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... 

 

"hilarious lava traps"
There's a difference between "a humorous lava trap" and a "humorous use of a lava trap by designer".
"There Was Hardly That Many Messages"
One is too many actually, depends on the type tho. Something like "Click..." when the door opens is okay, but "That's a BIG gun, isn't it?" after a weapon pick up or "HOT! HOT HOT!" in the middle of a lava pool is obviously designer messin' around. 

hm, i must me be more used to centerprints than I thought. i don't remember any of those.

i just remember things like 'shambler cache' and such and sock is hardly the first to 'name' secrets in a map. 

Or at least one that's developed over the years


and which I have no problem with


and which a lot of the *best* quake mappers have utilized. 

this map is god fun 

Quake talks to you from time to time........ 

@lurker, thanks for the demos, it was awesome to watch. I especially liked the comments in demo 1 and have some answers for your questions.

Silver/Gold Keys

The first key is in the split room to the left with the ogres behind bars and jumping down from above. The reason this is a key not a button for the final door is because the player picks up a key and has to bring it to a certain location. Pressing a button is remote and prone to the player getting lost easily. Having a silver key with relevant wall symbols is perfect for directing the player.

The second silver key is on a ledge behind bars next to a set of bars splitting a room in half. I wanted the player to be facing the split room door, so that when they open the room they are facing a certain way. By having the player use a silver key they will be facing a certain direction (usually, most people don't open doors backwards) and see the bars raise up and the steps pop out from the side.

The keys can be used from a design point of view for many things, they are not simply a barrier mechanic but also a way of focusing the player in a certain direction. 

seriously delicious map.

In addition to the comments I made above, I will agree with the person that said a few ambient sounds here and there would have made the atmosphere even better. 

Finally uploaded my playthrough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0vSsRAfB0I 

@nitin, awesome :) Did you try different skill levels? Did you find all the secrets? Did you use the monster crushers?

@spirit, thanks for your youtube link, but I really want to watch a demo file on my pc full screen. Sorry, thanks for the effort.