Great to see this finally released.
Some nice beginners' maps in here, cheers to everyone involved. The maps show potential to varying degrees and I hope to see more from each one of you in the future!
brassbite: Three distinctly themed (colored) towers is a neat idea. There's nothing to really set them apart, though, either visually or in terms of gameplay. They all look very plain; long staircases with repetitive, predictable monster placement and weak weapons for most of the map which gets boring quickly. Try to spice things up with variation to encounters and side areas.
Danzadan: Somewhat unique theme. I kind of felt like the red star-shaped things should have had seams or some sort of trim around them for a more distinct look. The end fight is a nice touch. I like how the player has a choice of how much action at once he's willing to take by pressing either one button at a time, or multiple ones in succession (or by accident). The final phase of the fight is cool, but also tricky. Only works in combination with the fog. I survived by luck. Seems like it's just a bit too hard with darkness + all tough enemies + supplies only at the (clippy) center.
Daya: Good layout, cool "twist" and broken city parts, but excessive monster density in every area, though maybe that's also because I played on hard skill. The end fight is absolute crap- small area, no cover, wtf? I managed to not find a single secret, heh. The glass texture looks out of place.
Hexenmapper: The map's setting is clearly visible. Visually a proper 1997 vibe. Some strange texture combinations, but not an issue. Construction is boxy for obvious reasons, so for next time you can try some vertical shifts/angled parts and a tighter grip on scale. GJ on organizing this pack!
Kres: Good theme, nice details. Didn't like the colored lighting which looks off in many areas. I managed to miss the grenade launcher for the longest time, it's almsot hidden away from sight around the corner. Went to look for it when I couldn't proceed further and eventually found it. Again arenas with little to no cover and clippy bits...
Naitelveni: Nice one, combining classic'ish style with a touch of modern'ish details (e.g. broken bits). Combat feels a bit chokepointish and I would have wished for a better weapon earler- feels like I did half of the map with the shotgun. The small outside area left of the start room looks like it would have been a good place for the DBS. I thought the final area would have worked well connected to the rest of the map in a natural way somehow...ish.
Pritchard: A little bit like a speedmap. Not much to say... The first of many!
Spud: negke badge of approval.
Topher: Feels like a sort of experiment with setpieces rather than a consistent map. Not complaining, of course. I got a bit of an arena fatigue (also thanks to the other maps before). I think it would have felt better if it was an enclosed valley or canyon-type of setting instead of a space map-like one; and in my view it looks better without the fog.
Vingal: Good honest classic-style level. Very enjoyable. Shame about the misplaced flame fixtures, though. Wonder how something like this got past testing? Nice closets and areas opening up, and an intriguing secrets theme.
Start map: It looks cool, and I like how it picks up elements from each map for their respective exits. However, I found the layout to be overly complicated for my taste so I loaded the maps from the console. The first room in the map selection hub gave me a distinct Madfox vibe. :D
By and large, a good effort; and great idea to do a community project like this for people who would possibly otherwise be put off by the jams or their deadlines. Vingal's and Naitelveni's maps were my favorites, I think - not least because they don't (mis)use colored lighting.
Demos (protocol 666)
At the risk of sounding like a broken record: most of the maps have items falling out and monsters partially stuck in walls. These issues can easily be indentified by using the
developer 1 command before loading the map so that game will print warning messages in the console.