Last map you played

Started by Puritan, 02 December 2011, 08:14:26

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Puritan

Excellent, sire.
Didn't fancy the backtracking part barely armed though  :-[
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

Forge

Yeah.
Fighting those octobrains & respawns with nothing but a pistol is a pain.

There is a chaingun in the beginning, before you drop down into the mines.
There is also a chaingun at the pipebomb, and a stash of ammo for it before that.
There's also a shotgun stashed along the journey to get the pipebomb.

Like I said, it's do-able with just a pistol, but it's a lot easier if you find at least one of those other weapons along the way.
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Forge

#737
Old House - DM
Sunstorm Interactive
15 January 1997

Old House is a Dukematch level that features a simple old house, but the house has FOUR floors right on top of one another! A first and second floor, as well as a basement and an attic! Dukematch til you drop! Just don't get too twitchy in the cramped inner corridors!
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Forge

#738
DeepSpace 5
Sami Ky (style)
21 July 1996

An EDF space station styled map.

The station is, of course, abandoned and over run with aliens. Duke has to destroy a reactor and make his way to an escape pod.
Aesthetically the level is basic with its construction and detailing; minimal, but adequate enough to give a decent presentation. A bit more trimwork would have really helped out, but there's enough variations in locations to keep the player immersed. The texturing and shading are done well for the most part, which helps.
Game play is okay. The layout is pretty linear with quite a few side rooms and secrets to reward the player, but there's also quite a bit of uneventful backtracking. Either the key order should have been re-arranged, or there should have been inclusion of several instances of respawns to use up the over-abundant quantities of ammunition. There are so many supplies that most of the given weapons never need to be used. What enemies that are present were properly placed, the map just needed more of them. More fun than shadow boxing.

Overall I'd give it an 79
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Forge

#739
El-Space
Ashes
2 November 1996

My first real duke level. the rest were like 99.9% of all dukematch levels out there. A working space station (original? not much methinks!). However this one's been left to its own devices and abandoned. Some of it works, some of it doesnt.
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Forge

#740
Lighthouse Island
Seb Luca
23 November 2017

The map has to be played with polymost, classic 8-bit will cause it to crash when launched.

A tropical resort island styled map.

Duke's boat has run aground on some rocks near an island infested with aliens. The objective is to search out three switches that will activate an SOS beacon. Locating these switches can be a task, but there are clues scattered around that give away the secrets to reaching them. One switch is behind a hidden door, another switch is in an obscure part of the island and requires a key to unlock, another switch is behind an eight button puzzle. It's a small open world styled map that doesn't have to be done in any particular order. Wander around enough and eventually a switch will be located which will open part of a three section door, as seen via a nearby viewscreen. Usually at this point some friends show up to offer advice. Double-check the viewscreens because the switch at the top of the lighthouse can be a bit buggy an may have to be thrown twice in order to open its portion of the door in the radio station basement.

The map is well constructed and detailed, with good texture choices for the most part, but the ambiance is pretty flat. It's supposed to be a sunny tropical island, so things are bright, which is understandable, but there is little depth because contrasting shading is non-existent. Heavy doses of sprite work are present and some crowding furniture and narrow corridors can make a few indoor sections pretty cramped. A good portion of the map is spent doing little else besides exploring, so it should have taken advantage of that style and used more ambient sounds. Otherwise it's a decent and balanced exploration piece. More fun than sand in your shoe.

Overall I'd give it an 8
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Puritan

^Interesting map.
Since I'm a sucky player I had a hard time towards the end of the level.
You know, the arrow on the wall thing  :D
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

Forge

I accidentally found that first, before I even found the clue written on the wall.

The one that took me awhile was finding the code to the eight-button puzzle.
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Forge

#743
DeathMatch Space Arena
Jennifer Lynn
17 June 1996

DukeMatch map in space catwalks.  Don't fall off!!.  Try shooting the space shuttle with an RPG! 
Also, shoot the inner walls of the command tower!
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Forge

#744
Nobody Steals our Ships, and Lives!
Tom Arbisi
19 October 1996

An EDF and Alien spaceship styled map.

The spacecraft Duke is aboard has been attacked and is over run by aliens. He needs make his way over to the alien vessel and terminate their leader.
The level looks pretty good and plays well for the most part, but it has some pretty glaring issues. There are good texturing choices and decent trimwork, but there are also a lot of misalignment. The architecture and detailing are well done, but the EDF craft is incredibly cramped in many places. Included in the map are some pretty interesting puzzles and navigation challenges, but there are also some gaps in progression awareness for the player. Two primary instances of possible player confusion are the most guilty culprits. The first is being aware that the switch next to the door on the EDF bridge is not for the bridge door, but for the door to the transportation room which gives access to the skiff from the earth ship to the alien's ship. It's a locked door next to the transporter start room that the player has walked by half a dozen times and has probably forgotten about by now. The second kink in progress comes on the alien ship where the entrance tunnel forks into a Y and drops blast-doors prevent backtracking. Ultimately both lead to the same spot, but one path is definitely preferable over the other for two reasons. Only one will allow the player to get a devastator weapon which is really useful at the end. Depending on the player's ammunition situation with the rest of their weapons, it might actually even be necessary. The devastator is placed at the top of a cliff above a pool and can't be reached from the water-side. The other path has a shrinker, but it can still be reached as there are no cliffs or blast door to cut the player off from that weapon. The second issue with taking the 'wrong' path comes with finding the switch to open the blast door at the top of the alien spiral dais. Coming in at the top of the spiral the player will then be put in the, 'search high and low for the annoying hidden button' mode of play. Entering in from the pool side, the player drops into the water and swims right past the switch in plain site next to the only underwater tunnel. Coming from the top side, the button will be at the player's back when they exit the submerged shaft into the cliff surrounded pool, thus making it incredibly easy to miss until they get frustrated with looking around that area and decide to swim back to the spiraling ramp room. The potential is there, it just requires a bit of patience when dealing with its design quirks. More fun than a blindfold.

