And some rambly crap about what I'm doing with the map 

I am liking your dedication to this and plenty of what I see in the shots. 

But jeez, why are you guys always going nuts with these maps? You're like a second Ricky. 58K vertices and anxiously anticipating the 65... it's like a whole id1 episode in one map. Tbh, I'd rather play two or three medium-sized maps with all intended stuff included than one huge level with with cool areas scrapped because of max limits.

Care to post a noclip shot from outside the map to show how big it is right now? 

He makes good points. 

Yea I am still considering splitting it up even more but wrapping around itself as it does it'd be messy and require cloning areas :E Plus people complain that it's cheap having areas that can't be accessed in the same map!

Actually I think it's just sheer bloody mindedness :p 

I like huge immersive maps that you can get totally lost in. It's the whole attraction of making a whole world of your own. Some people find huge maps can be overwhelming, but [we] have tackled this issue in our project by adding checkpoints. So you can play a section, and either die or just get tired, turn it off, and then pick it up again near to where you left off. 

a Warp Spasm of their own 

It's all jumbled so a bit hard to take complete shots, but here's a couple :E
From above
http://www.zealousquakefan.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/zqftest03_construction66.jpg

From below
http://www.zealousquakefan.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/zqftest03_construction67.jpg 

Okay I put the pics the wrong way round. Go me. 

http://rickyt23.com/assets/images/e2m1rq_cocksize.jpg 

zomggg so many good stuff....

I WANT THEN! 

I think you might reach a bigger audience with smaller more accessible maps. I know I haven't played Arcanum etc because I can't be bothered with the custom engines and that. But this is just my theory though. And of course there are big masterpiece maps as well...

Of course you can argue "evolve or die", but I already liked Quake the way it was. 

if this was the aim then people wouldn't be choosing quake in the first place ;)

people will make what they like. i tend to prefer large sprawling epics so will naturally lean that way when it comes to mapping. i enjoy smaller ones too but generally if i've put hundreds of hours into something i'd rather it at least offer a decent playtime & memorable challenge in return.. small maps i generally tend to play once and forget about (with the exception of oldies that have nostalgia attached to them) 

i think it'd be more accurate to say that smaller maps would be more beneficial for the community because a larger number of releases would likely inspire other people (who may not be mappers yet) to get started on something.
large epics create an artificial barrier to mapping because it makes them feel like this is some kind of requirement or thing to aspire to which it totally isn't. 

I prefer a smaller map pack, like mini-episode. And those are all definitely memorable, instead of one huge sprawing map where you have to cut things out to get it to compile. Not to mention the hassle of it. From a mapping perspective, I always found it much more enjoyable making 2-3 small maps instead of struggling with a big one. 

I like getting lost in massive worlds. 

check out the very nice looking screens in this upcoming episode (you will need to scroll down the page):

http://www.tfuture.org/phobos/ 

look impressive 

those d3 shots look fantastic! 

might just have to reinstall d3 when that is released! 

Can't have too much doom3. 

It depends.

Basically, rj is right - people will make what they like. If you have the detail to make a huge map look interesting, and the engine to run it, and these days we have both, so - why not.

Small maps are still easier to detail though. And it's easier to keep the action up in small maps because people don't have to walk far from hotspot to hotspot. And those 65k vertices are a hard limit. For now.

I don't think that big is automatically better, but most people seem generally more impressed when something is physically big. *g*

The downside to huge maps is that you'll have a lot of running around just to get from A to B, which is sort of boring, so you're tempted to put 500 monsters in to keep the action up. And that's a downward spiral...

Plus shamblers look puny in front of some mega-architecture. 

Plus shamblers look puny in front of some mega-architecture.

actually, i love that. when the architecture dwarfs everything. 

simple solution, make bigger shamblers. Fuckin n00bs. 

hmmmmmm...

actually, i think a starving shambler that can't shoot lightning and charges you like a maniac would be wild.