[ck3D]

MSDN review
CGS link

Been working on this one (on and - mostly - off) for a long time, glad to finally have it out of the way. It was originally meant to be a lot more ambitious... More info in the .txt file.

Fundamental theme of the map has been done to death but I tried to pull it off in fresh ways... Hope you'll like it.

_

"Yet another city at night - except this particular one is under a pretty fucking serious type of attack.
You wake up to an alien ship having just crashed right down your apartment building.

Out of your window, no scenery left in sight. What's left of the surrounding buildings appears to be collapsing and dissolving into what looks like a sea of green slime. World takeover seems to have effectively begun.

Quite fortunately, your block seems to be magically protected by the vaillant presence of a convenience store just down the street, still proudly adorned by a very circumstancial advertising slogan.
Salvation in capitalism and usually unhealthy commodities ?
Looks like all possible phantasms of procrastination are out of the window right now. Time to clean the mess."

_

Two versions of the map included - one darker (recommended) & one brighter in case you already have a really dark monitor. Some sections of the level are definitely very dark on purpose though...

Estimated play time : 25 to 35 mins

Attached thumbnail(s)

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Attached File(s)

•  endoftheworld001.rar (310.16K)
  Number of downloads: 603

[Sixty Four]

I feel lucky that I was on Duke4 atm you released heheh I am not on as frequently and have less time. Surprisingly I had some time to also play the map already. Took me about 31 minutes so the prediction is spot on well if you include the deaths its more. I see you spent a pretty long time on this congrats on releasing.

First off would like to start off by saying you have a very distinct style and its a good one to. The variations of the different scenes are great I especially liked the ending design and the subway area to. In a time of mostly simple maps, seen it before maps, and original episode style maps you really refreshed my view of mapping. The level design is once again wonderful to me you have plenty of twists and turns in this maze like map but then also open areas to balance it out. Shading is pretty excellent to and sprite work is also refreshing. I enjoyed the 1 sided block applied to the outdoor force field it gives the player a sense of being trapped but awesome how more enemies could come in. The ceiling dripping with cracks in it made me happy and the level of darkness was just okay for me. There are plenty more things I could say about the design like it was creative and going through the back of the train like that was fun! Also, the cave like areas are right up my alley loved them much and the lighting and water effects were unique. So it doesn't sound like I am just praising your map I will tell you the one and only thing that bothered me. A few of the benches in the subway area I think were a bit over sized

Gameplay was tough on me but it balanced itself out as I proceeded into it. When I finally got the shotgun I was super relieved but the game was nice to me and the enforcer's dropped some chainguns and ammo. But all in all there was just enough to make it by. The jetpack in the start can really help you out I died multiple times mostly in the start wasn't long before I realized the devastator ammo and pipe bombs right after the protector drones but first I was trying to kick there heads off and it wasn't working I just got scratched to death xD It kept giving me a feeling that I missed a weapon in the start because I was barely making it by but the balance did pick up for me and finding the freezer really helped plus there was two of them I believe. I could say more but I would need another play through, anyway I am just here to enjoy the user maps and I did just that thanks for this map. You deserve some beers or a drink say cheers.

[MetHy]

The idea in the txt file (about making a map going even further and further down) sounds very exciting

[ck3D]

64Ghost, on 08 July 2015 - 06:28 PM, said:

I feel lucky that I was on Duke4 atm you released heheh I am not on as frequently and have less time. Surprisingly I had some time to also play the map already. Took me about 31 minutes so the prediction is spot on well if you include the deaths its more. I see you spent a pretty long time on this congrats on releasing.

First off would like to start off by saying you have a very distinct style and its a good one to. The variations of the different scenes are great I especially liked the ending design and the subway area to. In a time of mostly simple maps, seen it before maps, and original episode style maps you really refreshed my view of mapping. The level design is once again wonderful to me you have plenty of twists and turns in this maze like map but then also open areas to balance it out. Shading is pretty excellent to and sprite work is also refreshing. I enjoyed the 1 sided block applied to the outdoor force field it gives the player a sense of being trapped but awesome how more enemies could come in. The ceiling dripping with cracks in it made me happy and the level of darkness was just okay for me. There are plenty more things I could say about the design like it was creative and going through the back of the train like that was fun! Also, the cave like areas are right up my alley loved them much and the lighting and water effects were unique. So it doesn't sound like I am just praising your map I will tell you the one and only thing that bothered me. A few of the benches in the subway area I think were a bit over sized

