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The Dark of the Night

-- syKotic (me!) brings us a map that is definately amateur. After all, this was my first map, so dont expect that much from it. The map's theme is space and the style is futuristic, using pretty much all futuristic textures. The style is also "dark." I used very little lighting, and since it was an older version of the editor (or point release), I dont think i had access to a black sky shader that lit the level. I think it looks kinda cool dark, but thats just a personal preference. We dont see any new sounds or shaders or grafix in this map (and there are scarce few new things in my others, just because I like to use id's textures; all of the id maps are made with the textures accessible from the editor only, and see what they did?) The design consists of 5 levels, counting the mega health ledge and the RL ledge. The ledges are pretty small, therefore making it impossible to have a real battle on any of them except the rail platform, the lower level, and possibly the side ledges. The way it plays is unique -- you can only get to a certain level by first going to the highest (or second highest) level with the use of the jump pads and jumping down. Also, you take a lot of damage if you keep going up then jumping down, so sometimes you will find yoursef cratering unexpectedly if you dont keep track of your health. So, Aesthetically, I would say its okay because of the vertical system. As far as playability goes, most of the time you will find yourself on the only place where the action really is, the bottom level. I made the mistake of using bobbing platforms to raise you from the bottom to the second level. The bots all stand under it and get squished, then come right back down and do it again. That brings me to my next point, the immense death count. If you are a good player, you will find that you wont fall off much or get squished much, so you are safe. But the bots. OH MAN, the bots. I was playing a 20 frag limit game against nightmare bots, and I won like 20 to -7. The bots are REALLY DUMB in this map. They stand under the platforms and just die; they pretty much just jump off the edge sometimes, too. Oh well, less work for you to do. =) Of course, it eliminates the challenge, so I would say thet this map is most definately not the best scorer in the playability area, since you end up always on the bottom ledge trying to chase bots before they kill themselves. However, it does offer lasting fun, especially playing with 1-3other human players (becuase they arent dumb like the bots.) The action is more spread out, and like many space maps (except q3dm19) it is fun every time you play. So this map rates pretty well in the Fun Factor section. Now, finally, lets talk about looks. It WAS my first map, so I wasnt like all about detail, as you can tell from the screens. I did have a lot of fun making it, and I just wasnt sure really what to add as far as detail and looks went. I should definately have some models, like lamps or something, and detail the jump pad "tubes," which are bland and also totally lame. =) There is a border and trim, so that counts for SOMETHING. Also, there are some small errors, becuase I didnt know about brush clipping at the time, so I rotated the brush instead, which, as you know if ur a mapper, is very very messy. Unfortunately, this map doesnt rate well in the looks category either, but hey! It was my first map. When you check out my other maps, you will realize that I got much more experienced with the editor, and that gothic-style maps are really my thing.

 
  {Click for Larger Image}
A small space map
    {Click for Larger Image}
The Bots stay on the lower level
 
 
Ratings: Looks - 10/25; Aesthetics - 17/25; Playability - 15/25; Fun Factor - 20/25
OVERALL RATING -- 62/100
   Download Now -- sykodark.zip (797 K)
   Email syKotic -- syko_quake@yahoo.com
   Visit syKotic's site -- syKotic's Lair
   Return to Map Review List
 
Design by Dave Conway; ©2001