Played your updated version.

Skill 2, 83/83 Kills, 2/2 Secrets

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0exk9n8snkp5efq/mjb_symphony.zip?dl=0

Wow Ubiquitous, you really stepped it up here. There is nothing but improvement from your previous map offering. Lighting is much better this time around and they have believable sources too! Lots of unique little odds and ends found here that help give it a more original theme. I love the rugs and the study/research room. Gameplay wasn't overall challenging but it wasn't a walk in the park either.

Small nitpick I personally have is requiring the player to use ammo or shoot to solve a puzzle. It is unlikely but what if the player runs out of grenades before figuring out what they have to do? I also got utterly lost at the start for about 5 minutes not knowing you could climb over the rubble (Looked like obstructed background to me). Other than that, nothing jumps out as me as critical. Love the vertical layers introduced and the fact you created a shortcut back up if you fall. Very cool map title too!

Now I expect the next map to outperform this one! ;) 

(some SPOILERS below)

Positives:

+Lovely work; much improved from your previous map.
+Loved the use of a special item as key (felt very negke-ish).
+Really liked the somewhat realistic props.
+Liked the puzzle-based progression overall.

Negatives:

-Agree with Daz that the lighting is too dark.
-Agree about the grenade puzzle too.
-The teleporter that appears at the end traps you if you try to backtrack for secrets (as I tried to do): you get stuck underneath the teleporter brush in the windtunnel and there is no way out. Maybe you can place a shortcut teleporter somewhere else, e.g. have a section of wall open up or something? 

... or make the trigger_teleport bigger, I guess, so you get teleported instead of getting stuck underneath a world brush? Maybe that was the idea? 

I expected people to complain about the map being too dark. But I don't think any changes are required. I don't even think the grenade puzzle had to be changed. People don't like being inconvenienced today, but I fear that following every advice of this kind may lead to a diluted experience that you just stroll through, shrug, and forget about it.

BTW, there's a floor switch closer to the end that's repeatable for no apparent reason. 

Nice map. Too dark for me as well but other than that great. Hope to see more from you. 

well that was quite nice. right up my alley stylistically. Nothing overbearingly impressive but consistent use of a few nice unique elements/ textures etc to spice things up and some nice combat setups... quite a pleasant layout too.
Definitely a step up from your last effort, with not a lot of time in between. Looking forward to more medium sized maps like this in the future!
Thanks 

I didn't think it was too dark, or maybe its because I played the updated version first. If there was some sort of visual hint about a shootable button on the other side of the door, it would be very helpful. The message given is sort of vague, as it doesn't relay to the player that the button can be shot, just that its a button.

Other than that, it was a fine map with exceptional gameplay. I just barely made it out alive, one vore in particular got me good. Nice little Half Life reference there too :) I give it a thumbs up, and hope to see more from you.

First run demo, hard skill: http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/orl_symphony.rar

And please for the future, don't use Mediafire. It kills pandas :( 

The thing with the grenade puzzle is that it locks you in a very small area, and you don't see a lot of possibilities to get to the other side of the door. Which means that running in circles for hours is nearly impossible.

I found that OK. 

I played it last night. I thought it was an overall pretty nice map and didn't have too much trouble. I didn't find either of the secrets.

I didn't think it was too dark, but without fog I think it would have been.

Probably one of the armors should have been made available much sooner (like near the start).

Those endless, instantly repeating door messages really should have been fixed. 

Maybe I'm stupid, but I think your previous map was a lot more consistent experience and had better flow and enemy placement/use. This one offered way too less health compared to situations were you easily get hurt and almost died.. and grenade bouncing mechanism.. I didn't figure out it and quit there after spending about 5 minute trying to figure out what to do. Whenever there is a new mechanism, it need to be represented in a way it is easy to understand, there wasn't hints or any clues what to do.

Also map is no where near "too dark" and people can use their options screens to set up brightness/contrast, so complaining about it is a bit of unnecessary. Sure you can try out using different ways to make smoother transitions from bright to dark by using for example base light = delay 2 and bigger area light = delay 5 together if you prefer more moody lighting and maybe increasing default values by 25 - 100 depending on place you're lighting. So basically it is nothing that dramatic, it just sounds like it is world's biggest problem in here Quake community. 

Actually, delay 2 would probably do a better job as an area light for big rooms, as long as you keep it away from any surfaces. At equal "light" values, delay 5 doesn't have anywhere near the reach of delay 2.

Delay 5 is my choice for the best all around light, but I have to bump the brightness up to around double of what would look okay with the stock delay lights.

The bad side is that delay 5 suffers from not having much of a "hot spot" near the actual source. When using it for obvious point sources (such as light3_8) I often have to add a second light, with high brightness and high wait, just for the "hot spot".

What would be nearly perfect is a delay that was a mix of 2 and 5, with a center hot spot closer to delay 2 but with falloff like delay 5.


http://quaketastic.com/files/LightTest.jpg 

What I mean was that delay 2 works as hotspot combined with delay 5 makes a much more smoother/realistic results, but that is just my opinion. 

Ah, then we pretty much agree.

You have to really watch out with delay 1 and 2, they can totally wash out a room if you don't crank the wait value up (or gate). It's ridiculous how far delay 1 can reach. 

I'm still dying at 38/82 enemies.

So far, this map is great. At first it seemed to be very Half-Life-esque, with all the puzzles. But when replaying it, the pacing got back to Quake levels, with the puzzles not getting in the way of the combat.
(That is something I dislike about Half-Life: its puzzles still lowers the pacing when replayed, even if we already know what to do, which kills replayability.)

The environment is great, and reminds me a lot of Amnesia: The Dark Descent (which is the game with the most Quake-like art direction I've ever played). 

Amnesia? I don't remember (pun intended) it looking like Quake. This map reminds me of Honey instead. TBH, it feels more like Honey than Gotshun's Requiem... 

Amnesia? I don't remember (pun intended) it looking like Quake.

Not the whole game, of course. But in my opinion, areas like these would be great for a modern Quake game. I can't help but imagine battling a bunch of Quake monsters in there:

Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

Screenshot 3

Screenshot 4

Screenshot 5

Screenshot 6

Screenshot 7

Screenshot 8

Screenshot 9

Screenshot 10 

That last screenshot was a teensy tiny thumbnail for me. Here's a fixed link.

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/amnesia/images/4/4e/Amnesia2011041301395965.jpg 

I see what you mean. I actually mixed up Amnesia and Obscure.

@Pritchard Nope, still a thumbnail. Try again. 

No? 

Well it did show up as a tiny thumbnail in Firefox on a PC when I clicked on your link. I just checked it again on my phone and it seems fine. Weird. 

http://i.imgur.com/XsJlZ60.png 

they're both thumbnails for me. Maybe it depends on which previous URLs you clicked on. 

I'll have a Quaddicted link up soon, and will post it below. 

Excellent, thanks! 

Why are you thanking me? I was only citing you from your original post.