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QExpo 2006 Turtlemaps
A bit late, but whatever.
Four SP turtlemaps by HeadThump, popacabra, Trinca and Zwiffle.

Screenshots:
http://speedq1.leveldesign.org/images/tmqe06_headthump.jpg
http://speedq1.leveldesign.org/images/tmqe06_popacabra.jpg
http://speedq1.leveldesign.org/images/tmqe06_trinca.jpg
http://speedq1.leveldesign.org/images/tmqe06_zwiffle.jpg

Download:
http://speedq1.leveldesign.org/files/tmqe06_pack.zip
Good Stuff 
Trinca's map was really good. I really enjoyed fighting multiple enemy types and getting them to fight, and using the voreballs on that last Shambler was fun. I also enjoyed the zombie infested section, and spawn were well used also. Had some nice details in the outside area also.

Popacabra's map wasn't nearly as hard as I expected, with only the last section providing much of a challenge. It was a good map though, and along with Trinca's was my favourite of the pack. The rocket launcher at the end was super pointless though.

Zwiffle's map was good, but there were WAY too many times when monsters spawned both in front and behind me down a corridor. This didn't cause any serious problems, but it was bloody annoying. Fighting the shamblers at the end was a bit boring too, since it was just a case of backing off down the corridor and waiting for them at the other end. Trying to fight them together at the exit was too dangerous.

Headthump's map was fun, but was ;et down a bit by a few poorly thought out combat situations, and like popacabra's map, the rl was given right at the end, when I didn't really need it. Also, the brushwork and texturing were much messier than the other maps, but it looked ok overall. There were lots of weird things though, like the trigger hurt on top of the sk cage - wtf? Overall, not a bad map (at least Headthump managed to finish his map, unlike someone else that posts here often), but could have been better. 
:D 
A thoroughly enjoyable pack over all. Thanks everybody. : )

Headthump:
Visuals were pleasingly oldschool and there was good aesthetic definition between areas so none of that 'getting lost' malarky. I died a fair few times right near the end, and spent a lot of the level very low on health, but that kept me on my toes which is always nice. Some really enjoyable combats that I thought were quite reminiscent of the Rapture pack.

I got stuck on the weird angular door in the hillside a couple of times, before it opened. Some sort of clipping woulda been useful there. And I don't know why the top of the thing with the key in hurt me, but it lead to my death once which I thought was a tad unsporting. :P lol.

Popacabra:
Nice, clean architecture and alignment for the most part. Some ambient sound would have been nice in areas and would have complimented the wonderfully dynamic setpieces really well. It's very nice to see the architecture come alive, and adds a whole new level to the combat.

I found ammo to be a bit sparse at times. I had to cheat myself 10 shells to get out of the room with the two oscillating Deathknight platforms. Then I got done in by an ogre anyway because I faught most of that big battle with 7 hp. :(

I'm not sure I could ever complete this level without dying two or three times, though on Skill 2 I suppose that should be a given.

Overall very nice, if a little difficult in parts.

Trinca:
This is definately Trinca's best piece yet. Texture work and architecture is a great improvement. I especially liked the starshaped platform under the silver key. It caught me by surprise the first time I played.

Really enjoyable combat at the end, though as I told Trinca when I had a little preview of the map, I think some rockets should have dropped down from a ledge just before the Zombie fight, because despite the written warnings I managed to waste all of mine on other monsties the first time round. :P

Zwiffle:
Best of the bunch in my opinion, and also the most representative of the theme of this Turtlemappage. This level wouldn't look at all out of place amongst the original ID maps.

Solid architecture, interesting layout and some nice sightlines. I thought the final combat was surprisingly easy, for what it was. Would've been much harder had the shamblers teleported in from above to prevent telefragging. I pretty much just legged it past most of the monsters in the preceeding corridor and left them to fight each other.

Very enjoyable map, and it looks like there are areas I didn't even manage to explore the first time round. I think it would make a good DM map as well with a little tweaking. 
The Ledge On Trincas Map At The End... 
was there anything up there? It moved just before the vores appeared, and caught me by surprise. I heard the ledge move and turned to look, then I had some vores in my face. Luckily, they were facing away from me :) 
There Are 
nails and health up there, if I remember correctly. 
Than. 
At least you got your QExpo map finished on time which is more than I can say for myself;)

A good part of this level was a piece I took out of the Indian Summer map I have been doing for Tronyn's project. Frankly, it was too ugly to keep in that map, so I chunked it and I built a speedmap out of it.

I wished I had more time for the TurtleMap. I probably only put in a total 12 hours to it. I see many of the same flaws you do.

