ok, i'm going to retire my pimp hat for a while, as i'm running the risk of overhyping this.

i very much appreciate everyone's crits/comments - i will look into improving the lighting and it looks like i'm going to have to say goodbye to my lovely Q2 arsenal. the Q3 textures are here to stay though - as many people have got away with that in the past ;)

headthump - thanks for the weapons suggestion, but i will probably go back to the good ol' classic quake guns.

kell, our names are similar :) - mine's short for Kinnschmerzen, which is german for "chin ache" ;) 

very nice map you got going there. everything is clean and put together well. the texture choices are sharp and the theme is executed nicely. that ankh shaped mirror is really cool the placement makes me think there is another path there instead of a mirror. excellent sky color too.

here go my suggestions:

-the map fits sort of an ancient ruins theme, however it is in pristine condition, i'd like to see some broken tiles, pillars, supports, exposed dirt/sand etc scattered around a bit.

-also i was thinking you should add some 6-12 unit thick circular details like handrails or something to that effect, just to bring some of the large architecture down to scale with the models sizes. right now i just feel a bit too small in that map in relation to some architecture.

-i feel the blue lighting color is too strong, try desaturating and darkening it a bit and see how it looks.

-maybe a nice mapobject or two from here http://fps.brainerd.net/mapmodeltext.htm

ill shuttup now, cool map man. 

pushplay's comment the other day made me remember I said I'm make a map for that burial grounds contest... not sure I'll finish, but here's 2 nights of mapping... deadline is 'before sunday'... :D

(monday)
http://scampie.spawnpoint.org/screens/bgmap_1.jpg
(tuesday)
http://scampie.spawnpoint.org/screens/bgmap_2.jpg
http://scampie.spawnpoint.org/screens/bgmap_3.jpg 

ill shuttup now
No! The more comments the better. Thanks.

I'm a little bit down on decay and magic cause I think they've been done. You'll notice I chose a shader-free jumppad. I think I will throw some more sand around though, and the hand rails is an excellent idea. I'll desaturate the large blue lights too.

The big wooden thingy(?) that circles the centre room connects to the wall in two different ways. One side is done with brushes and looks ok, the other side is done with meshes and looks great except for cracks on the inside bends which I can't get rid of. Got any opinions on that section?

Scampie: looks like a good start. If you crank out a good map by Sunday I'll be helluva impressed. 

dude, i like what you have so far! i'm guessing that's q3 judging by the presence of nodraw textures... that would make a cool looking q1sp! :P

i want to check this out when it's done, even though it's q3dm. wicked dude! 

I know I said I'd comment but unfortunately a whole buttload of stuff has been dumped upon me. Some quick comments after a brief runabout though :

I'm with eggman on the lighting, too strong and needs to be implemented better.

Texturng and detailing are good in general but perhaps break up the monotonous color tone by mixing the grye brick textures with the yellow brick ones.

Layout wise, cant comment too muche xcept that it felt odd in scale. Too cramped in some areas and a little too big in others.

I got noticeable slowdowns in some areas. I'm no mapper but it seemed as if stuff was being drawn even when not in view. Have you hinted this fully?

Overall, I'd say it's fairly solid on first impressions but I dont know if this is really going to be appreciated by the BG people. From their mappacks, it looks like they're after heavily themed maps that suggest a sense of place. Whilst, this is a pretty solid map, it does seemlike another egyptian textured DM arena rather than a proper egyptian place.

anyway, just my $0.02. If I get some time, Iwill try to offer more detailed feedback. 

Do you mean the large blue lights or the lighting as a whole? Can you be more specific?

Maybe I should mix the yellows and greys together.

I've barely hinted the map, I thought that was vis' problem. Is that something I should be looking in to, or will the final vis do an adequate job? 

http://www.planetquake.com/necros/ne_doom2.jpg

knave textures, never tried those before. 

sorry in advance for the quick response, dont have much time.

I meant the large blue lights mainly but you could have some really funky shadows etc given some of your roof architecture and the new features of q3map2.

As for hinting, like I said I'm no mapper, but from what I understand, hinting is very useful and quite important to keeping FPS up. I'm sure some of the people here can help you out.

As for pure technical ffedback, post over at Q3W, could get some useful answers there. 

that is the most bizarre screenshot I have ever seen 

That is so... Lovecraftian. 

looks ..wonderfully twisted.

make it twisted. like the tree-like thing in the middle of the screenshot, on which i really like that deep dark red color. 

necros: you truly have a florid imagination :)

Kinn: are you taking the piss? :P 

no, i'm not taking the piss. it looks to me just like the sort of mix of arcane architecture and alien wierdness that HPL would describe.

although i think the overhanging curve thingies might look better joining at the middle perhaps, like ribs joining a spinal column. 

http://scampie.spawnpoint.org/screens/bgmap_4.jpg
http://scampie.spawnpoint.org/screens/bgmap_5.jpg
http://scampie.spawnpoint.org/screens/bgmap_6.jpg

not going to make the deadline, but here's things lit up a bit. 

What custom engine is that? Is it Fuhquake? And will it be a single player map? 

It's John Carmack's Quake 3D engine or something like that. It's botmatch. 

Gotta love those textures! finish it scampie :D 

I like that scampie, but I think the lightcasts would look better red. 

there's enough red lighting, a little dab'll do ya. 

Nice, quite impressive. It even looks like a BG map. 

On those Head Hunter 3 textures, it looks really sweet (not in a pinko commie way, but in Ferrari sort of way). 

Looks nice scamp, although the support pillars for the walkway in the first shot look too flimsy. How about making them thicker (and Y shaped single supports to avoid the tiny gap left in between two thicker pillars) 

I need some betatesters for my new Q1SP map. Everyone interested mail me at pulsar_2001 -=at=- mail -=dot=- ru for more info and download link. 

Hey, nice looking map you have there. You always seem to have funky big cool looking maps.
Just a comment though: I'm not too keen on the repitition of the hexen2(?) brick runnign around the back edge. Though this could just be because I used it quite a lot :)

The organic looking stuff is tres tres great.