[ck3D]

Passed TamDuke level 3.

OK now we are going somewhere, this is much better than the former level with really cool layout, way better flow and now I kind of get the ammo/health starvation from the previous level if the intent was to achieve what turns out to be an even more brutal map start than I had imagined. I expected to fight maybe an order as tall as, maybe a wall of enemies as a 'shock start' but no it is a full house of Pigcops that has been placed around literally every corner. The level knows you are coming in with less than 10 HP and no ammo (it literally spawns you on top of a +30 medkit and +10 shotgun), there is one other +30 medkit in the room (just a few steps away), one secret armor that you only will get to access after you've won, and the only underground passageway you could try and use to outrun or outsmart the Pigcops also is full of them until you clear it. Some die-and-retry to figure out the solution is to play that section like a bullet hell game (except it's hitscan and so extra unfair), the first seconds of the fight have to be input perfect in order to encircle the incoming mobs whilst collecting the second medkit, and then maybe you'll find meager cover behind a tiny ledge that still exposes Duke's head when you duck and so hitscan can still reach you.



It is just a minute and a half long fight/hardcore intro and in the moment didn't know what to think of it until the solution came up (not uncommon at all in Duke maps, think Fahrenheit ending), then I understood I was being asked to play a mix of Snake and Cuphead. Now yeah, that would describe common circle strafing in general quite well but here seemed to push it to the point where it is mandatory to figure out some intended movement patterns for a few seconds, and then you get a chance to break away. Just the way the first Pigcop isn't positioned right in front of the player, but slightly off center (so you need to take one step to the side to shoot it before it can shoot you) should communicate something is off and that's really brillant. Died maybe ten or fifteen times but only lost 3 HP on the one time I did make it and that felt satisfying. I reckon lots of people would hate it, but that's always the other side of the coin for doing new, I think I actually genuinely liked it though.




Still was hoping all of the level was not going to be like that and thankfully no, author is self-conscious enough. All of the rest is completely different and a welcome contrast, generally quieter exploration without ever feeling boring as it still is heavily punctuated by strong encounters, but more reasonable and creative ones; suddenly it becomes something that is simultaneously traditional in layout, progression and signaling, and original in presentation and organization, it's actually quite fascinating how some bits that look straight out of some alternate reality Hotel Hell, Raw Meat or L.A. Rumble (mostly hallways) can coexist with crazier designs, sector logos and colors.




This really confirmed it to me Pigcops are going to be used as a joke in this episode though. One of the keys is underwater (you haven't found Scuba Gear yet - at least I haven't), at the end of a flooded vent that is just the right length so that Duke will start suffocating. For once, besides that, the situation feels strangely safe, so you just turn back after you've grabbed the key, and hope to swim back to dry world but no just above the exit of the vent, the author drops an underwater Pigcop (literally) on you from the ceiling. I just appreciate the jokes at this point, but it is clear by now the author expects you to die and retry/reload a lot, for there is no way to predict a lot of the events.



That is not a bad thing per se at all though, and this time the unpredictability comes with a few traps and set-ups that resonate with it rather than clash against. The latter third of the map has a couple of circular floors and arenas that come out of nowhere in different types, and all play to the strength of their respective designs in basic but efficient, fun ways. It does do more of the bait thing, on multiple instances this time around.

Yet again, that makes the level sound more exotic than it really is. The layout evokes traditional like I said, and does look the part in curated bits but always follows the function, just enough to guide the player around by the nose, flow well, and then it's genuinely good in what it achieves with the variations in geometry from floor to floor, area to area, opening to opening (window, door, etc. positioning and scaling just works), plus it does cool stuff with both transport elevators and SOS. Feels very E3 to traverse regardless of the user map distinctions (maybe also with the shortcomings of E3), definitely feels the most DC Travis out of all levels so far (like a mini Smithsonian Terror of stacked floors). Spotted some slept-on potential in parts but nothing as egregious as what the former level did.





Pretty good one this one.

[ck3D]

TamDuke level 4 is behind me. What a great level, now this one is a must play sometime if you haven't, even out of context as user map, especially if you like simple maps that pull cool strings. It does require some patience but is well worth the relatively small investment it is.



