Great jam overall, with only good to great maps, not even a "meh" one. Thanks to OTP for organizing it. Played on skill 2 in Darkplaces. No demos, sorry... In playing order:

Breezeep: Very good but very tough map, with one particularly vicious arena fight. A bit stingy on ammo and armor. I wish there was at least one secret. I couldn't figure out what triggered the spawning fiends at the beginning, it seemed somewhat randomized. Issues: 1) I got stuck once on the inner side of the second turn in the first wind tunnel, but it didn't happen again upon reload. 2) I had one missing frag but couldn't find the last monster even after thoroughly re-exploring the map several times. I suspect it somehow fell out of the map.

Qmaster: A very intricate layout with nice verticality but monotonous texturing - then again, one can do so much in a week's time, so I don't hold it against you. The theme was wind tunnels and IMHO the bill is only half-fitted: there's wind "pads" but where are the tunnels? Contrary to Bloughsburgh, these wind pads didn't confuse me at all. Issues: 1) the first wind pad on the second floor seems to activate on its own when the player simply walks over it, thus greatly impairing walking speed - this can be a problem when you have a vore shooting her balls at you from the other side of the central pit! 2) the exit teleporter points to a non-existing retrojam5_start.bsp while OTP explicitly stated that he wouldn't provide a start map.

Shambler (or OTP, according to Shambler): Wow! Incredible on all accounts! You won't have me believe you made such a large, detailed and visually stunning map in just one week, even if you'd worked on it 24/7. You even took the time to add a couple funny centerprints. The carefully crafted lighting gives it a great atmosphere, even better with an extra .lit file. The action is very tough and frantic, especially that final horde fight in a much too small arena, which was a bit unfair. This one took me "a few" tries but I eventually managed to survive it. As Bloughsie said, secrets are nice. Issues: 1) I had to turn RTworld off, otherwise the map would be drenched in overbrights. 2) I got stuck on the remnants of bars at the end of the second wind tunnel. The trigger_push prevented me from moving and I had to noclip out of there. The issue did repeat upon retries.

Shamblernaut: A fun smallish map with some boxy rooms. I liked the large scale of the main rooms and the gameplay mechanic in the second room that allowed to dispose of the monsters without even shooting once. The very wide tunnels were a nice variation on the usual wind tunnel design, with these large fans that would fit in industrial complexes. As others have pointed out, the lighting is very flat. Issue: like with Shambler/OTP's map, RTworld has to be turned off.

ItEndsWithTens: What does the title mean? This one takes the concept of "retro" even further: it's as fugly as a 96/97 custom map! If this was the intent, it's awesome. Gameplay-wise, it's good but I wish the wind tunnel served as more than an excuse to delay the ending for a few seconds.

MJB: Loved it! Even when you do something "retro", you manage to bring in fresh ideas. These upside down torches were neat and looked much better than expected with Seven's particle flame, as if fire was sprayed downwards and then went back up. Missed secret #5 but I tend to disregard flickering lights (because they're also used as simple decoration), especially when there are so many around! A shootable button might have been better. The inclusion of a skill selection area was a nice touch, given the absence of a start map.

NewHouse: I first played the original version but found it way too easy, so I tried the updated one and it was much better. A fun and rather short map with, as usual, nice atmosphere and attention to detail (the open lid of the well at the start). I would emit the same criticism as for Qmaster's map regarding the absence of actual wind tunnels. BTW, is it normal that the last wind column leading inside the obelisk is so slow? Issue: same as Shambler & Shamblernaut. 

"is it normal that the last wind column leading inside the obelisk is so slow?"

Yes, I made it slow. It builds up desperate feeling + makes sure that player will notice that grenades also can be shoot those slow moving trigger_pushes. 

To be fair, I made the map on the last day of submission, so I wasn't expecting the map to be entirely polished. I get that the gameplay is unbalanced in some areas, but I don't get why some items would fall out of the map. Otherwise, I'm feeling glad I participated in this jam. Having a deadline really helps me keep the motivation to finish a map. 

To be honest, when I played your map I got this feeling "I have to survive somehow in front of massive army I can't beat". Don't know is it bad that you can't kill all the monster, but it surely creates that desperate feeling which I like a lot. Makes me remember some of the Myth : The Fallen Lord maps where you can't beat enemies, you just have to slow them down and reach the exit. I would like to try out something like this in the future as well, but don't know how people would react to that.

This will not work for all the players, but I surely enjoyed a lot. 

