http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/otp_eoe_7to8.zip

Map 7:
Decent map, though kind of weird to include a map that was already released several months ago in the middle of an episode of brand new content.

Competently made (for a first release) though I'll never be a big fan of mixing base and runic themes, personally.

Could probably have done with a better layout and more texture cohesion. I'm a fan of mixing multiple wads but this one felt like throwing the kitchen sink at TB, sort of.

I did enjoy the back to back Quad rampages though :-)


Map 8:
This one gets big points for the atmosphere, even if the build quality is just "okay". Those huge, dark chambers with lava were a great visual, fitting for a penultimate map of an episode. Some more care could have gone into the colored lighting, though, as you ran into the same problem as somebody else did 10 years ago: https://kneedeepinthedoomed.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/orange-light-green-walls-far-out-experiences-with-colored-light/

I liked the emphasis on traps in this one, a nice change of pace after lots of regular combat. That one particular "long crusher" was definitely an example of the lateral thinking that I would expect from the author, very happy to see this kind of out-of-the-box approach again after it kind of died in the late 00's.

The layout might not have been the most interesting (lots of corridors) but progression was logical, and varied enough to not get me bored. I found the ending a little unsatisfying though, even though the idea was definitely good - I was able to funnel the vast majority of the DKs onto the tight catwalks and pick at them from away with the RL. Probably worth exploring this kind of thing with a differently built finale.

Good map overall. 

Thought I had replied. Valid critique tbh, map ended up being a collab due to time constraints but was started by myself. I was under the impression I could knock out a map on a smaller scale but as usual I needed help :-/

I have a lot of maps on the slow burn that I am trying to complete but they will take a while to finish (one in particular is coming together nicely though but may slip to 2021).

As for the map itself it was originally going to be a little less linear, the final ending area was going to be in the church and the well was going to be a teleport to the rooftop for a secret Quad fight.

I still like how it turned out overall and I appreciate Greenwood helping me get it done. 

I made a blind video of the episode on Hard difficulty: https://youtu.be/336YTaFMKkM ; Secret map was found but was not played.

Good job everyone for this ♥ ! The first maps are just beautiful. Only Bunker of Barzai made me slightly disappointed, as it was quite a bit of a constrast with the different maps, being way some squary and simple than the rest.

Obliteration Domain however was definitely that one map that made me shat my pants several time, especially at the beginning. That was a really fun experience. 

I have played through the first two maps now and did not hear any music playing. Is this intended or what's going on? Using Quakespasm-Spiked (x64 build from Oct 17, 2020). 

Just found out CVAR bgm_extmusic was set to 0 for some reason. Facepalm. 

I'm stuck on Bunker of Barzai. I watched the youtube video posted by Orl, the problem is that after I enter the room that is closed by the gold key I kill all the enemies, I get only one more to go, but there's no monsters left, so the platform to the room bellow is not opening :( I'm playing on easy, so probably the monster is missing there, kinda disappointing. Any ideas, except cheating? 

Holy Cow! You found an issue that I didn't notice, since very few folks play on easy. That's entirely my fault. I overlooked a trigger_counter sequence when creating that particular skill level for that map.

Here is a fix that should solve the problem. Drop the "maps" folder in your EoE install folder and you should be good to go. You will probably have to restart that level by typing "map eoem7" in the console, or load a save point prior, for it to work. I apologize for the hiccup. Easy playtesters are hard to find. :)

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/single_player/maps/eoem7_fix.zip 

Greenwood, thanks, I'll try it. No need to apologize, it's a great episode for Quake and it's free :) 

I'll focus on what I really liked:

The music throughout. Excellent ambience.

Map 4 - “The Augur’s Mold” by Rhoq. Very old school and vanilla like. Really nice.

Map 6 - “Knavel Orange” by Fairweather & Greenwood. Just beautiful.

