Q2 SP Unit

[giftmacher]

Hey,

Here is my small unit for Q2, I had to cut it short because of time issues and other problems with it. Biggest one is that its not very cohesive visually and I feel it is not what I wanted it to be. There are some extra textures in there that was not used because the last map was never finished (probably I won't finish it). Still, I hope someone out there gets a few enjoyable moments/nostalgic trips out of these small maps  Next I would like to experiment more with merging indoor and outdoor areas in more interesting ways, but for now I'll take a break from this.

Features:

* 4 SP maps working as a unit
* 3 difficult settings available (skill 0-2)
* A few custom textures

Link -> drive.google.com/file/d/0B4sO-9thmVw8bGwwbVFQSUEwNFE/view?usp=sharing

Feedback:

If you find any bugs or other problems with the maps let me know. Visually it is a little rough around the edges but all maps are made within 1700 brush limit which drastically affects detail levels and size of the maps :/ (QuArK & Q2 don't like eachother)

Cheers & Happy New Year!

[Deleted]

Hey Giftmacher!.. best wishes and a Happy New Year..
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Despite all the Quark limitations ( brush limit ), you have done well,
Your mapping motivation is very strong!, Quality maps!, good!,
a lot of design work, many hours puzzling Yeah...nice maps!...

two thumbs up


Cheers!...

[giftmacher]

Forgot to mention that you can see some nice margaal detail work in the first map. Thanks again for the touch up on that map

[MaRiNe [Q2C]]

Excellent work, Giftmacher! I loved it! You have recreated the feel and atmosphere of Quake II so well that I was reminded why I love the game in the first place. The sewer theme is one of my favorites and I really adored the way the four levels looked in this unit. Good use of sound ambience as well, something that a lot of designers forget about.

Also, amazing brush work and clever use of entities! Challenging on hard difficulty too - I had to quick load a fair number of times.

Could you provide a guide or screenshots for all the secrets in Crash Site, by the way? I missed four of them (one per each level) and I'm curious to see where they were placed.

The only issue that I encountered is in this room:



After the water level rises after when press the button in this room, the water still remains in its original position. That is, you basically swim in thin air because the water texture remains where it is. I don't know if this bug is because of the client I'm using (R1Q2) but I wanted to let you know regardless.

[giftmacher]

Glad you liked it Marine and thank you for the kind words, and yes that is a bug. It works fine in my Q2 mapping client but not in my regular Q2 folder, I'll see what I can do!

Here are some clues to the secrets: (SPOILER ALERT )

crash1

secret1
secret2
(There is a bio suit to pick up before this area)

crash2

secret1
secret2
secret3

crash3

secret1
secret2
secret3

crash4

secret1
secret2

The final secret in crash4 is a bit unnecessary, there were suppose to be a 5th map though.

[knightmare]

The water that doesn't move sounds like transparent water. This is a long known bug in Quake2's renderer- transparent surfaces can't move. I fixed this in my v3.24 patch (GL renderer only) and in KMQuake2. I think Quake2Evolved and Quake2Max also fix this, and other more recent engines should, too. R1Q2/R1GL doesn't fix any of these old rendering bugs.

I haven't had a chance to play this unit yet, but I should get to it soon.

[giftmacher]

Ah yes, I probably have your patch applied in my mapping folder but not in my regular Q2 folder.

[Butane]

Hey man, nice maps (unit). I enjoyed it quite a bit. My only gripe is the lackof ammo especially on the first map and on harder difficulty above medium. I found myself running out of ammo sometimes.

But other than that they're great maps. I liked how I had to backtrack a few times.

[quakeulf]

Is the file still up? I'm going to try it when I get the time.

[quakeulf]

OK, got it now. :3

[cocerello]

Hi, Giftmacher! Finally got time to play this latest maps and yours was next. As usual, and even though i know you moved from Quake 2, made some demos as feedback for you on normal skill.

dl.dropbox.com/s/nwavnh7pzinabxc/crash_coce.zip?dl=1

Just in case you come back to mapping, i'll comment a bit more: the unit is good and more important, enjoyable, more considering it is your first unit. It is a pity you couldn't make it on the same level on visuals as your DM maps due to the editor, but the gameplay makes up for it.

On the part about things that i think could be improved in next maps:
- There is several areas were the lighting is deficient and had to use the blaster to light up, even though the place was lit already.
- It doesn't give notifications on the log for several of the minor sub-objectives, like in Id maps.
- It would be nice if there was more connections between maps, as it is one of the selling points of this game.
- Even thought it is balanced with more armour and health packs than usual, i still don't like the extra difficulty, on normal difficulty, that comes from some of your setups, and some can be considered unfair. Would work better with less Gladiators on the first maps, as their RG is quite unforgiving when placed on tighter parts without big weapons or good cover.
- About the first map, the ambush before the laser trap and the laser trap itself its hard to even survive on the first try. I suppose that you expected the people to jump past the lava and harmlessly shoot them to death, but with a Guard in front and that hazard, only the mapper would think that in that situation so quickly. Also it would be nice to repopulate a bit the way after taking down the forcefield. There is also some kind of invisible wall my grenades explode on when i try to kill the Gunners on the room with the rising water.
- On the second map, i tried to find the way forward and even found some secrets on the way, but couldn't realize how to go through till i cheated to see how the layout went after each barrier. Looks like you expected people to strafe jump for the button and open the way to deactivate the lasers that way, but most people that play SP don't know how to do trick jumps, so you could have added func_walls to make the jump easier for at least easy and probably normal difficulty too and leave the trick jumping for hard. After that, having to jump down so much height isn't a good idea, as unavoidable damage is almost never a good idea and it could be fixed easily with some steps or a ladder which would have made more sense in that situation.
- On the third, at the very first lift, there is below it what it seems a big clip brush which looks bad, as if the player can get stuck down there you just needed to add and slope in one side and it wold solve the problem easier. Apart from that, there is only praises for this map.
- On the fourth: The medic at the very beginning does have not a single one to heal or revive, making the poor one a bit useless. The ambush with the Icarus group is a bit unfair and only possible to survive with a good amount of health and armour, making a better option getting damage from drowning than facing them on that room, as you can see in the demo. It would be way better if you made some way to go to the other side of the boxes after grabbing the data disk, and that would too save the player from the damage of having to fall down that high as the button for the lift is impossible to activate. 

I'll be waiting eagerly for the day you come back. Good work!