@JL, there are 4 ways to access the roof area and some are easier than others. The ideal route is the Ogre balcony because that is the trigger to spawn the extra monsters.

1. Shoot the button on the upper balcony with the MH and ogres. Tricky to see unless on the balcony and the doors only open when GK is used.

2. Use the lift over by the GL/Zombie courtyard. There is a balcony with ogres on it that can be jumped too and there is a shortcut to the roof.

3. Climb the slopped roof on the left side of the hub. There is a demon door secret close by and the roof is very low at this point.

4. Rocket Jump from multiple locations. 

Amazing map. Looks great.
Progression was ok. I didn't know if I was going in the right direction though.

Here is my first play demo on skill 1:
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/zendar_ankh.zip
I wasn't really pressured on skill 1. Maybe I should try skill 2.
Haven't played quake for some months, very rusty and I have a weird config which isn't alike to any other game I play. Always have to relearn the controls now. 

@SleepwalkR, yeah the ammo can be tight if you take certain routes. I was expecting you to investigate the church because there is a ton of ammo in there. I think this goes back to a comment by negke that it is not obvious which doors open or are locked.

The second demo is epic and once again another player ends the final horde fight with limited health/armour and with SSG on the last shambler. It does feel satisfying to watch as it is a lovely way to end the final fight. Cool to see you got all the secrets as well, a perfect demo, all monsters + secrets on skill 2. 

@Preach, that is the strangest thing I have seen in a long time, you are playing Quake without any sound. I can hear all the monsters around you, but you can't. It is like every encounter is a surprise, the perfect ambush everytime. I was constantly shouting at the screen, its behind you, its over there! :) 

@Ankh, lovely demo, I liked how cautious you were and how you keep finding new stuff after the final horde battle. You should really try the map again on hard skill and do the GK upper route first. The map is certainly a different beast on Hard skill, you will be surprised. 

A demo for all you tarbaby-hating shitsuckers: http://negke.fov120.com/files/zendarimproved.7z 

Skill 2 first play demo:
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/zendar_ankh_2.7z
Now, this was more intense.
Somehow missed one part of the map - some 20 monsters. Finished it later but it isn't in the demos.
Died once to the horde surprise. 

@Ankh, thanks for the skill 2 demo, I was expecting you to try a different route (upper church route) but it felt very much like your skill 1 demo. Were you looking for any new routes? or just wanted to keep to the way you know to avoid getting lost? 

I was just playing the map. Without thinking about the route too much. 

Whatever the polar opposite of a speedrun is... that's my play through! Hehe

There's no demo from me as it took me waaay to long. But I enjoyed every minute it took to complete :)

105 minutes
9/10 secrets and,
222/224 Kills

On Nightmare w/plenty of quick saving/dying/reloading.

I was finished actually at 73 minutes but hadn't found the secret "quad damage" courtyard yet, not that that's impressive!!!

Agree with everyone else here, DEFINITELY one of the best Quake map releases of all time. I loved everything about it.

Thanks sock 

Awesome map!

Seemed like I got the gold key really early on, after only finding one silver key, but then I realised that at that point I had found 0 secrets and killed less than half the enemies (on hard).

Was recording a demo, but died a few times in the large courtyard battle (after teleporting from the balcony area) as I kept using rockets and getting trapped between enemies. I'll upload what I had up until that point.

After that I realoaded a quicksave, finished the fight and then found the exit, but since there was so much left to see and do I started exploring.

Combats were great, always had just enough ammo, and the layout was very complex, although I never had any real trouble knowing which way to go. However, I did a lot of wandering when looking for secrets, although that's to be expected I guess.

Can't believe you put so much work into the secrets and areas the player might never see on this map - it was just crazy! In the end I managed to find all of the secrets, but I did a rocket jump from the balcony to the rooftops before later figuring out the correct way in. However, there must have been another area somewhere in the map I didn't find, because I didn't kill all the enemies.

Time (estimate): 40 minutes to end, 100 minutes+ for all secrets
Secrets: 10/10
Kills 216/224 (where the hell were they!?)
Demo: http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/zendar_than.dem.7z

Incredible work, and I hope it won't be your last Quake map. I trust you'll at least be making some ITS maps.

Thanks for another great release, Sock. 

