1st Place: marics108 by Maric

[X7[Q2C]]

Grim Gray Grotto by Maric
marics108.bsp

q2c.tastyspleen.net/maps/con_7/marics108.zip










Judges scores



Judges comments:

James[Q2C]:
n/a

Dervish:
Many times I have attempted to create believable cave architecture in my maps, and many times I have tossed those maps aside in frustration due to the extreme difficulty of the process. Your ability to quickly and consistently push out this type of brush architecture and keep it simple enough for quake 2's engine is truly amazing.

I couldn't find many real flaws in this map and I was forced to resort to nitpicking to come up with a couple of constructive criticisms:

The area by the jacket armor could use a sizzling ambient sound to warn the player out of the death pool, and I found the lighting a bit too monotone, even tho I have no doubt that this was the intended effect and that you were going for a kind of dead and dreary feel ala the original quake.

Spawn Girl:
VERY pleasant to the eye and GREAT game play.
The map give you the idea that you are walking by a deep, mysterious and forgotten place,
lighting creates a excellent atmosphere.
Is not cold like other marics maps. Epic map.

Wixen1 [Q2C]:
n/a

Mr. LemonyFresh:
This is quite a nice map.
The atmosphere is very believable as deathly and cold, so the sound and colours do they're jobs well enough.

I found a strange spot where you fall into water and it drains your health? I would have made it look more like acid sorry to nitpick, but hey, it's Maric and I wouldn't have much to write about otherwise .
I found that the bots tend to get stuck on the 2nd floor spiral for some reason.

The weapon placement is great, I think a lot of careful thought has been put into it.
A problem I had was in some areas, it's so dark that you can't see your opponent. In places like the rocket launcher spot, this can be especially friendly to campers.

I think a little variety in this map would have gone a long way as well.
Over all, a great effort. Well done.

[Le Ray [Q2C]]

Awesome map Maric! Congrats on 1st place. Thanks for being a part of our contest.

[spirit]

I like the BA spot and the very cool cave architecture. The sounds are perfect, so is the atmosphere. The grey bricks aren't that exciting, rock textures are cool though.

The map's also very vertical and should play pretty good. Connectivity is ok but imo a teleporter or a dangerous jumppad that takes you upstairs could have improved it a lot. Going from the lowest spot (at RL) up to the RG takes ages.

Item placement could also have been better. The RL at the lowest point just isn't enough. RG or even BA should have gone there imo.

The top level has tons of powerful stuff: RG and GL (which is powerful up there!) and very fast access to BA in addition to the tactical advantage and the close-by JA is too much.

A very good map alltogether, worthy winner!

[yendor]

After a quick first look, I thought the same thing as Spirit... that once you claim the upper area with the armors and railgun, you'd have it clinched. Playing it however, resulted in several very close matches between a friend and myself in 1v1 matches.

Love the ambient sounds! Creeeepy! Cold and dank atmosphere. Another flawless construction from Maric!

I think if Maric shit in the woods, that turd would be an awesome Quake map too!

Nice work man! I have to ask - what editor do you use?

[m]

Sept 6, 2009 11:26:45 GMT -5 yendor said:

After a quick first look, I thought the same thing as Spirit... that once you claim the upper area with the armors and railgun, you'd have it clinched. Playing it however, resulted in several very close matches between a friend and myself in 1v1 matches.

Love the ambient sounds! Creeeepy! Cold and dank atmosphere. Another flawless construction from Maric!


Nice work man! I have to ask - what editor do you use?

- Thanks dude!

-I use a dinosaur...Tread 1.12 (bugs, crashes and all)

Sept 6, 2009 11:26:45 GMT -5 yendor said:

I think if Maric shit in the woods, that turd would be an awesome Quake map too!

Thanks again, but no luck. It did draw flies though.

[m]

Sept 4, 2009 8:38:00 GMT -5 spirit said:

I like the BA spot and the very cool cave architecture. The sounds are perfect, so is the atmosphere. The grey bricks aren't that exciting, rock textures are cool though.

The map's also very vertical and should play pretty good. Connectivity is ok but imo a teleporter or a dangerous jumppad that takes you upstairs could have improved it a lot. Going from the lowest spot (at RL) up to the RG takes ages.

Item placement could also have been better. The RL at the lowest point just isn't enough. RG or even BA should have gone there imo.

The top level has tons of powerful stuff: RG and GL (which is powerful up there!) and very fast access to BA in addition to the tactical advantage and the close-by JA is too much.

A very good map alltogether, worthy winner!

Thanks. You nailed the item placement on the head BUT I admit to purposefully doing so. I hate the RL so much, I just wanted it to sit in a dead end, it'll teach those rocket-spammers some manners

I like to have a solid control-point in some of my maps, thus no tele or jump-pad. The idea was to gain control of the "top" of the map and hold it as long as possible. I did put the back door in to give opponents a chance.

[m]

Dervish! and Mr. LemonyFresh!

Great critique/s on the cave area by the jacket armor. I should've had some kind of warning symbol, warning sound or some other some-such device. I hate that I left that detail out, it seems like a cheap trick on my part but it wasn't intended.

This is why releasing maps without any formal testing is a bit iffy. But in the light of the contest, understandable.

[yendor]

Sept 6, 2009 15:03:47 GMT -5 m said:

Thanks again, but no luck. It did draw flies though.

Yeah, and those flies were having one killer deathmatch game!

[Le Ray [Q2C]]

Maric,
I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to post this link to your interview over on Tasteyspleen. Just wanted the folks here to check it out.

Nice interview.

shoutcast.tastyspleen.net/?p=101

[m]

Sept 8, 2009 15:42:17 GMT -5 Le Ray [Q2C] said:

Maric,
I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to post this link to your interview over on Tasteyspleen. Just wanted the folks here to check it out.

Nice interview.

shoutcast.tastyspleen.net/?p=101

Nope, don't mind at'll. I'm afraid to listen to it myself though...assuming I made a goof of myself.

[draxi]

Looks awesome mate!