Gameplay was tough on me but it balanced itself out as I proceeded into it. When I finally got the shotgun I was super relieved but the game was nice to me and the enforcer's dropped some chainguns and ammo. But all in all there was just enough to make it by. The jetpack in the start can really help you out I died multiple times mostly in the start wasn't long before I realized the devastator ammo and pipe bombs right after the protector drones but first I was trying to kick there heads off and it wasn't working I just got scratched to death xD It kept giving me a feeling that I missed a weapon in the start because I was barely making it by but the balance did pick up for me and finding the freezer really helped plus there was two of them I believe. I could say more but I would need another play through, anyway I am just here to enjoy the user maps and I did just that thanks for this map. You deserve some beers or a drink say cheers.

hey, thank you for the great feedback. I am glad you enjoyed the map ! yeah the gameplay might feel a little uneven at first especially as you first exit the original building into the main outdoor area, depending on how quickly you trigger all the respawns and / or stock up on items. but as you implied, if one looks hard enough and scouts around for ammo / weaponry (or even inventory items ie. night vision googles) they should be rewarded. plenty of stuff on those high ledges and in the destroyed building as well, it's all there, just a little out of sight maybe, especially seeing how it's all so open... i tried to encourage exploration and also put some emphasis on the devastator around this section, lots of people seem to use that gun as a last resort weapon because it's so powerful (and dangerous indoors) but here i made it so you pretty much start the map with it ! some will like it, some won't. also glad finally finding the shotgun felt like relief, that was intended as well...

freezers were a deliberate choice as well, i tried to supply the player with them just as much as they are normally given RPG's (for instance), or at more unorthodox times ie. prior to miniboss fights where you'd expect to stumble upon packs of 5 rockets instead... I sort of tried to find a balance between experimental gameplay (which both benefitted and plagued my last few releases) and Duke 3D user map tradition. I also threw quite a few secret places in... some easier to find than others but they definitely help...

again thanks for your comment and I am glad you liked so many things about the map, that made my day. cheers !

[The Mechanic]

ck3D, on 08 July 2015 - 04:44 PM, said:

Been working on this one (on and - mostly - off) for a long time, glad to finally have it out of the way. It was originally meant to be a lot more ambitious... More info in the .txt file.

Fundamental theme of the map has been done to death but I tried to pull it off in fresh ways... Hope you'll like it.

_

"Yet another city at night - except this particular one is under a pretty fucking serious type of attack.
You wake up to an alien ship having just crashed right down your apartment building.

Out of your window, no scenery left in sight. What's left of the surrounding buildings appears to be collapsing and dissolving into what looks like a sea of green slime. World takeover seems to have effectively begun.

Quite fortunately, your block seems to be magically protected by the vaillant presence of a convenience store just down the street, still proudly adorned by a very circumstancial advertising slogan.
Salvation in capitalism and usually unhealthy commodities ?
Looks like all possible phantasms of procrastination are out of the window right now. Time to clean the mess."

_

Two versions of the map included - one darker (recommended) & one brighter in case you already have a really dark monitor. Some sections of the level are definitely very dark on purpose though...

Estimated play time : 25 to 35 mins

Difficult to get started ... the devistator is a bad choice when only choice seems to be close-up newbeasts. But got going in the end. I'd remove that first boss at the start as it is difficult to get started so the constant roaring of that miniboss was just annoying - nearly gave up.

There may be a bug at the bottom of the stairs - on one occasion a newbeast seemed to go through the wall just ahead of the door with "406" above it!? On another attempt there was only the one newbeast, I'm wondering if it went the same way - whatever, that was the only way I progressed as not enough ammo for four newbeasts, so having one go missing was a great help .

