My New MAP

[pbolduc]

Hello,

Please check out my map and let me know what you think. It requires Duke Nukem 1.5 or preferably the latest version of Eduke.
All feedback is welcome
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DNR Download

[pbolduc]

More screenshots =)

[Henri K]

Original & classic for me. Reminds me about those old days of Duke Nukem 3D, in a pleasing way.

Pay some little attention to the trimwork and especially lighting, please. I´d love to see more like this, though!

[Puritan]

Thanks mate  

I'll upload it tonight ( gmt ) when I'm back from work.
( do not tell my boss that I'm logged in from work   )

[EmericaSkater]

Just finished it. Great job, all in all. It had a distinct classic vibe, just with a bit more detail. The two strongest points were design and use of lighting, both of which were exceptionally well done IMO. Scaling is also kept in check more or less, but there are some areas that are actually a bit too cramped, a good example being the bathrooms on the second floor, where I was actually worried I might get crushed by those auto-closing swinging doors.

 Level progression is also an interesting point, because the map is essentially a keycard hunt, but there's little to no direction, as you have
tons of places you can go at once. That's a good change of pace, but it winds up making the map feel very maze-like. Texture panning/stretchiness is also a problem in some areas, especially the ceilings, where tiled textures are used, but no attention appears to have been paid to whether or not they actually fit within the sector space. Enemy/ammo/health ratio is good, and the enemy placement is challenging but fair, my only real gripe with that aspect of the map being that there wasn't much variety till the very end. There were a few slimers in the vents, and IIRC one octabrain in that sewer area, and other than that you spent the majority of the map fighting troopers and pigcops. Throwing a few newbeasts or a fat commander somewhere in the middle of the map would've helped out a bit.

 Even though the majority of this post was griping, the map was really an A+ effort that I enjoyed quite a bit. Hope to see more from you 

[MetHy]

Good Y-axis based map, I liked the freedom of exploration.

[Zykov Eddy]

Is this your first map? If so - I'd say it's a good start.

Pretty nice map. The elevator was amazing. It was your idea to make it? The style of elevator is different from the rest of the map.

[pbolduc]

Thanks guys for the awesome reviews!  Puritan if you can hold off on uploading my map to the website for now I would  like to make some  corrections to it now that I'm aware of what should be looked at.   EmericaSkater  thank you so much for your in depth review and opinions. Here is what I am thinking I should do. One thing I wasn't happy with was the location of the keycards. Presently the Key cards are as follows.
Yellow Key - > Sewers location
Blue Key -> 2nd Floor Maintenance Room
Red Key ->  2 Floor Security Room Sector

What you may have noticed is that the Blue Key is not necessary to complete the map. I think it should be mandatory for all keys to lead towards achieving the completion of the level.

Here are my thoughts to achieve this:
Yellow Key location:  2nd Floor Maintenance Room
Blue Key Location : 1st Floor in Security Room Sector (In Yellow Access Door Sector upstairs)
Red Key Location: Armory Safe

This way it forces the player to use all 3 keys before finishing the level. However, by placing these key cards in these specific spots it renders a lot of the areas of the map useless in that the player wouldn't need to explore certain areas of the map. EG. Sewers, Garage or Maximum security prison cells.

What are your thoughts on this?

I am also going to add a few more difficult enemies in some strategic places that will make the game play a lot more intense and interesting.

I tend to enjoy killing pig cops which is why there are so many in this map. =)

Zykov Eddy - Great observation! I initially created this map without the 3 floor elevator. Infact the stairs and surrounding area was quite a bit different as I was using a teleport elevator going to only 2 of the 3 floors along side an elevator shaft which would take you to each floor via a jet pack. Then I came across someone already who had made an outstanding 3 level elevator example tutorital. I attempted to recreate their example but with no such luck. Instead I revamped my entire map around his awesome elevator that "Semicharm" had made and I just changed a few of the textures around. Great observation, unfortunately I cannot take the credit for creating something so amazing.

There are a few things about this map that play differently in multi-player. They are specifically designed to trap the player but always give the player the ability of a way out. Which is why you might see so many little vent crawl spaces through out the map and more specifically in the basement cells. =)

There's a good hidding place in the men's washroom. If you walk into the interrogation room and flip the switch so that the mirror will bounce shrink ray bullets, you can shrink yourself and run through the womens washroom into the mens washroom which will open the men's stall then allow you to be able to pick people off from inside the vents. =)

Anyway I'm surprised nobody had a problem getting in the front door of the Police Station if that's the way you started. I do like giving the player the freedom to make choices as to how they want to play the map. So i didn't want to make it too linear. This way at least it has a bit of single player replay value.

- EmericaSkater your right about my ceiling textures.. I completely over looked that when building this map. I'm very impressed on how observant you were for only playing my map in such a short period of time. I'm going to make some changes based on your advise. Thanks!

I guess I better get back to work. Thanks to those who have played & reviewed my map! I am open to all suggestions as I think there is still a lot of room for improvement I just need some help knowing in what areas

[Puritan]

^You want to make some changes before I upload?
That's ok with me.

[Henri K]

Review:
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From a new author, Paul Bolduc comes classic & vanilla-style map taking place in Redcliff Police Department as author himself tells us. Duke is taken over by aliens (or Aliens, as author describes) & Duke´s objective is basically to get to the rooftop of the police station where the rescue awaits & and manage to get out of the place (as author also describes). Author also mentions that things are not going as planned, but as we all know, that´s not going to stop Duke from kicking some hairy ass.

Being author´s first publically released map it surely stands out in many different ways, both design & gameplay-wise. In short, design & gameplay are outstanding. On the side of design it´s delightful to see interconnections between different locations like in the original game. There are many interconnections in the map, but author has managed to pull them out pretty much flawlessly, so they aren´t too complex & don´t matter the gameplay. The map quite nonlinear, because you can choose where to go first. This kind of solution makes the gameplay lot better. Speaking of that, gameplay doesn´t feel annoying at all, thanks to dynamic feel of the map when everything explodes or moves. You won´t know what´s coming next until you are near the end of the map.
Item/monster placement also works & you surely won´t run out of ammo any time, although there might be too many shotgun ammo packages laying around. Now shotgun's getting a total overdose, but this hardly nags the gameplay.

Design isn´t all about good layout, though. Visual presentation is also very good & may occasionally remind you about the original levels of the game made by Levelord. It is so wonderful. Visual side of the map may still suffer the most in terms of trimwork and lighting. At times, both of them are in the depths of paucity or even missing, but fortunately good texturing saves the day, you might not even pay attention to those visual flaws. The visual presentation will get your attention & will most likely please you & also get to the mood of the map. This is where the atmosphere comes in & it´s the most wondrous aspect of the map. You actually feel like you are playing one of the original maps of the game, albeit more complex one. Familiarity is the key factor here & pushes you forward, being the whole beauty of the map.

In conclusion, the author´s first publically released map is outstanding, no matter which angle you look at it. The map limits itself in original style like in the original game, but it actually makes this level better. You feel yourself familiar with it while it still manages to offer something new. The map is a pure gem, so take a gander, like Kim has said.
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Feel free to fix typos.

[Puritan]

^Very good review 

Score?

[Henri K]

94

[Puritan]

Thank you, Henri 

I'll wait for the author to confirm this release before uploading.

[Henri K]

I my review does justice enough for this great release. Can´t wait for the next one he makes.

[Jblade]

Played it myself yesterday and I agree with the reviews already written Good stuff, I hope you plan on making more levels.