So, this is a conceptual level - brillantly executed too - that describing clearly is going to spoil, and so it is on the reader to know where they want to stop. But right now it is confirming I am still on board as a player and now trusting what this episode is doing (to the degree it is doing it).

At first feels like an opposite Critical Mass that instead of being super fast and explosive is painfully slow, (very) suspiciously way too hard to navigate at all and as a result you really are playing a 2D top-down automap game for maybe ten, fifteen minutes literally the whole time wandering about an extended maze of hallways and vents, looking for little openings in the walls that look like doors or grates. There are Red 3-type sounds peppered throughout (also well chosen and placed, didn't feel like a Red copy) that sometimes result in checking 3D mode again for a split second but otherwise you really are just sort of playing Operation the board game and I am not joking. Super risky idea, but really nothing to fault regarding execution as even the sector work is built in a way that functions completely with what the author is doing, comprising lots of big flat colored sectors/mats with the correct hierarchy and whatnot.



Then eventually you stumble upon your first key card, then again another one, and then the third also in the dark, but can't seem to spot a keypad anywhere. That is when the power switch that you (should) have seen coming does come in, the whole level lights up and becomes legible, but that also means it completely populates, whereas the entire building was empty the whole time before. The combat is great, too, no more item starvation (but a reasonable amount), and one thing I absolutely adored is realizing with the lights on that all of the formerly annoying doors in the confined darkness had now become dynamic tools of mine to use as activable cover everywhere during the firefights in all the corridors, trap enemies inside rooms while you come around from the next opening, squish, or even mark explored/unexplored rooms (important here since you're going through the level twice, in two different forms).




After which I honestly got a little scared something else was going to get pulled on me, as I really got lost for maybe 10 minutes going in circles around the crazy layout, before remembering the level actually had started in a smaller, secluded side area (and that was my honest bad for forgetting that at all, the trail of respawns was done quite well). All the more stupid that you do get to see where the first keypad is on the literal first frame into the map (which is absolutely optimal), except I had saved/reloaded my game a few seconds later than that and once I eventually resumed playing past the starting room I had forgotten about it. Either way, you just end up going back there, unlocking all of the colored keypads in a row (all of which come with a backspawn...), then the last garage door to exit.





End of level is a bit disappointing, door opens to reveal a pretty cool open cityscape (which I assume I might reach next?) with several Commanders spawning in the distance, looking promising but then the level ends as you step outside on the plaza, before the enemies can even come close, and some even snap down to floor level which means you would have to wait for a while to be able to shoot them, quite anticlimactic. Could/personally would have used direct activation of the trigger from the last switch instead, rather than unlock, then on-location, manual activation (pressing use), so that the sequence would have had the time to actually build up and play right; right now just looks like four Commanders pop up at a distance only for half of them to get lost in the scenery, and the other half witness Duke insta-win by accident.



Memorable Duke map, might test someone's patience but I think most players who've reached this point after levels 2/3 and are still going will be strong of enough.



(As an aside, this is making me realize most D3D episodes/mods starting to feel redundant/stale/numb after just a few levels to lots of people probably speaks more about modern attention spans, sensibilities and availabilities than it probably does about the game itself and its scene supposedly getting old and sterile.)

[ck3D]

Passed TamDuke level 5 (Viistokatu).




I have rather mixed feelings about it, I really liked the combat although I do think it's a bit much to have (even exceptional) instances of things such as the one Commander spawning right in your face at the end of one vent (behind the fence sprite, too, so semi-blind), that was funny once with the underwater Pigcop, but good slapstick just once, as a trope will soon feel like spit in the face.

First 10/15 minutes exploring the open-ended city that just kept giving felt really cool, all of the combat was tough and fair enough to be engaging, didn't have much of an issue even with the in-your-face respawns everywhere (better than in your back) or the couple of Battlelords hidden around odd corners. Sure all of the big crowds including every type of alien (but Newbeasts we haven't seen yet, curious if we will) look like an absolute clusterfuck but in the giant open empty plaza that is essentially pure void space with just the right amount of options and cover, and is full of colors, it works and kind of makes for fun fireworks all around, and thematically would make sense a district like this would attract main attention. Somehow reminded me of Blast Radius level 6 Croatia except if it played like level 2 San Francisco (intricate matrix with lots of goals; Croatia is more simple).





