[VinsaneOne]

I recently submitted an unfinished, but playable map for the NBCBP. Though I gave up on mapping being i'm not anywhere near as good at it as alot of you here are. But I thought what the hell, everyone knows it's a noob project, so I went back and finished it. Commando Nukem helped me out a great deal with getting it done, and I owe him a huge amount of thanks, especially for making it great for both SP and MP (DM/co-op). So here it is for your playing pleasure!

 A_VinsaneOne.zip (28.83K)
Number of downloads: 253

[OpenMaw]

Lookin' good, bro.

Blastin in Dukematch on this map is some serious shit.

[Stabs]

awww dont give up so easy, you can do it!

ill check it out tonite

[RazorZ]

"A tree is climbed from its base."

"Through difficulties into victory."

Remember these and go on.

[Micky C]

whoa now are you still submitting it as part of the NBCBP?

Edit: I had a go at it, it's a simple yet fairly solid map, and I'm having trouble finding the red key card

[OpenMaw]

Micky C, on Jul 11 2010, 11:42 PM, said:

I'm having trouble finding the red key card

You know what they say, sometimes you gotta take a step back before you can go forward!

[VinsaneOne]

Micky C, on Jul 12 2010, 02:42 AM, said:

whoa now are you still submitting it as part of the NBCBP?

Edit: I had a go at it, it's a simple yet fairly solid map, and I'm having trouble finding the red key card

Ah, maybe not so simple after all? And yea, I've submitted it, but don't know what if any part they will use. Do you think I shouldn't have released this just yet? You got me second guessing on it and might not have been such a good idea. I could always remove it...

@Razorz: That's some good advice!

[Micky C]

Well yeah it's a solid map, it does what it's meant to do really well. I definitely didn't expect that thing at the start, which was a pleasant surprise (ironically).

I don't know if it was a good idea to release it separately or not, I mean it works by itself. You just made it sound like you'd gone AWOL from the project or something, good to hear it's still in

[VinsaneOne]

Micky C, on Jul 12 2010, 04:13 AM, said:

Well yeah it's a solid map, it does what it's meant to do really well. I definitely didn't expect that thing at the start, which was a pleasant surprise (ironically).

I don't know if it was a good idea to release it separately or not, I mean it works by itself. You just made it sound like you'd gone AWOL from the project or something, good to hear it's still in

Ha! yea, there must be another way! Thanks for giving it a run. I guess you found the red card after all!

[Micky C]

Um actually I didn't, I'll try and do that now and edit this post if I find it

Yep, got da card. And thumbs up on your first map!

[Lunick]

Great Map

[VinsaneOne]

Thanks everyone who played and commented. Don't be shy though, make your suggestions as to what I should do to make maps in the future even better. If someone would like to maybe do a review on it, i'd like to see what they say.

Some screenies....

[OpenMaw]

Looks like a totally different map with the HRP on. Heh, go figure.

[CruX]

VinsaneOne, on Jul 14 2010, 07:27 PM, said:

Don't be shy though, make your suggestions as to what I should do to make maps in the future even better. If someone would like to maybe do a review on it, i'd like to see what they say.

Overall, it's not a bad map. A small effort, but still an effort obviously, and worthy of some kind of appreciation. Its drawbacks, I think, are the things that normally plague first-time maps, but still have to be done. More imposing shading, first of all. It's a pain in the ass, but it can make even the most undecorated or geometrically bland room look WAY better. For the most part, you seem to have scaling down good, which I like, since wonky scaling is one of my pet peeves, but I did notice a phone booth in one area that was nearly over the player's head.

Something I also noted was that there was a lack of consistency between textures in particular rooms, which sort of threw me off. For instance, you go from one area that's primarily got that bathroom tileset, then crawl through a duct to another room that's nothing but parched wood, and it looks totally out of place with the rest of the level's theme.

Ambient sounds were lacking (apart from that one infected space), which I guess it isn't that bad since there wasn't much around to make a lot of noise, but an echo effect in the sewers or some crackling by that big fire in the final sector would've made the respective areas seem a bit more alive. The ship in that sector is kind of cool too, but it could definitely use a bit more detail. It's all pretty much one color and it almost looks unfinished.

All in all, though, it's a good effort, Vinsane. Look forward to maybe seeing more maps from you.

[Micky C]

The only thing I would have criticized really would be the fairly consistent uniform height of the ceiling. For example, the rooms in all the screenshots you posted have the same or similar ceiling height, there are no big rooms or anything, and even the outside area was fairly low. It would certainly help with room variety, but that could just be the look and feel you were going for. It's not really a major drawback for this map, but yeah if you were going to continue mapping (and hopefully you do) it's something you'll take into account.