My demos were recorded in Quakespasm - protocol 666 afaik. 

OnePurpleShambler 

Khreathor:

Thanks for playing and recording a demo, was fun to see someone get what I call the super secret! I never really got to play with spawns and it looks like 4 randomly dropping in a smallish room is pretty nasty. >:)

Mug:

Glad you enjoyed it man, thanks for the words! The flames were a very last addition to the map...something was just missing I guess! 

Is this going to uploaded to Quaddicted at some point? 

If OTP sends the zip to Spirit, it will eventually. 

demos and feedback coming soon

Thanks for all your comments. My map is pretty plain, I know. I'll release a better version of the map eventually. The things I want to fix are:

- adding more detail to rooms, I struggled with the idea of a giant "wind tunnel" being blocked with geometry ruining the "flow" of the air.

- adding more verticality within individual rooms. There is enough in the main arena / hall, but individual rooms are pretty much just boxes.

-modifying geometry so mobs will follow you OR changing them to shooting enemies.

- modifying triggering so that mobs will teleport in, rather than waiting to be sniped at a distance.

- disincentivising players from cheesing the "maze" section.

-fixing lighting leaks, adding contrast and adding adding decorative lighting fixtures (sconces etc) 

While you're at it, I've noticed a misaligned floor texture: the pavement just in front of the exit's bone mound is oblique rather than aligned with the rest of the pavement. 

How did you do that, these upside down flames? I haven't been recording ever before, but I can try to do that if you want to see my super gameplay skills or something. 

How did you make the rotating brushes? (I couldn't check, the map doesn't open in Trenchbroom)

Sorry for cheesing, it was fon to due ;[ 

here: http://celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=37116&start=330

is the thread that explains the hack.

The cheesing is fine, I'm just going to make it a touch harder to do, that's all. 

 

Thanks, I look forward to it.

Maybe a stupid idea but if you're concerned about geometry getting in the way of the tunnels, perhaps 45 degree brushes could act as ramps that influence movement.

With the maze, It's a too easy to cheese as you say with the gap around the edge and banking. Maybe the outer pillars could be part of the wall however it might be tricky to balance then.. less spikes and a few more enemies/health idk. 

Great jam my dudes. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Breezeep - Very cool, fits the e3m5/metal theme perfectly. Very impressive construction given the very short amount of time needed for making the map. Monster balance is bonkers but it's pretty fun.

Bloughsburgh - My favorite of the pack. Like Breezeep's this fits the theme to a T and the wind tunnels are completely insane in that one. This is a very hard map on skill 3 given how cramped it is and how relentless the monster positioning is.

NewHouse - Very interesting, feels like a mash-up of E4 (especially the cemetery) and E3 structures. Interesting use of the trigger_push inside the obelisk itself!

QMaster - Very cool, though the texturing can get a bit repetitive. Interesting progression and cool secrets. The lack of sounds and music was a bit distracting though.

Shambler - I'd wager this was made by CZG since there is a goatse in it... Very polished and cool to play, though a few trigger_push don't behave too well and a few encounters are a bit too difficult (the two fiends inside the tunnel or the GL gotcha after the silver key wind tunnel). Like Breezeep's and Bloughsburgh's, this fits the theme perfectly, and it reminded me of Antediluvian quite a lot.

Shamblernaut - Pretty nice overall. Cool black magic with the rotating fans! The map itself was alright. Nail trap haters will love this.

Tens - Another interesting interpretation. Textures are quite awful but the map itself is pretty nice with a cool open layout. It's a shame the wind tunnels are only used at the very end but the ride is very well made.

Skill 3 demos: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5mowmoeweygb8zo/rj5_demos.zip?dl=0 

The demos (all my second play throughs), 10 meg zip file:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/108695968/retrojam5_demos_shamblernaut.zip


Breezeep:

Great geometry, excellent use of a few textures. Good polished map, I felt it could use a little more gameplay testing. I found it really really difficult. I'm pretty sure it would take me about a hundred attempts to finish it without saves. Although that may say more about my skill than your level. I really liked the feel of the map, nice and claustrophobic and "mechanical". Great job, maybe not the best map of the jam, but certainly the most memorable.


Bloughsburgh:

First of all, best map name. Shit-posting in map titles, I like it. For what feels like a small map, there is a lot going on in this map.