Then I started trusting the map a lot less because it has a game-breaking bug in current EDukes (at least), facing the faraway building that glitches in/out due to long walls, and then rendering the inside of the neighboring Duke Burger by strafing in front of it crashes the game, from what I can tell is a basic corruption issue (because of the long walls), except that's a rather important area of the map and there even are enemies the player will be tempted to fight from that angle. Just normally using the Duke Burger main entrance door broke the map on me once (Pitchfork style), thankfully after several crashes I realized I could sneak in from a side window and still make it inside but didn't feel safe.

Long walls/huge sectors also cause occasional blocking of shots during the fights on the main plaza. There also is a crack that absolutely looks destructible but isn't (and caused me to die twice to make sure), rooftop jumps that should be feasible and enemies can drop ammo/weapons on - that you then (find out the hard way you) can't reach, and another troll Commander at the top of a narrow spiral staircase that I guess you're supposed to shrink (the map has Shrinkers everywhere, I barely used it) but won't predict and took me a few reloads to just survive.





There are pretty cool cars and apartments and shops and little nests everywhere (also tons of closed doors), and the level kind of works as a city but only so much, for it is trying to suggest two things at once, 'explore everything and see how senselessly complex it is', and 'here is a giant zone with three keys literally hidden somewhere', both fine gimmicks by themselves but once laid down like this makes it logical that together they can mutually cannibalize. And here I feel like they kind of do: a lot of the connections between the shops feel more random than usual, which is part of the charm, getting deep into exploring a given place only to realize you've emerged out of a different one and then feeling surprised/confused. 'ROOF' secret was a satisfying way to come around on an area that had seemed a little superfluous at first, too.

But now within that deliberately crazy framework also is a precise pattern of tasks that are not just far apart (that is fine) but semi-secrets in the map. Sometimes it works, like finding the yellow keypad is intuitive whilst scanning the city and naturally gathering intel, and makes the player feel smart once they do. But some other, more crucial times it just feels a bit too malign, e.g.. in the darkest room of the map, having to destroy a potted palm tree (not potted plant; indoors palm tree which is larger, and specifically calls for explosive) in order to be able to just see that a mandatory tiny vent exists to take you to one of the keys is a bit much. And so the problem is, the openness promises freedom but really robs you of it pretty hard after you've had your original moment of fun going around once, and you now need to relearn how to read all of the space but looking for different clues altogether. (BR San Francisco level would have had a similar problem if it didn't accept its design by letting you skip 95% of it as long/soon as you pass the 'fun exploration' test.)




The blue key was a bit difficult to find for me, too, albeit for a funny reason I don't think was intended or considered. There is a security viewscreen to show where it has spawned, once it has; except the corresponding room looks exactly like one of the locker rooms from the very previous map (similar construction, same textures), and so I got excited and thought a trick was being pulled on me and maybe I could now access part of the former map again from the starting point of this one, and fetch the key there. Spent a good ten minutes searching around there and eventually found out that no, the correct room was a completely random one somewhere else in the map entirely, that was comical though.

Strange map, interesting, but not my favorite. What it is trying to represent (and in fact does) is ambitious, and the senseless open firefights are very fun, but the level is plagued by some important bugs (really contributed anxiety to my approach), and has the same self-contradictions in its ambitions (layout vs. traversal) as levels 1 and 2 but on a scale that makes it all the harder to bear. Clever designs and pathways, just with no rhyme nor reason except for keys somewhere; at the very least interesting to look at and interact with, and probably fun in general if you really like secret and key hunts even if/when somewhat nonsensical.

This map also reminded me of a (famous) shovelware map by the way, INFERNO.MAP, also a city with all of the keys literally hidden around the map (random walls to press...). ANARCHY.MAP was like that too but INFERNO is closer to this.

