Guys, play the map. Seriously! 

No Cthon? 

How unproper! 

yeah, the lack of cthon was slightly dissapointing :/ The sections of each level used were also very small, and they weren't interconnected very much so it was pretty much just a quick tour of E1. It was a bit like the speedmap maps that were done a little while ago.

Still, kind of cool, and the sections were linked well - just not quite complex (a bit linear, over quickly) enough for my liking. 

Not much to it, but the way the sections were attached was fairly clever, and the levels are so familiar that it really is a jolt to stand in The Necropolis and look through a doorway into The Grisly Grotto. 

fun like the dickens 

See title. 

Indeed, nice, but short... Playing it I thought I played episode 1 fastest than I ever did... A shame there was not Chton at the end... :P 

Indeed, nice, but short...

True, true. The idea is funny, I would like to see longer version. 

The idea is funny, I would like to see longer version.

It would be cool to see this theme expanded into a full episode. 

It would effectively be a nice pack theme ! 

probably nice for a contest, but it's really just cut-and-paste. Very weird game flow.

Fighting the shambler in the Gloom Keep room without a SNG or quad made that area more interesting. the end shambler was as lame as always. Should have put some additional scrags in there.

My usual quick fix of Quake is banging through E1 in a couple of minutes. A shorter version is a bit counterproductive. If anything, I'd like to see a LARGER version of E1, with additional rooms and areas, more secret levels, more traps, and more monsters.

You could just take areas from the rest of the game, change the textures and upgrade E1 with them... how is that for a speedmapping contest? Enhanced original maps? 

Seeing as we now have all map sources, it would be easy to upgrade E1 with enforcers, hell knights, vores and spawns...

a few vores in Ziggurat Vertigo, that would be fun :-) 

If e1m2-4 were expanded, the pak1 monsters added and the maps made, say, as structuraly perfect as Ceremonial Circles, I think the ensuing happiness would kill me. 

e1m1 (Slipgate Complex) should have some grunts changed to enforcers (in the right places of course.)

e1m2 is near perfect IMO.

e1m3 is pretty much perfect, what would you change/add, HeadThump?

e1m4 (Grisly Grotto) - perhaps introduce a few hell knights in the second half of this.

e1m5 (Gloom Keep) should have some knights changed to hell knights.

e1m6 (Door to Chthon) is near perfect, but some rooms could have more monsters.

e1m7 (House of Chthon) - vores on the upper level?

e1m8 (Ziggurat Vertigo) - 2 shamblers could be changed to vores.

Changing the monster types is very easy, but some ideas/discussion would be needed on additional areas. Remember those are classics, they should be treated with respect. Pak1 monsters are fair game though.

Another thing would be to change the lighting in places. I always thought Gloom Keep was too brightly lit. Probably the #1 reason why I don't like it as much as the others.

What about introducing the shaft in e1m6, perhaps in place of the secret SNG?

A good name would be "Episode 1.1" ;-) 

a bit of answer to that question given my earlier post. I'll speak generaly now, and maybe eleaborete this evening if I have the chance to do so.

You are correct, e2m3 has great game flow with several sections that run smoothly into one another so you have to take care that any additions do not upset the balance.

First, develop the additional areas around the secrets, and link the secrets together with ways to get to them all through hidden corridors and the like, after their locations are solved, any additions to the design done in these locations will not intrude on the original structure. This is a page out of CZG/Vondur so proper credit is due here ;)

Also, specificaly to this map, I have always thought the zombie sewer corridor with the waist deep sewege was a little too easy; I would make it a nest of nasty traps and hell spawns and extend it to about fifteen minutes of potential game play by expanding the lengths of the corridors and adding some intemediary areas. As it stands it is an easy trip between two more difficult sections.

If you are using a modified .dat file, add some floating chunks of gibs to the bilge water. Yummm. 

eleaborete

elaborate -- 

would be pretty radical changes already. I agree that expanding the secrets (some of them) would be cool because it involves only small changes to the layout.

The corridor idea crosses that line, which doesn't mean it couldn't work. Connecting the secrets (creating alternate routes...) is borderline as I see it.

It sounds a bit like what dm3rmx did, which is more than what I had in mind. Shouldn't the original brushwork etc. be largely (99%) preserved? To keep the old school ID flavor?

It's a bit early for spawns IMO (just the third map), but I could imagine one or two in some secret areas (necropolis ring secret, grotto secret exit room.)

I always thought that the end of e1m3 was a bit uninspired. Just throw some fiends at them, finish with a shambler (that is easily telefragged)... look how big that room is! A damn circus would fit in there! Perhaps spawn in some monsters in the lift shaft (like in the Dismal Oubliette)?

All maps that have deep water should get fish, of course.

Putting traps in existing rooms is a good idea however... I can think of a number of places. The zombie corridor is one of them. There could be 1 or 2 laser traps in e1m1. e1m3 has the crusher thing (and a large number of monster closets), but is a candidate for some more traps. e1m4 has room for more, too.

Some maps just need more/tougher monsters. More zombies in the necropolis moat; more misc monsters in e1m6. Introducing enforcers, hell knights and a couple of vores will do much for the other maps.

The second building in e1m4 could be guarded by hell knights instead of knights/fiends. There should also be hell knights on the bridge there. They could serve as an introduction to Gloom Keep, which should have a large number of them.

Another point: To change the original skies would be fair game IMO, because it doesn't affect the layout and doesn't require any special engines. Personally, I would opt for a starry night sky for all maps. This would set it apart from the original just a bit, without being overly drastic. It would do a lot for the MH room in e1m2, the end room of e1m3, the bridge area in e1m4 and e1m5 in general.

Hmm, a lot of ideas I have.