[Sanek]

After 3 years of continious whining, I finally managed to bring LORCH 3 again.
Since most of you already played this map before, I think I don't need to explain to you why this thing happened. All I can say is that the previous version of the map was unplayable, with various problems that affected gameplay.
Much of the map is not changed, but I fixed most of the errors, as well as the ammo/enemy ratio. Also, the original ending (with underground jail) was completely cut, replaced by the hallaway that leads you right to the finish line. While this sort of ending is sure anticlimatic, at least it was better than the original one.
This map is dedicated to ck3d, who actually collaborated with me on this map. He don't contribute very much, but he made two rooms and some of the background buildings. I don't know if he wants to be credited as co-author, but I'm sure he don't mind the mentioning in the txt file.
Download: http://www.mediafire...10ax/LORCH3.zip
I hope you will like it. Enjoy.

[Fantinaikos]

Just for continuity, links to LORCH 1&2

LORCH 1 (aka abducted) http://www.mediafire...CH_Abducted.rar

LORCH 2 http://www.mediafire...5dtr/LORCH2.zip

Screenshots from LORCH 1

[Polunka]

Not bad, I enjoyed the previous 2 titles from the series, so I don't really have many doubts this will exhilirate me as well Downloading!
P.S.: Nice to see veteran mappers help out some, well, not-so-experienced ones (I guess Sanek is one of the latter, from what I've known so far, sorry if this statement offends you, this is just my opinion based on my long-time observasions; on the other hand, i haven't ever been a mapper myself, so who am I even to judge?). And yeah, I really liked MRCK's maps, so guess I'm gonna enjoy those minor contributions as well

[Polunka]

Just finished it, a nice urban map , took me about 15 minutes (given that I wasted like 3-5 mins trying to find where to go after grabbing one of the keycards on a rooftop, the place where you're required to use steroids; tho it's nice that you marked the path with those little steroid pictures). Btw, I was kinda surprised at first by the absence of any secrets, but that's not a big deal.

Overall, the gameplay was constantly switching between peaceful and calm exploration\sight observation and some action-packed battles with freshly spawned monsters. Right at the start I chose gotham.mid as the music track (one of my favourites from Duke3D ), and it turned out it fit really well with the atmosphere, since the peaceful portion of the play time exceeds the battle portion (imo). There were no problems with proceeding through the map, I always knew where to go (well, except the steroids puzzle, but that's on my side).

The design is really nice, the street parts felt spacious as they should be (imho), while the inside parts were properly sized. Tho I saw one door that was oversized, but it was just a texture so doesnt matter much. Yea, I know I'm talking about the design not from the perspective of a mapper. Well, you're free to call me dumb and tasteless regarding the case. Btw, will I be right if I suppose the storage room (with many shelves inside) of the starting place was made by MRCK? Also, I noticed those many lit up windows in the walls of the flat complexes surrunding the area - was that also made by MRCK or at least influenced by his style? (since I remember something like that from his maps)

The battles were nicely executed, tho a novice player could get fucked over by them several times (I, in turn, didn't die once) Ammo to monster ratio is reasonable, neither are you an "armaments tycoon" nor a hobo with a shotgun (trying to make a joke but most likely failing Yep, that's what I like most about Duke maps - when authors moderately provide you with ammo.

All in all, a nice little map having got something for both those who like to do sights and those who want good gameplay. Also, I guess my little debut at writing map reviews

(feel free to call me dumb for this review, men )

P.S.: I know you'd already "released" it, but I didn't play it that time cause I hesitated after looking through the comments and later your post where you apologised that the release was too hasty (or sth like that).

[Sanek]

Wow, thanks for such a review!

Polunka, on 16 June 2016 - 09:25 PM, said:

Btw, I was kinda surprised at first by the absence of any secrets, but that's not a big deal.

There are some minor places that can be counted as secret, but I figured out that there's not much space for the entire rooms as a secret places.

Polunka, on 16 June 2016 - 09:25 PM, said:

Btw, will I be right if I suppose the storage room (with many shelves inside) of the starting place was made by MRCK?

No. Look at the attachment to see his part.

Polunka, on 16 June 2016 - 09:25 PM, said:

Also, I noticed those many lit up windows in the walls of the flat complexes surrunding the area - was that also made by MRCK or at least influenced by his style? (since I remember something like that from his maps)

Since I almost made this map 3 years ago, I can't really remember who influenced me to do such a windows, but yea, I guess MRCK has something to do with it (just as any other mapper who made city maps over the last 20 years).

