Another fun one, GJ. There's something about the layouts in your maps so far that are a little bit of a throwback but in a nice way -- not a super-space-efficient puzzlebox, but still good interconnection and it's not just naive hall-room-hall stuff. I likes it.

I think I found 5 of the secrets just organically and they were fun and varied... didn't do any special hunting for the rest.

The one criticism I'd pass on is that I encountered too many "untriggered" monsters I think. It can be fun to ambush monsters but sometimes the untriggered-ness seems awkward, like if they're facing you but a bit too far away. One particular instance of that was one of the vores in the last fight.

(I always enjoy finding untriggered spawns tho.) 

In reverse order:

Johnny: Yes actually having a proper layout, interconnectivity and even some 3D design was a big aim this time after Shamsp1 ;). No aims for space efficiency though... Some of the untriggered monsters are deliberate as I wrote above: Those vores are mostly to block the exits of the final room - I don't want to block the player in but I don't want them to have an easy escape either. If they were facing the player and/or triggered, that area would be a nightmare of trying to avoid two angles of voreballs with on a shallow space to hide in by the altar.

Mclong: It might be quite good that I waited until the existence of phong before making this map...

Spud: Glad you liked the star, several other people did too. I wondered if it might be a bit of an obvious gimmick but apparently not. I needed something interesting to put in that final box room and the miniature sun came to me in a daydream. Took a lot of dicking around with angles but I'm pleased with it.

DeeDoubleU: it might take longer if you hunt for secrets. I'm happy with maps being short, it's one of my aims, to make small-medium-sized maps.

Tronyn: Yeah if I have any mapping talent it might be choosing skybox + fog combos ;) 

This was a lot of fun. Here's a demo:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1G4CCY5Gq7KXER2vb113NolR6Lw_FjFeA

Loved the rounded edges, clean lines and the map's layout. Make more like this! 

I love the architecture with all these rounded corners everywhere - the map might otherwise have looked a bit blocky without them. Not very egyptian but original. Nice final set piece as well. I found the lighting to be quite odd: your flames don't flicker but the buttons do (dafuq?), and there is this one flame that... pulsates?! (double-dafuq?)

Skill 2 combat is decent if a bit on the easy (or easily cheatable) side at times, but I much prefer this than having to spam F6/F9. Some cool surprises and ambushes, and nice secrets aplenty (3 were too hard for me). One bug report: some ammo boxes oddly didn't fall to the floor when released but stayed in their original position (see demo). And one last pet peeve: no music, grrrr! This would've been the perfect opportunity to include a cool middle-eastern track.

Note: 4/5. Skill 2 demos, 120/120 kills, 9/12 secrets. I didn't die but finished the playthrough with only 8/12 secrets, so I quicksaved, exited the map and reloaded my save to do some secret-hunting, hence 2 demos. Haven't spent too much time on it though (found only one more then quit), so that 2nd demo is quite short. 

Hard to believe this is a second map, I think its quality surpasses many old made maps by experienced mappers. Very clean design, nice layout and combat.

Here's a 24 min demo:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2on3cd5l7zzv3r8/shamsp2_vaf.zip?dl=0 

*old maps made 

Mugwump: Yup blockiness and curves was the plan. You're right maybe I should have had the flames flickering overall, I didn't think of that. If one flame happens to pulse, there might be a reason for that. The switches pulsing were to draw attention to them. The ammo boxes at the end, they had to be placed above zombies, I don't know why they didn't drop down!

Yoder: Insetting or lipping trim would have been a bit of a pain mapping wise, I thought the effect was strong enough. The detail under the stairs was really easy to do, I needed something vaguely aesthetic under there.

DeedoubleU: Man you don't like using explosive weapons. Did you have an accident with fireworks when you were a kid?? ;). The mis-placed vore at the end had got lured out of position by an Ogre you later killed.

Than: No idea how that spawn in the final arena got triggered to jump in the void, he doesn't usually wake up. You seemed to have fun with the ones under the stairs though... As with many people, the scrags guarding the SNG proved thought-provoking, I like that. 

It's the same as with nails - I tend to save rockets for special occasions.

Or did you mean I should have RJ to red armor? 

