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KillPixel's "Cartographer's Nightmare" (KPCN)
Way Too Many Screenshots Trailer

Unfinished, Yet Released

Sadly, I'm releasing my first, and only, "real map" in an unfinished state. Because I simply lack the time, the probability that this map will never see completion is very high. I'm not fond of releasing unfinished stuff, and I very nearly chose not to. But, the thought of this thing dying in obscurity on my harddrive wasn't a pretty thought either. If this was near completion, I would just finish it. Horrifyingly, it still needs somewhere in the neighbourhood of one to two hundred hours of attention (for what I had in mind, anyway). Ain't nobody got time for that.

Some History

This map happened by accident. I wanted to see what it really took, at a technical/logistical level, to make a map. I laid down a few brushes and familiarized myself with the program. One thing led to another and soon enough I had 5 hours into the map. My thought then was, "well, it's not like I can just stop now." I then proceeded to tumble down the rabbit hole. 5 hours turned to 20 hours, 20 to 50, 50 to 100, 100 to 200, 200 to 300. I think this map has about 300 hours of my life in it. Knowing that and looking at the map, the appropriate response of any experienced mapper is "...how tha fuck?" The long hours are due to learning how to map, doing things wrong (like tons of brushes) and redoing them, iteration, brain farts and completely scrapping entire areas because they didn't make the grade. Plus, I like to compile the map and check it out every 10 brushes.

I released an earlier version of this on QuakeOne about a year ago. That would explain any deja vu you may be experiencing.

About The Map & Suggestions

This doesn't play like a Quake map. I never had the intention of making a Quake map, it just happened to be the game that was available. I say that so you don't get your hopes up or go in guns blazing only to find yourself at spawn over and over again. It plays like a less forgiving Doom3. In all honesty, gameplay was not on my radar for the first third of the map, I just wanted to make something pretty. There are some purists out there that don't believe in quick saving... well, good luck with that.

No single section is 100% complete. Some are close, others are empty walls lit by one bright light with one or two random enemies near by. Areas that have not yet been connected by geometry, or made for use later in the level, are tied together by teleporters.

Fuck. I wish I had the time to finish this thing.

Oh yeah. Play this in the dark, preferably with game music. I genuinely wouldn't bother trying to play this in a well lit environment. If you complain "it's too dark" I'll know you played it in the light...

Compatibility & Issues

Unfortunately, this map is a no-go for DirectQ (which is the engine I used exclusively when making this). Among other anomalies, a key entity (door) in a particular gag is invisible, totally destroying the surprise of the gag. The very beginning of map is broken in FTE, it doesn't like the spawn set up I've got going on. KPCN isn't very well play tested in anything other that DirectQ and Darkplaces. For overall best performance and compatibility, I would recommend Darkplaces.

I strongly suggest nearest texture filtering. Linear causes some artefacts by way of "smudging" in parts of the texture that should not be visible, including fullbrights in some cases. It also shows a lot of seems in some hacked up surfaces. And it's just ugly at this texture resolution.

Use texture packs at your own risk. Some textures are custom and will clash. One secret area relies on a fullbright button, which wasn't on a texture pack I tried (can't remember which one).

Source

I've included the source for a couple reasons. First, for some comedic material. Really, there is some wacky shit going on. Remember, noob map. Second, if someone (or more) gets a wild hair and wants to complete it, well, I think that'd be just fine. Perhaps, even if several people just wanted to add a few rooms and neat ideas then hand it off to the next guy, that would be stellar. Just saying.

Download

Damn, enough yapping, here's the download
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For some reason I can't get the pak file out of the zip; Windows gives me some error message. Anyone else getting this? 
Check Post #40 
The link that is posted in the first post uses LZMA compression, which some people don't have.

Post 40 has a link for a file made with a more common compression method. 
 
Ok thanks, it worked.

Anyway, the OP didn't say anything about FitzQuake, which I almost always use, so I went for DarkPlaces (which was recommended). Not really the biggest fan of DarkPlaces and I don't know if the demo I recorded even works (does it keep recording after you die or stop like in Fitz?). In any case, the last Shambler got me because I had no bullets at that point so I loaded an earlier save and tried to avoid him. I take it the map ends after you step into the portal below the platform with those two Ogres? Too bad you couldn't just put an ending trigger in that portal or something.

The finished areas looked good but DarkPlaces doesn't seem to do the map justice. I probably should have played in Fitz but was worried it wasn't supported. The map's gameplay was okay but clearly unpolished, and the traps felt a bit too random rather than trap-like. Too bad you spent so much time on a map that's still so unfinished. Maybe you can start a new map now without all the baggage.

Anyway, here's the demo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/y0khqhz3eio4aj8/mikkodark.zip 
Cheers Spirit 
That's that's wrong...thanks Spirit 
Cheers Spirit 
That's what's LOL ;) 
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