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#16
Classic Duke 3D / Re: Last map you played
07 November 2018, 15:32:15
War Zone
TriaSSiCus
8 September 1998

A city block.

It's an ordinary street scene at first glance, but getting outside and going around the corner reveals a scene of mass destruction. A Cycloid Emperor has taken up residence in the central park and has been blowing holes in all the surrounding buildings. Several structures are nearly razed to the ground and are in the process of burning the rest of the way down, shrapnel and debris are scattered everywhere, and it's a total scene of destruction.
Aside from the emperor, the area is loaded with pesky liztroops that chip away at your health while you're trying to get around and collect enough fire power to take down the boss. Healing items are very limited, so it can get pretty sketchy at times, and care has to be taken not to rush headlong into an ambush.
The map is not very large, but sized for a typical end-of-episode boss map. Other than a few blocky structures it's well constructed, detailed, and shaded, so it has a nice presentation and atmosphere. More fun than licking lizards.

Overall I'd give it an 82
#17
Classic Duke 3D / Re: Last map you played
06 November 2018, 13:31:57
close combat
Jasper Drop
11 July 1996

A hotel and city street. first level, no it doesn't suck, but it's pretty basic stuff
#18
Classic Duke 3D / Re: Last map you played
05 November 2018, 16:18:36
Townlet
Kodiak Bear
15 September 1996

A small city block.

Mainly a Dukematch level re-purposed to accommodate single-player; the floor-plan is pretty wide open, but there are a few issues if this is going to be taken on solo.
Don't go down into the sewer without finding the jetpak first. There's no way out except to die. Secondly, the one key in the map is really annoying to locate. Even though this map is pretty small, unless you get lucky, you'll end up exploring, and re-exploring, and re-exploring again every inch it. You'll flush quite a bit of your time down the toilet. Let that sink in.
Aside from the sewer and central plaza, it's three apartment buildings and a bank. Each building is only a few rooms deep, so there's not a lot of territory to cover, but it keeps Dukematch duelers in close quarters. Design-wise this level is okay. The architecture is pretty solid except for a couple cramped door-ways. The detailing, as well as the shading, are pretty basic, but adequate.
For the single-player aspect, it's survival for the initial portion as the map is packed with aliens, but very few readily available weapons and health. Once that central plaza is cleared and a couple extra guns are found, it's pretty simple to isolate and pick off the rest of the foes. More fun than a pencil sharpener.

Overall I'd give it a 67
#19
Classic Duke 3D / Re: Mansion-CBP
01 November 2018, 04:40:06
reminded me of a couple of Taivo Maripuu's - Dark Place maps - both the environment and the game-play.
#20
Classic Duke 3D / Re: Mansion-CBP
01 November 2018, 01:05:24
As the title of the map states, it's a mansion.

The level is made up of three sections; a west wing that has a dining room and several state rooms, as well as a dungeon. An east wing that has a game room of sorts. And lastly the central foyer with a mausoleum and an adjoining courtyard connecting the east and central sections.
I wouldn't call it 'haunted' so much as infested with creepy aliens that are doing rather brutal and ritualistic things. Along with good texture choices and strong shading, the map has a lot of little details and nasty decorations scattered throughout to give it a serial-killer vibe. There are all kinds of nice little touches to give it an immersive atmosphere, and several effects, tricks, and puzzles to give it the old-spooky-mansion environment.
Unfortunately there are also some issues with the design and game play. If you search the main chamber along the walls, you'll notice a lot of overly stretched textures. They're false walls that hide blood waterfalls that are supposed to appear one by one as the player progresses through the map. Pushing use on a couple of them will reveal them prematurely. This is minor compared to the problem that half the doors are in a relatively cramped position and tend to squish the player, or the aliens, if they get too close while the door is in motion. Doubly so for the cabinet doors and trying to get in and out of the hidden nightstand passage in the staterooms. Probably one of the most annoying aspects is the hundred and one false doors and no clue what just opened after a switch is thrown. You will spend a lot of time looking for unlocked doors, and doors in false bookcases and such. Luckily most of these issues are in only one wing and can be managed with a little care and perseverance.
The aliens engagements are varied from the types and combinations of baddies encountered; from snipers, to ambushes, to just all-out swarms. There's a large amount of ammunition and a decent scattering of healing items spread throughout, so the shoot-'em part is pretty fun and sustainable. Just bone-up on chess piece recognition before you play, if you're not familiar with the game. More fun than jump-scares.

Overall I'd give it an 88
#21
Classic Duke 3D / Re: Last map you played
30 October 2018, 14:01:07
Duke Express
Romeobk
10 October 2018

A small section of a Lunar base and the interior of the Planet Express ship from Futurama.

