[Sanek]

Okay, here's my 2 cents...sorry it took me so long!

When I first started playing, I wasn't very impressed with what I saw tbh. While design-wise it's all very good, but it looks way too similiar to the previous parts of the series. Also it's more like my own issue, but I guess I'd be much more impressed by the map if I didn't play Maarten's new map just a couple of months ago. You have your own styles but it also looks similiar so the first part of the map looks almost like Another Attack Part 2 to me. But anyway...

I stopped doubting Merlijn's greatness once I get past the red keycard zone. That earthquake sequence was impressive but it was only the beginning. I died when I was in that elevetor for the first time, since I watched that earthquake sequence lol! As for the enemy/ammo ratio - the map's not too easy not too hard, i.e. the perfect balance imo. Enemy's placement also reminds me of your previous maps. I can't pinpoint what it is, but certainly have a certain pattern for enemy respawns/placements, which's especially noticeable in the indoor sections.

Thet part near the end of the map (no spoilers I guess) is completely mind-blowing, certainly one of the most impressive things I saw in Duke3D for a very long time. The final "walk" have a great, almost surreal atmosphere to it. I only hoped that you'd use storm lighting instead of cycler's flickering, as it's not very good for your eyes imo. But other than that, the whole map's like one amazing sequence after another. Even though I took me about 23 minutes to finish the map, when I reached the end i had "this is all?" kind of a moment.

I don't know how you'll be able to make next part after this one, it'll be a real challenge to top something like this. 3 years in the making (is it?) was certainly worth the wait, and I'm sure the next part would be just as good as the released ones. Amazing job, Merlijn!

[Merlijn]

Thanks ck3d and Sanek for your detailled reviews!
The next map will go into a very different direction. Not going to spoil anything yet but if you followed the story so far you can make some guesses.

As for comparisons with Woudrichem war, parts of this map also happen to be (loosely) based on real Dutch locations.
The church and square in particular, while not being a 1:1 recreation, are inpsired by Alkmaar Waagplein:



Pop-eye is also an existing record store in Alkmaar, although in reality it's not right next to the church.
So that's 2 Oostrum maps based on Dutch architecture within 1 month. This is a complete coincidence btw.

[NightFright]

Well, I guess the last map won't be about explosions any more since pretty much everything got destroyed by now. However, this doesn't mean it needs to get boring.

[ck3D]

@Merlijn yeah my pleasure. Only recently noticed Part 1 & 2 also didn't have proper reviews up on CGS, so now I'm even more tempted to replay all three maps in sequence so that I provide Puritan with a write-up for those as well (unless someone wants to beat me to it, which I wouldn't mind as my time is going to be limited this week anyway).

Always love seeing comparison screenshots of real world place vs. in-game recreations or reinterpretations. Cool stuff!

[Nukem1994x]

Awesome map! Loved it! Managed to find 6/7 secrets on my second playthrough. Still searching for the last one.

[Sanek]

ck3D, on 07 September 2020 - 03:10 PM, said:

Always love seeing comparison screenshots of real world place vs. in-game recreations or reinterpretations. Cool stuff!

The Woudrichem's city hall really must pay Oostrums for all the promotion, since the guys just put the city on the world's map!

[MetHy]

Very cool map, I especially liked the good and varied use of the alt-pals, as well as the explosion followed by the 2 BLord fight. Took me a few seconds to grasp what was going on with the explosions so the whole setup was successful. The fight with the 2 BLords and the delayed swarm was really cool as well, just when you think "yet another fight where I'm given RPG ammo to shoot at BLords in the distance" you get a nice surprise and it's easy to be overwhelmed and lose track of shooting priorities, thus giving time for the BLords to catch up to you and being forced to use the small building as cover to strafe around.

[Merlijn]

Thanks for your feedback, it's cool to still see you around Methy! Sounds like that fight had the exact impact I hoped for, that's always cool to hear.

@Nukem1994x: I wonder which secret you missed, could you tell which ones you found (preferably in spoiler tags)? Finding 6 of them is pretty impressive already!

Also, I've put the soundtrack on my youtube channel, with a whole bunch of screenshots (some not shown in this topic).
I'm pretty proud of it.. Even though I can't listen to it too often, because it's almost too melancholic.

[ck3D]

Someone made a video playthrough of the whole series so far, Merlijn:




Part 1 is also on the person's YouTube channel but this forum won't let me embed more than two videos per post. Cheers!

[Merlijn]

That's great, thanks for letting me know!

It's fun to see how someone else plays these maps. And this person managed to find an alternate route to 2 of the secrets in pt.3

[ck3D]

Merlijn, on 29 November 2020 - 01:09 PM, said:

And this person managed to find an alternate route to 2 of the secrets in pt.3

Classic. To Build is our responsibility; to destroy is the user's. Jokes aside, yeah, watching videos of other people playing your maps (or user maps in general) gives you a very good idea of things to naturally avoid in maps I think, as it really brings awareness of where things might go wrong for more casual players in places you would have never considered on your own.

Also, your episode was just added to MSDN's Upcoming Maps section: https://msdn.duke4.net/previews.php alongside with a screenshot of what I assume is a new one of SG4? Looking great!

[Merlijn]

Ah nice, I sent him an e-mail a while ago. Yes, that's a new screenshot of SG4.

These video's clearly aren't blind runs, but there's quite a few things that are useful for me.
For instance, I'm so used to playing with auto aim turned off that it took me a while to realize this player does use auto aim.
That makes the fights a bit easier, but luckily it doesn't seem to make that much of a difference.

Also, it's funny to me that the one secret he/she missed is

Spoiler

in the very first location of the map! I guess that's a bit unexpected for most players

[duke3d.exe]

3d realms should hire this guy to release a full commercial episode + new enemy, boss and weapon Atomic Edition style for the 25th anniversary. 9 levels + 2 secret levels Shaky Grounds episode would be epic.

[Paul B]

duke3d.exe, on 21 December 2020 - 07:58 PM, said:

3d realms should hire this guy to release a full commercial episode + new enemy, boss and weapon Atomic Edition style for the 25th anniversary. 9 levels + 2 secret levels Shaky Grounds episode would be epic.

They can't afford him. =)

[duke3d.exe]

I just realized bookem file didn't play. Where do I put it? tried root folder, maps folder, made and addons folder and a sounds folder, put it everywhere and doesn't play.

[Merlijn]

duke3d.exe, on 27 December 2020 - 08:59 AM, said:

I just realized bookem file didn't play. Where do I put it? tried root folder, maps folder, made and addons folder and a sounds folder, put it everywhere and doesn't play.

I screwed up the original upload by using an ogg.file format, if you scroll down a bit on the first page you'll see an updated download with the proper voc.file.

PS: thanks for the compliment!