Will give it a play tonight :) 

 

it was fun to play. nice secrets, good interconnectivity and it's packed with a lot of action. i like it! not a bad map at all.

1st play demo (skill 1)
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/sr_outpost6j.zip 

Barnak, I made it a brighter red now. Hopefully it's better.

Also anon, thanks for the kind words. I'll take a look at your demo later on when I get home from work. 

But please, if you make a thread named Soul Complex with a download named soulcomplex.zip, please make sure the map filename is soulcomplex.bsp. 

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/otp_soulcomplex.zip

It's a decent map, pretty obviously a first time map but on the better side of that spectrum. I liked the layout but it would probably have been better if the final area wasn't available before the end.

Found 4/6 secrets somehow, I was worried that the very early SNG would unbalance the map but that was not the case. 

Congratulations on your map!! Some pointers for releasing a map here: https://youtu.be/eQ911Wphy0Q?t=248 

Its always great seeing new mappers and their first time maps being good, and this one is no exception. Well done!

First run demo, hard skill: http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/orl_outpost6j.rar 

Sorry about the inconsistency with the file names. The original download has been updated so that the file names reflect the zipfile. Consider it a rookie mistake.

Also it's very interesting watching the various demos posted here to see how players navigate the map, different approaches to combat, what secrets are found and missed, etc. 

...for new mappers. There are so many different play styles and a ton of things you never expect. I hope you keep mapping. I look forward to playing this over the weekend. 

...for new mappers. There are so many different play styles and a ton of things you never expect. I hope you keep mapping. I look forward to playing this over the weekend. 

...for new mappers. There are so many different play styles and a ton of things you never expect. I hope you keep mapping. I look forward to playing this over the weekend. 

Skill 1 demo, took me two tries. A lot of good stuff in there for a first map, so congrats on the release! I hope you'll make another one :)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2p9k6iaz3d722ka/soulcomplex_yoder1.zip?dl=1 

Thanks! Looking at your demo (and others), I can't help but feel like I could have thrown in a little more health and nails in there for the amount of combat.

In retrospect, a couple secrets were "luck" and not necessarily based on observation (Secret shambler and secret armor I'm looking at you). Additionally, a couple hallways/areas could have been widened to allow more maneuverability. It seems like a lot of people were confused by the final area being open from the start, so otp's suggestion is definitely sound.

I learned a lot from this experience, and a lot about what not to do and how to do things differently. But I'm hard at work at another release so you'll definitely be seeing more of me in the future. 

The main thing for me was that it didn't feel like there was a clear hub, and that some of the side areas were very interconnected and I found myself entering rooms with the monsters facing away toward a different entrance. When I opened the armory secret, I spent a few minutes trying to remember where, because I'd assumed it would be by a hub space.

When there's branching, I find it helps for each wing to have a clear identity and a clear threshold so I know when I'm in that space. The DOPA episode is really good at this (if you haven't played it!)

Definitely keep making stuff! Also wouldn't hurt to make smaller maps with fewer monsters (111 is a lot) as you're learning :) 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/awfnu9gay38aww0/scrama_soulcomplex.zip?dl=0 

A great first release. Thank you!
Had much fun playing it. 

Here's my playthrough with commentary, solid first map, maybe a bit too many hallways but the fights were good. Keep it up! 

Things I liked:

Combat and encounters. You have a gift here - keep it up. There were some really nice surprises throughout and you tied the monster spawning to the story of the level (Slipgate back online) which was cool.

For me, this was a really non-linear, interconnected place and I really never got too lost. You had some signposting to let me know where I was. As McLogenog said above - maybe make each area more distinctive. I always get lost in levels so this wasn't too bad overall.

Things that can be improved:

The button hunt was tricky. This could have been bad. Some of the buttons were pretty tricky to see but others were cleverly placed so as to not miss them. (the gold one was easy at least!)

Some other things to consider:

The player can get stuck in a few places on brushes that stick out of the walls. Make sure and use clip brushes here.

Button animations are mostly off in your map. Check this out to avoid that: https://youtu.be/xnSqmHOh3XQ?t=257

Keep making maps - excited to play your next one!