@erc, thanks for the demo. I was wondering why all the entities were missing and then I realized you must of used the new 1d version (no extra models etc)
@sleep, cool demo, you were very cautious. The zombies woke up early (next RL) because of a trigger problem, oh well my fault on that one.
@generic, when you said you were going to die in your demo I thought it was being squashed by lift bars or by the shamblers at the bottom of the lift, but you made it too the end room! :D

I've got 17 demo files so far, I will do another big demo zip file at the end of the week if anyone is interested. 

My demo is probably protocol 10002 or 10005 or whatever bengt's protocol was 

Duuuuude, what's with the constant messages that pop up everywhere? This is such an irresponsible thing to do for the designer because it simply destroys immersion. It's a reminder that you are playing a map and not visiting a new environment, and the words are from designer, not from the world. Man. It also reeks of a new mapper who just discovered the message function and is itching to say something just for the sake of it.

I also didn't like the dbs secret right behind the player's spawn, the button should have been some place else, to promote exploration.

I'm not sure that 2 Death Knights were a good choice for the RL ambush (playing on Nightmare). They couldn't reach me with their swords and their ranged attacks almost always bumped into the border or were easily dodged. They went down fast and unimpressive.

Map has good flow and visuals in general, thanks Simon (BUT STOP WITH THE MESSAGES FFS DUDE!). 

"Constant messages"

Sock reeks of "new mapper" to me for sure.

Luckily having a great big fucking HUD doesn't break the immersion too much. 

?? There's only the 1 message at the start that i remember sticking out. 

dude. 

So much nicer not having to dick around with stuff to play it properly rather than pixelly. Fun having another play-through. I got all the gameplay tricks this time around.

Can't for the life of me work out how to get the bridge secret in the lava area. Am looking for a button or a jump or indeed ANYTHING... 

@Harmata, have not been called a newbie mapper for a while! :D Not everyone plays a map the same, there are some who love the rush of combat and others who want to explore. Finding a balance between the two is always going to leave some feeling they want things different.

Not many people (watching demos) bothered with getting the SSG or NG early, they just moved on and found it from natural progression. The SSG is designed to be found easily so that everyone can experience the feeling of finding secrets.

Most of the messages are simply my humour, the map is nothing serious, just a midnight snack. The environment has no rhyme or reason, it is a brushwork doodle playing to the strength's of each monster you fight. Did you have fun playing the map?

@Shambler, the lava bridge secret (daggers fall) is triggered from the wall spike shooter room. It is close enough to hear/see the gate being moved from infront of the teleporter window. 

"Sock reeks of "new mapper" to me for sure."
For those with reading comprehension problems: i didn't call him a new mapper, i said that these "humorous" messages are often used by newbie mappers to no good. They are no good here too. I know Simon since his Quake 3 levels, i've read his website often.
"Most of the messages are simply my humour, the map is nothing serious, just a midnight snack."
Do you know that if you'd remove these messages the map would become a level with good Quake atmosphere?
I mean, nothing else on this map is funny, it's certainly not a joke map. This is why i think that these messages are out of place, they hurt atmosphere that you yourself created.
"The SSG is designed to be found easily so that everyone can experience the feeling of finding secrets."
I see, i see.
"Did you have fun playing the map?"
Oh yes. I'd tell you otherwise, don't worry :). 

Apart from Q3? 

You kinda have a good point about the messages, though there's a history of amusing messages in decent Q1 maps... 

I felt similar about the messages, actually I meant to mention them but forgot. Negatively noticed them in mfx's "first one" too. They always break immersion for me because it is neither the game (counters, keys) speaking to me nor some entity from the map universe (computer, god, fsm). Instead the mapper (the real god ;) ) intrudes the world. I know what Harmata means and I feel the same (mostly because I did the same in my mapping attempts). They quickly become awkward, especially if you replay at a much later time.

Gonna capture my demo later so you can finally watch. Sorry about the protocol trouble. :/ 

He worked on maps for Wolfenstein: Enemy territory and has written about his work, he likes to travel, he released free texture sets on his website (which i will someday use).

I like to watch him sleep. 

about "humorous" messages in Quake levels. Quake is serious business ;-). 

I used to play ET a serious lot, wich maps are socks? 

Just check his website:
http://simonoc.com/pages/design.htm 

http://celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=60875&start=304

?

To me Sock reeks of sweaty foot. And his maps are like the proest of pro.... 

I spent about 30 mins in and around that room, I have no idea how I missed that!!! 

In the first room, but when I replayed it I couldn't find it :) 

Anyone who takes quake too seriously needs to look at the shit they're playing. It's one of the darkest humour games of the 90's, crushing traps, nail traps, floating eyeballs (LOTR reference), pentagrams, lava and slime traps, ogres with a chainsaw for an arm....

I loved the messages personally, I'm gutted I missed the SSG kickstarter message on my first go actually, I found it hilarious. Mappers should make maps for themselves first and foremost, errors and bugs can be rectified but humour is subjective IMO. 

. 

http://dl.dropbox.com/s/kwclnudzcvkuona/mstalklurk.zip

Contains a very chatty first play demo and a "second go" demo. Skill 1 both since I haven't played Quake in a long time.

1. First run is long due to chattiness and looking for secrets. With 10 secrets, I was convinced that one would be a light that needed axing or shooting. Ha.

2. I saw the 10th secret (lava area) while watching my first run demo. Loaded a save to figure out how to get to it "properly" and gave up. Proceeded to record my "taking care of business" second go instead.

3. I play with r_wateralpha 1. That's why I stare at lava like an idiot in the first run. When I say I'm no longer curious, I've changed r_wateralpha to 0.6 .

4. I thought that the start selection area was gratuitous but loved the rest. For me the difficulty (and length, especially!) was perfect. I look forward to playing again in future. 

@Harmata, I can understand you might be frustrated by the messages, but I like to add humour to maps especially if they are hobby stuff and nothing too serious.

@Orbs, I worked on most of the ET maps, some more that others. I added a special model prop to my primary map, a pair of socks! My website has full details of what I did with ET maps, those were the days when professional LD was fun!

@RickyT23, have you found the hidden weapon in the skill selection area yet? Not everything is marked as a secret.

@Shambler, I usually place the trigger for a secret very close but I could not find anywhere within line of sight that was a cool location, which is why it is difficult to find. 

@FifthElephant All those things you named are not humorous, they are cool and some of those things are, well, standard. What, you'll tell me you ever laughed at a lava trap?
"Mappers should make maps for themselves first and foremost"
... then they should also play them themselves.
"hobby stuff and nothing too serious"
Well, those messages do feel like hobby stuff.

...

UNLIKE THE REST OF THE LEVEL! (ba-dum-tss?) 

claustrophobopolis is the perfect example of hilarious lava traps...