Clipping the hill didn't work, I think the skewerd angled func_train gets in the way of the clip zone so I made a flat path between the landing and the switch area to make it easier to navigate.

As for that trigger_hurt, basicaly it is a way of saying, 'hey, what are you doing jumping on top of a cast iron structure. Use the elevator!'. It may be that I am just evil and need some conseling.

Thanks Text_Fish, I do believe in and put alot of effort into building clear routes as getting lost in games is usually the point where I delete that game from the harddrive. So, no matter how sadistic situations get, you wont have to throw confusion in the mix.

I'll have time to play the pack this weekend and catch up with some other levels. The pics look good. Oh yeah, I tested Trinca's level earlier, good going there! Nice set ups. 
 
love then all :)

the two i think were more in the theme were zwiffle ( nice map title) and headthump pure oldschool idbase maps!

best was popacabra but a litle out of theme! :)

good work! had many fun minuts :) 
 
fist time play demos any one ? thnx for noticing moving geometry - it was the concept. wish i had more time for making it a proper quality map. it was rushed in 3 days. 
Oh Zwiffle 
If only hiding secrets were the only thing you suck at.
<Zwiffle> This will happen a lot
<czg> duh hurf blurgh
<Zwiffle> Can you survive the hall of spawners???? (400 more to go...)
<czg> dude fuck that
* czg has left the map (Playing Trinca's map instead.)


Love,
nobody

P.S. When are you going to stop ripping off Kell's maps? 
Fws: Re: P.S. 
When Kell's maps start sucking. 
CZG Is Like A Rockstar 
who pees on his audience. Instead of complaining, we offer him a 40 oz can of Foster's to make his urine stream all the more stronger. 
Good Show, What Say 
HeadThump: seemed un-quake like in some way I couldn't quite put my finger on.

Trinca: I liked this one! Probably my favourite.

Zwiffle: Also fun. Here's a first play demo: http://python.net/crew/mwh/tmqe06_zwif_mwh.dz -- 9:20, 1/4, 50/50

popacabra: Err, haven't finished this one yet. Better get back to it! 
Trinca 
Played your map only so far. This is a realy nice level. I think it is your best map! There was more detail than usuall from you and the architecture was interesting. The GK/SK door room was realy nice with the moving column. I liked the layout also. The combat was always fun. With 115 enemies the map wasn't too long. I liked the end battle(s) very much. Had to kill last 2 zombies with one rocket thus I had to lure them together. And I killed the last shambler with a telefrag which was my plan after round 9.
And some easy secrets which were nice also. 
Mwh 
even some of the early encounter content was originaly done for SoE, maybe that could explain the difference in feel. I would have replaced the grunts and enforcers (goblins in SoE) but that added to it's retroness. 
Popacabra 
I have first-play demos which weigh in at 1.5MB as .dz

No webspace, so they're on YouSendIt for now.
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=19D71B8A664CD305
I can e-mail them as an attachment if there are any problems retrieving them. 
Been Playing Zwiffles Map A Bit More 
trying to speed run it. I found a pretty big exploit thanks to the rocket secret and an extremely difficult slope jump [made easier by an ogre's grenade flying up my arse in the following demo].

www.eden-era.com/TF_TMQE06_Zwi.rar

Only problem is, it leaves the player very ill equipped to tackle the final battle. :\

Speaking of telefragging Trinca's final Shambler, the last time I played through that map I saw him get telefragged by the voreball that was chasing me! Hah. Explosive fun. 
Err ... Sorry. 
Admin, could you add http:// to the start of that URL if you have a minute please? And then delete this post?

Gosh, I'm so high maintenance. 
 
trinca, your map was fun. thank you. the overall routing and layout was good I thought. I liked the arena bit.

zwiffle, good map, enjoyable, bit too much corridor-fighting?. Headthump, interesting, bit whacky architecture :-)

popacabra, also pretty good for a turtlemap, and good fun.

thank you all. 
W000t... 
headthump: cubist quake, and some sections bordered on postmodern!

the artist formerly known as blackpope: solid, interesting architecture; awesome use of moving brushwork; an horrendous lack of ammo in the middle of the gameplay experience; four shamblers at once...now I have a precedent :)

So glad you made the time to spit this dire beauty out. Future gothic!

zwiffle: really loved the layout and the atmosphere; the lighting did a great deal to accentuate both of these things; (one day I hope to be able to think a tortured pathway like this); but this is quake not doom so the continual mindless spawning in of enemy was irksome - fair enough in quake if there's a mechanism (spooky pent, or telepad) or if there's a mystically protected end gate but in an otherwise empty/bland hallway...over and over... Why does working out how to get the SNG make me an asshole?

trinca: so there I am, standing in front of a darkened exit arch with no armour, 10% health and an axe (having just dropped the shambler with my last two bits of ammo) and I'm thinking "Bloody Hell! How did Trinca get that sooooo right?"

