Glad I had insomnia tonight! 

Living End looks freaking amazing. Is it based on the layout of the D2 map (which was awesome)? 

What sort of problems? 

tronyn: not really; the very start is similar and after that... think of it like a spiritual successor ;)

lardarse: i don't rightly know. it would sit at the upload page for a bit after i clicked the upload button and then after a while it would just dump me back to the same upload page without uploading anything (looks like it was a new page too, cause the filename was gone from the textbox). like my connection was timing out or something, but i didn't get any kind of error. it may be me, and i intend to try again tomorrow. 

already pulling out the stops!

Looks good, comments later. 

If there were such a thing as the Quake Oscars, this map would win Best use of sound and receive huge plaudits for excelling in that much overlooked aspect of mapping. The roaring lava was most impressive.

Do I need to comment on how great the lighting was? I don't think so.

Game play was also topnotch with lots of well thought out setpieces such as the jumping knights. The room of buttons and shamblers was a bit much for me and I had to cheat myself some extra health during the second wave, but that's what you get for playing skill 3 I suppose.

I also loved the secrets, which were fairly obvious but always satisfying and very useful.

I started playing the second map and it looks like it should be a goodun, but I can't handle too much awesomeness in one go so I'll finish that later. 

I like the map and the gameplay. I don't like being seperated from over 200 nails that I've packratted because the floor opens. Apart from that, it's a nice map. I'll do a more complete review of these 2 maps once I get through the second map. 

Architecture and concept are all once again fantastic, though the combat felt a little thin to me. I think the enforcer/soldier variations could have been used to greater effect in some of the set pieces. What did strike me as very well conceived in the combat was the constant feeling that I was about to strafe/backpedal in to the void. I guess I just would have liked a bit more basic cannon fodder in between those bits to keep me on my toes.

I didn't get any of the secrets, though I spied the yellow armor from afar and was duly tantalized. Resisted the urge to noclip and find out how to get it though, so I'll work on that when I play it again. Which I will.

Good stuff. 

First one felt like a sequel to that Hrimfaxi map. Looked a bit strange or unfamiliar with the new textures but not bad. Nice details/lights. I liked how the secrets (at least two of them) made the map feel slightly non-linear as areas were skipped. Some cool ambushes. Impressive how all that architecture fit into the limits.
Too much ammo/armor on skill 1, though. And often placed just so I had to pick it up to proceed, thus wasting most of it.

Second map was great, too. Great rotating bits and girders etc. I was surprised how faithfully their textures were aligned. The outer edges of the floor/grass could have been more refined. Cool stargate and sounds.
Good use of Quoth monsters in both maps. 

I had a great time with the 1st map, loved the visuals especially with the orange light coming off the lava and the ornate details. Combat was good too but a few places had cheap "monster teleporting in right behind you" moments that were a bit annoying. Overall thought a great map with some very original and neat ideas in it :)

I forgot to record a demo sadly but managed to do it on medium on my 1st try and it felt very balanced.

The 2nd map I didn't like so much, again it looks great with a very original take on the tried and tested ikbase set but the combat felt wrong and a bit dull in most areas. I did remember to make a demo of this one (and you can laugh at my n00bish death :D)

http://daz.quaddicted.com/files/daz_ne_doom.rar 

glad everyone's enjoying the maps. :) now i need to set some time aside to play everyone else's maps! :D

sorry you didn't like the gameplay in ne_doom, daz. :) 

Two really good maps.

Living end reminded me of a mix of Doom1 and Quake3. From the description I was expecting placeholder type gameplay, nice to be suprised. The secrets were great, as was the glowing effect to the marble type surfaces.

Waystation was good as well, but visually I found the skybox a bit offputting - the bright red and blue stuff overshadowed the subtly lit and shadowy ikbase a bit. The machinery was really well done and the lineal goal was good - turn the power on. 

My only minor gripe is the lack of breakables, especially in ne_doom. Technologic stuff all around and there's nothing to blow apart! The first YA secret would have been just a perfect place for one, too :p

The tower map is looking very slick so far. 

Hows the verticalmap coming along? 

You're making my map look bad. 