TTFN,
Jon

[ck3D]

the bug you are describing is a classic sector-over-sector bug that's always been present in the game (as far as I know), when many layers of a map overlap (in this case the multiple stories of the building), newbeasts may easily get teleported from one floor to another floor by accident. actually all enemies might be concerned but newbeasts seem especially prone to that bug because of how quick they are and how they always jump everywhere...

as far as the close-up newbeast is concerned yeah that particular first one may or may not be a bitch depending on how it chooses to behave upon activation... you can always just take a few steps back so it's not in your face before firing your guns, or even rush back to the stairway you just came out of and then confront it there from the top, that's what I do sometimes if I don't get to kill the thing right away when I see it... there should be enough ammo to handle the four newbeasts in those first few rooms though. it's not in painfully obvious plain sight but it's not really hidden either. try scouting around through the wrecked rooms and in the corners... that seems to be a common denominator to the gameplay of a lot of my maps (I don't even really do it on purpose)

oh, and I personally like the boss there, I think it adds quite a lot to the atmosphere, plus you'll get to confront it later but to each their own, obviously. finding your way out of the damaged building then making it out on the streets for the first few minutes has to be the toughest part of the map. then it becomes less intense and more atmospheric. good luck !

[Sixty Four]

I killed the battle lord in the start you can shoot him right away. Then the newbeasts you really have to fight them with all you got kicking, backing up, and firing not to mention the pipe bombs . After them I think there was alot of liz troopers which kicking, crouching, jumping, and correct movement can handle without ammo. I liked the toughness of making it out of the start personally. Even having to go upstairs before going down so you don't miss the scuba.

[The Mechanic]

Well, I don't seem to be able to kick newbeasts - not without taking a lot of damage.

I found running into the room with the second newbeast gave a bit more space - when they jump, you can scoot to the other side and treat them to a couple more devistators - and at one point I was about to get through without a scratch, just about to finish off the second newbeast with a couple more devistator and I accidentally ran over the pipebombs and swapped weapons. D'Oh ! (actually, the phrase I used was way more, erm, colourful!). Still, reminded me to change the auto pickup weapon setting

Once out of the building it was an enjoyable romp and yes, for the most part enough ammo scattered about. Not found the first key though.

TTFN,
Jon

[MetHy]

The Mechanic, on 10 July 2015 - 03:16 AM, said:

, you can scoot to the other side and treat them to a couple more devistators - and at one point I was about to get through without a scratch, just about to finish off the second newbeast with a couple more devistator

I keep picturing Duke throwing the actual weapon at the Newbeasts' faces

[ck3D]

The Mechanic, on 10 July 2015 - 03:16 AM, said:

Well, I don't seem to be able to kick newbeasts - not without taking a lot of damage.

I found running into the room with the second newbeast gave a bit more space - when they jump, you can scoot to the other side and treat them to a couple more devistators - and at one point I was about to get through without a scratch, just about to finish off the second newbeast with a couple more devistator and I accidentally ran over the pipebombs and swapped weapons. D'Oh ! (actually, the phrase I used was way more, erm, colourful!). Still, reminded me to change the auto pickup weapon setting

Once out of the building it was an enjoyable romp and yes, for the most part enough ammo scattered about. Not found the first key though.

TTFN,
Jon

glad to hear your feedback, hope you enjoy the ride.

first key is

Spoiler

at the top of that monument / pillar thing in the little park area on the opposite side of the building, you need a jetpack to reach it. i reckon it's a bit out of sight as well (although there is a viewscreen in the very first room of the map linked to security cameras pointing at it, it's easy to forget about after all those indoor and outdoor waves of action)

level takes a completely different turn after that section which I hope you will have fun going through !

[ck3D]

MetHy, on 08 July 2015 - 08:49 PM, said:

The idea in the txt file (about making a map going even further and further down) sounds very exciting

forgot to mention I also had ideas about boss fights in gravity trains and a final battle on Earth's core center on a huge spheric area with a teleporting boss, seeing as I am not likely to ever find the time nor the energy to build that myself, might as well throw those ideas out there too, who knows - Zaxtor someone with a better gift than me at turning mere concepts into a (Duke Nukem-entrapped) reality might do a much better job at pulling it off than I could ever had anyway

[Radar]

When MRCK makes a map telling you it's the end of the world, you better believe it's the end of the world.

Playing this right now before the world ends.

[ck3D]

Sgt. Rarity, on 14 July 2015 - 08:10 PM, said:

When MRCK makes a map telling you it's the end of the world, you better believe it's the end of the world.

