood strong! 

generic: Yeah I used Kell's Fang texture - originally the light sources (ie windows) inside the mansion used lightning lighting (ie flash on and off) as well... if you've ever seen "Event Horizon" (yeah I know all his other movies are shit), I wanted to evoke that "flesh tied to the skylight" feeling. That said maybe it wasn't the best choice.

silent: good observation; it's mostly a weird cross between my laziness and ambition that verifies your idea; I'm like well I want X feature (ie a forest, which Quake doesn't handle well at all...), and I ALSO want to make something really massive/outdoors... so yeah you get exactly the mix you were saying...

[Kona]: Lol yeah, it's been a while! Glad to see you're still around. I can say (I think) for sure when PM and I release "A Roman Wilderness of Pain" soonish that it'll be the ONLY Q1SP pack in development for 10 years, since I started it in 1999. 

and by silent I mean drew, and silent, sorry it wasn't your type of thing - and Shambler, and other peeps, I guess I always find my own maps too easy - on hard I can kill all the zombies without loading - probably because it's my design, I can't help but know the best strategies/where everything is off the bat. anyway I'm glad to had this feedback, gameplay will be tweaked for the episode version. Good thing. 

With how much I loved NSOE, you still have some 15 awful map packs to go, before I can really complain...
That's some mileage to go.
And, I'm sure I'll love Arcanum as well, in its finished form... 

Have a look at Fat Controller's Swamp & Towne. His trees weren't the greatest, but they worked.

I can't wait for the final release!