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New Q1SP: The Horde Of Zendar
Download Link Don't Readme No QUAKE.RC and Screenshot.

Deep within the Grendal Gorge is the City of Zendar, a hodge-podge of stone consumed by madness. The map has a skill selection area at the beginning, a chance to dance on the roof tops and some secrets to keep you wandering around in circles.

The map is about trying to capture the vertical essence of Quake, the desire to climb and explore the world while dealing with the minions of Chthon! It features medieval style pickups, some new items and blood soaked ogre backpack! The textures are mostly from ID and the gameplay is vanilla Quake!

If you want to play the map with your own engine settings check the readme file for further details.

The map was tested with Fitz/QS engines and remember ...
RECORD A DEMO, I want to see how you play the map!
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Connection, Quake Mapping Scene 
 
Demos 
I have a huge collection of epic demos and I know some people like to watch them. Each demo collection file is about 40Mb and here is the list of people in each zip file.

Demo file 1
5th, aas, bal, cardO, daz, dbaudio, drew, generic, ijed and mandel

Demo file 2
mhw, orbs, otp, scampie, shambler, skacky, spy and vondur 
 
yes sock please never stop mapping!!! quake has lost some great mappers over the years. 
Never Stop Mapping For Quake 
I will record as many demos as you require 
Great As Always 
there's just not much I can add to what everyone else said. I had a lot of fun and marveled at the build quality and the lighting as usual.

Here are two demos (died after a couple of minutes on my first playthrough):

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/sleep_zendar.7z 
 
Very non-linear map, but not too confusing.
Init only 7/10 146/160 but after reading about the shambler on the roof, went back and even got 10/10 (with a little cheat)

Best parts are the hedge courtyard, roof, and of course the quality. 
Demos 
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/zendar-preach.zip

Two demos here, one up to the final combat where I died, and a second go at that fight from another attempt plus some secret finding afterwards (use fast-forward!).

Another gorgeous and detailed map, there's not a dull patch around. The way that all the balconies and rooftops can be explored is fantastic, and all the ledges make it great fun to try and reach new areas. The lighting was top notch, the use of subtle blue moonlight to match the skybox sealed the deal.

Played through on normal (without sounds) and combat was generally fair, there was a good progression from initially easy skirmishes to increasingly tricky set pieces, despite the presence of all the more powerful weapons.

After much exploration post-combat I got 7/10 secrets, which is good by my standards. I got the stuff with the silver keys alright, but it was a bit hard to see on a first play-through that you don't gain anything from opening the sliver key door at the perforator if you've already found your way there. I think that's mostly because it's hard to judge whether you're seeing two sides of the same door or a pair of doors on opposite sides of a new room. I gambled it was the latter and regretted it. 
Silver Keys 
@Preach, the SK by the SNG is designed to be opened by players using the upper route through the GK area. Each Silver key door is designed for multiple routes and sometimes for certain routes.

SK 1 is in the hub area next to the NG. This is designed to make sure the player has a good weapon (NG/GL) before getting access to the GK section.
SK 2 is in the secret garden. This is designed to make sure the player knows how to enter/exit the gardens. It highlights the importance of the door so it different from others close by.
SK 3 is next to the SNG balcony. This is designed to be a shortcut for players using the upper route from the Church. The nearest key is outside on the city facade so even if the player opens this by accident there is another key close by to replace the inventory.
SK 4 is in the far white roof tower. This is designed for the shambler altar close by.

All of the SK keys give the player a choice of what to do, but they also try to help players in certain route directions. This will not be apparent until the player tries the map several times. I know this is going to sound odd but this map really is designed for several play throughs and does reward players who want to try different routes. 
 
BTW is the roof area reachable without rocket jumping?

I'm assuming so, but I never did figure that out. (Maybe I should watch some demos...) 
Roof Access 
@JL, there are 4 ways to access the roof area and some are easier than others. The ideal route is the Ogre balcony because that is the trigger to spawn the extra monsters.

1. Shoot the button on the upper balcony with the MH and ogres. Tricky to see unless on the balcony and the doors only open when GK is used.

2. Use the lift over by the GL/Zombie courtyard. There is a balcony with ogres on it that can be jumped too and there is a shortcut to the roof.

3. Climb the slopped roof on the left side of the hub. There is a demon door secret close by and the roof is very low at this point.

4. Rocket Jump from multiple locations. 
 
Amazing map. Looks great.
Progression was ok. I didn't know if I was going in the right direction though.

Here is my first play demo on skill 1:
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/zendar_ankh.zip
I wasn't really pressured on skill 1. Maybe I should try skill 2.
Haven't played quake for some months, very rusty and I have a weird config which isn't alike to any other game I play. Always have to relearn the controls now. 
Feedback 
@SleepwalkR, yeah the ammo can be tight if you take certain routes. I was expecting you to investigate the church because there is a ton of ammo in there. I think this goes back to a comment by negke that it is not obvious which doors open or are locked.