Playing this right now before the world ends.

it's just part 1 though so you should be alright. hope you enjoy it !

[Radar]

Finished it. Not what I expected at all, in a good way! I've been having a hard time finding the energy to play custom maps, but this was the original and ambitious map I've been waiting to play again. Finally having a use for the nightvision on the inside was nice. And the hordes of enemies outside was very intense. The train station was beautiful, and being able to see it collapse in front of you with water pouring from the ceiling was mind-blowing. I also loved the "unregistered shareware" camera screen.

As it's been said before; MRCK is your favorite mapper's favorite mapper. It's awesome and very heartwarming to still have guys like you around, CK3D! Thank you.

[Robman]

I don't usually play much Duke3d, well not since late middle school/early highschool of which I used to play it quite a bit. Dial-up modem games with friends back then and my first maps ever were actually Duke3d, they sucked though and had no sector effects of course as that was way over my head at the time. Shadow Warrior got released and I seemed to have clung onto that one but anyway...

Chance would have it that I gave this map a whirl with Eduke32 and I was pleasantly surprised with the surreal nature of the map and carnage-like atmosphere.
Naturally I cheated, lol but did manage to find the first key. I was glad when the dark underwater section was over near the beginning and also glad I dnkroz'd and dnstuff'd because the hordes of enemies outside would surely have raped me and I only played on "Let's Rock."

I liked wandering around looking at the detail and writing on the walls, the bathroom was quite nice at the start. I liked the hand sticking out of the wall when you blow up the fire extinguisher in the 7-11, made me smile

Unfortunately I got stuck in the 7-Eleven, I would push the cash registers and had no idea what I was unlocking.. I wandered and flew around for a good 10 minutes after that but to no avail. If there's a lot more map to play after that point well then shame on me for writing before completion but I though it was pretty badass nonetheless. Great work!

When I get my voting abilities back (no-thanks to a couple members crying ) ... You can look forward to some bonus points if it means anything to you, lol.
*Edit, whelp I can freshly vote again.. 2 brownie points to you.. ahh make it 3, it's a special occasion.

*Edit #2 - I ended up opening it in mapster and still really couldn't figure out what to do to get past the 7-Eleven but I saw that I needed to get through that red door so I cheated again Dnclip'd. (Before reading your follow up post.)
Damn dude that was a lot of explodey, detailed map. Took me a minute to realize those are translucent upside-down octobrains. I got hung up for a minute around the subway train but figured it out, again.. great work. Was that girl in the small room intended to be a peep show? Hehe..
I blew her up trying to smash through the glass, d'oh!

[ck3D]

thanks a lot for the feedback - to the both of you. much appreciated, sorry I'm in a rush and on a mobile so I can't adress your points individually just right now but here's the solution for where Robman is stuck :

Spoiler

the cash registers in the 7-11 only unlock a secret containing an early freezer gun behind one of the vending machines. the real switch to keep you going further into the map is in the bathroom next to the toilet, semi-hidden in a corner. unlocks the door to the storage room - or is it one still ? anyway you seem to be about halfway through the map and it takes a different turn just after this section so naturally I'd encourage you to play the second half !

again, thanks a lot for taking the time to download, play and tell me about your experience. hopefully they are nothing but good ones !

[ck3D]

Robman, on 15 July 2015 - 06:07 PM, said:

*Edit #2 - I ended up opening it in mapster and still really couldn't figure out what to do to get past the 7-Eleven but I saw that I needed to get through that red door so I cheated again Dnclip'd. (Before reading your follow up post.)
Damn dude that was a lot of explodey, detailed map. Took me a minute to realize those are translucent upside-down octobrains. I got hung up for a minute around the subway train but figured it out, again.. great work. Was that girl in the small room intended to be a peep show? Hehe..
I blew her up trying to smash through the glass, d'oh!

ha, sorry that switch was too hard to find for you. i know it's around the corner of a room, so i tried to make it a little more obvious by using that blue corona sprite... but you're right, it's probably fairly easy to miss. hopefully that won't hinder a lot of other people's progression the way it endangered yours.

glad to hear you found your way around, and out of the subway section, though. i was fearing that part might be a little tricky to navigate through as well, due to the buttons being scattered here and there, and the little backtracking after the train. although i tried putting the viewscreens / security cameras and respawns to their best possible use in such a situation. peep show girl in red (and her whole room) is a paris texas reference (a lot of my maps include this type of easter eggs)



again, hyped you enjoyed the map and thank you for your feedback. thank you for your time !

