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Nice little map. I liked the spiky theme going on and the end teleport emerging was cool too. The brushwork on the nature was quite nice.
I think my favourite room was the basement with the underlying machinery and the vore/zombie arena (even if I died there once). As stated earlier, having vores kill off zombies is always a treat. I also liked the crucifixion surfaces the zombies were against. Some of the secrets almost made my life harder than not picking them up, as discussed earlier here. Although it was a bit annoying, especially the vore/RA secret, it was still more fun than annoying. The first puzzle took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out, and my first demo is entirely about trying to figure it out, so consider skipping the first demo. -_- I think I agree with negke that the level felt a little bit too packed with monsters and thus cramped. Congratulations on the release. To sum things up, I'm glad to have played it. If I'd rate this in Quaddicted, I'd rate it maybe a 4/5. Demos here (VkQuake, skill 3, 12:27, 140/155 kills, 3/5 secrets, one death) Ww & Lpowell, cheers for the demos, fun to watch. I tried to signpost the grenade launcher in a few ways: having something at the start of the water to encourage players to explore both ends, having the bars and teleporter to draw attention that way, having the GL fairly well lit, and supplying a few shells en route to let players know there is a GL around.
Same with the start of the map too - although yes I should have clipped those rocks off and put a "look around" message on the bars. However the start is a very small area (two box rooms) and once players try to axe the bars, there's only 3 distractions: axing the brick wall, shooting the door lights, and trying to get through the starting hole. After spending 10 seconds doing that lot to no avail, I hoped people would start looking around. The cave entrance is signed with the texture, ground texture sticking out, a faint green light, and a wind sound. The lift button, I think that was okay visibility-wise, the player has pressed 3 cog buttons by then so hopefully would be looking for cog buttons, the lift has gone down with a bang ("Lift fully operational" is hint that yes that falling platform was a lift), and there is a strong light from above on that area. Esrael, glad you liked the crucifixion surface on the zombies, that was a bit of last minute detailing to the bland underground bit and I was pleased with the weird techno-gothic hint. The Vore/RA secret can be easy if you drop off and exit into the cave or jump to the castle ledge - BUT will be harder on Nightmare, I didn't test on NM but I'm pretty happy that several monster choices will make it harder than Hard. Great first demo. Interesting to see someone playing it mostly methodically and cautiously as recommended. I particularly like the GK ambush where you retreat into the Vore as everyone does, keep retreating into more monsters, then think quickly and retreat to the side of the castle which you already cleared out. Also using the ROS to actually explore a bit rather than sitting there shooting zombies that are at the bottom of a moat and can't get out. Good stuff :)
Fun demo, nice to see someone playing on Skill 1 and it working well. Some neat mini-derps too :). Yes the Shambler on the bridge facing away is deliberate - just ask Poorchop who backed enthusiastically straight out of the final arena.
Also I did a video walkthrough, partly to explain my gameplay ideas (lots) but also for non-Quaking friends and family, and for plain self-indulgence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvowTA3y6No I might make further maps, depending on time and opportunity, but I won't be aiming for anything radical and spectacular. Smaller and effective would be ideal. We shall see. This was a decent map, and a very good first map. You probably put more thought into it than most first time mappers do.
Would be a big shame to not see another Shambler map, since this one turned out so well! An exceptional map for your first release, certainly shows potential!
First run demo, hard skill: http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/orl_shamsp1.rar When you say 20 years overdue, do you mean you started it 20 years ago but only finished it recently, or you simply didn't bother trying your hand at mapping until now?
Anyway, methodically is my usual playing style, so this is right up my alley. Still, it's quite action-packed for its size. A bit cramped in places but nothing too off-putting. I for one liked the vore ambush at the RA. Best bit was the zombie/vore pit, fun stuff! Not fun stuff was the protruding button that squished me on my way back up the lift. The shambler fight at the end could've been designed better: I'm no fan of closed arena combat but here, leaving the door open just made it too easy to snipe them from behind the door-frame. And there was a bit too many spawns for my taste - I hate these fuckers! The start puzzle, well... puzzled me ;) I failed to notice the hidden door to the cave but inadvertently found an exploit allowing me to climb over the rocks and drop down on the GK. Therefore, I unknowingly played a good chunk of the map backwards and only found the hidden door once I had cleared the cave. Weird thing is that I couldn't pass through it from either side once opened... Played on skill 2 as always. Missed a few monsters and 2 secrets because the exit wasn't marked as such. No demo, sorry. I did record one but something went wrong and it was corrupted. I had the idea and sketched the plan out 20 years ago. The closest I came to an editor before was un-ticking the "Install UnrealEd" box on a UT install.
The lift button is a problem, I know. I should have tried harder to fix that. The ending arena, I didn't want it to be too arena-y. Watching people play I think it was a decent challenge. Watching Poorchop back hastily out of the final arena into the bridge Shambler was the highlight of my day (Shambler facing away as he isn't supposed to be part of the fight, just a penalty for escaping too easily). The starting puzzle puzzled more people than intended. I should have clipped the rocks, put a better message on the bars, and lightened the cave entrance further. Not sure why it wasn't passable unless you didn't shoot all three blocks? its pretty good for a first map man
as usual I played on nightmare theme wise, it felt like a hybrid between lovecraftian and medieval... I would have loved to have seen the outdoors area look a little less green and a little more... dire? The building was very well constructed, the rockwork was maybe a bit tight, especially where the dogs were in the cave. Actually the rockwork I thought needed a little more TLC in general. I thought it was a strange choice to use the "don't link" flags on the doors on the entrance to the cave, in my minds eye they should open all together. There were certain areas that really needed some triggers to alert the monsters, in particular was the start of the cave where the ogres are... that would be perfect for them to start shooting at you from the get-go. Combat throughout the map was pretty solid, challenging at times, never really feeling unfair. The exit plinth thing was pretty cool, its animations were nice, and the way you access it too. Interesting point about the outdoor area. I guess I was trying to keep it fairly normal?
The rockwork ideally needed to not exist in the first place. Starting out mapping with a shitload of terrain was a stupid idea :) The separate rocks at the cave entrance were deliberate, I wanted it vaguely like the player was breaking his way in. The ogres again were deliberate, I wanted them to be hiding there with the SSG distracting the players attention and drawing them around the corner. The exit plinth thing was just a random collection of brushes I dumped inside the courtyard to try to give me some inspiration, and then thought looked cool. Every demo I've see the player has watched it all the way, so I'm really pleased with that. OK, so I made a 2nd playthrough to record a nice lil' demo for you... or so I thought! Does demo recording not work with quicksaves? All I have is this partial demo going through about 1/3 of the map, my full playthrough demos don't work. You're not missing much anyway, I played like an ass...
Very happy that you've entered the editor realms. Well overdue, I've wondered before what sort of map you'd make if you tried your hand at it. Looks nice from the screenshots, look forward to giving it a play later!
Hopefully it is the first of many... Have a demo -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3gw8w85i783l0ai/sham5th.zip?dl=0 Thank you dudes.
"what sort of map I'd make", well, focusing on personal inspiration / ideas, but also trying to keep it manageable and reasonable to actually make and get out. Avoiding the "OMG I can't make Sepulchre as my first map, I'm quitting" fallacy is something I'm keen to do and promote :). I respect amazing maps but I think there's always room for "pretty good" ones. 5th I will check the demo a bit later. And yours Mugglz. Haven't played Quake for several months. This map was great for some relaxing fun. Thanks for leaving the shortcuts in.
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/shamsp1_mandel.zip
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