I tried this map with skill 0 to get an idea of what to do first. I ran around for a while collecting ammo/guns and killing the odd mob or two.

I went into one of the towers and hit the button (which I later found out was gold key locked) Killed some mobs and then jumped into a teleporter in the floor. Had two ogres fight each other and eventually I killed the last one standing. Some pulsating thing came down from the ceiling and the floor opened. To be honest I am not sure if that was right or wrong.

I think I completed the other two towers and then had to run around killing zombies with an axe + quad. (Had no ammo at this point from all the tower fights) For some reason I did not do it right and was told the zombies had won and I had no ammo! Went to the top and then told to fight a shambler with my axe! Not sure if this is some masochist map but seemed like a strange way to kill a shambler.

The architecture and building style is amazing, the use of the stock id textures is gorgeous. It is shame the sky is just black, it would have looked even better with a proper skybox background. I loved the attention to detail with broken walls and floor borders being angled.

I found the central layout totally confused and it had me running around in circles for ages. (Which was frustrating because of mobs constantly re-spawning) I imagine it would make an amazing MP layout but felt awkward in SP because it was circular and had many routes.

After completing one tower I had this scrag that was shooting vore seeking missiles which was crazy unfair considering there were no clues to it being different. Overall an amazing concept level but got no clue if I did anything right or wrong in it. 

Looks like you're choosing all the wrong starting points.

IMHO(See above) this is an amazing map, but it's definitely not your average Quake map. This is something soo different.

But, don't give up on this... It's an highly rewarding experience. 

play gmsp3 and czg07. 

Sounds like you did it about right and had the same problems as anyone else here. It's an experimental map after all... and fails at several levels. I should have communicated to the player what he's supposed to do and what's happening more often/in a clearer way (which, I guess, would have been possible despite the fact I hit several engine limits).
The map is indeed very open and has a DM-like layout on purpose (including DM settings + native DMSP mode), because, in my view, it feels like nonlinear gameplay should be kept from dying out these days. I shouldn't have made the SK/barriers secret so hard to find - this would have made the zombie battle easier (it's unfortunate you ran out of ammo there even on skill 0 - on skill 1, the player is forced to axe them right away).

Now, if your recent experiences haven't put you off Q1SP for good, I'd be interested in hearing your opinion (seeing a demo even) about the puzzle section in Skinny Norris - basically turning the table after MOTEOF, even though in comparison, it might not have as much thought and testing put into it. 

do you want a list of custom maps to try from, from a quake sp newbie point of view?

My upstairs main computer is dead for the moment, but hopefully should be up and running over the weekend ((when I can hopefully also finally play your q3 map). Once I get that fixed, I can go through my custom map directory for you. 

underworldfan's reviews are backed up here: http://www.quakewiki.net/archives/underworld/ 

Nah its fine, I just wanted to see what the latest stuff was and get a better understand of what everyone is doing. (The current mappers) I will work my way back through the last 6 months of news posts and just try out stuff. 

6 mths back will make you miss some classics though (Nehahra, czg07, lunsp1 and lunsp2, apsp03, gmsp03 to name a few).

Underworldfan's Hall of Fame sections are also worth looking at for the slightly older maps. 

when did that happen? 

or am I dreaming? 

I wanted to play this map again and enjoy it, as the secrets i found were interesting, and the architecture. But geezus, the washed out colours identifying the three towers, you'd need to be pressing F11 (zoom) all map just to sort them out. 

Sure I don't mind playing another Q1 map and recording a demo but I got no idea what or where is 'Skinny Norris' and how to record a demo in Q1. 

http://celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=60256&start=61

;) 

Yes, got it. I will try and play that today and record a demo. Looks awesome from the screenshot. :) 

http://lunaran.com/pics/lunsp2/ 

will check my quake dir when the computer is fixed.

btw, zombie knight looks awesome. 

Wow that is hard on skill 0, died after 6 minutes and the pacing felt all wrong to me. Before I had a chance to explore there were ogres, enforcers and rocket grunts trying to kill me and I had no room to move around! Coupled with a tiny elevator shaft that had AI spawning on my head, it was crazy. I will try again later and post in the right thread. 

I that one hasn't been released, yet.
But it's "actively in development".

http://lunaran.com/

Can't wait. 

Are you possibly thinking of lun's Teleporter Madness speedmap?

smqe08d_lun.bsp. 

See the link the silent posted and refer to the text file for instructions on how to install and run the map.
You can record a demo from the console with 'record demoname mapname'. Type 'stop' to finish the recording. If you want to start the demo at a later point (only during the puzzles bit, for example) or plan on dying, use the demo resume trick I posted in the SM160 thread.

And in case your frustration meter hits the red, I posted a walkthrough demo in the release thread. 

Apparently you already got it to run and all. Missed your post. 

Hard to say anything that hasn't been said by anyone yet. The visuals are damned good - this map actually establishes a theme, unlike Skinny Norris which felt bland and random (sorry). Didn't care much for the tower puzzles, trying to find the secrets felt more rewarding than actually beating the level - eventually I managed to get 3/3 and the full moon (would have been nice to know that one of the "triggers" has to be touched, rather than shot...)

Liked the small hacks that were going on everywhere. In DMSP, did you make the final Vores non-solid, or am I just seeing things?

Unrelated: What I'd like to see is a map which looks like a regular map (normal textures/architecture/etc) but then throws all sorts of devious hacks at the player, and then the theme changes to something weird and messed up, etc. Starts off as normal but is deceptive. 

Yes, the Vores are nonsolid. They have to be killed with splash damage. 

skinny Norris was pretty amazing.
more 'cute' than lower forecourt, but fuck, it wasn't bland at all! 

but I still didn't like the "use every id1 texture" theme.