To me this map felt a lot like the mission packs, quakey, but different. Like Breezeep, excellent use of limited textures. I liked the encounters, secrets were well placed (found some after my demo) and I really like the in-level difficulty selector, I didn't know that was possible. I liked the upside down flames, adds a nice touch. Awesomely done.


Newhouse:

Your style is really distinctive and interesting style. I really like your ideas, but sometimes your execution of the ideas falls a little short. I feel you're somewhat like me in that regard. In this case however, I think it is an exception.

You're really good at setting an environment that I want to know more about. I feel like it is a shame that I couldn't explore the obelisk further. Excellent use of push mechanic, floating grenades! My only criticism with this map is that it is too short and maybe the encounters are a bit "vanilla". Otherwise, excellent map.


Qmaster:

This was my favourite of the bunch. It is especially amazing considering it is pretty much just one giant box room. I really liked the need to jump over the gap and being "sniped" by the vore. The difficulty was spot on.

I felt like the fake wind / jump pads into spikes were either a) not punishing enough or b) to obvious they were a trap. On my first play through (not recorded) I embarassingly too waay to long to figure out where to jump on the jump pads. Did you try having them at ground level so walking into them would raise you?

The arrow pointing you to jump down to get the blue key I felt needed to be better illuminated. Finally I felt like the walls could have been textured with a little more detail. But that is just a personal taste thing. Amazing job, well done.


Mystery Mapper:

Excellent map, really really solid, good gameplay, well balanced. Quite a large map considering the time constraints. This map probably feels the most like "the wind tunnels" to me. I don't know what else to say, it is just really well done.


Tens:

Lets start with the title, what does it mean? I searched google, nothing. Is there a reference to something that I'm missing?

I can see why some of the other guys mentioned the texturing. It has some pretty wild colours going on, it feels kind of "doomy" in that regard. I think this is a shame, because it is a very well constructed level.

I want to say that I disliked the explicit lack of direction in the level, but maybe that isn't entirely correct. I feel that maybe some mapping language needs to be included to convey better where the player needs to go. There were a few times I walked into an area and thought, wait, have I been here. Now it wasn't awful because it is quite a small level, but if the level was bigger I think this would have been an issue.

Of all the maps, yours had "technically" the best wind tunnels, not in their use of gameplay, but certainly in their ability to not disorient the player. Here your use of textures was excellent. Texturing so that the player can easily follow where the pipes are leading him.

It was a brave move making an outdoor area during a 5 day jam, it is really hard to make rock/cliff faces look good in quake to begin, let alone with the time constraints. I feel like this hurts your map a little, especially because you see it so early on after being hit with those intense textures. I think more time would have helped you a lot with this map.

One thing that impressed with this map was the encounters and the mob placement. It was a solid map, I just wish it had a few aesthetic changes. Congrats :) 

https://www.twitch.tv/ionous 

ionous, can you making stream or uploding video on youtube? 

NewHouse:

angles key (Notice that extra s!)

value: -180 0 (I think 180 works, but TB2 changes it to -180 after clicking away)


Skacky:

I love that you talk to the viewer in your demo...gives a nice sense of your thoughts as going through. Glad you enjoyed the map and I really enjoyed seeing you turn back around and hunt for secrets.

Shamblernaut:

Thanks for recording a demo, again I like how people stop and check around the blinking hallway due to prior knowledge. I also find that 4 spawns in a tight area is a bit unfair hah.

Cheers guys. 

Thanks for your comments guys, I started improving the encounters and introduction to new mechanics. Since shamblernaut wanted to explore more obelisk (and for skacky it ended too soon and many other people giving a lot of good points), I want to extend it more.

My original vision was to create that tower much larger anyway. After playing other's map, it felt like did I even tried this time. So I am sorry if I didn't share enough experience.

One question: is Spawn much worse than shambler? I will put one spawn to this map. 

Shamblers are the toughest monsters in Quake in terms of health points. Spawns are very weak in comparison, but the thing with them is their unpredictable movement behavior that makes them very dangerous. Some people like fighting them, some don't. 

They explode in your face, that's the main problem. If you get stuck with 4-5 of them in a small room, you are fucked... 

Would make a player get stuck with 4 spawns in a small room...sheesh.

Anyway, in terms of a one on one fight the Shambler would always be the more dangerous foe.

Spawns are dangerous because you are forced to time your attacks so the explosion doesn't affect you. The problem is that waiting for the right time usually means getting bopped by the sporadic jumping patterns. Arcane Dimensions has a spawn flag to make spawns less jumpy which then makes them a valid shallow water lurking enemy!