Polunka, on 16 June 2016 - 09:25 PM, said:

P.S.: Nice to see veteran mappers help out some, well, not-so-experienced ones (I guess Sanek is one of the latter, from what I've known so far, sorry if this statement offends you, this is just my opinion based on my long-time observasions; on the other hand, i haven't ever been a mapper myself, so who am I even to judge?)

Well, I've been making maps since 2004, finally showing it to public since 2008. I started much later than most of the gang, but I guess there's no problem with it.

Attached thumbnail(s)

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[Polunka]

Sanek, on 17 June 2016 - 03:23 AM, said:

No. Look at the attachment to see his part.

Huh, I'd say it's kinda not in his style, tho *crimson red palette decoration is included* (yep, a reference to the fact most of his maps have that horrifying atmosphere to them; in fact, i'd specify them as true horror maps)

[zykov eddy]

Good job at updating the map!

[NightFright]

I liked the map a lot, especially the idea of using one building as a hub to reach the keycards and exit area.

Two things to consider:
1) It is apparently possible to enter the "decoration area" of the map without enemies. Problem is you can enter but apparently not return. I managed by jumping down from some roof.

2) If you drop down the exit elevator shaft, you die. I only had 8 HP left and it seems you need more than 25 to survive. Maybe put some health right in the middle of the elevator door after you open it.

[Forge]

NightFright, on 17 June 2016 - 10:12 PM, said:

1) It is apparently possible to enter the "decoration area" of the map without enemies. Problem is you can enter but apparently not return. I managed by jumping down from some roof.

the border of this map is still full of holes like swiss cheese, and it's easy to get into the background scenery. If you find yourself stuck in the background area - go to the back of the map where the lake is. There's a spot where you can get back into the play area where all the pigcops and cars are. -or- go around to the road barrier where the single pigcop and car are towards the beginning and you can hop over the hedge there. I believe you can get back across near the gate where the car with the rpg is. There's also a wall or two in alleys that let you jump back across as well.

So yeah, get into the background, go around and kill all the pigcops where you have the tactical and cover advantage, then go back into the play area.

[Merlijn]

Nice to see this one updated into a playable version!

As others have noted, it's still rough around the edges though.
It's very easy to get stuck in the background scenery, since not all the walls are blocked properly.
Then in some instances it's not clear where the border of the map is and you suddenly bump into an invisible wall.

Not sure if you're willing to spend even more time on this map, but it shouldn't take too long to fix those things.

I did like the level though, the vertical progression was nice. Hopping from building to building and using steroids to reach the next rooftop was fun.
Design was consistently good, I especially liked the buildings in the background and pretty much all of the indoor areas.
The pigcop blockade was a nice touch too, very cool way to mark the border of the playable area.

[Sanek]

Eddy - you're a bad tester. I can see now what places are you talked about, but I can't figure out how you ever wound up there. Or maybe I didn't paid attention because I've already know where the playable area ends.

Merlijn, on 21 June 2016 - 11:18 AM, said:

Not sure if you're willing to spend even more time on this map, but it shouldn't take too long to fix those things.

It would be nice, but it's too late now (since that finnish punk already uploaded the latest version on his site).

[NightFright]

I have identified the spot that allows you to enter the background scenery. It's a hedge near the blue car with cones. Basically all you need to do is to make wall 1049 blockable. See screenshots below.

Besides that, a good idea to avoid dying in the final elevator shaft is to put a sixpack behind the elevator forcefield. It's important to put it away from the forcefield so you cannot grab it before the keycards have been used. Still, you will need more than 40-45 hitpoints or you won't survive that drop. In the second screenshot, I have put a sixpack sprite to show you where I would put it (Maybe it's even better to put two sixpacks, just to be on the safe side since one sixpack just adds 30 HP - if you just have 5 or 10 HP left before picking it up, you still won't make it).
Just in case an explanation for this is needed: Falling down that shaft results in damage which the player cannot avoid. Not compensating that is bad. You have to consider a case like I had it when you are on low HP, all health pickups in the area are consumed and you have to drop down there to finish the level - but you can't. I believe it's fair to provide the player with sufficient health to survive that fall after all keycards are used. This way you collect the health at the last moment possible before finishing the map (provided you place it not too close to the forcefield, as stated above), so it won't affect gameplay.

If you are OK with these changes, I would put these two edits into the addon I intend to release with the upcoming addon compilation update.

[pacman]

A nice map, however I cant believe you wouldn't notice the lack of linedefs to block entrance to decoration areas. Right at the begining, you can just walk to the side throught the top of the wall and get into an area that shouldn't be accesible. Besides that it was a good map. Big city maps are always welcomed.

[Seb Luca]

Interesting choice of colors Good work.