This is on my to-do list today. Speedmapping to hit a deadline at the moment. 

Here is my playthrough \o/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaAzKYCqAQg

I love how the rooms are huge, with plenty of space to move and run in combat... but there is almost no combat :P
There's a lot of times that i enter the rooms waiting for a scrag to spit on me or for a grenade to blow up in my head, but nothing happened... there's so much space for epic fights, but there are no enemies to fight. Too many empty rooms, man. I played in hard difficulty and it felt like easy mode :(

Oh, I have to say that i love the green theme with broken walls on the first and second room, with jumping puzzles, pressing buttons and pushing pillars... it reminds me the first tomb raider game =D I wish the whole map was like this =D 

Thanks for the playthrough video and feedback! Between this and mazotac, I'm definitely finding I need to add more enemies :| 

Simplex is looking great so far. Some thoughts after the link to my 4 demos. I had a long day between yard work and Speedmapping 182! So my playthru is terrible but I have some notes embedded in the demos. I'd suggest using Mark V to view them because it has FF and Rewind! You'll need them with my demos:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/imdm7mtrfjqjaxj/simplex_b1_dumptruck.zip?dl=0

okay some thoughts:

*Yeah you def need more enemies but not a LOT more IMO. I like quiet moments but currently there are too many. Also, you need quality encounters as opposed to the quantity. So for example: You have no fiends in your maps but a lot of loooooong hallways. Fiends are designed for long hallways. Throw a few in your next beta in strategic areas. They do get stuck on stairs and in small corridors but you have a lot of areas where fiends can introduce tension and OMG moments.

* You need some Vore / Shalraths in this. They are great with areas where you have a lot of cover. And your map has a lot of columns - this would be perfect for Vores. They aren't too hard to beat if you know what you are doing so don't be afraid to use them where the player can take cover to avoid. Just make sure the player has enough ammo to deal with them.

*with more monsters you need more ammo and armor. Use your puzzles as places to reward the player. There's one area where I hit the wall with the ax. (Large area with jumping puzzles and water underneath.) That would be a great alcove for armor to reward the player for making the jumps.

I LOVE the jumping puzzles overall. I noted a texture issue in the first demo. When you hit a button the texture should go from animated to non-animated. I got fooled for a second thinking I needed to hit the button again (duh me). I know you are "gaming" the system by looking at the map because the whole thing is a func door. However, you COULD try having the button on the func door have the texture of the "off" position of the switch. (+abutton) Before the player triggers the func_door you could overlap that brush by one unit with a brush with the animated texture on it. You make that a func_wall that will be "killed" using a trigger relay and killtarget.

I copy and pasted an example from your map of this into a test map of mine: https://www.dropbox.com/s/84mc8pimfm57swd/simplex_example.map?dl=0

It's a small thing but small things add up and it's not too hard to do. Quake has a visual language that we have to stick to and this is a good example of something subtle that can confuse a player.

* Think of enemy combos for this map. When to use ranged enemies like the Zombie and Wizards as opposed to Knights who are melee only. try different combos in different situations. Ogres below the player are pretty useless as I noted in the demo. I use Hellknights for those situations.

*The funiculars. I picked off a bunch of enemies from above before activation as you'll see. Trying setting them to the "ambush" spawnflag. They will stay asleep until they see the player or are fired upon. You don't have to fix this in this map but here's some food for thought: After the player activates the funicular maybe delay it for a second and teleport in those monsters so savvy players can't kill them before they are a threat.

Those are plenty of notes. This is going to be a cool map. You have some really unique game play ideas as with your first map! 

Thank you for all the feedback! This gives me a lot to work with for the next version :) 

Hey friends, long time lurker- first time poster. I've been learning Trenchbroom thanks to dumptruck_ds' excellent tutorial series. I'm dipping my toes, so here are some screenshots:

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/jcr_mire_beta1.png

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/jcr_mire_beta2.png

I'll have a link for DL once I iron out a few last things. Looking forward to some initial impressions! 

The shots look very cool and retro in the best possible way. I'll be play testing the beta upon release! 

I can already hear the tink of grenades flying through the bars and the glorious glrrSSCHR-plsch of the zombies gibbing behind, and it is a good sound. 

I have a retro-themed vanilla-ish q1sp episode of 5 smallish maps, currently at 'beta 2' stage. Looking for a tester who:

- is really nitpicky
- normally plays on hard skill
- can record demos over multiple maps

First to shout gets an email (obviously let me know address if it isn't in your profile)

Thank you kindly 8) 

Can do that, if you need some hard skill demos* 

mikkou9(at)gmail(dot)com 

great. I like episode of smallish maps. 

Here's a link to my first map, the final area might be a little spicy on skill 2.

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/jcrmirebeta.zip

screens:

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/jcr_mire_beta1.png

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/jcr_mire_beta2.png 

After some feedback, I made some changes but couldn't reupload to Quaketastic, so here's a new link:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iwq_lBPaEDxqee4Qr430fCequXNyx3Fs

It's crazy the sort of stuff you'd miss without the perspective of others. Looking forward to more feedback! 

Gave it a playthrough (missed the update though, so hopefully this info is still useful), skill 1. Here's the demo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/u4jkf5kc9av2b1g/jcrmire_beta_Yoder1.zip?dl=1

Some fun stuff and a good scaling difficulty to it!

The biggest problem I ran into, as you'll see in the demo, is that I went to the jail side first and then quickly ran out of ammo. The choice at the start between the water and jail seems equal, but due to the ammo and also the key, it's really the water side I needed to go to first. The distances are short enough that this kind of backtracking isn't a big problem. Hopefully that helps! 