Overall I'd give it a 78
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Forge

#745
Wide Open Spaces
Sanek
8 June 2010

A canyon themed map with a dream sequence at the end.

The level has its shining moments, but there are a lot of issues beyond invisible walls and visual errors caused by overlapping sectors that mar this map. Several things are broke, the game flow is hampered by improper asset placement and bad puzzle design, and construction issues that can actually kill the player. Stay away from the edges of pools when surfacing from underwater.
The level starts out well enough on a deserted canyon road at night, the architecture is a bit blocky and there's pretty much no shading, but it's textured and detailed out just enough to give it some depth and atmosphere. The fighting kicks in, the weapon gets upgraded & the combat slowly escalates. Now the flow falls apart. Retrieve three keys. Three blue keys. So it's resorted into running back and forth over the same turf. Getting keys. One at a time. The respawns don't help it feel any more exciting. The enemies escalate, but there's almost no health or ammo in sight. That's the theme for the rest of the map. Get a bit of health and no ammo, or a couple bullets and no health, but it's respawn after respawn after respawn to supplement your diet.
Most of the maps transitions and tricks work, but beware there are some things that are broke, or only half-work. One example is the roof transporter gimmick that is supposed to simulate climbing in and out of a hole. You can get stuck in it where you're 'bouncing' back and forth uncontrollably between the roof and the interior of the building. Squatting or holding the move forward key can sometimes get Duke unstuck. In that same building there's a button that activates a lift so you can reach an upper floor of a nearby building. Hitting the button once raises it a little bit, twice a little bit more, the third time it finally starts to go all the way up. It moves at the speed of smell, but if you manage to miss it and have to bring it back down. Hit the button and go have some lunch while you wait for it to come down. Don't forget you have to hit the button three times to bring it all the way down, then three more times to make it go all the way up again. As a side note, the ladder on the same building, which is used to access a ventilation shaft, isn't built properly and Duke only goes part way up. Some clever jumping should finish the ascent.
The third issue is during the 'dream' sequence. Duke has to climb up some spinning Duke heads. They're jammed practically one on top of another making jumping up to the next one pretty difficult. There's also a glitch at the top where a jump in the wrong spot will clip the player back a transition screen or two and into the out of bounds area, effectively making them stuck unless they cheat and clip back into the playing field.
The level is doable, but pretty difficult due to the constant flow of enemies with nearly no supplies where they're needed, and some potentially frustrating design choices and issues. More fun than a Chinese finger puzzle.

Overall I'd give it a 72
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Forge

#746
Another map with no template or watermark.

I don't recognize this map from anywhere, or ever remember playing it before.

It's also pretty hard. Lots of aliens and not much ammo or health, but it's doable.
It's nothing incredibly special. Decent tiered layout & average ambiance.
Probably a mid -midhigh 70's rated map.

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Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Puritan

Quote from: Forge on  25 March 2018, 01:37:32
Another map with no template or watermark.

I don't recognize this map from anywhere, or ever remember playing it before.

It's also pretty hard. Lots of aliens and not much ammo or health, but it's doable.
It's nothing incredibly special. Decent tiered layout & average ambiance.
Probably a mid -midhigh 70's rated map.


Doesn't ring a bell here either.
The style could have been some early work by Supertanker though.
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

Forge

Quote from: Puritan on  25 March 2018, 13:23:11
The style could have been some early work by Supertanker though.
It does look like something he'd make.
I doubt it's by him though. Especially since it was made in 2038 and it'd be a later work instead of an earlier work.
You would think his quality would get better, not regress.  ;D
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Forge

#749
Spacetrap
neoacix
31 October 2016

An EDF and alien spaceship styled level.

Duke is aboard a non-military styled spacecraft when it comes under attack from an alien vessel. Duke must beam aboard the alien ship, take out it's power core, then return to the EDF craft and make his way to an escape pod.
This level is incredibly difficult. Duke starts with no weapons, and what is found is pretty minimal in relation to the enemies he has to fight. Healing items are also rarely found, so there's a good chance the player will be moving through the map on the brink of death most of the time. Everything explodes, ceilings are collapsing everywhere, walls are getting blown out of the side of the ship causing Duke to be pulled out into space and killed from exposure to vacuum. Steam is venting in several places, radiation is leaking from power sources, and there is a large pool of toxic waste that has to be crossed. Just about everything in this level is designed to harm or kill the player. Within the first 10 seconds Duke is blown up, smashed, and has a small swarm of aliens coming at him from a breached airlock. It's quick feet and quick reaction to get out of his stateroom then crush aliens using the airlock door, or it's death and a restart. It's frustrating, but also challenging to figure out how to get through some sections. Save often.
Aesthetically the map is mostly done fairly well. Some of the alignments and shading could be better, and the moving floor textures in the vacuum sections could be remedied, but it's quite detailed; with damaged bits around every corner, and flotsam and jetsam floating out in space away from the scenes of destruction.
The path from start to finish is mostly linear. Knowing where to go and what to do is easy to identify, doing it is another matter. The one exception is in the ventilation system off the EDF bridge. It's not obvious the player has to kick out the side of it. The end nuke button can also be a bit temperamental, but it does work. More fun than a career as a crash-test dummy.

Overall I'd give it an 85
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass