[RELEASE] Metropolitan Mayhem

[MSandt]

Here's a 15-level pack by me, MetHunter, MRCK & Merljin van Oostrum. EDuke32 required but don't play with the HRP or Polymer.













http://msdn.duke4.net/metropolitan.zip

[Forge]

If this is what I think it is, then I alpha/beta-tested several of the maps (all except the boss maps) for ck3d. Can't wait to see the final versions.

[Forge]

Finished the first map.

I pointed this out to ck3d; the blue key can be reached without using the red key. the map can be finished without using any key

Finished 2nd map. the quality of this map definitely made the first map look very simple and unadorned

3rd map. very solid. the closest to the 3dr style so far. game play is very balanced up to this point.

[methy]

Finished the first map.

I pointed this out to ck3d; the blue key can be reached without using the red key. the map can be finished without using any key

Finished 2nd map. the quality of this map definitely made the first map look very simple and unadorned

3rd map. very solid. the closest to the 3dr style so far. game play is very balanced up to this point.

Yeah, if you use that crate and keep jumping from edge to edge; or if you jump on enemies.

It's not a problem for me. Even if I had known this before releasing the episode I would have left it as it is. The crate is good gameplay wise for the fight in the back alley, + E1L1 can be beaten in less than 10 seconds as well if you jump on enemies (though it's a bit different here because you can use the crate).
It's not a problem for me because it's a short map anyway. Consider this a bonus for replay value if you want to play the map differently.

[Forge]

I still took the time to go back and explore the map to get all the goodies. Considering the short length and simplicity of the map's floor plan, it's actually more fun to finish it without using a key. 

4th map: another solid map, not quite as "3DR" as the previous level, but still pretty good

5th map: looked good, nice style, but i didn't care for the redundant backtracking. Respawns kept the action alive, the map is very well balanced, but walking back and forth through the same narrow hallways wasn't really that appealing.

[MSandt]

If this is what I think it is, then I alpha/beta-tested several of the maps (all except the boss maps) for ck3d. Can't wait to see the final versions.

As for the bit you edited out: Gambini actually agreed to review the pack but thanks for the offer! Can't wait to read your CGS review.

[Forge]

Yea. I edited my offer out because I didn't know if my style & method of rating episodes would mesh well or appeal to the standards of MSDN.

6th map: another solid 3DR map.

i have an appointment so i'll be taking a break for awhile

so far the episode is fairly evenly balanced. Plenty of health so there's no real chance of dying from combat, but there are enough enemies that are well placed that keep chipping away at you to make a good portion of the health kits useful. One thing I like about these urban maps, the player may have some heavy artillery, but the oscillations from restricted indoor to open outdoor locations make these kind of weapons only useful at certain times.

the flow from one map to the next is seamless. a few of the maps you actually have to look around for the nuances to determine who built it. All the maps are pretty even in the design department. There's no map that stands out as light years ahead of the others in quality, and there are no dogs that drag everything down with it.

[Forge]

have a couple minutes before I leave

looked back in the map pack ck3d gave me (Cadavre Exquis) it did have a couple of the boss maps in it: STQDIUM111 & bossms, but they were both in an alpha stage.

There were also a couple ck3d experimental/partial maps that didn't make the released version.

Even though ck3d didn't pass on the results of the testing I did for him, I have noticed that about 99% of the things I mentioned to him are fixed. So who ever was in charge of the polishing did a great job 

edit: things came up, i'll finish this tomorrow and maybe have a review done for it. monday at the latest

[Forge]

7th map

good layout. decent 3dr feel.

looks like this map wasn't concentrated on very much during the polishing phase: alot of mis-aligned textures and the floor aligned parking stripe sprites in the underwater area around the front of the red key lock are blocking which hinders a swimmer skimming the bottom

8th map

it's a good map, but you can definitely tell it's a ck3d map with a lot less heavy 3DR influence like the previous maps. The layout is more complex, the detailing and trimwork are more ck3d, and the map is by far the largest in the pack so far.

Also that it was released solo due to the extremely large amounts of ammo and health

9th map

good looking 3dr styled map.

design flaw. if the player gets the jetpack from the rooftop before going into the pool, then that makes the entire underwater vent location and building interior exploration unnecessary and the blue key card can be reached by flying. This also will eliminate several challenging spawns which enhance the action of the level.

10th map

least 3dr designed map of the group. not entirely enjoyable; it was like walking down a hallway full of doors

secret level

another map that looks more ck3d than 3DR. Was pretty fun though

[Forge]

Boss maps:

high-altitude was pretty fun

the bitch was also real fun

yellowdown hellride a bunch of pieces of ck3d's maps. not 3dr or fun at all

stadium despair the switch on the outer wall in the shower room can still be activated from outside the building eliminating the need to go in that room and set off the spawns.  this map is okay, but: the outdoor area outside the stadium is too big for no reason, taking the stadium is easy because only so many monsters awaken at a time unless you go streaking around for a couple laps, the spawns should have been more in the middle of the field instead of so far away - everything could be picked off from a distance, remove the duff blimp and just spawn some stuff in the middle of the field when a switch is hit.

[Puritan]

And it's been reviewed and hosted here as well 

[Merlijn]

Well written review, thanks! To me, the stadium level and the rooftop level are the best 2 boss maps. The stadium level feels like a rural area rather then a urban area, but I though it fitted. After all, you just had a long train ride, surely by then you're not in the middle of the city anymore.

And funny how you call my style more "angled", I never thought about that to be honest.

[MSandt]

Yeah, thanks for the review!

The stadium level feels like a rural area rather then a urban area, but I though it fitted.

Yeah it's Metropolitan after all.

[Trooper Dan]

least 3dr designed map of the group. not entirely enjoyable; it was like walking down a hallway full of doors

I agree that the gameplay kind of sucks in that map.  I've played the episode 3 times now, and each time I get more and more bored of the train.  On the other hand it is very good looking, especially considering how quickly it was built.  An excellent usage of copy/pasting.  Plus the whole train effect is pretty damned cool.  It's only been used in a small number of other maps.

[methy]

When Mikko and I got the train map, the gameplay was pretty horrible with a lot of badly placed Pigtanks and BLords everywhere (MRCK agreed and said he only put monsters randomly to test the map more than anything). The map was also very redundant because of visiting the same wagons again and again.

The idea was to improve gameplay (get rid of a good half of the monsters and put better enemy placements) and to make it less redundant. For that I made the rooftop part. Making it less linear is a pretty difficult task : adding backtracking would only have made it even more redundant.
The rooftop does give some non linearity though, at the same time because you can access a secret place from there (a full secret wagon) and because it makes you feel like it's less linear because you can go backwards and forwards on the entire rooftop before going back down for the rest of the map.

Improving it more than that would have been too ambitious and would have been too time taking.
Of course, ideally, if I was to make such a train map; I'd add stuff such as sleeping wagons, a restaurant, making a few wagons with a 2Nd floor, a danceclub (a new night train has that in my country), etc. But let's not forget those maps were meant to be made in the a time.
For a train map, I think it's the best we could do in such a short time; and I really like the map.