I applaud all of you for being able to create such visually pleasing and fun gameplay maps in only a months time. I can guarantee this map pack will go down in Quake hall of fame as one of the best.

First run playthrough of each map, hard skill:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEFoR2z4yZc 

Cocerello - didn't attempt to play it after the gameplay complaints. I turned right and the first enemy I see is a Shambler with my sg - alrighty then. Nice visuals though.

Lun - nice lava filled map. I wasn't quite so set on the unlit fight at the top, but it was frantic.

Fifth/Eric - pretty bit battle at the end! I really liked the final arena - I think I preferred it over the white parts of the level. good map.

Skacky - mate another fucking awesome map. You really have some talent. The combat was well balanced as well with a good mix of shamblers/vores/ogres/hell knights the closer you get to the finish, but without just throwing them all at you at once. Although there was a massive horde fight, I kind of like that this wasn't at the end. I ended up reloading a few times just to make maximum use of the quad. It's placed far enough away that you can't quite use it on both shamblers. Only thing I'd tone down on again are the constant ogres are in high spots. Anyway great level, again!

Sock - this might be my favourite sock map. I just love the texture combinations with the heretic or hexen mix. Though not as heavy on tough combat like some of the others - ie a single shambler to finish the map, I just love a nice small map like this with lots of Ogres. You really don't need 200 enemies for a nice fun map. Anyway love the visual style. Only disappointment was missing out on the two underground bits since they're secrets only. I only found them after noclipping which isn't quite the same. Also the second SK door - it would have nice to go back and find out what's on the other side to lengthen it a bit.

Will play the rest tomorrow, got Tronyns, mfx and scampies left. 

You have only read a part of the thread.

The complaints are only about hard skill.

No one that played the map on normal skill had a single complaint about enemies in the map. For example, check Tronyn review on post #39.

Dont drop a map for a reason like that.

Ps: typing a long text from a phone is a pain. 

yet another package of demos, blind first run on normal. don't expect any skill here at all.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9SGXU6l13Prb1JjUlRRSkpGajA/edit?usp=sharing

managed to miss a ton of the most obvious secrets somehow, geegee. also, had to re-record the very beginning of jam2_tronyn separately after beating the map, cause i've realised way too late quakespasm stopped the demo on level restart.

thanks to all the authors for the awesome map pack! 

Cool cocerello - although I was on normal and the first enemy was still a shambler, and when I did run around I didn't see weapons anywhere. Might give it another go at some stage. 

If you don't mind, i would like to discuss your comments, discussions done right are what get things moving and improving and your comments are interesting.


Cocerello's is again another map where 'bit off more than you could chew' seems to be what happened.

You don't know how much you nailed it with that comment:

- Its the biggest antagonist that i had to dealt with since the beginning of my mapping for Quake in 1996-1997. For example, the third or fourth scrap i ever did, was a giant plain where i used all the room in the .bsp format. My first map after leaving Quake SP for 15 years, a speedmap for sm170 that wasn't released for that session because of lack of Internet, was as big as the .bsp format again, and complicated to the extenuation. After that i toned it down a lot with sm171 and sm173 and with several other maps that i have near completion, but came back again with sm175. Bad habits are hard to deal, but i'm concentrating my efforts on that.

- This map was at the beginning of the jamp a previous work in progress map that i used for the jam because it fitted with the theme exactly (it was also ikwhite/ikblue).
If you think this was big, the sketches i have of the map are thrice the size and the theme of the map is very different and complicated, not a mansion in the sky at all. Well, to be just, the map didn't look as complicated as it does in the sketches ...


I think you intended players to sneak around and collect some weapons and ammo, but that goes against the instincts of Quake players so much

That too, but i wanted to put the ammo where it would feel natural, thats why there is so much in the closet near the SK door: what the hell would be doing a ammo box in a library, it would make no sense. Also, i don't like the feel of the ammo is just there for you to take. Sometimes i think that it would be best to make a weapon like the automatically rechargeable one from Drake, i like it a lot.

It doesn't go that much against, there is many Quake's Id and custom maps that have this feature, but yes, mine is one of the few that rely on it so much. The idea isn't bad, what was bad was the execution, there is some Quake custom maps that did this brilliantly. I think that this issue is mostly related to hard skill, where if i deleted the shambler at the beginning this issue would be lessened a lot. About the peashooters, i explained it before, instead of raising the monster count and mischeavity, lower the weapons to fit them, i think that it is an interesting way to do it, if i were to do it right, which i clearly haven't.


you clearly state in it's title it's not finished to your liking

Yes, the brushwork, progression, gameplay and even the theme of what i had planned is very different to what i did in this jam. That and that this mansion was supposed to be something on the middle of the progression of the planned map, this layout doesn't fit the beginning of a map at all, and that's where the problem with the gameplay in the early stages of the jam is.