�k, play then both and made two demos... ne_lend i had to record from where i died but it�s first run! ne_doom is until i died very frustrated...

anyway

ne_lend is for sure one of top ten map for me in visuals and in game play man game play is outstanding... love it so much that i played 3 times :) i even forgot that was quoth...

ne_doom pure quoth... frustrated game play and slow like hell with few guns for the amount of monsters... but i love the machine in ceiling :) looked great... this one still didn�t finish :\ i will try today again... didn�t fave me as much fun as ne_lend but was a cool map to play got many nice visuals

but ne_lend man is really fucking great!!!!

P.S.-> more please!!! love the bastard a lot... i can garantie i will replay it for sure... a lot of times!

and there it goes my demos...

http://trinca.quaddicted.com/temp/ne_demos.dz

you still one of my favorit mappers... dispist all the shit that happend with base pack...

you born to map please continue! 

Damn, I am stuck at the same place where I was stuck that very very long time ago when I played a beta of this. Seems like my head has a specific route damaged which results in weird behaviour on this map...

http://s1.image.gd/o/6e/6e6bb40f5af5cbc52d9298c96e032bbae95faa5f.jpg

What am I supposed to do there? I went through that secret passage way earlier. 

That certain switch to toggle the lift actually was not toggling the lift but some ambush. Stupid me. 

drew: with the extended qexpo, i want to try to finish it by the end, but we'll see.

negke: i really like the look of the screenshots on your site for your vertical map. it looks really complex and intricate; really looking forward to it.

trinca: frustrated game play and slow like hell with few guns for the amount of monsters
hehe, that's what i was going for. :P i'm glad you liked ne_lend at least. :)
i'll check out your demos when i get home, cheers! 

necros see my demo in ne_doom :\ poor me...

chif :) 

Im working on ne_lend at the mo. Loving the gothic surreal theme, also the lava-fall. I have found the YA secret (wow), but I think there is a bit more exploring to do yet, and I think that leaps of faith may be in order (?).

I keep dieing at the three shamblers on skill 3. I suppose it serves me right for playing on skill 3. Ill get it cracked soon. There's enough nails lying around. Fun gameplay!


Thanks Necros 

ne_lend is great, one of my new favorites. Great atmosphere, fun gameplay and a nice sense of dread. Top notch lighting btw, I'm pretty sure I've commented on the flat lighting in our previous maps :)

ne_doom looks great too and also has a nice atmosphere. But gameplay is annoying rather than interested IMHO, especially when you get into this map after ne_lend which is a vastly different style. Still, nice experiment. 

...for ne_lend, skill 2, killed everyone, 2 secrets i think, never died (although I was saved by good luck more than one time)

http://shub-hub.com/files/demos_singleplayer/ci475_ne_lend.zip

When I'll have another free moment I'll record ne_doom first run, until then

Thank you necros! 

I played them in REVERSE ORDER.

Ne_doom: interesting map, interesting atmosphere. The combination of generally worrying architecture and sparse combats was pretty cool, something a bit different. I fell into the void around the silver key button which was annoying. Other than that it was good gameplay with a good challenge. It felt like a sort of....warped usage of IKBase textures - less chic designs, more weirdness.

http://shub-hub.com/files/demos_singleplayer/sham_doom.dz

Ne_lend: Would win a Qoscar for the most ammo and armour per monster in a map. Not that that's a bad thing - I liked the refreshing change from the hardcore F6athons that characterise many modern maps. I played fairly cautiously but could easily have had a blast through with just as much fun. Although the end was exceptionally easy. The rest was cool and the path around the central room was great. There were plenty of cool gameplay moments too. A good map with a good Quake+ feel to it.

http://shub-hub.com/files/demos_singleplayer/sham_lend.dz 

ne_lend was nice, great visuals and good balance. More ammo than i needed, but that just made it less stressful -- i normally conserve nails and use SSG to slog through enemies when i'm not in danger of dying, and SNG when i'm in trouble, but this just let me use SNG most of the time, which was fun.

I've played a lot of "giant lava caverns with the route slowly circumnavigating the main room" levels, I guess it's almost a genre in iteself -- though i guess most of them were necros maps. (Mike Woodham has made at least one, though.) Not saying it's a bad thing, though. It's sort of the ultimate incarnation of the age-old idea of a hub that the level keeps returning to, just with the hub being a much larger area and being only accessible a little at a time.

ne_doom is cool, nice unfamiliar feeling, though the drastic reduction in ammo/health from, the previous map is a bit jarring. haven't actually finished it yet.