[Jan Satcitananda]

Very beautiful map with lots of cool action (perhaps subway is my fav part). I'm glad too that you've finished it. Looks damn good in 8-bit mode; I like maps with no visibility haze and accurate lighting instead. I wish the level was a bit longer (and more dynamic with massive destruction =P), so hopefully you'll release sequels someday. I'd say that even experienced mappers normally have to omit certain things if the mapping process is taking up too much time. I understand that you wanted to make a more ambitious map, but actually it's great as it is - what a joy to discover the variety of locations hidden beneath. I'm sure it will be rated among the highest =)

I've been experiencing a similar issue with my current Last Pissed Time series, getting stuck while building a map and trying to figure out how to make a specific effect, and then switching to projects other than Duke maps. Eventually I had to admit that I should either make them less ambitious or not to make any maps at all.

Awesome work MRCK, take your time, but I'm looking forward to see more cool stuff from you.

[ck3D]

thank you so much for your time and feedback. I am really glad you enjoyed the map that much ! I agree with you on the 8-bit, I just re-played / tried the level back and forth between 8-bit & 32-bit and while it works and plays just as well in both modes, I prefer the 8-bit look as well myself... the grittiness and lighting just looks cooler combined with the full visibility and design style.

I also agree with you on how even experienced mappers (or artists in general) always are to - by nature - 'dumb down' their original vision of a work into what eventually materializes into the final product. in the end, what makes an experienced artist has to be, I think, the acquired wisdom and know-how as to how to dwindle this very gap between said original vision (which can be very precise), and their final output, so that said output turns out bolder, clearer and closer to the mental picture thought up by the producer, refined up to more and more subtleties as one's 'skills' develop. needless to say, if I had to dumb down my original vision that much for this one... it means I still have a long way to go in terms of skills !

although I myself do enjoy the map as it turned out to be, and it satisfies me to hear other people have a good experience with it as well. after all and according to my logic, perfection is a pursuit of sorts, meaning that you never actually get there... you can only come closer and closer (and that's the fun part)

good luck with your projects and looking forward to playing your next map(s) as well. not to put any extra pressure on you, but the first Last Pissed Time is one of my all-time favorites !

[ck3D]

anyone else played this and would like to comment ? I'm always interested in criticism, positive or not. lots of the regulars on this forum seem to be on holidays, so happy holidays to y'all !

[Sanek]

ck3D, on 24 July 2015 - 06:56 AM, said:

anyone else played this and would like to comment ? I'm always interested in criticism, positive or not. lots of the regulars on this forum seem to be on holidays, so happy holidays to y'all !

I actually played it just before my vacation, and now I'm back at the forum.
Overall, I like this map. Completed in 24 minutes. It certainly one of the best maps you ever done, and I like it a lot more than your Anarchy City X, which is extremely tiresome and over-bloated. The End of the World is a hard map too (the street part is where I spend the most time), but here, where you have all kinds of weapons and jetpacks it becomes a very fun expierence. I just love the idea of a pouring water in the subway - very clever idea, I don't remeber it the maps of the past.
What I don't like is the use of the purplelava (but green-colored here) in the subway. There's too much of this thing, and player loose too much health don't even touching, but just jumpin' over it! Another thing is the large numbers of slimers in the final area - I loose a lot of rockets tryin' to kill the battlelords, but 90% percents of the time these rockets goes into slimers. Also the map is still dark for me, even with bright version.
Oh, and the last thing - it really sucks that map is smaller than it was intended, I really want more after the subway part.