Lol you were probably fully aware of this already but it's really the only thing that didn't feel quite right about the map for me. It does take away from the realism a tiny bit, but, hey it's Duke! was it ever realistic?

Once again, it's a solid map, at no point was I thinking "gee I wish this thing will just finish already."

[Loke]

This is a solid first release, Vinsane. I dare to say it's better than most maps made by newcomers such as yourself since I can see that you put some effort into the map. Furthermore, the alien infested area and the car park were my favorite parts especially the latter since you got to kick some serious ass there. Of course shading, texturing and sound ambiance was a bit lacking but this is to be expected for a first release; just keep it in mind if you decide to continue making any more maps.

[VinsaneOne]

Hey, thanks guys for all your input and everything. I agree with all the suggestions and will use that info in the future. Thanks again!

[Forge]

Grand concept and design, but poor execution.

Textures misaligned, poor choices and usage in some areas. Severe lack of shading in most of the map. Severe lack of detailing and architecture. Lacks much of anything to give it any atmosphere.

Layout wise, very well done. Game play pretty good as far as the health/alien/ammo ratio, except for the atomic health right next to the exit didn't make very much sense. If the player is that close to the exit and desperately needs it; might as well exit. What semblance of shading there was, was done properly. Getting to where the red locked door was just to hear some explosions in the distance kinda left the player hanging and not knowing where to go. A view screen there would help.

Either you bit off a bit more than you could chew when you made this somewhat largish map,not realizing how much work it would take to detail it out, or you just wanted to crank out a simple map and weren't sure what you wanted to do with it.

Overall it was a pretty fun play, but also pretty rough on the eyes.


btw: shouldn't this be under the maps topic?

[Shawneth]

I'm a little confused, are you going to use this or something different for the actual project?

[VinsaneOne]

Forge, on Jul 17 2010, 05:59 PM, said:

btw: shouldn't this be under the maps topic?

Your probably right on all you pointed out and I will learn from it. After all, I'm a noob to maping being this one's my first. This topic also has new map and mod related stuff as well, but yea, it could have been put under that topic.

oporix, on Jul 17 2010, 09:42 PM, said:

I'm a little confused, are you going to use this or something different for the actual project?

This is the finished map of the original I sent you a while back. (that was very small and had that useless blue card, remember?) Seeing there was time to make something more out of it, I did. Turns out, this map has a file size of only 98kb! So I thought you would be able to include the full map, but if you just want to use some part(s) of it, thats up to you. I know I jumped the gun making the map public before the project, but I was soo excited that I actually had a finished, (not polished) but quite playable map to share. Didn't know or think that would make a difference, so I hope you'll still include something of it in the project.

[Micky C]

VinsaneOne, on Jul 18 2010, 12:49 PM, said:

This is the finished map of the original I sent you a while back. (that was very small and had that useless blue card, remember?) Seeing there was time to make something more out of it, I did. Turns out, this map has a file size of only 98kb! So I thought you would be able to include the full map, but if you just want to use some part(s) of it, thats up to you. I know I jumped the gun making the map public before the project, but I was soo excited that I actually had a finished, (not polished) but quite playable map to share. Didn't know or think that would make a difference, so I hope you'll still include something of it in the project.

Well if it makes you feel any better, after the NBCBP is out, I might wrap up my own section and make it separate with its own dukematch setup, it's a good size for DM as it's only one building. I'm not sure whether I'll release it publicly or not but as I loosely (or not so loosely) based it on my school library, I'm sure a lot of my friends would want to try it out.

And I for one don't blame you for being excited about releasing your first map. I know the feeling of not being able to wait for others to play it and express their opinions. Unfortunately for me no one's actually finished the map and commented in my thread for my first map which I released a week ago but I guess I can't blame them as it's a polymer map which requires a hulk of a computer to get a solid framerate

[necroslut]

I really liked it, felt a lot likean "oldschool" map. It might have looked better with more shading and/or details, but it didn't bother me. I guess some people might find it to be too short, but I thought the length was perfect. The boss location was really nice.

[VinsaneOne]

necroslut, on Aug 9 2010, 04:49 PM, said:

I really liked it, felt a lot likean "oldschool" map. It might have looked better with more shading and/or details, but it didn't bother me. I guess some people might find it to be too short, but I thought the length was perfect. The boss location was really nice.

Ah, thanks! Yea, all I know about mapping would be old-school, but its ok for a first.