[Merlijn]

I remember Tamduke! IIRC it's a pretty solid episode that gets better as it goes along, but it has been 10 years since I've played it. Wasn't there are a map taking place in some sort of expo building? (may have been map 3).

PS. I intend to play your new episode, but I've just been completely disconnected from Duke for these last couple of months.

[ck3D]

Merlijn, on 29 June 2026 - 09:59 AM, said:

I remember Tamduke! IIRC it's a pretty solid episode that gets better as it goes along, but it has been 10 years since I've played it. Wasn't there are a map taking place in some sort of expo building? (may have been map 3).

PS. I intend to play your new episode, but I've just been completely disconnected from Duke for these last couple of months.

Yeah I actually found the TamDuke release thread on here just the other day - I didn't even remember it existed - and it turned out the both of us had posted in it, felt like a sudden flash from lifetimes ago. I tried my best to just barely skim through all of the posts in order to dodge possible spoilers, but still noticed you mentioned playing the episode and actually traversing it really fast (or looked like it in the thread). Honestly I had been meaning to play it for a very long time too (since that thread probably), but didn't feel right until now for all kinds of reasons, go figure.

It's reminding me of Downtown Journey quite a bit, by the way. It really can be felt both authors tackled a similar exercise (reasonable scale D3D episode out of real world places), and somehow achieved very comparable product, even when breaking away from the standard (3DR styled) formula; the main difference is pmw gets bigger, crazier and zanier than Murara with it, which has its own subset of pros and cons (TamDuke has some cramped moments but in general is a lot more maneuverable).

They both appear to have a hotel map, too, as DJ had a memorable one (only imperfect because running out of jetpack is an easy softlock), and the next TamDuke level I will tackle, just from the title I've quit on, appears to be hotel-themed.

[Merlijn]

I was also thinking of Downtown Journey, there are definitely some interesting similarities. I enjoyed them both a lot.

Quote

but still noticed you mentioned playing the episode and actually traversing it really fast (or looked like it in the thread)

Perhaps I just waited until I finished the episode before posting.. It's too long ago so I don't remember exactly, but I believe I did play through it fairly fast.

[ck3D]

Passed TamDuke L6 - Majatalo - Room 53.



This level took me the longest thus far, I have a lot of great and terrible things to say about it, but in general it shares the same layout vs. traversal issues as levels 1, 2 and (unfortunately also to the extent of) 5. Although being a more focused map than 5, 95% of the action taking place inside of a several story hotel, that comes in a bit of a different flavor that may or may not be more tolerable depending on player profile.

It really is a bit of a yo-yo, map starts out pretty cool with nice outdoor, urban setpieces, structures and underwater tunnels to rampage through and scavenge from, essentially on a 3DR level scale too just with ten times the detail and again more fun original cars everywhere. Sewer system could have more flow to it and/or be made to look a little better (the same can be said about so many ventilation ducts in this episode by the way; I would guess due to some kind of texture alignment OCD making bland texture choices feel safer to the author), but it does the job which is, you'll really spend quite some time figuring it out anyway due to its (reasonable) maze-like nature.




First real problem is access to the first key, finding the way to it is pretty challenging but fair except the whole time it teaches you, one thing this level does is decorative vents/grates that you can smash as they are sprites, but they are put in front of a black wall and not an actual hole. There are so many instances of that that you quickly stop trying to enter anything that looks like it, since it turns out there never is actual space behind it and so you just assume it is some kind of Looney Tunesque author design quirk, fine. And then suddenly it is inconsistent and you have to break one fan that exactly looks like that (a precise one in a line of multiple copies too), jump into the ceiling right there, and then do a literal 180° in complete darkness in order to progress towards the key (thankfully automap is a thing). I'm sorry but no, I did notice and appreciate that it's trying to pull an E3 'secret text' with the NVG's in just the right spot and all but regardless of the indication the execution doesn't work. Even the use of the NVG's here is a bit questionable because it is a rare item in this episode and so when you find a pair, you are not sure whether to use them on the spot as could be suggested, or if you're supposed to hold onto them for later (since that is the signaling the episode so far sends with the rest of the inventory). Now if the fake vents didn't exist everywhere it would not be that much of a problem, but as the apex of an already rather convoluted quest that teaches you everything but what to do at the end doesn't feel right.




