Reviews and Submissions

Started by Forge, 08 December 2011, 16:29:29

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Puritan

Quote from: ck3D on  26 July 2020, 15:25:21
...
I've been working on an episode for the past year with two and a half maps completed so far. It's most likely not coming out anytime soon, but when the time comes to create a WIP thread on forums I'll make sure to start one on here as well. Good luck and keep it up!


Great news!
Your maps is always from the top shelves. Can't wait.
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

ck3D

#241
Quote from: Puritan on  27 July 2020, 18:56:49
Thank you very much for your kind words and heads-up about Maartens latest addition.
I'm on vacation right now....and now it seems that alien scumbags are screwing it up!  :D

I'll try to upload Maartens map tomorrow.

Take care!

My pleasure! And thanks,

Just reporting another level,

I haven't played it yet, but I just found this map from 1999 just now seeing the light of the day, apparently the author has three more of them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlO3n7wUqzU

There's a download link in the description, too. Map looks good in parts, it's obviously been shown some care and it has some interesting stuff, although it also has its share of areas with poorer design and typical beginner mapper mistakes (explosions in your face, etc.).

Hope you had a great holiday!

edit - my bad - looks like that map was already released before, along with the others, with the author going by the name Cyrell at the time. They're all on Arrovf's website. I don't think he even suspects that the community has been keeping those old maps of his in a drawer or two somewhere, that's pretty cool.

Puritan

Quote from: ck3D on  31 July 2020, 16:39:46

...
edit - my bad - looks like that map was already released before, along with the others, with the author going by the name Cyrell at the time. They're all on Arrovf's website. I don't think he even suspects that the community has been keeping those old maps of his in a drawer or two somewhere, that's pretty cool.


Been at CGS a couple of years  ;)
But thanks for your effort. There's still nice oldies out there waiting to be discovered.
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

ck3D

#243
You're a better man than I am!

Ha! Yeah, lately I've been finding myself finding a lot of user map playthroughs on YouTube (it's one way to kill time while eating lunch all the while gathering inspiration I guess), I usually filter them per date to find the more recent ones and occasionally I'll run into people using the platform to advertise their maps that they don't really showcase anywhere else, it's funny. Like there's a new generation of creators who don't really know about the traditional route. Or old mappers getting the bug again and making showcase video clips with or without dev commentary. I suspect a lot of this newfound hype has to do with the recent World Tour ports such as the one on the Switch. For specific instances, I've been sharing some interesting findings in this thread: https://forums.duke4.net/topic/8858-what-have-you-been-playing-posting-about-duke-3d-maps/page__st__30 in the case of potentially unreleased stuff (such as this guy's who's making 'sequels' to Alejandro's maps), I reckon you could always get in touch with the authors for some (at least temporary) exclusivity.

ck3D

Dukebot just released his new epic: "Lost World" https://forums.duke4.net/topic/11317-release-lost-world/

I beta-tested the map a few months back and it was already amazing, and I trust the author has ironed out most of the little flaws it used to have. Big scale level, expect at least one hour on a first playthrough. Enjoy!

Puritan

#245
Quote from: ck3D on  10 August 2020, 17:41:17
Dukebot just released his new epic: "Lost World" https://forums.duke4.net/topic/11317-release-lost-world/

I beta-tested the map a few months back and it was already amazing, and I trust the author has ironed out most of the little flaws it used to have. Big scale level, expect at least one hour on a first playthrough. Enjoy!


Hey
Thanks for the heads-up...
I'll have a go on "Lost World" as soon as I can manage to squeeze in some Duke on my schedule  :D


Edit: Enemies killed: 727  :o
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

ck3D

Yeah it's a pretty intense level. If you want me to come up with a review I'm short on time too but I could probably piece one together rather quickly from cuts from the beta test report I sent Dukebot a while back, just let me know and I can post something like that.

Puritan

Quote from: ck3D on  15 August 2020, 16:56:25
Yeah it's a pretty intense level. If you want me to come up with a review I'm short on time too but I could probably piece one together rather quickly from cuts from the beta test report I sent Dukebot a while back, just let me know and I can post something like that.


That would have been very much appreciated if you can find some time  ;)

Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

ck3D

#248
If you're into sandbox type of levels - a style not many Duke user mappers really dare to tackle - then Dukebot's newest piece "Lost World", regarded by the author himself as a new start in his mapping career, should be right up your alley. Name of the level is an accurate representation of the basic plot as in "Lost World", Duke finds himself stranded in just that and as the player, you're obviously the one to have to pick up on its navigation.

Great care was put towards crafting a credible (on Duke 3D's standards), immersive location with a certain attention to detail that - quite surprisingly given how that typically tends to result in cluttered and unpractical levels - never gets in the way of the gameplay here, nor of the scale of the map at all. Quite to the contrary, the feel of exploration is amazing, the impression of an alternate world to explore with different lands to take over is really there, and built in a way that originally takes some time for the player to grasp but then becomes a very simple layout to master, thanks to some clear landmarks, and visual touches that really convey the idea of said lost world being broken down into different lands with their inhabitants and specific intricacies.

The map is large indeed, and the firefights are very much shooting gallery style but in fact, because of how varied the terrain is and how crazy the encounters can get, a million of scenarios can happen with every fight, encouraging the player to develop strategies such as using the variations in landscape to retreat or trap monsters - when you're not the one getting overwhelmed due to bad decision making, that is. One of many other strategies one can develop is aligning themselves with the vegetation to block some of the shots and rockets, all the while firing back - basically the whole battle arena functions as such very well. The map's dynamic in general is super explosive, and its design makes for a lot of different ways every scenario can play out, including monster respawns, ensuring lots of replay value.

The ending does come up a bit abruptly, but not after keeping Duke on his toes with one particularly memorable, frenetic, hard-earned battle that essentially consists in conquering a whole portion of the map.

With "Lost World", Dukebot really reinvents himself all the while suggesting a fresh take on the game that mostly brilliantly breaks away from some of its most established conventions. An inherently well-designed map that really functions as an alternative way of seeing and playing Duke 3D.

Score: 92

Puritan

Excellent, sire !
I've included it on the Lost World page.
Thank you  :)
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise


Merlijn

Damn, ck3d beat me to it! :D

Hi Puritan, long time no see. Great to see that this site is still running! :)

Puritan

Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

Puritan

Quote from: Merlijn on  27 August 2020, 19:13:21
Damn, ck3d beat me to it! :D

Hi Puritan, long time no see. Great to see that this site is still running! :)


Hi Merlijn

It's been a while. I've ditched FB a couple of years ago and migrated to MeWe instead..
CGS will be running for years to come  ;)

Looking forward to play your map this weekend!
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

Merlijn

Hi Puritan,

yeah I understand why you ditched Facebook. I mostly keep it for band related stuff.

PS: I screwed up the zip file in the duke4 post. There's an ogg file in there that should have been a voc file (bookem03.voc).
I just added a new reply with the correct zip, please use that one if you upload to the site.

(I assume a mod will also add it to the original post, but I can't edit it myself)