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Unfortunately my demos only show a small part of it, as i forgot to keep recording after dying, but got it done with 2 or 3 deaths, no cheats used, 518/538 enemies killed and 8/13 secrets found.
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/xld_coce.zip Huge lenght, till the point i almost thought of it being endless, Id and probably too Unreal inspired brushwork, with lots of setpieces (i liked this approach, as it didn't make it easier to get lost), hectic and very repetitive combats, mainly linear and 2D layout but with plenty of exploration, well done secrets and varied side areas, and good underwater areas. It was fun, right my alley in several aspects, and had some memorable moments. I like to use the GL to its strenghts and this time had to all the time. At first was left puzzled at the lack of shells, but got accustomed fast as the ammo given was always useful, and the amount was always good, well placed and in adequate amounts, as even i was most of times at full capacity on nails and explosives, but not too much. After i got accustomed to the ambushes i could go with more ease by being very cautious, expect plenty of damage and play each weapon by its strenghts. It was a bit frustrating at first but when i got the hang of it, it was fun. My suggestions: - I don't mind you making it hard, but what you should aim is that most encounters can be get past by someone apart from you on the first time, at least except one or two, and never the first ones. Not to make them easier but to make it easier to realize how to survive the encounter, to let the player see the light at the end of the tunnel even if it is the thorniest one. - Back spawning is OK, but only as long as you give room to the player to notice them it the look at their backs from time to time. It isn't fun when one will always get hurt no matter what they do. At first they will complain so throw a knight or similar but after getting accustomed it will be fun. - The placement of enemies is very repetitive: even though i never got bored because i was kept on the thrill all the time, it was still too much. All the time the same, bounce some grenades at the obvious places and get the SNG ready for the teleport ambushes. - Opposite of my expectations, as you used set-pieces a lot to make your rooms, i never got lost, except a bit on the area after the two spiral staircases. It was because the area is big, so if you are going for non-linearity, landmarks or memorable places are needed to not get lost, like for examples big changes in size or height of the room, a set-piece, or an outdoor ''room'' after several indoor ones. - In some ambushes, i got hurt more by the darkness not letting me see the enemies and having to guess with grenades than the enemies themselves, specially till the second vore ambush. - A bit more of height changes would be nice, as most of the combat was mostly at similar heights. - More than the cramped places, what bugged me more was that the columns on the walls and other details bothered me more than the enemies, and was easy to get stuck on them. I got it solved by clearing the rooms with bouncing grenades before any could see me and going gun-ho with the SNG and checking every spot first for the ambushes, but it is still a concern. Have only found 8/13 secrets. I don't remember triggering some though. Only remember finding about 5 or 6.
I liked some of the layout with its occasional non-linearity, I very much liked the atmosphere and texturing as well as some of the gameplay when it managed to breathe with bigger rooms, and I also loved the whole story of going backwards through a map as if we were coming back from Nightmare difficulty.
Now for the negatives. I would think that if you create a map and say that it is a regular Quake map, even if it is a very difficult one, then that level must be finishable by an experienced player in one go without quicksaving. This is not the case with your level, at least three or four ambushes must be memorized, I would say even if you are the best Quake player ever. For me, this release is almost a puzzle-type level. In a regular Quake map: - ambushes where an enemy spawns just behind you and prevents you from backtracking, while three other enemies spawn to your left/right/front, ending up in restricting your movement in *any* direction, are unacceptable; - ambushes in pitch black areas are unacceptable; - ambushes that become a formula (spawning monsters facing you and behind you, or monsters waiting at the corner of every entrance in a room) because they are repeated a dozen times are not a challenge or an interesting form of gameplay; I think that anyone who managed to go through the level ended up doing the same: because there is so much explosive ammo, you throw grenades everywhere in advance and bounce them off corners hoping to kill as many enemies as you can, move to the next room while switching to a gun that will allow you to quickly get rid of the inevitable ambush, then repeat it all other with the next corridor. The point I'm trying to make is that this is such a specific kind of gameplay that I wish I had been warned in advance (and no, it's not "challenging"). Maybe it happened for you the same as for me, as i opened by chance some of them with grenades.
What i am still curious about is what is the face almost at the beginning that if you hit it displays a message. Is that all it does or does it open a wall somewhere? "the face almost at the beginning" - When you shoot gives only a message. Its means that The devil himself helps you further on the map. In the future, almost everywhere in such niches in the walls with the face are ammos placed. Of course this is not so obvious...
Tried a bit of this map. Only got about 50 monsters in. Too repetitive for me at the moment.
Build quality, theme and detailing all good. Lighting okay but coloured lighting a bit unsubtle. But seemed to be too many of the same rooms with similar combat. Maybe that's deliberate maybe not. I wasn't excited by 538 monsters worth of that. BUT....this shows a lot of potential for future mapping. The good aspects of the actual brushes and designs are fine and something you could capitalise on with a more focused map. If this map was 1/4 the size and 4x the architectural spectacle and gameplay creativity (which I'm sure you have the potential for), it would be great. So keep at it, I look forward to future maps from you. Xlavrve. Thanks for your response, sorry I missed it:
About the tights corridors and rooms... in original q1 was the same. Dissolution of Eternity - too. Where are you see big open world in classic q1? My favorits maps is The tomb of Terror and The Hunted Halls... this maps like and all episode3, q1 is so small. Q1 - game with ideal balance between monsters and small rooms. I don't want making a Serious Sam level :) You are 100% correct that Quake levels are a lot smaller and tighter but go back and play those levels. There will be nowhere in those levels where there are a fiend, 2 ogres, 2 Hellknights and a Vore attacking you at the same time in a tiny alcove. The monsters are spaced out a bit and triggered in waves (on nightmare). So I get what you are going for but I think you like very challenging monster fights! Keep at it. I agree with Shambler - you have a lot of very fun gameplay notions and solid brushwork. I admire that greatly. Xlarve and I have in common that we like hard levels.
Tiny space = fun Horde combat = fun (some argue for finales) Tiny space + horde combat = hard fun what others wrote. finished the sequence of floor buttons about 400-monsters-down in, had no idea where to go next, too huge/dark to navigate. was quite fun before I got lost tho
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