Then finally getting inside of, and unlocking the main floors of the hotel is expected to feel like relief, but no there is some more maze-like navigation for a bit including through a floor with a submergible pool that looks cool but (even once the map over) feels completely unnecessary (read: you will keep trying to return to it every other time you get stuck somewhere later in the level), and some confusion as one switch unlocks the 'ELEVATOR' but there are two elevators to unlock, including the unnecessary one. Another one lowers a gate outside near an important point, but is more of a distraction in itself than anything since that just draws you to what used to be behind the gate, not near (the idea is kind of cool, but here I'm not sure). There are cameras, but they very rarely show actual progression cues and instead seem to prefer resembling a 'realistic' security system, showing mostly filler angles of every other hallway and street around the level, and so with the exception of a couple of them they are pointless, when not misleading.

Now once past the first key, the level picks up again, and transforms into a kaleidoscopic Hotel Hell of sorts. There are many floors, goal always is to unlock the next until you reach the top, after which point you will have to come back all the way down for a massive battle. In principle, sounds really cool. In practice, is not bad either: the reduced scope (compared to level 5) allows for better interconnectivity and some more clever passageways or shortcuts (also some not-so-clever ones which we will get to later), for instance I liked how one of the floors had those two parallel vents in the ceiling that allowed Duke to switch from wing to wing. There also is the Fire Extinguisher of Death (one of my favorite ones I've seen, explodes the whole floor and then keeps generating explosions every random minute for a while in case you're still around, comes with detail too):



The most fun part is how trippy it gets to strafe, open door, shoot, strafe, open door, shoot... dozens of times in a row always with a (somewhat) different surprise behind each door, sometimes it's Pigcop shotgun blast to the face but thankfully there are more things around all of the rooms, including the entrance to the secret level (which looks cool, but is buggy - you can use the parallaxed skies to cancel fall damage and skip around the platform - and in general I am a bit let down by how it was done). Like a lot of the level is literally playing Guess Who? and it really is stupid fun. Fights and design both pretty cool with some highlights - absolutely loved having to filter maybe 30 Pigcops through one door, too bad I don't think they unlocked anything coming in (one more instance of slept on potential, neat idea that doesn't dare go all the way). It is a bit inconsistent but there are a lot of random machines and walls to press and hug around the halls for secrets (marked and unmarked) and shortcuts too.

The floors are of varying quality, the first few are interesting how they play with and sort of subvert expected symmetry, gets really confusing and even mind-numbing after a while trying to keep track of which hallway or floor is which. And then some of the other floors are underdeveloped and just one small building branch, they function but feel closer to dead-ends than anything (all the more so that every way from one floor to the next always is indirect), and after a while starts feeling like the exercise of the map really was to make a full-scaled hotel, but perhaps at the expense of wall count optimization. Honestly I would rather see some of the decorative sectors outside instead devoted to bonus practicality inside, were the question to be raised. Either way, the result is this feels closer to a D3D level to traverse now, looking abstract-ish, than the real hotel it is pretending to simulate, and yet it fails to deliver the video game dynamics that would be (all the more) needed to open it up over time, instead insisting on rigid maze again. There is quite a bit of respect to the 3DR philosophy, again with all of the layout exercise, but again that clashes against the strict progression the level expects and, more importantly, never proceeds to unlock as you go.

As soon as maybe three or four floors up is when that becomes a real problem again. Like I've said, the way from one floor to the next is always mysterious and a bit contrived, lost in a sea of similar options; elevator doors exist all around the hotel, but none of them ever unlock (they literally are all fake doors, including one more fake destructible one that will just waste an explosive and stress a reload), and so that means you never really gain any tactical advantage over the terrain as you conquer it which is this level's biggest miss. Some tiny openings that are mandatory for progress are hidden by gimmicks that sometimes work (e.g.. the E1L3-like poster), or don't (occasional literal bad room designs with inconsiderate angles). You are forced to go through all of the floors again, and again, and again, and again, through tiny semi-hidden holes and you never get to blow a larger picture into the blockout to free it up and materialize your progress. As a result, you end up wasting lots of unnecessary time backtracking for minutes, sometimes in the wrong direction, sometimes having to use one painfully slow elevator, always crawling along the same lines back and forth and the repetition turns into redundancy, going from a fun, rather traditional D3D Travis-styled experience to just being a rat in a maze. Making the elevators an actual thing to unlock would have solved the flaw entirely, I don't care if that would have given the player more liberty regarding how to approach the ending since that too actually would have been a step-up.



Then you make it to the ultimate floor and out of the blue, boom - it hits you with the coolest sequence I've seen in a D3D map in a long time, involving a battery of attack choppers gradually mowing down the building with rockets and eating away at it (in great detail too) until they eventually can reach you. Execution is simple but spectacular nonetheless and flawless, having to spot and retrieve the key and then input a simple button combo in the midst of the chaos is awesome, not too sure why it really was needed to make the quest one more key (that's a lot of them in the map and then the purpose of this one is a little artificial) but that's fine. After that is when you need to come back down the whole of the building again, and it's been completely invaded once more, behind your back, whilst you were busy; that is another great moment too, the spawns (including of some bonus items) generally work well, again in a way actual elevators wouldn't have ruined at all. They do get a bit unreasonable around the time of exiting the lobby one last time, but nothing that can't be managed with strats.




Then you finally get to end the level. Having the switch to unlock the secret level just there next to the Nukebutton I thought was almost insulting, given how easy the secret exit itself had been to find about halfway through the level (with the level name doubling up as a hint to its location too), since that moment I had been looking for a way to activate it around the map that actually would have been smart, sometimes taking minutes out of my time after certain triggers to see whether or not the door had come down. Turns out no, this is one more instance of 'the mapper really wants you to see the whole level as they have made it, thus will rob you of any reward that would be an actual lateral way of clearing it', classic but always super toxic; whilst at the same time making sure you won't risk missing the secret level either. Unlocking the way super late per se isn't even the problem, just here the lazy way it is done is such a spit in the face, and there is no mystique.

So yeah, on this one I'm torn. It could have been an absolute highlight of the episode and occasionally does some really cool stuff, otherwise generally plays well, but core mistakes such as the contradictory injunction with the vent, secret level and fake elevator door design really suffice to undermine it because they're really strong. Some events like the Pigcop raid or the rooftop attack, again, were 10/10, parallaxed lava skies always evoke strong feelings in me (used to be the only way to make cloudy day skies for the longest time due to 1.3D), I tend to like hotel maps and experimental layout efforts, heck the flow wasn't even that bad... Except when it really was, and then it really hurt; couple of little things that could have easily been avoided, or worked around, but may result in dozens and dozens of minutes spent scanning a level that had started as something great (and occasionally still shows pulse throughout!) but you grow to hate all the more so that you are forced to traverse it over and over and over. Without the stumps that are the misleading signaling with the vents at the start, the absence of shortcuts to blow open through the floors, some of the bad design e.g.. redundant cameras and poorly placed vents and also a way to unlock the secret level that is actually good, would have been a timeless classic and my favorite map so far in the episode. But the honest aftertaste really is one that is of barely a hot map at best, and the realization that some older, classic maps such as Mega Plaza Shopping Center already did the same layout exercise type eons ago but better. I absolutely do not regret playing it at all and had fun and saw cool stuff; it's strange.



The secret level I've tried playing for a couple of minutes too and I see it's basically Urea 51 style and quality, am fine with that, so far seems to show and do fun things all the while playing atrociously (but I can tell that's intended and eventually controllable already, just from the semi-secret side room near start).