Basic architecture but excellent use of the thematic spike. I enjoy it when a mapper fixes upon a motif then explores same through iteration. Thanx!

Took me a couple of goes to survive the brutal start, but once done the gameplay was superb.

Three cheers for the QExpo Turtle Mappers! 
 
:) eheh distrans :) i now it were a hard gameplay ;) that�s why i always give ssg at start in my maps... ;) 
[spoilers] I Played Some Of Them 
before I had to leave.

Zwiffle's was kinda plain. I had read (and it was warned in the map!) about the rear-teleportings so I could do ok. The end battle was kinda bleh as I just backed out of there and shot the shamblers one by one. Overall, it needed more of some kind of atmosphere or grander design. It was just hallways now, or felt like that.

Trinca's had some cool touches, the jesus star elevator thingy especially. I died a few times. Should have saved more. In the end battles I died too, it was really a question of timing the quad right (for the shamblers, since you can't avoid them and must kill them quickly). It was also annoying hopping around the quad secret since you could fall so easily. Also the wizmet stairs at yard would have needed more detail, they stood out. The spiky architechture was cool. And having both inside and outside areas.

Headthump's map had fps 20 for me and a huge amount of enemies (a big portion of them hitscan). After a few tries of running through I called it quits. The architechture was really... how should I say, weird. All kinds of styles and shapes mixed. It wrapped around itself in a kinda cool way. But in the end it was unplayable for me, have to investigate further what was the problem.

I didn't have time to test Pope's yet. 
Continued 
ok, Headthump's map was ok, for some reason recording a demo in fitzquake was a serious slowdown for me as well as the big amount of enemies and gl_flashblend 0. Strange brushwork, some could say sloppy, especially at the "hill" area. Best vore placement award, it was not in a closet.

Pope's map was weird. Maybe it was my favourite of the pack, with all the moving elements. The crazy spiketraps were wacky, it took me three times to understand the idea what you're supposed to do with them. And the semifinal fight with the fiends took me many tries to do right, as well as the last shamblers. Had to get them to fight with the death knights. A little more cells toward the end maybe.

All in all, I think all the turtlemaps had good sides. Zwiffle's was polished, Trinca's had nice designs, Headthump's was crazy in looks and play, and Pope's had all those moving and opening things that were cool. Btw the latter map was in speedbase, not traditional id theme? :) 
Is The Download Broken? 
I've tried thrice so far tonight, unsuccesfully to get a complete download. Makes me sad not to play a Zwiffle before I call it a night :(

BTW, I do have an easy setting for this map. It can be a tough little bitch of a map depending on how you approach it. I try to eliminate the first hoard with a minimum ammount of damage before preceding, but not every player likes to stand in one place (under the bridge where I draw some blood) and pick off grunts.

Look for the secrets! There are two very nifty ones that will make the game play a breeze, even against the underwater bastardry. 
Played 'em... 
and liked 'em!

Zwiffle's map was the best all around. It had good progression and gameplay -- despite the behind-the-back teleporters -- and was built in true Quake tradition: big, bulky, cramped, and using the original texture-set. I really like the way it wound around itself and the secrets were a nice touch too.

Trinca's was next and well-done in his typical style: waves and waves (and waves) of baddies with good, clean texturing throughout. I thought this one was just as good as his last release, albeit shorter. You are not going to be able to get away with the "noob mapper" stuff anymore, Trinca ;)

Pope's was the most dynamic with all of its moving stuff. The textures were a bit off, though, with many being oversized or not aligned :( But it was survivable thanks to a few good secrets. Hooray for Dopefish!

Headthump's was obviously SOE-inspired: cramped brushwork with a wild range of texture combinations slapped all over it. Some of the gameplay was good but, for the most part, the level was badly constructed or just plain bizarre. Still, with some gameplay tweaks and lot of paint, it could be made into something... 
 
underworld review owns!!! :\ 
Thoughts. 
Headthumps - didn't like.

Popawhatevah - kinda cool, nice build quality, some fun combats but got bored of the fiends. Like the secrets!

Trinca's - nice build quality, obvious improvement over previous stuff, kinda fun gameplay, ran past most of the early stuff, but the end game was done well.

Zwiffles - had fun with this, slope jumped to the ogre platform then the RL secret teleporter, and played back from there. I like the compactness of this map. Graveyard was a nice visual touch. 
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