[brullov]

3 days ago I played E2 of original Duke Nukem. I was really inspired, so I've made a new space-map. This map is short and simple, but has a lot of fun and secrets. Enjoy!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

[zykov eddy]

Very fun E2 styled map. Really love some design choices, though there are also things about this map that doesn't quite fit the original vanilla style. Still, a very fun, short map.

[MetHy]

Really cool map, a bit short but I enjoyed it a lot, only found 1 secret though (the freezer). I think it is better than your previous map. I really liked the design.

[LeoD]

...beaten to it by MetHy #4...
3 secrets - crystalammo, atomic health, freezer

[brullov]

Thanks, its my first experience of space maps. But I want to say one more time that I have mapped in 3 evenings again and it's not my mapping style.

[Sixty Four]

Good job with this one

[brullov]

Nice walkthrough! Glad you like my work.

[dnskill]

I just finished this map, and it was real fun! I only missed one secret, I found all the ones LeoD found.

[Blue Lightning]

As we all know, Lunar mapping is quite different from city or canyon mapping (I guess Flood Zone is kind of both city and canyon?). Lunar mapping must be the toughest, because good one's are hard to find. Since this was you're first lunar map, I didn't quite know what to expect. But I was excited by the prospect since (in my opinion) lunar maps are in woefully short supply within the DN community. I must confess, I was very pleasantly surprised by this E2 offering!

Moonlight has a real original feel to it, along with important elements of a good lunar map. In this case we have a nice sized space station. Lot's of large open areas inside to romp through, which adds a lot to the atmosphere and gameplay. Additionally, large glass areas so a player can see the Moon, the Earth, parts of the station that are ahead, and so forth. You even remembered to add a very important audio element that is often missed: wind ambiance! Especially around large glass areas. I am not sure most mappers realize how important this feature is to the overall atmospheric effect of a lunar station? So many times I play lunar maps that are missing this effect, or are short on it.

Secrets were well placed, weapons were also well placed, and pacing was good. Battles were very good. A few small side areas like the vents near the end full of slimers, or the waste area full of Octobrains, were a nice extra touch. The large area at the end again illustrates why this is a very good lunar map: we never know what well designed large area we will see just around the next corner! This makes exploring fun.

This stays on my hardrive along with Polaris Outpost, Observatory, and other great lunar offerings.
Good job!

Now we know you can make excellent canyon maps, and lunar maps.

PS: I didn't load the ogg. file, no offense. The first time through I have music off so I can hear all sound effects. The second time through I always play "xplasma" (song from Darkside)when playing a lunar map.

[brullov]

Thank you for the feedback, buddy!

[Forge]

nice clean map. what it lacked in eye candy and additional sector effects it made up for in solid construction, good texture combinations, and change-ups in the scenery; like the toxic waste room and the small alien hive section.
i liked the layout and how pathways looped around to drop the player off near where they needed to go instead of making them backtrack all the way around to return to a lock or to a doorway that the forcefield was turned off.
Well balanced too. Weapons are acquired as the aliens get a bit tougher. A bit stingy on healing items, but there's enough to get by on and placed appropriately where they're needed.

[Blue Lightning]

Agreed with most of that.

The only place I would have a gripe is on the over-abundance of "super-weapons" available. I just beat it on DIG, and it was way too easy. After beating

Spoiler

the two Battlelords at the end

, I still had a lot of rockets and other super-ammo left over. I thought health placement was nicely stingy! But not weapons.

[MetHy]

I thought abundance of ammo and weapons was classic in essence and enjoyable. The original game usually provides a lot of ammo even for super weapons (even if you play on pistol start), which leaves choice to the player; while on the other hand usermaps tend to be stingy and often only give a RPG with just enough ammo to kill BLords, leaving you with less choice (most players would use it against the BLords)

[Blue Lightning]

I know what you are saying MetHy, but for someone who loves a super challenge playing it on DIG, it isn't that much of a challenge. But for a casual play through, yeah, weapons were fine.

It is the under-abundance (or at least normal abundance) of so called "super weapons" that make it a real challenge playing most DN3D maps on DIG. You have to pick and choose where to use rocket ammo. Do you pile up dead bodies, and then hurredly use a rocket to dispose of them? Or do you run past them and lure them to slimmer egg areas to get rid of bodies? Or do you weaken' them first with a few pistol shots (to conserve Freezer ammo), then use the Freezethrower on them, so you can shatter them and dispose of them that way? The list of choices goes on and on! That is why I love the DIG challenge so much!

To me, a "super weapon" is any weapon that can get rid of an enemies body:

Freezethrower
Shrinker
Expander
RPG
Laser Trip Mine
Devestator
Pipe Bombs

So of course, what is left are the "normal weapons":

Mighty Foot
Pistol
Shotgun
Chaingun

It is the normal weapons that stop the monsters temporarily, and they are important to the overall strategy of playing DIG. But since the Super Weapons get rid of the bodies for good so they cannot re-spawn, it is important not to have them in a high ammo supply. A good supply is fine, but not an over abundance.

But again, your point is well taken. Most players don't play a map on DIG anyway. But with too much super ammo, it is too easy even on Come Get Some in my opinion. But it is still a lot of fun because of map layout, routing and other factors.

Just a question: I rarely see mappers make a vanilla style map these days that is the 1.4 version. Is there a reason for that? I like the Expander gun.

[Forge]

MetHy, on 26 October 2014 - 09:19 AM, said:

I thought abundance of ammo and weapons was classic in essence and enjoyable.

^this
and it took a bit before finding the high powered weapons (unless the secrets were discovered)

[Blue Lightning]

So Artem, what do you think your next project will be? Another Lunar map? Or a city map? Or canyons? Or sewer/industrial?

[brullov]

I cant give an exact answer. But I should concentrate on Duke Begins right now.