[Telee]

Those screenshots look great. So many amazing Duke maps and mods I want to sink my teeth into. Mapping takes up all my Duke time 😔

[ck3D]

Telee, on 07 July 2026 - 11:59 AM, said:

Those screenshots look great. So many amazing Duke maps and mods I want to sink my teeth into. Mapping takes up all my Duke time ������

TamDuke is an episode that is well worth your time, except you do need to expect an old-school type of experience with not just levels that tease you with your time just a little, but really deserve some engagement as though they were the only thing in the world worth your attention regardless of epoch. I actually have a lot of respect for that balls out type of approach if one would pardon my French, but in 2026 oversaturation is a thing to the point where knowing what you are doing with your time precisely is more precious than ever, so it is not so insane to not consume all of the cool stuff you see, if anything that's a healthy reflex. Lots of those projects really are low-key art projects and will persist around long term for as much as the game will be legendary (and it's one of the best ones of all time) and played, there will be an audience. Regardless of how casually you may have brought it up, I like to relativize this kind of anxiety because all committed mappers/modders are naturally prone to it (whether they realize it or not or think they are isolated in that situation), I used to feel guilty about so much cool work seemingly slipping by me all the time until I realized this isn't 2004 anymore where you are thankful for seeing just about any user map but it is an actual luxury there is so much activity going on and things out.

In order not to feel too guilty about it and lose touch with what is going on I do sort of force finding moments where actually playing the game prevails, and that is when I catch up usually with a full episode or two that's probably been in the backlog for a really long time. Usually that is when I'm burnt out on the editor and want to chill, but I would not complain about how that aligns and is complementary Mikko recently reminded me of the Time TC which I've never played and also Prequel to Time (see MSDN), maybe that will be what I play next after TamDuke, it is giving off DaikariN vibes which I really like.

Mod/Dod of the Month was cool because it used to be an incentive for people to still go and actively play the stuff regardless of how trying the times with attention span (which does have a limit). That it is no longer running doesn't mean so much about the '''state of the community''' and supposed interest in the works of the scene as it does about the insane rush that is the pace of present day society. That is important to relativize in order not to develop any personal stress about it, regardless of how latent. Let alone that it's still just a video game, too. Endless stuff to prioritize over it.

[Paul B]

ck3D, on 08 July 2026 - 04:35 AM, said:

TamDuke is an episode that is well worth your time, except you do need to expect an old-school type of experience with not just levels that tease you with your time just a little, but really deserve some engagement as though they were the only thing in the world worth your attention regardless of epoch. I actually have a lot of respect for that balls out type of approach if one would pardon my French, but in 2026 oversaturation is a thing to the point where knowing what you are doing with your time precisely is more precious than ever, so it is not so insane to not consume all of the cool stuff you see, if anything that's a healthy reflex. Lots of those projects really are low-key art projects and will persist around long term for as much as the game will be legendary (and it's one of the best ones of all time) and played, there will be an audience. Regardless of how casually you may have brought it up, I like to relativize this kind of anxiety because all committed mappers/modders are naturally prone to it (whether they realize it or not or think they are isolated in that situation), I used to feel guilty about so much cool work seemingly slipping by me all the time until I realized this isn't 2004 anymore where you are thankful for seeing just about any user map but it is an actual luxury there is so much activity going on and things out.

In order not to feel too guilty about it and lose touch with what is going on I do sort of force finding moments where actually playing the game prevails, and that is when I catch up usually with a full episode or two that's probably been in the backlog for a really long time. Usually that is when I'm burnt out on the editor and want to chill, but I would not complain about how that aligns and is complementary Mikko recently reminded me of the Time TC which I've never played and also Prequel to Time (see MSDN), maybe that will be what I play next after TamDuke, it is giving off DaikariN vibes which I really like.

Mod/Dod of the Month was cool because it used to be an incentive for people to still go and actively play the stuff regardless of how trying the times with attention span (which does have a limit). That it is no longer running doesn't mean so much about the '''state of the community''' and supposed interest in the works of the scene as it does about the insane rush that is the pace of present day society. That is important to relativize in order not to develop any personal stress about it, regardless of how latent. Let alone that it's still just a video game, too. Endless stuff to prioritize over it.

Well I didn't even realize TamDuke was out there. After seeing your post and your provided screenshots I decided it was a welcome add to the site. Thanks to you!

https://www.dukemaps.net/tamduke/