 

I loved the map. The aesthetic was great and it never was too unfair as to stop being fun. I haven't found many secrets but those I have are well hidden and fun to hunt for. The only problem I have is that some details really need to be clipped (the torch hoops on the walls and pillars) and it SEEMED like I was activating triggers through walls and doors (is that intentional?). Otherwise like I said, the map is great. Keep up the good work. 

I've been meaning to get to this for a long time. I knew I had to play it after seeing the screenshots. It seemed so much more intricate than your first map and that really did end up being the case.

I thought that it was a pretty good looking map with an excellent layout. The way that you preview certain areas through cracks in the wall or through windows was really good, and it's something that I've been paying more attention to as I learn what it means to make a good map. This was also really fun in terms of combat, which is a tough thing to achieve in id1 in my opinion. Things picked up once I got the super nailgun and they really picked up once I got the rocket launcher.

I noticed a lot of curves in the brush work from the stairs to the hieroglyphics on the walls. That single design decision made for an interesting landscape overall. The "dying sun" that was visible through one crack and again at the end looked awesome. That was a damn creative use of flames.

My favorite part was when things ramp up and the bridge breaks beneath you. It felt frantic but never overwhelming. You really knocked it out of the park with the combat. I especially liked gibbing huge groups of zombies in certain parts, like the area with the four coffins and lift below the red armor.

I can't believe that I only found 1/12 secrets. Only 184/200 monsters as well. Anyways, I hope that you can pull off combat this fun again going forward. You introduced the weapons at just the right time to keep things fun without being too easy. 

Coconut: Not sure about triggers? There are a couple of possible bugs with wakening monsters too early. Clipping, aye maybe I could have done that, although the torches are mostly above head height and the pillars are rounded off. If a player is bunnyhopping like a loon it might be an issue.

Poorchop: Thanks for your kind comments! Glad you liked some of the casual gibbage - sometimes I do that for effect / fun rather than hardcore combat. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmOn2sbh_TE

Secrets walkthrough at 21:30:

https://youtu.be/JmOn2sbh_TE?t=21m30s 

...has visual clues to all secrets. I found all 12 but not right away - and no rocket jumps required. Good exercise map for secret hunters.

Played skill 2 - got 200 kills. It is a compact combat dense map with available cover. I thought the choice to not kill players falling into the void but rather hit them with a small health tax was a clever balancing idea. I learned this after overusing the void as a monster dodge.

Exiting the start tunnel and seeing the sun warmed architecture reminded me of the Egyptian themed maps in the Talos Principle.

Nice work and good fun. 

 

Great map. Although I prefer sp1 overall. I finally got to the actual released version and it's fantastic. 

If one flame happens to pulse, there might be a reason for that.
Heh yeah, I saw that watching your playthrough. Dumbass me, I should have realized it... The other secrets I should've been able to find them on my own, too. Good ones. 

Played it right after your 1st map and I like it. Especially the texture set and the nice round architectures.
What I dont like are monsters that get thrown in from nowhere. People call it teleporting. It gets old when it is overused. I prefer when they are there from the beginning but that is a personal taste.
Thank you. 

Glad you like the style :)

Teleporting monsters are pretty much a standard in Quake?? I've had a few testers / players say there are actually too many monsters already lying in wait and I should be using the teleporting-in function more. Actually, like you, I prefer having as many monsters as possible already in the map (possibly partly due to being lazy and getting bored setting up the teleports!), but there's only so much you can do with that, especially revisiting areas. 

Who would have thought you'd have a talent for making maps? Well this proves it, cause you do. Very nicely done!

First run demo, hard skill: http://quaketastic.com/files/demos/orl_shamsp2.rar 

As negke said, I've got 3 months of mapping experience and 20 years of learning the concepts ;). 

Time to put those 20 years of learning to use! 

There's much improvement over your 1st map

http://quaketastic.com/files/demos/spy_shamsp2.rar 

Got 172/172, 9/12 secrets on 1st run. Great layout and fun combat&infighting. The non lethal drops are a huge plus for me. Never could stand instadeath pits.

And ehi, I gladly appreciated that you're still big on this penis thing. Good for ya.