My only suggestion for the future is to think smaller scale until you have a better handle on how much you can reasonable do to a high quality!

Yes, that's for sure a good idea, and i have a ''work in progress'' map that would fit it, even though i don't like the theme.


* About your demo:

I liked your display of skills, but above everything, how you remained calm and composed in dare situations, struggled to live and refused to die, and how you used architecture and layout in your favour.

It was surprising how you reached so far by jumping, never realized that anyone could get to the broken bridge like that.

By the way, you have brightness turned up a lot, don't you?, you realized the knights ambush in the dark part very easily and were the only one in doing so. 

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/sham2_jam2demos.zip

So much that could be said about this pack, it's quite hard to condense it down to a few salient points:

1. Excellent and varied interpretations of the theme.

2. The quality, scope and sheer creativity of these maps irrefutably demonstrate why Quake is still relevant in 2014 and beyond.

3. In particular, most of the maps show how awesomely effective a few new additions to the engine - i.e. fog, coloured lighting, transparency and skyboxes - can be when they are used so well. The way these extra effects are implemented in these maps is a great demonstration of small enhancements making a big difference.

4. Although there are great maps from mappers old and new, it's really reassuring to see how well the "new" generation of Q1 SP mappers are doing, Sock (for maps and organisation), MFX and Skacky in particular. A few years ago no-one had heard of them Quake-wise. Now they are doing cutting edge Q1 SP. This is great.

Excellent pack, well done everyone. 

Cool cocerello - although I was on normal and the first enemy was still a shambler, and when I did run around I didn't see weapons anywhere. Might give it another go at some stage.

Are you talking about the shambler outside? There is no other shambler on easy or normal. Nothing bigger than two demons apart from that, by the way.

Yes, that one is in even on easy, but it is on a dead end, you can always see him before he sees you no matter what you do without cheating, and he is acting as a door to keep players from going there till they are confident in taking him because i planned to put in there a big secret. To summarize, it doesn't affect the gameplay at all.

The map rely heavily in exploration.

You can get the NG before after no more than a death knight and two knights see you, but it depends a lot of the path you take first. 

My complains about the Cocerello map are these :

1. The exterior borders are dull (flat square floating in mid-air).
You should build some wall all around the building, with some decorations.

2. The furniture at the end is really ugly : a table, a chair and especially a bed. They're too crude and don't fit with the architecture. I suggest that you simply remove them.

3. The end teleporter is very ugly. Replace it with a large square slipgate. Especially for such a large corridor.

4. The red circular windows are crude in that same corridor. Make them rectangular, or add more polys so they look less crude (more circular).

5. Even in nigthmare mode, there isn't enough monsters/battles. The rooms are extremelly large and feel empty without monsters. Just add more peeps to cuddle (rooms full of zombies and dogs).

Not really a complain : I would add a basement or a cave under that building. Something is missing there. 

jam3: remix jam2_cocerello 

Think it's a calibration thing with my monitor though, I have the gamma in Quake turned all the way down. It's also why I was constantly asking my testers to tell me if my map was too bright! 

 

As far as I can tell, the brightness is perfect in your map, as seen on my system. 

I didn't notice a problem with it scamps. ;) 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fb1qkuaap4rhx7t/j2mfx_fifth.zip

Enjoy ;) 

Congratulations 5th, i knew you wouldn�t stop til you got there.
Nice one!

Next time i clip it all:) 

if you had made the trigger in the final room cover all the windows it would have made the run pointless (I think one of the bad guys needed to open the final gate spawns outside the gold key door, effectively trapping you inside unless you get the key from underground) 

its all good, this is all intended.. 

Very nice jump, I can't even reproduce it. :p 

I knew it was doable, i did the jump several times in fullbright. 

jam2_scampie
Great to see a completely blue map. I love the blue textures they're just so Quake. Tough gameplay too with some nasty setups. I had fun with the secret exit and sprinting through the level again.

jam2_tronyn
Epic visuals. One can tell you really love building massive architecture Tronyn! I was glad to see a simpler finish with the single shambler. But overall the combat kind of felt like it was an afterthought. The shambler and vore at the start, then following up with a dozen knights, scrags and tarbabys all spawning at once... Also the big open areas with no cover turned it into a quickload heavy level for me. Looked awesome though!

jam2_mfx
Favourite of the pack. I loved the simplicity and size of it, similar to socks level. Small is nice! The detailing was fantastic. Only dip was the platformy underground part, that wasn't as spectacular as the more solid areas. Atmosphere was great, especially in the central area. Almost felt like a real place. My favourite ikwhite map. 

...I got the impression a few mappers carried some "honey" sensibilities over into their Jam2 levels - to very good effect. I'm going to try and draw out playing these for as long as possible. Huge thankyou to one and all. 

 

Crazy quality.

First Tronyn map I liked playing in ages! Lovely style too, reminds me of nunuk's Q3 maps. http://lvlworld.com/author/nunuk