The map has a very immersive atmosphere with articulate detailing, ambient sounds, and some nice texture combinations. It could have used some stronger shading and more effects, but with a large amount of resources going towards construction and detailing, it might not have been feasible. The Lunar space port is very clean, like a hermetically sealed space base, and decorated out as a futuristic airport. A large bank of view-ports gives a neat exterior view of the Planet Express ship in its docking station. The interior of the ship is clean where you'd expect it, like on the bridge and in Captain Leela's quarters, but a pigsty in Fry and Bender's bunk room. Other areas are metallic, industrial, and functional. As the player explores they get to enjoy a lot of Easter eggs and familiar locations if they ever watched the show with any frequency.
Game play is a maze. The ship has many decks and several ladders. At first a lot of it is inaccessible except for the main hallways on each level, so you must find the reactor room and turn the power on. This opens doors and now the game of hide and seek begins. Start searching through the ship, checking each door until you find the open ones. Explore each room until you find an obscure switch behind a panel; this allows access to a crawl-space between the decks. Don't accidentally go the wrong way or walk too fast, you might pass up the access panel. Reach the medical room at the end of the shaft and get a key. Solve the 6 button puzzle for some supplies. Go back to the key locked door, go into another shaft and get another key. Solve an eight button puzzle, then find the obscure door somewhere on the ship that allows access to the bridge. Unlock the escape pod and your done. The layout can be confusing until you get used to it. The excessive button puzzles are annoying. A lot of the rooms and corridors are pretty cramped, so it makes navigating around difficult at times. At least the map is balanced, and there's a generous amount of healing items to make up for getting stuck on some piece of architecture while aliens are shooting you full of holes. More fun than a shiny metal ass.

Overall I'd give it a 92
#22
Classic Duke 3D / Re: Last map you played
29 October 2018, 14:40:47
War Of Sexshops
Tentacula
20 June 1999

A war between two sexshops in a small city.
#23
Classic Duke 3D / Re: Last map you played
27 October 2018, 17:36:29
Wicked Warehouse Ultimate
Matt Wood  (Rock_Sockm)
18 March 1997

A small warehouse map with conveyors, control rooms, underwater shafts, and a few rooms full of crates. The texturing and shading are well done, and the map is nicely detailed and provides ambient sounds for that extra depth to the atmosphere.
Primarily a multiplayer map, there is a path for a single player to follow which requires navigating to a few switches to drop some force-fields, finding and using a key to get through an underwater section, and ending at an exit button. For a multiplayer map, the single player experience is fairly well balanced against the scattering of various types of aliens. The only downside is that it's pretty short. More fun than waiting on a package to be delivered.

Overall I'd give it an 83
#24
Classic Duke 3D / Re: Last map you played
26 October 2018, 13:36:08
UPTOWN.MAP
Mark Hanchey (Panther2)
13 June 1996
     
Fairly large level designed for deathmatch but has monsters and is very challenging in single play (no exit), lots of secret passageways. Train that circles the town.
#25
Classic Duke 3D / Re: Last map you played
24 October 2018, 01:30:02
Eat The Rich
ScottL (Forge)
7 July 2014

A penthouse styled apartment.

This was released as an individual map on steam to advertise for the Duke Hard episode. The episode was a community build project which consisted of several levels designed by multiple mappers whom where given a common base blueprint with which to make their own custom skyscraper floor.

#26
Classic Duke 3D / Re: Last map you played
22 October 2018, 14:19:00
4 PLAYERS DEMO
Ray Tracer
11 November 1998

A sky castle with an outter ring and an inner sanctum.
#27
Quote from: Puritan on  21 October 2018, 10:01:00
I have a DM map that is called: "wwar_old"
Guess it belong in one of the packs you're talking about?
I think that's the one that has nothing but a ramp and the raised bunker that can only be accessed via teleporter. The date on it is after most of the WWar3000-9999 maps I have. Hard to say if someone was trying to make a new version based off the original, or they got hold of the original and were trying to make something new.
#28
Quote from: Corvin on  21 October 2018, 07:28:04
I don't think that water trench was originally in the early Wwarxxxx maps.
Hard to say. I have a version that has nothing but a ramp and platform at one end, and the upper bunker in the far corner. There's nothing but a flat floor in between.
I don't even know if it's original, or someone was trying to copy the formula and gave up.

Doesn't help that the numeric values assigned to the maps don't correspond to the dates of the maps I have. E.g. Wwar6000 has an earlier date-stamp than Wwar3000 & Wwar5000
#29
I have few more versions of World War, or WwarXXXX, but I don't have 2000 or 2500. Unless they're buried in a zip file with a different name.
#30
WWARx000
Community
1997-2003

A pak of Dukematch maps mostly from late 1997. It's difficult to tell who the original author is after all these years and with all the different versions that were made. Some of the earlier levels have a watermark with the name 'Nabiki', but that's not a guarantee that this is the person that made the original.
There are definitely several more versions available that aren't in this pak, but a majority of those don't change much besides start-points, or very minor changes in weapons and supplies. Most likely done by people who wanted to give themselves an advantage at the beginning of the match.
The basic map format consists of an open area with a canal, a couple platforms, and a couple bunkers. Around the perimeter are multiple passages and tunnels, some hidden behind masked walls. Probably best for 3 to 4 players through most iterations.

http://www.scent-88.com/reviews/W/wwar/wwar.php