The second demo is epic and once again another player ends the final horde fight with limited health/armour and with SSG on the last shambler. It does feel satisfying to watch as it is a lovely way to end the final fight. Cool to see you got all the secrets as well, a perfect demo, all monsters + secrets on skill 2. 
Feedback 
@Preach, that is the strangest thing I have seen in a long time, you are playing Quake without any sound. I can hear all the monsters around you, but you can't. It is like every encounter is a surprise, the perfect ambush everytime. I was constantly shouting at the screen, its behind you, its over there! :) 
Feedback 
@Ankh, lovely demo, I liked how cautious you were and how you keep finding new stuff after the final horde battle. You should really try the map again on hard skill and do the GK upper route first. The map is certainly a different beast on Hard skill, you will be surprised. 
 
A demo for all you tarbaby-hating shitsuckers: http://negke.fov120.com/files/zendarimproved.7z 
 
Skill 2 first play demo:
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/zendar_ankh_2.7z
Now, this was more intense.
Somehow missed one part of the map - some 20 monsters. Finished it later but it isn't in the demos.
Died once to the horde surprise. 
Feedback 
@Ankh, thanks for the skill 2 demo, I was expecting you to try a different route (upper church route) but it felt very much like your skill 1 demo. Were you looking for any new routes? or just wanted to keep to the way you know to avoid getting lost? 
 
I was just playing the map. Without thinking about the route too much. 
Fantastic Map 
Whatever the polar opposite of a speedrun is... that's my play through! Hehe

There's no demo from me as it took me waaay to long. But I enjoyed every minute it took to complete :)

105 minutes
9/10 secrets and,
222/224 Kills

On Nightmare w/plenty of quick saving/dying/reloading.

I was finished actually at 73 minutes but hadn't found the secret "quad damage" courtyard yet, not that that's impressive!!!

Agree with everyone else here, DEFINITELY one of the best Quake map releases of all time. I loved everything about it.

Thanks sock 
Wowza 
Awesome map!

Seemed like I got the gold key really early on, after only finding one silver key, but then I realised that at that point I had found 0 secrets and killed less than half the enemies (on hard).

Was recording a demo, but died a few times in the large courtyard battle (after teleporting from the balcony area) as I kept using rockets and getting trapped between enemies. I'll upload what I had up until that point.

After that I realoaded a quicksave, finished the fight and then found the exit, but since there was so much left to see and do I started exploring.

Combats were great, always had just enough ammo, and the layout was very complex, although I never had any real trouble knowing which way to go. However, I did a lot of wandering when looking for secrets, although that's to be expected I guess.

Can't believe you put so much work into the secrets and areas the player might never see on this map - it was just crazy! In the end I managed to find all of the secrets, but I did a rocket jump from the balcony to the rooftops before later figuring out the correct way in. However, there must have been another area somewhere in the map I didn't find, because I didn't kill all the enemies.

Time (estimate): 40 minutes to end, 100 minutes+ for all secrets
Secrets: 10/10
Kills 216/224 (where the hell were they!?)
Demo: http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/zendar_than.dem.7z

Incredible work, and I hope it won't be your last Quake map. I trust you'll at least be making some ITS maps.

Thanks for another great release, Sock. 
Feedback 
@damage_inc, I am glad you enjoyed it, I thought you preferred tech style maps based on what you recommend at QuakeOne for people to play. The map is certainly about taking your time and exploring, there is no hurry once you deal with the horde :)

@than, wow you are alive, have not seen you around func for a while. Yeah the map is not a standard progression and if people don't explore yes they will miss out on lots of areas. There are plenty of traditional route maps that have been released lately and I wanted to really do something different with the flow and routes this time. 
Feedback 
However, there must have been another area somewhere in the map I didn't find, because I didn't kill all the enemies.

@Than, I don't know how you did it, but you managed to pickup the GL from the church without touching the trigger completely around it! Not sure if this is an engine problem, what client did you use? I suspect the church encounter is the monsters you are missing. Also you went the lower route to the GK, there is an upper route as well which has monster/items with a different challenge if you fancy playing it again. 
Secret Not Registering? 
hello,

i killed the spawn in the small room that you open when you shoot the trigger by the lift, but i'm still at 9/10 secrets.. do i miss something about this secret? how do i trigger it? (i'm using Fitzquake Mark V Final btw)

anyway, amazing map 
Feedback 
@Aquashark, the spawn in the small room is an irc joke. People kept asking me to include a button under a lift and a spawn, that is all it is! :P

** SPOILER - ALL SECRETS **

1. Demon door next to NG/SK
2. A closet in the Church
3. Church Garden, church or SK door access.
4. Stainglass window near GK
5. LG outside on city facade
6. Ogre platform in Zombie Courtyard
7. Demon door on balcony near Zombie Courtyard
8. Demon door above Hub in the corner
9. RA in tower on rooftops
10.Shambler room on rooftops 
 
@sock, Yeah, usually I do favor tech/base style maps. But a work of art such as Zendar has to be enjoyed and played regardless of one's general preferences ;) Besides, you nailed EVERYTHING in this release.

Lighting, texturing, gameplay, amazing architecture coupled with great mood and ambiance. Also crazy out the ass connectivity... I go through wondering, how does anyone even THINK like this!!! It truly amazes me.

Thanks again, and Happy New Year's to you. 
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