[ck3D]

MSDN review : http://msdn.duke4.ne...doftheworld.php

to Mikko (thanks for the review, by the way) : about the chaingun, did you go through

Spoiler

the destroyed sections of the first building (as accessible from the outside) thoroughly

that is where the chaingun is (on one of the lower platforms, accessible from ground level IIRC, no need for a jetpack), also did you manage to find any of the secret areas ? they reward you with extra RPG / devastator ammo (as well as the freezer earlier into the level) which definitely comes in handy. quite a lot of ammo is also semi-hidden in some of the highest segments of the outdoor area (destroyed buildings, ledges...) as a way to encourage exploration... just curious as to whether or not you found some of them.

also did you find the night vision googles in the first section of the map ? some of the next rooms (pitch black hallway & underwater passage) are dark on purpose to have the player resort to them. but I agree that for some odd reason, night vision googles really don't seem to be a natural inventory item for people to spontaneously tend to put to use (from what I've observed, they'd either bump their gamma up a few notches, or put the blame on the map designer, rather than just press N).

[ck3D]

Sanek, on 26 July 2015 - 12:41 PM, said:

I actually played it just before my vacation, and now I'm back at the forum.
Overall, I like this map. Completed in 24 minutes. It certainly one of the best maps you ever done, and I like it a lot more than your Anarchy City X, which is extremely tiresome and over-bloated. The End of the World is a hard map too (the street part is where I spend the most time), but here, where you have all kinds of weapons and jetpacks it becomes a very fun expierence. I just love the idea of a pouring water in the subway - very clever idea, I don't remeber it the maps of the past.
What I don't like is the use of the purplelava (but green-colored here) in the subway. There's too much of this thing, and player loose too much health don't even touching, but just jumpin' over it! Another thing is the large numbers of slimers in the final area - I loose a lot of rockets tryin' to kill the battlelords, but 90% percents of the time these rockets goes into slimers. Also the map is still dark for me, even with bright version.
Oh, and the last thing - it really sucks that map is smaller than it was intended, I really want more after the subway part.

thanks for your time, glad you liked the map. interesting that you liked it more than Anarchy City X, although I can see why, they share some common elements (the toughness of the opposition out in the open being one of them) but here the gameplay is a lot more traditional (you're actually provided with stuff to deal with it). I still prefer Anarchy City X myself though, really proud of how that one turned out. even though the originally released (and consequently more popular) version had the wrong visibility settings... same as Anorak City or many of my old city maps from the same era. I still want to revisit them a little then come out with an episode (episodes ?) consisting in a selection of them one day... when noone is playing Duke anymore, ha !

about the purple lava, you're supplied with several pairs of boots throughout your playthrough... and more generally, you're expected to watch out for it and try to avoid the puddles... but if you don't then I can see why they could become a problem ! cheers for playing !

[Merlijn]

Haven't played Duke for months, but I had to make an exception for this one!

I liked it. A lot. The whole subway section is among the best work you've done. Loved seeing the slime dripping out of the ceiling and the gameplay was a lot of fun to. The beginning was pretty damn hard, a bit too hard for me tbh (but I can also blame this on my rusty skills, which I always do ). The outdoor section was great too, loved the mayhem-styled gameplay and seeing the surrounding buildings sink into the green slime.

But as I said, the last section was by far my favorite, I just loved it. It would be nice to see a sequel, I was actually kinda disappointed when it ended.

[ck3D]

glad to see you comment, hyped you liked it. subway section is the most recent addition to the map i've made, so i guess it's more representative of my current style. come to think of it, the map was built in the same chronological order as you get to play through it, which probably isn't too uncommon except here one can easily break it down into 'eras' given how long the map took to make. apartment building was built in early 2011 soon after anorak city came out... exteriors were added later that year, as well as the basic outline for the 7-Eleven, which I originally intended to be a gun shop à la E1L2. then the 7-Eleven and the subway section / finale were built just recently, over the past few months of 2015... so I found it interesting when Mikko mentioned, in his review, that the first sections of the map were reminiscent, to him, of my older maps. not that I think that the apartment building in this one is as cramped and narrow as my old maps were (they are only a little tighter in order to better convey a feel of claustrophobia & emergency if anything)... but the basic idea is intriguing, he might be onto something.

awesome to hear you made an exception for my map... and loved the last section so much. maybe because it has sort of a Red-feel to it, which I really didn't intend either, but once again the feeling of emergency, the explosions, earthquakes, slime infiltration now reminds me in retrospect of certain sections of Red 4 / Red 5 in that it feels like there is a time element to the level, and 'something' in the process of going on, behind & beyond your basic alien slaughterfest... of course my effects were mere cheap tricks implemented for atmosphere's sake (which ended up working surprisingly well), nothing as impressive as the helicopter scene in Red 5 or the boat crash in Red 4 for instance. about a sequel, let's build it together... *hint hint* (to be fair, I really don't think I'll ever find the time nor the energy, I'd rather move on to other maps with a different theme... but who knows). thanks for your post, glad you had a good time, take care !