I recorded a blind playthrough of your map:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4h99CgjJIA

I found a weird bug below the health pack (look at 00:47 in my video) in FTE engine the bug looks like a hom effect, in quakespasm it looks like a grey polygon.

About the gameplay, I have some thoughts...

I felt a little restraint in my moviments, there's not much free space to run and move around, every place seems so tight, mainly the walkways...

I think the final fight would be more awesome if you had released the zombies when the shamblers appeared. The way it is now, you can just kill the shamblers and go to the exit without killing the zombies, they are no threat to the player. And about the zombies in the second floor... there's any way to go up there? Killing them from below is just tedious. There should be a elevator or a platform :P

Oh, and never let the player leave the final arena. I could easily run away and kill the shamblers from the corridor. You should consider locking the door =D

But, for a first map, this is an amazing job. Congratulations! =D 

Thanks for the feedback, your playthrough helped me a lot. I actually didn't consider the possibility of completing the map with 100% kills, so I'm making changes to ensure that is possible, as well as fixing all the other bugs and stuff. I'll also try making the secrets a bit more noticeable since many players seem to miss them. 

I would try a version with out all the railings. You don't need them for the player BUT if you want them for "show" I get it. And obviously a couple are there as platforms for the player. Just something to think about. 

High everyone!

Know after one month of work, after watching dumptrack_ds inspiering tutorials, I wanna show some screenshots of my first map.

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screen_shots/tempofD/tod_1.jpg
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screen_shots/tempofD/tod_2.jpg
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screen_shots/tempofD/tod_3.jpg
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screen_shots/tempofD/tod_4.jpg

Its mainly inspired by the Indy_2 Movie Temple of Doom and has three parts: a greek temple, an indy stile cave and sewers.
This map should be Part 1 of a 3 Level Minigame with some oldschool tributes to classic games, music and movies.

Ready for feedback, critcs or ideas. :) 

Add more trim maybe.
Maybe add strange features like spikes or beams to the large flat walls to break it up. Make sure your trellises are func_detail s 

Tod1: The suspended platforms look very slim and therfore probably not conducive to Quake's fast pace strafey gameplay. It's hard to tell from the screenshot but I can't see any way to get back up if you fall off (assuming here that the goal is to navigate from the door through the platforms to the other side). Jumping puzzles like this can be pretty frustrating when falling off = a hard reset of the puzzle.

Tod2 : Fuck yeah

Tod 3 : Looks like an arena for a large combat encounter. A bit bland in the center. Maybe a central column or raised area could make the combat here more interesting (assuming it is combat focused).

Tod4 : I'd keep these barrels out of the way of the player. Have them stowed on shelves or around the side of the room so that it won't be such a nightmare to move around in them. 

tod_1 - try adding a few more angled brushes to those rock cliffs
tod_2 - looks cool, but the slight lack of symmetry does not sit well with my OCD :D
tod_3 - I'd break the floor up a bit, maybe cut a rectangle 6 or 8 tiles wide (and however long) and lower it by 16 units so you have a sunken section, helps distract from the repetitive tile texture
tod_4 - that wall texture is normally used for floors, looks a bit odd

I like it, reminds me of old maps I used to download from cdrom.com ~18 years ago in a cute, nostalgic way. 

Thanks for the first feedback!

@Qmaster: Thats a great idea because I'm still fighting with the big spaces and need more live in it.

@DaZ: Yes you're right. I created them in an early stage and tested them to late. I've implemented in my idear of loosen up the gameplay, means shooting, adventure, shooting, jump'n run, shooting. I know that this is totally breaking with the original concept but hoping that it works.
About the way(s) to the goal. :) You have three, at least four with falling down. 1.)Youse an elevator and get into the action. 2.) find a way over the platforms, find weapons and ammunition, clean up the hords. 3.) Use a platform kind of stairway to get down, clean up the enemys one by one and finish.There is also a oldsch. J'n'R way back up and you will need it. (see tod_7) You're right about the frustrating thing and I'm working on keeping it on a minimum.
The barrels will be minimized.

@rj: Yeah the brushes. :) Now that I found out how to break the Noodlimitation I do. The symmetry first was a problem for me to change bacause of the limitations. I try to fix this with lights and shadows. The walltexture.. damm. Haven't recognized. Is changed.

Have added some better Screenshots with lightning.

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screen_shots/tempofD/tod_5.jpg
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screen_shots/tempofD/tod_6.jpg
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screen_shots/tempofD/tod_7.jpg 

Got a new beta of Simplex with a lot of changes from the feedback :)
The encounters should be more interesting now, and I decided to take the more ruined aesthetic throughout the level.

DL: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6leglp9gsj4rwqd/simplex_b2.zip?dl=1

Screenshots:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m4s6rxzlxi720vg/simplex_b2_1.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ma7rgvjrvbnbie7/simplex_b2_2.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/witayskc2ohrgpm/simplex_b2_3.png?dl=0 

It's coming along and feels much more cohesive than beta 1. Me being lame on skill 1.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jlcxbwcij2lphdo/simplexb2_dumpt.zip?dl=0

I got got turned around a few times and felt lost more that once but your encounters are way more fun now! I'd say a touch more health in the first two rooms. Don't be afraid to put a couple of arrows in your level to tell the player where to go next.

I really like the look of the level. You have some really striking geometry throughout.

What do the generators do? Is that element still under development? Or did I miss something?

Overall it's really a huge improvement. I might play again and send some more feedback about little texture things. It's the end of a long day.