@damage_inc, I am glad you enjoyed it, I thought you preferred tech style maps based on what you recommend at QuakeOne for people to play. The map is certainly about taking your time and exploring, there is no hurry once you deal with the horde :)

@than, wow you are alive, have not seen you around func for a while. Yeah the map is not a standard progression and if people don't explore yes they will miss out on lots of areas. There are plenty of traditional route maps that have been released lately and I wanted to really do something different with the flow and routes this time. 

However, there must have been another area somewhere in the map I didn't find, because I didn't kill all the enemies.

@Than, I don't know how you did it, but you managed to pickup the GL from the church without touching the trigger completely around it! Not sure if this is an engine problem, what client did you use? I suspect the church encounter is the monsters you are missing. Also you went the lower route to the GK, there is an upper route as well which has monster/items with a different challenge if you fancy playing it again. 

hello,

i killed the spawn in the small room that you open when you shoot the trigger by the lift, but i'm still at 9/10 secrets.. do i miss something about this secret? how do i trigger it? (i'm using Fitzquake Mark V Final btw)

anyway, amazing map 

@Aquashark, the spawn in the small room is an irc joke. People kept asking me to include a button under a lift and a spawn, that is all it is! :P

** SPOILER - ALL SECRETS **

1. Demon door next to NG/SK
2. A closet in the Church
3. Church Garden, church or SK door access.
4. Stainglass window near GK
5. LG outside on city facade
6. Ogre platform in Zombie Courtyard
7. Demon door on balcony near Zombie Courtyard
8. Demon door above Hub in the corner
9. RA in tower on rooftops
10.Shambler room on rooftops 

@sock, Yeah, usually I do favor tech/base style maps. But a work of art such as Zendar has to be enjoyed and played regardless of one's general preferences ;) Besides, you nailed EVERYTHING in this release.

Lighting, texturing, gameplay, amazing architecture coupled with great mood and ambiance. Also crazy out the ass connectivity... I go through wondering, how does anyone even THINK like this!!! It truly amazes me.

Thanks again, and Happy New Year's to you. 

nevermind, i found it.. i think it was "Ogre platform in Zombie Courtyard" 

Left this one for the end :p and I don't regret it a bit... fantastic map with lots of explore places(real paradise) :p

As usually bunnys and jumps was lots of times in wrong places... :)

Died near end but already run all map played second and third time :)

there it goes my first demo!

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/tr_zendar.rar

thanks Sock for this peace of art...

dawn, upload demo to wrong directory... sorry 

I dont know how you even begin to make something like this. Truly brilliant map.

147/160 kills, 5 secrets, got to the roof using what's identified as method 2 above (only checked after). Also about 34 minutes playthrough. Oh and got 3 silver keys, not sure where the fourth was.

Very fun gameplay and the design is just mindblowing.

Will definitely play again. 

@Trincia, thanks for the demo, but unfortunately it is a DP protocol and DP has terrible demo play back functions compared to Fitz MarkV. Glad you enjoyed the map, hope it looked nice for you on DP.

@nitin, it is certainly designed to be played several times, lots of different routes and things to find. Also you have got Skill 2 to try as well, if you want more of a challenge. 

Leaving this here: https://twitter.com/MarcLaidlaw/status/419203509565665280 

this is the guy who writes novels and also wrote the story for the HL games? He has great taste in games according to this interview -

http://www.gamingnexus.com/Default.aspx?Section=Article&I=801 

did you ever look into the bug i was experiencing with the roof top armor secret? bit curious to know what happens 

Replayed again, found 8 of 10 secrets omg... 

Just got around to playing this, and wow... not much I can say that hasn't already been said, absolutely fantastic. Loved the interconnecting layout, being able to approach areas from a multitude of directions, which I think definitely aided in making the combat quite enjoyable as well - nothing too difficult but I really liked being able to approach a situation in so many different ways. I imagine the replay value here is endless.

Also the visuals were gorgeous, it actually felt like a proper inhabited town, very atmospheric. I'd wager the patrolling enemies helped build up under this illusion as well.

I listened to this while playing and the experience was mesmerizing... just exploring the map, admiring the visuals or searching for secrets, was almost tranquil.

skill 3, 66 minutes, 224/224 kills, 9/10 secrets demo (I spend a couple minutes wandering around after getting all the kills... really wanted to find that last secret ;p)

Man, I really gotta catch up on the rest of the quality releases from the last couple years as well, still have yet to play Honey...

Also, this is your last vanilla Q1SP map? Say it isn't so!