[Merlijn]

Yes I love that theme, a creepy alien infestation slowly taking over human structures. It's a common theme in my own maps (especially the red series, but I've also managed to sneak it into the Imperium ). And you really pulled it off with this map, it added a nice sense of urgency to the whole thing.

BTW those scenes you mention from the red series really weren't that hard to implement. It's a matter of using the right illusions.

Quote

about a sequel, let's build it together... *hint hint* (to be fair, I really don't think I'll ever find the time nor the energy, I'd rather move on to other maps with a different theme... but who knows).

I also might not have the time for that.. But it still sounds like a cool idea!

[FistMarine]

edit

[ck3D]

FistMarine, on 05 August 2015 - 02:24 AM, said:

I enjoyed this map very much, the balance was perfect, though at beginning I had to kick the protector drones in the face and took a few scratches but there was a toilet earlier on level, so I could kick it and drink the water to restore the health. Other than that, there was enough ammo in the level, as well as health, armor and other supplies. I didn't find anything too difficult in this level, in fact I managed to do it without dying (my health never went below 53) on CGS and took me 40 minutes to finish it but didn't find any secret unfortunately. It took me a while to find the blue key but while I was flying the jetpack, I finally noticed it.

In the end, I enjoyed this user map very much, now I'm going to play some more user maps that I missed during these months, as well as replaying older ones.

thanks for playing & commenting ! out of curiosity, did you kick the newbeasts due to having used up all the devastator ammo you get at the start on that one first miniboss, or was it a conscious choice ? anyway, glad you thought of going back to the first apartment to drink some water and regain health, that's a potential strategy I hadn't even envisioned myself, as the map maker, glad to know that possibility exists !

glad your experience was enjoyable ! hope you have just as much, if not even more fun with the next ones you're about to play. cheers

[FistMarine]

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[ck3D]

FistMarine, on 08 August 2015 - 09:50 AM, said:

Yes I used all of my devastator ammo at beginning on Mini Battlelord (I missed few shots but my final shots managed to kill him right in time) and I was completely out of ammo as you start without pistol in this map, so I was forced to kick the protector drone.

I always liked the water fountain trick from original game. It's an easy way to restore health to 100, without worrying about wasting medkits (example if health is at 95 and you pick up large medkit, thus wasting 25 HP) or being stuck in a situation where you are low on health and there is no health around (not the case with this map, though there are a few tough user maps where health is scarce and there isn't any source of water).

I will play a couple more user maps these days but first I'm finishing playing through the original episodes and expansions in DOSBox (I'm currently on Area 51). It was the fact that I haven't played an user map since such a long time and wanted to take a small break from the original levels, so I decided to play a newer released user map.

that's funny, to be honest as I was implementing the gameplay in that map, it never really crossed my mind that one could choose to use that one first devastator to kill the battlelord at the beginning (and you are far from being the only one reporting to me that they did just that, too). it is only in retrospect that I realize how much sense that option makes, too, as in it's not just something that the player might potentially choose to do (as an alternate way of playing the map) either - that behavior just seems logical if anything : grab the big gun, kill the big bad guy like you're supposed to do it. not that it really matters because the map is playable both ways, but how I overlooked that possibility is beyond me. I originally put the battlelord there in order to better convey a feel of emergency, and encourage the player to run to the stairway instead of sticking around for too long, assuming they would rather confront the miniboss from the open outside area rather than from the cramped apartment entrance. the devastator really was intended for those first few newbeasts (setting up the encounters with them in narrow hallways being a deliberate gameplay choice). not once did it even cross my mind that one could use up all their ammo on the battlelord then get stuck with the mighty boot for the newbeast fight, although it should have been obvious to me as the mapper, thereby exemplifying how careful you have to be about such little things while making a map, trying to second-guess your own work and also the importance of beta-testing (even though the 'flaw' here adds to the unlinearity more than it breaks the map if anything)