Q4 FFA (2-5 player) or 1v1

[dnky]

Being for Q4, I am guessing this wont raise too much interest....but here is a beta run for this level



The level is a rescaled remake of my Map Center Q3 turtle map level.
The theme is natural terrain and gothic (actually 'classical')architecture, well to be exact it was inspired by research I did into underground Roman cities in Naples and Rome. The majority of the textures are converted from a Q3 set by Inition.
Models have all been re-uvw mapped from the original map, and further tweaked. Geometry is remade and more eye-candy and details added.
The map runs on my system at a healthy 63 FPS more or less throughout, despite no ambient lighting being used. There is one spot where my use of alpha masked models causes a frame drop, but I dont think it's too bad.

I have included a bot file for sabot or q4max, and tbh considering most of the level is not brush geometry, bot will play pretty well if you can live with them being daft about the quad area.

I am aware of the fact that for some players certain areas may be a little on the tight side, if you can see past that and appreciate what I have attempted to do I will be happy.

d/l (15 mb) HERE

[pjw]

This is pretty damn cool! (And I don't mind the tightness in spots.)

I only had a few minutes to run around it--I have to get some sleep at some point tonight--but I'll try to give it a closer look over the weekend and give you some decent feedback.

I love the verticality.

[dnky]

Ty.

[pjw]

Okay, feedback. Stuff in no particular order, just stream-of-consciousness as I'm wandering around the map.

1. I notice some stuff (e.g. shards) that bobs down into the ground at the bottom--should probably be raised a bit.

2. Some of the transitions from brushwork to modelled bits look kind of iffy. Maybe a slightly raised brushwork rim or somesuch, rather than rock running right into cut stone?

3. That one big open +50 square needs...something.

4. I'm not crazy about the flat plants (e.g. by napalm). These should really have more depth to them, at least in the spots where they look super 2-D.

5. Totally black area by RL=camp spot? Not saying this is horrible; just making sure it's intentional.

6. The flicker material on some of your lamps (e.g. near RG) is kinda fast and seizure-inducing...

7. There are three quite narrow corridors where you might consider flattening out the mesh to a reasonable extent (if not so already) and then just clipping them flat with player/monster to avoid weird movement wonkiness and bouncing off the walls while trying to go through them fast. One is heading away from GL/MH, one is heading down from RA, and one is going from Quad to SG. I don't mind them being narrow, but the combination of the narrowness and unevenness throwing you into the wall is sorta sucky... The GL/MH one is the biggest offender, since the other two are shorter.

8. How about one spot that's open to the sky, at least a little, just for contrast? Maybe over the little drop-down hole near RA, or perhaps over MH?

This is very cool and different. I like it. 'Course, I've done a bit of caving, so I'm biased.

[dnky]

I am hoping this is the final version:
DOWNLOAD
What I thought was going to be a quick project has turned out to be a long process.

The final (I hope) version has several changes:
Lighting tweaks
New models (mostly replacing alpha masked 2d textures)
Remade several cave meshes, both to improve player passage and design
New light textures

I think that's about it.

I still have a frame rate drop if you stand at the RA spawn and look out across the map. I think this is within acceptable limits though.

Thanks for help, hope you like it.

[dnky]

Doh! Just made a small update (same download)...realised I had 2 portals that no longer functioned. I had moved the surrounding geometry and forgot about the visportals. Sorry if anybody d/l'ed the map. As of GMT 18.13 hours this looks like the final build, unless I receive any feed back that reveals a major error.

[pjw]

This is a keeper for me. The plants look better and much less 2D, and moving around the map, it seems like you've sorted out most of the rough spots.

Cool level!

[dnky]

Thank you very much
//edit....forgot my manners.....many thanks to Kat, not only for model advice, but generally driving Q4 originality forward