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Happy Halloween: Small Q1SP Preview, Giant Download!
Here's a Halloween map release from Patrick Martin and myself:

http://www.quaddicted.com/filebase/arcdemo.zip

Screenshot:
http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/screen_shots/arc1a.jpg

This is a single map Halloween-preview of the upcoming Arcanum project, featuring maps by Tronyn and others, and mod by PM. There's a small readme included, be sure to read it, and especially to set the right skybox. I thought it'd be appropriate to release this map on Halloween, as although it is in Arcanum now it was originally created for a Halloween mapping contest (the other entry was Scragbait's "Fall Cleaning," see how well this map stands up to that). I apologize for the giant download (18MB for one map), but it's basically that or nothing - like the Russians leading up to WWI, PM and I have no plans for a "partial mobilization." I'll try to make a smaller version available in the next while (ie not tonight!). Enjoy.
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Played It 
Mitigated impression.

+:
Gameplay is good, architecture and details are kicking ass... some places are a little bit crampy, but OMG, the castle is very well designed: where did you picked all these ideas ?

-: The ambience must be improved. I don't know who created the music, but for the sake of God, please change it. I really think it could be improved with ambience sounds like done in "distrans' Ruined Nation" or my "Fort Driant" map. With some patience, you can find some very good satanic ambience sounds on the internet that would fit well to replace the music...

Anyway, thanks a lot for this Happy Halloween map

Keep it up !!! 
Forgot To Mention... 
... that after first try (that crashes the game with a HostError after typing 1 trying to get the 2 fists... I think I read correctly...), then I reloaded the map, and cheated a little bit (impulse 9...)... 
 
This map is like a bastard child of nsoe and zer :D

I expected another huge, 300+ monsters and 300+ vis days map, but was positively surprised to see something small and compact (and yet quite hard). Facing the high-level enemies with nothing but the SG + Chainsaw + the ruby wand thing was pretty refreshing (thank hell for infighting).

Visually it was hot. I really have a soft spot for maps which mix many wads to create a new theme, rather than sticking to just one wad. The combination of id1/Knave/doom2 here works very well, there wasn't a single thing that looked out of place (maybe except for one crappy skulls texture from doom). The lighting was pretty dark but it felt like a good addition to the gameplay.

When's the full pack coming out?? 
Oh And 
I didn't really mind the music TBH. It was pretty arcadey but it somehow fit. I think. 
Argh 
I am dying and dying and dying. Skill 0 for me then. 
 
This is really not my type of map. 
 
 
Wait, what ruby wand thing?

I liked the music, although the loop is very short. 
 
I LOVED the lo fi old school music. Though I think if you could get your hands on something more droney and low key it would be better overall.
But the music that you did pick perfectly suits this map. It's like the maps I imagined in my head when I first started playing quake.
I can't overstate how much I love this fucking map, seriously.
I died on my first run too though!Just because I couldn't get up that stupid ladder without taking damage... 
Demo 
 
Wait, what ruby wand thing?

A fairly obvious secret ;) 
Hmm 
That screenshot looks like E1M5 always looked in my mind 
Er, Um... 
skill 2 
 
A very nice map. The addition of the ruby wand made things much smoother, I wouldn't mind seeing it in future maps.

My only real quarrel is the beginning, which is very hard when you are limited in arsenal against all the rottweilers and zombies. After that though, it gets fairly easier and more enjoyable.

I'd also like to point out that this map certainly has some great detail to it, unfortunately a lot of it is obscured by the darkness, but maybe that's intentional.

But either way, a very fine and very challenging map for the start of what is to come, a great episode. :) 
About The Wand... 
The secret in arcanum1 originally contained a chainsaw, but I asked Tronyn if I can replace it with the wand at the last minute, and he gave the okay.

The ruby wand was designed as a light source and a short ranged fallback weapon. Despite unlimited use, its damage rate is the worst of all weapons, less than even the unmodified Quake axe. Offensively, it is about as effective as the pistol from Doom or the hand blaster from Quake2. To prevent it from becoming completely useless, it has some special properties.