Map 9 - “Terrorcotta” by Markie Music. Yet another masterpiece by Markie. Some really neat secrets as well.

Overall a very fun and varied episode. 

I picked this up again after a break, quick comments:

Map 4 warmed the cockles of my grisly grotto heart. What a fun place to work through. This is the map I had paused in previously, and it was nice that even without remembering anything about my context I had no problems progressing... very navigable for a somewhat big/complex area. A real accomplishment for Rhoq!

Map 5, ha ha, I knew the author (JPal) before I looked. A build reminiscent of missionpack-era architecture but a little more neat and detailed, beautifully scaled spaces to run and fight in, always nice clarity about the playable area / where to go / what to do ... just a top experience beginning to end.

Thematically both maps were pretty safe -- but very confident, "turned to 11" compared to the scale of their inspirations, and packing some good nostalgia. Excited to see where it goes from here! 

Almost forgot to add a bit of appreciation for the music track in map 5. Reminds me of parts of the Alien soundtrack, which is a neat juxtaposition for the giant-partially-ruined-medieval-castlefort setting. 

Finished! Great work dudes. I hope folks that might have overlooked this in the "fall deluge" of Quake map releases will eventually come back to it.

More quick notes:

Secret map (Downfire): Some silly fun. Lasted about long enough. :-) A fine palette cleanser.

Map 6 (Knavel Orange): Quake being mean to me in funny ways. In several spots it was funnier to me than explicit "joke maps". Love it. This one's a gem.

Map 7 (Bunker of Barzai): Has this been tweaked a bit since the previous release? Felt about the same, which is fine really since the original was nice, just curious. Still like the lava diving! This map does feel a little "off" inserted at this point in the episode sequence where the maps are getting more tense and weird.

Map 8 (Obliteration Domain): Quake being mean to me in scary ways. Genuinely put me on edge! It was interesting to compare my "what's going to happen to me when I do this / go in there" reactions between this map and map 6.

Map 9 (Terrorcotta): Yeah this one's good, like people say. :-) Nice work fighting against the "sameyness" demons of using this texture theme. Good structure to the way you work through the map, and good pacing as well, although maybe it gets a LITTLE bit too swingy between the extremes of "exploring with mild occasional shooting" and "SUPER HORDE MODE". Several lovely surprises leading to fun fights. The music track's also doing a lot of heavy lifting to set a sort of alert-and-excited tone to the exploration.

My only criticism of Map 9 would be that the final fight was a little familiar. Circle strafe around the big boss, dump ammo, dodge as best you can and try to make some infighting happen... you know the drill. And a little savescummy too (skill 2), although it's hard to put my finger on exactly why; perhaps because the Cthon missiles seemed to be hitting and killing me even when missing me. Probably hitting on geometry behind me and having a quite large area damage effect. Anyway, it's tough to make a final boss fight work in Quake, and I don't think this stuck the landing, but the rest of the map was superb.


I think some folks mentioned that you start to really have an arsenal carried into the later maps which can trivialize some of the combats. While that does have an effect, I still had a lot of fun fights in the last maps. Partly because rockets and grenades are just fun to use! and also there's some close-up stuff that doesn't lend itself well to rockets or grenades. A bit of an issue but I've seen it bite much worse in other episodes.

I would love to have seen some sort of small connection or thematic progression across the maps, something that makes them feel more like a sequence that means to be in that particular order. But I realize that's a tough row to hoe when you're organizing this sort of thing. 

Thanks for the feedback! Glad to see that you had a nice experience with the episode. Some great guys put a lot of work into it.

However, you didn't comment about maps 1 through 3. I'm sure that JCR, FifthElephant, & I would like to know your thoughts about those too. :) 

Oops! Hmm. Well, that was in October so my memory is foggy :-) I will have to come back when I replay! 

Cheers. EoE is mostly pretty good so far :) Up to map 8 now. I did enjoy the first couple of maps - old school base vibe without being tired.