While held until it is fired, the wand builds up energy, shedding light while doing so. When fully charged, the wand glows brightly. The more energy that builds up, the stronger the attack will be when the wand is discharged. A direct hit from a fully charged blast will also force the target struck flying backwards. It takes slightly over a second for the wand to fully charge. With preparation, it is effective for ambushing and dispatching weaker enemies. In addition to the above, merely holding the wand also reduces damage the player takes by one point per hit. 
Re: #3 
The full arcanum pack will be released when it is ready.

My focus now is to finish the mod and start map for A Roman Wilderness of Pain, both of which are close to completion. Tronyn is more or less finished with his maps. 
Trick Or Treat 
Great map :)

The architecture inside the castle was awesome; I loved the statue and other details.

The only thing I felt could have been better was the monster selection. Felt like I was mostly fighting zombies and sorcerers, which have quite similar attacks and got a bit stale. Having the riot controller and chainsaw was awesome, but there weren't many close-range monsters to use them on.

Looking forward to the rest of rest of the episode! 
Hexen Pea-shooter Makes A Come Back - Laugh 
I like it. Like it lots 8>
Music, broken stairs, elusive first key, zombies on coffins getting gibbed, sacrifice chamber entrance, green missile attacks... The wand is v.good too, really fits in.
Minuses: bored with the too loud riot controller + chainsaw, and it'd be more balanced if you could gib stunned zombies. 
.. 
was a little hard on skill 1. Too many z's 
So There Was A Riot Controller Too 
What else did I miss? o_O 
Laugh :P 
~Was~ a pretty dark and twisted map. Can't remember where it was. 
Riot Controller 
Atop a stack of boxes by the stairs in front of the statue.

This was definitely a twisted map thanks in part to the Doom textures splattered throughout. Gameplay at first was a bit overwhelming. A pentagram secret in the graveyard area could have helped. There was an HOM on the crypt in front of the blocked basement door, BTW.

The architecture was aces all around, with a couple of odd texture choices. For instance, why do the white marble crosses in the basement show seams? And, is that Kell's fang texture on the ceiling? Still, this map has some super-sexy construction. I just wish the trees didn't look so cartoon-y.

The music was good, too. It reminded me of a classic horror movie track. The ability to switch it off would have been nice at times. And, I agree, the chainsaw is definitely too loud and takes away from the ambiance.

I can't wait for the rest of this pack to come out!

Cheers! 
More Comments 
PM: How strong is the wand blast? Same as a DBS hit?

I love that the melee weapons now always behead on the final hit, makes them so much more rewarding to use :D And yeah, the chainsaw probably needs its sounds silenced a bit.

The poison mechanism needs work. It's not immediately obvious that the player gets poisoned (a mere bprint is not noticeable enough). How about adding some sound effect, or some visual feedback like Travail?

In retrospect, the beginning is kind of too hard - this might be mitigated by giving the player some armor shards (coins or whatever they are) at the start.

Also I think that the sorcerers/acolytes/whatevers are pretty much indistinguishable from eachother, especially if you don't face them at once.

Otherwise this is a really good piece of work :D 
Re: #23 
Uncharged wand shots hit for 15 damage, while a fully charged shot hits for 50 to 60 damage. For now, zombies cannot be gibbed by the wand regardless of damage, but that will probably be changed to an auto-gib later, at least in the mods for Tronyn's upcoming releases. 
Spirit Is Easily Deterred! 
Played it through the end although I was frustrated at first. Died many times.

Never have I been so worried about zombies and dogs before.

The ruby wand's light effect made it my favorite weapon ... irrationally for sure.

Didn't feel very Quakey, which made me think how cool it is that Quake can be modded like a piece of clay.

The map was too hard for casual play really, but is far easier than ... say ... The Middle Evil! 
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